202 PINDAREE WAR. 



the list of Indian princes, and that there should be no 

 longer a peishwa. Britain was to exercise the sovereign 

 sway in all the territories which had belonged to him ; 

 though in order to sooth in some degree the irritated 

 feelings of the Mahratta people, the Rajah of Satara, the 

 descendant of Sevajee, still deeply venerated even after his 

 long depression, was to be restored to some share of his, 

 former dignity. To follow up this purpose, General Smith 

 laid siege to Satara, which surrendered after a short 

 resistance. The interval afforded a brief respite to the 

 peishwa, and lulled his vigilance; so that when this 

 officer had pushed on by forced marches, at the head of a 

 division of light-horse, he arrived unobserved within hearing 

 of the Mahratta kettle-drums. Concealed for some time 

 by the brow of a hill, he appeared on its summit to the 

 astonishment of the Indian army. The peishwa forthwith 

 left the field with his attendants ; but Gokla determined to 

 hazard a battle rather than sacrifice nearly the whole of his 

 baggage. He made the attack with the greatest vigour, 

 and had succeeded in throwing part of the cavalry into 

 some confusion, when he fell mortally wounded. His 

 death was regretted even by the English, since his enmity 

 to their nation, and zeal for the independence of his own, 

 had been tempered by honour and humanity. The whole 

 army immediately fled, and the British obtained possession 

 of the person of the Rajah of Satara, who had before been 

 a prisoner in the hands of his rival. 



Bajee Rao still continued his flying march, of which he 

 assumed the sole charge ; and gave out every morning the 

 direction in which the army was to move, having concealed 

 it till that moment from his most confidential officers. 

 After much and long wandering, he moved northward to 

 the borders of Berar and Malwa, where he partially recruited 

 his strength by collecting the remains of the beaten armies. 

 But he soon found himself hemmed in closer and closer ; 

 and in pursuing his march, in the absence of proper inform- 

 ation, he met Colonel Adams at the head of a considerable 

 force, and could not avoid a battle. He was defeated, with 

 the loss of most of his infantry, and all his artillery, saving 

 only his horse and light troops. He then made an effort to 

 reach the capital of Sindia, hoping for aid, or at least pro- 

 tection, from this most powerful of the Mahratta chieftains ; 



