POONAH. 
141 
The Paishwa took this occasion to escape, though he was so hur- 
ried as to be obliged to leave his family behind him. Thus driven 
from his rights and territories by the successive attacks of these 
feudatory chiefs, it was natural that he should seek for assistance 
against them, where alone it could be procured. He accepted there^- 
fore the offer of offensive and defensive alliance made to him by the 
British government m India, and ultimately concluded with them the 
treaty of Bassein on the 31st of December 180^. The most active 
preparations were immediately commenced for the re-establishment 
of his Highness in his just rights. Major General Wellesley pro- 
ceeded at the head of an army from the southward, and obliged the 
troops of Holcar to evacuate Poonah, having saved that place from 
being plundered by a rapid march of sixty miles in thirty-two 
hours. His Highness made his public entry into his capital on the 
13th of May 1803, since which period he has, by the assistance of 
his allies, gradually got possession of his territories, the prosperity 
of which has been greatly increased by the uninterrupted state of 
tranquillity which has followed the successes of the British arms. 
In another respect, his Highness has been essentially benefited 
by his connection with the British Government ; I mean in the im- 
provement of his finances, by the arrangements which have been 
adopted according to the plan recommended by Colonel Close. For- 
merly every Sirdar retained, with impunity, whatever part of the 
revenue he pleased, and in many of the provinces no part of it found 
its way to the treasury of the Paishwa. This was the case in Bun- 
delcund, which was estimated at sixty lac of rupees per annum, and 
in the districts ceded by Tippoo, which were estimated at forty-one 
lac. The former has been given up to the British by a treaty, sub- 
secjuent to that of Bassein, and now nets forty-four lac, of which 
