114 
HINDOOSTAN. 
furprifed near the city of Ferruckabad; a distance of 
fifty-eight miles, was overcome in a march of twenty-four 
hours, and a complete victory obtained. Holkar himfelf 
with difficulty efcaped, and fled with a veiy fmall body 
of retainers. 
The fortrefs of Deig was now invefted ; and its out-work 
having been carried by aflault, it was afterwards evacuated 
without further refiftance. The fugitives, compofed of 
the rajah of Burtpour’s battalions, and his garrifon, with 
the remainder of Holkar’s infantry, appeared generally to 
have taken the direction of Burtpour. The Britilh army 
therefore immediately marched for that ftrong-hold, and 
attempted to ftonn the place on the gth of January 1.805 ; 
but without fuccefs. The fortrefs was expofed to no iefs 
than five alfaults, under the immediate direction of the 
commander-in-chief lord Lake ; in every one of which 
our troops were repulled with confiderable lofs. The 
rajah, who had Unit himfelf up in it, propofed conditions, 
which the commander-in-chief did not think it proper to 
accede to. The conditions propofed by him, were, to 
pay all the expences of the war, and to give, befldes, 
three lacks to be diflributed among the troops. Thefe 
advantageous offers were rejected, in confequence of a 
determination to proceed againll him with the utmoft 
rigour, on account of his treachery to the company, he 
being one of its mod ancient and favoured allies. The 
inltruCtions of the governor-general were, that nothing 
lefs than an unconditional furrender fliould be accepted. 
It does not, however, appear that the reduction of 
Burtpour was a talk of i'uch eafy accomplifliment. The 
rajah, who defended it, had accumulated in that fortrefs 
every thing that was moft dear to him—his family, his 
treafure ; and had expreffed an intention of blowing up 
both them and himfelf, fliould the Englifli obtain a footing 
in the place. This important fortrefs is fituated in a 
fmall, but one of the higheft cultivated diftriCts in India, 
the inhabitants of which are all of the lame tribe, and 
connected either by confanguinity or other relations with 
each other. The force with which lord Lake fat down 
before the town did not exceed twelve thoufand men; 
and the works were of fo great extent, that he was not 
enabled to maik more than one quarter of them. All the 
other parts of the garrifon had communication with the 
open country, and the adherents of the rajah were Angu¬ 
larly brave and faithful. Thefe circumftances are lufli- 
cient to account for the obftinacy of the defence ; and 
our lofs in the various alfaults upon Burtpour, is elti- 
mated at three thoufand men, of whom one hundred and 
five were officers. During the laft attack of the Englifli 
on the above fort, a number of old guns were brought 
forward, on the firfl: firing of which no lefs than five of 
them burft, killed twenty men, and wounded feveral others. 
The troops were ftruck with a fudden panic, and tiie 
artillery corps refilled to do their duty; Holkar flew to 
the fpot, attended by the Killadar, and harangued the 
garrifon with great firmnefs and fpirit. This meafure 
had the defined effeCt, and The troops returned to the 
charge with redoubled vigour. It is probable that this 
Angle circumftance contributed more than any other to 
fave the place. 
At length the rajah of Burtpour, after repelling all the 
affaults which had been made upon him, propoled con¬ 
ditions, to which general lord Lake thought fit to accede. 
The terms-upon which peace was granted to him were 
fettled on the 10th of April, 1805, and fubfequently rati¬ 
fied by the governor-general. The articles, among other 
particulars, ftipulated 1 , “ that he fliould remain in polfelfion 
of his fortrefs of Burtpour; that he fliould pay, twenty 
lacks to the army; that the fort of Deig, and a diftriCt 
for three miles round it, fliould be ceded to the company ; 
and that he fliould reftore all the territory conferred upon 
him at the time he profdfed to be the ally of the Englifli. 
With this reduction of Holkar’s power and confederacy, 
the permanent tranquillity of India, and the profperity of 
our poffeffions in Hindooftan, appear, for the firfl time, 
1 
to be fixed on a firm bafis, But, as a meafure of prudence, 
our troops continued to occupy commanding pofitions, 
until the various ftipulations which had been made for 
the general benefit of all the ftates of India were finally 
completed; a necefiary precaution, in a country where a 
fpirit of rapacious aggrandizement prevails among the 
native princes, over every other fentiment or confideration. ' 
Holkar himfelf, though difeomfited, was ftill in a fituation 
to give trouble; it became, therefore, necefiary for the 
general weal to purfue him ; and, fo foon as the favourable 
feafion returned, lord Lake made arrangements for that 
purpofe. Separate detachments' of Englifli troops took 
different routes ; but the Mahratta chief was propor- 
tionably aCtive. and vigilant. Lord Lake, however, laid 
his plans with judgment, and followed them up with 
luch celerity, that Holkar, without being permitted time 
to breathe, was chafed to the very banks of the Hyphafis, 
and was on the point of falling into the power of his 
puriuers, when a negociation commenced, which faved 
the fugitive from impending ruin, and tied his hands 
from further mifehief. 
After the completion of thefe arduous and important 
fervices, the marquis Cornwallis was to fucceed marquis 
Wellefley as governor-general; and he had even arrived 
in India; but died at Gazepour, in the province of Be¬ 
nares, before lie was able to reach the head-quarters, on 
the 5th of OCtober, 1805. Sir George Barlow then filled 
this important office, until 1807, when lord Mihto, the 
prefent governor-general, fucceeded; and has thus far 
conducted his adminiftration in harmony and peace. 
And now, wholly expelled from the luxuriant ffiores 
of India, and from their fall hold at the court of Gol- 
conda, the country of diamonds, it was the fate of the humbled 
French officers, who furvived the feveral aCtions, to return 
to Paris, foiled in all their great and mighty defigns of 
obtaining for Bonaparte an enlarged dominion in Hin- 
dooftan. The active mind of Napoleon, however, as yet 
victorious and triumphant in all his gigantic ftrides, 
except againft the.Englifli, readily fuggefied to his parti- 
fans a frefli fcheme for eventually fecuring a large portion 
of that defirable country, for ever abounding in wealth 
and riches. This was to be accompliflied by means of an 
embafly to the court of Perfia, to entangle that monarch 
in a projected defeent upon Hindooftan, by the fame route 
which Alexander and Ghengis Khan made their victorious 
way, and bore down all before them. In confequence of 
this embafly, Juflut Bey was 'difpatclied by the Perfian 
king, in company with a French officer, to Paris, in the 
month of September 1807, to fofter and mature this new 
alliance. The refult has not hitherto produced any aCtive 
operations; and, in order to counteract thefe infidious 
meafures, his excellency fir Harford Jones was with all 
poffible expedition difpatched to the Perfian court, as 
ambaflador from the king of Great Britain, to urge the 
more honourable principle of ftill maintaining the relations 
of amity and peace. Both nations are on the tip-toe of 
expectation; and much will of courfe depend on the 
good fenf’e and difeernment of the Perfian monarch. By 
advices which reached England from Bengal in April 1809, 
fir Harford Jones had fafely landed from the Nereide fri¬ 
gate at Bufheer, in the Perfian Gulf, and had been re¬ 
ceived with every mark of refpeCt and diftinCtion. What¬ 
ever the events may be which are to follow, the reader 
will find them faithfully recorded under the article Persia. 
With refpeCt to the vaft advantages gained for the 
public during the adminiftration of marquis Wellefley, 
the fecurity obtained for the continuance of general tran¬ 
quillity, the complete expulfion of the French from India, 
and the barrier, to all appearance infurmountable, which 
the treaty of Baffen, and the fubfequent arrangements, have 
raifed againft their return by way of the Deccan, but one 
opinion can be held. They form a rock on which the 
Britilh eltablifliments in Hindooftan will raife their pre¬ 
eminent character, and repol’e in fecurity, amidft the ftorms 
of faCtion, and the turbulence of rival ftates. 
RELIGION 
