P I N D A 
two were referved to protect the frontier on the fide of 
Bengal: four others were ready for operations on the 
Madras and Bombay frontier 5 and one was referved for 
the defence of our territory. Advancing fimultaneoufiy, 
and on a widely-extended bafe, this mighty force was 
intended to fweep the whole of Central India, and, by 
hemming in the Pindarrees within the different divifions, 
to infure their deftruCtion. Scindia, who had affifted them 
in their depredations, was compelled to unite in the 
league againft them, to furnifli 5000 cavalry, and to cede 
two important forts as a fecurity for the performance of 
his engagement. With Ameer-Khan the Britifii nego- 
ciations were equally fuccefsful, for he faw the hopelefs- 
nefs of refiltance; and, on condition of having the 
integrity of the dominions guaranteed which he held 
under a grant of the Holkar family, he difbanded his 
army. Thus was the important diftrift of Rajahpootana 
liberated from a lioft of 30,000 fpoilers, who were fliortly 
afterward difperfed ; fome of them relinquifhing their 
marauding habits, and becoming occupiers of lands ceded 
to them for that purpofe, others entering into our own 
fervice. 
This rapid tide of fuccefs was checked for a while by 
the revolt of the Pelhwah, and the defection of the Nag- 
poor rajah : but the defperate efforts of thefe princes to 
drive the Engliffi forces from their capitals were rendered 
abortive, and they were themfelves obliged to fly before 
our troops; while Holkar, who was advancing to aid the 
Pelhwah, was deftroyed at a fingle blow, the brilliant day 
of Mehudpore having proftrated that power for ever. See 
the article Nagpour, vol. xvi. and Peshwa, vol. xix. 
Equal fuccels followed our preparations againft the Pin¬ 
darrees : they were difperfed, taken, or killed ; and their 
leaders either perifhed,or threw themfelves on the mercy 
of the Britifii government. Thus, in one ftiort campaign, 
India was delivered from the deftroying ravages of a 
barbarous band of military robbers, and from theintrigues 
and confpiracies of the native Mahratta princes who had 
long watched for the beft opportunity of ftiaking off our 
alliance. 
The Pindarrees, therefore, that worft part of the late 
population of Central India, may, as a feparate commu¬ 
nity, be now confidered as extinfl; and we can now 
advert to a more pleafing topic. The rights of the native 
hereditary officers of a village are much refpefted in 
Central India; and never did a country afford fuch proofs 
of the imperilhable nature of this admirable inftitution. 
After the Pindarree war, every encouragement was held 
out for the inhabitants to return to their defolate homes. 
In feveral diftrjfls, particularly thofe near the Nerbuddah, 
many of the villages bad been wafte for more than thirty 
years. The inhabitants, who had been fcattered, followed 
all occupations 5 many Potails, who had been obliged to 
leave their lands, had become plunderers, and remained 
at or near their ruined villages ; fome of their relations 
and friends followed their example; others cultivated 
grounds at a diftance of feveral hundred miles from their 
homes; while a great majority went to the large towns, 
where they found a temporary afylum, and obtained 
fubfiftence by labouring in gardens or fields. But there 
is no people in whofe hearts the love of the fpot where 
they were born feems more deeply emplanted than the Hin- 
doosjand thofe of Central India,under all their miferies and 
difperfions, appear never for a moment to have given up 
the hope of being reftored to their homes. The families 
of each village, though remote from each other, main¬ 
tained a conftant communication. Intermarriages were 
made ; and the links that bound them together were 
only ftrengthened by adverfity. When convinced that 
tranquillity was eftabliflied, they flocked to their rooflefs 
lioufes. Infant Potails (the fecond and third in defcent 
from the emigrator) were in many cafes carried at the 
head of thefe parties. When they reached their villages, 
every wall of a houfe, every field, was taken poffeflion of 
by the owner or cultivator, without difpute or litigation 
R R E E S. 459 
amongft themfelves or with government; and in a few 
days every thing was in progrefs, as if it had never been 
difturbed. There was feldom any difficulty from the 
claims of other occupants; for local authorities, which 
appeared tohefitate at no means that promiled profit, re¬ 
jected the molt advantageous offers from new fettlers, 
while a hope remained that an hereditary officer or cul¬ 
tivator, who had claims to the management or cultiva¬ 
tion of its lands, was likely to return. The worft of 
thefe rulers are not infenfible to the neceffity of preferv- 
ing from injury this admirable and well - conftruCted 
foundation of their civil government and revenue fyftem. 
For the part which fir David Ochterlony had had in 
the Pindarree campaign, the Eaft India Company voted 
him a penfion of ioool. a year; that gallant officer was 
afterwards deputed to vifit and furvey the diftriCts from 
which the Pindarrees were effectually expelled ; and he 
reported that he had found throughout, except on the 
fpot where Scindia’s near relatives refided, nothing but 
peace and plenty, happinefs and comfort; every tongue 
eloquent in praife of Britifii rule, and grateful for Britifii 
protection. The fame defcription was alfo given of the 
lame regions by fir John Malcolm. 
The Court of Directors of the E. I. Company paffed a 
vote, on the 20th of January, 1819, “ That the thanks 
of this court be prefented to the moft noble the marquis 
of Haftings, knight of the garter, for the great and fig- 
nal wifdom, fkill, and energy, fo eminently dilplayed by 
his lordffiip, in planning and conducting the late military 
operations againft the Pindarrees, of which the happy re- 
fult has been the extinction of a predatory power efta- 
blifhing itfelf in the heart of the empire, whofe exiftence 
experience had fliown to be alike incompatible with the 
fecurity of the Company’s pofl'effions and the general 
tranquillity of India. Alfo, that this court, while it 
deeply regrets any circumjiances leading to the extension of 
the Company's territory, duly appreciate the forefighr, 
promptitude, and vigour, by which the molt noble the 
marquis of Haftings, by a great combination of political 
and military talent, difperfed the gathering elements of a 
hoftile confederacy amongft the Mahratta ftates againft the 
Britifii power in India.” 
The fervices which have been thus honourably diftin- 
guiihed and rewarded, were not an attack on a ftate, or 
on a body of men, but on a fyftem of anarchy and plun¬ 
der, incompatible with the exiftence and fafety of human 
fociety. A great extenfion of fecurity, and a correfpond- 
ing growth of civilization, may with confidence be an¬ 
ticipated to overfpVead the provinces lately defolated by 
thefe predatory banditti. The unity and confolidation 
of Britifii authority, though accotnplifiied at the expenfe 
of numerous dynafties of rightful fovereigns, is certainly 
conducive in Plindooftan to the inftruffion of the popu¬ 
lation, to the eftablifliment of better principles of legilla- 
tion, to the protection of more various religions, to the 
introduction of European arts of life, to the extenfion 
of commercial intercourfe, to the foundation of tanks, 
aqueduCts, and canals of irrigation, and to the progref- 
five accumulation of thofe engines and monuments of 
profperity which retail, as it were, among the people the 
beneficence of the fupreme power. It is ftill a common 
prejudice, that a multiplicity of petty governments fa¬ 
vours local profperity and individual liberty; but an ex¬ 
panded view of the hiftory of the human race rather fup- 
ports the opinion that conquefts, which confolidate under 
a fingle and ftable authority vaft traCts of empire, are more 
conducive to the progrefs of the whole towards a liberal 
freedom, a diffufive opulence, and a wile fuperintend- 
ence. See Origin of the Pindaries, by an Officer in the 
fervice of the E. I. Company; Prinfep’s Narrative of the 
TranlaCiions in Britifii India under the Marquis of Haft¬ 
ings; and Sir John Malcolm’s Memoir of Central India; 
1823. 
PI'NDING, f. A difeafe to which young lambs are 
fubjeCI. See the article Ovis, vol. xviii. p. 101. 
PIND'LOCK, 
