A History of the Mahrattas v1.c21.6

v1.c21.6

Nizam Ool Moolk commenced, by a formal hearing of the claims of Sumbhajee, in a demand made for an equal division of the revenue; and, according to a prevalent custom in the Deccan, he sequestrated the property in dispute, by removing the collectors of the Surdeshmookhee and displacing the Mokassadars of Shao, until their respective rights should be equitably adjusted. Assuming this privilege as viceroy, he pretended to become the friend and arbiter of both parties; but Bajee Rao was not to be duped by the old artifice of engaging the Mahratta cousins in an hereditary dispute, and quickly turned the Nizam's weapons to his own advantage; for Shao, true to the inherent feeling of a Mahratta, of whom, even amongst the peasantry, the mildest men often became the most violent of human beings when the possession of wutun is concerned, and who, for some time, had been reconciled to Nizam Ool Moolk, was at once, on hearing of this interference, aroused to implacable resentment against him, and for the time against all who had formerly vindicated or now dared to justify his conduct. He looked to Bajee Rao for counsel and for vengeance; for these he would have bartered life, and for these he now virtually sold the supremacy of his empire. He at first was determined to march in person, but it was represented that such a procedure would place him on an equality with Sumbhajee of Kolapoor; whereas none but the Emperor was worthy of contending with the king of the Hindoos. Full powers were therefore delegated to Bajee Rao; and the great influence which the Peishwa had acquired may be observed in the promptitude with which many of the most unruly and factious of the Sillidar families willingly gathered round the standard of the nation.