A History of the Mahrattas v1.c30.14

v1.c30.14

The subsequent treachery of Nizam Ally in joining Hyder against the English,⁴ and the circumstances which induced him, by a fresh act of treachery, to desert Hyder and renew the treaty with the English, have been elsewhere distinctly and fully recorded⁵; and as they belong not to this history, it is only necessary to mention, in order to preserve a connection with subsequent events, that a new treaty was concluded on the 23d February, 1768, between Nizam Ally and the English, which, though framed on the basis of that which was settled in 1766, differed from it in some very essential particulars; the most remarkable of which was their arrogating to themselves the right and the power to dispose of Hyder’s territories. The treaty declared Hyder a usurper; the Carnatic Balaghaut was taken from him by Nizam Ally, as Moghul viceroy in the Deccan, and the office of Dewan for the future management of that territory conferred upon the English Company, for which they agreed to pay an annual tribute of seven lacks of rupees. Nizam Ally further consented to cede Guntoor, the remaining district of the Northern Circars, upon the death or misconduct of his brother Busalut Jung. The Mahrattas, without having applied to become parties to this absurd treaty, were by a special clause to be allowed their Chouth from the territory thus disposed of. The Peishwa had no interference in the warfare which continued for some time between the English and Hyder; the line of conduct which he adopted, and which will be explained in the regular narrative of events, may be ascribed partly to policy, but principally to the internal situation of his empire.