A History of the Mahrattas v2.c32.112

v2.c32.112

The Peishwa’s army under Visajee Kishen returned from Hindoostan, after the accession of Rugonath Rao. We left the Emperor preparing to resist their usurpation of his authority. As Mahadajee Sindia could not disguise his enmity to Zabita Khan, and disapproved of the Mahratta alliance with the Rohillas, he was employed to the westward, collecting tribute from the Jhats and Rajpoot states; but Visajee Kishen and Tookajee Holkar continued in the Rohilla country with upwards of thirty thousand horse. Their absence from the capital gave the Emperor full time to prepare for resisting them, and his preparations were much more formidable than the Mahrattas had anticipated. Visajee therefore endeavoured by every means to soothe or intimidate him into terms, and would probably have succeeded but for the more firm counsel of Nujeef Khan. A battle took place in the environs of Delhi on the 19th December, 1772, in which the Mahrattas were victorious after an obstinate conflict. The Moghul horse, although bravely led by Nujeef Khan, behaved ill; but the Emperor's regular infantry acted with spirit; particularly two battalions of Sepoys, originally disciplined by the English, which fought under the command of a Frenchman named Madoc,¹ and retired in order. The terms required by the Mahrattas on this occasion from the Emperor were far from immoderate; they obliged him to nominate the Peishwa his Bukhshee, or commander-in-chief, and to appoint Zabita Khan the Peishwa's deputy; to confirm all the promises he had first made to them; to cede Serampore, lately taken from the Jhats, and to give them a grant of Korah and Kurrah,² two provinces east of the Jumna, adjoining their frontier in Bundelcund, which the English Government of Bengal had obliged Shujah-ud-Dowlah to cede for the Emperor's support, as long as he chose to continue under the British protection; but as he had voluntarily relinquished all the benefits of their alliance, they claimed the right of disposing of the reversion, and determined to repel any attempt the Mahrattas might make for their occupation. They resolved, however, to act strictly on the defensive and to assist their ally, Shujah-ud-dowlah, in resisting an invasion of the province of Oude, which it was supposed the Mahrattas meditated; but after an inactive campaign they quitted Hindoostan in the end of May,¹ in consequence of a positive recall by Narrain Rao for the purpose to which we have alluded. Visajee Kishen, however, did not reach Poona till the rains were nearly over.