A History of the Mahrattas v2.c33: Chapter XXV

A History of the Mahrattas v2.c33

Language: English

Chapter XXV

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A.D. 1772.—The Court of Directors, in a dispatch to the Presidency of Bombay, of the 1st of April, 1772, directed that a resident envoy should be appointed to the Peishwa’s court; and Mr. Thomas Mostyn, of the Bombay Civil Service, who had formerly been at Poona, in the situation of assistant to Mr. Price’s mission, was selected by the Court of Directors for this important duty.

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The declared intention of the East India Company in appointing an envoy was for the purpose of acquiring from time to time, upon safe and honourable terms, such privileges and rights as might be beneficial to their commerce and of security to their possessions, by maintaining a friendly intercourse with all the native powers; but carefully abstaining from active alliance with any. The Resident was instructed to communicate to Madras and Bengal direct all intelligence he could procure relative to the designs of the Mahrattas of a nature likely to affect those Presidencies; but the principal objects of the mission were to obtain possession of the island of Salsette, the port of Bassein, and the small islands of Kenery, Hog island, Elephanta, and Caranja. The advantage of these islands was justly considered of great importance, in order to preclude other nations from having access to the spacious and excellent harbour of Bombay; by far the most commodious port in India. It was already celebrated for its dockyard,¹ and was well adapted to become the mart, not only for the supply of the interior of western India, but the emporium of the trade with China, the coasts of Persia, Arabia, and the Red Sea. The occupation of Salsette likewise secured the principal inlet to the Mahratta country for woollens and other staples of England, which are said to have been at that time supplied to the amount of fourteen lacks of rupees annually. The expenses of the Bombay establishment far exceeded the receipts, and it was hoped that by the possession of those places and the Mahratta share of the revenue of Surat the balance would be nearly equal.

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¹ [The first regular dock was opened in Bombay in 1750, two more docks being constructed during the next fifteen years under the supervision of Lāvji Nasarvānji Wādia, the master-builder. These docks were mentioned by Grose (1750), Ives (1757), Niebuhr (1763), and Parsons (1775), and were described as ‘the pride of Bombay and the astonishment of travellers.’ They are now included in the Government Dockyard, and are built on the site of an old bay or inlet, which

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Permission for the envoy to reside at Poona was granted by Mahdoo Rao; and Mr. Mostyn arrived there a few days prior to that Peishwa’s death; otherwise, it was Mr. Mostyn’s opinion, the succeeding administration would not have allowed him to remain.

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Some time elapsed before any event favourable to the views of the Company occurred. The Bombay Presidency, in consequence of certain claims on the Nabob of Baroach, due by right of sovereignty to the government of Surat, sent a force, just before the rains of the year 1771, to enforce their demands, but as the expedition failed, preparations were made for the renewal of hostilities after the monsoon. This armament was countermanded in consequence of the arrival of the Nabob at Bombay, whose object appears to have been merely to obtain a cessation of arms by trusting to the generosity of the English, in hopes that the confidence he had shown might operate in his favour, either by inducing the Bombay Government to relinquish their claims or by affording him time to cement an alliance with the family of Gaekwar. A treaty was concluded on the 30th November at Bombay; but as the terms did not come up to the full extent of the Nabob’s hopes, the English chief at the Baroach factory was in a short time treated with great disrespect; on which he was desired to retire to Surat. The expedition, as before projected, was carried into effect; and Baroach, with the loss of the gallant

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in early days formed the only secure anchorage for small vessels. Two more docks were constructed on the same site in 1807 and 1810, during the governorship of Jonathan Duncan. The Wadia family, as master-builders of the dockyard, built 170 war vessels for the Company, 34 war vessels for the Royal Navy, and 87 vessels for private firms between 1736 and 1863. Most of them were built of teak, and were so strong and seaworthy that many of them lasted for sixty years. (For a full description see B.C.G., 1909, iii. 266–78.)]

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and accomplished General David Wedderburn,¹ was taken by storm on the 18th November, 1772, the same day on which Mahdoo Rao died.

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¹ [General Wedderburn's tomb lies in the north-west corner of Broach fort, about 200 yards from the bastion. He was killed on November 14, 1772. (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 319.)]

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When the Resident at Poona was first sent for on business by the new Peishwa, the exchange, or an equivalent for Baroach, was one of the few things discussed, but no offer was made which could lead to the subject most important to his mission.

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A.D. 1773.—After the murder of Narrain Rao, during the progress of Rugonath Rao’s warfare with the Nizam in the neighbourhood of Beder, the reports circulated by his enemies of his probable death or deposition induced the Bombay Government to deliberate on what would then be the state of their relations with the Mahrattas. They concluded that the family of the Peishwa, with whom only they had existing treaties, must become extinct by the demise of Rugoba; and they conceived that their engagements with the Poona government only existed whilst that family continued at the head of the administration. Accordingly, without further scruple they determined that should either of the events alluded to take place, they would possess themselves of Salsette by force of arms.² The ready credit given to those unfavourable rumours at Bombay, and a subsequent hasty belief in the rising fortunes of Rugoba, are attributable to the same bias; a desire of the President and Council to fulfil the object of their employers, and court their favour by possessing themselves, and that too at all events, of the long coveted islands.

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² Bombay Secret Consultations.

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A.D. 1774.—When Rugonath Rao, instead of marching with bold confidence to Poona, shaped his course to the northward, he clearly exposed his situation to men less under the influence of interested hopes than the members of the Bombay Government, and betrayed his alarm to the Resident at Poona by sending an agent, with hurried and indefinite applications, for a great deal of money and a great many troops³; which only showed that he stood in much need of aid, but had a very confused idea of what plan he should follow to obtain it, or how to extricate himself from difficulty.

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³ Mr. Mostyn's Letters. (Bombay Records.)

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The Bombay Government were willing to assist him with some men, conditionally; but further negotiation through Mr. Mostyn at Poona could not be prosecuted owing to the distant retreat of Rugoba, who continued his march as far as Malwa. There, after he had recruited his forces, he determined to recross the Nerbuddah, and accordingly advanced to a position on the Taptee, where, as already alluded to, he renewed his overtures to the English through Mr. Robert Gambier, the acting chief or civil governor of Surat. His agent informed Mr. Gambier that Rugoba was desirous of entering on a treaty for the purpose of being furnished with a sufficient force ‘to carry him to Poona, and establish him in the government; for which he would defray the charges of the expedition, make very considerable grants to the Company, and enter into any terms of friendship and alliance the President and Council at Bombay might choose.’¹ This acceptable proposal was received at Bombay on the (Sept. 6.) 6th September, when the President and Council agreed to assist Rugoba with all the troops they could spare, which, including a portion of artillery, amounted to about two thousand five hundred men, on condition that he should advance fifteen or twenty lacks of rupees; and, on being established in the government at Poona, cede to the Honourable Company in perpetuity Salsette, the small islands contiguous to Bombay, and Bassein with its dependencies. The Mahratta share of revenue in Surat and Baroach was, if possible, to be obtained; and also protection from Mahratta inroads into the Bengal provinces and the possessions of the Nabob of the Carnatic.

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¹ Mr. Gambier’s Letters. (Bombay Records.)

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The original of the above resolution is signed by Mr. William Hornby,² Governor and President, Mr. Daniel Draper, Mr. William Tayler of the Civil Service, and Mr. John Watson, Commodore of the Bombay Marine, who were the counsellors present on that memorable occasion. In the course of the consultation, a doubt arose whether the president and members had a legal right to enter on any treaty without the concurrence of the Governor-General in Council, as the operation of the Act of Parliament of 1773, which rendered the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay subordinate to Bengal, was to have effect in India from the first of August; but as intimation had not been received of the arrival of the members appointed from Europe, without whom the supreme parliamentary council could not be constituted, their proceeding, on mature deliberation, was deemed unobjectionable.

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² [William Hornby became Governor of Bombay on February 26, 1771, and held office until January 1, 1784. His name has been given to the well-known Vellard (Portuguese *Vallado*, ‘a fence’), which was constructed during his governorship on the west side of Bombay Island between Mahālakshmī and Varlī, to shut out the sea which at high tide rendered the central portion of the Island a swamp. Hornby is stated to have built this embankment without the sanction of the Directors of the Company, who were disinclined to face the expenditure (Rs. 100,000). Hearing that he had completed the work in defiance of their orders, the Directors sent a dispatch ordering his suspension from office; but Hornby, whose term had nearly expired when the dispatch was received, kept it in his custody until after he had handed over charge to his successor. The Directors were irate,

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The offers of Rugoba, however, in answer to the proposals of the Bombay Government fell very far short of what was expected. He positively refused to cede Salsette, a condition so indispensable that Mr. Gambier without delay replied to his proposals in such terms as he conceived himself authorized to offer, without wasting the time necessary for a reference to Bombay; of which the President and Council approved. Rugoba adhered to his original declaration of not relinquishing Bassein and Salsette; he also stated his inability to raise the large advance of cash, but offered to cede districts and claims of much greater value in Guzerat, amounting in all to eleven lacks annually; to pay six lacks of rupees in advance, and one lack and a half monthly, for the expense of one thousand Europeans, two thousand Sepoys, and fifteen guns. The Government agreed to part of these propositions; and, on condition of his making the cession up to eighteen and a half lacks, they even consented to waive the grand acquisition of Salsette; but at this stage of the negotiation they were alarmed by the receipt of intelligence from their envoy at Goa that the Portuguese government had sent a formidable armament from Europe, for the avowed purpose of recovering their lost possessions, including Salsette and Bassein.¹

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¹ [The Bombay Government wrote to the Governor-General and Council saying that if the seizure of Salsette by the Portuguese had taken place, 'it would not only have effectually prevented us from

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and issued orders that the Governor himself should never open dispatches in future, and that they should be first read and registered by one of the Secretaries to Government. (Maclean, Guide to Bombay, 1875.)]

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Offers to surrender the fort of Tannah, by the Mahratta officer in charge, for the sum of two lacks and sixty thousand rupees, had been made to Mr. Hornby as early as the preceding month of February or March, at a time when the greatest confusion prevailed at Poona, and with the consent of his Council Mr. Hornby offered one lack. The Mahratta authorities were disposed to betray their trust for one lack and twenty thousand rupees, which would have been complied with, but, on considering the state of the Mahratta government and the probability of obtaining possession by other means, the negotiation with the Killidar was suspended. On receipt, however, of the intelligence from Goa the scheme was renewed, and Mr. Mostyn was instructed, in case of their obtaining possession, to use every possible endeavour to reconcile it to the ministerial party, as a measure of precaution to prevent the island from falling into the hands of the Portuguese; and to Rugoba similar assurances were to be given. In the meantime information of the preparations at Goa had been received at Poona, and had induced the ministers to reinforce the garrison of Tannah with five hundred men; which circumstance, and the strict watch kept up, effectually obstructed the designs of the Mahratta party disposed to make it over.

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In consequence of this disappointment, and the additional obstacles with which they should have to contend in attempting to reduce it by force, the matter was again deliberated on the 9th December, when the President in Council determined at all events that they ought to anticipate the Portuguese. An expedition, consisting of six hundred and twenty Europeans, including artillery, one thousand Sepoys, and two hundred gun Lascars, was accordingly prepared under the command of Brigadier-General Robert Gordon; and although the situation of Tannah was such as to preclude the employment of the larger vessels of the Company's Marine, as the Governor ever acquiring Salsette for the Honourable Company, but the Portuguese would then again have had it in their power to obstruct our trade by being in possession of the principal passes to the inland country, and to lay whatever imposition they pleased upon it, which in former times on every occasion they were so prone to do, which of course would have been of infinite prejudice to the trade, revenue and interests of the Company in these parts, insomuch that we should in great measure have been subject to the caprice of the Portuguese.' (See Danvers, *Report on Portuguese Records*, pp. 108-10; *B.C.G.*, ii. 115 f.)]

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expressed a wish that Commodore Watson should superintend the naval part of the enterprise, and have joint authority with General Gordon, the Commodore, on the General’s acquiescence in the arrangement, cheerfully complied. The troops proceeded on the 12th of December, and on the ensuing day a part of the Portuguese fleet anchored in the mouth of the harbour of Bombay and formally protested against their proceedings. The President and Council used many arguments ¹ in justification of their measures; they declared they would issue no countermand, and batteries were opened against Tannah on the 20th December. On the eighth day the breach was considered practicable, but it was necessary to fill up the ditch before they could advance to the assault. They attempted this operation on the night of the 27th December, when they were forced to retire with the loss of one hundred Europeans, including officers killed and wounded, but next evening the fort was carried by assault, when the soldiers, exasperated by their loss, put the greater part of the garrison to the sword. Among the sufferers at Tannah was Commodore John Watson, a brave and experienced officer, who was mortally wounded ² on the third day of the siege.

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¹ [The main argument of the Bombay Council was that the Marāthās had seized Salsette from the Portuguese thirty-seven years before, and that the Portuguese had never made any attempt during that period to retake ‘the countries situated between Chaul and Damān.’ (B.C.G., 1909, ii. 116.)]

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² His wounds were most painful, but rather singular to occasion death. A cannon shot struck the sand close to him, and drove the particles into his body. [The diary of the Bombay Government of December 28, 1774, records that ‘the body of the late John Watson, Esquire, was interred this morning in the burying-ground without the town (i.e. Sonāpur cemetery on the modern Queen’s Road), being attended by the principal inhabitants.’ The Bombay cathedral contains a tablet to the memory of Watson with the following inscription : ‘To the memory of John Watson, Esq., Superintendent of the Marine at the Presidency, and Commander-in-Chief of the naval force employed in the reduction of Salsette in the year 1774. An officer who manifested an unremitted zeal for the interest of the East India Company and the honour of his country at the siege of Thana. He was mortally wounded the 21st December 1774, and died in this town the 27th following, in the 52nd year of his age. As a testimony of his distinguished merit and eminent services, the United East India Company erected this monument.’ (Forrest’s Selections (Marāthā Series), vol. i, p. 201.)]

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A separate detachment under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Keating was sent to take possession of the fort of Versovah on the northern extremity of Salsette. The island of Caranja¹ (or Oorun according to the Mahrattas) was also occupied, and the whole of Salsette reduced before New Year’s Day.²

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¹ [The town of Uran (Oorun), which lies in the north of Karanja (Caranja) island in 18° 52′ N. and 72° 56′ E., about eight miles south-east of Bombay, is now included in the Panvēl tāluka, Kolāba District, and is chiefly remarkable for its nineteen distilleries which supply country liquor to the surrounding districts. (I.G. Bom., 1909, ii. 143.)]

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² Bombay Records.

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In the meantime the negotiations with Rugoba were continued, but the ministers having secretly engaged Sindia and Holkar in their interests and collected an army of about thirty thousand men, quitted Poorundhur on the 27th November, and advanced towards the Taptee. Rugonath Rao was apprised of the secession of Holkar and Sindia in sufficient time to escape from being surrounded, and having thrown a strong garrison into Talneir, he retired towards Guzerat; but in consequence of the advanced state of the pregnancy of his wife Anundee Bye, he left her in the fort of Dhar, where she was shortly after delivered of Bajee Rao Rugonath,³ destined to become the last of the Peishwas.

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³ Mr. Mostyn’s letters, Mahratta MSS., and oral information.

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A.D. 1775.—Rugoba continued his retreat towards Baroda, at which place he arrived on the 3d January, with about ten thousand horse and four hundred infantry. Hurry Punt Phurkay, after reducing Talneir, was sent in pursuit of him, but Sukaram Bappoo and Nana Furnuwees returned to the fort of Poorundhur, where all affairs continued to be transacted.

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Rugoba’s design in retiring to Guzerat was obviously to conclude his negotiation with the English, and to obtain the aid of Govind Rao Gaekwar. The latter, at the period of Rugoba’s arrival, was besieging his brother Futih Sing in Baroda, assisted by his uncle Khundee Rao Gaekwar, Jagheerdar of Neriad.

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The reader may recollect that Govind Rao Gaekwar was sent by his father Dummajee to support Rugonath Rao against Mahdoo Rao in the rebellion of 1768. Shortly after its suppression Dummajee died, leaving four sons, Syajee, Govind Rao, Manikjee, and Futih Sing. The two last were the youngest, and full brothers by the third wife. Syajee was the eldest son, but by Dummajee’s second wife. Govind Rao was his second son, but by the first married wife. Such a claim to succession as that of Syajee and Govind Rao always occasions disputes among the Mahrattas, as there are precedents for the superiority of either party. Govind Rao was at Poona at the time of his father's death, a prisoner at large, in consequence of having supported Rugonath Rao. His claim to the succession, and to his father's rank of Sena Khas Kheyl, does not in the first instance appear to have been disputed. Upon his paying a fine of upwards of twenty-three lacks of rupees for his late delinquency, a nuzur of twenty-one lacks, and other exactions amounting in all to upwards of fifty lacks and a half,¹ and having also agreed to pay a tribute of seven lacks and seventy-nine thousand rupees annually, to keep three thousand horse constantly in the service at Poona, and four thousand when the Peishwa was at war, the title and possessions of his father were conferred upon Govind Rao.

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¹ The following is the exact account, as extracted from the Poona State Papers.

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Syajee Gaekwar, the eldest son, was an idiot, but his youngest brother Futih Sing urged the claim of Syajee to the succession; and in the year 1771 Futih Sing came to the Peishwa's court, where he prosecuted Syajee's pretensions, and at last succeeded. Ram Shastree is said to have decided the suit in favour of Syajee, and as Mahdoo Rao's policy was directed to circumscribe the power of the Gaekwar family, he could not have taken a more effectual means, short of absolute reduction, than that which he adopted, by acceding to the views of Futih Sing in appointing him Mootaliq to his brother Syajee, now Sena Khas Kheyl, which of course occasioned an irreconcilable difference between

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| Tribute of last year | . | 5,25,000 |
| Fine for *non-attendance* in 1768 | . | 23,25,000 |
| Nuzur, for confirmation in the title of Sena Khas Kheyl, with the districts and Jagheer, according to ancient custom | . | 21,00,000 |
| Babey babut* | . | 1,00,000 |
| On account of the amount levied, in addition to the assignment given to Mokhund Kassee | . | 2,630 |
| | | 50,52,630 0 |
| On account of gold received in part | . | 3,715 2 |
| | Rupees | 50,48,914 14 |

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* Probably on account of the districts conquered from Juwan Murd Khan Babey by Dummajee, of which Rugonath Rao promised to exact no share.

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Futih Sing and Govind Rao. On representations, probably of the necessity of keeping his whole force in Guzerat to enable him to resist any insurrection caused by the partisans of his brother Govind Rao, Futih Sing was permitted to withdraw the contingent of horse, on agreeing to pay at the rate of rupees 6,75,000 a year during their non-attendance. But Futih Sing had other views. In his own schemes for supporting Syajee he did not overlook the motives which induced Mahdoo Rao to give him the preference as Mootaliq, and he returned to Baroda determined to strengthen himself against any designs the Peishwa might meditate. For this purpose he made overtures to the Bombay Government early in the year 1772, offering to enter on an offensive and defensive alliance on terms advantageous to the Company; but his proposal was rejected as at variance with the orders of the Court of Directors. Except a short contract, concluded with Futih Sing by Mr. Price on the 12th January, 1773, respecting the Gaekwar’s dividend of the revenues of Baroach, which was to continue on the same footing as when under the government of the Nabob, no other agreement of any sort existed between him and the East India Company.

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After Narrain Rao’s murder and Rugoba’s accession to the office of Peishwa, Govind Rao’s claim was again recognized, and prior to Rugoba’s departure for the Carnatic, whilst his army was encamped at Kulburga, Govind Rao was invested as Sena Khas Kheyl, and immediately set off for Guzerat, in order to endeavour to wrest the government from Futih Sing. From that time the two brothers had been in a state of constant warfare until Rugonath Rao’s arrival, who, as already noticed, found Govind Rao engaged in the siege of Baroda.

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As soon as Rugoba came into Guzerat he renewed the negotiation with Mr. Gambier, but it was temporarily impeded, owing to a misfortune which befel his accredited agent, Nowruttundass, who was taken prisoner by Futih Sing’s troops, when employed with a party of Govind Rao’s horse in raising revenues from the districts south of Surat. Various drafts for a treaty had been tendered on both sides, and much time lost by the dilatory (Mar. 6.) preciseness, rather than the indecision, of the Bombay Government. The treaty when finally concluded on the 6th March¹ consisted of sixteen articles, by which all former treaties between the two governments were confirmed, and neither party was to assist the enemies of the other. The Bombay Government engaged to send immediately five hundred Europeans and one thousand Sepoys, with a due proportion of artillery, to assist Rugoba, and pledged themselves to make up the number to seven or eight hundred Europeans and seventeen hundred Sepoys, with gun-Lascars, artificers and pioneers, the whole amounting to three thousand men. Rugoba engaged to pay, on account of two thousand five hundred men, one lack and a half of rupees monthly, with a proportionate increase or decrease according to the number of men; and as a security for the payment, he made over temporarily the districts of Amod, Hansot, Versaul, and a part of Oklaseer. He ceded in perpetuity Bassein with its dependencies, the island of Salsette and the other islands, the districts of Jumbooseer, Oolpar, and an assignment of seventy-five thousand rupees annually upon Oklaseer, the whole amounting to nineteen lacks and twenty-five thousand rupees. He engaged to procure the cession of the Gaekwar’s share of the Baroach revenue, and to pay all expenses the Company might incur in obtaining possession of the specified cessions, which were to be considered as belonging to them from the date of the treaty. As Rugonath Rao was destitute of other funds, he deposited jewels, valued at upwards of six lacks,¹ as a security for the promised advance, pledging himself to redeem them. The protection of the Company’s possessions in Bengal, and those of their ally the Nabob of Arcot, as long as the latter adhered to the existing engagement with the Mahrattas, was also provided for; and all British ships or vessels sailing under the protection of the British flag, which might have the misfortune to be wrecked on the Mahratta coast, were, as far as practicable, to be restored to the owners, together with such cargoes and stores as might be saved.