A History of the Mahrattas v2.c36: Chapter XXVIII
A History of the Mahrattas v2.c36
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Chapter XXVIII
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A.D. 1777.—ON the 10th of October, 1777, Mr. Hornby, in a minute of Council, entered on a review of the Mahratta affairs, and remarks, ‘that they were fast verging to a period which must compel the English nation either to take some active and decisive part in them, or relinquish for ever all hopes of bettering their own situation on the West of India.’ He laments the control by which the Bombay Presidency was fettered, remarks the secret divisions among the Mahratta ministers, the views of Sindia and Holkar to their own aggrandizement, the successes of Hyder, the defection of the Mahratta chiefs, and the demise of Gunga Bye, the young Peishwa’s mother, who had been the cause of her own death.¹
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¹ This event, on which the President expresses some doubt, was really true; Gunga Bye was the cause of her own death, by having taken medicine for the purpose of concealing the consequence of her illicit intercourse with Nana Furnuwees.
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The French ambassador was discovered to be an adventurer named St. Lubin,² who, after imposing on the English Government at Madras, went home to France, where he so far succeeded in deceiving the French ministry as to obtain authority to proceed to Poona and ascertain what advantages could be gained by an alliance with the Mahrattas. St. Lubin endeavoured to obtain the cession of the port of Choule, with the fort of Rewadunda; and, in order to induce Nana Furnuwees to enter upon an offensive and defensive alliance, he offered to bring two thousand five hundred Europeans to support the ministry, to raise and discipline ten thousand Sepoys, and to furnish abundance of military and marine stores. He affected the utmost horror at the conduct of the English in supporting Rugoba; a painting had been executed under his direction in France, to represent the cruel and barbarous murder of Narrain Rao; and this picture he exhibited himself before the Durbar in a burst of grief, which drew tears from some of the spectators, whilst in others it excited ridicule or contempt. A cheat in the character of a European gentleman was new to the Mahrattas, but the discernment of Nana Furnuwees could not have been even temporarily obscured by such superficial artifice. It is probable that, in the great encouragement he affected to give St. Lubin and in various petty indignities offered to the British envoy, he had no other object than to excite the jealousy of the English, without being aware of the dangerous nature of the experiment on which he ventured. Nana Furnuwees was inimical to all Europeans; but the despicable conduct of St. Lubin must have tended to lower the French nation both in his estimation and that of the Mahrattas in general. Mr. Bolts, originally in the Company's service in Bengal, who was in Poona at the same time as an avowed agent of the house of Austria, received no such civilities. Nana probably perceived that St. Lubin was a fitter tool; and Mr. Bolts, who was early dismissed, might have viewed that circumstance as complimentary to his character. The credulity which prevailed on the continent of Europe respecting India, and an uncommon plausibility of address, had enabled St. Lubin to impose on several young men, one of them an Englishman and some of them of good family in France, whom he persuaded to embark in his enterprise. But unprincipled men, however superior they may fancy themselves, have generally foibles which speedily discover their true character; and those of St. Lubin seem to have been egregious vanity and excessive irritability of temper.
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² [The exploits of St. Lubin are revealed in detail in letters from J. Madgett and W. Farmer, a servant of the Company, dated November 9 and 11, 1777, respectively (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 291, 296). His main object was to establish a factory, supported by a military force, at Poona, and to obtain a sea-port near Bombay. Had he succeeded, the French might have regained their former importance in India, which had disappeared after the capture of Pondicherry in 1761, while the Marāthās aided by a European force and with European officers to drill their troops, would have proved a menace to peace both in the Deccan and Hindustan. The
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Bombay Government had no intention of permitting ‘a repetition of the scene of wars and intrigues formerly acted on the coast of Coromandel, which will certainly be fatal to the influence of the English on this coast and may end in our total subversion.’ (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), vol. i, p. xvii.)
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Most of his companions were estranged from him; suspicion soon brought on altercation, and St. Lubin would have murdered them¹ to prevent exposure in India and obstruction to his hopes from France, but they sought and obtained protection from Mr. Mostyn’s assistant, Mr. Lewis, during the absence of the former at Bombay.²
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¹ The attempt in one instance is clearly proved; he fired a brace of pistols, one after the other, at M. de Corcelle, within a few yards; one ball penetrated his clothes, but missed him.
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² Mr. William Gamul Farmer, of the Bombay Civil Service, happened to be at Poona for the benefit of his health, and took that opportunity of ascertaining the views of the French, which he communicated to the Governor, probably for his private information, but as it contained useful intelligence, it was put upon record; the letter was dated Poona, 11th November, 1777. ‘This St. Lubin is a most perfect adventurer, and I believe has cheated even the ministry of France in this business. He introduced himself to the confidence of Monsieur de Sartine, as to Indian matters, by a memorial he presented relative to this country, which Monsieur de Corcelle assures me he has frequently seen. In this memorial he has not forgot himself. He has made himself the generalissimo at one time of Hyder’s army, the very man who framed the treaty between him and the Mahrattas, for which he the next day received two lacks of rupees: but what chiefly introduced him to this business was his particular intimacy with the Raja of the Mahrattas. He was the constant companion of his children, used to learn them to ride, in short he had not in the world a better friend than the Raja. There certainly could not be so fit a man in France to send out to sound the ground here to form an alliance with the Mahratta state, if circumstances should prove favourable. You may perfectly judge from this of what the character is capable in the way of representation.
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‘Drunk and sober, jointly and separately, I have examined all the Frenchmen with whom we have yet had connection, that is, Madjett, Monsieur de Corcelle, who was to have been made engineer by St. Lubin; and Monsieur de Coronet, the captain of the ship, whom I found means to get to eat soup with us. They are all in such a situation with respect to Monsieur St. Lubin, that it is the first wish of their lives that he may prove totally a counterfeit, and not be supported by the ministry of France; for in fact their lives may perhaps depend on Lubin’s reality, and the justifying his conduct. I have turned the matter every way to persuade them that he was a counterfeit, in order to fish out their arguments to the contrary; but they are all perfectly convinced of the facts mentioned in Madjett’s letter. The captain of the ship confirmed to me repeatedly what Madjett had often mentioned, that his owner had given him his orders relative to St. Lubin, in consequence of recommendations from Monsieur de Sartine. They all agree perfectly with regard to the ideas entertained of him at Bourdeaux; that it was first talked of sending out a body of men under Monsieur Dumas. The fact of the intelligence the captain and supercargo received at Cochin, of Lubin’s destination, the captain The encouragement given to St. Lubin by Nana Furnuwees might have had the effect of alarming the Bombay Government, and inducing them, in the subordinate situation they had been taught to consider themselves, to accept the stipulations of the treaty of Poorundhur, under the disadvantages which the ministers would have imposed, had they not been uniformly supported by the Court of Directors. In a letter from that body of the 16th April, 1777, which was received exactly seven months afterwards, and was a counterpart of a dispatch previously sent to the Bengal Government, a repetition of the approval of their conduct, and of regret at the great and unnecessary sacrifice made by the treaty of Poorundhur, was still more clearly expressed than in the preceding year. The Court, to be sure, repeat their determination to adhere to that treaty; but should its conditions
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confirmed to me. Picot and Briancourt acknowledged him, and Briancourt has gone so far as to request the consulship of Choul. The Count de Mendave, a man of good family in France, who has been seeking his fortunes in this country, and is now with Busalut Jung, heard of him, has offered to join him, and makes interest for a good employment under him; you will observe, Sir, that although it seems de Belcombe disavows him as an ambassador from the king, yet he takes no effectual measures to remove him; and it is a known fact that St. Lubin sent by a Frenchman a dispatch to Belcombe in the month of July or August last. They all perfectly agree in the circumstance of the summons given to attend at the Nanah’s to witness the treaty. Nanah was sworn by his Bramin, and St. Lubin by his Padre, and Nanah kept the book. The dispatch of Monsieur Pascal du Santy to Surat, in order to carry from thence his dispatches for France, is certain. We have learnt by a Frenchman, lately arrived here, that he has been seen at Briancourt’s; his destination via Suez. This Frenchman says that he wanted to take his passage in an English Snow, I suppose Barrington, but that it was refused, and he is now to go in a vessel belonging to a black man.
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‘You see, Sir, how much Lubin has at stake by the total defeat of all his schemes, perhaps the loss of life, or imprisonment, if these fellows find that he is an impostor; everything, therefore, with him depends on his being able to persuade the minister to hurry out a body of men instantly on the receipt of his dispatches, or order them from the islands. I leave you, Sir, further to judge what he is capable of, when he has wrote that they are in perfect possession of the port and harbour of Choul; and to make the possession more valuable, he wanted the gentleman who took the draft of it for him, to put seven fathom water where there were only three and a half. The flourishing state of this country, the power of Nanah, the certain destruction of the English, the great advantage to France, all these he has dwelt on, as I am well assured, in a manner that cannot fail to make great impressions in France.’
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not be fulfilled by the ministers they authorize an alliance with Rugoba, on the terms of the treaty of Surat, which they considered more for the honour as well as the advantage of the Company than that which was concluded by Colonel Upton.
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A.D. 1778.—In the meantime dissensions among the parties at Poona continued to increase. Nana Furnuwees despised the abilities of his cousin, but with a Bramin’s caution he was at more pains to conceal his contempt than his enmity. Moraba was supported by all the partisans of Rugoba, particularly Buchaba Poorundhuree, Sukaram Hurry, Chintoo Wittul, and Wishnoo Nerhur. This faction gained Tookajee Holkar, whose defection from the cause of the ministers became avowed by his excusing himself when ordered to support Hurry Punt Phurkay in the Carnatic. The English envoy attributed the confidence he could perceive in Nana to an assurance of support from France. Immediately after the death of Gunga Bye, Sukaram Bappoo began to be jealous of his hitherto humble colleague, and now united, but cautiously and with no decision, in a plan for the restoration of Rugoba. Moraba made the proposal to Bombay, and requested that the Government would immediately bring Rugoba to Poona. Preparations were accordingly begun, and the President and Council determined to afford their assistance without delay. Their resolve was approved by the Supreme Government; and it was determined at Bengal, in consequence of the war in which they were about to engage on the west of India, as well as the apprehended schemes of the French in the same quarter, to support the Bombay Presidency with six battalions of Sepoys and a proportionate artillery from the Bengal establishment, to which some cavalry were afterwards added.¹ This force was directed to assemble on the Jumna opposite to Kalpee; the command was given to Colonel Leslie, and he was directed to march across India towards Bombay, and place himself under the orders of that Presidency.
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¹ [The approbation and support of the Supreme Government were gained, after a stormy debate, only by the casting vote of Hastings. Messrs. Francis and Wheler condemned the resolutions as illegal, unjust, and impolitic. Hastings and Barwell argued that the emergency justified the illegality, that it was not contrary to the Treaty of Purandhar, because the principal person with whom the treaty had been made had proposed it, and that it was not impolitic, because it would give the English permanent influence in the Marāthā Empire. (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), vol. i, pp. xvii, xviii.)]
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But although the Bombay Government agreed to aid the scheme of Moraba, it was with a proviso that Sukaram Bappoo, the principal authority in signing the treaty of Poorundhur, should state in writing that the invitation was made at his desire. This decided declaration Sukaram, unfortunately for himself, refused, and the plan was in consequence suspended, but it was the deliberate opinion of the Bombay Government that their own safety depended on their effecting a change in the Poona administration. The complex political machine which Nana Furnuwees managed on this emergency with consummate artifice, was at first a little deranged by a premature attempt to apprehend Moraba, who made his escape from Poona. This exposure would have disconcerted most men; but Nana, through Sukaram Bappoo, persuaded his cousin to return, and it was agreed that a new ministry should be formed, including Moraba and Bujaba Poorundhuree; but Bujaba was not so easily persuaded, and Sukaram Hurry nobly declared that nothing should ever induce him to abjure the cause of a generous master who had been his protector from youth to manhood; that Rugonath Rao was a soldier; and Nana a cunning, cowardly courtier.
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Moraba’s party, by the aid of Holkar’s troops, obtained the complete ascendancy; and Nana, who was obliged to retire to Poorundhur, pretended to acquiesce in the plan for conducting Rugoba to Poona, on condition of obtaining security for himself and property. The Bombay Government again received notice to prepare; but the weak Moraba imagined that he had attained his object, and fancied himself at the head of the administration. Nana affected his usual deference for Sukaram’s opinion, and was scrupulously respectful to his cousin. Consultations took place respecting the restoration of Rugonath Rao, and Moraba began to perceive the force of Nana’s objections. He could not but recollect that when *he* was minister under Mahdoo Rao, the conduct of Rugonath Rao had invariably tended to dissension, loss, or dishonour. He therefore, though still pretending to be desirous of reinstating Rugoba, began to evade the question when pressed by his English friends.
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A majority of the Council in Bombay, seeing that their hopes from Moraba’s party had vanished, soothing themselves with the hope of a continuance of peace with France, and with an idea of being able through Moraba to destroy the influence of the French at Poona, came to a resolution on the 22d April of countermanding Colonel Leslie’s detachment; but on the 3d of the ensuing month they reversed this resolution, for reasons which will be explained, and directed Colonel Leslie to advance.
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Moraba had given Mr. Mostyn assurances that St. Lubin should be dismissed; but his departure was delayed from day to day; and it was soon discovered that St. Lubin, by Nana’s contrivance, had been able to persuade Moraba to enter into his views. But in effect, notwithstanding appearances, Nana Furnuwees, unless when under the immediate influence of fear, would have been the greatest obstacle to the French views had they ever attempted an establishment in the Mahratta country. His jealousy of Europeans would never have admitted a French force sufficiently strong even for the expulsion of the English from the small settlement of Bombay, unless he could have been certain of crushing them afterwards. Nana Furnuwees never entirely believed that St. Lubin could bring troops; and one deception, which the impostor adopted to obtain credit, by writing to Goa and Damaun for permission to pass two French regiments through the Portuguese territories, seems only to have succeeded where he least wished it—with the English, by whom his letters were intercepted.
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All the events that have just been detailed had occurred by the time Mahadajee Sindia and Hurry Punt united at Merich. Both these officers were in Nana’s interests; and the well-concerted plan of threatening Hyder, during Nana’s danger, deceived both Hyder¹ and Moraba; nor did Moraba awake from his dream of security until Hurry Punt and Mahadajee Sindia, arriving by different routes, united at Poorundhur on the 8th June. Nana reassumed his former power, occupied the principal passes in the country with his troops; and through Sindia’s influence, seconded by a bribe of nine lacks of rupees, detached Holkar from the confederacy. Moraba once more resorted to negotiation with the English (the detail of which will require more particular notice), but the opportunity was lost. On the 11th July Moraba (July 11) was seized by a party of horse belonging to Mahadajee Sindia, and shortly after made over to Nana, by whom he was thrown into confinement in the fortress of Ahmednugur.
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¹ This circumstance, already noticed, is well known in the Mahratta country, but is not mentioned in any English record, and has escaped the notice of Colonel Wilks.
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The whole of his party were arrested except Sukaram Bappoo, whose confinement was only reserved because his being ostensibly at liberty was essential in regard to the treaty with the English. Bujaba Poorundhuree was thrown into the fort of Wundun, and the others into different hill-forts in the Ghauts. The unshaken constancy of Sukaram Hurry to his master Rugoba deserved a better fate. He was chained in irons so heavy, that although a very powerful man he could scarcely lift them; his food and water were insufficient to allay his hunger or to quench his thirst; but he survived fourteen months: and when so emaciated that he could not rise, ‘My strength is gone, and my life is going,’ said the dying enthusiast; ‘but when voice and breath fail my fleshless bones shall still shout Rugonath Rao! Rugonath Rao!’¹
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¹ Sukaram Hurry was a Purvoe, and is not a singular instance of the unshaken fidelity of that class in the history of Maharashtra. His daughter is alive in Satara. [Vide note on the Prabhūs on pp. 108–9, vol. i.]
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The deep artifice of Nana Furnuwees had succeeded in baffling the designs of his own countrymen, but he had still to encounter the intellect and vigour of Englishmen. The national jealousy he had ventured to awake rose with an aspect which terrified him. The application of the Resident at Poona to the ministers, and to Sindia and Holkar, for passports to facilitate the march of a body of British troops from the east to the west of India, for the declared purpose of counteracting the designs of the French, seems at first to have been viewed by the Mahrattas as a threat. They probably considered that if it had been intended to send troops to Bombay, they would have been embarked from the coast of Malabar or Coromandel, and replaced from Bengal; an opinion in which many competent judges among our own countrymen coincided; but the unfavourable season of the year, the ill-treatment to which the Bengal Sepoys had been invariably exposed on board ship; and perhaps, though never avowed, the grandeur of the enterprise, together with some idea entertained by Mr. Hastings from the first of forming an alliance with Moodajee Bhonslay, were the motives which influenced the Governor-General in choosing the overland route.
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Although the choice was more than questionable in regard to the mere military aid they could afford, yet the political effect was very considerable; and had the Deccan become, as the Coromandel coast had been, the theatre of war with France, this enterprising march would have proved of much importance in raising friends to the English, and in spreading opinions of their power essential to their preservation. In England, however, in the language of the day, it was considered one of ‘the frantic military exploits’ of Mr. Hastings¹; but had the English Councils in India not been at various periods guided by men whose views and genius went far beyond the ordinary opinions of their contemporaries, the British Empire in India might never have existed;—nor is it too much to suppose that we should at this moment have lamented our errors in the overgrown prosperity of our European rival, the exhaustion of our resources, or perhaps the annihilation of our power.
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¹ Mr. Dundas’s Speech, 1782.
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When the President and Council at Bombay accepted the first invitation of Moraba’s party, the Supreme Government approved of their having done so, because the principal person who had signed the treaty of Poorundhur, the articles of which still remained unfulfilled, was one of those who had joined in the application; and the other party, Nana Furnuwees, not only obstructed the fulfilment of the articles of the treaty, but was supposed to be negotiating, if he had not actually concluded, a secret agreement with the French, which threatened the existence of the Company’s possessions on the west of India. Under these circumstances, in a dispatch dated the 23d March, the Governor-General and Council authorized the Bombay Government ‘to assist in tranquillizing the dissensions of the Mahratta state’; they directed, that in whatever manner the ruling party should choose to conduct the administration, personal security should be demanded for Rugoba, and the expenses of any military expedition that might be required should be borne by the Mahratta government. Bassein, and some territory in its neighbourhood, were to be demanded in exchange for Baroach, whilst, in order to defeat the designs of the French, it was ordered that there should be an express stipulation, preventing all European settlements within the Mahratta territories, unless sanctioned by the supreme British Government in India; and they announced that, lest the French should obstruct these objects, Colonel Leslie’s detachment would take the field for the support of the Presidency of Bombay.
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The first plan, however, having been defeated, as we have seen, by the apparent reconciliation of the ministers, the Bombay Government, for the reasons already enumerated, had dropped their intentions; but, upon receiving the orders of the 23d March, they deemed themselves authorized to call upon the new administration, to know whether or not they held the Mahratta state bound by the treaty of Poorundhur, and to demand explicit answers on the points still in dispute. Instructions to their envoy were addressed to that effect, and they directed him to remonstrate on St. Lubin’s being still kept at Poona. Nana Furnuwees perceived that in regard to the English he had committed himself farther than he had intended or might be enabled to retract, and his enmity had been too actively exercised against Rugoba ever to hope for reconciliation with him or his friends. St. Lubin was dismissed early in the month of July, before Moraba was placed in confinement; but Nana, on St. Lubin’s taking leave, although he entered on no absolute agreement, was at that moment sincere in his assurances, when he declared that, if the envoy could bring a French corps to his aid, he would grant his nation an establishment in the Mahratta territories.
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Sindia and Holkar, as Mr. Hastings had foretold, granted passports for Colonel Leslie’s detachment, because, as their territories were exposed during their absence, it was their object that the British troops, if they came by that route, should pass as friends. The ministers, however, observed to Mr. Mostyn that as the detachment was sent on account of the French, by the dismissal of the envoy, both their advance and their passports were no longer necessary; Nana at the same time sent secret orders to the Mahratta officers and to the Rajas in Bundelcund to oppose Leslie’s progress.
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It was at this conjuncture that Moraba’s party made a specific application to Mr. Mostyn, which that gentleman intended to carry to Bombay himself, but postponed doing so in hopes of receiving answers to the demands which had been formally made on the Mahratta government, agreeably to the authority from Bengal. A part of Moraba’s proposals contained satisfactory assurances on every point referred; but Nana, who was fully apprised of all that was going forward, in order to create delay, kept back the replies of the acknowledged and executive authority of the state until Mr. Mostyn at last set out on the 6th July, when Nana sent them to his assistant, Mr. Lewis, who transmitted them to Bombay.
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These replies positively denied having entered on any treaty with the French, but in general they were merely a brief summary of the arguments they had before used in their interpretation of the articles of the treaty of Poorundhur. In regard to the important question of whether or not the new ministry held themselves bound by that treaty, they observed, ‘the English should keep that treaty faithfully, when they should do the same.’
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About the time that these evasive answers were received in Bombay, intelligence arrived of the war with France, and the President and Council after deliberating upon the replies and the proposals from Moraba’s party, were of opinion that the former were a violation of the treaty of Poorundhur; and that they in consequence, under the authority granted by the Supreme Government in their dispatch of the 23d March, were at liberty to pursue such measures as might be expedient for the subversion of a party in the Mahratta state decidedly hostile to the English nation; and extremely dangerous to their interest, in the event of any attempt on the part of France against their possessions on the west of India.
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They therefore resolved to make equitable stipulations for placing Rugoba in the regency, but with an express proviso that the government should be conducted in the name of the young Peishwa, Mahdoo Rao Narrain, and that the entire powers should be surrendered to him on the expiration of his minority.¹ The whole was to be kept secret until the opening of the season, when it was intended to carry their plans into effect with the utmost vigour; and in the meantime they directed Colonel Leslie, who had been before instructed to proceed to Surat, to alter his route and march on Joonere.
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¹ By Hindoo law the age is sixteen; with the Mahrattas the usage is from sixteen to twenty years of age.
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But they had scarcely signed their resolution when they received accounts of the seizure of Moraba and his friends and the defection of Holkar; circumstances which destroyed the party of Rugoba, but made no alteration in their plan, which they determined to prosecute at all hazards.
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Nana Furnuwees perceived the gathering storm, and his preparations to meet it were in progress, whilst those of the Bombay Government were only resolved. To prevent obstruction from Sukaram Bappoo, he was, on the plea of great age, removed from the administration and guarded by a body of Sindia’s troops, who were placed over his person and house, though Nana Furnuwees and Sindia still occasionally pretended to be guided by his advice. Sillidars were recruited all over the country and directed to assemble at the Dussera. Vessels in the different ports were refitted, the forts were provisioned and repaired, fresh instructions were dispatched to harass Leslie’s march, but positive orders were also sent not to avow that the opposition was made by authority from Poona. An agent was sent to Bombay to amuse the Government by making overtures to Rugoba, but the vigilance of Mr. Lewis had apprised them of the intention.
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In the end of August the Bombay Government, for the first time, received some general information from the Governor-General and Council of their intention of forming an alliance with Moodajee Bhonslay, and they were directed to enter on no engagement hostile to the government at Poona, excepting such as was absolutely defensive. But on this the President and the majority of the Members of Council observed that Moodajee was so wholly unconnected with their design of establishing Rugoba in the regency, that this intimation ought not to be allowed to interrupt their proceedings. However, up to the 12th of October no preparations had been begun at Bombay, and Mr. John Carnac, one of the Members of Council, and the declared successor of Governor Hornby, in consequence of the delay submitted a minute, urging the necessity of vigorous preparation and representing all the evils of procrastination. Mr. Carnac, though best known on the west of India in his civil capacity, was originally a military officer on the Bengal establishment, where he had risen to the rank of brigadier-general and been distinguished by his services. Mr. Draper, with his usual deliberation and in this instance with the clearest judgement, dissented from Mr. Carnac’s proposal, because it was impossible for them to judge what might be the object of the Governor-General and Council in treating with Moodajee Bhonslay; he perfectly agreed in the propriety and expediency of removing Nana Furnuwees when it could be effected with certainty, but circumstances had materially altered at Poona since their first resolutions. Their own force, particularly in Europeans, was very weak, and Colonel Leslie’s strong reinforcement was still at a great distance; he was therefore of opinion that a delay of about two months ought to be their object. All these suggestions were sound, and apparently too evident to be disputed; but the majority of the members of the Bombay Government, in regard to Rugoba, were precisely as described by Mr. Hastings, ‘their passions were enlisted in his cause, it was in effect their own.’ Mr. Carnac, whose peculiar situation in having superseded Mr. Draper, ought, on every view, to have ensured delicacy and forbearance, scarcely concealed his contempt of Mr. Draper’s caution and strenuously supported the proposals of Governor Hornby. It was the opinion of the majority that no time should be lost; the French might probably arrive, an incident the truth of which Mr. Draper admitted, and that too, he observed, ‘with their garrison drained of troops and Bombay at their mercy,’ but his voice was overruled, and Mr. Carnac’s zeal was rewarded, in the first instance, by his being appointed president of a committee to settle the preliminaries with Rugoba.
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The Bombay Government had lost a respectable counsellor in the death of General Robert Gordon, the commanding officer of their forces. He was succeeded by Colonel Charles Egerton, an officer who had been brought up in the army at home and had served on the continent of Europe; but a man extremely weak and totally unacquainted with India, its natives, or its warfare. His health was so infirm as to render him unfit for active service, but as he had been before set aside in favour of Colonel Keating, Mr. Hornby on the present occasion assented to his being appointed to the command. In a regular service, however, it sometimes happens that men whose rank is their only recommendation may be convenient commanders, but if their intended directors prove deficient in ability, or should they happen to fall under an influence contrary to what has been designed, the misfortune and disgrace that may result from such selections ought in justice to be attributed to those on whom the choice depends.
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Many officers of rank, who at that time entered the Company’s service at an advanced period of life, came to India, less with an idea of attaining rank or honour than of making fortunes by any means. Their pay was inadequate, and as the manner of regulating the supplies, carriage, and equipment of an army, was without system, the shameless corruption and embezzlement which frequently prevailed excited the jealousy of the governments, without either suggesting efficient checks or engaging by high confidence those better feelings which, with the ideas common to their profession, they would perhaps in most instances have retained.
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This jealousy was, on the present occasion, one cause of the appointment of two Members of Council, who, together with the Commanding Officer, formed a committee, in whom was not only vested the political authority, but every other arrangement for conducting Rugonath Rao to Poona; leaving the mere detail of duty and of march as the sole occupation, separately entrusted, to the senior military officer of their army.
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On the first proposal of a committee Colonel Egerton assented to the measure, conceiving, as he afterwards explained, that it was intended solely for the purpose of settling the preliminary arrangements with Rugoba, but he afterwards made repeated objections and protested against the measure, as contrary to the orders of the Court of Directors and derogatory to his situation as Commanding Officer.
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The basis of the new agreement¹ with Rugonath Rao differed little from the treaty of Surat, as far as the Company was concerned; but in regard to Rugoba it was most expressly stated that the English were to place him at Poona as regent, and in other respects the articles were nearly in conformity with the instructions from Bengal. As the Bombay Government had decided contrary to the advice of Mr. Draper, it might have been expected that they would have used dispatch in sending off their troops, but their preparations were extremely dilatory. At last an advanced party, consisting of six companies of native grenadiers from different corps, with a small detail of light artillery, embarked from Bombay on the evening of the 22d (Nov. 22.) November, landed at Aptee, and moved forward under Captain James Stewart, who took possession of the Bhore Ghaut without opposition and encamped at the village of Kundalla.² The advance had embarked before the treaty was signed; and at this moment an unexpected cause of delay arose from the perverse conduct of Rugoba, who perceiving that the Bombay Government had gone too far to retract, and that his concurrence was indispensable, started objections and pertinaciously adhered to them until a part of his demands were granted. This disposition to take every possible advantage of those friends who had done so much to uphold his cause occasioned considerable vexation; but for the present this disappointment was forgotten in the animating bustle of expected service, and the brilliant hopes entertained of the result.
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¹ [The new treaty was dated November 24, 1778, and contained seventeen articles. For details, see Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 334–8.)]
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² [Khandāla (Kundalla), which is now a station on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, lies about forty-one miles north-west of Poona, and is a favourite hot-weather retreat of Bombay residents. The
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The troops embarked at Bombay for Panwell¹ on the 23d; took possession of the small fort of Bellapoor, and disembarked at Panwell on the 25th of November. Including the advance under Captain Stewart, and a detachment of sixty rank and file left at Bellapoor, the army was composed of five hundred and ninety-one Europeans, two thousand two hundred and seventy-eight native infantry, and five hundred gun Lascars; the whole, officers included, amounted to three thousand nine hundred men. Preparations sufficient to have enabled the commanding officer to move from Panwell were not completed for several days; but the delay which afterwards took place in making roads, and in the observance of various formalities, was equally unnecessary and inexcusable.
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¹ [Panvel (Panwell), lying in 18° 59′ N. and 75° 7′ E. on the high road from Bombay to Poona, is now the headquarters of the Panvel tāluka, Kolāba District. It has a considerable coasting-trade, and is locally well known for the manufacture of wheels for bullock-carts. (I.G. Bom., 1909, ii. 139, 140.)]
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A proclamation declaring the objects of the expedition was issued in Rugoba's name, and probably intended to be disseminated by means of his people. When the troops first entered the village of Panwell, the Carcoon in charge of it, on the part of the ministers, retired. Colonel Egerton immediately occupied his house; and as he had received two copies of the proclamation, he assembled the inhabitants, whom he describes as well satisfied with the change of government when he had read the proclamation; and he was therefore not a little surprised on finding intelligence had reached Bombay that the inhabitants were retiring from the village, and that a complaint had been made against him for
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neighbourhood affords fine views of the Ghāts, which run north and south in lines of great natural beauty. (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 518.)]
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occupying, and of course defiling, a Bramin's house. This accusation Colonel Egerton repelled by declaring that he was actually living in the government-house, it never appearing to enter his mind that the government agent was a Bramin. It may seem frivolous to record such absurdities, or the petty disputes of Mr. Carnac and Colonel Egerton, which commenced regarding the military honours to be paid to the former. Unfortunately Mr. Mostyn, the person best qualified to direct the expedition, was taken ill, and without once attending the committee returned to Bombay, where he died on the 1st of January.¹ Mr. Carnac was fully sensible of his loss; and at an early period expressed apprehensions of the great discouragement his illness might prove to the Mahratta party still inclined to the cause of Rugoba.
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¹ [St. Thomas's Cathedral, Bombay, contains a tablet to the memory of Thomas Mostyn with the following inscription: ‘Sacred to the memory of Thomas Mostyn, Esq., who died January 1st, 1779, aged 48 years. Skilful in the politics of Hindustan, He resided several years in a public character at the Mahratta Court. Of a cool, discerning mind He discharged his duty with Diligence, Firmness and Integrity. A faithful Servant of the East India Company. In private life he was blessed with mildness and gentleness of manners. A cheerful Companion. A benevolent Master. A steady, sincere Friend.’]
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Colonel Egerton, on Mr. Mostyn's being taken ill, declared that the powers of the committee were suspended; but his objections were overruled by an order from Bombay, although by this decision, there being only two members, Mr. Carnac, as president with a casting vote, became virtually commander of the army.
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(Dec. 23.)—The whole force accompanied by Rugoba, Amrut Rao, his adopted son, and a few straggling horse that had joined them, ascended the Ghauts by the 23d of December; by that time some partial skirmishing had taken place between Captain Stewart and small parties of the enemy, in which the Sepoys showed great zeal. Colonel Egerton, at the top of the Ghauts, divided his force into two brigades; the one commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Cay, the other under Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn, still reserving the advance as a separate corps under Captain Stewart. These three divisions advanced alternately at the rate of about three-quarters of a mile daily, the march rarely exceeding two miles, and the one division always occupying the ground which the other had quitted. In this manner, in eleven days they reached Karlee,¹ a village eight miles from the ground which Captain Stewart had first occupied. This extraordinary mode of warfare, which the Commanding Officer afterwards declared was owing to want of provisions and carriage in the commissariat, and which Mr. Carnac describes as what Colonel Egerton might have seen in Germany, encouraged the enemy, who brought down infantry, rockets, and guns to harass them; but they were attacked and driven back on every occasion with the greatest spirit. During the march from Kundalla the army lost Lieutenant-Colonel Cay, an excellent officer, who was mortally wounded by a rocket on the 31st of December; but at the village of Karlee, on the 4th of January, Captain Stewart, who on the present and several other occasions had distinguished himself, was killed by a cannon ball, to the general regret of the army. ‘He was,’ says the Bombay Government, ‘a most active, gallant, and judicious officer, and possessed of the true military spirit.’ It is a remarkable fact that his name is to this day familiar in the Mahratta country by the appellation of Stewart Phakray,² which expresses something more than the gallant Stewart, a circumstance that marks the strong impression made by his conduct; and what soldier, wherever he may fall, could desire a nobler epitaph than that such a tradition should be preserved by his enemies?
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¹ [Kārlī (Karlee), a village in the Māval tāluka, Poona District, is now a station on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. It is chiefly remarkable for the famous rock-cut Buddhist caves, which lie two and a half miles from the station. (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 515–18; Fergusson, History of Eastern and Indian Architecture.)]
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² [See Ishtur Phakde (i.e. Stewart Phakray) by C. A. Kincaid, Bennett, Coleman & Co., Bombay, and note on p. 456, vol. i.]
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Jan. 4.
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The dilatory preparations at Bombay afforded Nana Furnuwees and Mahadajee Sindia ample time to assemble the army. Sukaram Bappoo’s restraint was at this crisis deemed impolitic, probably from the same cause as before, on account of the situation in which he stood with the British Government, as one of the two ministers who concluded the treaty of Poorundhur; a reconciliation had therefore been brought about, and he ostensibly resumed his office as minister. The principal part of the military operations were entrusted to Mahadajee Sindia, Hurry Punt Phurkay, and Tookajee Holkar. But they took care to place Holkar, of whom Nana was justly suspicious, in a situation from which he would have found it extremely hazardous to effect a junction with Rugoba. The whole Mahratta army, on the approach of the English, advanced to Tullygaom.¹ Bhew Rao Yeswunt Phansay, with seven guns, four thousand infantry and five thousand horse, had been sent on some time before to oppose the Bombay troops; and it was with Phansay’s party that the skirmishes had hitherto been maintained. (Jan. 6.) On the 6th of January Colonel Egerton, in consequence of sickness, was obliged to resign the command of the army, which devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn; but Colonel Egerton continued a member of the committee, as a party of the enemy’s horse had cut off the communication with Bombay.
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¹ [Talegāon (Tullygaom), properly Talegāon-Dābhādē, is twenty miles north-west of Poona, and is now a station on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The Dābhādē family, whose ancestor Khandē Rāo was appointed Senāpatī in 1716, are hereditary pāṭels of the town. (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 533–4.)]
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On the 9th of January the army reached Tullygaom, where the Mahrattas made a show of resistance; but when the line advanced in order of battle they retired. The village had been destroyed by order of Nana Furnuwees, and the committee heard that similar orders had been given for burning Chinchore ² and Poona. On receiving this intelligence, instead of pushing forward eighteen miles, the distance between Tullygaom and the capital, the apparent determination of the enemy alarmed them; and Rugoba’s assurance that no person of consequence would declare for him until some advantage had been obtained had quite a contrary effect from what he had intended, and instead of being animated to exertion the committee sank into despondency. With eighteen days’ provisions for their troops, they in the same breath came to a resolution, first of negotiating with some of the chiefs, and then of retreating. Mr. Lewis, who had remained at Poona till the last moment and had made good his way to Bombay, was with the army, and at this moment assured the committee that a party of horse in the interests of Moraba were in the Concan, and might soon be expected to join their army; but this circumstance was disregarded. When Mr. Carnac proposed a retreat to Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn, Captain Hartley and Mr. Holmes of the civil service were present, and both these gentlemen ventured to suggest that it would be better to await the result of the negotiation where they then were. Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn on being called upon for his opinion, said he had no doubt that he could carry the army to Poona, but apprehended the impossibility of protecting the baggage, provisions, and cattle; of which last, of bullocks alone, there were 19,000. The committee, however, determined to adhere to their resolution of retreating.¹ Rugonath Rao, whose advice at such a moment was of great importance, earnestly begged of them to defer their resolution; but the man who had led fifty thousand horse from the Nerbuddah to the Attock was equally odious to his countrymen and despicable among his allies; not one day would the committee delay in deference to his opinion, and at eleven o'clock on the night of the 11th of January, the heavy guns having been thrown into a large tank and a quantity of stores burnt, an army of two thousand six hundred British troops began its retreat, secretly as was supposed, before fifty thousand Mahrattas.²
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² [Chinchvad (Chinchore) lies ten miles north-west of Poona, and is famous for a shrine of the god Ganpatī, who is said to have become incarnate in the person of a boy, Moroba, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Moroba was succeeded by a line of incarnations, known as the Devs of Chinchvad, which died out in 1810. The family, which now controls the properties and temples of the Devs, lives in a mansion built partly by Nāna Farnavīs and partly by Hari Pant Phadks. (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 512–13.) See also Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed., vol. i; The Magic Art, pp. 405 f., for a reference to the Chinchvad Devs.]
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¹ [The Committee's letter, ordering the retreat, ran as follows: ‘To Lieutenant-Colonel William Cockburn, commanding the English forces now at Talegāon. ‘Sir,—Having maturely deliberated upon the necessity of the measure, you are hereby directed to march back the army under your command towards the pass at Khandala as expeditiously as possible.’ J. Carnac. Charles Egerton.’ (Printed on p. 366 of Forrest's Selections (Marāthā Series), 1885, i.)]
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² Mr. Lewis seems to have estimated them at about ten thousand infantry and twenty-five thousand horse. Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn declares there were above one hundred and twenty thousand men. The Mahrattas themselves say at least a lack, and I believe there may have been above one half of that number.
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It was vainly imagined that they could make one march before being discovered; and when the advanced guard, under Captain Gordon, was fired upon by a party of horse at two o'clock in the morning, Colonel Cockburn conceived that the enemy must have obtained the intelligence from Rugonath Rao. The army, as already noticed, was divided into two brigades, besides six companies of grenadier Sepoys, which were kept distinct as a reserve. On the present occasion the two brigades were united under Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn, having a strong advanced guard at some distance in front, with the six companies of grenadier Sepoys and two guns considerably in the rear.
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On the death of Captain Stewart, Captain James Hartley was selected to command the reserve. Captain Hartley was a young man, who had been in the Company’s service fourteen years; he was well known to the Sepoys, who have much discernment in the character of their officers, and are very different under different men; but in the hour of need, where they have experienced kindness and seen their commanders worthy of confidence, there probably never was an instance of misconduct. An officer, even in a subordinate rank, has often a charge not only difficult in itself, but of higher national importance when leading the natives of India than is likely to fall to the lot of a junior officer in any other branch of the British service. He has not merely to do duty, not his only to animate, or, what is often more difficult, to restrain, but to support the minds of his men and infuse his own spirit when he may perceive them despondent or discontented.
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As soon as Colonel Cockburn heard the firing in front, he ordered Major Frederick, with two companies of Europeans, to support Captain Gordon; but the Mahrattas had succeeded in plundering a part of the baggage, and in a very short time the rear was also attacked. The army, however, continued to move on till daylight, when they found themselves completely surrounded, and large bodies of horse coming on as if to charge the main body; the troops were immediately halted and the line formed; but the strength of the attack, as had been the practice in Deccan warfare since the days of Shah Jehan, was made upon the rear. Hartley’s Sepoys received them with the greatest animation and steadiness, drove them back, and were with difficulty restrained from pursuing them. Shortly after sunrise the attack on the rear was renewed by the main body of the Mahratta army, consisting of both cavalry and infantry; and their guns, having been brought up, opened on the line, but the heaviest fire and the brunt of the onset were still in the rear. The gallant band of Sepoys, though now sore pressed, had excellent European officers, and not only stood their ground with spirit, but fought with perfect enthusiasm.
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