A History of the Mahrattas v2.c37.5

v2.c37.5

The negotiation between General Goddard and Nana Furnuwees continued for several months; but towards the end of the monsoon Goddard communicated to the Bombay Government some intelligence he had received of a general confederacy of the Mahrattas, Hyder and Nizam Ally, against the English, on whom it was said they meditated an attack at all the three Presidencies. General Goddard, prior to the receipt of this information, had sent to demand explicit answers from Nana Furnuwees, which were obtained sooner than was expected, by his declaring that the surrender of Salsette and the person of Rugoba were preliminaries to any treaty which the English might wish to (Oct.) conclude with the Mahratta state. An immediate requisition was made for Colonel Braithwaite’s detachment, on the first intelligence of a confederacy; but, in consequence of an attack of the Nairs,¹ secretly instigated by Hyder against both Mahé and Tellicherry, the services of the detachment could not be immediately spared; the Madras Government therefore, who then foresaw no impending danger to their own Presidency, prepared another detachment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Browne, of one hundred artillery, a regiment of five hundred Europeans, and a battalion of Sepoys; but, before they joined Goddard, the campaign of the ensuing season was nearly at an end.