A History of the Mahrattas v2.c48.16

v2.c48.16

The enlargement of Nana, though a source of great concern to Bajee Rao, was not unlooked for; but when it was almost immediately followed by the revocation of the treaty with Nizam Ally, from causes not sufficiently explained, but chiefly owing to the unsteady and fluctuating policy of the minister Musheer Ool Moolk, the Peishwa lost no time in commencing negotiations with Nana Furnuwees and with Sindia. The latter, not yet apprised of the revocation of the treaty, apprehensive of an attack from the confederated Mahrattas and Moghuls, and alarmed by reports of disaffection among his troops in Hindoostan, received these overtures with complacency, but insisted on the reinstatement of Nana Furnuwees as preliminary to an accommodation. Ghatgay in the meantime assisted by an agent worthy of himself, a Mahratta named Fukeerjee Garway, continued to commit every species of extortion and excess: he even disregarded the remonstrances of Sindia, and his cruelty, increased by indulgence, was almost unparalleled. He seized four officers in Sindia's army, on mere suspicion of their being concerned in the Byes’ insurrection; he blew three of them from guns, and the fourth, Yeswunt Rao Sivajee, had a tent-peg driven into his brain by a mallet.