A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51: Chapter XLIII

A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51

Language: English

v2.c51.51 — 4 parts

Chapter XLIII

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A.D. 1802.—The natural order of events now carries us back to affairs at Poona, before entering on the history of the important transactions which succeeded the Peishwa’s arrival at Bassein.

The moderation at first shown by Holkar after his victory was a mere cloak to allure Bajee Rao to return to his capital. Being in distress for funds to pay his troops, Holkar, in order to satisfy the most urgent of their demands, was obliged to levy a contribution from the city of Poona, but for that purpose he employed two of Bajee Rao’s ministers, Chintoo Punt Deshmookh and Wyjunath Punt Mama, who, without being apprised of their master’s intention, had been sent by him to negotiate with Holkar, a few hours previous to his retreat from Singurh to the Concan. Such was their influence with the inhabitants that a very considerable cess was promptly raised, in the vain hope of buying exemption from future pillage by their readiness to comply with a measure which, sanctioned by these men, had something of the character of regular authority.

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When Holkar found that the Peishwa had no intention of returning, he sent a body of his troops to Amrut Rao at Joonere, inviting him to take charge of the government at Poona; but Amrut Rao on various pretences declined the invitation for several days. At last he arrived on the 12th November,¹ and was prevailed upon to assume the government, in which he was assisted by Moraba Furnuwees, Baba Rao Phurkay, and several others of the adherents of Nana Furnuwees. He held his court in tents pitched at the village of Bambooree

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¹ [The Resident at Poona reported to the Governor-General on November 9, 1802, that Amrat Rāo arrived at Poona on November 7, and took up his residence at ‘the Toph Khānah (i.e. Top-Khāna ‘Ordnance Department’) on the skirt of the city.’ (Forrest, Selec-tions (Marāthā Series), i. 561.)]

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(Nov. 12.)

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on the outskirts of the city. He refused to ascend the musnud himself, and for some time opposed a plan of elevating his son, Winaek Rao, to that dignity, as desired by Holkar; but when Bajee Rao quitted Mhar and threw himself entirely on the protection of the English, Amrut Rao pretended to consider it an abdication of the Peishwa-ship, and assented to the proposal of Holkar. The Raja of Satara at first obstinately refused to grant the usual form of investiture till prevailed upon by his brother Chitoor Sing, who had been for some time of Holkar’s party, serving with the division of Futih Sing Manay.

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Holkar now laid aside the mask of moderation, and began to extort and to plunder with all the violence of his habits and character. Chintoo Punt and Wyjunath Punt, who by their exertions in levying the contribution might have been at least entitled to his forbearance, were delivered over as prisoners to Huree Punt Bhawey and Hureenath, two Bramins, equally cruel and more systematically wicked than Shirzee Rao Ghatgay. They tortured both the persons thus made over to them, in order to extort money; and every respectable householder of Poona, possessed of property, was seized and forced by any means to give up his wealth. Several men died under the tortures they underwent. Amrut Rao was not less blameable than Holkar in the enormities thus inflicted on the unhappy inhabitants of Poona, whose sufferings at this time were particularly severe, owing to Bajee Rao’s having stationed guards to prevent their flight previous to the battle of the 25th October; and Holkar, though with a different motive, took care to observe a similar precaution, as soon as the issue of the contest had established his control.

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These excesses were begun even before Colonel Close quitted Poona. Both Amrut Rao and Holkar were very desirous of prolonging his stay, in the hopes of his being prevailed upon to mediate in their differences with Sindia and the Peishwa, and of gaining by his presence the apparent sanction of the British Government to their usurpation; but finding that no persuasion could alter his purpose, he was at last permitted to depart on the 20th November,¹ and he arrived at Bombay on the 3d of the following month. Colonel Close met Bajee Rao on the evening of the day on which the latter landed at Bassein; and the preliminary of the proposed treaty, already tendered by an agent on the day of his flight from his capital, was immediately alluded to and acknowledged by the Peishwa himself. The 18th December was the day appointed for the discussion of the various articles of this treaty, and on the 31st it was finally completed. It was declaredly for the purpose of general defensive alliance, and the reciprocal protection of the territories of the Peishwa and the English East India Company and their allies respectively.¹ For this purpose a subsidiary force of not less than six thousand regular infantry, with the usual proportion of field-artillery and European artillery-men, were to be permanently stationed in the Peishwa’s dominions. In the event of war, two battalions of the infantry, not less than one thousand each, were to remain near the Peishwa’s person: the rest, joined by six thousand infantry and ten thousand horse of the Peishwa’s own troops, were to act as circumstances might require. No European, of a nation hostile to the English, was to be entertained by the Peishwa. Districts yielding twenty-six lacks of rupees were assigned for the payment of the subsidiary force; and all articles intended for the consumption of these troops were to be allowed to pass duty free. The Peishwa relinquished his claims on Surat, and submitted to the British arbitration in the adjustment of his differences and claims on the Nizam and the Gaekwar: with respect to the former, he bound himself to conform to the treaty of Mhar; and in regard to the latter, he recognized the engagement lately concluded between Anund Rao Gaekwar and the British. The Peishwa likewise bound himself to engage in no hostilities with other states, neither to commence nor pursue in future any negotiations with any

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¹ [From a letter of Colonel Close to the Marquess Wellesley, dated November 28, 1802, it appears that he finally left Poona early on that date, not on the 20th as stated by the author. (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 576.) Colonel (afterwards Sir Barry) Close is

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¹ [A full statement of the Governor-General’s policy towards the Pēshwā and other Marāthā chiefs will be found in a letter from his Secretary to Colonel Close, dated November 29, 1802. (See Forrest’s Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 579–82.)]

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thus described by Mountstuart Elphinstone in his diary: ‘A strong and hardy frame, a clear head, and vigorous understanding, fixed principles, unshaken courage, contempt for pomp and pleasure, entire devotion to the public service, joined to the utmost modesty and simplicity, formed the character of Sir Barry Close—a character such as one would rather think imagined in ancient Rome than met with in our own age and nation.’ (Colebrooke, Life of M. Elphinstone (1884), vol. i, p. 270.)]

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power whatever, without previous consultation with the British Government.¹

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¹ [The Treaty of Bassein contained nineteen articles, and will be found on pp. 584–9 of Forrest's Selections (Marāthā Series.)]

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Such was the substance of the important treaty of Bassein, by which the Peishwa sacrificed his independence as the price of protection, but it was the only course he could pursue to save himself from becoming, more than ever, a pageant in the hands of one or other of the contending chiefs. He had scarcely ratified the treaty when he began to waver in his plans, and to regret the decided line of policy, so contrary to his disposition, into which he had been hurried by the exigency of his circumstances. Motives of policy probably dictated the expression of his regret that Sindia had not been consulted, but there was no insincerity in his strenuous objections to those articles which tended to control his political freedom and influence, nor to the arbitration of his claims on the Gaekwar and the Nizam: a sacrifice on his part greater than the English authorities seem ever to have fully understood, or at all events appreciated. He dispatched Ballajee Koonjur to Sindia, and Narrain Rao Wydh to Rughoojee Bhonslay, ostensibly with the view of explaining the nature of the alliance into which he had entered, but in fact, as he knew they were both averse to it, rather to excuse his conduct in having been obliged, owing to their absence, to flee from Holkar and seek safety with Europeans. He sent no copy of the treaty, and in his letter invites Sindia and Rughoojee Bhonslay to march to Poona with all speed; not expressly to act against the English, of whom he takes no notice, but to punish the rebel Holkar.² He seems to have expected that Sindia and Rughoojee Bhonslay would unite to oppose the objects of the treaty; to have been doubtful of the issue of the contest that might ensue between them and the English; and to have been anxious as usual to deceive all parties, whilst he at the same time endeavoured to keep on terms with them.

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² Copies of his secret letters found in his palace at Poona.

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The Governor-General hoped that Sindia might be deterred from any hostile attempts to obstruct the operation of the treaty.³

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³ [Secret intelligence received from Poona by the Bombay Government shows that on January 2, 1803, Jasvant Rāo Holkar interviewed Amrat Rāo and declared ‘Bājīrāo has destroyed the Marāthā power. He has taken money from the English and given them territory. In

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After the battle of Poona, an effort was made to induce him to enter upon the defensive alliance, and upon the conclusion of the treaty of Bassein he was again invited, in the manner hereafter detailed, to enter on similar engagements ; but Sindia, though he would have been pleased in the first moment of alarm after the defeat of his army by Holkar, to have seen a British force co-operating with his own for the temporary purpose of re-establishing the Peishwa in his capital and suppressing the power of his rival, was mortified and incensed on finding that his own and his uncle’s plans for controlling the Peishwa’s government were at once frustrated and overturned. Nor were these the only evils resulting from the Peishwa’s engagements. He saw his own independence might be soon affected by the support which the Peishwa derived from a foreign nation, whose power, by a novel system of encroachment, threatened the subversion of the Mahrattas ; as effectually as their establishment of Chouth and Surdeshmookee had overwhelmed the empire of the Moghuls.

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The aversion with which Rughoojee Bhonslay had always regarded the Peishwa’s connecting himself with the English was well known, and his sentiments on the present occasion were in entire unison with those of Sindia. Yadow Rao Bhaskur, Sindia’s prime minister, was deputed by his master to consult with Rughoojee on the best means of cementing a general confederacy of the Mahrattas against the common enemy ; and Sindia, who had been preparing troops to oppose Holkar, crossed the Nerbuddah on the 4th February with a large army, with which he encamped at Burhanpoor on the 23d of that month. It was a few days after this period when Colonel Collins,¹ an envoy on the part of the Governor-General, arrived for the purpose of again inviting him

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¹ [Colonel John Collins was appointed by Sir John Shore in 1795 to be Resident at the court of Daulat Rāo Sindia, where he remained until 1803. In 1804 he was appointed Resident at Lucknow, where he died on June 11, 1807. The principal tomb in the old Christian cemetery near the Amīnābād Bazar is his ; hence the vernacular name of the place ‘Kallan-ka-lāt.’ (Broughton, Letters, &c., Constable, 1892, p. 30 n.)]

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due time they will seize the whole as they have done in Mysore. We must write to Sindia to ascertain whether he has done all this with his consent. Do you think this is the case ?’ He and Amrat Rāo agreed that each should write to Sindia and suggest that in the event of British troops marching in support of Bājīrāo to Poona they should join forces and oppose them. (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 583.)]

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to enter upon an alliance, and engaging his co-operation in the arrangements required by the treaty with the Peishwa. To gain time, Sindia at first evaded discussion; but when pressed by Colonel Collins, he declined becoming a party to the defensive alliance, declaring that he had no intention of obstructing the treaty; he added that as guarantee to the treaty of Salbye he expected to have been consulted before these new engagements were made, but that his intentions were in every respect friendly to the British Government. These professions were from the first deceitful; both Rughoojee Bhonslay and himself were actively preparing for war, and Bajee Rao continued in constant correspondence with them, secretly encouraging their views.¹

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¹ Copies of secret letters found in the palace at Poona.

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The Governor-General, in the meantime, had taken his measures for the re-establishment of Bajee Rao on his musnud at Poona. For this purpose the subsidiary force at Hyderabad, consisting of six battalions of infantry, each upwards of one thousand strong, with two regiments of native cavalry under Colonel Stevenson, took up a position at Purinda near the Peishwa’s eastern frontier, accompanied by fifteen thousand of the Nizam’s troops. The Honourable Major-General Wellesley was detached from the main army of Madras, assembled on the northern frontier of Mysore, with eight thousand infantry and one thousand seven hundred cavalry; being directed to march towards Poona for the purpose of co-operating with Colonel Stevenson in the Peishwa’s restoration. General Wellesley was joined on the banks of the Kistna by the Southern Mahratta Jagheerdars: Appa Sahib and Chintamun Rao Putwurdhun, Bappoo Gunnesh Gokla, Appa Dessaye Nepankur, and the family of the Patunkurs. The Jagheerdar of Vinchoor, grandson of Wittul Sewdeo, likewise attended the British army. The southern Jagheerdars had orders from the Peishwa to co-operate with the English; and all of them on this occasion, especially the family of Putwurdhun, evinced a very friendly disposition to the British Government. Straggling bodies of Holkar’s horse, belonging to the division of Umeer Khan and Futih Sing Manay, were plundering the country between the Beema and Kistna; but on being called upon to desist they retired. They had scarcely crossed the Beema, when Umeer Khan suspecting that Manay intended to join the Peishwa, contrived to seize him and disperse his troops.

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General Wellesley, on approaching Poona, made a march of sixty miles in thirty-two hours, and reached that city with his cavalry on the 20th April. Colonel Stevenson in the meantime arrived from Purinda at Gardoon on the Beema. General Wellesley’s object in advancing so rapidly was to save the city of Poona, which it was supposed Amrut Rao intended to burn; but he had retired many hours before the arrival of the British troops. Holkar was already on his retreat towards Malwa; but intelligence having reached Colonel Stevenson that he had levied a contribution on Aurungabad, and plundered some of the Nizam’s villages, that officer advanced towards the Godavery for the protection of the country.

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Amrut Rao, accompanied by Huree Punt Bhawee, after leaving Poona, marched to Sungumnere, plundering the towns and villages on his route; then turning on Nassuck, he attacked and defeated a body of troops in the interests of Bajee Rao, commanded by Raja Buhadur, and pillaged the town in the same barbarous manner as had been already done at Poona. Amrut Rao remained in the neighbourhood of Nassuck for some time; and as we shall have little occasion to introduce his name in the subsequent pages of this history, we may here briefly mention that, all overtures of reconciliation between him and Bajee Rao having been obstinately rejected by the latter, he entered into an engagement with General Wellesley, and during the progress of the war which followed joined the British troops with a body of horse. His services were on no occasion conspicuous, but a most liberal pension of eight lacks of rupees was assigned to him by the British Government, on which he retired to Benares, where he still resides.¹

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¹ [Amrat Rāo died in September 1824. His lineal descendants are still resident at Karwi or Chitrakut in Banda District, United Provinces. At Puri in Orissa a copper-plate record of his in Marāthī has lately been discovered, appointing one Gauranga Pānde, a priest at Jagannāthpuri, as the Tirthopādhyāya (ministering priest at a place of pilgrimage) of his family. See J.B. and O. Res. Soc., vol. v, pt. ii (1919), pp. 216-7.]

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The Peishwa, escorted by a body of 2,300 infantry, of whom 1,200 were Europeans, arrived from Bassein, and resumed his seat on the musnud the 13th May.² Sindia still occupied his position at Burhanpoor, and Rughoojee Bhonslay was preparing to join him. Every endeavour was used to induce Holkar to take a part in the confederacy. Rughoojee Bhonslay was employed as mediator between him and Sindia; and Holkar, who was at the same time carrying on a negotiation with the Peishwa through Colonel Close, listened and appeared to favour the overtures of the confederates, from whom he obtained the release of his nephew Khundee Rao, the restoration of his family territory in Malwa, and a promise that all his rights in Hindoostan should be recognized.

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² [The Pēshwā ascended the Bhor Ghāt on May 5, arriving at Talegāon on the evening of the 6th. On the 7th he paid a formal

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It was the interest of the British Government to conciliate Holkar; and, in order to prevent his joining the confederacy, they wished to overlook any cause of complaint they had against him; but the Peishwa could not be prevailed upon to listen to any mediation in his favour. The confederates wished Holkar to unite his army with theirs in the Deccan, but he excused himself by asking who was to take care of Hindoostan; and immediately retired to Malwa, with the real design of being guided by the issue of events.

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Although the plans of the confederates were conducted with considerable secrecy, rumours of their hostile designs were universally prevalent.¹ The Governor-General deemed it expedient to call upon Sindia for an explicit declaration of his intentions, and to make efficient preparations in every part of British India to repel the hostilities apparently meditated. In reply to the demands for explanation, sent by the Resident, Sindia declared that it was impossible to afford any satisfaction until he had met the Raja of Berar, after which the Resident should be informed whether it would be peace or war.

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¹ [See letter of July 15, 1803, from Colonel Close to Colonel Collins, which clearly exposes the policy of Sindia and the Rājā of Berār. (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 601–2.)]

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Their armies advanced to the frontier of the Nizam's boundary, and encamped in the neighbourhood of each other. The force under Colonel Stevenson crossed to the northward of the Godavery, and General Wellesley occupied a position in the

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visit to General Wellesley, while on his way to Chinchvād (see note on page 87, ante). On receipt of the news that the Pēshwā would make his entry into Poona on May 13, the Bombay Government issued orders for a salute of nineteen guns to be fired on that day at Bombay, Thāna, Surat, Fort Victoria (Bankot) and Baroda. (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 596–7.)]

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neighbourhood of Ahmednugur. A long train of evasion and delay followed the meeting between the chieftains. They declared they had no designs hostile to the British Government, nor any intention of obstructing the articles of the treaty of Bassein; but they alluded to their having received no official copy of it from the Peishwa, and mentioned that there were many points of it to be discussed, which the Peishwa was bound to have consulted them upon, before he signed its stipulations. Their professions of friendly intentions were only made with the view of gaining time, in the hope of Holkar’s being induced to embrace their cause. Their whole conduct, in other respects, indicated their hostile determination; and the menacing position which they occupied justified the warlike preparations of the British Government. General Wellesley having been vested with full powers, as Political Agent of the Governor-General, as well as military commander of the British troops in the Deccan, proposed, as the test of the friendly declarations of the chiefs, that they should withdraw their armies, Sindia to Hindoostan and Rughoojee Bhonslay to Berar, whilst he should also direct the British troops to retire within their own territories. This plain and distinct proposal, so characteristic of its author, perplexed the Mahratta chiefs, as there was no evading compliance except by a subterfuge too palpable to be overlooked or justified; after much discussion, it was finally rejected; the Resident withdrew from their camp on the 3d August, which was considered a declaration of war.¹

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¹ [General Wellesley wrote to the Resident at Poona to inform Sindia and the Rājā of Berār ‘that, consistently with the principles and uniform practice of the British Government, I am perfectly ready to attend to their interests and to enter into negotiation with them upon objects by which they may suppose their interests to be affected. But they must first withdraw their troops from the position which they have taken up on the Nizam’s frontier and return to their usual stations in Hindustān and Berār respectively, and on my part I will withdraw the Company’s troops to their usual stations.’ Sindia and the Berār Rājā replied that ‘the armies now assembled here, and those of the English Government and of the Nizam shall commence their return upon the same date, and that each of the armies shall arrive at their usual stations on a date previously settled; that is, that the army of the English and of the Nizam now encamped near Aurangābād, the army of the English encamped near the Kistna, and you also with your army, shall all march towards their stations on the same date that the armies move from this encampment; and on the same date that all those different armies reach their respective stations at Madras, Seringapatam and Bombay, Sindia and myself

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The Governor-General, when he saw that war was inevitable, had resolved to strike a decisive blow, and by a grand effort to attack the territories of the confederates in every quarter at once. For this purpose the preparations of the British Government were necessarily very extensive. Its resources were called forth on a scale of magnitude and efficiency before unknown, and the Governor-General by his liberality, his judicious selection of agents and commanders, and his confidence in the whole service, roused that ardour and spirit of enterprise which have been handed down in the Indian army from the first struggles of the British nation in the East.

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The British forces assembled in different quarters of India amounted to nearly fifty thousand men.

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The army in the Deccan and Guzerat amounted to 35,596 men, of whom 3,595 were left for the protection of Hyderabad and Poona, and 7,826 formed the covering army under General Stuart, between the Kistna and Toongbuddra.¹ The advanced force with General Wellesley consisted of 8,930 men under his personal command, and 7,920 under Colonel Stevenson. There were 7,352 men in Guzerat, of whom, after providing for the garrisons, 4,281 were available for field service and placed under the orders of Colonel Murray, subject to the control of General Wellesley.

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¹ In this part of the force there was subsequently some alteration made, of no importance to the Mahratta history.

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In Hindoostan 10,500 men were collected under General Lake. Three thousand five hundred men were assembled at Allahabad, to act on the side of Bundelcund, and 5,216 men were destined for the invasion of Rughoojee Bhonslay’s districts in Kuttack.

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The armies of Doulut Rao Sindia and Rughoojee Bhonslay were estimated at about one hundred thousand men, of whom about 50,000 were horse, and upwards of 30,000 were regular infantry and artillery, commanded by Europeans; of the rest, some were half-disciplined corps under the command of natives

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will reach Burhānpur.’ The absurdity of this proposal is apparent on a consideration of the distances dividing Ahmadnagar from the several bases of the troops above-mentioned, as compared with the distance of Burhānpur from the Nizām’s frontier. General Wellesley in a very firm reply treated the proposal as tantamount to a choice of war on the part of Sindia and the Bhoslē, and commenced hostilities on August 8. (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. xxxiii–iv.)]

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belonging to Rughoojee Bhonslay, some were matchlockmen and rocketmen; they had many hundred pieces of cannon, and Sindia’s train of field artillery was excellent. Of the regular infantry, ten or twelve thousand were with Sindia in the Deccan, and four or five thousand were on their march from the Deccan, conducted by the Chevalier Dudrenec, for the purpose of reinforcing the army in Hindoostan. Sindia’s army in the latter quarter was commanded by Monsieur Perron, the successor of De Boigne. His whole force, including those not yet joined, under Dudrenec, amounted to sixteen or seventeen thousand regular infantry and from fifteen to twenty thousand horse, of which four or five thousand were regular cavalry. This estimate does not include the forces of Shumsher Buhadur in Bundelcund, who was a party in the confederacy. Shumsher Buhadur was the son of Ali Buhadur, who, as the reader may remember, attempted, in conjunction with the Gosaeen Himmut Buhadur, to conquer Bundelcund. They so far succeeded as to possess themselves of several districts, all of which they held in the Peishwa’s name; partly as belonging to him from a remote period, and the rest as their own Jagheer. But being constantly engaged in warfare with the petty chiefs of the country, it furnished an excuse for remitting no part of the revenue to the Peishwa, although they acknowledged his authority. Ali Buhadur died in 1802, and his Jagheer was formally resumed by the Peishwa; but, as the latter had no means of enforcing the resumption, Shumsher, the son of the deceased, retained charge of the territory, took part against the English on the present occasion, and mustered, of all descriptions, about ten or twelve thousand men.

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General Wellesley received accounts of the unsuccessful termination of the Resident’s negotiations with the confederates on the 6th August, the same day on which Nizam Ally died at Hyderabad, an event long expected, and which was attended by no commotion or change, except the accession of his son Mirza Secundur Jah to the Soobehship of the Deccan.

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General Wellesley, who was encamped at the village of Walkee, eight miles south of Ahmednugur, was prevented by heavy rain from marching against that fortress until the 8th, when he commenced hostilities by detaching three divisions from his line of march to attack the Pettah by escalade. The Pettah is surrounded by a mud wall, and was obstinately defended by a body of Arabs and one of Sindia’s regular battalions, supported by a party of horse stationed between the Pettah and the fort; but the perseverance and spirit of the assailants surmounted every obstacle; and this prompt manner of proceeding gave a character to the commander and troops, in the opinion of the enemy, which made amends for the loss sustained in the attack. Of the British detachments, twenty-eight were killed and twenty-two wounded; of which number six were European officers.

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(Aug. 12.) A battery was opened upon the fortress on the 10th, and on the 12th this important garrison, once the capital of the Nizam Shahee kingdom, which, ever since the days of Chaund Beebee, had the reputation in the Deccan of being almost impregnable, was surrendered by its Killidar, who marched out with private property and arms, at the head of his garrison fifteen hundred strong; a conduct for which he was much censured by the confederates.¹

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¹ [The fort of Ahmadnagar lies half a mile to the east of the city, and is said to have been built in 1559 by Husain Nizām Shāh on the site of an old fortress of earth, constructed in 1488. The breach made by the British guns in 1803 is still visible. To the north-east of the flag-staff bastion stands a large tamarind tree, known as ‘Wellington’s tree,’ from the tradition that General Wellesley halted beneath it while his troops were besieging the fort. The tree is worshipped by many of the lower classes at Ahmadnagar. (I.G. Bom., i. 409.) See Wellesley’s letter of August 12 to the Governor-General, describing the capture of Ahmadnagar, in Forrest’s Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 605–7.)]

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The acquisition of Ahmednugur, as a point of support to all future operations to the northward, was of great consequence to the British army. A respectable garrison was left in the fort, and the revenues of the district were temporarily collected by an agent of the British Government, and appropriated to assist in the expenses of the war. General Wellesley moved forward, crossed the Godavery, and arrived at Aurungabad on the 29th August. The Mahrattas had ascended the Ajunta Ghaut on the 24th, with a large body of horse, and, avoiding Colonel Stevenson, who was some miles to the eastward, they encamped at Jaulna. On hearing of General Wellesley’s arrival at Aurungabad, they moved off in a south-easterly direction, intending, it was said, to proceed to Hyderabad. General Wellesley immediately moved down to the left bank of the Godavery, to check their probable design of plundering the country, and to protect his own convoys of grain, which were forwarded by General Stuart from the covering army south of the Kistna. Neither Rughoojee Bhonslay nor Sindia was possessed of military enterprise or experience, and they were quite undecided as to their plan of operations; sometimes Sindia proposed to depend on his battalions and artillery, at other times Rughoojee persuaded him to act on the predatory plan; their operations were of course feeble in the extreme. When General Wellesley moved down the Godavery, they counter-marched in a northerly direction; and whilst the General awaited the junction of his convoys, Colonel Stevenson made several unavailing attempts to bring them to action, but only succeeded in partially surprising their camp on the night of the 9th September. He had also made himself master of the fort of Jaulna. On the 21st September, the whole of the Mahratta army, joined by their infantry, of which there were sixteen battalions of regulars, was encamped about the village of Bokerdun, and between that place and Jaffeirabad. On the same day, General Wellesley and Colonel Stevenson met at Budnapoor, when it was agreed that the two divisions, then in the neighbourhood of each other, should move separately and attack the enemy on the morning of the 24th. They accordingly marched on the 22d; Colonel Stevenson by the western, and General Wellesley by the eastern route. On the 23d, on reaching the village of Naulnye, where he was about to encamp, General Wellesley learnt from his spies that the confederate armies were encamped on the Kailna river, within six miles of him. With great prudence and decision, founded on a remarkable discernment of the character of his enemy,¹ he instantly resolved on attacking them without waiting for Colonel Stevenson. Had General Wellesley hesitated, the enemy’s infantry would have moved off, their horse would probably have been encouraged to attack his baggage and annoy his camp, the service must have been prolonged, and by one day's delay or hesitation a new character might have been given to the war.

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¹ I have had occasion to observe how well the Duke of Wellington must have known the Mahrattas, from having read his private letters to Sir Barry Close during the war of 1803. Without being acquainted with their language, and one would have supposed, with little opportunity of knowing the people or their history, his correct views of the Mahratta character and policy are very remarkable. As the letters in question were shown to me confidentially in 1817, in the course of my official duties, I may be only authorized to mention, that in some instances, his opinion of individuals, particularly of Bajee Rao, was correctly prophetic.

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Having directed his deputy adjutant-general, Captain Barclay, to place the baggage in the village of Naulnye under the protection of a battalion and some details from the native corps, and to bring on the rest of the line with all convenient dispatch, General Wellesley moved out in person at the head of the picquets to reconnoitre, and in a short time, on ascending a rising ground, the host of the confederates was seen extending in a vast line along the opposite bank of the Kailna river, near its junction with the Juah. Their army amounted to upwards of 50,000 men, of whom more than 30,000 were horse, and 10,500 were regular infantry supported by upwards of one hundred guns. The handful of British troops, which now moved straight down upon this formidable array, did not exceed four thousand five hundred men,¹ but the general sentiment was that of their commander, ‘they cannot escape us.’ As General Wellesley drew nearer the enemy's line, he found their right composed entirely of cavalry, and that their cannon and infantry, which it was his object to take and destroy, were on their left, near the village of Assaye. He therefore moved round and passed the Kailna river at a ford beyond the enemy's left flank, forming his infantry into two lines and his cavalry as a reserve in a third, with his right towards the Juah, and his left on the Kailna.

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The horse belonging to the Peishwa and Raja of Mysore, accompanying General Wellesley, formed at a distance across the Kailna but had little or no share in the conflict.² The position thus occupied by the British, between the two rivers and near their junction, not only brought them upon their object, but was of importance in diminishing the front of the enemy, who changed their position as the British turned the flank of their old ground, and were now drawn up in two lines, one of them fronting the British troops, the other running at a right angle to their first line, with the left of both resting on the fortified village of Assaye. In this situation as the British lines were forming, the Mahrattas opened a heavy cannonade, the execution of which is described as terrible. The picquets of the infantry and the 74th regiment which were on the right suffered particularly; the picquets were for a time halted, and the officer in command of them when urged to advance sent word that the guns were disabled and the bullocks killed. General Wellesley received the message with the utmost composure and coolly replied, ‘Well, tell him to get on without them.’ The whole line without artillery was exposed to a dreadful fire of round and grape;

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the ranks of the 74th were completely thinned, and a large body of the Mahratta horse charged them: the order was given for the advance of the British cavalry:—the 19th light dragoons, who only drew 360 swords, received the intimation with one loud huzza! Accompanied by the 4th native cavalry who emulated their conduct throughout this arduous day,¹ the 19th passed through the broken but invincible 74th, whose very wounded joined in cheering them as they went on, cut in and routed the horse, and dashed on at the infantry and guns. Never did cavalry perform better service or contribute more to the success of a battle. The British infantry likewise pressed forward, the enemy’s first line gave way, fell back on their second, and the whole were forced into the Juah at the point of the bayonet; the fugitives on gaining the opposite bank were followed, charged and broken by the cavalry; but some of their corps formed again and went off in good order. One large body of this description was pursued and routed by the British cavalry, on which occasion Colonel Maxwell who commanded them was killed. As the British line advanced they passed many individuals of the enemy who either appeared to have submitted, or lay apparently dead. These persons rising up turned their guns on the rear of the British line, and after the more important points of the victory were secured, it was some time before the firing thus occasioned could be silenced.

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The enemy’s horse hovered round for some time, but when the last body of infantry was broken, the battle was completely decided, and ninety-eight pieces of cannon remained in the hands of the victors. The loss was severe; upwards of one-third of the British troops lay dead or wounded, but they had, considering the circumstances, achieved a triumph more splendid than any recorded in Deccan history.¹

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¹ The corps which had the honour to serve on this occasion, were the 19th light dragoons, the 4th, 5th, and 7th Madras Native cavalry, a detachment of Madras, and a small detail of Bombay artillery, the 74th and 78th Highlanders, 1 batt. 2d, 1 batt. 4th, 1 batt. 8th, 1 batt. 10th, and 2 batt. 12th regiments of Madras Sepoys.

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² Just before the battle of Assaye commenced, intelligence was brought to General Wellesley that the Peishwa’s troops intended to join Sindia in attacking him. That they would have done so, in the event of a reverse, is not improbable, but I have not met with any confirmation of the circumstance.

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¹ Nothing could exceed the zeal of some of the cavalry, particularly the 19th dragoons; every officer and man fought as if on his arm depended the victory. As instances may be mentioned Lieut. Nathan Wilson, who, with his arm shattered by a grape shot, and dangling by his side, charged on at the head of his troop. Lieut. Alex. Grant of the Madras Native infantry, major of brigade to Colonel Maxwell, observing a gun pointed ready to discharge on the flank of the 19th dragoons, the match suspended on the touch-hole, with a noble impulse, in hopes of preventing it, darted forward almost on its muzzle, and with such force, that his horse stuck between the cannon and its wheel; in this situation the gun went off, as he was in the act of endeavouring to prevent it, by cutting down the artillery-man. Captain George Sale was attacking a man who defended himself with a pike or short spear, a weapon with which all Sindia’s artillery-men were armed; the man’s comrade standing on a gun, made a thrust from above at Captain Sale, but it was turned by the breast bone, and glanced off diagonally across his chest; his covering serjeant, named Strange, laid the man dead who wounded his officer, but in the act, was himself speared through the lungs by another man from below the gun. Captain Sale went on, but begged the serjeant to fall in the rear; this, however, he gallantly refused, and rode out the day. Captain Sale and others afterwards saw him, when in hospital, blow out a candle from his lungs—the reader will be pleased to learn that the gallant serjeant recovered.

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¹ [A facsimile of General Wellesley’s letter to Mr. Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, announcing the victory of Assaye will be found at p. 609 of Forrest’s Selections (Marāthā Series. The letter is dated September 25, and was probably received in Bombay on October 2 or 3, 1803.]

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Of the enemy, twelve hundred were killed, and the whole neighbourhood was covered with their wounded. Yadow Rao Bhaskur, Sindia’s minister, was amongst the slain. Rughoojee Bhonslay fled from the field in the commencement of the action, and Sindia soon followed his example. The whole of the horse behaved in the most dastardly manner; Sindia’s infantry, although defeated by such a disparity of troops, did not altogether sully their high reputation. The artillery-men stood to the last, and eight of the old battalions of De Boigne fought with ardour and firmness. Most of Sindia’s battalions laboured under disadvantages by the secession of the British part of their European officers, who, in consequence of a proclamation by the British Government, quitted the Mahrattas at the breaking out of the war. This proclamation was addressed to all British subjects, native as well as European, offering them the same pay which they enjoyed with Sindia. It was judiciously extended to all Europeans, and in regard to the British officers was equally humane and politic.

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Colonel Stevenson, owing to various impediments, did not join General Wellesley until the evening of the 24th, when he was immediately detached in pursuit of the enemy, whose regular infantry retired before him and crossed the Nerbuddah, towards which Colonel Stevenson followed them. But the main army of the confederates moved to the westward, with an intention, as was supposed, of marching by the Kassarbharee Ghaut towards Poona. Under this supposition General Wellesley remained on the south side of the Ajunta Ghaut, and directed Colonel Stevenson to take possession of the city of Burhanpoor, and to reduce the strong fort of Asseergurh,¹ both of which objects he had accomplished by the 21st of October, with inconsiderable (Oct.21.) loss. The dependent districts in Candeish, which fell in consequence to the British disposal, were placed under the temporary management of revenue officers of the Hyderabad state.

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¹ [Asīrgarh (Asseergurh) fort, situated in 21° 28′ N. and 76° 18′ E. and now included in the Nīmār District of the Central Provinces, is mentioned in the Mahābhārata. Its possession lent importance to the Fārūkī dynasty of Khāndesh which was established in 1388, with its seat of government at Burhānpur. The dynasty and independence of the State ended with the surrender of Asīrgarh to Akbar in January 1601. In 1625 Shāh Jahān, who had revolted against his father, the Emperor Jahāngīr, surrendered it as one of his pledges of peace. During the operations against the Pindārīs, organized by the Marquess of Hastings, it finally capitulated to the British after a short siege in April 1819. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was reckoned to be one of the wonders of the world, so that it was ‘impossible to conceive a stronger fortress.’ (O.H.I., vi. et passim.)]

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In regard to the operations of the Guzerat troops under the orders of General Wellesley, a detachment of the field force was sent by Colonel Murray, under Lieutenant-Colonel (August 29th.) Woodington, for the purpose of reducing Sindia's possessions in that quarter. The fortified town of Baroach² was stormed and taken on the 29th August. Colonel Woodington next marched against the strong hill-fort of Pawungurh,¹ took by assault the town of Champaneer² which is attached to it, and the fort surrendered on the 17th September.³

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² [Broach (Baroach) is now the head quarters of the District of the same name in Gujarāt, and is situated in 21° 42′ N. and 72° 59′ E., on the right bank of the Narbadā, and is a station on the B.B. and C.I. Railway. Broach has a long history, reaching back to the first century of the Christian era; it flourished as a seaport equally under the Rājpūt dynasties of Anhīlvāda (A.D. 750–1300) and under the Musalman dynasty of Ahmadābād (A.D. 1391–1572). A British factory

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¹ [Pāvāgarh (Pawungurh) fort is now in the Pānch Mahāls District, Bombay, about twenty-eight miles east of Baroda. The hill on which it stands rises abruptly from the plain to a height of 2,500 feet. The fortifications include the lower fort, a massive stone structure with strong bastions stretching across the less precipitous parts of the eastern spur of the hill, and seven massive gates which are connected by strong walls sweeping up to the fortifications on the crest of the hill. The hill, which is named Pāvakgarh, or ‘fire-hill,’ in old inscriptions, is first referred to in the writings of a twelfth century bard. About A.D. 1300 it was seized by Chauhān Rājpūts; in 1484 Sultān Mahmūd Begara reduced it after a siege of nearly two years; in 1573 it fell into the hands of Akbar; in 1727 it was surprised by Krishnāji, who made it his headquarters; and Sindia took it about 1761. It was restored to Sindia in 1804 and came finally into British hands in 1853. (I.G. Bom., i. 304.)]

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² [Chāmpāner, now ruined, lies at the north-east base of Pāvāgarh. It was built by Mahmud Begara after he had defeated the Rājpūt possessors of Pāvāgarh in 1484, and quickly developed a flourishing trade, being specially famous for the manufacture of sword-blades. In 1535 the Emperor Humāyūn pillaged it, and on the death of Sultān Bahādur Shāh the court, which had been established in Chāmpāner by Mahmūd Begara, was re-transferred to Ahmadābād. By the commencement of the seventeenth century it was falling into ruins, and when Colonel Woodington took it, only 500 inhabitants were found. At present its only occupants are a few Kolīs and the pujāris of a temple on Pāvāgarh; but the ruins, many of which are of beautiful workmanship, render it a spot of more than ordinary interest. (I.G. Bom., i. 300–1; Trans. Bom. Lit. Soc., i. 151; Ind. Ant., lxii. 5, and xliii. 7.)]

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³ Public Records. Mahratta MSS. Ferdinand Lewis Smith, and Oral information.

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(Sept. 17th.) Whilst those successes attended the British arms on the west, affairs of not less consequence were passing in the north and east of India. The important possessions which had been acquired by Mahadajee Sindia in Hindoostan were a primary object of attention with the British Government. These provinces, independent of their value and their situation, were the nursery of the regular infantry of Sindia, which, although in itself less formidable to the British power than other descriptions of the Mahratta force, was in one respect dangerous, from its introduction of French officers, whose patriotism might induce them to encourage and

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was established there in 1616. Colonel Woodington, in reporting his capture to General Wellesley, stated that the Arab forces in Broach showed considerable resistance and suffered heavy loss. Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), i. 607–8; I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 318–22.)]

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support their countrymen in a favourite scheme of conquest in the East.

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General De Boigne¹ having been compelled, as already mentioned, to return to Europe in 1796 from bad health, was succeeded by M. Perron,² who had particularly recommended himself to Sindia by his conduct at the battle of Kurdla, and who had been sent from the Deccan to Hindoostan to assume the command of the army, the charge of the Emperor’s person, and the management of the Jagheer from whence his brigades were paid. De Boigne with much of military enterprise and enthusiasm, was at the same time a man of sense and prudence; a decided enemy to French revolutionary principles, and though friendly and kind to Frenchmen who sought his service, the ideas of conquest in India, entertained by many of his nation, he regarded, even at that period, as chimerical. He knew the power and the watchful jealousy of the English, and he foresaw that any object which might be attempted by the states of India, through a connexion with France, would certainly be anticipated by their subjugation. His last counsel to Sindia, ‘never to excite the jealousy of the British Government by increasing his battalions, and rather to discharge them than risk a war,’ was a sound advice; but his supposed partiality for the English, and the sentiments of his successor, Perron,³ which were precisely the reverse, was one cause which drove Sindia, more confident and ignorant than Perron himself, to attempt projects, which brought on ruin and disaster, before he and his coadjutors had fixed the mode of warfare they intended to pursue. Perron is said to have laid down a scheme of operations,¹ but jealousy and distrust on the part of Sindia, the neutrality of Holkar, and the intrigues of Sindia's officers, for the purpose of superseding Perron in the government in Hindoostan, seem to have combined in preventing its adoption.

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¹ [See note, pp. 160–62, ante. De Boigne retired to his native place, Chambéry, where he spent much of the immense wealth which he had honourably accumulated on charitable institutions and municipal improvements. He died in 1830 at the age of eighty. ‘Count de Boigne was the worthiest of the many European free-lances or military adventurers who swarmed at Indian courts in the latter half of the eighteenth and the earlier years of the nineteenth century.’ (O.H.I., p. 536.)]

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² [See footnote, p. 296, ante. Perron, whose real name was Pierre Cuillier, died at his chateau of Fresnes in 1834, aged seventy-nine. His career is described at great length on pp. 219–335 of Compton’s Military Adventurers, &c.]

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³ He appears to have imbibed some of his opinions after the departure of De Boigne, who represented him to me as a man of plain sense, of no talent, but a brave soldier.

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¹ Ferdinand Lewis Smith.

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The main body of the British force in Hindoostan, already mentioned in the general preparations of the Governor-General, was assembled at Cawnpore; and General Lake, the commander-in-chief, was vested with the same powers, civil and military, which had been delegated by the Supreme Government to General Wellesley in the Deccan. As soon as General Lake understood that the confederates had refused to withdraw their armies on the terms proposed by General Wellesley, he considered them in a state of war with the British Government, and immediately put his troops in motion.

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On the 29th August General Lake's army first came in sight of Perron's cavalry, fifteen thousand of whom were encamped at Coel, near the fort of Aligurh. After a trifling skirmish they retired as the British troops advanced; the town of Coel was taken possession of, and Aligurh was summoned; but every endeavour on the part of General Lake failed in inducing M. Pedron,² its governor, to surrender. Much dependence was placed on this fortress. It is very strong, situated on a plain surrounded by swamps, having a good glacis, with a ditch thirty-two feet deep and two hundred feet wide. It was well garrisoned, fully provided with cannon, ammunition, and provisions; and the Mahrattas expected, as they had a right to expect, that it would sustain a long siege. The only passage into the fort was by a narrow causeway across the ditch, for which the French commandant, by gross neglect, had omitted to substitute a drawbridge. General Lake, apprised of this circumstance, determined to hazard an attack by the gateway; and Mr. Lucan, a British subject, one of the officers who had come over from Sindia's service, offered to conduct the storming party. Break of day, on the morning of the 4th September, was the time appointed for the enterprise. On the firing of the morning gun, the party, who had been lying for some time within four hundred yards of the gate, waiting for this signal, immediately advanced; and Colonel Monson pushed forward at the head of the flank companies of the 76th, in hopes of being able to enter the fort with a party of the enemy, supposed to have been stationed outside behind a breast-work. The work in question, however, was found abandoned, and the gate closed. Scaling ladders were applied, but such a formidable row of pikemen presented themselves above, that it was impossible to mount. A six-pounder was brought up to blow open the gate, but it had no effect. Much time and many lives were lost before a twelve-pounder could be substituted; and when it did come, four or five discharges were necessary to force an entrance. Advancing round a bastion, the party came upon the second gate, which was easily forced, and the third was taken by entering it with the fugitives: but the fourth and last gate, which led to the body of the place, could not be blown open, even by the application of the twelve-pounder, though great delay was experienced before the gun could be brought in. Thus disappointed, in a most trying situation, Major M'Leod of the 76th regiment attempted the wicket, and most fortunately gained an entrance. He was followed by the grenadiers; the rampart was mounted, opposition soon ceased, and the British troops, by extraordinary bravery and good fortune, found themselves masters of the fortress of Aligurh with the loss of two hundred and seventy-eight men in killed and wounded, of whom seventeen were European officers. M. Pedron, the commandant, was taken prisoner, and two thousand of his garrison are said to have perished, including those who were drowned in the ditch.

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A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51: Chapter XLIII

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Chapter XLIII

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