A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51.117

v2.c51.117

In the meanwhile negotiations had been going forward at intervals for upwards of a fortnight. Yeswunt Rao Ramchundur, the wukeel of Rughoojee Bhonslay, endeavoured to prove that his master was not the aggressor in the war; that the Peishwa had concluded a treaty contrary to the usage of the Mahratta state, without consulting the chiefs of the empire; that his master had not quitted his own territory, nor moved towards Sindia’s with any hostile design against the British Government, but had gone with his army to mediate between Sindia and Holkar; that Holkar was strong and Sindia was weak, and that the latter would have been overpowered without his master’s assistance. General Wellesley represented the fact of his having assembled an army on the frontier of an ally of Britain, and having, in conjunction with Sindia, refused to withdraw; he denied the right of the Mahratta chiefs to be consulted by the Peishwa before he could make a treaty; and in regard to interfering between Sindia and Holkar on account of the weakness of the former, admitting