A History of the Mahrattas v2.c53.17.1

v2.c53.17.1

Peace was no doubt of the greatest importance to British India at this period, but the power of the Mahratta chiefs was completely broken : the Peishwa, however inimically disposed, had as yet acquired no authority, and the Marquis Wellesley, without renouncing any advantages, would have soon been enabled to effect every arrangement for securing a long if not a permanent tranquillity ; but the protracted warfare and the popular clamour in England against his administration, arising chiefly from temporary embarrassments and a sudden accumulation of debt, began to influence the opinions, not only of the proprietors and Directors of the East India Company, but of the British Ministry.¹ The return of the venerable Marquis Cornwallis² to India was solicited by the highest authorities, as if the salvation of that country depended on his presence. He arrived in Calcutta on the 30th July, and on the same day assumed charge of the government. He showed, almost from the first act of his administration, that he disapproved of the system of defensive alliance conjoined with a subsidiary force, and evinced so great an eagerness to put an end to the war with Holkar, and to accommodate the differences with Sindia, that, had the power of these chiefs and of Rughoojee not been completely broken, it would probably have ensured a prolongation of hostilities, conducted with all the energy and activity of Mahrattas in success.