A History of the Mahrattas v2.c53.9

v2.c53.9

The principal cause which actuated the British authorities, in accommodating matters with the Raja of Bhurtpoor, was an apprehended rupture with Sindia. Doulut Rao, several days even before he signed the treaty of defensive alliance, had made strong objections to the restorations granted by the British Government to the Rana of Gohud, whom, as being long dispossessed of all territory, he affected to consider as a private individual, possessing neither rights nor independence, and therefore incapable of engaging in any treaty; consequently, it was unjust, he argued, to set up his antiquated claims as one of the independent Rajas or Jagheerdars, and absurd to pretend that this elected Rana could cede Gwalior to the Company. These arguments, though easily combated, were sufficiently ingenious for the immediate purpose of Sindia’s ministers, whose chief aim was to seek cause of present dispute, trusting to events for widening or repairing the breach, as they saw occasion.