New History of the Marathas v2.c25.48

v2.c25.48

The English obviously behaved contrary to the terms agreed upon by keeping possession of the fort, and appropriating all valuables and demanding the person of Tulaji. As soon as the British navy arrived at Vijayadurg, Tulaji in terror started negotiations with Ramajipant. The English construed this as a breach of agreement on the part of the Marathas in conducting negotiations for peace without the knowledge of the other allied party,.and alone attacked the fort and prevented the Marathas from entering it. But the main fact is clear that it was the Peshwa who for putting down Tulaji sought the naval co-operation of the British. The British had not started the war against Tulaji on their own account. If the Marathas had not already hemmed in Tulaji by land over a length of more than two hundred miles, Tulaji could not have been so easily subdued. The British discovered that the harbour of Vijayadurg was a valuable base for their navy and proposed to keep it themselves exchanging it for Bankot and its fort Himmatgad. Ramajipant went to the extreme length of protest short of open hostilities, and bided his time until the Peshwa's return to Poona from Savanur. In fact the British tried to grab Vijayadurg and establish their sway over the west coast just as they had done on the east coast in Madras and Bengal. Indeed as Bombay was not then well developed, the British considered Vijayadurg as a most suitable port for the expansion of their power.