Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s6.19

v4.c56.s6.19

When the news of Jaswant Rao Holkar’s victory at Punā reached Ujjain, there was consternation in the Court of Daulat Rao Sindhiā. A reporter in that city wrote, “All here are stunned and taking counsel together. We are wanting in money, wanting in troops. Our forces in the Deccan, both cavalry and trained infantry, have been totally ruined. Daulat Rao has issued letters calling his detachments in Hindustan to his side as he intends to go to the Deccan in person.” But his progress was so slow that even on 7th February 1803 he was still on the north bank of the Narmadā, and arrived near Burhānpur as late as the 24th of that month, exactly four months after the battle of Hadapsar. The question of restoring Bāji Rao to his throne was in agitation in his council and he appealed to the English for help in this task. But the news reached him that the Peshwā had already made a defensive alliance with the English. This meant that Sindhiā’s proud office of the Peshwā’s regent and protector was taken away from him by the force of circumstances which he could not control. He had invited the English as a party to the old friendly treaty of Salbāi to join him in marching to Punā and restoring Bāji Rao to his throne. Wellesley replied that the English could do that work with their unaided strength, and that the best service that Sindhiā could do to his master was to remain at peace within his own dominions and avoid every step that might disturb the Peshwā’s territory. It was only on 28th May that Daulat Rao first read the terms of the momentous treaty from the Persian and Marathi translations supplied to him by the British Resident.*