with the towards Madras, the road to which was now open. The consternation of the Council was extreme; and an officer-Captain He ap Brooke-was dispatched to negotiate. Hyder's proposals Madras, and were those of a dignified statesman, as well as an able negotiates general. He pointed out how often his peaceable Council. overtures had been rejected; explained how he was, in fact, the only barrier between the English and the Mahrattas, and that it was open to him either to join them, or the English; and as it was impossible to oppose both, he would join the English in preference. The Council were, as before, irresolute and incapable. They sent Mr. Andrews, a member, to Hyder on February 14, 1769, while they again placed Colonel Smith at the tions broken head of the army at Chittapet. The Council proposed an armistice for forty days, of which Hyder would departs accept only twelve: and at the expiration of this period he again moved southwards, followed by Colonel Smith. The negotia off. Hyder southwards. Opens nego the French. Meanwhile Hyder had entered into communication with M. Law, now chief of Pondicherry. He detailed the victories he had gained over their mutual enemies, the English, tiations with and invited an envoy to his camp; and while Mr. Andrews had returned to Madras for instructions, received a deputation from the French, which was sent with all the pomp they could contrive to exhibit. This was possibly intended by Hyder as a ruse to alarm the English Council; but, not depending on its effect, and having succeeded in inducing Colonel Evades Smith to follow him to a distance of 140 miles from Madras, he suddenly left his camp at the head of 6,000 marches chosen cavalry, and, marching 130 miles in three days on Madras. and a half, arrived at St. Thomé, five miles south of Madras, on March 29. Thence he wrote temperately to the Council, that he had respected their country; that he had preferred to negotiate with them instead of fighting Colonel Smith, and requested Mr. Du Pré might be sent to him. Colonel Smith and rapidly terms of a Hyder was master of the situation, and dictated his own terms. His overtures were strenuously opposed by Colonel Hyder Smith, who declared he could turn Hyder's position to dictates the his disadvantage, as indeed was quite possible; but the treaty. Council were full of fear, and on April 3, 1769, a treaty was executed. Its principal terms were that mutual conquests were to be restored; that, in case the dominions of either party were attacked, the other should aid in driving out the enemy-which, in fact, amounted to an article of offensive and defensive alliance; but by the treaty the English became saddled with the Its unfavour whole expense of the war, had been obliged to abandon able ternis in all that had been gained, and by the dominant position English. regard to the of Hyder at the gate of Madras, had, for the present, lost what prestige they had won. As to Mahomed Ally, who refused to be a party to the treaty, and Hyder, who objected to his being considered at all, they thus mutually ignored and defied each other; and it added not a little to the estimation of Hyder's power by the people of the country, that he insisted upon the families of Chunda Sahib and other persons of rank, hitherto kept under surveillance by Mahomed Ally, being released and made over to his protection. Thus ended the second war with Hyder Ally, which had assumed an aspect of long, difficult, and costly prolongation. Defence of The best and only excuse perhaps that could be made for the hasty treaty, was given by the Council of Madras, who, in their defence, declared that they had made peace, because they had no money to make war. the Council. Hyder was no sooner at peace with the English, than he entered on a contest with the Mahrattas. He not only refused payment of their chouth, but his troops made incursions into the southern districts of the Mahratta dominions. This was not to be endured; and having dispatched a large body of horse under Putwurdhun, Rastia, and other leaders, in November 1761, Mahdoo Ráo Péshwah followed at the head of 20,000 horse and 15,000 infantry. With these forces, the whole of Northern and Eastern Mysore, as far as Nundidroog, were quickly overrun and plundered. Hyder, who could not oppose the invaders, hoped they would retire on the approach of the monsoon ; but Mahdoo Ráo, who was obliged to return to Poona in June, on account of his health, was bent on a prosecution of the war, and left Trimbuk Ráo Máma in Mysore, in command of 30,000 men. Hyder at war with the Mahrattas. Second After some inconsequent negotiation, the campaign was opened after the monsoon by the Mahrattas, under the comcampaign. mand of Appa Bulwunt. Their army having beerr reinforced, amounted to 40,000 horse and 10,000 infantry, but their artillery was weak. Hyder brought into the field 12,000 horse, 25,000 infantry, and forty guns; but, under the Mahratta superiority in cavalry, he could undertake no offensive operation. As the Mahrattas pressed him back upon Seringapatam, feated at he attempted to defend the pass of Mailgóta; but he Seringapatam was defeated, with terrible slaughter, on March 5. He is besieged. fled to Seringapatam, followed by the wreck of the army, where he was besieged by the Mahrattas; but, deficient as they were in siege guns, they were unable to make any impression upon it. Meanwhile Hyder had besought the Council Appeals to the of Madras to afford him assistance; but it was in vain that he appealed to the terms of the treaty, offered twenty lacs for an English brigade, to cede the Báráh Mahál, or, Hyder de- Hyder English for assistance. the treaty are not as his only alternative, to call in the aid of the French. The Council would willingly have observed the engagements The terms of of the treaty, and assisted him; but they were overruled by Sir John Lindsay, who had been sent out by observed. the ministry of England, to the Nawáb, as ambassador-plenipotentiary, and they feared him. The Nawab, who detested the 'upstart,' would not hear of Hyder's being assisted; and, on the contrary, demanded a junction with the Mahrattas against him; and as Sir John Lindsay supported the Nawáb, Hyder Hyder was abandoned and compelled to make the best terms abandoned. he could with his foes. If the Council was unable, under the circumstances, to assist Hyder, they did not at least disgrace themselves by joining the Mahrattas against him. The terms to which Hyder was eventually obliged to submit were very stringent. He had to pay, at once, thirty-six lacs of rupees-360,0007.— as arrears of chouth and expenses of the war; and to promise for the future an annual tribute of fourteen lacs; as also to surrender Kolhar, Bangalore, Ooscotta, Balapoor, and Séra, which had formerly been held by Shahjee, the father of Sivajee; and by this cession his dominions were materially contracted. Hyder never forgot or forgave the treacherous and cowardly, as he termed it, abandonment of him by the English on this occasion; and by the cession of territory forced from him, the Mahratta outposts in 1771 had advanced to the north-western frontier of the Nawab's territories. CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE PROGRESS OF THE MAHRATTAS IN HINDOSTAN, advance into AFTER the close of the Péshwah's campaign against Janoojee Bhóslay, in Berar, in 1769, an army was sent into Mal- The wah, under the command of Visajee Kishen, which Mahrattas was the first effort the Mahrattas had made in that Malwah. direction since the fatal battle of Paniput. On the junction of the contingents of Holkar and Sindia, the cavalry amounted to about 50,000 strong, and the infantry, composed, for the most part, of Arabs, Abyssinians, and other foreign mercenaries, was numerous and effective. The Mahrattas had not only to collect the arrears of chouth, but to recover the prestige they had lost. On the part of the Emperor of Dehly, there was nothing to oppose them. The Prince Juwán Bukht, with Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah, the Rohilla chief, maintained Dehly, and Sooruj Mul, the Ját, having ceedings. threatened it, was killed in action in 1769. His son afterwards Their pro- laid siege to the city in conjunction with Holkar ; but the influence of Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah over Holkar, induced him to retire into Malwah, and the siege was abandoned. The first act of the Mahratta general was to require the Rajpoot chiefs to pay arrears of tribute; and Visajee Kishen next turned upon the Játs, who, after a defeat, were compelled to agree to pay sixty-five lacs of rupees-650,000l.-partly in cash, and partly by instalments. It now became a question whether the Rohillas should be attacked or not: and eventually, though not without Rohilkhund much discussion among the leaders of the army, the Mahratta forces, after the death of Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah, in October 1770, moved into Rohilkhund, and completely overran it, at the same time threatening Shujah-ood-Dowlah of Oudh, who was, nominally at least, under the protection of the English. The vizier, however, temporized. overrun. The The emperor The young emperor, Shah Allum, had found his English allies averse to proceeding to Dehly and seating him on the throne; and he now turned to the Mahrattas for that purpose, who readily met his advances. After the plunder of Rohilkhund, they had proceeded to Dehly, and were prepared to receive him, whenever it suited him to come. emperor, therefore, though warned of the consequences by the Council of Calcutta, was met by Sindia, who escorted him to the camp of Visajee Kishen, and on December 25, 1771, he is crowned as was placed on the throne of his ancestors with much Shah Allum. pomp. Although Rohilkhund had been for the most part already laid under contribution, yet Visajee Kishen had protected Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah and his family; and Sindia now urged the spoliation of his son, a course to which the emperor gave a ready consent. Early in 1772, therefore, the Mahrattas attacked Zabita Khan, and plundered him of all the plundered. wealth accumulated by his father. Of this the emperor had hoped to get a share, but he gained nothing, and the condition into which he was sinking, from the intolerable behaviour of the Mahratta leaders, was becoming more and more insupportable. Zabita Khan There were three parties now in active intrigue: the Rohillas, wishing to get rid of the Mahrattas on any terms, and willing to assist the Vizier of Oudh; the vizier, detesting and fearing both, was temporizing with each alternately; and the Mahrattas, desiring to plunder both Oudh and Rohilkhund, or willing to be bought off by either or both. The vizier's policy was, however, detestably treacherous, for he would willingly have sacrificed the Rohillas to the Mahrattas, in order The emperor joins the Mahrattas. Position of parties in Hindostan. Rohillas. khund. that he might follow up their ravages and annex the country; but, on the other hand, he dreaded the occupation of Rohilkhund by them, a step which he was assured would be followed by an attack upon his own dominions. In June 1772, a convention Convention was made, by which the Mahrattas agreed, on the pay- with the ment of forty lacs of rupees, to spare Rohilkhund; but would not accept the bond of Hafiz Rehmut, the Rohilla chief, unless it was guaranteed by the vizier. On this being effected, Hafiz Rehmut actually paid five lacs to the vizier as Transactions his share; but of this sum nothing was paid to the in RohilMahrattas. As the monsoon was at hand, the Mahrattas having received no money, would delay no longer; and crossing the Ganges by the fords, attacked the Rohillas, and routed them with great slaughter, plundering Nujeeb Khan, one of their chiefs, of all his wealth, and committing vast devastation. The consequences of these attacks were, that the Rohillas threw themselves on the protection of the vizier, and fell completely into his hands. Contrary to the expectations of the emperor and all other parties, the Mahrattas did not leave the vicinity of Dehly, but cantoned themselves in the Dooáb for the rains, during which period, the emperor, weary of their insolence and rapacity, endeavoured to resist them by force; but his general, Nujeeb Khan, was The defeated, Dehly was occupied by them, and he was Mahrattas obliged to purchase their forbearance by the cession of emperor's Allahabad and Corah, two of the districts of Oudh, which had been reserved for him by the English after the battle of Buxar. These were, however, protected by a British force under Sir Robert Barker, which the Mahrattas hesitated to attack; and they now offered to forego their demands on the Rohillas, if they would join them in an invasion of Oudh. Hafiz Rehmut Khan, however, refused to comply, and cast in his lot with the vizier and the English, by whose combined forces, with his own, the Mahrattas were held in check. While the parties were thus occupied, news reached the Mahratta camp of the death of Mahdoo Ráo Péshwah, on November 18, and Visajee Kishen, taking the whole of the army with him, retired southwards, and Poland discrossed the Nerbudda, laden with plunder, in the month membered. of May of the ensuing year, 1772. defeat the forces. |