but with a reserve for his existing pecuniary claims, which, in accordance with the treaty of Bassein, were to be referred to the arbitration of the Company, unless the Guicowar should consent to the annual payment of four lacs of rupees, in which case, the reference was not to take place. The sixth article annulled one of the articles of the treaty of Bassein, by which the Peishwa consented to furnish to the British Government, in time of war, a certain number of troops, with a due proportion of ordnance and military stores, and substituted in its place one, by which he was required to provide funds for the payment of a force of similar strength, to place the British Government in possession of the means of providing this contingent. The seventh article transferred to it, in perpetuity, certain territories and rights, which were enumerated in an accompanying schedule. The eighth article provided for the convenient execution of the seventh, and the ninth, tenth and eleventh had the same object. By the twelfth, the fort of Ahmednugger was surrendered to the Company. The thirteenth and fourteenth extinguished the Peishwa's rights in Bundelcund and Hindostan. The fifteenth provided for an object very desirable to the British Government and the Guicowar state, the renewal of the lease of the farm of Ahmedabad. The sixteenth article related to the settlement of the southern jaghiredars, and the seventeenth to the evacuation of the fort and territory of Mailgaut. The eighteenth related to the authentication and confirmation of the treaty. With the efforts of Mr. Elphinstone, in conducting the negociation to such a conclusion, the British authorities had every reason to be satisfied, and the treaty, while it provided for the just expectations of the more powerful party, was not unequitable nor unreasonably harsh, as concerned the vanquished.

The Peishwa, however, was dissatisfied, and though unreasonably, not unnaturally. It was impossible that he could forbear contrasting his present humiliated condition with his former lofty pretensions, as the head of a people who had spread the terror of their arms over a large portion of India. It had now been shewn to him that he held his dominions at the mercy of the British Government, and though the discovery was unavoidable, it was necessarily far from pleasing. The obstinacy of the Peishwa had accelerated a crisis, which the prudence of the Company's Government would have postponed indefinitely; and, though they were blameless, he was indignant. A few months only elapsed before it became evident that the Peishwa was again preparing for some hostile proceedings. Levies of troops took place unremittingly throughout his dominions, and by the 1st of October (the treaty having been concluded on the 13th of June previously), there was not a single horseman in the country out of employ. The quality neither of men nor horses was regarded; number seemed the only thing kept in view. The ostensible motive to these preparations was a desire to comply with the wish of the British Government for co-operation against the Pindarrees. This disguise was, however, worn too loosely to deceive. In an interview with the British Resident, in which the intended movements of our armies against the Pindarrees were explained, the Peishwa did not

think it necessary even to affect any interest in the suppression of the marauders; his conversation being entirely confined to complaints of his own degradation. From various circumstances, it was inferred that he was about to aim a blow at the British power, and though an appearance of confidence was maintained on both sides, it was formal and hollow.

Among other indications of the spirit by which the Government of the Peishwa was actuated, were numerous attempts to corrupt the native troops in the British service. It was in consequence deemed necessary to remove them from the town to a new position. The Peishwa then, as if in defiance, pushed forward his own troops, and it was announced that he intended to form a camp between the old cantonments of the British army and the new. At last, on the 5th November, hostilities actually commenced, by the Peishwa's troops moving so as to cut off the Residency from the British camp. The Residency was forthwith plundered and burned, but by the prompt advance of Lieut. Colonel Burr, the enemy was repulsed and retired. From this period, the career of the Peishwa was one of flight, crime, and misfortune. He put to death two British travellers, in cold blood, and committed other acts at variance with the usages of even semi-civilized nations. After a campaign, conducted with great skill and spirit by the British officers concerned, but in which few events occurred worth recording, the Peishwa was hemmed in on all sides, and lost all authority over the troops that remained with him. Finally he surrendered to the British Government. Long before this event, it had been determined to divest him of all sovereignty, and the determination was just and wise. The perfidy which had marked his conduct, and the inveterate hatred which he had displayed towards the British power, rendered this course the only one consistent with prudence. The Peishwa's dominions were annexed to the British territories, and he became a pensioner upon the British Government. In these few words, is recounted the end of a state and dynasty, which had been regarded as the key-stone of Mahratta power. The life of Bajee Row had been eventful. On the death of his father, his brother and himself were alternately raised to the musnud and dethroned, as rival parties gained or lost the ascendancy. Bajee Row was at last apparently fixed on the throne by the assistance of Scindia, but, shortly afterwards, he and his ally were defeated by Holkar, and Bajee Row arrived at Bassein a fugitive and a wanderer. Here he formed an alliance with the British Government, by whose assistance he was restored to a throne of somewhat diminished splendour ; its federal grandeur being destroyed by the acknowledged independence of several of its former feudatories. This restoration, however, he owed entirely to the British Government, and the favour might have been expected to attach him to its interests. The general characteristic of oriental potentates is, however, intense and unalloyed selfishness, and the Peishwa's afforded an instance, not an exception. His character was marked by timidity, his habits were those of the grossest sensuality, and he manifested an utter destitution of all honourable principle. His cowardice probably led him to suspect the intentions of the British Asiat. Journ. N.S. VOL.22. No.85.

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Government to be less friendly towards him than they originally were; his debasing sensuality led to the encouragement of despicable parasites, who at once flattered and ministered to his vices; and his total insensibility to those principles, which impose restraint on better natures, made him unscrupulous as to the means employed for accomplishing his ends. From the time of the murder of Gungadhur Shastry, his course was that of a man predestined to destruction. In addition to the qualities already mentioned, he possessed an unusual portion of blind obstinacy, which was eminently displayed in the tenacity with which he clung to his wretched favorite Trimbuckjee Dainglia, in the hope of rendering him as serviceable a minister to his ambition and revenge, as he had already been to vices of a different character. By this mad adhesion to a connexion, as dishonourable as its object was hopeless, he involved himself in a dispute with the British Government, from which he escaped, not indeed unharmed, but still in a better condition than he had reason to expect. Although the result of this attempt might have shewn him the folly of his course, he repeated the error which had deprived his throne of a portion both of solidity and splendour, and he lost all. He descended from the rank of a sovereign to that of a dependent on the bounty of foreigners. The justifiableness of his deprivation can scarcely be questioned by any but those who deny the lawfulness of war. If men have a right to repel wrong by an appeal to arms, and to deprive their enemy of the means of inflicting injury, the moral part of the question, as regards the Peishwa, is decided. The expediency of the proceeding is equally clear, and all that remains questionable is the propriety of annexing the forfeited dominions to the British territories. There are persons who entertain great apprehensions of the evils likely to result from the extension of our empire in the east; but those evils are never very clearly defined. If the territory be tolerably compact, it is not easy to perceive why a dominion extending through twenty or thirty degrees may not be as secure and as well-governed, as one of a hundred miles. The probability, indeed, is that it will be better governed, for all small settlements at a distance from the parent country, are notoriously the seats of the most scandalous abuses. When the peace of India, and the safety of the British Empire there, rendered it necessary that the Peishwa should cease to reign, three courses only were open to the victors,-to place on the throne one of the royal blood,-to place a stranger there, or to incorporate the territories of the dethroned Prince with those of the state by whom he had been conquered. In choosing between them, the conquerors cannot fairly be expected to lose sight altogether of their own interest; at the same time, they ought to pay due attention to a subject rarely thought of by the native sovereigns,-the interests of the people to be governed. Had the British elevated to the musnud some member of the subdued Peishwa's family, all the evils of the Mahratta confederacy would have been perpetuated, and Poona would always have been a focus of anti-British intrigue. The gratitude to be expected from a Prince thus elevated, was exemplified in the case of Bajee Row. Had the second course been taken, and a stranger been installed in

the sovereignty, he must have been maintained there by British force, and the only difference between this and the actual assumption of dominion, would have been that, in the former case, the Government would be much weaker and infinitely more corrupt. To the third course, no objection appears, but the vague one which is derived from the belief that all increase of territory is an evil. This may suffice to settle the question with regard to the interest of the conquerors. As to the interest of the people to be governed, the question is still more easy of answer. Whoever knows what even the best native government is, must be aware that an exchange for British rule must ever be for the benefit of the people. Abuses may be perpetrated under the British Government, but they are mostly traceable to the native officers employed, and if they take place under all the checks imposed by European vigilance, what must be their extent when the higher functionaries of the state are as ready as the lower to participate in and profit by them? The truth is, that, in a native state, the Government itself is but one vast abuse, from the monarch to the pettiest retainer of office; no one even supposes that it exists for the public benefit; it is regarded as an engine to enable those who can gain possession of it, to gratify their own avarice and ambition. It will require a long period to establish sounder and better views, and for years to come no native government can be a good government. The elements of good government do not exist.

The views of the Marquess of Hastings were, on this point, sound and judicious. He understood his country's interest, and he pursued it.

NAGPORE.

On the 1st of February 1817, Appa Sahib succeeded to the musnud of Nagpore, by the death of Pursajee Bhooslah.

Nagpore was one of the states with which a subsidiary treaty existed. There had been considerable irregularity as to the organization and maintenance of the stipulated contingent, which had subjected the British Government to additional expense. Discussion, of course, arose; but native evasion contrived for a while to postpone the fulfilment of engagements which could not be denied. Procrastination is of too common occurrence in the proceedings of Oriental courts, to excite much surprise; and the disposition of Appa Sahib was regarded as not unfriendly to the English. Circumstances, however, soon occurred, and especially a change with regard to his ministers, which convinced the British authorities that his professions of friendship were hollow and insincere.

native Princes. feel their pride

At this period, indeed, the seeds of hatred to British influence were scattered throughout India with an unsparing hand, and the Peishwa was the prime instigator and fomenter of the hostile feeling. Habits of ancient standing gave him considerable influence with the The Mahratta states might also be supposed to in some degree wounded by the humiliation of their chief, and some suspicion may be supposed to have existed as to the probable aim of the British Government, and the extent to which it proposed to carry its

acquisitions. There might be an apprehension that England was looking to the entire dominion of India; and though this consummation would be devoutly wished by the people, if they understood their own welfare, the prospect of it could, under no circumstances, be very acceptable to those whose thrones were to fall before the march of the victors. It is certain that the plans of the Governor-General for the extirpation of the Pindarrees were regarded with great suspicion. This must, in most instances, have arisen from the apprehension of ulterior measures, for, with the exception of Scindia and Holkar, who entertained bodies of the Pindarrees in a sort of feudal dependence, no Prince would appear to have any interest in supporting them. The interest of the Rajah of Nagpore, indeed, lay quite the other way; for his dominions had suffered most severely from the devastations of these marauding adventurers; and by an express article of the subsidiary treaty, the British Government was required to defend the state of Nagpore against their incursions. It was probably to some one of the causes which have been mentioned, or to a combination of them, that the mad hostility of the Rajah of Nagpore to the British is to be ascribed, aided, no doubt, by that uneasy feeling, which must ever operate upon the mind of a Prince fettered by such engagements as are imposed by the subsidiary treaties of the East. Unless, like many of his brethren, he is content to forget that a ruler has any thing to do but to collect treasure and dissipate it in a career of sensual indulgence, he must be annoyed by the consciousness that, though he enjoys the name of Sovereign, his office is but a pageant, all substantial power resting with another. He who promises deliverance from this thraldom, generally, therefore, finds an advocate in the party whom he seeks to win to his purposes. Fear will frequently impose a restraint; "I dare not" will wait upon "I would"; but the heart of the person assailed will generally be with the tempter; and if he resist effectually, it will seldom be without a struggle.

The motives by which the Rajah of Nagpore might have been acted upon, have been suggested;-and this is all that is now possible. Rerhaps, even at the time, the most sagacious and best informed observer could not have satisfactorily determined by which, or by how many, of them he was really impelled, nor to what extent they respectively operated. His conduct seemed to partake in an extraordinary degree of blind wilfulness; ;he followed the example of the Peishwa, and he shared his fate. He affected to owe a certain homage to that Sovereign,-the Rajah of Nagpore enjoying hereditarily the nominal office of commander-in-chief of the forces of the Mahratta Empire, as the Peishwa hereditarily held the nominal chieftainship. What degree of importance he attached to the connexion, may admit of question; but it is certain that he most dutifully followed his leader to ruin.

The slenderness of the thread which binds to us our subsidiary allies, renders imperative the greatest circumspection in selecting the representatives of the British Government at their Courts. The resident at Nagpore, at this time, was fortunately a gentleman whose sagacity and prudence were