TREATY OF BHURTPORE. 169 resolution: the kingdom of the Mahrattas, he observed, was in their saddle; his was within his ramparts. Hitherto, in general, the reduction even of the strongest forts had proceeded in a sure and regular course; the trenches were opened, a storming party was selected, who forced their way in with greater or smaller loss, and were masters of the place. But the defenders of Bhurtpore not only fought with the most daring valour, but called into action means of defence and annoyance which the English had never elsewhere encountered, and for which they were wholly unprepared. They rendered the breach impracticable, by raising behind it stockades and other bulwarks; they made the ditch unfordable, by damming up the waters; and during the assault logs of wood, pots filled with combustibles, and burning cotton-bales steeped in oil, were thrown down upon the soldiers. In short, the British army were repulsed in four successive attempts, sustaining in killed and wounded a loss of 3203,-greater than had occurred in any two battles during this obstinately disputed campaign. Even their glory was somewhat tarnished. The 76th, hitherto the bravest among the brave and the foremost in every triumph, along with the 75th, refused on one occasion to follow their officers, after the 12th Bengal sepoys had planted the colours on the top of the rampart. Being bitterly reproached by General Lake for having thus caused the failure of the assault, they were overpowered with shame, and entreated to be led to a last attack, where they displayed a desperate but useless valour. It was now necessary to intermit the operations of the siege in order to repair the losses sustained, and to bring forward more adequate means of attack. The rajah, however, apprehensive of the final issue, and seeing that his entire downfall must follow the loss of his capital, made very advantageous overtures, including the payment of twenty lacks of rupees as the price of peace; while, on the other hand, the situation of affairs was such as induced the English general, on the 10th April, to embrace the conditions, and even to promise, in case of a steady adherence to treaty, the restoration of the fortress of Deeg. Holkar, during the siege, had made several exertions to interrupt or retard it by movements with his cavalry. He partly succeeded; but a large body under Ameer Khan VOL. II.-P was entirely defeated, and some smaller detachments, whom the English overtook, suffered so severely, that at length they fled at the mere sight of their antagonists. This chief, therefore, after being deserted by the Rajah of Bhurtpore, was reduced almost to the condition of a fugitive; and his situation seemed altogether desperate, when relief came from an unexpected quarter. Sindia had been strongly affected on witnessing the commencement of the war by Holkar, and the brilliant successes with which he had opened the campaign. He evidently conceived the idea of seizing this opportunity to retrieve his fortunes; but the indecisive character of Indian councils caused him to advance towards his object only by tardy and circuitous steps. He began by raising his demands upon the British; he marched his troops towards their frontier, and when remonstrated with, delayed upon various pretexts to withdraw them. At length, when Holkar, after the peace made by the Bhurtpore rajah, was retreating in a shattered and reduced condition, he received him into his camp; having already committed the almost unprecedented outrage of plundering the abode and seizing the person of the British resident. Lord Lake, as the rainy season now approached, could not immediately follow the two hostile chiefs into the heart of their territories. Their power, however, was so completely broken that he entertained no doubt of soon reducing them to submission. But the entire system of British policy respecting India underwent at this crisis a decided change. The vast scheme of conquest and subsidiary alliance by which Marquis Wellesley had studied to place the whole of this eastern empire under British control, had excited in the mother country a deep sensation. The public were, to a certain degree, dazzled with its splendid success; yet a numerous body of politicians exclaimed that this course was contrary to all true principles of policy,-that it formed an interminable system of war,-that the company, in seating themselves upon the throne of the Mogul, and endeavouring to effect the conquest of all Hindostan, had entirely relinquished the basis on which they had uniformly professed to act. The contest with Holkar, breaking out with so formidable an aspect after all the others had closed, NEW SYSTEM OF POLICY. 171 gave rise to painful feelings as to the endless duration of Indian hostility. The company, strongly influenced by public opinion, and struck by the enormous expenditure in which the campaign had already involved them, determined to change entirely the system according to which their affairs were conducted. In place of the Marquis Wellesley, who, with or without reason, had acquired completely the reputation of a war-governor, they substituted the Marquis Cornwallis. This nobleman had not, indeed, while in power, pursued a course materially different; yet his character was generally esteemed moderate and conciliatory, and he was understood to disapprove of the extent to which conquest had now been carried. His instructions were to proceed on principles every way opposite to those in operation, to conclude peace almost at any price,-to form a defensive line beyond which British interference was not to extend; and to allow the native powers to treat and to fight with each other as if they were situated at the extremity of the globe. They Admitting that the policy of Marquis Wellesley was not quite so pacific as his friends contended, it was very doubtful how far it could now with safety, or even with justice, be thus abruptly relinquished. A great power can seldom be justified in withdrawing from all concern in the contests of its neighbours; from endeavouring to protect the weak against the strong; and thereby preventing any one of them from acquiring a decided preponderance. It was perhaps chimerical to suppose that the principal native chiefs would cultivate habits of sincere peace, or entertain a solid attachment for the British government. were for the most part usurpers, who had started up amid the ruins of one great empire, each seeking to aggrandize himself at the expense of the rest, and viewing undivided dominion as a prize at which he might aim. They had all, however, through the interposition of the company, seen their aspiring views checked or baffled, their armies vanquished, and some of the brightest gems plucked from their diadems. There could be little doubt, therefore, that when left to themselves there would be a struggle for mastery; and that either by him who should succeed in this object, or by a league of all united, an effort would be made to overthrow the ascendency of England, and regain the possessions which she had wrested from them. According to the adherents of the Wellesley policy, the system pursued by that nobleman was so far advanced towards maturity that only one short effort, of easy and assured success, was necessary to place all India in a state of tranquillity, and to keep down those discordant elements which would otherwise lay waste the country itself. By stopping short at this point, great part of the empire was involved in calamity and disorder, and the foundation laid for another expensive and even perilous struggle. Marquis Wellesley had announced the necessity, from the state of his health, of returning to Europe as soon as the contest with Sindia and the Rajah of Berar should have been brought to a termination. On learning, however, the rupture with Holkar, he intimated his willingness to remain, and bring it also to a close. The views of the government at home were different. On the 30th July, 1815, Marquis Cornwallis arrived at Calcutta; where, learning that the war was still going on, he determined to proceed immediately into the upper provinces, and make personal inquiry into the state of affairs. In his zeal for the public service, however, and to fulfil the anxious wish of his countrymen, he had undertaken this duty at a period when his age and infirmities rendered him very unequal to its performance. Under the fatigue of the voyage his illness daily increased, till on reaching the village of Gazypoor on the Ganges, he was obliged to land, and after lingering for some time died on the 5th of October. Having been unable to reach his destination, while his mind as well as body were impaired by indisposition, he had been little able to receive or consider any fresh information. His place was supplied by Sir George Barlow, the senior member of the supreme council, who had reached that station through various gradations of service, which he had filled with distinction; but his previous habits had not accustomed him to take comprehensive and statesmanlike views of public interests. Regarding with the deepest respect the views of his predecessor, and considering them as supported by the government at home, he refused to listen to any arguments, or admit any of the modifications, suggested by Lord Lake. That commander, although he disapproved of the new TREATIES WITH SINDIA AND HOLKAR. 173 system, finding it was firmly established by the supreme power, judiciously sought to carry it into effect on the most advantageous footing. He managed, with great address, to draw the first overtures from Sindia; and as it had been determined to yield all the points in dispute, no difficulty was found in the conclusion of a treaty on the 23d November, 1805. The Mahratta leader obtained the highly important fortress of Gwalior, which he made his residence and capital; the Chumbul was fixed as the boundary between his possessions and those of the British, who agreed to dissolve their alliance with the Rajpoot princes and others whom he claimed as tributaries. This last measure was in accordance with the new political system; yet in the case of the Rajahs of Boondee and Jyepore, who on the ground of this connexion had performed important services, it was considered as scarcely compatible with national faith. Holkar, after being deserted by his ally, retreated with the wrecks of his army into the western provinces to seek refuge among the Seiks. They refused to receive him ; and, being closely pursued by Lord Lake, he would have been reduced to extremities had he not been saved by the new policy which the military commanders were compelled to observe. No sooner did he ask for peace than it was granted, on terms so advantageous as allowed him to regain almost all that he had lost during the war. Amid this general dissolution of defensive alliances, those formed on the great scale with the nizam and the peishwa necessarily came under consideration. The connexion with the latter, founded on the treaty of Bassein, and out of which the late war had arisen, was described by the company as one which they were desirous to relinquish. Yet even Sir George Barlow, when he came to consider the proposed measures, could not but view them as fraught with extreme peril. To dissolve the alliance with these potentates, and to withdraw the troops by which they were at present overawed, would have been to relieve the greater part of the powers of India from British control, while they were still animated by the most hostile feelings towards her; it would, in fact, have been to lay the foundation of a future confederacy for her downfall. peishwa, likewise, notwithstanding his general aversion to The |