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complete overthrow, and were dispersed in every direction, leaving several of their leaders dead on the field. After suffering some further disasters, all the corps were reduced to a state truly miserable. Cheetoo and his adherents sometimes slept with their horses saddled, and the bridles in their hands, that they might be ready for instant flight. At length an intimation was circulated, that, in case of unconditional surrender, their lives would be spared, and the chiefs should even obtain the means of an honourable subsistence in some remote district. One leader after another submitted upon these terms. At length Kurreem, after wandering for some time on foot through the jungles, gave himself up, on the 15th February, 1818, to Sir John Malcolm. Cheetoo opened a negotiation; but, on learning the small allowance which was to be granted to one whom he thought entitled to a jaghire in his native country and a place in the British service, he hastily took his departure. He afterward encountered a variety of distresses, which ended in a manner equally dismal and appalling, being devoured by a tiger while lurking in the forests of Asseerghur. His fate excited sympathy among the British officers, who admired the spirit and intrepidity with which he had braved the deepest reverses of fortune.

While the performances on the main theatre of Indian warfare were thus brought to a successful close, two separate dramas of a subordinate though eventful character were acted on other stages. The most remarkable was at the court of Poonah. The peishwa, ever since the last humiliating treaty which he was compelled to sign, had eagerly sought deliverance from a yoke which now pressed heavily upon him. The employment of the British forces in the Pindaree campaign offered a tempting occasion to reassert his independence. A little consideration indeed would have shown him that this contest could not engage his enemy beyond a very short period; after which they would find it easy to crush such resistance as he or any other of the Mahratta states could create. But the peishwa, like many other Indian princes, though possessed of talent and address, and skilled in pursuing the ordinary objects of eastern policy, was incapable of taking a comprehensive view of his actual situation. He was encouraged by the hatred of the English which he saw prevalent

among his chiefs, and by the general disposition of all the Mahratta leaders to unite in a confederacy against that people.

For a considerable time he threw an impenetrable veil over his hostile designs. On intimation being given of an intention to go to war with the Pindarees, he professed his cordial concurrence in the object, and his desire to cooperate by all the means in his power. So great indeed was his address, that Sir John Malcolm, an intelligent and veteran politician, after living at his court several days, was completely deceived, and communicated his opinion that nothing hostile was to be apprehended from the peishwa. Mr. Elphinstone, the official resident, entertained from the first an opposite opinion, which was soon fully confirmed. He saw that the utmost activity was employed in collecting troops, under the pretext of aiding in the Pindaree war, but in fact with a purpose directly opposite. At the same time the jaghiredars, who had been studiously depressed and humbled, were courted and conciliated; while Bapoo Gokla, an officer of distinguished ability, who had hitherto been kept in a species of disgrace, was invested with the supreme direction of affairs. A numerous camp was formed close to the British cantonments, around which the Mahratta horsemen were seen riding in menacing attitudes. The brigade commanded by Colonel Burr, the amount of which had been fixed with a very undue confidence in the friendly disposition of the prince, did not exceed three sepoy battalions, with a European regiment not yet arrived from Bombay. As the hostile intentions of the court became more and more manifest, it was judged advisable to withdraw the troops into a strong defensive position formed near the city by an angle of the river Moola; but Mr. Elphinstone, anxious to avoid any semblance of being the aggressor, resolved not to quit the residency till he should be driven away by force. Threatening notes began to be exchanged; and on the 5th November, 1817, so sudden an attack was made that the resident and his suite had scarcely time to mount their horses when his mansion was plundered, and all the property, including books and papers, was either carried off or destroyed.

General Smith, though placed in the rear of the grand

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army, had agreed that if a single day should pass without his hearing from Poonah, he would conclude the communications to have been interrupted, and hasten thither with his brigade. A week, however, must necessarily elapse before his arrival, and to keep the sepoys in the mean time cooped up in a narrow space, harassed by the enemy's artillery and light-horse, would, it was feared, damp their courage, and promote that tendency to desertion which had already been strongly manifested. Hence the officers determined to march out with their small corps and attack their foes, who, to the amount of 26,000, were already stationed in front. This movement was executed promptly, and with such vigour that though the enemy's horsemen made some desperate charges, and reached several times the flanks of the English brigade, the latter finally remained masters of the field. They had not indeed done much damage to their adversary; but the intrepidity of their attack, and the degree of success gained against numbers so vastly superior, changed decidedly the moral position of the two armies. When General Smith, therefore, on the 13th November, after fighting his way through the peishwa's cavalry, arrived at Poonah, and prepared to attack the Mahratta camp, that prince at once began a retreat. He continued it for upwards of six months without intermission, ranging over the wide extent of the Deccan ; at one time approaching Mysore, at another proceeding nearly to the Nerbudda, always distancing his pursuers by the skill and rapidity of his march, and even passing between corps advancing from opposite quarters. At one time he made himself sure of cutting off a division of 800 men destined to reinforce Colonel Burr; but Captain Staunton the commander, taking post in a village, repulsed with desperate valour, though with severe loss, all his attacks, and he was at length obliged to desist. This was considered the bravest exploit performed in the whole course of the war. The peishwa, finding himself now a hopeless fugitive, and learning the triumphs of his enemy in other quarters, made overtures for a treaty; hoping to be allowed to retain, though in a reduced condition, his rank as a sovereign. But the governor-general, on considering his long course of hostility, and the treacherous attack made at so critical a moment, had determined to erase his name from

the list of Indian princes, and that there should be no longer a peishwa. Britain was to exercise the sovereign sway in all the territories which had belonged to him; though in order to sooth in some degree the irritated feelings of the Mahratta people, the Rajah of Satara, the descendant of Sevajee, still deeply venerated even after his long depression, was to be restored to some share of his former dignity. To follow up this purpose, General Smith laid siege to Satara, which surrendered after a short resistance. The interval afforded a brief respite to the peishwa, and lulled his vigilance; so that when this officer had pushed on by forced marches, at the head of a division of light-horse, he arrived unobserved within hearing of the Mahratta kettle-drums. Concealed for some time by the brow of a hill, he appeared on its summit to the astonishment of the Indian army. The peishwa forthwith left the field with his attendants; but Gokla determined to hazard a battle rather than sacrifice nearly the whole of his baggage. He made the attack with the greatest vigour, and had succeeded in throwing part of the cavalry into some confusion, when he fell mortally wounded. His death was regretted even by the English, since his enmity to their nation, and zeal for the independence of his own, had been tempered by honour and humanity. The whole army immediately fled, and the British obtained possession of the person of the Rajah of Satara, who had before been a prisoner in the hands of his rival.

Bajee Rao still continued his flying march, of which he assumed the sole charge; and gave out every morning the direction in which the army was to move, having concealed it till that moment from his most confidential officers. After much and long wandering, he moved northward to the borders of Berar and Malwa, where he partially recruited his strength by collecting the remains of the beaten armies. But he soon found himself hemmed in closer and closer; and in pursuing his march, in the absence of proper information, he met Colonel Adams at the head of a considerable force, and could not avoid a battle. He was defeated, with the loss of most of his infantry, and all his artillery, saving only his horse and light troops. He then made an effort to reach the capital of Sindia, hoping for aid, or at least protection, from this most powerful of the Mahratta chieftains;

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but all the passes were strictly guarded. His distress became greater every day; his followers deserted in vast numbers, and the English drew their nets round him so closely that he could not hope long to escape. He then opened a correspondence with Sir John Malcolm. After some discussion, it was agreed that he should surrender, and that, on being secured in a pension of eight lacks of rupees (about 100,000l.), he should renounce the dignity of peishwa, with all his claims as a sovereign; spending the rest of his days in some holy city at a distance from the seat of his former dominion. The sum was regarded by the Marquis of Hastings as too large; though, considering it as the final adjustment with a prince who ranked in authority and power above all'others at that time in India, it does not appear very extravagant. The apprehension that his revenue would be employed by him as an instrument for regaining his political influence has not been realized. The expeishwa almost immediately resigned himself to voluptuous indulgences, to which he had been always addicted, and sought to drown in them every recollection of his former schemes and greatness.

While the territory of Poonah was agitated by these violent commotions, a scene almost exactly similar was passing at Nagpore. Appa Saheb had invited the British troops with the sole view of maintaining his own situation as regent; and so long as he judged them necessary for that object he remained faithful. At length he got rid by assassination of the young prince, and placed himself on the guddee, as the seat was called to which the dignity of rajah was attached. He then considered himself independent of foreign aid, and began to view it with the dislike so generally felt by all persons in his condition. He was thus led to enter into that confederacy against the British power which was formed among the Mahratta chiefs in consequence of the Pindaree war. He was observed to carry on a most active correspondence with the peishwa while the latter was maturing his plans of aggression. The first treaty which that prince was compelled to sign greatly abated the courage of his ally, which was revived, however, by the intelligence of his having again taken up arms and attacked the English subsidiary force. The subsequent retreat of Bajee Rao threw him into much hesitation and