Dundas (now Lord Melville), agreed to open the trade, and in April 1812, they petitioned for a renewal of their charter, on these terms. It is probable that the chief opponents of the Company had on this, as on former occasions, been the merchants of London; for though exports were to he permitted from all the ports, the imports were all to be brought to the capital, the merchants and shipowners of which expected to derive thence great advantages. But Liverpool, Bristol, and the other out-ports as they are named, claimed the right of import also, and sent up delegates to London; and petitions to parliament against the Company's monopoly poured in from every trading and manufacturing town in the empire.

It is actually amusing to view the brilliant prospects that are held forth by commercial men, when their object is the extension of their own trade; and how utterly heedless they are of the interests, not merely of strangers, but of other classes of their countrymen; they drive on their free-trade car like that of Juggernâth, crushing all before it 9. But their anticipations are rarely, or never verified; they have not in general accurate notions of the real condition of other countries, and of the disturbing causes likely to arise; and, strange as it may appear, they are as much under the influence of imagination as poets or lovers. Owing, perhaps, to want of regular education, and of correct taste, they love to indulge in figures of speech, and their language teems with personifications. The following extract, which Thornton gives from a petition from Sheffield at this time, will illustrate what we have stated.

"If the trade of this United Kingdom were permitted to flow unimpeded over those extensive, luxuriant, and opulent regions, though it might in the outset, like a torrent repressed and swoln by obstructions, when its sluices were first opened break forth with uncontrollable impetuosity, deluging, instead of supplying the district before it; yet that very violence, which at the beginning might be partially injurious, would in the issue prove highly and permanently beneficial: no part being unvisited, the waters of commerce that spread over the face of the land, as they subsided would wear themselves channels, through which they might continue to flow ever afterwards, in regular and fertilizing streams." The simple meaning of this sonorous rhapsody is, that though they might at first glut (as they know they would) the new markets, yet things might end in the establishment of a regular trade. But such high-flown language from the cutlers of Sheffield !

Whatever we may think of the language, the reasoning, and the motives of the members of commercial leagues of this kind, it seems certain that in this country they are tolerably sure to carry their point; and there only remains for those who see their objects, to smile at their disappointed expectations. The Company, on this occasion, made

9 As an instance of the justice and philanthropy of manufacturers, we may take the trade in cotton-goods. While Manchester and other towns were struggling in the formation of silk and cotton-manufactories, they were protected by a duty of seventy or eighty per cent. ad valorem, in some cases by a total prohibition, against the competition of India, on which their goods have since been forced without any duty at all, nearly to the ruin of the native artizans.

as hard a battle as they could; Warren Hastings, and many other distinguished men who had been in India, asserted the danger of the proposed measures but the pressure from without was too strong for the ministry to resist it, and by the bill passed in July, 1813, for the renewal of the Company's charter, the trade of the East, with the exception of that to China, was thrown open to the merchants of Great Britain. As most of the witnesses had expressed their apprehension of the evils likely to arise from the great influx of European colonists into India, and their oppression and robbery of the natives, the power of granting licenses for residence was reserved to the Company 1.

But there was another party in the country who acted on far purer and higher motives than merchants, and whom the ministers found it necessary to conciliate. The greater part of the last century had been a period of extreme religious laxity; but the serious tone induced by the awful war in which England was engaged with the French republic, had led men's minds to think more deeply on the subject of religion; and numbers, both of the clergy and laity, had returned to the sterner faith held by the reformers, and from which the Church of England in general had departed. This party now held many seats in parliament; and as their principles led them to regard salvation as confined to the holders of certain tenets, they became anxious for the spiritual welfare of their brethren in India, and for the conversion of the benighted natives. Their cause was ably advocated by Mr. Wilberforce in the House of Commons; and by a clause in the bill, it was resolved to appoint a bishop and three archdeacons, to superintend the chaplains of the different settlements in India; and the entrance of missionaries into that country was to be facilitated.

Lord Minto had written in 1811, expressing his wish to leave India in January, 1814. The ministry, who with wonderful self-denial had allowed one connected with the party opposed to them in politics, to retain for so long a time so high and lucrative an office, could refrain no longer.. The Earl of Moira, a nobleman high in the favour and confidence of the Prince Regent, partly from ambition, and partly, we believe, from narrowness of circumstances, was covetous of the government of India, and the Directors were forced to appoint him. As he was a military man, he was, like Lord Cornwallis, made also commander-in-chief, to increase his authority and his emoluments.

Lord Minto quitted India toward the close of 1813, and he died the year of his return to England. His character stands high among those of

1 European colonisation is a great panacea with Mill for the evils of India. He expatiates on the advantages which might be derived "from a body of English gentlemen, who, if they had been encouraged to settle as owners of land, and as manufacturers and merchants, would at this time have been distributed in great numbers in India." "The permission," says Wilson, "has been now granted them for several years, and where is the numerous body of respectable English landholders, who are to render inestimable services to the government, in preserving the peace of the country?" -one of Mill's predictions. On another place Wilson observes; "An importance is here attached to the admirable effects of colonisation, which it is safe prophecy to foretel will never be realised; for colonisation never will, never can take place."

was resolved to attempt to deprive them of it, and at the same time to carry a strong stockade, erected for the defence of the water. Two columns were formed; one under Major Ludlow, to move against the stockade, on the nearest side; the other, under Major Richards, to make a détour, and attack it in the rear. Both, however, met with ill-success; the first was driven back by the enemy; the second, having taken a position near the wells, gallantly maintained it against all the efforts of the garrison, until their ammunition was nearly expended, when they retreated by orders of Gen. Martindell, though Major Richards was confident, that if furnished with supplies he could have held the post. All military operations were now suspended in this quarter.

Gen. Ochterlony, who was opposed to Amar Sing Thapa, the ablest of the Goorkha leaders, was more cautious and judicious in his movements. This country being very mountainous, Amar Sing had constructed three strong stone forts on the mountain-ranges, each as usual supported by strong stockades. The first which the British troops came before (Nov. 2), named Nalagurh, surrendered when cannonaded. They then advanced against Ramgurh, which stood on a higher range. Amar Sing came to its aid with 3000 regular troops, and encamped with his right on the fort, and his left and front protected by stockades. Gen. Ochterlony deeming the front too strong, moved round their left to take them in the rear. receiving intelligence of the second repulse at Kalunga, fearing its moral effect on the troops on both sides, he resolved to wait for reinforcements, employing himself meantime in gaining information, and preparing for further operations. When the expected troops arrived (Dec. 27) he resumed the offensive, and by judicious movements in the direction of Malân, he drew the enemy from Ramgurh, and other posts, which were then occupied by the British. The severity of the weather and the ruggedness of the country impeded him so much, that he was not able to attempt any thing against Malân till the spring.

But on

The third division did not move till the middle of December. The way to Palpa lay through a difficult mountain pass, which the Goorkhas had strongly stockaded. The stockade was attacked, and would probably have been carried, but Gen. Wood thinking that it would be impossible to drive the enemy from the thickets in the rear of it, ordered a retreat. He then confined himself to the defence of the frontier till the spring, when at the express command of Lord Moira, he advanced to the town of Bhotwal, from which, however, he soon retired again to the plain; and as his troops were becoming unhealthy, they were placed, in May, in cantonments at Gorukhpûr.

The fourth and largest division having assembled at Dinapore near Patna, marched (Nov. 23) for Bettiah. Meantime a force under Major Bradshaw was succesfully employed in clearing the frontier forests of the Goorkhas. When the main army reached the frontier (Dec. 12), Gen. Marley, instead of advancing without his guns, as he had been directed, spent the rest of the month waiting for them, and this gave the enemy time to recover from the alarm into which Major Bradshaw's success had thrown them. The consequence was that they attacked two British out

posts, (Jan. 1) cut off one, and nearly destroyed the other. The troops now lost courage and began to desert; and Gen. Marley having a most exaggerated idea of the numbers and courage of the Goorkhas, made a retrograde movement to protect the depôt at Bettiah, leaving a strong division with Major Roughsedge to protect the frontier. Lord Moira, though very indignant at the conduct of Gen. Marley, reinforced him so largely, that his forces amounted to 13,000 men. But that incapable officer, after spending the whole month of January in indecision, suddenly quitted his camp one morning before day-break, without having given any notice of his intention. About the end of February, Gen. George Wood came and took the command, but he also acted on a timid policy, and effected nothing. While, however, the fame of the British arms was thus tarnished by the inefficiency of the commanders of these two divisions, Major Latter, who commanded a small force further eastwards, not only defended the boundary east of the Kûsi river, but formed a useful alliance with the rajah of Sikim, a small hill-state eastward of Nepal. At the same time Col. Gardner with a body of irregulars from Rohilcund had entered Kamaon to the north of that province, and appeared before Almora, its chief town. Another irregular force under Capt. Hearsey, also entered it from another side; but it was routed and its commander made a prisoner by the Goorkhas. A regular force under Col. Nicolls, joined Col. Gardner before Almora (April 8), and when everything had been prepared, a general attack was made (25th) on the stockades in front of it. After a brief resistance they were carried, and the troops established themselves in the town. Next morning, after a discharge of mortars on the fort, the garrison capitulated, on condition of being allowed to depart with their arms and personal property.

Gen. Martindell was at this time engaged in a blockade of the fort of Jytak, patiently waiting for the effects of famine on the garrison. Meantime Gen. Ochterlony was acting with more vigour against the Goorkhas at Malân.

In the month of April the British troops were encamped on the banks of a stream in the valley under the ranges on which Malân stood, while the Goorkha posts extended along the ridge from Malân to the fort of Surajgurh, most of the peaks being occupied and stockaded. In the centre of the line were two points named Ryla and Deothal, which seemed to be assailable, and the possession of which would cut Malân off from most of its outworks. These Gen. Ochterlony resolved to attack; and he sent (14th) a column against the former under Major Innis, and one against the latter under Col. Thomson. Another body led by Capt. Showers, was to move from Ratangurh, a post to the right of Malân occupied by the British, and attack the enemy's cantonments under the fort. These attacks proved, on the whole, successful, though Capt. Showers was repulsed and killed. Next day (15th) every effort was made to strengthen Deothal, as it was certain to be soon attacked; more troops and two guns were sent up to it, and stockades were formed. As was expected, Amar Sing, knowing that if he let the British remain on the mountain, they would soon reduce Malân, resolved to make every effort to drive them down. He, therefore, placed the troops

A. D. 1815.

under the command of Bhakti Sing, a leader of known intrepidity, for the attack, while he himself remained close at hand with the standard and the reserve. The Goorkhas advanced in a semicircle, turning both flanks of the British position. Though swept down by showers of grape from the fieldpieces, they rushed on like lions, and poured in such a close fire, that except three officers and as many men, all who served the guns were killed or wounded. The conflict had lasted two hours, when troops having joined from Ryla, Col. Thomson ordered a charge to be made with bayonets. At this the Goorkhas broke and fled, leaving Bhakti Sing dead on the spot. Amar Sing retired with the fugitives into the fort, and the body of the fallen leader was sent in to them wrapt in shawls by the victors. Next day two of his wives burned themselves with his corpse.

Most of the exterior works of Malân were carried in the remaining days of April; and on the 8th May, a battery was opened on the principal redoubt, and preparations were made for storming. But the main body of the garrison, deeming resistance hopeless, now came out and surrendered; and Amar Sing, after making a show of defence for a couple of days, sent his son to propose a convention. It was concluded on the following terms: the Goorkhas were to give up all their possessions west of the Jumna; and the garrison of Malân, part of that of Jytak, and all the members of the Thapa family, were to be allowed to retire to Nepâl with their arms and their private property. Most of the men entered the British service.

The defeat of their ablest leader made the court of Khatmandu now rather anxious for peace, and the remainder of the year was spent in negotiations. At length it became manifest that the only object of the Goorkhas had been to gain time, and that they intended making another appeal to arms. A force amounting to nearly 17,000 men was therefore assembled at Dinapore, and on the frontiers, with which Gen. (now Sir David 2) Ochterlony took the field early in February. He divided his force into four brigades, of which the first under Col. Kelly was to move to the right and endeavour to enter Nepâl by Hariharpûr; the second under Col. Nicolls on the left by Ramnagar; while the two last, under Sir D. Ochterlony in person, would seek to penetrate to Makwanpur by the Churiaghâti pass.

This pass being found both difficult in itself, and strongly defended by tiers of stockades, it was resolved to attempt to enter by another which was discovered, and which proved to be unguarded. It was a long deep ravine, between high banks covered with trees whose branches meeting over it excluded the light of day. On the night of the 14th, Sir D. Ochterlony entered this pass at the head of the third brigade, and on the fourth day he reached Hetaunda on the banks of the Rapti unopposed. Here he was joined by the fourth brigade; the Goorkhas having abandoned the stockades in the pass when they found that their position had been turned. On the 27th the British troops encamped within two miles of the fortified heights of Makwanpûr, and the following morning they took possession of the strong village of Sekhar-Khatri, which its garrison had evacuated. 2 He was first made a Knight Commander of the Bath,

and then a Baronet.

161

At noon, however, the Goorkhas returned in greater force, and endeavoured to recover it. Additional troops came on both sides; and at five o'clock the Goorkhas were repelled with a loss of 500 men, that of the British being 45 killed, and 175 wounded. Next day Col. Nicolls joined with the second brigade. Col. Kelly had, meantime, forced the garrison to evacuate the fort of Hariharpûr. Preparations were now made for erecting new batteries against Makwanpûr, when the commandant, who was brother to the regent, sent to say that he had received the ratification of the treaty which had been previously agreed on. As Sir D. Ochterlony was invested with political as well as military authority, the treaty was concluded with some additional cessions of territory; and peace was re-established, and it has never since been disturbed.

The chief articles of this treaty were the abandoning all claims on the hill-rajahs west of the river Kali, and restoring all the territory taken from the rajah of Sikim, giving up the Tirai or lowlands at the foot of the hills along the southern frontier, and receiving a resident at Khatmandu. As the Nepalese set an exaggerated value on the Tirai, and the desire to retain it had been a chief cause of their breaking off the treaty, a part of it was restored to them to their great satisfaction.

It

This war was a necessary one; for, unless where justice plainly dictates, concessions can never be made to barbarians, as they will surely ascribe them to weakness. Had all the commanding officers been like Sir D. Ochterlony, it would also have been a brief and inexpensive war. was condemned at home of course from the commencement; but when terminated, the highest praises were bestowed on the Governor-general, who was created Marquis of Hastings, and thanks were voted to Sir D. Ochterlony and the officers and men engaged in the war.

CHAPTER IX.

Maratta Affairs-Murder of Gangadhar Sastri-Attack on Bhopal-State of things at Maratta Courts-The Pindarries-They ravage the British Territory-Preparations for destroying them-Attack on the Residency of PoonaNew Treaty with Sindia-British Troops attacked by the Cholera Morbus-Attack on Residency at Nagpûr.

IN the whole of India now, with the exception of the Punjab, there was no power save that of the Marattas capable of disturbing its tranquillity. These, as we have already stated, formed five independent states, all, however, more or less regarding themselves as one confederation, and the Peishwa as their legitimate superior. That prince, notwithstanding the treaty of Bassein, and the presence of the subsidiary force, still fondly clung to the hope of seeing himself once more the independent chief of the Maratta nation; and what he feared to attempt by force, he hoped to compass by intrigue; he therefore maintained secret agents at the courts of Nagpûr, Gwalior 3, and Indore.

Of all the Maratta princes the Guicowar of Gûzerât, whose capital was Baroda, was the one

3 Sindia had made this his residence.

M

most under British influence. He was in fact indebted to them for his political existence; and the exertions of the very able resident, Major Walker, had disentangled and arranged the embarrassed system of his finances, and restored him to independence and respectability. In 1804, the lease by which the Guicowar held of the Peishwa, a portion of the revenues of Ahmedabâd having expired, the former, with the approbation of the British, applied for a lease for ever, in order to put an end to all cause of future dispute. But the views of the Peishwa were quite different, and he refused to renew. In order to try to effect an arrangement, the court of Baroda sent to that of Poona a man named Gangadhar Sastri, and the guarantee of the British government for his safety was obtained. He met with a very cool reception at Poona, while some agents sent thither from a rival party at Baroda were listened to with favour. Aware that he could accomplish nothing, he was anxious to depart; but he remained at the earnest desire of the resident. The Peishwa's ministers now altered their conduct toward him; and Trimbakjee, that prince's chief favourite and adviser, held several private interviews with him, in which he assailed him on his weak side, his vanity, and not without some success. A marriage also was concerted between his son and a sister of the Peishwa's wife; and he accompanied the court to a sacred place named Nasik, where the ceremony was to be performed. But in consequence of the refusal of his court to ratify a treaty which he had concluded, he deemed it incumbent on him to decline the proffered honour; and he still further offended the Peishwa by refusing to let his wife visit at the palace, in consequence of the licentious orgies of which it was the scene.

No signs of displeasure were, however, let appear; and Gangadhar was induced to accompany the Peishwa to another place of devotion at Punderpur, though the resident was not invited as usual. One evening, when he had gone home rather unwell from an entertainment, a message came from Trimbak inviting him to repair at once to the temple to perform his devotions, as it would be engaged for the Peishwa next morning. After repeated solicitations he went at length, and as he was returning from the temple escorted by some of Trimbak's soldiers, five men rushed on him from behind and murdered him. As neither Trimbak nor the Peishwa would make any efforts to discover and apprehend the assassins, and as Gangadhar had been under the protection of the British, the resident felt it to be his duty to insist on satisfaction. The actual assassins, there is little doubt, were the people from Baroda; but there is as little doubt of Trimbak and even the Peishwa having been concerned in the deed. They refused when called on to institute any inquiry; and the resident then, from prudential motives, taking no notice of the Peishwa's share, insisted on the arrest and delivery of Trimbak. The Peishwa, after making every effort in his power to avoid it, was forced to comply, and Trimbak was confined in the fort of Tanna in the isle of Salsette.

The territories of the Nawab of Bhopâl, which lay between those of Sindia and the rajah of Nagpûr, were an object of cupidity to these chiefs. In the end of 1813, each sent an army to the field; and the united forces laid siege to the capital.

A gallant defence was made by the Nawab and his son, and all the assaults of the besiegers were repelled; but famine at length began to prey on the garrison, and death and desertion reduced their number to about 600 men. Still they did not yield; and at length the retirement of the Nagpûr troops, for what cause is unknown, obliged those of Sindia also to withdraw.

The rajah of Nagpûr died in 1815; and as his heir was delicate and of weak intellect, it was found necessary to appoint a regent. After the usual struggle of parties the office was, with the consent of the resident, conferred on Apa Sahib, a nephew of the late rajah. As the opposite party were hostile to the British power, Apa Sahib deemed a close connexion with it his surest policy, and he signed the treaty of subsidiary alliance for which they had so long been anxious.

Sindia, after his disappointment at Bhopâl, remained quiet, but brooding over plans of vengeance which he did not perhaps even dream of executing. His great object was to establish the supreme authority of the Peishwa and consolidate the Maratta empire; and he secretly had agents at Poona and Nagpûr, and received vakeels from Nepâl and from Runjeet Sing the Sikh. The leaders of the Pindarries had pledged themselves to obey his orders.

The court of Indore had been the scene of atro

cities and profligacy. On the death of Holkar Tulasi Bai, a woman of low rank but of beauty and talent, whom he had made his wife, having no children of her own, placed on the throne his son by a woman of inferior rank whom she had adopted, and she reigned in his name as regent. She was assisted by Balaram Seth as minister, and by Ghapur Khân, the brother-in-law of Ameer Khân, as commander of the forces. But when the former reproached her with her licentiousness, she caused him to be murdered. The latter then took arms to punish her, and after making a gallant charge herself in person at the head of the Maratta horse, she was obliged to take flight. A reconciliation was then attempted between her and Ameer Khân, under whom Ghapur Khân only acted; but events of greater importance just then occurred which attracted the attention of all parties.

During all this time, Ameer Khân was at the head of a large freebooting party in Rajputana, now aiding one Rajpût chief against another, and now plundering on his own account.

We have more than once had occasion to mention the Pindarries. These were bodies of irregular light-horse, which served without pay, receiving in lieu of it license to plunder. They had originated, it is said, in the time of the Mahommedan kingdoms of the Deckan; they had always served with the Marattas; and when Holkar and Sindia obtained territory themselves, they assigned portions of it on the Nerbudda to bodies of these marauders, which were named the Holkar Shahi, and the Sindia Shahi Pindarries; of which, the latter were by far the more numerous. The Pindarries were divided into several Durras, or companies, and their principal leaders at this time were Cheetoo, a Jât, Karim Khân, a Rohilla, and Dost and Wasil Mohammed, the sons of an officer of rank in the Nagpûr service. There was, as we may observe, no distinction of religion made among them: any