1784. BOOK V. unhappy state of his affairs, by imputing blame to the Governor, and obstructing the government. The Supreme Council had taken part with the complaints, not only of the General, but also of the Nabob. To all practicable arrangements for peace, that dependant, ambitious, and insatiate chief, had shown aversion, and in particular a poignant abhorrence of Hyder Ali and his son. Important as the blessings of peace had now become to the exhausted resources of him and the Company, he treated with unreserved disapprobation the terms of any treaty which, to the Presidency, it seemed practicable to obtain; and neither gave his consent, nor appeared to desire to become a party, to the arrangement which they endeavoured to effect. The treaty of 1769, in which the Nabob was not included as a party, nor his name mentioned, appeared to furnish a precedent to justify a treaty in which, though his participation was not expressed, his interests were secured. And as it was absolutely necessary, on behalf of the Company, that the Nabob should not have the power of breaking a treaty, essential to their interests, though by him violently condemned, it was held a great advantage to place it on a foundation independent of his will. Besides, previously to the negotiation, the Supreme Council were so far from holding up the Nabob, as a necessary and a principal party, that they did not even direct the communication to him of their instructions, or hint the propriety of taking his advice. The complaint, however, which on this account the Nabob had been instigated to raise, the Supreme Council treated now as a matter of infinite importance; and to Lord Macartney they appeared to be actuated by a wish to multiply the embarrassments of his administration. Considering the jealous temper of Tippoo, his distrust of the English, and his perpetual apprehension of treachery and deceit, Lord Macartney was convinced, that to present to him a second ratification of a treaty, after the first had been received as final and complete, could only serve to persuade him that either on the first or second of these occasions imposition was practised; and that hostility should anticipate hostile designs. The danger of such a result determined the President to brave the resentment of the superior government, and exonerating his council from responsibility, he declared his readiness to submit to suspension, as the consequence of his refusal to obey the orders of the governing Board. The situation of Mr. Hastings himself became about this time too alarming, however, to leave him inclination for a stretch of his authority, and the disobedience of Lord Macartney was followed by no unpleasant result.* * Barrow's Life of Macartney, i. 232-238; Papers presented to the House of Commons, ut supra. CHAP. VI. Financial Difficulties-Campaign of General Goddard on the Bombay side of WE return to the events which, during these great transactions, had taken place CHAP. VI. in Bengal, and other parts of the British dominions in India. 1780. parts of the nions in India. British domi Before the commencement of the war with Hyder, the finances of the Company Financial diffiin every part of India had become a source of distress. The scanty resources of culties in all Bombay, which seldom equalled the expenditure of a peace establishment, had not, even with the supplies which had been sent from Bengal, sufficed to save that Presidency from the necessity of draining the channels of loan, and from sinking in arrear so deeply, even with the pay of the army, that the General, in the month of August, 1780, declared it was no longer fit to be depended upon.* Even Bengal itself, though it had enjoyed entire tranquillity, and had only contributed to the maintenance of Goddard's army, and to other feeble operations against the Mahrattas, was so completely exhausted, that, in August, 1780, the Supreme Council were again reduced to the expedient of contracting debt; and before the end of the year, when exertions in favour of Carnatic were required, they were obliged to announce to the Directors the probability of a total suspension of the investment.† See Goddard's Letter to the Select Committee of Bombay, dated 24th August, 1780, Sixth Report of the Committee of Secrecy, ut supra, p. 111, and 112. See also p. 89 and 90, with the Appendix, No. 256, for details of the extreme poverty and necessities of the Presidency, "necessities," they say, "now pressing to a degree never before experienced." + Sixth Report, ut supra, p. 101, 102, 103. In a letter to General Goddard, under date 20th April, 1780, the Supreme Council wrote, "Our resources are no longer equal to the payment of Book V. 1780. the irruption of Hyder, to make peace with the Mahrattas. In the important consultations of the 25th of September, 1780, upon the intelligence of the fatal irruption of Hyder, it was resolved, that terms of peace Efforts of the should be offered to the Mahrattas, through the mediation of the Rajah of Berar; English, upon and on the 2d of October a draught of a treaty was prepared, according to which all conquests made by the English were to be surrendered, with the exception of the fort of Gualior, destined for the Rana of Gohud, and that part of Guzerat which had been ceded to Futty Sing Guicowar: Should the fort of Bassein, however, be taken by the English forces, before the final agreement, it was proposed to cede, in its stead, all the territory and revenue which they had acquired by the treaty of Poorunder. Of this draught, a copy, with power of mediation, was sent to the Rajah of Berar; and at the same time letters were written to Nizam Ali, to the Peshwa, to Scindia, and to the Poonah ministers, apprizing them of the terms on which the English government was ready and desirous to conclude a treaty of peace. General Goddard takes the field, and reduces Bas sein. Further oper On the 16th of October General Goddard, reinforced by a body of Europeans from Madras, and relieved from apprehension of Holkar and Scindia by intelligence that an attack would be made upon their dominions from the upper provinces of Bengal, put the army in motion from Surat. The roads were still so deep, and the rivers so full, that they were unable to reach their ground before Bassein till the 13th of November. From the strength of the place, and the number of the garrison, the General deemed it necessary to carry on his operations with regularity and caution. A battery of six guns and six mortars, within nine hundred yards of the fort, was completed on the morning of the 28th. Under cover of its fire, approaches were carried on to a spot within 500 yards of the wall, where a battery of nine heavy guns was opened on the morning of the 9th of December, while a battery of twenty mortars began to play upon one of the parapets. On the morning of the 10th, when a practicable breach was nearly effected, the fort made an offer of surrender, but in consequence of some demur the fire was renewed, and next morning the enemy yielded at discretion. After the reduction of Bassein, the General repaired to Bombay for the purpose your army." In another, dated 15th May, they warned the Bombay Presidency against any reliance on continued supply from Bengal, as neither their resources, nor the currency of the provinces, would endure a continuance of the vast drains," &c. In a minute of the Gov.-Gen. on the 28th of August, he said, "Our expenses have been increasing; our means declining. And it is now a painful duty imposed upon me, to propose, that we should again have recourse to the means of supplying our growing wants, by taking up money at interest. The sum I do not propose, because I think it should not be limited." of settling with the Committee the further operations of the army, and there CHAP. VI. received intelligence of the irruption of Hyder into Carnatic, and the destruc- 1780, Goddard. tion of Colonel Baillie's detachment. An attack, which might operate as a ations of diversion, on the western side of Hyder's dominions was pressed upon the Presidency of Bombay by that of Madras; and at the same time arrived from the Supreme Council intelligence of their designs respecting peace with the Mahrattas, and a copy of the treaty which it was intended to offer. Though directed immediately to obey a requisition in writing from the Peshwa to suspend hostilities, General Goddard and the Committee of Bombay were exhorted to prosecute the war with vigour, till such time as that application should arrive. After several fluctuations of opinion, it was determined not to evacuate Tellicherry; as a place which, though burthensome to defend, might ultimately be of importance for commencing an attack upon the dominions of Hyder: And, notwithstanding the desire of the Committee to secure Concan, or the country below the Ghauts, it was resolved, upon the recommendation of the General, to occupy the passes of the mountains, and to threaten the enemy's capital, advancing into the country as far as might appear consistent with the safe return of the army. The terror which might thus be inspired was expected to operate as the most effectual inducement to peace; and that terror would be the more powerful, as the two leading chiefs, Scindia and Holkar, were understood to be occupied in the defence of their own dominions against the attack carried on from Bengal. The army marched from Bassein about the middle of January. The Mahratta force in Concan was computed at 20,000 horse and foot, with about fifteen guns. It was commanded by Hurry Punt Furkea, and posted on the road to B'hore Ghaut, by which, as the easiest of the passes, and that leading most directly to the Mahratta capital, it was expected that the English would endeavour to ascend. Notwithstanding the numerical superiority of the enemy, they offered little resistance in the level country, and with only a few slight skirmishes, the English reached the foot of the pass on the 8th of February. The enemy had ascended; and from intelligence it appeared that they had assembled in great force to dispute the passage. Holkar, whom the attack from Bengal had been too feeble to retain on the opposite side of the Mahratta country, and who had left Scindia as sufficient to cope with the force by which he was assailed, had lately joined the Poonah army, of which the whole was encamped near the top of the Ghaut. The General, who saw the advantage of audacity and dispatch, resolved to storm the pass the very night of his arrival. The party, which consisted of the grenadiers, headed by Captain Parker, entered about midnight, and with consummate gal BOOK V. lantry, forcing the enemy from every battery and post which they occupied, reached the summit at five o'clock in the morning. 1781. At the top of the Ghaut, the English army were not distant more than fortyfive miles from the Mahratta capital. On the 12th, a person arrived, commissioned, as he said, by Nana Furnavese, the Poonah minister. His object was, to declare the earnest desire of the Minister to obtain the friendship of the English; but he brought with him no credentials to authenticate his mission. For this he apologized, by the doubts which Nana felt of the disposition towards him entertained by the English. Goddard was not willing that a mere adherence to forms should obstruct the acquisition of peace. He instructed him to assure the minister of the readiness with which the English would second his views for a termination of the existing contests and the formation of an alliance against their respective enemies. Among other circumstances, the Mahratta agent affirmed, that the copy of the treaty which had been sent for transmission to the Regent of Berar, the Regent, who had not approved of it, had declined to forward. The General, therefore, transmitted to the minister a copy, together with information of his being vested with full powers to treat; and agreed to wait eight days for an answer. The answer arrived within the time prescribed, containing a simple and explicit rejection of the terms. Fully acquainted with the progress of Hyder in Carnatic, and regarding the eagerness of the English for peace, as a declaration of inability for war, the Mahrattas, at this juncture, expected greater advantages from continuing, than terminating hostilities. To the application of the Supreme Council to Moodajee, that he would employ his mediation between them and the Poonah government, an answer was not received till the 9th of January, 1781; and when it did arrive, it contained so many objections to the treaty, and even advanced so many pretensions, on the part of Moodajee himself, that it not only convinced them of the little prospect of peace, but brought in doubt the sincerity of the former professions of that person himself. Notwithstanding this disappointment in the hopes of peace, and the approach of the English army to the capital of the enemy, Goddard, convinced that possession of the capital, which the enemy had determined to burn, would by no means ensure the attainment of his object, declined any further progress into the interior of the country; and recommended a system of defensive warfare, permitting the return of the Madras troops to the coast of Coromandel, both for assistance against Hyder, and to lessen the pressure upon the Bombay finances. After maintaining their post with little disturbance at the head of the Ghauts till the 17th of April, the English descended secretly during the night. The |