The Sun. — London, England, 1819-01-02 00:00:00

INDI A. IXtrrect from the Answer of the Ararzittis 'HASTINGS, on his return, to Calcutta, -to tin Address of - the Inhabitants : In the original plan of the war, ibere as'as "not the expectation or The wish of adding a rood to the dominions of the Hunottrable Company. ''Our knowledge of the decided repugnance with which any notions of extending our territorial 'possessions is always viewed at home', would have forbidden such a project. Territory, 'in deed, was to be wrested from none, but the Phr alarriee ; and you will readily comprehend'the •po licy which dictated that such conquests should be divided between the Nabob of BopatO, and Holkar. It was useful to strengthen the former, who had attached himself to us devotedly; and it was desirable that the two Mahretta Sove reigns should perceive a degree of advantage for 'themselves to compensate 'for the unavoidable dis satisfaction they were to suffer from•the comple tion of our enterprise. The suppres ion of the Ptedarries was our single. object. An association, whose undisguised principles is to subsist by plundering all around ; it is a body placed by its own act it, a state of war with every reenlar Go vtrnment. To crush such a confederacy before it should further increase that strength which every year obviously augmented, would have been a legitimate and prudent cause of exertion : but such considerations were I , ,ng gone hy. We were tuned upon by the most imperious duty attaching upon a Government—that of protecting its sub- , jeers from desolation—to prevent t h e repet i t i on (confessedly preparing) of invasions, which had for two years consecutively ravaged the Madras • Dependencies with circumstances of noexampled horror : on that principle we resolved to take the field. To have limited our purpose to the expul sion of the Piodarries from the districts which they had hith u occupied, would have been worse than childishness. It was indiepensahle to testineeish them wholly. We were not blind to the iliffie,iltiee of the task. The interception and dispersion of between five-and-twenty and thirty thotisand horsemen, lightly equipped and singu larly inured to fatigue, on the immense field over which they had the power of moving; in any di rection. way an operation that required no ordi nary effort. Much more, however, was to be taken in'o calculation than- the aglity of our etre ' mits. It was certain that their peril would he regarded with the greatest anxiety by Scindia and by Anceer Khan. I leave Holkar out of the ques tion, though he was interested in the result, for a reason which I will hereafter explain. The Pindar lies were an integral, thdugh an unavowed, and sometimes hardly manageable, part of the army of Scholia. They were always the ready auxilia ries of Ameer Khan, with whom community of ohject—rapine—gave them community of feel ing. It was, therefore, sure that those two Chiefs would be strenuous in counteracting our attempts to destroy the Pindarries—underhand, so lon,g as their practice could be concealed—in arms, when disguise would no longer avail. IVe had conse quently to aim at incapacitating Scindia and Ameer Khan from taking the part they meditated.— Enough was gained from Scindia, could we place Lim tinder an inability of moving ; but much more was requisite in respect to Ameer Khan. Though his large army was better fashioned and more sy•tematically organized than the Pintlarry force, still he was essentially nothing but a leader of freebooters. It was of fundamental urgency that his army should be disbanded. Though it con sisted of 52 battalions with above 150 pieces of cannon, and a powerful cavalry, it was luckily dis persed in small corps, either for the occupation of the widely separated patches of territory which he had won from different Chiefs, or for the extor tion of ,means of subsistence from weaker States. ply hope of rendering Scindia and Aineer Khan unable to struggle, rested on this—that I should assemble my force before they suspected my in tention, and push it forward with a rapidity which should make any concentration of their troops im practicable. The mere immovability of Scindia wt,uld not have answered my purpose. The Pin (tarries, if prassed by me, would have traversed his dominions, and gained the western States, whither l should he [occluded from following, by a bar in superable as long as it existed. iVe were hound ley Treats , with Scholia to have n 6 communication whatever wilt those States, so that the l'indarries would in the disunited Raipoot Territories here have found not only shelter but the facility of combin ing their force with that of Amer Khan. lam shotving to you that even the bonds of public faith were,- in my contemplaiion, less surmount able than physical obstacles. Do you think that I solved this embarrassment by an illicit use of the advantage which I succeeded in gaining over Scin dia, by planting myself in the midst of his divi sions, and, prohibiting any attempt at theirionc tion ? You do not believe it ; yet you will like to hear explained on what title I requited front him the abrogation of that interdict which forbad our intercourse with the western States. No Treaty, in troth, was existing between us and Scholia. He Lad dissolved it, first, by exciting the Pindateies to invade our Territories, that he might see how a de sultory mode of war might affect our power; se condly, by lending himself, the year before, to the profligate intrigues of the Peishwa, for the subver• 'ion of British preponderancy ; thirdly, by specific promises given to the Pindarries of making com mon cause with them, should they be driven to exigency. Will it he said dist this was possibly the construction which we put on doubtful in formation ? Though the Pindarry chiefs, now prisoners with me, have since borne evidence to the truth of all those facts, my vindication shall not repose itself there. Just as I was taking the field, I caused to be deliveted to Scholia. in open (foam., his own letters, signed with his own band, and 'sealed with his own private seal, ad dressed to a Foreign Government, and evincing the most hostile machinations already matured against us. Nothing was said to him on the de livery of those letters other than that the Gover tow-General had not wished to peruse •tbens, and that •iris Highness would perceive the seals were unbroken. I had no need to peruse them, be eauseaheir contents were displayed by the letters of itifetior agents, referring to, illustrat i ng and the expressions of the :Via . harajaisi. 'chest -parti culars are communicated to you, that you may see how . 'steadily, notwithstanding the laxity of the other party, our plan of upholding the exist- NativeVrovernments of India was maintained. Did Scindii dispute the verity of the proofs brought against him ? No such thing. lie stink under the'coninsion of the unexpected detection. There vytel no denial, no attempt at explanation, no en deavour to extenuate the, quality of the Secret Correspondence. On our part, the sole advan tage'ilrawn from the circumstance was additional security for thgaccomplishment of our measures against the Pindarries. The Maharajah was told, in Mild and conciliatory terms, that the British Croyernment would give way to no vindictive im pulse on. account of what had passed, but would regard his Highness's aberrations as an indis cretion arising ,trom his not having sufficiently considered the ties of amity subsisting between us ; but it was added, that as those ties had not appeared firm enough to secure our just interests, a new Treaty should he proposed, which, while it. preserved to the Maharajah all the solid be nefits enjoycd by him under I lie former one, would give us the certainty of annihilating the Pindar ries. Scindia gladly agreed to the terms, which pledged hint to active co-operation against the freebooters, - and set us at liberty to m site those engagements with the Itajpoot States, which alone could induce them to combine-and oppose any attempt of the Pindarries to find rriuge in the AVestern Cettintry. A provisional agreement was settled with those States instantly on our oh raining the right to take thew under our protec-, A more decisive, conduct was'reqttisi•e towards Ameer Khan. As his hand was protrs•edly against every 111411 who had any thing to lose, the band of every man might justly he raised against him. There were no rot:mermen's, express or implied, between him and us. He was, therefore, dis tinctly told of our resolution not to suffer the con; innance of a predatory system in Central In- Au option on this principle was (dirtied, that he should subscribe to the disbanding of his army, or witness the attack of it in, its separated condition. Should he choose the twiner course, he wo,ild be guaranteed io the possession of the territories he had won (ruin States whose inju ries we had no obligation to. redress ; should he risk the latter, he would be followed tip as a free booter the keenest pursuit that cot.ld be in stituted against a criminal disttirber of the public peace. He had sagacity enough !o comprehend that any* procedure but submission was hopeless. The positions gained by us through celerity at the outset, rendered the situation of those with whom we had to deal defenceless. Seindia was closely penned between the centre division on the banks of-the Sinde, and Major-General Donkin's division on the banks of the Chumbul. The lat ter corps menaced Ameer Khan on one side, while Sir. D. Ochterlony's overhung that Chief' on the other, and the division under Sir William Keir prevented his escaping south,ward. In this ex tremity, Atneer Khan took the wise step of throw ing himself on our liberal justice. His artillery was surrendered to us ; his army was disbanded ; and the British Government stood (ree from em barrassment in that quarter. At that period, which was tally in November, 1 had to consider the objects of the campaign as completely gain ed; for the Pindarrics, sensible of the impracti cability of maintaining themselves in their own territories, bad began their march to fall back on supports of which they did not then know 1 had deprived them, and were surrounded by our divi sions, which were then closing in uporlthem from every side. An apparently well-grounded hope was hence entertained, that the extensive revo lution which importantly changed the fortunes of so many States, would be pertccted without the effusion of other blood than what might be shed in the disfersion - of the Pindarries. That expectation waa not realized ; but its failure taros'v from causes altogether unconnected with the plan of our undertaking, or with any steps used by us in the prosecution of it. I men tioned to you, that I reserved an explanation re specting Holkar. Though some of the Chiefs of the Pindarries held,. large Jagheers from Holkar's Government, they had acted so independently of it, that they were considered as having divorced themselves entirely from it; and that Government, on my notifying to them the determination to suppress the Pindarries, reprobated the lawless ferocity of the freebooters, applauded the justice of my purpose to chastise them, and closed the letter with. expressions of every wish for my suc cess. The sincerity of those wishes might have been questioned, though no apprehension of ob. struction to our policy would have attended the doubt, had not other and more particular corre spondence been at that time in procesi. between Holkar's Government and ours. Toolsie Bliye, the widow of the late Maharajah, was, as you know, Regent of the State, during the minority of young Holkar. Finding herself unable to con trol the insolence of the Sirdars, and to preserve the interests of the family, she had sent a Vakeel to solicit privately that Holkar and the State Wright be token under the British tiovernment.— The overture was met with the kindest encoo• ragement. No burdensome condition was indi cated—no subsidy reqttired—no stationing of a British force in Holkar's territories proposed; the only outline of terms was reciprocal support, in case either State were attacked, and the zealous co-operation of Holkar's Government in prevent ing the assemblage of predatory associations.— While such frank cordiality reigned between the parties, nothing could seens more out of the ' chances than a rupture : yt.t upon a sudden the Irakiel was recalled, the different Sirdars, with their respective troops, were snu►u,oned to repair with the utmost speed to the Sovereign's person, and the determination of marching to aid the Peishwa was proclaimed by the Regent. What ensued is fresh in your recollection. The Mal►- ratta army found itself surrounded Earnest re- presentations of the inevitable ruin they were en tailing on themselves were made on our part to the Government, and many times repeated. The Sirdars could not imagine such a teeling as the moderation whence these friendly expostulations flowed. Our assurances that their ebullition should be forgotten, and that we' would. remin!l on the some amicable footing as bulure, if they abfinh'ittil their 'et travagant potpie, were sup• posed arise from our consciousness otincompe iency to coerce them, and that persuasion in creased their temerity to the extent of actual attack's-on our outposts. The Regent :dont per ceiveil the precipite ; - wished to • withdraw from it ; and was publicly put to death by tbeSirdars, for doubting the certainty of victory, the evening, before the battle which reduced Holkar to a des titute fugitive. A sitnilatlynnprovoked defection was exhibited by the Rajah of Nagpore. If his inimical dispo sition was not marked -with the same insolent .vaunt, it was only because he thought the basest insidiousness would give him an advantage in the attempt which be meditated against the life of our accredited Minister, residing under the public faith of a treaty at his Highness's Court. He kept up his solemn protestation of devoted friend. ship till the very hour of the attack on the Itesj deuey. His villainous efforts failed, his courage deserted hint, he threw himself on our mercy, he was continued on the Musntul, and every reve rence was paid to him, till we detected him in a new conspiracy. Then the simplest principles of self-preservation demanded his removal from the Throne. I have stated these two cases before I touched ,spun that of . the Peish wa , because they will strongly elocidate the necessity of the conduct held towArds that Prince, if Prince be not•a title unfitly applied to an individuaV so filthily stained will] perfidy. Oor endeavour' to. screen his re potation, b y throwing the :while guilt of the Onyek war Minister's murder on Ti imbuckjee Diinglia, when : the Peishwa himself was not less actively implicated in it, was'sci perverstly met by him, that throughout the year 1815, we dis c.,vered the intrigues of his Highness at almost every Court in India, to stimulate combinations against us in revenge for our austerity towards his despicable minion. They were thought to be the effects of an acritnony which would soon subside, and witch importance was not attached to them. Oef finding, however, that they were Cont inued„ I judged it right to apprise the Peishwa that I was acquainted with the transac tions. This was done in the gentlest manner ; and the iwimation was coupled with a profession that I ascribed those ,practices to the indulgence of an inconsiderate spleen, which he would chas ten in himself the moment he reflected on its real nature. It was added, that in the conti.lenCe of his being solicitous to retrace his steps, I was ready, on the profession of such a disposition on his part, to obliterate the remembrance of all that had missed, and to invite his fullest reliance on my perso'ial efforts to maintain his welfare and dignity. Ilis answer was a protestation of never ending gratitude for the gentle tone in which I bad roused him to a sense of the track into which he had unintentionally sudden, and which could have led only to his ruin. He charged his agents with having exceeded his instructions, whielt ne vertheless be admitted to have been indefeasible, but which be would expiate by a strict fidelity to the engagements existing between us,nowconficm ed anew by his most solemn asseverations. Shortly after we detected him in the endeavour to collect an army, under the pretence of quelling a rebellion, headed by Trimbuckjee, to whom:a constant re mittance of treasure was made from the Peishwa's coffers, as we knew by the most accurate infor mation, of every issue, 'We were then constrained to anticipate this incorrigible plotter. We sur rounded hint in his capital, am! obliged him to submit to terms which preserved the ancient ap pearances of connexion, hut deprived hint of much strength, should he hazard future machinations. At the same time, what we imposed was only a fulfilment of an Article in the Treaty of Bassein), by which he was obliged to keep for us an auxi liary force of 5000 horse. Not one of them had ever been retained for us : and the money 'which should have furnished them went into his High ness's private Treasury. But we now required that districts yielding revenue to the requisite alumna should be put into our hands for the levy and maintenance of the cavalry in ques 7 tion, according to the usual custom in the Mahratta States, of assigning lands to Sirdars, for the subsistence of a specified number of troop!. This force, though it would be the Peishwa's for every purpose of service while friendship existed between us, would go into our scale (since we were the paymasters), should . his Serene Highness venture to. break with us. He did, you are aware, venture to break with us, hut you possibly may not have suspected how belie , ficial that precipitated step was for us. Had he not done so, the conspiracy to which he bad given a substance and shape much beyond what we had conceived, might have burst forth upon us at an unprovided moment, with mischievous concurrence of exertion. The Peishwa trusred to wide co-opera tion. The sanguinary desire of massacreing Mr. El phinstone made him over hasty in breaking forth, though he had no doubt but that Scholia and Ameer Khan were already in the field against us. The pledges pt reciprocal support, settled in 1815, are what I have stated, against Scindia, in the mil her part of the recapitulation. The Peishwa, when, he resorted t o ar m s , was not informed that Seindia and Ameer Khan had already been reluctd to nullity. They had been pot out of the question. But Holkar and the Rajah of Nagpore'had yet the power of moving. When, after their defeitt, they were asked what could lead them to the extrava- gait act of attacking us, with whom they were in bonds of plighted amity, each pleaded the order of the Peishwa as not to be contested. Ho!Lies Mini sters acknowledged their spontaneous net ion to be taken under-the wing of the British Government ; but tirge'd, " the Peishwa is our master ; and what lie commands - we must obey." Tire It.aj;ili of Nagpore being, after his last seizure, charged to Iris face, by one of his former Ministers, a ith ingratitude in making those attempts against ,vhich he (the Minister), had used absolute supplications, answered, that the conduct of the British Go vernment towards him bad been an uhvaried stream of benefits conferred : that there never had been a transient dissatisfaction, hut tliat it Was his duty to fulfil every direction from his superior the Peishwa. Whet) the Peishwa, seduced by thOnvitation of the. Rajah of Nagpore, then at liberty, and filling ,the Musmul, advanced with his army to the Ward'', but on his arrival there, instead Of finding the Nagpore army ready to join ltitl ; lca Artiepdila s ahebl,tta tt Ivas a :idplA. prisoner; liitb tie oss ent,iscoveret i and that io bility of getting back to his own dominions ntoot w bb a ed s a ro p fl p :i r d e e n red. dispos a l v ov n t :t htabte them there was then co could Peishwa admitted. To raise any of Bajee llow'S family to the throne with another appellation ; would have been a delusion. The indefeasible chatacter of Peishwa and Chief of the Mahratta • armies oi i l‘ t ' e c o l l i d any li vie been ) itr riers of a s cri b e d form to whicho the iv i wec ( o lu u a l i t 4 i establish. A corresponding embarrassment hangs upon us with . regard to Holkar and the state of 1 7: a :4 .13 p: 01 c l : et i(tlia r , l ,i ' )l l lg te etrf e c: x ibi e se r t ie i n o vjep n r s ol i i i ac t g a y t a l o e i nf b i, y etao E , l :ii olkar showed b n i g es t o h i a n t e. sta l ta t has on that account been dismemb pt e lr r )o e e t p t ßo o ra it f .ial t in v s vo oot ; Those til irds l o a f tv i l i s s- have been transferred 'rbegreate r ) Koran weivis e i ( t i o t n o d s e t e r , en an g t i l h o e o tl . ter i l , ?aj di.t pi l t a o C s t be h e i t e i ts wh om kept which the unforeseen change of circumstances re ay quires our keeping advanced in that' quarter. ' o l o! h l: e t: r hi e eti: a ar r e e l subsidylstp t i ec.,ot payablet n to . N ) t iavpgpore, risilteoititilits:el:;axobobf.pyte:e,etutn,:r:setshel:taontroit‘fgNe•iern:taillti)toee'rrrerbte:yna:snyt:alardi row the power of the" State; the other, t a i n ia d t t t 9 i n e p tr i a ct e: s c i o b n c -; sects itself with otlie frontier. You are aware that Saegur, winch is the lioitession alluded to by me, is nut an acquisition from the late catialtdigti. It was ceded to us by the Peisliwa by the Treaty of ,Poonah. The manager of it having given shelter to the Piudarries,anil having suffered levies to be made openly in this town for the Rajah of Nagpore, when that prince was in arms against ua has been removed from his superintendance. By taking it into our OWI! 114116, We not only constdt our own security, but i w n ear , e w e , nabled to pay from it to the Jageer-Dar (Nann i s G who resides at Jaloun), three times the amount of the sum ever before received by him front the rents. If t • talk of narrowing the means of Holkar and of the Na;pore Rajall, I do so on the clear principle of right to dispose of territory won in war. Each of those princes lead lost all.— . Whatsoever they now possess is restored to there by us, as is Kratuitons boon; and tire fact will serve to evince the leading inclination with which we set out, of preserving the then ex isting Governments Of India. Though this has not been the digression, the explanation of the unexpected manner in which we find our territories increased, has put out of sight fur the moment the direct object Of our appearance in the field. The dreadful pestilence which made such havock inthe division undermy iipmediate command, forced me to quit the banks of the Slade, and to seek a more favourable country fur the reco very of my numerous'sirk. I did not find this until I was 50 miles from the river which I quitted. Fortunately the change of air was rapidly beneficial : for a very short time had passed when I received intelligence of an invitation said to have been given by Scindia to the Pindarries. He was reported to have promised them, that if they would - come so •near to Gwalior as to make his getting to them easy, he would break his treaty and join them with the force which lie had at his capital.— The Piridarties were in full march for Gwalior, without meeting even a show of tripediment from tile troops of Scindia stationed in their route ; though the co-operation of his army for the extinction of the Pindarries was an article of tire Treaty. We hurried hack to the Sinde; but this time we chose a position nearer to (fwalior than what he had before occupied. We were within aO miles of the eitv, and our vanced guard was sent to occupy the passes through the hills which run at some distance south of Gwalior, front the Si tolo" to the Chumbul. Those passes were the only route by which communication could take place between the Pindarries and Scindia ; and I was near e r t o support advanced guard than the Maharajah to attack it, could lie bring his Wald to so desperate a stake. With all the suspicious circumstances attending the state of things, our forbearance was not wearied. No unpleasant hints were thrown out. Scindia was told, that as I had learned the approach of the Pitidar ries, I had thought it an attention due to my ally to Pia"' myself between hint and a set of lawless iidunilerers, who would pot hiiu into great embarrassment could tlwy get into his presence, and throw themselves on his protection. Civility was answe,ren by civility. The Pindarries finding their hop" baffled and the passage stopped, attempted to retire; but they had been followed close by our divisions, were solarised* dispersed, and slaughtered in a number of small actions. lit short, they disappeared ; arid thus our objects were completed. It remains now tube seen what is the change effected its our situation. In England, there are continual declamations against the propensity of the Hon. Company's Government here to add, to territorial possessions already too large. It is forgotten that a tendency to expansion, dinounting almost to direct ne cessity, is the inherent and inseparable drawback on the ad vantages of a ptiwer established so munnalously as that of the British in India. It would be a visionary confidence, to suppose that your strength would not excite jealousy, that your riches would not stimulate cupidity, and that your hu" miliation of those native families which held Sovereignty when you first got foothig in the country, would not bus brooded over with a deep spirit of revenge. Yet a belief in the non existence of those impulses is the ground on whiclt they must stand, who insist on the progressive increase of our sway. as a proof of constant ambition in the Hon Company s Local Itepresentativea. There may Inure been cases, though . I might God it diffi cu lt t o i n di c at e th em , w h er e prospects o f gaining political ascendancy, or too hasty apprehensions or meditated attack, have misled us into hostilities otherwise ca pable of being avoided ; but the general history of ontr Indian Empire is, that we have been wantonly a ssailed, that a c b ars einiquered the unprovoked enemy, a nd that we have' retained tine possessions wrested front him, not simply as a legitimate compensation for the peril a n d ex pense forced up on us, but oil considerations o f brought home to unr by the nature of the violence j ust offer ed to us. What r ecen tly b e t e l m y se lf, as I have exlfium ed it to you, roust be the stroto,est illnstratien of this eventual exigency. " Recover your strength and try contest with us again," would be deemed a rather absurd address to a treacherous f or wh o ru v on had vaionnshed; hut you would alt iaaseulrfitce-tiivsi.diyns if ) t ,O i n t tit given han forting till neutatiou of territory may not it m y be said, though the anca your strength by widening the con tact frontier with new enemies, reduces u i l n ic y l lT ed e t e t e liii t l i g me rt e • x ii t r r e g li ii e i n , s u iti „ l s e, b t r l i l l e igi le 3 s :o s u to in bela 11):•Y,iitiliricereisillotrearinitosn. ofS circle of the eucumferances wt which it is to act, leaves ad unsupported, and above all a. ad vanced stations 41411t;el'OlISly wider occupation of territory exacts formidable addition to your military charges. i he argimielit Would be good, were the assumptions ad' mined. Examine whether they ought. Undoubtedly your sss;iy has been prodigiously extended by the late operations. The Indus is now in effect your (nuttier ; and, oil the condi tions of the arrangement, I tll3llk lieirecli that it is so. What is there between Calcutta and that boundary ? Nothing but States hound by a sense of common interest with you, or aeo r tn c i pa ratis•ely sinal proportion °lift-disposed populatitin,reud ee e power is w t i t , f f, sllyand t t r i i i t ti v i , l , ll ) ; ‘ l4 ) g r :i , k ii ; ,% The , b Nh y la ha r4t g a• been k e pt in p:irt, while the harks of its neighbours provoked' the tempest, and perished it, pre s ents ids insulated and precluded shattered tort trues: but he stet no exhibito ot trout extraneous assistance. 1 unit SatiSited . of bisconvic tion th it his existence depend+ on t his being o amity with tar ltritisit (~uyrrument, and of hi; c onsequent resolution:to multi, ate our good will. That, inclination and will continue to be, tiDfcig Were his disposition different, it would be matter of nu eon cern to us. Ile is now ii(iiye n t i al li r i a n g i , has ias by been,ds . girded round by states which we have rni~ed to the puwei of resisting him, even without our aid, theirby our h eying allotted e c v t , be r c t a e r r i ri territory takers coalesce.trout [lohkntr; anal ,ONDON: Printed by.J. B. CARSTAIRS, of No. 29, Great Orwond-strect, Qncen-square; and pubrOccl by W. A. SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South INlniton-street, at THE Sure ()dice, No. 112, strand ; wbere Advettisenients, Lvov' 5, &c. (Masi-Nail) must toe aildre,isesi. t 7/ ' ' ; 1 hie 1.,„ Li i . 4.`.,