Star.
London, England, 1805-05-27 00:00:00

ABLE COVET OF DIRECTORS.

GEN TLE M EN,

§t. In our diipatches to your Honourable Commit-
tee, dated April 12th and June t gth, the Gvernor-
General in Council manila ecl his intention of writing
to your Honourable Committee, a feparate letter on
the fubjeft of tliL peace lately concluded between the
Bririfh Government and the confederate Marattah

§ 2. The Governor-General propofes to tranfmit
b• :hefe difpatches all the papers relative to the pa-
cification, and to communicate to your Honourable
t'.,mmittee, a dAail of the negociations carried on be.
r..veen the Honourable Major-General Wellefley and
the refpeetive Minillers fent to the camp of that O.
cer by the confederate Chiefs, with the intention of
concluding a peace with the Bridal Government, of
well as the various important queftions arifing from
the conditions of the pacification, and the refult of
the difctiffions in regard to thofe quellions with
Dewlut Row•Scindiah and the Raja of Berar ; and
the intention of the Governor•Geueral is to combine
with this relation fuch information and remarks as
will ferve to explain the principles that have regu-
lated the conduct of the Government in pre-
l:ribing the conditions of the react., and in adjulling
the different complex quellions in regard to the flipu-
lations of the Treaty of Deogaum and Serje-Anjen-
gaum.
§ 3. It is the intention of the Governor-General
alfo to give in thefe difpatches as ample a detail
as poffible oldie advantageous operation which re-
fults from the general pacification both in regard to
the intireas of the Company and thofe of the nation
in India.

§ The immenfe fize of the rapers which muff
accompany thefe difpatches and the continual pref.!.
of bufinefs, have hitherto prevented the letter in
quefiion from being finned. The Governor-Gene-
pal, however, being anxious to give to your Honour-
able Committee as Gaon as pofiible the molt complete
information in regard to the fittiation in which the
interefis of the Britifh Government have been placed
by the conditions of the pacification, thinks it proper
to fend to your Honourable Committee by the veffel
of the Honourable Company the Hope, as well as by
the packet difpatched overland, the prient letter,
containing a genital view of the details which will
compofe the difpatch mentioned in the preceding
paragraph.
§ S. The advantages which refult to the Britifh
Government from the conditions of the pacification,
muff be confidered as conneded with the caufe and
object of the war, the increafe and confolidation of►
our territorial force and of our general refources,and
with the aggrandifemcnt of our fyllem of political
relations, the effeEl of which is extended by the con-
fequence of feveral treaties of peace, fubfidy and al-
liance, to the general tranquillity, and Frofperity of
the native flates of Indollan and of the Deccan.

§ 6. The immediate caufe of the war arofe from
the refufal given by the corfederate Marattah Chiefs,
to divide and withdraw to their ufual flations in their
repedive territories, the armies they had colleard
and unitedon the frontiers of our ally, the Soubahclar
of the Deccan, after having declared that the inten-
tion of this union was to determine whether there
would be peace or war with the Britilh Government
and its allies.

§ 7. Under thefe circumflances to continue to per-
fift in the pofition which the chiefs Seemed determined
to maintain, was a manifell proof of the defign which
they had to prevent by !solidifies or by the terror of
their arms, the operation of the alliance concluded
between the Britilh Government and the Peifhwah,
and to diflurb the tranquillity of the Rates of the
Nizam and of thofe of the company.
§ 8. The union of the confederate forces and their
impofing and threatening pofture, prefented every
advantage to the Chiefs to prolecute the hoflile
deign which they had manifefted, and enabled the
confederate Chiefs to keep in their hands the !needs
of peace or war, and to determine the fate of the
Deccan according to their interefts or their caprices.
At the fame time, the pofition and Elate of the army
of Scindiah, under the command of his French Offi-
cers in Indoßan, and the plots which M. Perron was
forming with the neighbouring Rates and with the
fubjeas of the company and of the Vizier, added one
more proof which confirmed the lodide defigns of
the confederates, and turnilhcd thefe chiefs with ad-
ditional means to execute their delignF.
§ 9. The firs ribjea of the war arifing from thefe
caufes was to deprive the confederates of the means
which they poffeffed of carryin,, their illicit defigns
into execution, and to prevent them from being able
to revive the fources of the military and political
power, which they had employed to diflurb the fe-
curity of our alliances, dependencies, and Rates.
§ so. The power of Dowlut-Row-Scindiah con-
littered in regard to his means, as being able to af.
feet the fecurity of the Britilh empire in India, may
have confifted at the commencement of the war in
the following branches of military and political re-
fource

aft. In the inipAng flat( u: themittary eflabl,fhtnent of Scindish,
under the direction of hurc,putti Ohiccrs, and particularly in the
f rajJ.rslc force of his regular in:Jutt y and ha artillery under
Le 4.nlniand of his Meer,.

„, .....
• •:.d. In the poll'effion of a rich and van. territtory; of different
rocs, magazines, founderies, and arterials, with a conlidcr.blz
provifion of ammunition and military (toms, depofited at conve-
uirnt
Rations on our frontiers beknging to the wcakett part of the
Britannic Sates in Indottaii.
3d. In the eftablifbment of a large body of troops well difri
plined, with a formidable train of artillery, under the command
of French Officers, in the extent ut that territory ; the head.
quarters at Cod and Alighur. •
4th. In the effet!Uve af.ignation of that territory to the French
Officer, (M. Perron) having the chief c,nomand of thefe troops.
3th. In the pallive Itrc of the perton of his Majefty, Shah-
Alum, who w?, under the immediate power of the armed force.
commanded by French officers in the ferviee of Scindlah, and In the
exercife of the nominal authority of the Mogul by thefe Frenc.h
Officers.
6th. In the akendency eftablifhed by the agency Of the French
• The jarhire of M. Perron in the Doab of the jurnna and the
Ganges, and his territorial peffeMons on di right bank ut the
limns from Delhi to Agra.
Arterial Ctit.l Fontidary SVy
and AI; 41:u Arterial and ut
B,Liphint , Dal Mausinv 'usita

! °Seers, having command in Stint trop: in the North-weft
part of Indottan, O.CT the chief Rajapouts nt
_lyonagour and Jode-
pore. and tr her Sates, and chiefs in the Northern and Wcftern
provinces of Indoilan, and over fevers' Chiefs, Seyks, and others
who occupy the territories from the Janina as far as the barks of
the lndu.; and in the facility procured by the advanced colts of
M. Perron 's army, to cilia an invafion of the Britith States in
that point.

id,. In the facility afforded In, the pofferion of the maritime
port of liaroach for augmenting the military ettabliihments of
Seindia, by receiving thcfe French or other European Officers,
ammunition, ftnres, and perhaps a body of French or other hu•
ropean auxiliary troops.
Bth. In the power which he had of troubling the tranquility of
the poldiions of the Guichwar and the Company in the province
of Guzarat, as the territories and fortraes of Seindla, are inter-
mixed in that province, and as he has pretenfions and Influence in
that part of the country.
_ • . .

snit. As the tran-uillity of the State of Poonah was endangered
as will as the llabilty of our alliance with the Pcifhwah; hecaufe
Cur territorh s and fortreffts of Scindiah were intermixed Is the
neigh...um-hood of Poonah, and to the South of the river I'apty,
(pirtic-larly the territory of the fortrefs of Ahmednagonr), and
bccauf,Scanliah formeddifferent preentions in the listen( Poonah,
and had influence at that Court.

nth. Becaufe the neighbouring fortrellia and poffenions of Sc' w
diah were fo tote:mixed, that he was In a condition to threaten
the dien,ins of the SJubandir of the Deccan, and to weaken the
influence and the force of the Britifh alliance with that Prince.
&fides that Scindia bad different pretenfnans in the S"tihadhar of
the DeccJo, and confequently might have influence at Hydrabad.
rich. In the general greatnefs, riches, and power of the States
of Scindia, and of his army, and in the reputation of his military
power by winds he bad acquired a guerat influence, and the
afeendency at Poonah, and in all the Marrattsh States, and even
at Hydratuul, whieh influence and afeendcncy had for Tome years
been unifonncly Sheeted againft the Brithh power in India.
tt. Under this point of view, the Rate in which
Scindiah's power was at the commencement of the
war, had become dangerous to the Britifh empire.
Firil, by the facility it t.tfered to the French of injur-
ing the Britiih istereßs in India, either by co-opt
rating with Scindia, or by the independent means of
his French and other European Officers. Secondly,
by maintaining a rival and hoftile influence in all the
States of India, and particularly among our moll
important dependencies and allies in the weflern part
of India, and by the means of being able to form a
powerful league of a hoßile confederation among the
Rates of the country againft the Britifh government,
and of becoming a powerful and formidable inßru-
ment in the execution of the projelis which fuch an
union might propofe.
§ 12. With an intention of fubmitting to the par
titular inveftigation of your honourable Committee,
the extent and magnitude of the danger to which the
Britifh government was fortuitoufly espied at the
beginning of the lag war; by the power of Scindiah
and other Rates in the north of Indoßan, and parti-
cularly by the czifience of the French armed force
under the command of M. Perron, added to the in-
dependent poffellion of a great extent of country in the
Doab of the Jumna, and of the Ganges, the Gover-
nor-General in Council judges proper to infert in this
place an abarael of the inftruttions of the Governor-
General to his Excellency the Commander in Chief,
dated July 27, 1803, a copy of which was joined to
my difpatches addreffed to your honourable Commit-
tee, dated Augufte 1803, and of which the fubflance
302 d
is given in the and following paragraphs of
difpatches addrelfed to your honourable Committee
of date April 12, 1804.
" To every perfon acquainted with the real nature I
of the Britifh interefts and power in India, the north
weft frontier of Indoßan mutt have appeared the
weakell point of our Tall empire.
" The power of the Seyks, as well as that of the I
Marattahs and the Rajapnuts, and of other petty
Rates, affords a confiderable advantage to the inva.
lion of an enemy, corning from the moll diftant coun-
tries of the north-weft of Afia, or the fhores of the
Indies ; and it would be fuperfluous to remark to
your Excellency, that the enterpriling fpirit of
France, or the ambition of Ruflia, or even the yin-
hence and rapacity of the Afghan tribes, or other
' Aliatic nations who inhabit the northern and weftern
countries of Afia, may have conceived projeas of in-
vafion in that quarter—an invalion which would oc-
cafion confiderable embarraffment to the Britifh
power in India.
" A prefcr.timent of this danger, added to other
motives, has induced me to conclude arrangements
with the Nabzb Vizier, which were terminated by
the treaty of Lucknow, and which have confiderably
increafed our military and political refources, and
thole of our finances, as well as the power of the
Britifh nation on the north well frontiers of Oude.

" The refult of this happy arrangement has cer-
tainly prefented a great increafe of fafety againfl the
dangers which threatened the (lability of our Em-
pire in that pot of
" The lce;1 pofition however of Scindiah's terri-
tories, the (tate and nature of his military forces in
Indoftan, and the wicked and corrupt councils of
that weak, arrogant and faithlefs chief, Hill prefent
a ferinus danger to the Britilh interells. The territo-
ries of Scindiah, between the Jumna and the Ganges,
interrupt our line of defence on that fide, and fume
of his principal pnis are introduced into the centre
of our Hates, while the pofftflion of Agra, Delhi,
and the wellern and fouthetn bank of tIA Jumna ena-
bles him to command almoft the whole line of the
north•wefl frontiers,

" In the cafe of Any confiderable augmentation of
Scindiah's power, or in cafe he fhould form any re-'
lation with France, or any other enemy of the Eng-
lilh, the pret;:nt fituation of his territories and his
forces in indoilan would afford him great advan•
tages in the attack he might make on the Company's
ettablithmtmts.

" However formidable might be Scindiah's power
in the cafe of an augmentation of his forces by the
junaion of another enemy, a danger more preffing
and more immediate in all its confequences, has
arifen from the decline of the local authority of
Scindiah in In&Oan, and this danger has lately af-
fumed a more alarming afpta, in proportion to the
accumulated embarratfment in which Scindiah finds
himfelf in the Deccan, and the general &cline of his
refources and power.
.‘ The regular infantry in the fervice of Scindiab,
under the command of European officers, is main-
' tained by fund.. ;tilting almott exclufively from the
territorial polf.ffiors of that Chief, fituated between
the Jumna, the Ganges, and the mountains of Cu-
maon.

" A 4onfiderahle portion, not to fay the whole of
that territot y,h3s been affigred to M.Perron, a French
officer, who locceeded Duboigne in the chief
command of Scindiah's regular infantry.
" Of this territory M. Perron has formed an inde-
pendent state; and it may be jtally laid that &in-
tli.th's regular infantry forms its national army.—

mi. army, at prefent, has been inerearcd to 39,05,:,
men *.

‘• The inhabitants of the diflriEls, comprehended
in M. Perron's Jaghire, confider this officer as their
immediate S iveieign ; and, on the other hand, the
troops maintained by the revenue of the country,
look upon M. Perron as the immediate executive
authority from which the army receives its orders,
fubliflapce, and pay. PolliffinK fuch means, M.
Perron gives law with the authority of*. fovereign
Rate of fuperior rank, and with the rigour of a mi-
litary power to the petty Rates, which occupy the
countries to the fouth of the Jumna; and by the ter-
ror of his name, and of his arms, he keeps in fervile
fubmillion the Itrijapout States of Jyenagour and
Joudpour, as well as the Gauss and the Rate of Go-
hud, and extends his influence even into the Bundel-
cund, and into the countries occupied by the Seyks.
Scindiah has no dire& authority over M. Perron
and 114 regular troops. Several inflances mull be
known to your Excellency, in which M. Perron openly
difobeyed, or fyllematically evaded the commands
of Scindiah, particularly during the Lit crifis of the
affairs of that chief.

For Come time pall M. Perron has manifefled a
fyflematic difpofition to remove all the Britifir officers
from the command of Scindiah's regular infantry,
and to introduce French officers under his own im-
mediate patronage.
44 It is frippoled that M. Perron has acquired a con-
fiderable fortune ; and your Excellency knows per--
fatly well how Ilrong a defire he has of returning to
Europe, and to difpole of his prefent command and
territorial poll'eCGons in favour of any individual of
the French nation.

44 It is of importance to add to thefe confidera-
tions, that M. Perron has teized the perfon of the un-
fortunate Shah-Alum, and that he is confequently
matter of the ttominal authotity of that ill fated
Prince. For this reafon M. Perron might transfer
this rich poffeffinn, as well as his property, of what-
ever nature it may be. to any French adventurer or
officer who might be in condition to make fuch a
purchafe.
" Thus the concurrence of divers extraordinary
and irrefiflible accidents, the weaknefs of Scindiah's
perfonal charafter, the rapacity and wickednefs of
his Minifters, (who have engaged him in an enter.
prize of aggrandizement, avatice, and ambition, at
a great ditlance from Indoflan, in the Deccan, at
Poonah, and in the Southern provinces of the 4ialt-
ratta empire,) the treachery of feveral of his Chiefs,
whole intereft it is to turn his attention afide from the
affaks of Indoflan to carry it to the Deccan, and the
laR (heck which his power received from Holkar,
have contributed to the foundation of an independent
French Rate on the weaken point of the Company's
frontiers.

" Under the influence of a fucceffion of French
adventurers, this !late is expofed to all the intrigues
of the French in India. and even to the ambition
and hotlile difpufition of the perfon who at prefent
governs the French nation :an inflrument of deflruc-
tion more fkillullr adapted to inflid a wound on the
hcart of the Britifh empire in India could never be
prefented to the vindiaive hands of the Fira Conful
of France !

44 This French Rate has poffefflon at prefent of the
perfon and nominal authority of the Mogul, maintains
a molt refpeelable army of regular native infantry,
and the molt powerful train of artillery exilling in
India (if we except the troops of his Majefty, and
thofe of the Company) and exercifes a confiderable
influence over the neighbouring Rates, from the
(bores of the Indus to the conflux of the Jumna and
the Ganges.
Suppofing that a more intimate friendfhip and
alliance could be ellablithed between Scindiah and
the Englilb, and even that Scindiah would accede to
the treaty of Baflien, and the general defenfive alli-
ance with the company, the Nizam, and the Peiflowa, it
is impollible to fuppofe that the French Hate w -.uld co-
operate with cordiality to fupport theßritifh interelts:
lefs dependence could be placed on the affillance
of that Hate in the cafe which might render the de•
mand of it very urgent, and which might require the
molt altive execution of the principles of the gene-
ral defenfive alliance.

,‘ In the cafe of an attack on the part of France
againil the Rates or power in India, it would
be in vain to depend on a French State, erected un-
der the nominal and 01474161 e aufpices of Scindiah
in Indoilan ; it would furnifh no real fuccour to any
ally of the Bridal power, pending a war with France,
even thould this ally be difpofed to MR to in fuch a
crifis.

a On the other hand, there is no doubt that Scin-
diah would receive the Ipeediell Alliance from that
Rate in any enterprize he might be difpofed tn un-
dertake, either to reduce the Englifh, or contribute
to the aggrandifement of the Frcnch power in India.
a Betides thefe remarks, it is proper to inform
your Excellency that the neighbourhood of M. Per-
ron's regular infantry conflantly leffens the popula-
tion of the Company's provinces, and dries up the
fources of our agriculture, and of our revenues, as
well as the means of recruiting fur the army in that
country.
In the preftnt erifis, when every circumfiance
announces the probability of hollilities being refumed
againft France, and when they impofe the neceffity
of recurring to all poffible meafures of precaution,
and fecurity, the fafety of the Britilh limes requires
the reduction of the military refources and power of
M Perron, independently of every queflion which
might exilt between Scindiah and the &kith Govern.
meet.

i• In a Rate of Gelid peace, and even of alliance
with Scindiah, the necellity of providing for our own
fecurity would jaily a formal demand of rem'.ving
a danger fo imminent from the frontiers of our
Rates. The refufal of Scindiah to comply with fuch
a demand would afford a jolt motive for war again('
that Chief, and any pretext, whether true or falfe,
of incapacity on the part of Scindia, either to govern
the movements, or to reduce the power of that Rate,
would autl • rize the Britith Government to take
upon it the proteelion of its own territories, to re•
move with its own hands the molt proximate cattle
of danger and alarm.
• Ttus is the number of the regular infantry tinder the com-
mand of M Perron. t 6 000 of which were in the Do* in the
mouth of June rBo3.