468
HISTORY OF BRITISH RULE.
Second
Maratha
war,
1802-4.
British
victories,
1802-3.
Additionsto BritishIndia,1803.
Later
disasters,
1804-5.
held the pre-eminency. Towards the east, the Bhonsla Rajaof Nagpur reigned from Berar to the coast of Orissa .
Wellesley laboured to bring these several Maratha Powerswithin the net of his subsidiary system. In 1802, the necessitiesof the Peshwa, who had been defeated by Holkar, and drivenas a fugitive into British territory, induced him to sign thetreaty of Bassein. By this he pledged himself to the Britishto hold communications with no Power, European or Native,except ourselves. He also granted to us Districts for themaintenance of a subsidiary force. This greatly extended theEnglish territorial influence in the Bombay Presidency . Butit led to the second Maratha war, as neither Sindhia northe Raja of Nagpur would tolerate the Peshwa’s betrayal ofMaratha independence.
The campaigns which followed are perhaps the most gloriousin the history of the British arms in India . The general plan,and the adequate provision of resources, were due to theMarquess Wellesley, as also the indomitable spirit which refusedto acknowledge defeat. The armies were led by Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington ), and General (after-wards Lord) Lake . Wellesley operated in the Deccan, where,in a few short months, he won the decisive victories of Assayeand Argaum, and captured Ahmadnagar . Lake ’s campaignin Hindustan was no less brilliant, although it has receivedless notice from historians. He won pitched battles at Aligarh and Laswari, and took the cities of Delhi and Agra . Hescattered the French troops of Sindhia, and at the same timestood forward as the champion of the Mughal Emperor in hishereditary capital. Before the end of 1803, both Sindhia andthe Bhonsla Raja of Nagpur sued for peace.
Sindhia ceded all claims to the territory north of the Jumna ,and left the blind old Emperor Shah Alam once more underBritish protection. The Bhonsla forfeited Orissa to theEnglish , who had already occupied it with a flying column in1803; and Berar to the Nizam, who gained a fresh additionby every act of complaisance to the British Government.The freebooter Jaswant Rao Holkar alone remained in thefield, supporting his troops by raids through Malwa andRajputana. The concluding years of Wellesley ’s rule wereoccupied with a series of operations against Holkar, whichbrought little credit on the British name. The disastrousretreat of Colonel Monson through Central India (1804)recalled memories of the convention of Wargaon, and of thedestruction of Colonel Baillie’s force by Haidar AH. The