n
sent to Poona on a special mission under British guarantees, nearly
provoked hostilities. But in June, 1817, a treaty was concluded, by
which the Peshwa accepted an increased subsidiary force, ceded part of
his territory, renounced his suzerainty over the Gaekwar and undertook
to submit all further disputes to the decision of the British
government. In November, however, chafing under the restrictions imposed
by this treaty, he broke out into hostility, burnt the British
residency, and after vainly attacking the British troops, fled from
Poona. Almost simultaneously Holkar and the Raja of Nagpur rose. Holkar
was defeated in a pitched battle at Mehidpur in Malwa, while the sepoys
successfully held their own against the Raja's troops at Nagpur. The
fugitive Peshwa was energetically pursued, and captured, and was
stripped of his dominions. The greater part of these was annexed by the
East India Company, but a portion was reserved for the heir of the old
Maratha kings who was established at Satara. The Raja of Nagpur was also
compelled to cede a large portion of his dominions, and at the same time
the Company acquired the overlordship of Rajputana. Henceforth, the
British government claimed a control over all the foreign relations of
native Indian states, whose internal government was to be carefully
watched by a British resident, and whose military forces were to be
practically under the supreme command of the paramount power.

[Pageheading: _THE END OF THE PINDARIS._]

Lord Moira, created Marquis of Hastings in 1816, was at last free to
hunt down the Pindaris, with the sullen acquiescence of the Maratha
governments, and he executed his task with extraordinary vigour. He
would have undertaken it, at the instigation of Metcalfe, then resident
at Delhi, a year earlier, but for the peremptory orders of Canning, at
that time president of the board of control, who positively forbade him
to embark on a new war. These orders were greatly relaxed after the
bloodthirsty raid of Chitu, the famous Pindari leader, who in 1816
desolated vast tracts of Central India. Still no effective action
against the Pindaris was possible until the Maratha lords who harboured
and encouraged them had been crippled and overawed. With their
connivance, a second Pindari raid, accompanied by shocking cruelties,
was made in the same year, but in 1817, when Holkar's followers were
severely defeated at Mehidpur, the secret coalition between these
bandit