town threatened by a large body of these marauders. Since that time they had continued to harass the frontier, and had also made raids in the territories of the Peshwa and the Nizám. But the authorities in London-the policy of the Ministry being expressed through the mouth-piece of the Secret Committee of the Directors - continued to prohibit all active measures; and the Governor-General, so long as his Council opposed him, was unable, or unwilling, to take steps against the will of his "honourable masters." Luckily, the audacity of the marauders, presuming too far, at last furnished a provocation which overcame the quiescence of the Calcutta Council, and provided the Governor-General with his opportunity.

In October, 1815, Moira had returned to Calcutta, armed with facts and arguments supplied by Metcalfe, the Resident of Delhi, with which he made a determined attempt to alter the views of his Council at Fort William and of his employers in London. The condition of Central India was fully exposed, and the danger of delay ably exhibited. It was shown that the States in whose midst the Pindaris were harboured might be considered in three groups.

The first class consisted of States substantive, having a recognised political character, in alliance with the British, but all really inimical. Such were; the Peshwa, seeking in crooked, subterranean ways to recover his position as head of the Mahratta Confederacy; the Bhonslá of Berár - commonly known as "The Rája of Nágpore," from the name of his capital-not in subsidiary alliance, but enjoying British protection; Sindia, the lord of Gwalior and part of Malwa, smarting under defeat, yet professing friendship; and Holkar, a boy under the tutelage of the Lady-Regent, Tulsi Bai, and overshadowed by the Pathán adventurer, Amir Khán. The second class was formed of what were called the military States, of which the most formidable was that put together by this same Amir Khán; not a very courageous man, as we saw

in Lake's time, and now growing old; but an able organiser, who had profited by the friendship of the late Jaswant Ráo to create a principality with a good force of cavalry and infantry and a serviceable artillery. With these chiefs interest and ambition were paramount; and they differed from the “substantive" class in being still less trustworthy, because they had more to gain by the perpetuation of anarchy in Central India. It was Metcalfe's opinion that the first class might be utilised, if not conciliated, while for the second extermination was the appropriate remedy. Wise as he was, it will be presently seen that events did not altogether justify his forecast. In the third class were grouped feebler States-such as the old Rájadoms of Rajputana-whose constant dread of their unscrupulous neighbours led them to desire the protection of which they had been deprived by the policy of Barlow.

The objections of the Court of Directors-or of the Board of Control, under which Barlow had acted-were still in force, and derived fresh strength from the treaties concluded in 1805-6. To restore order in Central India-so it was argued would be to incur the resentment of Sindia, and perhaps to provoke a general war with the whole Mahratta Confederacy. Metcalfe thought, and Moira agreed with him, that this was not a necessary consequence but that the time had come when safety required that the risk ought to be incurred. The Council, however, still differing, Moira's plans had to go home to the Directors unsupported. It was at this moment that the audacity of the Pindaris precipitated the solution. During the whole cold season they had been darting about the country between Nágpore and the Bay of Bengal like a destructive fire; and although chased out of Cuttack, they had so wasted. the land to the southward, that Gantur, Masulipatam, and Cadapa were completely devastated. In the short space of ten days one hundred and eighty-two of the inhabitants had been killed, and over three thousand wounded or tortured:

many of the women had leapt into wells, preferring death to dishonour. According to reports received by the Government the total loss was estimated at a million sterling; and the Pindaries were reckoned at 23,000. Simultaneously with the news of these atrocities, committed on British subjects, the Government received a despatch from home prohibiting "plans of general confederacy or offensive operations"; but the time was gone by when such a policy could, with any regard to prudence or decency, be maintained. During the year Buckinghamshire died, his place as Indian Minister being taken by George Canning: the timid counsels of the Directors were not suddenly cancelled; but a change was evidently hoped for. Writing in his journal, under date 23rd December, 1816, the Governor-General records that the ravages of the Pindaris in British territory had induced his colleagues to declare themselves "ready to record an unanimous opinion that the extirpation of the Pindarries must be undertaken notwithstanding the orders of the Court of Directors." He could not act, he added, in the teeth of a positive prohibition from home, so long as the Council might pen adverse minutes: but now he felt free to begin, and would at once proceed to pin Sindia to one of two lines: either to join the marauders and accept the position of an open enemy, or to take part-passive, if no more on the side of the British. At the same time Moira left Calcutta, really on a short shooting expedition, but so as to give Sindia reason to expect him on the frontier and to have his choice determined the more quickly. Moira's hopes were further raised by the change of tone beginning to appear in the despatches of the Secret Committee since it came under Canning's inspiration. On the 26th September, 1816, some intelligence of the outrages on British subjects having by that time reached London, Moira was informed by the home authorities that his measures would be approved, even if they extended beyond repelling invasion to the extent of "pursuing and

chastising the invaders." And, if Sindia, or any other chief, took the part of the Pindaris, such chief might be treated as an enemy.

It was thought time, when this permissive despatch got to Calcutta, to go somewhat beyond its mild suggestions; and Moira at once prepared to take the field in person, after making alliances with the chief Native powers. Sindia answered the Governor-General's appeal in a manner which was enough to show how vain and uncalled for had been the timid policy of the past. He at once entertained the proposal, practically guaranteeing a benevolent neutrality, and only asked in return that any of his territory from which the marauders might be expelled, should be restored to him. It was a hardy act of Moira, at his age, to set off in July for the Upper Provinces ; but his activity at once bore fruit. Little or nothing as the Native chiefs might know of English policy or changed views in Leadenhall Street, they could understand a statesman who proclaimed that misrule and anarchy were to cease, and that universal tranquility was to be at once established "under the guarantee and supremacy of the British Government." Notwithstanding the earlier measures of Wellesley, this was the first formal announcement of Imperial authority; and when it was made by the master of unconquered legions, himself advancing on the scene of disorder, a sense of their own interest was touched, in friend and foe alike. Strange it is, but no less true, that, while Sindia, the great object of anxiety, accepted the new policy almost at once, one of the last powers to act upon that feeling, was one which had never been regarded as hostile, namely, the Kachwáha State of Jaipore.

The past and present condition of that State may be briefly recapitulated. Although other principalities of the Rajputs might boast of more antiquity or social distinction, there was none that had been so conspicuously or so continuously mixed up with the affairs of Hindustan. Though inferior to the

exclusive pride of the Sun-descended Sisodias of Marwar,* the House of Jaipore could point to a more than respectable record. Dhundhar, as the country was originally called, was under a ruler of that house in the time of the Mughal conquest, and the Emperor Akbar married his daughter in 1562. He was succeeded by one son after the other, both having served Akbar in many directions with equal fidelity and skill. The great grandson of the second of these rulers was the famous Jai Sinh I, the Mirza Rája, who served Shah Jahan and Álamgir, and captured Siváji in 1665. Up to this time the Capital of the State had been by the rock-bound tarn of Amer, or Ambér, where the palace built in 1600 by Rája Mán Sinh to this day commands the wonder of travellers. But a second Jai Sinh, in 1728, transferred his residence to Jaipore, on the plain about five miles away; and this, now one of the finest cities of India, has ever since continued to be the capital of the State. Jai Sinh II. was a follower of science, who died a natural death after a reign of forty-three years. His grandson Pratap Sinh, was leader of the Jaipore forces in the war with Mahádaji that followed the demise of Mirza Najaf Khán. Towards the end of the last century he became involved in troublesome disputes with his neighbours, and died in 1803, just in time to be spared the desertion of Cornwallis and Barlow, and the spoliation of his country by Jaswant Ráo Holkar.

Such was the State, interesting but almost exhausted, which was the immediate object of British anxiety in the approaching crisis. An alliance with Jaipore was considered an indispensable preliminary to the new system, both by way of a declaration to Sindia, Holkar, and Amir Khán that they must henceforward hold back their hands from so accessible a source of plunder, and also as completing the chain by which the Pindaris were

"Jodhpore” and “Udaipore ”in modern parlance. See the descriptions in earlier chapters; also "Imperial Gazetteer," in v.v.

VOL. II.

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