As soon as this junction was effected, the confederate chieftains acted with less caution than they had before observed; their demeanor to the English resident was marked with the most intolerable insolence, whilst in their language they mingled the menaces of war, with an affected and insincere desire to continue at peace; their actions, however, indisputably proved that their intentions were war. They pressingly invited Holkar, the rebellious rival and enemy of Scindeah, to forget personal animosities, and join the confederacy against the English and the peishwah. They maintained a local position, with their armies, that commanded the passes which leads into the Nizam's dominions, and presented a point the most favorable for the commencement of an attack.

The combined armies exceeded 60,000 men, provided with 210 pieces of cannon, and the leaders of This truly formidable array only waited for the cessation of the monsoon, to cast off the slight veil with which they still judged it prudent to cloak their aggressive views.

In addition to these proofs of hostile intention, on the part of the confederated chieftains, of which, in fact, their meeting on the spot they did, and in such force, was sufficient evidence, the governor general received information through an undoubted channel that Scindeah had transmitted orders to general Perron, who commanded the French army in Hindustan, to place the troops under his command in a state of preparation for the field "with a view to an eventual rupture with the British government." Similar instructions were also sent to Shunee Behauder, and to Himmut Behauder, who

commanded in Bundelcund, and circular invitations to the same effect were forwarded to the Rohilla chieftains, and to all the independent princes of India, whose co-operation might in any way aid the purposes of the confederate chieftains.

The instances of chicane, equivocation and insidious propositions and references by which these chieftains endeavoured to protract the time, and spin out a fraudulent negotiation until the adverse season should pass by, are detailed in the pages before us with great precision; and they exhibit a curious specimen of . Eastern duplicity; of that shortsighted cunning which oftener defeats its own purposes than deceives others. The gov. general, it may be supposed, was not likely to become the dupe of such artifices-he demanded, as a proof of the pacific sincerity which they so lavishly professed, that they should imme diately separate their armies, and each return to his own country; whilst our army, which, as a measure of security, had taken an advanced position, were to retire by corresponding movements; and to give greater promptitude and vigour to the steps necessary to be pursued, his excellency invested general Wellesley, who commanded the British army, with full powers to act as his representative, to propose this ultimatum to the confederates, and in case of non-compliance, to commence instant and vigorous hostility.

Although the importance of the subject under our review has induced us to exceed the limits which we find it necessary to prescribe to ourselves in a work that comprehends such variety of matter, yet we cannot refrain from presenting our readers with a summary, or

result

"their respective territories, as "the only security for the rights "and interests of the British go"vernment and its allies, against "the declared designs of those "confederated chieftains.

"7thly. That this requisition "was accompanied by a proposal "to withdraw the British army "from its advanced position at "Ahmednuggur, in the Dekan; " and that such proposal was not "only an incontrovertible proof of "the just and pacific views of the "British government, but fur"nished ample security to the "confederated chieftains, against "the possibility of any danger "which could be apprehended by "them, from a compliance with "our requisition to separate, and " withdraw their armies. It was " evident, therefore, that after the "denial of this just requisition, "the defence and security of our rights, and those of our allies, "could only be maintained by re"sorting to arms against Scindeah " and the rajah of Berar."

In our account of the Mahratta war, inserted in a preceding part of this volume, our readers will find a detail of the military operations which ensued in consequence of the hostile perseverance of the confederated chieftains. These are narrated in the pages before us with lucid perspicuity and arrangement. The official reports of the generals who commanded armies, and of the officers who conducted detachments, are annexed to this publication,

and form a series of valuable documents, most interesting from their importance, and most astonishing from the achievements which they recount; almost every separate dis patch announcing a separate victory.

The total and irretrievable destruction of the French principality, which had for years been growing up in the heart of Hindustan, and had nearly reached maturity, though not a primary object of the war yet may be accounted, perhaps, the happiest of its consequences.

The fair, manly, and candid exposition which this publication contains of the latent springs of action, the views of policy, the grounds of right, on which every resolution of the noble governor was framed, give to it features utterly distinct from most of the modern state manifestoes that have come under our observation; here we find no loose and general invectives, no vague and criminatory declamation; every accusation is followed by its proof; every question of right is canvassed and argued on plain principles of justice, intelligible to every capacity; and we may safely assert, that the history of empires does not furnish an instance of a similar convulsion taking place in a nation where more copious and satisfactory information has been given to the world, of the origin and causes of that convulsion; and we think ourselves fully justified in adding, where there was less that needed concealment.

These" Brief Remarks," though coming from the pen of an anonymous writer, are unquestionably the production of a person thoroughly versed in eastern politics, and accurately informed of the state of India previous to our late arduous and successful contest with the confederated Mahratta chieftains, and the French force established at Delhi; the magnitude which the latter had attained, and the fortunes of the adventurer De Boigne, whose ambition and enterprizing talents founded the new empire of France, in Hindustan, are described in a concise and clear narration.

Monsieur Perron, a man no way inferior to De Boigne, succeeded on the departure of the latter for Europe, on account of health, to the command of the French army, and to the territories and revenues enjoyed by his predecessor, nor did the power and interests of the French nation at all decline under his administration. He improved every advantage that had been transmitted to him, and possess ing the uncontrolled government of the imperial city, and the custody of the blind, superanuated Emperor, he considered himself, and virtually became an independant potentate. Having garrisoned Agra and Delhi, one the capital, the other, in importance at least, if not in actual strength, the principal fortress of India, he' selected a position for his personal residence, and the head-quarters of his army, which is thus described:

66

destroying that part of our pos"sessions from which it may "safely be asserted that British "India derives her vital strength."

The peace of Amiens, though fraught with latent ills for England, yet menaced India with far greater danger. The hour in which hostilities were suspended, was, on the part of France, the hour of commencing the most vigorous preparations for a renewal of war. The plans that had previously been digested and arranged in the cabinet of Buonaparte, for accomplishing our ruin in the east, were instantly acted upon: Monsieur De Boigne, full of knowledge, resided in the city of Paris, and was a personage highly distinguished at the Thuilleries; a correspondence had constantly been maintained with Perron, whose

only

only want was that of skilful officers to discipline and lead his forces; with every other requisite of war, he was amply provided. He possessed territory, revenue, artillery, and men; and to this single defect peace, insidious peace, could alone supply a remedy. Without any loss of time, after the conclusion of the treaty, a body of troops sailed from France, avowedly to Occupy Pondicherry, but really for the service of Perron and the Mahrattas. Two hundred young men, highly accomplished, and perfect in the duty of officers, were destined to drill, instruct, and when the opportune moment should arrive, to lead the legions of France into the very heart of the British empire.

It was imagined that after landing on the continent of India, no farther obstacle would be opposed to the progress of these adventurers into the Mahratta territories, "But in such a supposition, these gentlemen, and the person who sent them, greatly "underrated the vigilance of the present governor-general of "India; he had thorough infor"mation of all their designs, and saw clearly the consequences; - and our young adventurers, 66 every one of whom meant, like "De Boigne, to be a sovereign "prince himself, found, on land"ing, to their unspeakable mor"tification, that their peregrina"tions were not suffered to exceed "the contracted limits of their "own colony; they blustered, and "strutted, and swore, but to very "little purpose; they loudly com

plained that they were ' en cage,' and so they were, as far as regarded admission into the interior "of India; every door was closed against thein, and to fill the

measure of their disappoint "ment, those who had landed were "soon after made prisoners of war.”

To such a situation of affairs in in regard to France, our author is inclined to refer much of the policy that influenced the treaty of Bassein, and in this opinion, we are disposed to coincide. At the same time, he urges, with considerable strength of argument, the primary question of the peishwah's right to conclude that treaty, and the unjustifiable aggression of the confederated chiefs, in opposing the stipulations it contained, which appear to have in view the preservation of their legitimate rights and possessions, as much as those of their acknowledged sovereign the peishwah.

The estimate of the forces and revenues of Perron, are given in detailed returns, containing a particular enumeration of the strength of each corps; the number of field-pieces attached to it, and the name of the commander; every province also of Monsieur Perron's territories is distinctly stated, with the revenue it yielded; likewise the amount of duties, customs, and coinage: these statements, more copious on the subject of revenue, than any we had before seen, bear internal evidence of their own authenticity, and of the accurate information of the author; how few persons in England, previous to the disclosure of facts produced by the war, would have credited the mere assertion that an obscure Frenchman, had sơ established his influence in Hindustan, as to become the absolute sovereign of a country that yielded an annual revenue of more that a million and a half sterling, maintained an army of 39,000 men, and could bring into the field 400