wife, Toolsee-Bhye, as regent for the young prince; but she was mistrusted by the war party, seized, and put to death. The chiefs then plunged into war, but were thoroughly defeated by Hislop's forces, and the young Holkar was compelled to enter into a treaty, which, among other things, bound him to perpetual peace, and established the Company as the arbitrator in all his quarrels. As in the case of Sindia, the Rajput princes subject to his dominion were allowed to contract separate treaties with the English, and gladly seized the opportunity. Thus the great confederation was defeated in detail, and the Peishwa alone, a fugitive from his capital, was capable of making resistance. It was found nearly impossible to come up with him; though combats were occasionally fought, no general battle resulted. But a new plan was devised which before long completed his destruction. The strongholds of his country were one by one reduced; and among others, in February, Satara, the residence of the descendants of Sevaji, whose nominal minister the Peishwa was. The authority of this prince was re-established, and the Peishwa was deposed, and thus the national character of his resistance destroyed. Soon after, also (Feb. 19, 1818), he was forced to battle at Ashtee, near Bunderpoor, and there thoroughly beaten. His power of resistance was now at an end, his fortresses had fallen one by one; his motley army, consisting largely of Pindaries, was broken up, and in June, finding himself surrounded, he surrendered to Sir John Malcolm. He accepted an allowance of £80,000 a year, with leave to withdraw and reside at Benares, where he remained quietly during the rest of his life. He had refused even to the last to surrender Trimbucjee, who was, however, shortly afterwards captured, and kept a prisoner till his death. The destruction of the Mahratta power had gone hand in hand with that of the Pindaries. Wherever they had been met with they had been beaten. By the end of February all their leaders had surrendered, and such remnants of them as were left had been removed to Goruckpoor, where they settled quietly down. There was one exception; their great chief, Chetoo, was still at large, and when Appa Sahib of Nagpoor, continuing his treachery after the treaty, and still holding communication with the Peishwa, was dethroned, the two chiefs took refuge in the Mahadeo hills on the south of the Nerbudda, and there assembled a mixed army of Mahrattas, Arabs, and Pindaries, to the number of about 20,000. The destruction of these troops closed the war. The English forces were concentrated for a great attack; seeing the hopelessness of resistance, the leaders fied, and took refuge in the fort of Aseerghur, 1823] THE BURMESE WAR 1471 which belonged to Sindia, with whom no doubt Appa had still relations. The fortress could not long shelter him. Sindia, in fear, refused to receive him; he fled to Runjeet Singh, and was finally allowed to return and live peaceably in Judpore. Chetoo, deprived of most of his followers, also took flight; he attempted to retire into the Malwa, but during his retreat sought refuge in a thicket, and was there devoured by a tiger. As a punishment for having received the fugitives, Aseerghur was besieged and taken, and as clear proofs were found in it of Sindia's treachery, it was retained. This was the last act of the war. At its conclusion the whole dominions of the Peishwa, with the exception of a district given to the Rajah of Satara, and all Appa Sahib's dominions in Berar, passed directly into the hands of the English. All the Rajput rajahs had placed themselves under British protection, and Sindia was the only prince with whom there had not been concluded a satisfactory subsidiary treaty. Lord Hastings had thus the merit of thoroughly completing the great plans of the Marquis of Wellesley. When Hastings left his office, which he had held for nine years, he was succeeded by Lord Amherst, who reached Calcutta Lord Amherst. in August 1823, and held the Governor-generalship till 1823-1828. 1828. During that period the dominions of England received a still further accession, and the difficulty of putting a stop to a course of conquest once begun was shown. At the same time that Clive had laid the foundation of the English Empire, a man of the name of Alompra had established a great empire on the other side of the Ganges. He had succeeded in bringing into one the kingdoms of Siam, Pegu, Ava, and Aracan. By degrees the two empires of Burmah and of India had become conterminous. The Burmese had been rendered so confident by their successes that they had demanded of Lord Hastings the surrender of Chittagong, Dacca, and other places, as having been originally dependencies of Aracan; their demand had of course been absolutely disregarded, but they were now proceeding to conquer Cashar, a district in North-Eastern Bengal, the rajah of which applied for help to the English. A further act of encroachment on their part brought on a war; they seized, on the coast of Chittagong, a little island in the possession of a small British outpost. No satisfaction could be obtained, and in March 1824 war became inevitable, much against the will, and somewhat to the surprise, of Lord Amherst, who had intended to be peaceful. The The Burmese attack of the English was made upon Rangoon at the War. mouth of the Irawaddi. It was easily occupied, but the Burmese were a warlike race, and being strengthened in their wish for resistance by successes on the Bengal frontier refused to come to terms. Again and again the great pagoda of Rangoon, which had become the English citadel, was assaulted. In December a final unsuccessful attack was made under the command of Maha Bundoola, who had distinguished himself in the north. From May to February the fighting about Rangoon had continued, the chief difficulty met with being the skill of the enemy in the defence of stockades. Then, at last, Sir Archibald Campbell found it possible to advance up the Irawaddi towards Prome. In April he reached that place and found it deserted. There the English remained during the rainy season. In November hostilities were renewed, and the English gradually forced their way up to within forty-five miles of Ava, the capital. There at length, in February 1826, a treaty was concluded by which the Burmese ceded Assam, Aracan, and the country south of Martiban along the coast. They also gave up their claims upon the English provinces, paid a large sum of money, and established friendly relations between the courts, to be kept up by an interchange of ambassadors. Bhurtpore. The occupation of England in a foreign war had given rise to hopes among the princes of India that an opportunity had come for reasserting their freedom. But all such thoughts were dashed Capture of to the ground by the capture and destruction of the fortress of Bhurtpore, hitherto considered impregnable. At the beginning of 1825 a disputed succession had occurred. The expelled Prince was under British protection; it remained to be seen how far it now availed him. Lord Amherst was at first inclined to non-intervention, but the army was in the hands of Lord Combermere, an old Peninsula officer, not likely to shrink before difficulties. He at once undertook to reduce the stronghold. Having demanded the dismissal of women and children, which was refused, he proceeded to bombard the town. After two months of siege, the assault was given, and in two hours the town was secured; the fortress was then razed to the ground, and the rightful prince reinstated, and the great movement against the English which had been dreaded by many thinking men in India thus at once checked. The Indian Empire had now reached the limits which were not increased for many years. The subsequent conquests of the Punjaub and Sinde have set a natural and geographical boundary to it, which, it may be hoped, will prevent the necessity of those wars of conquest, which were really wars of defence, to which it owes its present gigantic dimensions. INDEX CONSTITUTIONAL ABERCROMBIE at Ticonderoga, 1027, 1029 Aberdeen, Colonial Secretary, 1456 Adams, at Preston's trial, 1061; ambassa- Adams, secretary of Constitutional So- Addington, Premier, 1230; his weakness, 1238, 1239; declares war, 1240; his diffi- MONARCHY 1258; resigns, 1259; Lord Privy Seal, Agriculture, introduction of turnips, 973; Albemarle. [See Keppel.] Alberoni, his schemes, 943-945; his fall, 946 Alexander I., Czar, 1233; remonstrates Allen, takes Ticonderoga, 1072; acknow- Althorp, head of a Finance Committee, Louisburg, 1027; at Quebec, 1029; sup- 1472 André, his trial and death, 1097 Anglesey, quoted, 1394; resigns, 1406; Anson, captures treasure ships, 984; re- Argyle, Earl of, his power, 819; his share Arnold, his origin, 1072; takes Ticon- Ashburton. [See Dunning.] Assiento, explained, 919; restored by Atterbury, his plot, 954; arrested, 955; Auchmuty at Monte Video, 1280; at Auckland, his treaty with Dumouriez, Augusta, influence over George III., 1035; her favour to Bute, 1036, 1042; her Augustus of Saxony, driven from Poland, 896 Augustus, elected King of Poland, 975 BAIRD in Egypt, 1232; in Spain, 1294 com- it, 851; advances money, 852; Barras, succeeds Menou, 1186; in the Barré, his pension, 1107; compensated Barrier Treaty, 919, 940, 959; irritation Barrington, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Barwell, in the India Council, 1123; votes Bassano, minister in England, 1166 Bathurst, Colonial Secretary, 1382; Pal- Battles-Abendsberg, 1300; Argaum, 1256; |