Till recently, Scindia had viewed the Company’s power with comparative indifference. Their undertakings had not always been successful; their resources, so far as he was able to judge, were greatly inferior to his own, and, with his disciplined battalions, he believed himself able to give a good account of any army the British Government could bring into the field. His resentment was first awakened by the treaty concluded in September 1798 between the Company and the Nizam, on whom the Mahratta Chiefs conceived that they had claims. On the outbreak of the war between Tippoo and the English, Scindia formed the project of attacking the Nizam, but the fall of Tippoo, before he could take the field, caused him to abandon the plan, and Scindia became aware that the Company’s power was more formidable than he had suspected. It was, however, no policy of wanton aggression on our part that brought about the wars waged by the Marquis of Wellesley. The real contest was between the British and French power in India. England and France were locked in a deadly struggle, which in India, on the French side, was fought out by Native Chiefs directed by French officers in correspondence with the French Directory in Paris. Had it not been so, our policy would have been directed to smoothing over matters in India, while our whole weight was thrown into the scale elsewhere. But circumstances did not allow of this, and it was in pursuance of the policy forced on us, that, first, Tippoo the centre of French influence in India was struck down; next, the French party at Hyderabad were dispersed by our assuming protection of the Nizam; and finally Scindia, the Rajah of Berar and Holkar were humbled by the defeat of their disciplined armies by Lake and Wellesley.
The assumption of the protectorate of the Peishwa, was regarded by Scindia as a challenge for the mastery of India. A defensive alliance was offered to him by the British, which he rejected, and his apprehensions were worked on by the Bhonslay Rajah of Berar, who was the prime mover in the war that followed. The quarrel with Holkar was patched up, and an alliance was formed between Scindia, Holkar and the Bhonslay to be directed against the Peishwa, the Nizam, and the East India Company. An able and comprehensive plan for simultaneous action was devised by Perron, by which one hundred and fifteen thousand predatory horse and ninety-four battalions would have at once carried fire and sword into the Company’s and the Nizam’s territories, and would have prevented any co-operation between the three powers thus assailed. But the plan came to nothing. Perron’s intrigues had aroused the distrust of Scindia, while the long existing animosity between Scindia and Holkar was too recent and too bitter to allow of prompt co-operation. The Mahratta Chiefs calculated on the British forces not moving till after the rainy season, and expected no active hostilities before October. Holkar’s forces were so tardily set in motion, that they were still on the Nerbudda when the battle of Assaye was fought. On receipt of the news he withdrew his troops to Indore, and avoided compromising himself farther.
Scindia, having suspended all operations against Holkar, had marched southwards to Burhanpore, towards the end of February, where he was joined by the Nagpore Rajah. Their joint forces then advanced towards the Nizam’s frontier where they encamped.
As soon as Scindia’s hostile intentions became known, a force of nearly 20,000 men was assembled at Hurryhur, on the north-west frontier of Mysore, under Major General the Hon. A. Wellesley. The restoration of the Peishwa to his capital was the first thing to be done. On the 9th March, Wellesley marched for Poona with 10,617 men, among whom were the 19th Light Dragoons, drawing 412 sabres. The remainder of the force was commanded by Colonel Stevenson, acting in concert with Wellesley. On the 20th April, Wellesley reached Poona, the last sixty miles being covered in 32 hours by the cavalry, who had been pushed on ahead to save the city from being plundered.[43] Holkar’s forces withdrew on his approach, and, on the 13th May, the Peishwa arrived from Bassein escorted by British troops. Wellesley then advanced to Walkee, six miles from Ahmednuggur, while negotiations with the confederated Mahratta Chiefs continued. By the end of July all hope of preserving peace had disappeared. The British Resident with Scindia was therefore directed to withdraw, which he did on the 3rd August.
The campaign that ensued was remarkable, not only for its complete success, but for the extended nature of the operations carried on simultaneously by a number of bodies of troops, acting to a great extent in complete independence of each other, after the signal for hostilities had been given. No better lesson in the art of war could be studied than in the dispositions made by the Marquis of Wellesley to bring matters to a successful issue, when the maintenance of peace was no longer possible. A brief resumé of them here will not be out of place. As the negotiations with Scindia made the warlike intentions of that Chief more and more evident, troops were assembled at various points, so that, on the outbreak of hostilities, the distribution of forces on both sides was as follows.
The combined Mahratta Chiefs, without Holkar, could dispose of 87 battalions of Infantry, 500 guns, and over 80,000 Cavalry. In the north, Perron had his Head Quarters at Alyghur, a fortress on which much dependence was placed. He had over 16,000 regular Infantry, about 5000 regular Cavalry, and a great number of irregular troops. En route to join him from the Deccan were 25,000 men, under a French officer, Dudrenec, of whom nearly 8000 were regular Infantry. With Scindia, in the Deccan, were over 16,000 Infantry and upwards of 50,000 Mahratta Cavalry. In Bundelcund, under Shumshere Bahadoor, were about 3000 regular Infantry, 20 guns, and 10,000 Cavalry. All fortresses and fortified towns were strongly held, and there were many detached corps of considerable strength in Cuttack and elsewhere.
On the British side, a force under the Commander-in-Chief, General Lake, consisting of 10,500 men, was assembled at Cawnpore, destined to act against Perron. At Allahabad, a force of 3500 men, under Lt. Colonel Powell, was assembled to operate in Bundelcund. At Chunar and Mirzapore, 2000 men were stationed under Major General Deare, to cover Benares and act on the defensive. From the Saone, near Sasseram, to Pachet on the Damodar river, a similar force was so disposed, under Lt. Colonel Broughton, as to cover the Company’s territories in that region. This force was afterwards reinforced, and took the offensive in the eastern provinces of Berar. Farther to the south east, at Midnapore, a force of 1300 men, under Colonel Fenwick, was posted to cover the frontier and threaten Cuttack. At Ganjam, a force of 3540 men was ready, under Lt. Colonel Campbell, to operate in Cuttack, supported by 500 men at Balasore, under Captain Morgan, and 854 men under Lt. Colonel Ferguson, at Jalasore. The Cuttack operations were however carried out by Lieut. Colonel Harcourt, in consequence of the serious illness of Lt. Colonel Campbell at the very commencement of field operations.
In the Deccan, to operate against Scindia, 8900 men, under Major General the Honourable Arthur Wellesley, were encamped at Walkee near Ahmednuggur. Farther to the eastward, and north of the Godavery, was Colonel Stevenson with the Hyderabad subsidiary force, consisting of 7900 men and the Nizam’s own troops, acting as a separate corps in co-operation with Wellesley. In Guzerat, 7350 men under Colonel Murray, acting under the orders of Wellesley, furnished a corps of 2187 men north of the Nerbudda, covering Baroda, and a second corps of 2094 men, south of the Tapti between Songhur and Surat: the remainder being employed to garrison Surat, Cambay, and Baroda, thus effectually cutting off Scindia’s access to the coast. In addition to these, garrisons of 1600 men and 2000 men were posted at Poona and Hyderabad respectively, to ensure tranquillity and protect those capitals, while a reserve of 4032 men, under Major General Campbell, was stationed at Moodgul, south of the Kistna.
That the strain on the Company’s resources was very great is evident from the fact that the Governor General sent his Body Guard into the field, though he himself remained in Calcutta. The truest policy demanded that the war should be actively prosecuted and brought to a decisive termination as soon as possible, before further complications should arise; not the least of which was the expected arrival of a French squadron from Europe. How clearly this policy was recognised and adopted, and how splendidly it was carried out may be seen from the mere record of achievements. The rapidity with which blow after blow was struck, will be best gathered from the following table:—