Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/370

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322
GOVERNOR-GENERALSHIP OF LORD WELLESLEY

Peshwa was escorted back to Poona by a British force under General Arthur Wellesley; and it was signified to the contending Maratha chiefs that their central government had been taken under British protection. This masterful proceeding alarmed even Lord Castlereagh, who wrote to the Governor-General some remonstrances against a step which "tended to involve us in the endless and complicated distractions of the turbulent Maratha Empire." He replied that the influence of the French in the Maratha camp was still to be feared, an argument that easily prevailed over an English ministry who were just bracing up the national strength, after a short breathing time, for a second and still closer wrestle with Buonaparte.

THE RESIDENCY AT LUCKNOW.