in his name, which continued till the death of Nana, in 1794. Even before this period the Court of Poonah had been placed for some time in a critical situation. It was united in a triple alliance with Britain and the Nizam against the power and pretensions of the house of Mysore, but the co-operation of the Mahrattas had been irregular and unsatisfactory. Lord Cornwallis, though he had much reason to complain of the conduct of their army, so far from expressing any anger, granted to them a third or equal share, with the Company and the Nizam, of the ceded lands; and the Marquis Wellesley afterwards, when he entered upon the last and decisive contest with Tippoo, called upon the Mahratta Government to fulfil the stipulations of this alliance.
At this period, however, the Mahrattas had begun to cherish a deep and not ill-grounded jealousy at the rapid progress of the British power; and, although they chose to temporise, their wishes were now completely in favour of Mysore. Nana strongly shared this feeling; nevertheless, he decidedly objected to any measure that might commit the state in a war with so formidable a nation. But Scindia and the Peishwa, those young and ardent spirits, embraced with enthusiasm the cause of the Sultan – a fact which was proved by a correspondence found at Seringapatam, breathing unequivocal hostility, and leaving no doubt that, had fortune favoured the son of Hyder, he would at once have been joined by these chiefs. They were arrested, however, by the intelligence of the fall of that capital, the death of its ruler, and the downfall of his formidable dynasty. Then, indeed, every effort was made to excuse their inactivity as allies, and to explain away every symptom of a hostile intention.
Thus far we have indulged in a brief retrospect, essential to a proper understanding of the relative positions of the British and Mahrattas at the commencement of a series of wars, by which the power and dominion of the former have increased in proportion to the decline and ruin of the latter.
