and about 9,000 cavalry. On the 9th of March, Major-General Wellesley commenced his march from Hurryhur, on the frontier of Mysore, with a force consisting of one regiment of European and three regiments of native cavalry, two regiments of European and six battalions of native infantry, with a due proportion of artillery, the whole numbering nearly 10,000 men, to which was added a body of 2,500 of the Rajah of Mysore's horse. On the 12th of March General Wellesley crossed the Toombuddra, and on the 15th of April effected a junction with the Hyderabad force at Aklooss, about seventy miles south-east of Poonah.
Holkar, on hearing of the approach of the English, determined not to involve himself in hostile proceedings, but early in April retreated to Chandore, a place 130 miles to the northward of Poonah, leaving Amrut Rao, whom he had invested with the dignity of Peishwa, with only a detachment of 1,500 men in that capital. Under these circumstances, General Wellesley did not deem it necessary or advisable to advance to Poonah all the troops at his disposal, as the country was much exhausted, and a great deficiency of forage prevailed. He, therefore, determined so to distribute his troops that the whole might procure forage and subsistence, but at the same time to reserve the power of readily forming a junction, should such a step be desirable. Colonel Stevenson, with the Hyderabad force, was ordered to march to Gardoor, to leave near that place, and within the Nizam's dominions, all that Prince's troops; and to place himself, with the British subsidiary force, in a position on the Beemah river, towards Poonah, near its junction with the Mota Mola river.
General Wellesley continued his own march towards Poonah by the road of Baramooty. He had received repeated intimations that it was intended to plunder and burn the city on the approach of the British troops, an exploit perfectly in accordance with the Mahratta character; and on the 18th of April it was ascertained that
