CHAPTER XXIV.
Continued Flight of the Peishwa, pursued by the British – He is reinforced by Trimbuckjee – Heroic Action of Corregaum – Surrender of Sattara – Reduction of Mahratta Forts – Pursuit of the Peishwa resumed – Battle of Ashtee and Death of Gokla – Capture of the Rajah of Sattara – The Peishwa again defeated – Dispersion of his Army, and his continued Flight – Capture of Talneir – Execution of the Killadar – The Peishwa surrenders and retires on a Pension – Final Adventures of Trimbuckjee – He is captured and imprisoned for life at Chunargur – Last Efforts of the Rajah of Berar – He takes refuge with the wild Goands – His desperate Proceedings – He flies to Asseerghur – Siege and Capture of that Fortress – Escape of Appa Sahib – He is sheltered by Runjeet Singh – Successful termination of the Pindarrie-Mahratta War.
Those two great members of the Mahratta confederacy, Scindia and Holkar, being thus either conquered or paralysed, we must now revert to its other two members, the Peishwa and the Rajah of Berar; who, though not yet put down, were reaping the fruits of their treachery and daily tottering to their fall.
Bajee Rao, after his defeat at Poonah in September, 1817, directed his flight in the first instance to the southward; but the advance of a force under Brigadier-Greneral Pritzler obliged him to change his course, and he took an easterly direction to Punderpore, whence he struck off to the north-west, followed by General Smith's division, which began its march at the end of November, accompanied by Mr. Elphinstone, who had organised a police and a provisional administration for the city of Poonah. Gokla, the Peishwa's chief counsellor and ablest general, attempted to defend a ghaut leading to the high land where the Kistna had its source, and where Bajee Rao had found a refuge and a rallying point; but the Mahratta was beaten, and the pass was cleared by the British with great ease. No fighting, but
