Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/175

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THE CIS-SUTLEJ TERRITORY
169

turn fallen, when, on the 11th of September, 1803, General Lake defeated the Maratha army commanded by Bourquien beneath the walls of Delhi; and, four days later, entered the capital of Hindustan as a conqueror. On the 1st of November the battle of Laswári was fought, when the Maráthás were again defeated with great loss; and Sindhia, by the treaty of Sirji Anjengaom, ceded Sirsá, Hissár, Rohtak, Delhi, Gurgáon, and Agra to the British Government. The three first-named districts were not, however, taken under British administration till the year 1809.

The Cis-Sutlej chiefs, who had made friends with the Maráthás, General Bourquien having just overthrown their enemy George Thomas, fought at Delhi against the English. They had miscalculated our strength, and during the whole of the year 1804 they gave great trouble in the neighbourhood of the Jumna, and ravaged the country up to the walls of Delhi. But after a severe defeat inflicted upon them by Colonel Burn on the 18th of December, 1804, they thought it prudent to retire across the river, and two of their most prominent leaders. Rájá Bhág Singh of Jínd, and Bhai Lál Singh of Kaithal, joined the English army, and afterwards remained fast friends.

In October, 1804, Jaswant Ráo Holkar, who had gained a great victory over Colonel Monson's brigade, besieged Delhi with a large force, but was repulsed by Colonel Ochterlony and Colonel Burn. Two months later, at Fatehgarh and Díg, the Maráthás