Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert PeelAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert Peel
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
That very day General Smith reached Corregaum in force, and at this
apparition the Peishwa fled back towards the sources of the Kistnah,
whence he had descended. Not only General Smith, but Brigadier-General
Pritzler and Colonel Boles kept up the pursuit, advancing from
different quarters, as the slippery Mahratta chief turned and
manœuvred. At length weary of the chase, they determined to reduce
Satara, his capital, and then each of his strong forts and towns one
after another, thus depriving him of supplies, and leaving him no
place of refuge or subsistence. Satara surrendered to General Smith on
the 10th of February, the same day that he appeared before it. As one
place after another fell, Gokla, the Peishwa's general, made an effort
to arrest this process of reduction, and this enabled General Smith
to attack him on the 20th of February, at Ashtee, where he completely
routed him. Gokla himself was killed, and the Peishwa only escaped
by abandoning his palanquin and mounting a horse. General Smith and
Lieutenant Warrand were wounded, but not a man was killed on the
British side. Great booty was taken, including twelve elephants and
fifty-seven camels.
The remnant of the Mahratta army fled northwards, pursued and
continually reduced by the British. At the same time the reduction of
the towns and forts was steadily going on, and every day the fugitive
Peishwa became more and more involved in the toils of his enemies. He
endeavoured to escape into Nagpore, but on the banks of the Wurda he
was met, on the 1st of April, by Colonel Scott and driven back, only
to fall into the hands of Colonel Adams, who attacked him near Soonee
with only one regiment of native cavalry and some horse artillery, and
gave him a thorough defeat, taking five guns, three elephants, and two
hundred camels. More than a thousand Mahrattas fell, and the Peishwa
himself narrowly escaped, his palanquin, which he had abandoned, being
found shot through. Bajee Rao now endeavoured to get to the north-east
into Malwa, but he was stopped by General Sir Thomas Hislop, who was
advancing from that quarter towards the Deccan. At length, his forces
dispersed, his towns in possession of the British, his way on all
sides cut off, the Peishwa came in and surrendered himself to Sir John
Malcolm, on the 3rd of June, 1818, on promise of good treatment. Sir
John granted him eight lacs of rupees per annum, on condition that
he resigned the title of Peishwa for ever, and surrendered all his
possessions. This was confirmed by the Supreme Government at Calcutta.
Thus was the existence of the Pindarrees, and the power of the
Mahrattas, broken up, and the Rajah of Satara restored. He was a minor,
but on reaching the age of twenty-one, which was in the year 1821,
he was invested with the government of his dominions. These included
a district of about eleven thousand square miles, and produced a net
revenue of fifteen million rupees. Out of this, however, three lacs per
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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