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Bengal, I feel myself called upon, no less by public duty than personal regard for that excellent officer, to mention him in the most favourable terms to your Lordship, which I beg leave to do; and at the same time to assure you that I shall feel much obliged by any civility, or kind indulgence if he should have occasion to need it, that you may be good enough to show him.

"I have the pleasure of seeing Lady Wellesley frequently, and the satisfaction to inform you that she is in high health, and, hoping you will not deem it impertinent, I may and must add, great beauty; her charming children promise to be everything you can wish. I am, my Lord, with true respect and regard, your Lordship's most obedient and very faithful humble ALURED CLARKE.”

servant,

CHAPTER XX.

Treaties negotiated by the Marquess Wellesley with various Native States. Treaties of Hyderabad.-Jealousy of the Mahrattas.—Closer Alliance between the Nizam and the English. Surat. Historical Sketch.-Death of the Nawab.- Negotiations with his Successor.— Governor Duncan proceeds from Bombay to Surat.-Treaty concluded. -The Rajah of Nepaul seeks Refuge at Benares.-Negotiations and Treaty with his Highness.-Negotiations with the Court of Ava.Marquess Wellesley's Measures. Flight of several Thousands of Agriculturists from the Burmese Territory.-They take Refuge in the British Dominions. Invasions of the Burmese. - Negotiations. Peace firmly reëstablished.— Letter from Col. Symes.- Dr. F. Buchanan's Mission to Mysore.-Growth of Cotton in India.

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In addition to the subsidiary treaties with the Soubahdar of the Deccan, the Rajah of Tanjore, and the Rajah of Mysore, already negotiated and ratified by the Marquess Wellesley, we are now called on to notice negotiations of great permanent importance to the stability of the East India Company's dominions with reference to Ava, the frontier kingdom of Nepaul, and Surat-by the Mohammedans styled "the gate of the Holy City," but frequented by many of the worshippers of Zorbaster, who conducted from thence a lucrative trade with the Gulfs of Persia and Arabia; nor must the additional treaty of Hyderabad escape our attention. The jealous, and almost hostile, spirit with which the Mahrattas regarded our operations against Tippoo, and the conflicts with which the southern part of the peninsula was threatened from the weak

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and distracted condition of the Peishwah's Government, pointed out the urgent necessity of adding, by every practicable means, to the efficiency of the alliance with the Nizam; as that became the chief, and, after the defection of the Peishwah, the only means of protecting the British possessions, and those of its allies, in a state of peace and tranquillity.

For the attainment of this object, it was necessary to add to the strength of the subsidiary force with the Nizam; and to adopt measures that would secure the English Government against those risks, to which it was probable this connexion would be early exposed, from the weak and fluctuating councils of that Prince.

To effect this important point, nothing seemed so desirable, as to commute the monthly pecuniary payment of subsidy for a cession of territory. The advantages of such an arrangement were manifold, and obvious. An end would undoubtedly be put, by its adoption, to that constant recurrence of irritation, which must always be expected to attend large pecuniary payments from sordid or extravagant Courts. The resources upon which the support of a large English force must depend, would be placed in the hands of the British Government, instead of being in those of another state, whose imprudence, distress, or treachery, might, at any critical moment, endanger the general safety. And the wish which, it was possible, a future weak or fickle administration at Hyderabad might entertain, of freeing that state from a connexion, from which it might think it had derived all the benefit that it could expect, and the expense of which continued a burden upon its finances, would cease to ope

rate; when it had, by a cession of territory, paid in perpetuity, and by advance, for the services of the corps by which its dominions were protected. These were among the leading considerations which induced Lord Wellesley to enter into the negotiation with the Nizam; which terminated in the conclusion of a new treaty with that Prince, bearing date the 12th of October, 1800.

By this treaty, the British Government engaged to permit no power nor state whatever to commit with impunity any act of unprovoked aggression or hostility upon the territories of the Nizam and to enable the Company to fulfil this engagement in an efficient manner, two battalions of sepoys, and a regiment of native cavalry, were permanently added to the subsidiary force to be maintained by the state of Hyderabad. To secure the constant and regular payment of this augmented force, the Nizam ceded in perpetuity to the Company all the territories which he had acquired by the treaty of Seringapatam in 1792, and the treaty of Mysore in 1799. With a view of preserving a welldefined boundary, some changes were made in this cession; the Nizam retaining Kupoor, Gujunder, Ghur, &c., and giving Adone, &c., in their lieu,-countries situated to the south of the river Toombuddrah, which, by this settlement, formed the boundary between the two states.

In the event of war taking place between the contracting parties and a third state, the Nizam agreed, that the whole of the subsidiary force, except two battalions, which were to be kept near his person, were to be employed against the enemy; and that the force

was, on such event, to be immediately joined by six thousand infantry, and nine thonsand horse of his own troops.

The Nizam also agreed to enter into no negotiation with other states, without informing and consulting the Company's Government and the latter agreed, that it would in no instance interfere with the Nizam's children, relations, or subjects; with respect to whom it would always consider him absolute.

The Nizam engaged not to commit hostilities against any other state; and, in the event of differences arising between him and another power, it was stipulated, that they were to be adjusted by the Company's Government, and that the Nizam was to aequiesce in the justice of its decision.

It was stipulated, that in the event of either the Peishwah, Ragojee, Bhonslah, or Doulut Row Scindiah, desiring to be a party in this treaty, they should be admitted to all its advantages.

The revenue of the territories ceded to the Company by this treaty was about 1,758,000 of pagodas: but their importance, in a political and military point of view, was still greater than their pecuniary value: for this cession, while it terminated, as has been shown, those constant recurring causes of irritation, to which we were subject as long as this payment was made in monthly instalments, added, from the local situation of the districts, to the security of the former possessions of the Company on the coast of Coromandel, and to those of the new state of Mysore; to both of which they formed a defined and good military barrier.

It has been before stated, that the British Govern

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