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310 subsidiary force of 6,000 men; to be stationed, however, only on his frontier, while their maintenance was to be defrayed out of the districts already ceded.

Holkar seeing himself thus completely hemmed in, and all his schemes of conquest about to be checked by the British, seems to have hastily determined to plunge into a contest with them. He threatened the territory of their ally, the Rajah of Jyenagur; he made extravagant and even insulting demands; and, in a letter to General Wellesley, he said, "Countries of many hundred coss shall be overrun and plundered; Lord Lake shall not have leisure to breathe for a moment; and calamities will fall on lacks of human beings in continual war by the attacks of my army, which overwhelms like the waves of the sea." At the same time he earnestly invited Scindia, and the other princes who still remained independent, to unite against the English as a common enemy.

In consequence of these hostile indications on the part of Holkar, orders were issued to Lord Lake and General Wellesley, on the 16th of April, 1804, to commence operations against that chief, both in Hindostan and the Deccan. In coming to this resolution, the Governor-General considered it necessary, not merely to reduce and limit, but altogether to extirpate a power whose existence seemed incompatible with the repose and security of all the other states. To display, however, the disinterested views of the Company, it was determined not to retain any part of the conquered territory, but to distribute it among those chiefs who adhered even formally to British alliance. Scindia was to receive the largest share, provided he gave cordial aid in overthrowing the pretensions of his rival.

Holkar was, however, by no means a contemptible adversary. His cavalry, swelled by the wreck of the other defeated armies and by numerous adventurers, amounted to 60,000, to which were added 15,000 well disciplined infantry, and 192 pieces of artillery. In con-