Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/141

Rh to chance, determined to be ready for every contingency that might arise. The Maráthá chiefs had been long endeavouring to take advantage of the weakness displayed in 1805, and their schemes were ripe for execution in 1817; a formidable and — as far as anarchical principles would admit of it — a concerted rising was prepared to accomplish this object. The Supreme Government therefore had many enemies to face, and the events just related show how dangerous it would have been to attempt the destruction of the Pindárís unless large measures of defence had also been adopted, and simultaneous action planned in many distant quarters. The success of the military movements, the timely concentration of large bodies of troops marching from divergent bases, and the subsequent dispositions made to meet the numerous requirements of a complicated campaign, prove the care bestowed on the preliminary arrangements, and exhibit the watchful intelligence of the Commander-in-Chief, who directed every detail of the operations in the field, and guided all the negotiations in the political sphere.

But in spite of the large number of forces deployed, grave risks were also incurred, and twice in the course of a short campaign were small corps, posted at vulnerable points and guarding important interests, exposed to almost certain destruction at the hands of overwhelming masses of the enemy. Disaster had been fortunately avoided by the bravery and discipline of the weak brigades at Poona and Nágpur, and