Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/168

160 Pindárís were effectually surrounded, deprived of support, hunted down, and destroyed. The preliminary dispositions having been made with much forethought and skill, the results anticipated followed as a matter of course; so when the Peshwá and the Bhonsla Rájá revolted, they found themselves surrounded and their provinces quickly overrun, Holkar was met and easily defeated, and the rest were overawed and rendered incapable of offering resistance. Every contingency had been amply provided for; the Maráthá states were powerless to combine when they most required mutual assistance, and the hordes of freebooters were unable to derive the smallest benefit from those native princes who were anxious to give them support.

The policy adopted to put down disorder, though it ended by a large accession of territory in India, was not intended to add to British possessions; on the contrary, the operations undertaken were purely of a defensive nature, and had for their object the protection of the Company's dominions and the safety of British subjects and allies. Lord Hastings repudiated distinctly any aggressive design, and in 1820 communicated his views on this subject to England in the following words: —

'But for the unforeseen perfidy and unaccountable folly of the Peshwá and the Rájá of Nágpur, I might have congratulated myself and your Honourable Company on the successful accomplishment of my original hope of effecting the suppression of the predatory system, without disturbing any of the established powers of India, or adding a rood to