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126 Their agreement with Raghuba was formally annulled in return for the pension secured to their late ally.

The interests of the Company, and the good faith of the Bombay Government, were thus alike sacrificed to the reckless formalism of a dominant faction in the Supreme Council. Hastings' opponents had the spirit indeed to join with him in refusing on any terms to give up Salsette. But when the Directors announced their approval of the treaty with Raghuba, and condemned the policy which issued in the Treaty of Purandhar, Francis and Clavering threw all the blame of failure on the Governor-General himself.

The treaty in question was little better than a hollow truce. Neither at Poona nor at Bombay was it carefully observed. Raghuba appealed against it in a letter to the King of England. Troops were sent from Bombay to garrison Surat, and the Bombay Council invited Raghuba to their own capital as their pensioned guest. Salsette remained in our hands, and the Poona Government withheld payment of the donation promised under the treaty. In March, 1777, a French adventurer arrived at Poona as envoy from the King of France, who was on the point of declaring war against England. Nána Farnavís, who had become the foremost man at Poona and was strong-set against the new treaty, received the Chevalier de St. Lubin with open arms. The Bombay Government took just alarm at the prospect of a close alliance between the Maráthás and the French. The Court of Directors