inhabitants sought the means of subsistence and distinction by cultivating the arts of peace and not by war and rapine. The settlement of India in 1818 was, moreover, built on so sound and solid a foundation that it has required fewer modifications than so great a political structure might have been expected to need. Having thus extinguished all opposition, Lord Hastings proclaimed the universal sovereignty of the Company throughout the continent, and declared that the Indus was to all intents and purposes the boundary of their dominion. Bajee Rao began his retreat southward on the 28th A.D. November, and on passing Satara caused the raja and his 1817 family, the descendants of Sevajee, to be brought Battle of into his camp. Finding himself closely pursued Korygaum. by General Smith, he turned northward towards Poona. Colonel Burr, the commandant, immediately called down to his support the detachment left at Seroor, under Captain Stanton, consisting of one battalion of infantry and 300 irregular horse. He commenced his march at eight in the evening, and reached the village of Korygaum, sixteen miles from Poona, at ten the next morning, when, to his surprise, he perceived the whole army of the Peshwa, 25,000 strong, encamped on the opposite bank of the river. The Mahratta troops were immediately sent against this handful of soldiers exhausted by a fatiguing march through the night, and destitute both of provisions and water, but the officers and men met the shock with invincible resolution. The engagement was kept up throughout the day, and every inch of ground in the Jan. I village was disputed with desperate valour, but it ended 1818 in the discomfiture and retreat of the Mahrattas. The most remarkable feature of this brilliant engagement lay in the fact that the sepoys were without any European support except twenty-four artillery men, of whom twenty were killed and wounded. Of eight officers engaged, three were wounded and two killed; the total loss amounted to 187. across On leaving Korygaum the Peshwa again marched southward, always keeping ahead of his pursuers, but he was suddenly overtaken at Ashtee, and, after re- Pursuit and proaching his general Gokla for allowing him to surrender of be surprised, quitted his palankeen and mounted the Peshwa. his horse and fled, leaving the general to cover his retreat. Stung with the reproaches of his master, and determined not to survive the day, he placed himself at the head of A.D. 1818 1818 300 horse and rushed on the British cavalry, and, after receiving three pistol shots and three sabre cuts, expired on the field of honour, the last and one of the noblest of the great Mahratta commanders. The raja of Satara was rescued at Ashtee. The Peshwa, hunted out of the Deccan, moved again to the north, crossed the Taptee, and advanced to the Nerbudda, but the fords were guarded and the different divisions of the army were closing upon him, when, seeing no chance of escape, he appealed to the weakness of Sir John Malcolm, calling him "his oldest "and best friend." Strange to say, he was admitted to an interview, when he so thoroughly cajoled him by his flatteries, that at a time when his fortunes were desperate and he must have surrendered at discretion, the imprudent general engaged to allow him eight lacs a year, and made other concessions equally unwise and preposterous. Lord Hastings, who had destined him an allowance of only two lacs, was not a little mortified at the prodigality of these terms, but felt himself bound in honour to ratify them. A proclamation had been previously issued announcing that the Peshwa and his family were for ever excluded from the throne. A small portion of the territory, yielding about fifteen lacs of rupees a year, was then erected into a separate principality and bestowed on the descendant of Sevajee, and the remainder was incorporated in the Company's territories. The Peshwa was conducted to Bithoor, near Cawnpore, where he lived long enough to receive two crores and a half of rupees from the treasury in Calcutta. The country which had been the scene of warfare, was studded with forts which held out for some time after the Capture of submission of the princes. They were garriforts. soned in general by Arab mercenaries, whose services were valued not only for their courage and fidelity, but as a counterpoise to the native soldiery, among whom a spirit of insubordination was traditionary. The capture of the fort of Talneir was marked by the untoward circumstance of the massacre of 300 of the garrison in hot blood, owing to a misunderstanding, and by the unjust execution of the commandant, which tarnished the laurels of Sir Thomas Hislop. At length the only fort which had 1819 not submitted was Aseergurh, for the surrender of which Sindia had given an official order on the commandant, but he had private orders not to deliver it, and it was not captured till a battery of more than sixty guns had played on it for a fortnight. SECTION IV. LORD HASTINGS'S ADMINISTRATION-HOME PROCEEDINGS- MR. CANNING moved the usual vote of thanks to Lord Hastings A.D. remodelled the Quarter-master-General's department, and he was censured by the Court for not having previously obtained their sanction, while they pressed on him the appointment of one of their own nominees to the post, of whom Lord Hastings remarked in his correspondence, that it would be difficult to find in the whole army a field officer more signally unfit for the post. In the same spirit of antagonism, the honours so richly earned by the heroes of Kirkee, and Seetabuldee, and Korygaum, were withheld from them. Encourage- The pacification and final settlement of India would have been a sufficient distinction for any administration, but Lord Hastings established a higher claim to public gratitude, by the encouragement which education. he was the first to give to the intellectual improvement of the natives. The India House had hitherto acted upon the principle that any attempt to enlighten the A.D. people would create political aspirations which might 1818 endanger their power, and lead to its subversion. Lord Hastings repudiated this policy, and in one of his public addresses stated that "it would be treason against British "sentiment to imagine that it ever could be the principle "of this Government to perpetuate ignorance in order to 66 secure paltry and dishonest advantages over the blindness "of the multitude." These enlightened views gave an immediate and powerful impulse to the cause of education. Lady Hastings had already set an example by establishing school at Barrackpore Park, and compiling treatises for the scholars. Schools also sprang up in the districts around Calcutta through the agency of the missionaries, and were fostered by a liberal donation from Government. Some of the most wealthy and influential native gentlemen in the metropolis raised large subscriptions, and established the Hindoo College for the education of their children and relatives in the English language and European science. All the efforts which have since been made with constantly increasing vigour, to impart knowledge to the native community, date from this period. Lord Hast- Emboldened by this liberal policy and the success of Lord Hastings, the Serampore Missionaries, on the 31st May 1818, issued the first native newspaper, entitled the "Sumachar Durpun," or Mirror of Intelligence. This attempt to rouse the native mind from its torpidity, by the stimulus of a public journal, created great alarm among the leading men in the Government, but Lord the Press. A.D. Hastings afforded every encouragement to it; he manifested the same spirit of liberality towards the English Press, and, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the members of his Council, removed the censorship which had been imposed by Lord Wellesley during the anarchy of war. In deference, however, to the despotic sensibilities of the governing class, he imposed severe restrictions on the editors regarding the subjects and the personages which were to be exempted from remark, but the exceptions soon fell into abeyance. In vindication of his policy, he stated, in reply to an address from Madras, "that he was 1818 "in the habit of considering the freedom of publication as the natural right of his fellow subjects, to be narrowed "only by special and urgent cause assigned;" and, further, that "it was salutary for supreme authority, even when its "intentions were most pure, to look to the control of "public opinion." This heterodox doctrine gave mortal offence at the India House, and a despatch was immediately drafted, reprobating the abolition of the censorship, and directing that it should be immediately reimposed, but the despatch was suppressed by Mr. Canning. Cuttack. In the year 1816 the peaceful province of Orissa became 1816 the scene of disturbances. On the acquisition of the country in 1803, a swarm of Bengalee baboos Disturbflocked into it, and obtained possession of every ances at official post of influence, and by their knowledge of the mysteries of civil and fiscal legislation were enabled to take advantage of the simplicity of the people, and to deprive them of their lands. The province was also overassessed, the zemindars were improvident, and half the estates were brought to the hammer, and bought up by the Bengalee officials in the courts, often at a nominal price. To add to the wretchedness of the province, the salt monopoly was introduced, and the cost of this necessary of life was increased sixfold in a country where the sea furnished it spontaneously. Under this accumulation of misery, the people sold all they possessed, and then their wives and children, and finally took to the jungle. The country being thus ripe for revolt, one Jugbundoo, the hereditary commander of the old Hindoo dynasty, raised the standard of rebellion and collected about 3,000 men, with whom he plundered the civil station of Khoorda, and repulsed two detachments of sepoys. This success augmented his force, and he took possession of the town of Pooree, and burnt down the European residences, but the |