The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke

and that their conduct was unseasonable, impolitic, unjust, and unauthorized." And the
Governor-General and Council, in order to put a stop to the said unjust hostilities, did
appoint an ambassador to the Peshwa, or chief of the Mahratta state, resident at Poonah;
and the said ambassador did, after a long negotiation, conclude a definitive treaty of peace
with the said Peshwa on terms highly honorable and beneficial to the East India Company,
who by the said treaty obtained from the Mahrattas a cession of considerable tracts of
country, the Mahratta share of the city of Baroach, twelve lacs of rupees for the expenses of
the said unjust war, and particularly the island of Salsette, of which the Presidency of
Bombay had possessed themselves by surprise and treachery. That, in return for these
extraordinary concessions, the articles principally insisted on by the Mahrattas, with a view
to their own future tranquillity and internal quiet, were, that no assistance should he given
to any subject or servant of the Peshwa that should cause disturbances or rebellion in the
Mahratta dominions, and particularly that the English should not assist Ragonaut Row, to
whom the Mahrattas agreed to allow five lacs of rupees a year, or a jaghire to that amount,
and that he should reside at Benares. That, nevertheless, the Presidency of Bombay did
receive and keep Ragonaut Row at Bombay, did furnish him with a considerable
establishment, and continue to carry on secret intrigues and negotiations with him, thereby
giving just ground of jealousy and distrust to the Mahratta state. That the late Colonel John
Upton, by whom the treaty of Poorunder was negotiated and concluded, did declare to the
Governor-General and Council, "that, while Ragonaut Row resides at Bombay in
expectation of being supported, the ministers can place no confidence in the Council there,
which must now be productive of the greatest inconveniencies, and perhaps in the end of
fatal consequences." That the said Warren Hastings, concurring with his Council, which
then consisted of Sir John Clavering, Richard Barwell, and Philip Francis, Esquires, did, on
the 18th of August, 1777, declare to the Presidency of Bombay, that "he could see no

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