The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke

enemy," at the same time that no reason was given to Sindia to apprehend the danger of
drawing upon himself the resentment of the British government by a disregard of their
proposal and the destruction of their ally.

That it was a gross and scandalous mockery in the said Hastings to defer an application to
obtain honorable terms for the Ranna, and safety for his person and family, till he had been
deprived of his principal fort, in defence of which his uncle lost his life, and on the capture
of which, his wife, to avoid the dishonor consequent upon falling into the hands of her
enemies, had destroyed herself by an explosion of gunpowder.

That, however, it does not appear that any offer of mediation was ever actually made, or
any influence exerted, either for the safety of the Ranna's person and family or in mitigation
of the rigorous intentions supposed by Lieutenant Anderson[4] to have been entertained
against him by Mahdajee Sindia after his surrender.

That the said Hastings, in the instructions^ given by him to Mr. David Anderson for his
conduct in negotiating the treaty of peace with the Mahrattas, expressed his determination
to desert the Ranna of Gohud in the following words. "You will of course be attentive to
any engagements subsisting between us and other powers, in settling the terms of peace and
alliance with the Mahrattas. I except from this the Ranna of Gohud....Leave him to settle

his own affairs with the Mahrattas."

That the said Anderson appears very assiduously to have sought for grounds to justify the
execution of this part of his instructions, to which, however, he was at all events obliged to
conform.

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