'History of the Province of Gohud' [‎28v] (56/72)

56
The Resident with Scindiah, Sir John Malcolm, on 16th
May 1804 * presented, as the final decision of the Governor-
General in Council, and in order to put a final and complete
stop to all further discussion on the part of Scindiah and his
Ministers, respecting the Treaty concluded with his Highness
the Rana of Gohud, the following declaration:—" The circum
stances which led to the establishment of the right of the
British Government to contract the Treaty with the Rana
of Gohud are briefly these. After the fall of Agra, and the
victory of Laswarree, the British army was actually moving
towards Gohud and Gwalior, when Ambujee Anglia con
cluded a Treaty with the Commander-in-chief, Lord Lake,
by which he, Ambujee, surrendered these forts and the
surrounding country to the British Government, who must
but for this have soon enjoyed them by the right of conquest.
His Excellency, on this arrangement being settled, sent a
detachment to take possession of Gwalior, and moved with
the grand army in another direction. Previous to the con
clusion of any engagement with Ambujee Anglia, the Rana
of Gohud had been actively and successfully employed, at the
head of a very considerable force, in expelling the troops of
Ambujee Anglia from the territory of Gohud, and no force
belonging to Ambujee remained in that territory (excepting
in Gwalior), capable of resisting in any degree the complete
and immediate possession of it by the British troops. It is
manifest, therefore, that if the country of Gohud (including
the Fort of Gwalior), had not been ceded by the Treaty with
Ambujee, it must have been completely conquered by the
British arms. Immediately after it was ceded by Ambujee,
a Treaty was negotiated with Gohud,
of the teTritory, to whom those 'possessions had fovuneTly
helonged; and by that Treaty the territories of Gohud
(including Gwalior) were guaranteed to him by the Bri
tish Government, with whom he entered into a subsidiary
engagement, which iwiposed ohligatioins on the Bfitish
* 16th May 1804.