"حياة ومراسلات اللواء السير جون مالكوم، قائد فرسان وسام الطُهر، المبعوث السابق إلى بلاد فارس وحاكم بومباي؛ من رسائل ومذكرات غير منشورة. في مجلّدين. المجلد II." [‎٢‎٥‎٦] (٦٥٤/٢٧٣)

256
THE SURRENDER OF THE PEISIIWAH,
an officer of superior rate. You would not be so gratified by the
compliment as to forbear the sneer of ' Oh, to be sure, you must
be qualified to give the opinion,' if you thought that there was in
it a pretension on my part. But when it has been the occupation
of one's mind for a length of time to compare man and man in
that respect, there is no reason why one should not determine as
accurately as a connoisseur, who, though no painter, pronounces
between two pictures. Submit yourself, therefore, with due re
signation, to the estimate that is formed of you.
" I was put quite at ease by your determination not to give
Badjee Rao time for wavering. The vagabond would try every
appeal to your kindness, I well knew; and I thought you might
have a little too much sympathy for fallen greatness. It is a con
dition which ordinarily challenges respect; but when it is the pre
dicament of so thorough and so incorrigible a scoundrel as Badjee
Rao, one sees in it only deserved punishment. What the dignity
of the British Government should prescribe is the only principle
that can operate with regard to him."
But although it was hardly possible for the Governor-
General to disapprove of the military combinations which
had preceded the surrender of Badjee Rao, Malcolm felt
that Lord Hastings might demur to the terms which had
been offered to the Peishwah, and the expressions in the
latter part of the passage just quoted must have strength
ened his misgivings. He waited, therefore, in no common
anxiety of mind for the confirmation of the pledges which
he had made to the fallen Prince; and it came in time—
a cold, official confirmation of the engagement, with two
or three rather ominous lines in a private letter from
John Adam. It was very plain to him that the liberal
terms which he had granted to Badjee Rao were not ap
proved at Head-quarters.
But Malcolm felt in his inmost heart that he was right.
-The pension granted to the fallen Prince—a pension of
eight lakhs of rupees, more than 80,000/. per annum-
was, doubtless, a large one. But it was the price paid for