"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." [‎٢‎٧‎٢] (٦٥٤/٢٨٩)

272
ASSEERGHUR.
guided in everything by the advice of his preserver.
There was no blessing in life, he said, equal to that of a
true friend.
Nor less thankful was Malcolm for the happy issue of
that day's danger. " How you would have been grati
fied," he wrote some days afterwards to his wife, "to have
heard the praises and blessings which were showered upon
me from all ranks when the affair ended without blood
shed. I thank God for giving me a coolness on that day
which nothing could disturb. The Peishwah must have
been murdered, and hundreds of women and children, and
all my triumph in his submission would have been soiled.
I should, besides, have lost two or three hundred of my
own fine fellows, but have extirpated their opponents.
All is now as happy as possible. Badjee Rao, who has
dismissed all his military attendants but four or five hun
dred, is in my camp, ready to proceed to Hindostan the
moment the rains will admit. All is peace and quiet,
and I do not see much prospect of its being disturbed."
On the 12th of June, Malcolm and the Peishwah
crossed the Xerbudda. From this time all apprehen
sions regarding the conduct of Badjee Rao were ?t an
end. He knew where alone safetv was to be found;
he knew what were his interests—who was his friend.
He was extremely unwilling to be severed from his pro
tector, and talked of never leaving his side. Malcolm
treated him with unlimited courtesy and unstinting confi
dence ; and there w T ere some who, considering the Prince's
natural tendency to intrigue, and the guile which was so
large an ingredient in his character, thought that it was
scarcely safe to trust him so much. But on this point
Malcolm had made up his mind after much reflection.
Writing to Mr. Elphmstone early in August, he explained
the principles by which he regulated his conduct: