re determined on his destruction, though without
the assistance of the English they had little expectation of success
against his coast fortresses. The Bombay Council was ready enough to join
in the undertaking, but was unwilling to take immediate action. This
unwillingness was apparently due to their desire to see order first
restored in Surat, where affairs had fallen into great disorder in the
general break-up of Mogul rule.

The Mahratta Court at Poona had been close observers of the long war waged
in the Carnatic between the English and French. They had seen Madras taken,
only to be regained by diplomacy, and after the English had been foiled at
Pondicherry. They had witnessed the rise of French power under Dupleix;
rulers deposed and others set up, in the Deccan and the Carnatic, by
French arms; and then, when Mahomed Ali, the rightful ruler of the
Carnatic, was at his last gasp, they had seen his cause espoused by the
English, and one humiliation after another inflicted on French armies,
till at last the French were forced to recognize Mahomed Ali's title,
while a powerful English squadron and a King's regiment had been sent out
to make good the claim. The good relations established between the
Peishwa's government and Bombay by the treaty of 1739, had been
strengthened since the arrival of Mr. Richard Bourchier, as Governor, in
1750; the fighting in the Carnatic had raised the military reputation of
the English, while their support of Mahomed Ali, whom the Mahrattas styled
'their master,' had greatly increased the esteem in which they were held.

When it was definitely known that hostilities between the English and
French were at an end, Ramajee Punt, the Sirsoobah of the Concan, was
dispatched to Bombay to concert measures against Toolajee. Mr. Bourchier
was urged to summon the King's ships from Madras to co-operate with the
Peishwa's forces.

To await the arrival of Watson's squadron from Madras would have lost the
favourable season before the monsoon, so it was determined to fit out at
once what ships were in the harbour, and send them under Commodore William
James. Articles of agreement were drawn up, by which it was settled that
Severndroog, Anjanvel, and Jyeghur should be attacked by the Mahrattas,
while the English engaged to keep the sea, and prevent Toolajee's fleet
from throwing succours into the places attacked. A division of the spoils
between the victors was agreed on, by which the English were to