to take Poonah, the
capital thereof; that this army, being surrounded and overpowered by the
Mahrattas, was obliged to capitulate; and then, through the moderation
of the Mahrattas, was permitted to return quietly, but _very
disgracefully_, to Bombay. That, supposing the said Warren Hastings
could have been justified in abandoning the project of reinstating
Ragonaut Row, which he at first authorized and promised to support, and
in preferring a scheme to place the Rajah of Berar at the head of the
Mahratta empire, he was bound by his duty, as well as injustice to the
Presidency of Bombay, to give that Presidency timely notice of such his
intention, and to have restrained them positively from resuming their
own project; that, on the contrary, the said Warren Hastings did, on the
17th of August, 1778, again _authorize_ the said Presidency "to assist
Ragoba with a military force to conduct him to Poonah, and to establish
him in the regency there," and, so far from communicating his change of
plan to Bombay, did keep it concealed from that Presidency, insomuch
that, even so late as the 19th of February, 1779, William Hornby, then
Governor of Bombay, declared in Council his total ignorance of the
schemes of the said Hastings in the following terms: "The schemes of the
Governor-General and Council with regard to the Rajah of Berar _being
yet unknown to us_, it is impossible for us to found any measures on
them; yet I cannot help now observing, that, if, as has been
conjectured, the gentleman of that Presidency have entertained thoughts
of restoring, in his person, the ancient Rajah government, the attempt
seems likely to be attended with no small difficulty." That, whereas the
said Warren Hastings did repeatedly affirm that it was his intention to
support the plan formed by the Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba,
and did repeatedly authorize and encourage them to pursue it, he did
nevertheless, at the same time, in his letters and declarations to the
Peshwa, to the Nizam, and to the Rajah of Berar, falsely and
perfidiously affirm, _that it never was nor is designed by the English
chiefs to give support to Ragonaut Row,--that he_ (Hastings) _had no
idea of supporting Ragonaut Row,--and that the detachment he had sent to
Bombay was solely to awe the French, without the least design to assist
Ragonaut Row_. That, supposing it to have been the sole _professed_
intention of the said Hastings, in sending an army across India, to