Switzerland, which will be
described later on, had so embittered Anglo-French relations that on
October the 17th, 1802, Lord Hobart, our Minister of War and for the
Colonies, despatched a "most secret" despatch, stating that recent
events rendered it necessary to postpone this retrocession. At a later
period Wellesley received contrary orders, instructing him to restore
French and Dutch territories; but he judged that step to be
inopportune considering the gravity of events in the north of India.
So active was the French propaganda at the Mahratta Courts, and so
threatening were their armed preparations, that he redoubled his
efforts for the consolidation of British supremacy. He resolved to
strike at Scindiah, unless he withdrew his southern army into his own
territories; and, on receiving an evasive answer from that prince, who
hoped by temporizing to gain armed succours from France, he launched
the British forces against him. Now was the opportunity for Arthur
Wellesley to display his prowess against the finest forces of the
East; and brilliantly did the young warrior display it. The victories
of Assaye in September, and of Argaum in November, scattered the
southern Mahratta force, but only after desperate conflicts that
suggested how easily a couple of Decaen's battalions might have turned
the scales of war.

Meanwhile, in the north, General Lake stormed Aligarh, and drove
Scindiah's troops back to Delhi. Disgusted at the incapacity and
perfidy that surrounded him, Perron threw up his command; and another
conflict near Delhi yielded that ancient seat of Empire to our trading
Company. In three months the results of the toil of Scindiah, the
restless ambition of Holkar, the training of European officers, and the
secret intrigues of Napoleon, were all swept to the winds. Wellesley now
annexed the land around Delhi and Agra, besides certain coast districts
which cut off the Mahrattas from the sea, also stipulating for the
complete exclusion of French agents from their States. Perron was
allowed to return to France; and the brusque reception accorded him from
Bonaparte may serve to measure the height of the First Consul's hopes,
the depth of his disappointment, and his resentment against a man who
was daunted by a single disaster.[212]

Meanwhile it was the lot of Decaen to witness, in inglorious
inactivity, the overthrow of all his hopes. Indeed, he barely escaped
the capture which Wellesley designed for his whole for