ties at the Guicowar. Trimbukjee Dainglia, favourite. A.D. 1814. prime minister, followed of course in the footsteps of his master, and was a strenuous supporter of the British alliance. On the other hand Sitaram, who State of par- had previously held the office of minister and been discarded for incapacity, court of the headed the opposition party, and being strongly supported by female influence in the palace, continued to cherish the hope of regaining his lost position. With this view he paid great court to the Peishwa, and laboured to convince him that if he were restored to power he would at once satisfy all his claims. It was probably in consequence of these representations that the Peishwa became anxious for the removal of Gungadhur Sastree from the Guicowar's court. The pretext employed was the slow progress made in the settlement of the claims. If, instead of corresponding by letter, the Sastree would come to Poonah and confer personally on the subject, there was ground to hope that many of the difficulties which now stood in the way would be easily removed. The proposal, when made by the Peishwa, seemed so plausible that the British government at once acquiesced. Gungadhur Sastree was more doubtful. He not only suspected an intrigue, but feared for his life, and therefore refused to set out until he obtained from the resident a guarantee of his personal safety. Gungadhur Sastree's fears were by no means unreasonable, for the Peishwa, Bajee Row, who had never before given his confidence to any man, had at last fallen under the ascendency of an unprincipled adventurer. This was Trimbukjee Dainglia. He had commenced life as a courier and a spy, and after attracting the Peishwa's notice, had risen rapidly in his favour by ministering to his licentious pleasures, and showing himself ready on all occasions to execute his orders without fear or scruple. When the Guicowar's lease of the moiety of Ahmedabad expired, and the Peishwa refused to renew it, the administration was committed to Trimbukjee, who immediately sent some of his own creatures to levy it. This first step of promotion was soon followed by his appointment to the command of the Peishwa's contingent, and his introduction by the Peishwa himself to the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, the resident at Poonah, as a person high in his confidence. Trimbukjee's arrogance kept pace with his elevation, and he forthwith began to take such an active and prominent part in all public business, as showed that whatever his nominal position might be, he considered himself as virtually at the head of the government. Thus installed, he made no secret of the course of policy which he was resolved to pursue. The Peishwa must again resume his place as the head of the Mahratta confederacy; his claims, even to the extent of demanding chout from Bengal, were to be boldly maintained; and British influence, as the great obstacle to the realization of these schemes, must either be secretly undermined or forcibly overthrown. So little, indeed, was Trimbukjee at pains to disguise his intentions, that Mr. Elphinstone had no difficulty in predicting a rupture with the Peishwa, as the inevitable result of the schemes into which his favourite was hurrying him. tiations at Shortly after the arrival of Gungadhur Sastree at Poonah, two individuals, A.D. 1814. known to be in the interest of his rival Sitaram, made their appearance there, and were openly and favourably received at the public audience. They claimed Futile nego. authority to act, and produced as their credentials a letter which the imbecile Poonah. Guicowar had been induced to write in their favour. The resident lost no time in remonstrating against their reception, but his objections were overruled, and Sitaram's intrigue continued to prosper. Under such circumstances the conference to which Gungadhur Sastree had been invited became a mere mockery, and he announced his desire to return to Baroda. Had he done so, the intrigue which had been commenced there simultaneously with that at Poonah, would in all probability have been frustrated, and it was therefore determined to detain him. This could only be effected by convincing him that the object of his visit might yet be accomplished. The obstacles he was assured were only temporary, and by the exercise of a little patience everything might be satisfactorily arranged. To give effect to this representation, the treatment of which he complained was reversed, the utmost deference was paid to his opinions; his vanity, said to have been his greatest failing, was flattered in every possible way; and the cold and distant manner both of Trimbukjee and his master was exchanged for one expressive of the fullest confidence and friendship. duplicity. The suddenness of the change justified suspicion, and Mr. Elphinstone was Trimbukjee's so little imposed upon that he refused any longer to countenance the negotiation. On Gungadhur Sastree himself the impression was very different, and he became so confident of a successful result, that after applying for recall, he actually petitioned for permission to remain. It was granted-and he continued the negotiation more on his own responsibility than with any concurrence on the part of the British government. In a short time he seemed to have sworn an eternal friendship with Trimbukjee. They were constantly in each other's society, and so completely unbosomed their secrets that Trimbukjee, to show how much his feelings towards his friend had altered, could not refrain from confessing to him that he had at one time entertained designs upon his life. Such a confession, so far from opening the Sastree's eyes to the danger of the new connections he had formed, only seemed to him to furnish additional evidence of the sincere friendship which was now felt for him. The Peishwa completed his delusion by courting affinity with him, and agreeing to give his wife's sister in marriage to Gungadhur Sastree's son. Sastree's en It does not seem that all this flattery had shaken Gungadhur Sastree's Gungadhar fidelity to his own master. He had indeed agreed to a settlement by which tanglements. the Peishwa was to compromise all his claims on the Guicowar for the cession of as much territory as would yield seven lacs of revenue; but in this, so far from sacrificing the Guicowar's interest, he had made a far better bargain for him than could have been anticipated. From some cause, however, not easily Sastree's en A.D. 1814. explained, Futteh Sing, when the settlement was submitted to him, refused to ratify it, and declared his determination to make no cession of territory whatGungadhur ever. In this dilemma Gungadhur Sastree took the course which was the tanglements, easiest at the time, but was sure to prove the most difficult in the end. He concealed the fact of Futteh Sing's refusal, and had recourse to a series of evasions for the purpose of accounting for the non-ratification. Nor was this all. The proposed marriage was understood to be so completely arranged that Bajee Row set out with his family for Nassik, a celebrated Hindoo pilgrimage, situated 100 miles north of Poonah, with the intention of preparing for its celebration there. Though there does not seem to be any necessary connection between the marriage and the settlement, Gungadhur Sastree had determined that the one should not take place without the other, and he was thus by his evasions allowing the Peishwa to proceed with preparations for a marriage which was not to be celebrated. Accordingly, when the truth could no longer be concealed, and the necessary explanations took place, Bajee Row doubtless felt that he had been personally insulted. The resentment which he felt must His courage have been greatly increased when Gungadhur Sastree had the manliness to tell the Peishwa that he could not allow his wife to visit at the palace of Poonah, in consequence of the notorious licentiousness which was permitted within it. ous statement to the Peishwa. Thus become the object of resentment to a prince who was never known to forgive an injury, Gungadhur Sastree ought not to have lost a moment in hastening back to Baroda. He must have been aware of the deadly offence he had given, and yet he continued to linger on in the belief that the professions of friendship which continued to be lavished on him must be sincere. His intimacy with Trimbukjee continued apparently on the same footing as before, murder of Sastree. and hence, after the pilgrimage to Nassik was completed, he at once accepted A.D. 1815. an invitation to accompany the Peishwa to Punderpoor, another celebrated place of pilgrimage, situated on the Beema, 112 miles south-east of Poonah. Barbarous As if the circumstances which ought to have increased his caution had only Gungadhur increased his confidence, he left the greater part of his escort behind, and took only a few necessary attendants along with him. Proceeding thus in company with the Peishwa and Trimbukjee, he arrived with them at Punderpoor on the 14th of July, 1815. After an entertainment given on that day by Trimbukjee, he returned home somewhat indisposed, and left orders that if an invitation to the temple arrived, the answer should be given that he was unwell, and unable to attend. Shortly afterwards a messenger from Trimbukjee arrived with the invitation. When the excuse was made, the invitation was repeated, with the addition that, as the crowd had retired, he had better come immediately with a small retinue. He still refused, but sent two of his attendants more fully to explain the reason. On a third invitation, still more urgent, the fear of giving offence overcame his reluctance, and he set out with only seven unarmed attendants. This sealed his fate. After performing his devotions, and conversing for some time with Trimbukjee, he had just left the temple to return home when three men came running from behind, and calling out to clear the way. The moment they reached him one of them struck him with what seemed to be only a twisted cloth, but had concealed a sword. Others immediately followed up the blow, and in a few minutes he was a mangled corpse. of the crime. The circumstances under which this atrocious murder had been committed Perpetrators left no doubt as to the perpetrators of it. Trimbukjee Dainglia, acting with the knowledge, and probably by the express orders of the Peishwa, had arranged the whole plot, and carried it out to its horrid consummation. His repeated urgency had almost forced the Sastree to visit the temple; he had met him there as if for the express purpose of superintending the final arrangements; the murderers appear just to have left him when they issued from the temple to do the deed; and he was still there when they returned to it, with the bloody swords in their hands, to announce that it was done. Could there have been any doubt on the subject, it would have been removed by Trimbukjee's subsequent conduct. The actual assassins, though they might easily have been seized at the time, were permitted to escape: no search was made for them, and orders were even issued that the subject should not be publicly talked of. Mr. Elphinstone, who had accompanied the Peishwa to Nassik, and seen enough to satisfy him that his presence was no longer desired, had turned aside to visit. the caves at Ellora, and was there when the news of the murder reached him. The necessity of immediate action being apparent, he at once addressed a letter to the Peishwa, demanding a rigorous investigation, and the speedy punishment of the murderers. Common justice required this-the Peishwa, for his own A.D. 1815. vindication, could not do less, and nothing less would satisfy the British government, which would proceed to any extremes sooner than stain its honour by overlooking the barbarous murder of an ambassador whose personal safety it had guaranteed. The British resident accuses of Gungad murder. Mr. Elphinstone, after preparing for the worst by ordering the division of at Poonah the Hyderabad force stationed at Jaulna to advance to Seroor, only forty miles Trimbukjee north-east of Poonah, hastened towards this capital, and reached it on the 6th hur Sastree's of August. Trimbukjee arrived on the following day from Punderpoor. The Peishwa followed on the 9th, but apparently so overcome by alarm and conscious guilt, that though it was the festival of the Dakshin, when thousands of Brahmins were assembled to receive a wonted largess from his hands, he entered the city by stealth, under cover of the night in a close palanquin. The resident's inquiries had in the meantime fully confirmed his worst suspicions, and there could be no doubt as to the accuracy of the universal belief, that Bajee Row had sanctioned and Trimbukjee directly superintended the assassination of the Sastree. It was however deemed politic to refrain from charging the Peishwa, and to accuse only Trimbukjee. On the 11th of August, Mr. Elphinstone demanded an audience, but being refused on various pretexts, he procured the delivery of a memorial, in which, after recapitulating the evidence he had obtained, he continued thus:-" On all these grounds I declare my conviction of Trimbukjee Dainglia's guilt, and I call upon your highness to apprehend him, as well as Govind Row Burdojee and Bhugwunt Row Gykwar (Sitaram's agents from Baroda, who were deeply implicated), and to deposit them in such custody as may be considered safe and trustworthy. Even if your highness is not fully convinced of the guilt of these persons, it must be admitted that there is sufficient ground for confining them; and I only ask of you to do so, until his excellency the governor-general and your highness shall have an opportunity of consulting on the subject. I have only to add my desire that this apprehension may be immediate. A foreign ambassador has been murdered in the midst of your highness's court; a Brahmin has been massacred almost in the temple during one of the greatest solemnities of your religion; and I must not conceal from your highness that the impunity of the perpetrators of this enormity has led to imputations not to be thought of against your highness's government. Nobody is more convinced of the falsehood of such insinuations than I am; but I think it my duty to state them, that your highness may see the necessity of refuting calumnies so injurious to your reputation." Conduct of the Peishwa. The Peishwa, though pleased to find that the guilt of which he was conscious was only insinuated, and not directly charged against him, was apparently unable to summon up sufficient resolution for the adoption of any decided course, and was obliged to content himself with weaving pretexts for delay. He could not believe, he said, that Trimbukjee was guilty, but if sufficient proof were given, he was ready to arrest him. At the very time when he made |