fail. He was aware that he had not merely to disperse a band of brigands, but to destroy a system which had taken deep root in the native states. Interference with this system must entail hostility from powerful Maráthá chiefs, who, busily engaged in plotting against the British authority, and accustomed to the licence of unbounded independence, were scarcely to be restrained by treaties, however solemn and binding. The attitude of the native states gave cause for much anxiety, and a war once begun against the Pindárís might easily extend, and produce a general conflagration. Hence arrangements, both political and military, had to be made to meet many contingencies. The nature of these arrangements will be described in the next chapter; but before closing the present one it will be necessary to recapitulate briefly the dispositions of the native princes most concerned in the coming struggle, at the important juncture (end of 1816) when the determination was formed to crush the Pindárís.
The Peshwá was outwardly on good terms with the Supreme Government, but he had been humiliated by events succeeding the Shástrí's murder, and his underhand energy had not diminished, nor did he cease his secret schemes of revenge and ambition, which he continued to push on with unremitting vigour. Apá Sáhib, regent of Nágpur, was apparently content with British protection, and was interested for the present in preserving good relations with Calcutta; but he was a new and untried ruler, and his professions of loyalty could not be much relied upon. It has already been
