The Treaty of Bassein and the Anglo-Maratha War in the Deccan 1802-1804 -Edited by:Raghubir Sinh

By the treaty of Bassein the Peshwa Baji Rao II entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British, and “the establishment of the British power in the Maratha Empire” became an accomplished fact.Moreover, the process of the break-up of the Maratha Confederacy,which began in 1773 with the Gaikwad entering into direct treatyrelations with the British, and was accelerated eight years later, now
attained to completion on the last day of the year 1802 by the Treaty of Bassein, when the Peshwa not only officially recognised the treaty entered into by the British with the Gaikwad, but also agreed to abide by the decisions of the British in any of his disputes with the Gaikwad. The clauses in their treaties, which enjoined it on Sindhia and Bhonsle to cut themselves off from and not to interfere any more in the affairs of the Peshwa, and to accept the British as the sole mediator and arbiter in any of their disputes even with the Peshwa, are merely the corrolaries of the principle enunciated and accepted in Art. 17 of the Treaty of Bassein.Hence, early in 1807, Close had to point out in no unmistakable
terms to Baji Rao’s agent that “by the arrangements lately adjusted in India, Sindhia and Holkar were to be regarded as the heads of 17th article of the Treaty of Bassein,H.H.(the Peshwa) engaged not to enter into any negotiations with any State whatever without the consent of the British government”.