YOUR letter of the 9th instant was received this day, and the whole of its contents are understood. The translation of our Persian letter,* which that friend,* of his own suggestion, made and sent to Râo Râsta, and a copy of which was enclosed for our information, was a highly judicious and commendable proceeding. What you say in so much detail, respecting the communications of Râo Râsta on the subject of Nergûnd, and [particularly] of his proposal that we should, for the present, accept, in the way of mulct, and as an adjustment [of the past], eighty thousand rupees, with an assurance of being paid hereafter, year by year, the established Paishcush of former times, is understood; and, together with your account of his importunate instances for our raising the siege of the place, has been duly considered.

The friendship we bear Râo Râsta makes us willing to remit the pro­posed mulct on the aforesaid Zemindâr; but let the latter make due compensation for the ravages he has committed within our dominions, and let him pay up the arrears of Paishcush due to us: we will then send the necessary order to our commanders for raising the siege of Nergûnd, which, by the divine favour, is on the point of being reduced.*

You must not communicate in writing to Râo Râsta every proposition you may have to make to him, or transmit to him copies of our dis­patches to you. On such occasions you are to send for Râo Râsta’s Mûtusuddy, and make him commit to paper whatever may be proper to be written: by this means you will avoid pledging yourself under your own hand.*

You judged right, in keeping back the letter which we enclosed for Râo Râsta, and which you must return to us. We now send [instead of that letter] one framed agreeably to your suggestion, which you will deliver to him.

What you have stated so much at length, by desire of Râo Râsta, on the subject of our remitting specie [and not bills], in discharge of the yearly money,* and for the Durbâr charges, is understood. As Noor Mahommed Khân is well acquainted with all the circumstances of that quarter, as well as with whatever relates to the subject of Durbâr charges, he must be dispatched to us; in order that, ascertaining from him the true state of things, we may pursue such measures as shall be necessary.*

We hear that eight or ten thousand of their horse have crossed the Kishna, with hostile intentions against our army. Hitherto, notwith­standing their forgetting what they owe to our kindness, we have not in a single article broken the treaty [subsisting between the two govern­ments]; but if, in spite of the numberless favours we have bestowed upon them, and contrary to their solemn engagements, they become the aggressors, and proceed to improper lengths, it will then behove us to repel such aggression. After repulse and chastisement, there will no longer remain any appearances of good-will or amity.*

It is not very clear what translation of the envoy’s is alluded to in the beginning of the present dispatch (whether a letter to themselves, or of one to the address of Râo Râsta); nor is it worth while to offer any conjectures on this subject.

It is rarely that the Sultan condescends to bestow the title of Mehrbân, or friend, upon any of his servants, however high in his confidence; yet he has applied it, no less than three times, in the present letter, to Mahommed Ghyâs. It is probable, that the envoy knew his master too well to exult much in this uncommon mark of favour; but if he was weak enough to do so, he was not suffered to enjoy the dream of honour long.*

The directions here given to the envoys, respecting the mode in which they were to communicate with Râo Râsta, will prepare the reader for the still further developement of the Sultan’s crooked and unprincipled politics in his subsequent correspondence, as well with his agents at Poonah, as with others of his servants.*

The Mahrattah government and Tippoo Sultan differed too widely, on the subject of Nergûnd, to afford any prospect of amicable agreement between them. Of this both parties were probably equally satisfied; and therefore neither of them is to be supposed to have been very serious in the discussions which took place, relative to the mode in which the money, claimed by the Mahrattahs, should be paid. The fact was, that neither the latter expected, nor the Sultan intended, any payment at all, as long as the question regarding Nergûnd remained at issue.