Do you, our dear son, repair to our beloved son, Meer Kumrûddeen Ali Khân, and, consulting together, act according to your united judgment; pressing the enemy in such a manner, that they may not be able to take breath on this side the Kishna. Having accomplished the chastisement of the enemy, you will resume your position before Râmdoorg.

Although the authority vested in Bûrhânûddeen, on the present occa sion, appears to have been very limited (Kumrûddeen, even when actually united with him, receiving his orders, on various occasions, directly from the Sultan himself) yet there is some reason to believe, that he was considered as the principal commander of the forces opposed, at the com­mencement of this war, to the Mahrattah army.* The circumstance of his being directed, in the foregoing letter, to repair to the camp of Kumrûd­deen, for the purpose of consulting with the latter on the operations of the campaign, does not at all invalidate this opinion; since the order in question is sufficiently accounted for by the indisposition of Kumrûddeen, noticed in Letter XXX: besides which, it will be seen, by the following Letter, that it was the express wish of the Sultan, that they should keep up an intercourse of mutual visits. But, however this may have been, it is certain, that a considerable jealousy subsisted between these two commanders, of which some proofs will appear in the sequel.