Some years elapsed•before the complete establish-, ment of their authority; but an arrangement was made with the Peshwa, whereby he was acknowledg ed lord paramount of all the conquests effected in 'Bundelcund by All Bahauder, who engaged to obey him as his sovereign, and to pay him tribute. The lat. ter contrived to evade both conditions, however; and, "after being occupied fourteen years in endeavouring to subjugate •the country, died in 1802, during the blockade of Callinger, which, during ten years, he had fruitlessly endeavoured to capture. Ali was suc ceeded by his eldest son,_Shunishere Bahauder, then absent at Poonah ; and Himmut Behauder, -who, to retain his own influence, had for years been exciting disaffection among the different chiefs, now appointed a relation of Shumshere, the young rajah, regent of Bundelcund until his return.
A war next broke out between the British and the Mahrattas. Himmut Bahauder endeavoured to ac complish the transference of this district to the for. later, while Shumshere was determined to oppose them vigorously. In September 1608, Colonel Powell crossed the river Jumna for the 09)04e-of • entering Bundelcund, and was joined by Himmut with a body of 18,000 or 14,000 men. The united forces arriving on the banks of the river Cane, which, . passing the fort of Callinger, falls into the Jumna, near the town of Oorah, found the army of Shum shere on the opposite side. It was numerous, oc cupied a great extent, and was strongly posted, but after a short cannonade on both sides it.precipitate ly retreated.
At this time a proposal was made by the Mah rattas, and acceded to by the British, for the ces sion of a portion of the territory of Bundelcund in lieu of certain districts in the Deccan, which bad been ceded to them by a former treaty. Forces were then stationed in Bundelcund for the protec tion of other parts, and successive engagements of a conciliatory nature were made with Shumshere, and all the rest of the chiefs, whereby the British autho• rity was rendered paramount. Himmut Bahauder had previously secured an advantageous arrange ment for himself; .and his death ensuing in the year
1804, Government provided for his family, and -as sumed possession of his territory. The troops who had beet retained in his service, a kind of irregular force, now dispersed. Still, however, the tranquilli ty of the country was liable to be disturbed, and in deed the cession of some parts of it by-the Mahrattas was only nominal, as they had never been able to occupy the strong holds themselves. Thus it was judged expedient by the British to bestow. a con siderable tract, in 1807, to a descendant of the Regent Chuttersaul, who had been long, dispossessed amidst contending factions, on condition of guarding the passes and preserving his territory in peace. Other arrangements were made, conceding to the chief of Calpee, on the confines of Bundelcund, a portion of :the interior, in lieu of the city and district of Calpee, .and several villages on the Jumna. Meantime it be came necessary to.besiege the fortress of Caller; but notwithstanding the British forces bad many strongholds of the Indians,•previously deemed impregnable, they were unsuccessful in to take it by assault, and, as already observed, gam ed possession by the garrison retiring in .the night Its reduction proved a great accession of power•and tended materially to tranquillize the district, which had _previously been incorporated with the British empire in -the East, and a civil establishudent eons. toted for the regular management of its affairs.
The possession of a country such as Bundelcund, occupying 11,000 square miles, is ofconsiderable con sequence in several respects ; and it has been sug gested that the revenue derived from it might be materially augmented, by assuming the direction of the 'diamond mines of Pannell. Nevertheless the occupation of the whole does not seem to have bees judged an important object, more especially, as, by the arrangement above alluded to, with the•chief of Calpee, he was left in the enjoyment of a third pan of them, to which he was originally entitled. (e.)