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106 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NxVVY.

the Eajali of Sattara to the President and Council of Bombay,
begging that they wo\ih:I not permit their fleet to interfere with
his operations, and, shortly afterwards, he invited them to medi-
ate between himself and the Seedee, sending an envoy of dis-
tinction to them, and another to Rajapore, who was rqet there
by Messrs. Lowther and Dickenson. However, much as the
English were disposed to be on friendly terms with the powerful
Peishwa, they could take no part with him then, because he
was in alliance with Angria, their unrelenting foe. Against
this pirate chief they at once sent three cruisers, under the com-
mand of Captains Lewis, Frampton, and Tolson, wdio inter-
cepted the enemy as he was sailing from Colaba to Rajapore.
As it was never the policy of ]\lahratta sailors to risk a naval
engagement, an exciting chase w^as the sole result, when the
whole of Angria's fleet escaped, with the exception of one large
grab which ran ashore in the Bay of Antigheria. In the mean-
while, Messrs. Lowther and Dickenson had arranged with the
rival Seedees of Jinjeera a treaty of alliance, afterwards ratified
by their Government, according to which both parties bound
themselves to act in concert against Angria, and not to treat
with him except by mutual consent. They agreed that all
prizes taken at sea should be allotted to the English, and to
the Seedee all conquests made on land, with the exception of
Kenery, which, if taken, should be delivered, with all its guns
and stores, to the English, and the fort and district of Colaba,
which should be demolished. The contracting parties were to
divide equally between themselves the levenues of Colaba, and
the English to build a fiictory or fort at i\Ihopal, in that dis-
trict, situated between the rivers Peun and Nagotan.
• But the Seedees' prosperous days had passed ; their power
was on the wane, and of little assistance to the English in
combating the more formidable Angrias. So serious were the
injuries inflicted by these pirates, and so heavy the expense of
fitting out ships to protect trade, that the Company were pre-
vented from making their usual investments, and, in their
alarm, even began to anticipate an extinction of their commerce
in Western India. Emboldened by success, and looking for sup-
port from the Mahratta Rajah of Sattara, the Angrias aspired to
bring all the Seedee's territories under their subjection, and
possess themselves of every port on the coast between Bonibay
and Goa. Nor in all probability would their efforts have been
(""fruitless if family dissensions, which so often thwart the best
^natured designs of Native powers, had not intervened. Man-
najee aiid Sambhajee were still at open feud with each other,
and the President and Council resolved to foment their dis-
putes. ^Yith that view^ they sent to Colaba Captain Inchbird^
who had becouie better acquainted with the customs and hm-
guages of the natives than all his contemporaries, and was, in