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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 155

should cede to the Company, in perpetuity, vSalsette, the ishinds
of Kenery, Caranja, Elephanta, and Hog Ishmd, and also Bassein
and its dependencies. There were also articles in the treat}^
regarding the Mahratta share of the revenues of Surat and
Broach, and protection from Mahratta inroads. These terms
were not agreeable to Rugonath, and it was not until the (ith of
March, 1775, that a treaty, consisting of sixteen articles, was
concluded between the contracting parties, by which the English
agreed to lend the above military force on condition of the pay-
ment of one and a half lacs of rupees monthly, with the other
cessions and assignments, including the Guicowar's share of the
revenue, amounting to ^81 92,500.
Meanwhile, in the previous December, a combined expedition
for the reduction of Tannah had been despatched from Bombaj',
consisting of six hundred and twenty European troops, including
artillery, one thousand Sepoys, and two hundred gun lascars,
under command of Brigadier-General Robert Gordon, and several
vessels and gunboats of the Bombay Marine, under Commodore
Watson, the same officer who had couuuanded the expedition
which captured the castle of Surat fitteeu years before, and had
since added to his reputation by his services on the Malabar
coast. So high was the estimate of the ability and professional
knowledge of Commodore Watson, entertained by his superiors
that, although the situation of Tannah was such as to preclude the
employment of the largest vessels of the Company's Marine,
"the Governor," says Grant Duff, "expressed a wish that Com-
modore Watson should superintend the naval part of the enter-
prise, and have joint authority with General Gordon ; and the
Commodore, on the General's acquiescence in the arrangement,
cheerfully complied." Tannah was, at this time, held by a
Mahratta force belonging to the party in possession at Poona,
opposed to the Pcishwa, and the strong garrison had been
recently reinforced by five hundred men. It was sought, at
first, to purchase the fort by the offer of a large bribe to the
Mahratta officer in charge, who proposed to accept =£12.000 for
his trust, but the negotiations failed. Meanwhile a powerful
Portuguese armament was on its way to India for the avowed
purpose of recovering Salsette and Bassein, and, a day after the
despatch of the combined military and naval expedition, which
was hurried away in order to anticipate them, a portion of the
Portuguese fleet anchored at the nu)uth of Bombay Harbour,
and the commander entered a formal protest against the objects
of the expedition. The President and Council employed many
arguments in justification of their measure, which was, however,
an exercise of the law of the strongest, and was only excusable
on the scdus 2>opuli suprema lea: princi{)le.
A body of seamen from the fleet was lauded at Tannah, under
Commodore Watson, to co-operate with the soldiers, batteries