Chap. VII.] THE ANGRIA PIKATES. 509
payment of past airears, and a promise of punctuality in the futm'e pajTnent of ad. 1713. tribute.
The Britisli squadron under Admiral Watson, having? no prospect of active Arrival of employment on the Coromandel coast while the treaty between the two com- Bombay, panics subsisted, retm'ned in the beginning of November to Bombay. Here a considerable number of troops had recently arrived from England, for the pur- pose of acting in concert with Balajee Rao in an expedition which he had agi-eed to undertake against Aurungabad, the capital of the Deccan. It was hoped that Salabut Jung, tlius attacked, would be frightened into a compromise, and induced to break off his connection with Bussy, as the only effectual means of securing his own safety. This expedition had been planned in England before the conditional treaty with the French was known, and the presidency of Bom- bay, taking the change of circumstances into consideration, resolved to abandon it. Clive, who had arrived with the troops with the rank of colonel in the king's service, and the appointment of governor of Fort St. David, was of opinion that the expedition would not amount to a violation of the treaty, and ui-ged that no time should be lost in carrying it into effect. His opinion, however, was overruled ; the more easily, perhaps, that the original command of the ex- pedition had been destined, not to him, though he was unquestionably best entitled to it, but to a Colonel Scott, on whom ministerial influence more than merit had conferred it. By Scott's death, indeed, Clive had actually succeeded to the command, but the presidency were not to be moved from the view they had at first taken ; and it was determined to employ the whole naval and military force then at Bombay on another expedition, as to the justice and expediency of wliich no doubt could be entertained in any qviarter.
The west coast of India had long been infested by a body of pirates, who The Augria preyed indiscriminately on tlie vessels of all nations, native and foreign, and carried on their depredations so boldly, systematically, and successfully, as to have become in fact a formidable naval power. Kanhojee Angi'ia, under whom they first acquired importance, was at one time commander of the Mahratta fleet, and in this capacity held the government of Sevemdroog, a strong fort situated on a small rocky island close to the coast, about seventy-eight miles south from Bomba}'. In course of time, finding himself strong enough, he {spired to independence, and having gained over a large portion of the fleet, set his old masters at defiance. A war ensued, but the residis were so unfavourable to the Mahrattas, who were not only worsted at sea, but so vigorously encoun- tered on shore, that they at last, m 1713, consented to a peace which, in return for a promise of allegiance and tribute, left Kanhojee in possession of ten forts and sixteen places of less strength, with their dependent villages. It is not to be supposed that when he had thus succeeded in reaping the fi-uits of his depre- dations, he would forthwith desist from them. On the contrary, he was only emboldened to extend them, and continued to levy what he called liis chout by
