The treaty signed between Lord Wellesley and Peshwa Baji Rao II in 1802, accepting the Subsidiary Alliance, was the:

The Treaty of Bassein was signed on 31 December 1802 between the East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Wellesley, and the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II at Bassein (Vasai), near Mumbai. Under this treaty, the Peshwa accepted the Subsidiary Alliance system of the British.

In 1802, Baji Rao II was defeated by the Maratha chief Yashwantrao Holkar in the Battle of Poona and fled to the British for protection. To regain his position, he signed the Treaty of Bassein. He agreed to keep a British subsidiary force in his territory, to pay for it by giving up territory, to accept a British Resident at his court, and not to deal with other powers without British approval. The British restored him as Peshwa in 1803.

The other Maratha chiefs, such as the Scindias of Gwalior and the Bhonsles of Nagpur, saw the treaty as a surrender of Maratha independence. This led to the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805), in which the British defeated the Scindias and Bhonsles in battles such as Assaye and Laswari.

The Subsidiary Alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley (Governor-General, 1798-1805) to bring Indian states under British control without direct annexation. A state that accepted it had to keep British troops on its territory and pay for them, accept a British Resident, and could not employ other Europeans or make war or alliances without British consent. The first state to accept it was Hyderabad (1798), followed by Mysore (1799), Tanjore, Awadh (1801), the Peshwa (1802), the Bhonsles and the Scindias.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Treaty of Salbai (1782) ended the First Anglo-Maratha War.
• ✗Treaty of Surat (1775) was signed between the British and Raghunath Rao.
• ✗Treaty of Purandar (1665) was signed between Shivaji and Raja Jai Singh of the Mughals.