Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c13.s5.22

v1.c13.s5.22

For meeting the Afghan menace, Safdar Jang advocated the plan of placing the Marathas practically in possession of the north-western frontier province though under the Emperor's suzerainty, so that it would be their interest to resist Abdali, and the Emperor would be relieved of the task of defending it. This was an anticipation of the policy which Wellesley adopted when he made the English hold the ceded districts along the western border of Oudh, so as to face Sindhia's dominions and bar the path of Maratha advance into the Company's territory. Safdar Jang even talked of reconquering Kabul with Maratha help. For the defence of the southern frontier he proposed to send Bakht Singh with other Rajput princes to hold the line of the Narmada against any treacherous Maratha encroachment northwards across that river. But his whole scheme was strangled at its birth and the subsidiary treaty with the Peshwā was turned into a scrap of useless paper by the formal surrender of the Panjab and Sindh to Abdali by the craven Emperor during Safdar Jang's absence and the departure of the Afghan envoy Qalandar Beg Khan with an imperial rescript embodying the surrender only twelve days before Safdar Jang's return. The wazir's partisans threw the responsibility for this cowardly submission on Jāvid Khan, who was the Emperor's sole adviser at the time, but the blame must be shared in a still greater degree by Safdar Jang, who did not care to come to Delhi with the speed that the critical situation of the capital demanded, but most unreasonably delayed on the way, leaving the Emperor and the city of Delhi absolutely undefended and helpless in the event of a cavalry dash by the victorious Abdali from Lahor. [*TAh.* 33*b*; Shākir 65.]