Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c8.s5.10

v1.c8.s5.10

The Nawāb found that in return for all his expenditure he had now got not an assured protector, but only two blood-suckers instead of one. The Peshwā's breach of his promise and callous desertion of the Nawāb's cause threw Alivardi into an agony of despair and rage. Smarting under the 'Punic bad faith' of the Marātha race, he decided to use the same weapon to free his people from their intolerable tyranny. His own situation was well nigh desperate. The two successive years' invasions had more than half dried up his revenue, and at the same time his coffers had been exhausted by the heavy tribute that he had to pay to the Emperor on his accession,[*] the subsidy exacted by Bālājī in 1743, the pay and bounty of the vastly increased army that he had now to maintain for the defence of the province, and the cost of the munitions and equipment consumed in the war. His Government was bankrupt. His soldiers were worn out by the fatigue of campaigning every year. He himself was in poor health and unable to march out at their head. Therefore, a new campaign against the elusive Marāthas in the fierce summer just then commencing, had to be avoided by all means.