Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c9.s4.11

v1.c9.s4.11

This year Alivardi decided to form a permanent cantonment at Medinipur, so as to keep the path of Marātha raids into Bengal from Orissa always closed. In the camp at Medinipur the Nawāb tried to check abuses in his army, with the consequence of alienating his troops. There was gross peculation through collusion between the captains and the pay-clerks. A muster was held when it was found that in general only one-fourth of the troops paid for by Government were actually kept in service. In one officer’s command the robbery of public money was so outrageous that out of the 1,700 men for whom he had been drawing pay regularly year after year, only eighty were really present and all the rest were “dead musters”. When the Nawāb cut down the allowances of the officers to the actual strength of their contingents, they became highly discontented, and the reform had to be stopped. (Siyar, ii. 180.)