Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s2.7

v4.c51.s2.7

Worst of all, the employment of the campoo side by side with them took the heart out of the indigenous Indian soldiers. A hundred clashes between the two systems since the 24th of September, 1676, when Francois Martin had stormed the fort of Valdaour with only 42 Frenchmen and 60 locally levied sepoys, against tenfold odds, had convinced our indigenous type of soldier that it was suicide for him to advance against a campoo unless he was given equal fire support on his own side. The lesson was burnt into the memory of the Peshwā's generals as they watched the devastating effect of Tipu Sultān's French-worked artillery in the campaign of 1786. At Mertā (10 Sept. 1790) De Boigne gave the classic example of the superiority of science over muscles.*