Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s5: § 5. Colossal fortunes made by European mercenaries in India
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s5
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§ 5. Colossal fortunes made by European mercenaries in India
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René Madec, an illiterate Breton sailor, blossomed forth into a partisan captain in India, and even after many defeats and losses here he carried back with himself to France enough wealth to buy a patent of nobility from the French king and some landed estates (seigneuries) and to build a castle for his exalted residence. He came to be known as the Nawab. (É. Barbé, *Le Nabab René Madec*, 278.)
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Pierre Cuillier, better known as Perron, was the son of a weaver of Sarthe (S. France) and could write a few lines with difficulty. Starting his career in the Indian princes’ service as a common gunner, he spent the first nine years as a rolling stone, and was next taken by De Boigne into Sindhia’s service as the Captain of a battalion (1790). Here he rose to the command of a brigade in 1796, and the headship of Sindhia’s campoo in 1801, retiring in September 1803. The fortune that he could pile up in these thirteen years amounted to 135 lakhs of Rupees.* But only one-fourth of this (about 34 lakhs of Rupees) he could carry away to France, having had to give up the remainder to the English to ensure his safe retreat from India. Eight lakhs of Rupees he carried with himself in cash, jewels and indigo for sale, and the remaining 26 lakhs he recovered from the English bankers of Calcutta, with whom he had prudently deposited the amount while still in Sindhia’s service. His fortune at his death (in 1834) was valued at 15 millions of francs or 40 lakhs of Rupees.
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∗ Martin, *Wellesley Despatches*, iii. xxxi n. On his return to France he reported to the French Government that he had saved 50 million francs (which would be exactly 135 lakhs of Rupees, if we take the pound sterling as equal to 30 francs. The pound then exchanged for Rs. 8.) Martineau, *Le Général Perron*. Herbert Compton, *A Particular Account of European Military Adventuers in India*.
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Louis Bourquien, another partisan leader in Sindhia’s service, retired to France at the same time as Perron (1804) and was reported to have carried away “an immense fortune” comparable to Perron’s.
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De Boigne, in a shorter career of seven years (1789-1795), amassed 32 lakhs of Rupees (£400,000). As he used to say, “there was no reason why any European leader of mercenaries in India should not save eight lakhs of Rupees if he were not an idiot or a drunken sot.” (Compton, 92, 68.)