Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c55.s5.7

v4.c55.s5.7

In despair of arguing Shah Nizāmuddin into greater liberality or honesty in payment, the Emperor once or twice wrote secret appeals to the British Resident with Sindhiā, to Sindhiā himself, to the Peshwā and the Durrāni Shāh, begging them to relieve his misery. Similarly Prince Akbar sent a secret complaint against Nizāmuddin to General De Boigne, the most influential officer of Sindhiā. The correspondence came to Nizāmuddin's knowledge and he sharply censured the king and the prince for this defiance of his authority as Sindhiā's agent and the sole medium of communication between the Delhi Court and the outer world. The trump card that the Cowrie Faqir could always put before Sindhia's inner council was the argument that such unauthorised diplomacy would enable "the English to thrust their feet into the Government of Delhi," and make the Pādishāh their vassal like the Nawāb of Oudh.