Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s1.18

v4.c56.s1.18

Next year (1801), Perron personally marched south of the Chambal and crushed Lakhwā Dādā in the battle of Seondha, on 3rd May. (Ch. 44 § 5.) Soon afterwards he gained the fort of Ajmer from Lakhwā's partisan, through his lieutenant, Louis Bourquien (8th May). The result was that this French adventurer now held the seven most important forts in Sindhiā's northern territories,—Agra, Ajmer, Delhi, Aligarh, Khurjā, Sāharanpur and Firuzābād. Added to this, in July he was appointed subahdār of the Delhi province, an office which he exercised through his deputy Drugeon. The last three months of this year saw Perron's hard-won triumph over George Thomas, and the extinction of that Irish adventurer's dream of planting the British flag on the bank of the Satlaj. (Ch. 46. § 14.)