Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s2.3

v4.c56.s2.3

This conference with his employer at Ujjain, marks a turning point in Perron’s life. Returning to his headquarters at Aligarh, he set himself solely to the task of ensuring his own retreat to France with all his hoarded millions. Perron was remarkable for his cool calculating nature and a business capacity more worthy of a tradesman than of a fighting general. He was very early convinced of the precarious nature of Sindhia’s Government and his own status as the head of Daulat Rao’s Europeanised army. He knew that in a conflict with the English, the bloated military power of Sindhia would burst like a bubble in a few weeks. Therefore during the sixteen months (from May 1802 to September 1803) that he continued in Sindhia’s service, his policy was secretly to complete his money-collection in Rajputana and Eastern Panjab, transfer his hoarded wealth to British banks, and negotiate with the English for his safe return to Europe. At the same time he continued publicly to give his master anti-British counsels, and to order his subordinates to fight the English to the last.