Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s5.1

v4.c56.s5.1

Perron was no doubt a traitor,—but to Sindhia alone. He never deceived himself into the belief that his four brigades of blacks officered by mestizoes, could stand up to the British Indian army stiffened by six thousand white troops from Home,—the veterans of American and Continental warfare. And yet he did not warn Daulat Rao to avoid war with the English, as De Boigne had done throughout his Indian career. A man of honour would have given Sindhia this advice at the first sign of an anti-British plot being hatched at his Court, and if his advice had been rejected, he would have at once resigned. Perron never really meant to fight the English, and yet he humoured Daulat Rao in pursuing a policy which was sure to lead to a fatal conflict with the British, while concealing his real intentions. He clung to his post till the very outbreak of the war with the English, in order to get more time for piling up his private fortune.