Administrative System of the Marathas c21.s2.18

c21.s2.18

It should be noted here that Shivaji had some Portuguese officers in his army.¹² But what exactly was their duty and on what terms they had been employed we do not know. A number of European adventurers had also found employment in the fleet of the celebrated Kanhoji Angria,¹³ long before Mahadaji Sindhia thought of engaging de Boigne. But it should not be forgotten that tempting as the terms offered by the Indian princes were they seldom attracted European officers of real ability. With the exception of de Boigne and Raymond there was not perhaps a single European officer in the Indian armies who could boast of a sound education and military training. Most of them were adventurers of a low type without any character, as Colonel Skinner tersely observed and he had reasons to know ¹⁴ Perron and George Thomas were runaway sailors, but they did not belong properly speaking to the Peshwa's army. The account that Moor gives of Mr. Yvon, who commanded a corps in the service of the Peshwa, is hardly complimentary to the judgment and choice of his employers, if he was the type of the European officers employed by the Poona authorities. Lt. Moor writes of him—