Administrative System of the Marathas c21.s4.13

c21.s4.13

In some respects the administrative institutions of the Peshwas were certainly as good as those of contemporary Europe; in other respects better. The temperance measures of the Peshwas were so successful that Wellington had to lay special stress on the necessity for making special arrangements for the supply of wine in a future Maratha campaign, in his Despatches. The soundness of their currency policy can also be proved by an extract from Wellington's Despatches. The attitude of the Maratha government towards the currency of the country was almost neutral; the English government tried to fix an exchange rate, and the result was described by Wellington as follows: "Much inconvenience has been occasioned in the general and regimental Bazars in consequence of the orders of Government of the 27th December relating to the exchange of money. This morning (3rd January, 1799), only one Shroff appeared in camp, and all the business of the Bazars was stopped." The Maratha officers, so much condemned by European writers for corrupt practices, were perhaps not much worse than the European officers in the Company's service. In Wellington's Despatches alone, we find that a Captain and a Lieutenant-Colonel were charged with and convicted of committing embezzlement; a Lieutenant was found guilty of purchasing a stolen horse; and two Lieutenants were convicted of committing violence in the Bazar.¹