The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c18.20

c18.20

The indiscriminate and unhesitating employment of English and French military adventurers was also quite in accordance with the traditions of India. Though they had long been familiar with the Europeans, even the ablest of the Maratha politicians felt no intellectual curiosity about Europe. The news of the War of American Independence and the French Revolution was brought to them by Europeans themselves. Of the traditional rivalry between France and England it was impossible to be ignorant, but they did not know anything about the constitution of those countries, about their social, political and educational institutions, about their geographical situation, and moral and material progress. The hatmen (topikar), as the Europeans were called, were reputed to be good sailors, good soldiers and very obstinate (hatti); and obstinacy perhaps satisfactorily explained that sense of patriotism which the Marathas (like other Indians) did not at that time understand. Foreigners from all parts of Europe and Asia had been readily admitted to the services of the State by Muhammadan princes before the rise of the Maratha power, and adventurers from Persia and Central Asia not only supplied loyal servants but formed the principal support of the Mughal Government in India. The Portuguese soldiers, who were the first Europeans to seek service in the Indian States, seldom hesitated to fight against the State of their origin on behalf of their employers; some French deserters were found in the English service and instances of Englishmen in French employ, though rare, were not unknown. Maratha chiefs in the Nizam's service identified themselves, as much as possible, with their master's cause and took a prominent part in his wars against the Maratha empire. Sindhia, Holkar and other Maratha chiefs, therefore, argued that they could expect as much loyalty and devotion from French and English adventurers as from their Sikh, Rajput, Arab, Sindhi or Gossain soldiers. The European officers came in search of fortune and obtained from their Maratha employers good pay and rich jahgirs; some of them married in the country (both De Boigne and George Thomas had Indian wives), and their masters probably expected that like the Persian and Tartar immigrants of Mughal days these foreigners would also permanently settle in the country and spend the rest of their lives in the service of those who treated them so well and generously. In this expectation, if it was ever entertained, they were sadly disappointed; not only the English subjects in Sindhia's army but the great majority of French officers also accepted the Governor-General's offer and deserted Daulat Rao when their services were needed most, while Pohlman, a German who was present at Assaye, behaved so despicably that Sir John Fortescue feels inclined to suspect disloyalty. The Marathas made a serious mistake in entrusting the defence of their empire to foreigners, and heavily did they pay for their mistake.