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He says of himself, "I was on horseback encouraging our men; thank God I have realized all the sanguine expectations of Sindhia; the officers in general have behaved well; to them I am a great deal indebted for the fortune of the day." This was the most important victory that Sindhia had ever gained, and fully justified the increased confidence that he had shown his Savoyard General.
The Great Mogul had been little better than a mummy for more than half a century; and Bahadur Shah was a mere tool and puppet in the hands of rebel sepoys; nevertheless the British Government had to deal with the astounding fact that the rebels were fighting under his name and standard, just as Afghans and Mahrattas had done in the days of Ahmed Shah Durani and Mahadaji Sindhia.
The movements of the Mahratta chief began, indeed, to be all-important. They were thus noticed in the Calcutta Gazette for 18th April: "We learn that Sindhia is going on a hunting party. ... . We also learn that he will march towards Bundelkund." He marched in the direction, as it proved, of Agra.
These facts, together with the statistics that follow, are chiefly derived from the memoirs of an Anglo-Indian officer of Perron's, the late Colonel James Skinner, which have been edited by Mr. Baillie Fraser. Sindhia is understood to have had more than 300 pieces of cannon.
The fort was made over to the Rana, but he did not long retain it, Sindhia having recaptured it. He soon afterwards took Gohad also , and the descendants of the Jat chief are now known as Ranas of Dholpur.
The Dewan rolled his bulbous eyes despairingly: "If Sindhia would send ten camel loads of gold to this accursed Musselman, we could sleep in peace," he declared. "If it were a woman Sindhia would," Nana Sahib sneered. Baptiste laughed. "It is a wisdom, Prince, for that is where the revenue goes: women are a curse in the affairs of men," the Dewan commented.
But such was the fortune, and such were the deserts of those by whom England was at that time served, that they were able, without much expense of either time or labour, to conquer the half-hearted resistance of the French, and the divided councils of the Mahrattas. Holkar not only did not join Sindhia, but assisted the British cause by his known rivalry.
Still more bloody was the battle, which about the middle of the eighteenth century the Afghan Sultan Ahmed Shah Durani fought with the great Mahratha princes, Holkar Sindhia, Gaekwar and the Peschwas; and here, once again, all the horrors of war raged, when in the year 1857, the English Generals Havelock, Sir James Outram, Sir Colin Campbell, Sir Hugh Rose, Sir John Lawrence, and Sir Robert Napier, crushed with pitiless severity the dangerous sepoy mutiny.
This general had learned French discipline as commandant de la qarde to Bussy, and bore the title, or nickname, of "gardi," a souvenir of his professional origin. The Bhao's progress was joined by Mahratta forces under Holkar, Sindhia, the Gaikwar, Gobind Pant, and others. Many of the Rajput States contributed, and Suraj Mal brought a contingent of 20,000 hardy Jats.
Francklin records, on the authority of one Said Raza Khan, that Zain-ul-Abidin found shelter with Sindhia immediately after the murder, which was effected in the very tent of the victim. 1785 The latter, at all events, immediately stepped into the dead man's shoes, leaving the title of Vazir to the Audh Viceroy; and contenting himself with the substance of authority.
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