Tempo:
112
1801-3.
Surrenders lo Perron, 1802.
The Marathas under
Perron
paramount
among the Sikhs of Sirhind, 1802-3.
Perron forms an alliance
with Ranjit
Singh.
Is 'dis-
trusted by Sindhia.
Flees to the English
then at war with the Marathas, 1803.
First inter-
course of the English With the Sikhs.
The mission to
Farrukhsiyar de-
tained by
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. V
of Patiala in the Maratha service induced a promise, on the part of the French commander, of the restitution of the conquests of Amar Singh in Hariana. After
twice beating back Perron's troops at points sixty miles distant, Thomas was compelled to surrender in the beginning of 1802, and he retired into the British provinces, where he died in the course of the same year.^ Perron had thus far succeeded. His lieutenant, by name Bourquin, made a progress through the CisSutlej states to levy contributions, and the commander himself dreamt of a dominion reaching to the Afghan hills, and of becoming as independent of Sindhia as that chief was of the Peshwa.- He formed an engagement with Ranjit Singh for a joint expedition to the Indus, and for a partition of the country south of Lahore;^ but Holkar had given a rude shock to Sindhia's power, and Perron had long evaded a compliance with the Maharaja's urgent calls for troops to aid him where support was most essential. Sindhia became involved with the English, and the interested hesitation of Perron was punished by his supersession. He was not able, or he did not try, to recover his authority by vigorous military operations; he knew he had committed himself, and he effected his escape from the suspicious Marathas to the safety and repose of the British territories, which were then about to be extended by the victories of Delhi and Laswari, of Assaye and Argaon.'*
In the beginning of the eighteenth century the agents of the infant company of English merchants were vexatiously detained at the imperial court by the insurrection of the Sikhs under Banda, and the discreet 'factors', who were petitioning for some trading privileges, perhaps witnessed the heroic death of the national Singhs, the soldiers of the 'Khalsa', without comprehending the spirit evoked by the genius of Gobind, and without dreaming of the broad fabric of 1 See generally Francklin, Life of George Thomas, and Major Smith, Account of Regular Corps in Indian States, p. 21,
The Sikh accounts attribute many exploits to the sister of the Raja of Patiala, and among them an expedition into the hill territory of Nahan, the state from which Patiala wrested the vale of Pinjaur, with its hanging gardens, not, however, without the aid of Bourquin, the deputy of Perron. - Malcolm (Sketch, p. 106) considers that Perron could easily have reduced the Sikhs, and mastered the Pimjab. This alliance is given on the authority of a representation made to the Resident at Delhi, agreeably to his letter to Sir David Ochterlony of July 5, 1814. 4 Cf. Major Smith, Account of Regular Corps in Indian &c.
•"•
States, p. 31, &c.
1801-3.
Surrenders lo Perron, 1802.
The Marathas under
Perron
paramount
among the Sikhs of Sirhind, 1802-3.
Perron forms an alliance
with Ranjit
Singh.
Is 'dis-
trusted by Sindhia.
Flees to the English
then at war with the Marathas, 1803.
First inter-
course of the English With the Sikhs.
The mission to
Farrukhsiyar de-
tained by
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. V
of Patiala in the Maratha service induced a promise, on the part of the French commander, of the restitution of the conquests of Amar Singh in Hariana. After
twice beating back Perron's troops at points sixty miles distant, Thomas was compelled to surrender in the beginning of 1802, and he retired into the British provinces, where he died in the course of the same year.^ Perron had thus far succeeded. His lieutenant, by name Bourquin, made a progress through the CisSutlej states to levy contributions, and the commander himself dreamt of a dominion reaching to the Afghan hills, and of becoming as independent of Sindhia as that chief was of the Peshwa.- He formed an engagement with Ranjit Singh for a joint expedition to the Indus, and for a partition of the country south of Lahore;^ but Holkar had given a rude shock to Sindhia's power, and Perron had long evaded a compliance with the Maharaja's urgent calls for troops to aid him where support was most essential. Sindhia became involved with the English, and the interested hesitation of Perron was punished by his supersession. He was not able, or he did not try, to recover his authority by vigorous military operations; he knew he had committed himself, and he effected his escape from the suspicious Marathas to the safety and repose of the British territories, which were then about to be extended by the victories of Delhi and Laswari, of Assaye and Argaon.'*
In the beginning of the eighteenth century the agents of the infant company of English merchants were vexatiously detained at the imperial court by the insurrection of the Sikhs under Banda, and the discreet 'factors', who were petitioning for some trading privileges, perhaps witnessed the heroic death of the national Singhs, the soldiers of the 'Khalsa', without comprehending the spirit evoked by the genius of Gobind, and without dreaming of the broad fabric of 1 See generally Francklin, Life of George Thomas, and Major Smith, Account of Regular Corps in Indian States, p. 21,
The Sikh accounts attribute many exploits to the sister of the Raja of Patiala, and among them an expedition into the hill territory of Nahan, the state from which Patiala wrested the vale of Pinjaur, with its hanging gardens, not, however, without the aid of Bourquin, the deputy of Perron. - Malcolm (Sketch, p. 106) considers that Perron could easily have reduced the Sikhs, and mastered the Pimjab. This alliance is given on the authority of a representation made to the Resident at Delhi, agreeably to his letter to Sir David Ochterlony of July 5, 1814. 4 Cf. Major Smith, Account of Regular Corps in Indian &c.
•"•
States, p. 31, &c.
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