Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/247

Rh Aligarh. By that success he paralysed the Maráthá confederacy. To use the words of a contemporary writer then in the service of Sindia, "it was a mortal blow to the Maráthá war: it struck a panic into the minds of the natives and astonished all the princes of Hindostan: it gave them dreadful ideas of European soldiers and European courage."

Pedrons was taken prisoner at Aligarh. From that time he disappeared from the scene.

The next in order is the Bourquin referred to in the preceding section. This man's real name was Louis Bernard. His previous history and his reason for changing his name are alike unknown to me. It is only known that Perron had raised him from obscurity to the command of a brigade. His campaign against Thomas has been already related. He is next heard of as evincing his gratitude to Perron by revolting against him on the eve of the war with the English. By Perron's flight to British territory and by Pedrons's captivity, Bourquin became the senior officer in command of the old brigades of de Boigne.

Bourquin was close to Dehli, at the head of the second and third brigades, when the English were marching on Aligarh. Another French officer, Colonel Drugeon, was commanding the fort of Dehli. Bourquin, strongly sensible of the political advantage which might arise from having in his camp the blind old Emperor, called upon Drugeon to send him out under an escort. Drugeon refused. Upon this Bourquin prepared to