DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

10.7 J BOURGEOIS METHODS OF EXPLOITATION 401
times with so little-effort that they did not think it worthwhile even to
occupy the fort at RajmachI which dominated the old trade route.
To restore prestige, Warren Hastings required some striking military
action. This was performed by Orme, who marched right across the
uncharted peninsula to take Mahadji’s prized Gwalior fort by surprise
escalade at night, without firing a shot. The Marathas continued to
leave the passes undefended, and the artillery they cast was to the end
more for show than use, as is seen by the two beautiful canon on view
in East Street, Poona. So, British infantry fire slaughtered the last Maratha
cavalry charge (caught in a morass unexpected, though on home terrain
!) at Kirkee, two field pieces and 600 Indian soldiers (many
Marathas among them) under half a dozen British officers beat
off the flower of the last Beshwa’s armies at Koregao. Sinhagad,
whose capture by escalade had cost Sivaji the best of his captains in a
desperate night attack, was invested and taken by the British without
loss, in 1818, simply by hauling canon up a ridge and bombarding the
fort which had neither adequate defensive walls on that side, nor artillery,
nor a garrison with sufficient morale, intelligence, and leadership for a
sortie. But then, any feudal ruler who let the Duke of Wellington
establish a battery and base camp on top of Bhor Ghat could hardly
expect to hold Poona.
The British, after a brief period of feudal loot in Bengal, had to
settle down to bourgeois methods of exploitation. It was purely a
question of bookkeeping and expenses. At Banaras, for example,
the management was at first left to the indebted raja, who could not
gather enough revenue to meet both his debt and the expenses of
collection. The British kept better accounts, suppressed most graft
and extortion, needed much less force, hence made far more profit,
without augmentation of dues:
w In many instances Resident had found a common summons, carried by a
single peon sufficient... .(whereas the former Raja Balvant Singh had been) obliged
to make constant use of Horse or Foot to overawe his turbulent subjects and to
realize his collections, frequently going himself for that purpose at their head and
making constant circuits through his territories.” (DR. 1.45).
The same source informs us that a single attendant now