At the battle of Assaye, four of these
battalions were left in charge of the Maratha camps. One was present
in the action and lost its four guns. Soon after the return of these
battalions, the Begam entered into an alliance with the British
Government; the force then consisted of these six battalions, a party
of artillery served chiefly by Europeans, and two hundred horse. She
had a good arsenal well stored, a foundry for cannon, both within the
walls of a small fortress, built near her dwelling at Sardhana. The
whole cost her about four lakhs of rupees a year; her civil
establishments eighty thousand, and her household establishments and
expenses about the same; total six lakhs of rupees a year. The
revenues of Sardhana, and the other lands assigned at different times
for the payment of the force had been at no time more than sufficient
to cover these expenses; but under the protection of our Government
they improved with the extension of tillage, and the improvements of
the surrounding markets for produce, and she was enabled to give
largely to the support of charitable institutions, and to provide
handsomely for the support of her family and pensioners after her
death.
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