ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PERRON PIERRE CUILLIER (1755-1834)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="PERRON,PIERRE,CUILLIER,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279PERRON, PIERRE CUILLIER (1755-1834), French adventurer and soldier of fortune who became Daulat R&#257o Scindia's general in chief and all powerful deputy in northern India. Perron endeavoured to extend Mar&#257&#7789h&#257 influence up to the River Sutlej. When in 1800 the British emissary, M&#299r Y&#363saf 'Al&#299 <u>Kh</u>&#257n, came on a mission to the court of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, Perron did not wish an <i>entente</i> to take place between him and the English and wrote to him as well as to the M&#257lv&#257 chiefs not to trust them and drive their agent out of their territory. For a short period, the shadow of Perron loomed large over the Sikh area below the Sutlej. In 1801, the Sikh chiefs of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, N&#257bh&#257, J&#299nd, Kaithal, L&#257&#7693v&#257 and Th&#257nesar, harassed by the depredations of the Irish adventurer George Thomas, solicited his aid. Perron readily agreed and a Mar&#257th&#257 force, 12,000 strong, under Louis Bourquien quickly expelled George Thomas from their territories. But Perron started treating the M&#257lv&#257 Sikh chiefs as dependants of the Scindia and subjected them to severe exactions. Contemporary British opinion that Perron could have easily reduced the Sikhs and become master of the Punjab was a mere conjecture. So were the reports of a military alliance between Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh and Perron signed at Karn&#257l. Though some evidence of Perron's overtures to Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh is available, yet it is established that the latter shrewdly refused to enter into a pact with the Mar&#257&#7789h&#257s, then on the verge of a war with the English. In 1803, Perron lost favour with Daulat R&#257o Scindia. Fearful of Mar&#257&#7789h&#257 vengeance and certain of the overthrow of Mar&#257&#7789h&#257 power in their impending clash with the English, he fled across into British territory. He reached Europe in 1805, and lived in retirement in France till his death in 1834.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Grey, C. and H.L.O. Garretts, <i>European Adventurers of Northern India</i>. Lahore, 1909<BR> <li class="C1"> Franklin, W., <i>The Military Memoirs of George Thomas</i>. Calcutta, 1803<BR> <li class="C1"> Compton H., <i>A Particular Account of the European Adventurers of Hindostan from 1784- 1803</i>. London,1893<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">B. J. Hasrat<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>