Page 1 :
UNIT I, HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA, PAPER 202, EXPANSION POLICY UNDER LORD WELLESLEY (1798-1805), The next large scale expansion of British rule in India occurred during the Governor Generalship of Lord Wellesley who came to India in 1798 at a time when the British were looked in a life and death struggle with France all over the world ., Till then the British had followed the policy of consolidating their gains and resources in India and making territorial gains only when this could be done safely without antagonizing the major Indian powers. Lord Wellesley decided that the time was ripe for bringing as many Indian states as possible under British control. By 1797 the two strongest Indian powers, Mysore and Marathas, had declined in power. Political condition in India were propitious for a policy of expansion aggression was easy as well as profitable., To achieve his political aims Wellesley relied on three methods: the system of Subsidiary alliance, outright war, and the assumption of the territories of previously subordinated rulers. While the practice of helping an Indian ruler with a paid British force was quite old, it was given definite shape by Wellesley who used it to subordinate the Indian states to the paramount authority of the Company. Under his Subsidiary alliance system, the ruler of the allying Indian state was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within his territory instead of paying annual subsidy. The subsidiary treaty usually also provided that the Indian ruler would agree to the posting at his court of a British Resident , that he would not employ any European in his service without the approval of the British , and that he would not negotiate with any other Indian ruler without consulting the Governor General . In return, the British undertook to defend the ruler from his enemies. They also promised non interference in the internal affairs of the allied state, but this was a promise they seldom kept., In reality, by signing a Subsidiary Alliance, an Indian state virtually signed away its independence. It lost the right of self defence, of maintaining diplomatic relations, of employing foreign experts. and of settling its disputes with its neighbours. In fact, the Indian ruler lost all vestiges of sovereignty external matters and became increasingly subservient to the British resident, who interfered in the day to day administration of the state. In addition, the system tended to bring about the internal decay of the protected state. The cost of the subsidiary force provide by the British was very high and in fact much beyond the paying capacity of the state. The payment of the arbitrarily fixed and artificially bloated subsidy invariably disrupted the economy of the state and impoverished its people. The system of Subsidiary Alliance also led to the disbandment of the armies of the protected states. Lakhs of soldiers and officers were deprived of their livelihood, spreading misery and degradation in the country. Moreover the rulers of the protected states tended to neglect the interests of their people and to oppress them as they no longer feared them. They had no incentives to be good rulers as they were fully protected by the British from domestic and foreign enemies., The subsidiary alliance system was on the other hand extremely advantageous to the British. They could now maintain a large army at the cost of the Indian states. This enabled them to fight wars far away from their own territories, since any war would occur in the territories, since any war would occur in the territories either of the British ally or the British enemy. They controlled the defence and foreign relations of the protected ally, and had a powerful force stationed at the very heart of his lands, and could therefore at a time of their choosing, overthrow him and annex his territories by declaring him inefficient., Lord Wellesley signed his Subsidiary Treaties with the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1798 and 1800. In lieu of cash payment for the subsidiary forces, the Nizam ceded part of his territories to the Company., The Nawab of Awadh was forced to sign a Subsidiary Treaty in 1801. In return for a larger subsidiary force, the Nawab was made to surrender to the British nearly half of his kingdom, consisting of Rohilkhand and the territory lying between the Ganga and the Jamuna. His own army was virtually disbanded and the British had the right to station their troops in any part of his state., Wellesley dealt with Mysore, Carnatic, Tanjore and Surat even more sternly. Tipu of Mysore would, of course, never agree to a Subsidiary Treaty. On the contrary, he was not reconciled to the loss of half of his territory in 1792. He worked incessantly to strengthen his forces for the inevitable struggle with the British. He entered into negotiation for an alliance with Revolutionary France. He sent mission to Afghanistan, Arabia and Turkey to forge an anti British alliance., The British army attacked and defeated Tipu in a brief but fierce war in 1799, before French help could reach him. Tipu still refused to beg for peace on humiliating terms. He proudly declared that it was better to die like a soldier, than to live a miserable dependent on the inflict of their deals, in the list of the pensioned rajas and nabobs. He met a hero’s end on May 1799 while defending his capital Seringatam. His army remained loyal to him to the very end., Nearly half of Tipu’s dominions were divided between the British and their ally, the Nizam. The reduced Kingdom of Mysore was restored to his descendants of the original rajas from whom Haidar Ali had seized power. A special treaty of Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on the new raja by which the Governor General was authorized to take over the administration of the state in case of necessity., In 1801, Lord Wellesley forced a new treaty upon the puppet Nawab of Carnatic compelling him to cede his kingdom to the Company in return for a pension. The Madras Presidency as it’s existed till 1947 was now by attaching the Carnatic to territories seized from Mysore, including the Malabar., The Marathas were the only major Indian power left outside the sphere of British control. Wellesley now turned his attention towards them and began aggressive interference in their internal affairs., The Maratha Empire at this time consisted of a confederacy of five big chiefs namely the Peshwa at Poona, the Gaekwad at Baroda, the Sindhia at Gwalior, the Holkar at Indore and the Bhonsle at Nagpur, the Peshwa being the nominal head of the confederacy. But all of them were engaged in bitter fratricidal strife, blind to the real danger from the rapidly advancing foreigner., Wellesley had repeatedly offered a subsidiary alliance to the Peshwa and Sindhia. But the farsighted Nana Phadnis had refused to fall into the trap but Holkar defeated the combined forces of Peshwa and Sindhia and eventually they had to sign the Subsidiary Alliance., Thus, all the states were put under the British power by signing the Subsidiary Alliance .It resulted in the East India Company becoming the paramount power in India.