DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49383#0037
THE INDIAN STATES.
29
square miles to the States in the Kathiawar Agency, many of which
cover no more than a handful of villages and hamlets.
The relations which are at present maintained by the Surzerain
Power with the Feudatory Slates, are the resultant <)f the operation
of three distinct ideas which dominated successively the mind of the
English Government during the last century ami a half. The
intervention of the English East India Company in the.affairs of the
Native Princes was created by the action of European politics and
was the result of the rivalries with the French and the Dutch. The
so-called Carnatic Wars (1746-61) forced the English Presidency of
Madras, in sheer self-defence, to take up sides in the quarrels of the
princes of the land. The Treaty of Pondicherry (1754) left the
English ally, Mohammad Ali, in the undisputed possession of the
Carnatic; and a few years after the fall of Pondicherry, in 1761, saw
the English firmly controlling the affairs of the Carnatic and enjoying
a dominant voice in the diplomacy of the Nizam’s Court. The
subsequent conduct of Mohammad Ab led to the virtual absorption
of his dominions by the Company. At the end of the Mysore Wars
(1767-99) Mysore was restored to its legitimate ruling family, and
admitted like Travancore and. Cochin into the British protectorate.
About the same' time a treaty was concluded with Hyderabad on the
basis of its subordinate co-operation and a guarantee of its internal
autonomy.
In Bengal, after a long course of apprenticeship and a preliminary
trial of strength with the Moslem power in 1686-90, the Company
asserted its mastery in the field of Plassey (1757) and in the
subsequent destruction of French and Dutch pretensions in this
quarter. The victory of Buxar (1764) over the forces of the Vazier
of Oudh and the nominal Emperor completed the task begun at
Plassey and laid the regions of Oudh and Allahabad at the feet of the
English. The Emperor became a pensioner, dependent on English
bounty, and the Vazierate of Oudh was converted by Clive into a
buffer State to serve as a barrier against the forces of anarchy which
surged around, When the Mahrattas threatened Rohilkhand mi the
29
square miles to the States in the Kathiawar Agency, many of which
cover no more than a handful of villages and hamlets.
The relations which are at present maintained by the Surzerain
Power with the Feudatory Slates, are the resultant <)f the operation
of three distinct ideas which dominated successively the mind of the
English Government during the last century ami a half. The
intervention of the English East India Company in the.affairs of the
Native Princes was created by the action of European politics and
was the result of the rivalries with the French and the Dutch. The
so-called Carnatic Wars (1746-61) forced the English Presidency of
Madras, in sheer self-defence, to take up sides in the quarrels of the
princes of the land. The Treaty of Pondicherry (1754) left the
English ally, Mohammad Ali, in the undisputed possession of the
Carnatic; and a few years after the fall of Pondicherry, in 1761, saw
the English firmly controlling the affairs of the Carnatic and enjoying
a dominant voice in the diplomacy of the Nizam’s Court. The
subsequent conduct of Mohammad Ab led to the virtual absorption
of his dominions by the Company. At the end of the Mysore Wars
(1767-99) Mysore was restored to its legitimate ruling family, and
admitted like Travancore and. Cochin into the British protectorate.
About the same' time a treaty was concluded with Hyderabad on the
basis of its subordinate co-operation and a guarantee of its internal
autonomy.
In Bengal, after a long course of apprenticeship and a preliminary
trial of strength with the Moslem power in 1686-90, the Company
asserted its mastery in the field of Plassey (1757) and in the
subsequent destruction of French and Dutch pretensions in this
quarter. The victory of Buxar (1764) over the forces of the Vazier
of Oudh and the nominal Emperor completed the task begun at
Plassey and laid the regions of Oudh and Allahabad at the feet of the
English. The Emperor became a pensioner, dependent on English
bounty, and the Vazierate of Oudh was converted by Clive into a
buffer State to serve as a barrier against the forces of anarchy which
surged around, When the Mahrattas threatened Rohilkhand mi the