DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49383#0055
THE FUTURE OF THE INDIAN STATES*
As we have said already it is impossible to deal with the
constitutional position in British India without also considering
the problems presented by the Native States. India is in fact, as
well as by legal definition, one geographical whole. The integral
connection of the States with the British Empire not only consists in
their relations to the British Crown, but also in their growing interest
in many matters common to the land to which they and. the British
Provinces alike belong.
Although compared with the British Provinces the States are
thinly populated, they comprise among them some of the fairest
portions of India. The striking difference in their size, importance,
and geographical distribution are due partly to variations of policy,
partly to historical events, which no Government could control.
Wherever consolidating forces were at work before the British advance
occurred we find that large units of territory were constituted into
States : wherever disorder or other disintegrating factors were at work
longer, as in Bombay and Central India, we find a large number of
fragmentary territories. “ Political, as well as physical, geography
bears witness to the stress of the destructive forces through which
a country has passed. ” The policy of the British Government
towards the States has changed from time to time, passing from the
original plan of non-intervention in all the matters beyond its own
ring-fence to the policy of “ subordinate isolation” initiated by Lord
Hastings ; which in its turn gave way before the existing conception
of the relation between the States and the Government of India,
which may be described as one of union and co-operation on their
From the Montagu-Chelmsford Report on Indian Constitutional Reform.
As we have said already it is impossible to deal with the
constitutional position in British India without also considering
the problems presented by the Native States. India is in fact, as
well as by legal definition, one geographical whole. The integral
connection of the States with the British Empire not only consists in
their relations to the British Crown, but also in their growing interest
in many matters common to the land to which they and. the British
Provinces alike belong.
Although compared with the British Provinces the States are
thinly populated, they comprise among them some of the fairest
portions of India. The striking difference in their size, importance,
and geographical distribution are due partly to variations of policy,
partly to historical events, which no Government could control.
Wherever consolidating forces were at work before the British advance
occurred we find that large units of territory were constituted into
States : wherever disorder or other disintegrating factors were at work
longer, as in Bombay and Central India, we find a large number of
fragmentary territories. “ Political, as well as physical, geography
bears witness to the stress of the destructive forces through which
a country has passed. ” The policy of the British Government
towards the States has changed from time to time, passing from the
original plan of non-intervention in all the matters beyond its own
ring-fence to the policy of “ subordinate isolation” initiated by Lord
Hastings ; which in its turn gave way before the existing conception
of the relation between the States and the Government of India,
which may be described as one of union and co-operation on their
From the Montagu-Chelmsford Report on Indian Constitutional Reform.