British Paramountcy in Action

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  1. Policy of annexation by conquest or war.
  2. Policy of annexation by diplomacy and administrative mechanisms
Ring-fence Policy of Warren Hastings
  • Encounter the powerful combination of the Marathas, Mysore and Hyderabad.
  • Creating buffer zones to defend the Company’s frontiers, policy of defence of their neighbours’ frontiers for safeguarding their own territories.
  • Reflected in his war against the Marathas and Mysore.
  • Organise the defence of the frontiers of Awadh on the condition that the Nawab would defray the expenses of the defending army.
  • Defence of Awadh constituted the defence of Bengal during that time.
  • Allies were required to maintain subsidiary forces which were to be organised, equipped and commanded by the officers of the Company who, in turn, were to be paid by the rulers of these states.
Subsidiary Alliance of Wellesley
  • Ruler was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force.
  • Indian ruler had to agree to the posting of a British resident in his court.
  • Indian ruler could not employ any European in his service without the prior consultation with the Company.
  • British would defend the ruler from his enemies and adopt a policy of not interference in the internal matters of the allied state.
  • Indian rulers lost their independence by buying security.
  • Dupleix, who first gave on hire (so to say) European troops to Indian rulers to fight their wars.
  • First Indian state to fall into this protection trap was Awadh in 1765.
  • Nawab of Carnatic which Cornwallis signed in February 1787.
  • Wellesley’s genius to make it a general rule to negotiate for the surrender of territory in full sovereignty for the maintenance of the subsidiary force.
  • Stages of Subsidiary Alliance
    • First Stage - offered to help a friendly Indian state with its troops to fight any war.
    • Second Stage - making a common cause with the Indian state now made friendly and taking the field with its own soldiers and those of the state.
    • Third Stage - asked not for men but for money, Company promised that it would recruit, train, and maintain a fixed number of soldiers under British officers.
    • Fourth or the last stage - protection fee was fixed, state failed to pay the money in time, certain parts of its territories to the Company in lieu of payment.
    • Company’s entry into the affairs of the state had begun.
  • Subsidised States
    • Nizam of Hyderabad (September 1798 and 1800), the ruler of Mysore (1799), the ruler of Tanjore (October 1799), the Nawab of Awadh (November 1801), the Peshwa (December 1801), the Bhonsle Raja of Berar (December 1803), the Sindhia (February 1804), the Rajput states of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Macheri, Bundi and the ruler of Bharatpur (1818). The Holkars were the last Maratha confederation to accept the Subsidiary Alliance in 1818.
Doctrine of Lapse by Lord Dalhousie
  • Adopted son could be the heir to his foster father’s private property, but not the state. based on Hindu law and Indian customs.
  • Dalhousie showed too much zeal in enforcing this policy.
  • Lapsed States under Lord Dalhousie (1848-56)
    • Satara (1848), Sambhalpur (1849), Bhagat (1850), Udaipur (1850), Jaitpur, Nagpur (1854), Jhanshi (1855), Awadh (1856; on charge of mal-administration)

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