From Trade to Territory The Company Establishes Power Test - 8

The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to enter into such an alliance. Tipu Sultan of Mysore refused to do so, but after the British victory in the fourth anglo-mysore war, Mysore was forced to become a subsidiary state. The Nawab of Awadh was the next to accept the Subsidiary Alliance, in 1801. After the third anglo maratha war, the maratha ruler Baji Rao II also accepted a subsidiary alliance.

 

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy purportedly devised by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the British in India between 1848 and 1856. According to the Doctrine, any princely state or territory under the direct influence (paramountcy) of the British East India Company, as a vassal state under the British Subsidiary System, would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either “manifestly incompetent or died without a direct male heir”. The Company added about four million pounds sterling to its annual revenue by use of this doctrine.

The company took over the princely states of Satara (1848), Jaipur &Sambalpur (1849) and Nagpur & Jhansi (1854) using this Doctrine.

After controlling the trade in India the Britishers wanted to politically dominate India. They started this with the battle of Plassey in Bengal.

The doctrine of subsidiary alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley, British Governor-General in India from 1798 to 1805.  As per the system, Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed force. They were to be protected by the company, but had to pay for the 'subsidiary forces' that the company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection. It played an important role in the conquest of lndia.

Diwani - Right to collect land revenue
Tiger of Mysore - Tipu Sultan
Faujdari adalat - Criminal court
Rani Channamma - Led an anti-British movement in Kitoor
Siphai - Sepoy

Haider Ali was the ordinary soldier in Mysore Kingdom. He overthrew the King and become king of Mysore. Tipu sultan was the son of Haider Ali.

According to the regulating act, 1773 Warren Hastings the then Governor of Bengal was appointed as Governor General of Bengal. He abolished Duel Government. He made Calcutta as his capital and shifted treasury of the company from Murshidabad to Calcutta.

Indian Civil Services was the elite higher civil service of the British Empire in British India. The civil services were reformed and modernised by Lord Cornwallis. There were many functions to be performed by them - revenue collection, law and order, justice delivery, etc. Cornwallis realised that in order to consolidate the British rule in India, it was very important to organise the civil services. So he is called the “Father of Indian Civil Service”.

The Dual system of Government was abolished by Warren Hastings in 1772 and Bengal was brought under direct control of the British. The Nawabs remained as the mere pensioners of the East India Company.