Condition of India in 1813

Just as Robert Clive and his successors consolidated British power in Bengal, Lord Wellesley created a system of imperial rule that became the foundation of British supremacy in India.

The Marquess of Hastings (formerly Lord Moira), though once opposed to Wellesley’s ideas in England, changed his views after arriving in India and accepted the principles he had earlier criticised. His administration was therefore a continuation of Wellesley’s policy.

A major difference between the two periods was that, during Wellesley’s time, French ambition under Napoleon Bonaparte threatened India, whereas by Hastings’ time this danger had declined due to Napoleon’s weakening power and the British capture of Mauritius in 1810.

Wellesley found political authority in India divided after the decline of the Mughal Empire. Power was contested between the Maratha Confederacy and Muslim-ruled states.

The main Muslim powers were the Hyderabad Nizam and the Sultan of Mysore. The Maratha chiefs included the Peshwa of Poona, the Gaekwar of Baroda, Sindhia of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, and the Bhonsla Raja of Nagpur, ruling Berar and Orissa.

Under Wellesley’s system, many Indian states entered subsidiary alliances. They accepted British troops for protection, paid for their maintenance, often ceded territory, and gave up independent foreign relations, submitting disputes to Calcutta’s arbitration.

Some smaller protected states were dependent on Britain without hosting British troops, while other rulers remained nominally independent under ordinary treaties, some partly protective in nature.

Wellesley effectively checked Muslim political ambitions. The Nizam accepted alliance terms, the Karnatik was annexed, and Mysore was defeated, given a new dynasty, and made dependent on the British Government.

Wellesley then focused on the Marathas, who were ambitious and engaged in collecting chauth (quarter revenue tribute) beyond their territories, while also fighting among themselves and plundering neighbouring regions.