CHAPTER VIII

Summary

SECTION I

LORD WELLESLET—LAST MYSORE WAR

Sir John Shore was succeeded by Lord Mornington, subsequently created Marquis Wellesley, then in his thirty-eighth year, under whose vigorous rule the power of the Company was rendered paramount throughout India. At the Board of Control, where he had occupied a seat for four years, he had acquired a comprehensive knowledge of Indian affairs, and he moreover enjoyed the advantage of Mr. Pitt's personal friendship and the confidence of Mr. Dundas. He called at the Cape on his way to India, and had the good fortune to meet there Lord Macartney and Lord Hobart, both of whom had been governors of Madras, as well as Major Kirkpatrick, formerly resident at Sindia's court, and more recently at Hyderabad, and obtained from their communications the most important information regarding the views and the position of the various princes in India.

At the commencement of this important epoch, it may be useful to glance at the state of India. After the humiliation of Tippoo Sultan, Lord Cornwallis endeavoured to establish a balance of power in the Deccan. But there never had been any real balance of power in India, and aggression and rapine had been the only principle of action among its princes. Wars were commenced and prosecuted without any semblance of justice, and restrained only by the power of resistance.