,1823.] Account of Brit'uh India. 



11,000; Travancorc and Cochin, in- collecting of imposts. 

 Lab. 1,000,000, sq. m. 8000. Rajahs of 

 Jeypoiir, Bicanere, Sec. Holkar, tlie 

 Sciks, tlie Row of Gutch, and a multi- 

 plicity of other native chiefs, all under 

 English protection, inhab. 15,000,000, 

 sq. in. 283,000. 



Independent States- — The Rajah of 

 Nepaul, inhab. 2,000,000, sq. m, 

 53,000; the Rajah of Lahore, inhab. 

 3,000,000, sq. m. 50,000 ; Sind, inhab. 

 1,000,000, sq. ni. 24,000; the dominions 

 of Sindia, inhab. 4,000,000, sq. m. 

 40,000. 



Sum total of the wliole of Hindostan, 

 inhabitants, 134,000,000, square miles, 

 1,280,000. 



To the above may be added, that the 

 great mass of the people of Hindostan 

 arc indebted to the English for the 

 gift of internal security ; and, what is 

 more precious, a portion of civil 

 liberty. The extinction of various 

 organized, bands, that were unceasing 

 and unsparing in their ravages and 

 incursions, not regarding the blood 

 which they shed, or the desolation 

 which they caused, has contributed to 

 this. The Hindoos have been inured 

 to governments, arbitrary in principle 

 and oppressive in practice. But, since 

 tlie English ascendancy, there is no 

 longer a succession of tyrannies ; and 

 a growing moral fitness for civil 

 liberty will be one consequence of the 

 revolution. As to the taxes, they are 

 not so considerable as to be a weight 

 on the industry of tlie country. 



The following may illustrate the 

 jgeneral character of the political sys- 

 tem which exists, at present, in Hin- 

 dostan. The statements it contains 

 exhibit the increasing resources of 

 Great Britain, in an extensive and im- 

 portant territory, acquired by nume- 

 rous revolutions in a few years, and 

 which will probably terminate to the 

 great advantage of the natives. Many 

 important incidents have occurred 

 since 1814 ; and it may throw light on 

 the suiyect to revert to that period. 



The states of Hindostan, then tribu- 

 tary to the English government, ac- 

 cording to treaties of alliance, were 

 the Nizam, the Feishwa, the Rajahs of 

 Mysore, Travancorc, and Cochin, the 

 Nabob of Oude, and the Guicowar. 

 T'hc conditions were, on the part of 

 tiic English, to protect them against 

 foreign invasions, or internal dissen- 

 sions. The troops furnished for these 

 purposes were not to be employed in 

 the civil administration, or for the 



iVlo,\THi.Y Mag. No. 379. 



153 



The natives 

 were, in return, to contribute a stipu- 

 lated sum, in money, or a portion of 

 territory ; they were, moreover, to 

 keep up a contiugent force, to act 

 with the other tributaries, but not in 

 hostility to any Indian power, except 

 with the concurrence of the supreme 

 authority, which, in the first instance, 

 would try, amicably, to accommodate 

 differences. In case of urgency, the 

 combined forces of these protected 

 states, to be at the disposition of the 

 English government. 



Some minor principalities, hardly 

 deserving the name of sovereignties, 

 have benefit from English protection 

 without any formal alliance, or tribu- 

 tary contribution. Of this latter class, 

 the Rajahs of Bhurtpoor and Macherry 

 were the principal ; it included, also, 

 a number of other inferior chiefs, in 

 the districts about Agra and Delhi, 

 and In those of Bundelcund, and of 

 the Seiks, approaching towards Iho 

 Satuledge river. The Rajpoot chiefs 

 of Jeypour, Joudpour, Odeypour, 

 Bicanere, and Jesselmere, were not 

 then within the limits of this protec- 

 tion. The British government might 

 require, some acknowledgment from 

 the smaller states ; but it was inconsi- 

 derable, and no force was stationed in 

 their territories. 



There was a third class, consisting 

 of sovereigns strictly independent, 

 such as Sindia, Holkar, and the 

 Rajah of Nagpour; these were at 

 peace with the English government, 

 which had its ambassadors among 

 them. 



A fourth class might be added, of 

 certain independent communities, or 

 chiefs, with which the English govern- 

 ment had never had intercourse, or 

 contracted alliances. 



Since the period above mentioned, 

 1814, some considerable revolutions 

 have taken place. The power of the 

 Mahrattas was irrevocably destroyed, 

 in the wars of 1817 and 18; and that of 

 Nagpour, by the war of 1815. The 

 peishwa no longer ranks among sove- 

 reigns ; and his possessions, with the 

 exception of Sattarah, are subjected to 

 the English. The Rajah of Nagpour 

 is reduced to comparative insignifi- 

 cance, and Holkar has been deprived 

 of all his dominions south of the Ner- 

 "Ijuddah. Nothing has been taken from 

 Sindia; but his situation is insulated, 

 and there are no foreign succours 

 that be can have recourse to ; the ex- 

 X tiuctlon 



