historical Sketch of Britisb India. 



WHEN the British first set foot in India 

 the foundations of the old Moghul Empire 

 were crumbling away. Wars of conquest had 

 devastated the land. Robber chiefs had made a 

 practice of invading the territories of their 

 peaceful neighbours, carrying desolation with 

 them. But with the establishing of factories, and 

 the hiring of trained soldiers to defend them, 

 the formation of a central power was accom- 

 plished, which gradually grew in strength 

 sufficient to control the wild chieftains, and to 

 extend its power from Cape Comorin to the 

 Indus. The British administration in India has 

 been that of a purely military government, and 

 its entire policy has been conformed to military 

 necessities. Only since the middle of the nine- 

 teenth century has the state of the country 

 permitted its rulers to throw the energy of the 

 Government into the path of peaceful development 

 of its natural resources. , In the year 1664 a 



