CBSE Questions for Class 8 History From Trade To Territory Quiz 2 - MCQExams.com

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.

The main principles of a subsidiary alliance were:

1. An Indian ruler entering into a subsidiary alliance with the British had to accept British forces within his territory and also agreed to pay for their maintenance.
2. The ruler would accept a British Resident in his state.
3. An Indian ruler who entered into a subsidiary alliance would not enter into any further alliance with any other power, nor would he declare war against any power without the permission of the British.
4. The ruler would not employ any Europeans other than the British, and if he were already doing so, he would dismiss them.
5. In case of a conflict with any other state, he would agree the resolution decided upon by the British.
6. The ruler would acknowledge the East India Company as the paramount power in India.
7. In return for the ruler accepting its conditions, the Company undertook to protect the state from external dangers and internal disorders.
8. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payments required by the alliance, then part of their territory was to be taken away as a penalty.

According to the terms of a subsidiary alliance, princely rulers were not allowed to have an independent armed force. They were to be protected by the East India Company, but had to pay for the 'subsidiary forces' that the company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away as a penalty. For example, the ruler of Awadh was forced to give over half of his territory to the company in 1801, as he failed to pay for the "subsidiary forces".

Cornwallis increased the salary of the judges to check bribery and corruption. He abolished the court fees. A new code of regulations known as “Cornwallis code” was compiled in 1793 by Sir George Barlow.