NDA (I) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 114 of 149

Correct — B, All internal threats were to be handled by the ally alone, with no help from the British. The subsidiary alliance did the opposite. A British force was stationed inside the ally's own territory and was used against internal challenges as readily as against external ones, and that is precisely what made the system so effective a tool of control — a ruler who leaned on Company troops to hold down his own rebels and rivals had surrendered the power to survive without them. The other three statements are accurate descriptions of the arrangement, so the false one is the claim that the ally faced internal trouble alone.

• (a)The British were responsible for protecting the ally from any external threats — This is a genuine feature. Protection against outside attack was the advertised benefit of the alliance, and it was what persuaded rulers hemmed in by stronger neighbours to sign.
• (c)The ally was to provide resources for maintaining a British armed contingent stationed in its territory — This is genuine and is the heart of the bargain. The ally paid for the contingent, in cash at first and later, when the payments fell into arrears, by ceding territory outright — which is how the Company gained large tracts without fighting for them.
• (d)The ally could not enter into any agreement with other rulers without the permission of the British — This is genuine too. The ally lost the conduct of his own foreign relations, could not employ Europeans without British consent, and had to accept a British Resident at his court — the clauses that turned an alliance into subordination.

The subsidiary alliance was Lord Wellesley's instrument for extending British paramountcy without annexation. An Indian ruler kept his throne but disbanded much of his own army, accepted a British force in his territory and paid for it, gave up independent diplomacy, and received a British Resident. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to sign, in 1798; Mysore was brought under the system after the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799; Awadh followed in 1801, and the Peshwa signed the Treaty of Bassein in 1802, which drew the Company into war with the Marathas.

The examiner has taken four clauses of the system and reversed exactly one of them. Once you know that a British garrison sat inside the ally's own territory, the reversed clause is easy to spot, because troops stationed there are of no use unless they are used — and they were used against internal enemies. It is worth being clear about what the system was for. Its purpose was political rather than financial, so 'a fixed income for the Company' has never been a good description of it; UPSC tested that very point in 2018. What the Company gained was paramountcy and, when payments failed, territory.

• Lord Wellesley was Governor-General from 1798 to 1805 and made the subsidiary alliance the centrepiece of his policy.
• The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first ruler to accept a subsidiary alliance, in 1798.
• An ally had to keep a British force in his territory at his own cost, accept a Resident, and surrender the conduct of foreign relations.
• The Peshwa's Treaty of Bassein in 1802 brought the Marathas within the system and led to the Second Anglo-Maratha War.

• Assuming the British protection covered only external danger; it extended to internal threats, which is the whole point of the system.
• Treating the alliance as a revenue device rather than a political one.
• Confusing Lord Wellesley with Lord Hastings or with Arthur Wellesley, his younger brother, the future Duke of Wellington.

NDA asks which statement about the subsidiary alliance or about Wellesley's administration is not correct, or which ruler signed first.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Indian ruler was the first to accept the subsidiary alliance offered by Lord Wellesley?

  • (a)The Nawab of Awadh
  • (b)The Nizam of Hyderabad
  • (c)The Peshwa Baji Rao II
  • (d)The Raja of Mysore

  Answer(b) The Nizam of Hyderabad — he signed in 1798, before Awadh in 1801 and the Peshwa in 1802.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the subsidiary alliance system, an Indian ruler who signed had to

  • (a)hand over his kingdom to the Company at once
  • (b)maintain a British force in his territory at his own expense
  • (c)pay a fixed share of his revenue to the British Parliament
  • (d)convert his army into a police force under the Resident

  Answer(b) maintain a British force in his territory at his own expense — the cost was met in cash or, failing that, by ceding territory.