Subsidiary Alliance System

Subsidiary Alliance

The subsidairy alliance system was used by Lord Wellesley, who was governer general from 1798-1805, to build an empire in India. Under the system, the allying Indian state's ruler was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within his territory and to pay a subsidy for its maintainance. The Indian ruler had to agree to the posting of a British resident in his court. The Indian ruler could not employ any European in his services without the prior consultation with the Company. Nor could he go to war or negotiate with any other Indian ruler without consulting the governer general. In return for all this, the British would defend the ruler from his enemies and adopt a policy of non-interference in the internal matters of the allied state. 

One of the objectives behind Wellesley's strengthening of the subsidairy alliance system was to keep the French from reviving and expanding their influence in India. Around this time, the fear of Napoleon's expedition towards the East was very real for the British who felt that the French could attack the western coast of India from their colony of Mauritius. Hence, the clause in the alliance treaty the Indian rulers to dismiss Europeans (other than the British) from their service and not employ any. By means of this system, he Company could station its forces at strategic locations and keep the French at bay. Besides, the subsidairy alliance would expand the Company's hold over the Indian states and gradually bring more and more territory into the company's fold.

The Indian rulers lost their independence by buying security. They were not free of interference from the British Resisent. They lost much of their revenue, paying for the British troops. Also, the alliance made the Indian rulers weak and irresponsible; the subjecs were exploited and it was practically impossible to depose the oppressive rulers as they were protected by the British. 

Evolution and Perfection 

It was probably Dupleix, who first gave on hire European troops to Indian rulers to fight their wars. Since then, almost all the governor generals from Clive onwards applied the system to various Indian states and brought it to near perfection. 

The first Indian state to fall into this protection trap was Awadh, which, in 1765, signed a treaty under which the Company pledged to defend the frontiers of Awadh on the condition of the Nawab defraying the expenses of such defence. It was in 1787 that the Company first insisted that the subsidairy state should not have foreign relations. This was included in the treaty with the Nawab of Carnatic which Cornwallis signed in February 1787. It was Wellesley's genius to make it a general rule to nnegotiate for the surrender of territory in full sovereignty for the maintenance of the subsidiary force.

Stages of Application of Subsidairy Alliance 

There were four stages in the evolution of the subsidairy alliance. In the irst stage, the Company offered to help a friendly Indian states with its troops to fight any war the state might be engaged in. The second  stage consisted of making a common cause with the Indian state now made friendly and taking the field with its own soldiers and those of the state. Now came the third stage when the Indian ally was asked not for men but for money. In return, the Company promised that it would recruit, train and maintain a fixed number of soldiers under British officers, and that the contingent would be available to the ruler for his personal protection as also for keeping out aggressors. In the fourth or the last stage, the money or the protection fee was fixed, usually at a high level; when the state failed to pay the money in time, it was asked to cede certain parts of its territories to the Company in lieu of payment.

The Company's entry into the affairs of the state  had begun; now it would be for the British resident to initiate, sustain and hasten the process of eventual annexation. 

States which Accepted Alliance 

The Indian princes who accepted the subsidiary system were: the Nizam of Hyderabad (September 1798 and 1800), the ruler of Mysore (1799), the ruler of Tanjore (October 1799), the Nawab of Awadh (November 1801), the Peshwa (December 1803), the Scindia (February 1804), the Rajput states of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Macheri, Bundi and the ruler of Bharatpur (1818). The Holkars were the last Maratha confederation to accept the Subsidiary Alliance in 1818.