Castlereagh in Madras

October 16, 1802

Richard Wellesley, Governor-General of India, extended British protection over the Deccan kingdoms through the 'subsidiary alliance' system, locking Indian princes into a pattern of dependence. The Marathas watched warily, and by the following year war would return. British paramountcy was being written, treaty by treaty, into the subcontinent. Each alliance stripped a prince of his foreign policy and garrisoned his capital with Company troops paid from his own treasury.