- A. To maintain a large standing army at other’s expense
- B. To keep India safe from Napoleonic danger IA
- C. To secure a fixed income for the Company
- D. To establish British paramountcy over the Indian States
Answer: C
Explanation
The Company forced the states into a “subsidiary alliance”. According to the terms of this alliance, Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the 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 penalty. During this phase, from 1813 to 1857, the British made almost all the Indian States subordinate to their power, by compelling them to enter into subsidiary alliances with them. The Indian Princes were put under obligation to accept the British Paramountcy. Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in the summer of 1798 offered Wellesly a useful tool to soften London’s resistance to expansion, although he never believed for a moment that there was any danger of a French invasion of British India either over land from Egypt or a naval attack round the Cape of Good Hope. However, to assuage London’s concerns he evolved the policy of ‘Subsidiary Alliance’, which would only establish control over the internal affairs of an Indian state, without incurring any direct imperial liability. There was no component of fixed income under this system.