Question

The British Governor General who introduced the Subsidiary Alliance system in India :

• A. Lord Canning
• B. Lord Wellesly
• C. Lord Delhousie
• D. Lord Lytton

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Lord Wellesly

• Lord Wellesley, Governor-General (1798-1805) introduced the system of the subsidiary alliance to subjugate Indian powers without going through actual warfare.

• Any Indian ruler whose security was threatened could enter into a subsidiary alliance with the British and the British promised to protect them from external attack and internal revolt.

• The ruler would have to accept the supremacy of the British in India and keep and pay for the maintenance of a certain number of British troops who would be permanently placed in the territory of the subsidiary alliance.

• A British Resident would be posted in the court of the ruler and the Indian ruler was not allowed to employ any European in his service without prior consultation with the company.

• The ruler would not sign any treaty or form an alliance with any other power without the permission of the British Resident.

• British would defend the ruler from his enemies and adopt a policy of non-interference in the internal matters of the allied states.

• States like Mysore, Hyderabad, Awadh, the Rajputs, and Marathas were forced to accept this alliance after being defeated by the English.