The second Burmese war of 1852 was caused by the ill-treatment of
European merchants at Rangoon, and the insolence offered to the captain
of a frigate who had been sent to remonstrate. The whole valley of the
Irrawaddy, from Rangoon to Prome, was occupied in a few months, and, as
the king of Ava refused to treat, it was annexed, under the name of
Pegu, to the provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim, which had been acquired
in 1826.
The doctrine of lapse.
Lord Dalhousie's dealings with the feudatory states of India, though
actuated by the highest motives, seem now to have proceeded upon
mistaken lines. His policy of annexing each native state on the death of
its ruler without natural heirs produced a general feeling of insecurity
of tenure among the princes, and gave offence to the people of India.
This policy was reversed when India was taken over by the crown after
the Mutiny; and its reversal has led to the native princes being amongst
the most loyal subjects of the British government. The first state to
escheat to the British government was Satara, which had been
reconstituted by Lord Hastings on the downfall of the peshwa Baji Rao in
1818. The last direct representative of Sivaji died without a male heir
in 1848, and his deathbed adoption was set aside. In the same year the
Rajput state of Karauli was saved by the interposition of the court of
directors, who drew a fine distinction between a dependent principality
and a protected ally. In 1853 Jhansi suffered the same fate as Satara.
But the most conspicuous application of the doctrine of lapse was the
case of Nagpur. The last of the Bhonslas, a dynasty older than the
British government itself, died without a son, natural or adopted, in
1853. That year also saw British administration extended to the Berars,
or the assigned districts which the nizam of Hyderabad was induced to
cede as a territorial guarantee for the subsidies which he perpetually
kept in arrear. Three more distinguished names likewise passed away in
1853, though without any attendant accretion to British territory. In
the extreme south the titular nawab of the Carnatic and the titular raja
of Tanjore both died without heirs. Their rank and their pensions died
with them, though compassionate allowances were continued to their
families. In the north of India, Baji Rao, the ex-peshwa who had been
dethroned in 1818, lived on till 1853 in the enjoyment of his annual
pension of £80,000. His adopted son, Nana Sahib, inherited his
accumulated savings, but could obtain no further recognition.
Annexation of Oudh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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