Wellesley

Lord Wellesley was Governor-General of Fort Williams from 1798 until 1805. The 4th and final Anglo-Mysore war was conducted during his rule, and Tipu was killed. Furthermore, the 2nd Anglo-Maratha War broke out, and Holkar, Scindia, and Bhonsle were defeated. The rulers of Jodhpur, Bundi, Peshwa, Jaipur, Mysore, Oudh, Macheri, Tanjore, Bharatpur, Berar, and the Nizam of Hyderabad all supported Wellesley’s “subsidiary alliance” philosophy. In 1798, Lord Wellesley came to India as Governor-General when the British fought a global war with France.

More about Lord Wellesley

Lord Wellesley believed that the moment had arrived to subjugate several Indian territories to British rule.  The Marathas and Mysore, two of India’s most formidable dynasties, declined sharply by 1797. The Marathas were squandering their strength in mutual intrigues and battles, while Mysore had been reduced to a mere shell of its former glory during the 3rd Anglo-Mysore War. The political climate in India was conducive to (British) expansionism: violence was both easy and lucrative.

Wellesley’s Administrative Plans 

 To attain his political goals, Wellesley depended on three methods: 

• outright wars
• the Subsidiary Alliances system
• Assumptions of formerly subjugated rulers’ regions

Lord Wellesley pioneered the notion of a subsidiary alliance.

The ruler of the allying Indian State was required under the subsidiary alliance system to accept the permanent stationing of a British military within his territory and pay a payment for its maintenance.

Alliance of Subsidiaries

The Indian states effectively gave away their sovereignty by forming a Subsidiary Alliance.

• The right to defend oneself
• Resolving issues with its neighbours
• Its autonomy
• Keeping diplomatic connections intact
• Hiring international specialists

Many of the unwaged soldiers united with the roving gangs of Pindarees who terrorized India in the early nineteenth century.

On either side, the British reaped significant benefits from the Subsidiary Alliance. On the expenditure of the Indian countries, they can now afford to uphold a large army.

Every year, the Nizam is supposed to discharge the French-trained men while maintaining a reserve army of 6 battalions. The Nizam gave a section of his land to the Company in exchange for financial payment in 1800, and the subsidiary army was increased. The British pledged to safeguard his kingdom against Maratha attacks in exchange.

In 1801, the Nawab of Avadh had enforced the precursor, of a Subsidiary Treaty. In exchange for a stronger auxiliary army, the Nawab was compelled to give up almost half of his domain, including Rohilkhand and the territory between the Yamuna and Ganga rivers.

Wellesley was given much harsher punishments by Surat, Carnatic, Mysore, and Tanjore.

Of course, a Subsidiary Treaty would never be approved by Tipu of Mysore. On the divergent, he had never recovered from the slaughter of half his fortune in 1791. He toiled assiduously to prepare his troops for the impending war against the British. In 1799, before French aid could reach Tipu, the British army attacked and overpowered him in a short but bloody conflict. Tipu refused to accept humiliating terms for peace. 

Tipu died as a hero on May 4, 1799, defending his capital Seringapatam. His soldiers stayed devoted to him until the very end.

The Fourteenth Anglo-Mysore War

Napoleon’s army sailed to Egypt in 1798 and conquered its rulers. Napoleon’s next move would be to take the British possessions in India. The Kingdom of Mysore, whose king Tipu had wanted France as an ally, was crucial to such a step. In a letter to Tipu, Napoleon stated that he would deploy his vast armies to India to wipe away the British. This plan, however, was never carried through since the French were destroyed by the British at the Battle of the Nile (1798).

Meanwhile, Lord Wellesley had decided to smash Tipu. His soldiers marched into Mysore and took control of Shrirangpatnam. One of Tipu’s commanders, Mir Sadiq, was purchased by the British and fooled Tipu, resulting in Tipu being shot and killed during the favourable English position. Tipu had deployed iron-cased rockets in the Third and Fourth Mysore Wars. It prompted the British to create their own Rockets. 

Conclusion

We have reached the end of the article. By now, you must have got an idea of who is Lord Wellesley and what were the plans administered by him in India. As a result of the Fourth Mysore War’s conclusion, Mysore became a princely state under the suzerainty of the East India Company. The Woodyar family was restored to the kingdom of Mysore, and Mysore fell under British control indirectly.