Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/24

xvi of the Péshwa, the overthrow of the Maráthás and Pindáris, the Marquis of Hastings closed a campaign, which restoring British protection to Rájpútáná, placed us formally on the pinnacle we now occupy. Thenceforward we were forced to go onwards. We annexed the Panjáb, annexed Sind, and sucked in Sattárá, the dominions of the Bhonslá, and Oudh. Suddenly the overgrown army of mercenaries we had created, feeling its power, rose in revolt. Again did England designedly assert her supremacy. The mutiny crushed, we found ourselves face to face with a new order of things. Thenceforward there were to be no more annexations. But the crushing of the mutiny had been but a continuation of the policy of Clive, of Hastings, of Wellesley, of Hardinge, of Dalhousie — a continuation forced upon us, but still a continuation. We thus possess India by our own act; we took the responsibility upon ourselves, and we are morally bound by it. On whom else could we cast it, if we would? We would not make it over to any European power; we could not, without assuming the fearful responsibility of a terrible and inevitable future, resign it to a native prince! No — we have gained it and we must keep it. For my part