Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/366

318 "for the regular payment of the expenses of the augmented subsidiary force."

The position of the Vizir of Oudh was much more important. We have seen that Clive and Hastings maintained this prince for the safety of the northwest frontier of the British, which was still covered by his dominions. But the Afghan king, Zaman Shah, was now making his last inroad into the Panjab, and the Maratha chief Sindhia was in possession of Delhi; while the Oudh vizir was a weak ruler whose country was in confusion, whose troops were mutinous, and whose finances were disordered by the heavy strain of the English subsidy. In these circumstances Lord Wellesley required the vizir to disband his disorderly forces, in order that more British troops might be subsidized for the effective defence of his dominions. The vizir, under pressure of many perplexities, declared that he would abdicate, but afterwards retracted, and the Governor-General, who would willingly have had a free hand in Oudh, received the retractation with "astonishment, regret, and indignation."

It must be admitted that Lord Wellesley subordinated the feelings and interests of his ally to paramount considerations of British policy in a manner that showed very little patience, forbearance, or generosity. Nevertheless, it was really most necessary to set in order the affairs of Oudh, and the result of Lord Wellesley's somewhat dictatorial negotiations was that the vizir ceded all his frontier provinces, including Rohilkhand, to the Company; the revenue of the territory