Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/25



the history of the world there is no more wonderful story than that of the making of the British Empire in India. It was not the result of deliberate design. The early English settlers on the coasts of India thought only of protecting the small tracts of territory conceded to them against aggression from native princes and European rivals. For a long time they never dreamt even of questioning the sovereign rights of the native princes who exercised authority in the territories nearest to their possessions. The instructions which the agents on the spot received from the directors of the parent Company at home indicated, in the plainest language, that their business was to trade; that to trade advantageously, it was necessary to humour the native princes, to display courtesy and civility, to put away from them all thoughts of aggression. The object of the Company was to pay good dividends. Such a result could only be obtained by the development of peaceful enterprise.

Suddenly there came a change in the action of the English agents on the Coromandel coast. The English