Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/106

98 direct result of chronic anarchy, which arose from the inordinate and unchecked ambition indulged in by the native rulers. All these princes were scrambling for personal power, and not one of them was safe from the inroads of his neighbours; their councils were divided, and their tributaries in constant rebellion; their armies were continually clamouring for their pay, and their military leaders in a perpetual state of insubordination; they observed no duties, and they acknowledged no rights; society under their guidance was crumbling into ruins, and their subjects were pursuing their own selfish advantages. It was only natural, then, that men should combine to plunder and to devastate, and should continue to do so until there was a complete revolution in the native ideas of government. Without a reform in the lands subject to Maráthá influence, the reign of rapine must flourish, and if put down by force it must revive again like a noxious weed, and occasion ever-recurring exertions to give some temporary immunity from its ravages.

The conclusion was obvious, and the remedy could only be found in the imperial system introduced by Lord Wellesley. Some great power must arise in India, and weld the whole mass into a solid and civilised confederacy, bound together by the supremacy of public law and respect for international obligations, where the weak would find protection, and where all could enjoy security for their legitimate rights. India had been accustomed to a lord paramount, whom all acknowledged, and who in a fashion settled disputes,