East India Company (EIC) has a long and eventful history in the Indian subcontinent.

They
have enormous impact in this region. Actually, they have done something extraordinary in
this region so that the history of this region cannot be written without mentioning them. In the
book, The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, written by William
Dalrymple portrayed the rise of the EIC in Indian subcontinent. He depicted every event with
adequate details. In this paper, I tried to analyse chapter-09 of the book which titled “The
Corpse of India”.

Chapter-09: “The Corpse of India” evolved with the expansion strategy of the EIC. The
central character of this chapter was the newly appointed (1898) Governor General of
Calcutta, Richard, Marquess Wellesley. Although he is not that much remembered in the
page of history, he himself contributed much to change the history of Indian subcontinent.
His mastermind had brought the whole Mughal Empire under the Company rule. He had a
personal vision and mission to take administrative control of the whole India. Eventually, he
finished this work by 1903. This chapter mainly depicts the Company and the British success
or in a narrow sense Richard Wellesley’s success who gained the full control of Mughal
India.

Wellesley had two ambition or goals in his mind from the very beginning of his arrival in
India. One is securing India for British Empire and second is ousting French from India. This
statement showed that Richard had less loyalty for the company for whom he supposed to
work. He had more loyalty for the British Empire. Remember that Wellesley was a politician
from his very young age. He preferred politics more than business. Another fact was that he
had hatred or fear about French. The reason behind this hatred and fear could be the brilliant
history of the French military. Again, this hatred and fear could be seen from his personal
point of view. As the French had a rivalry with the British and Wellesley was loyal and
obedient towards Britain, it was natural of having hatred for the enemy of Britain which was
France. Out of this hatred, Wellesley decided to take control of all the regions of Indian
subcontinent which was then dominated by the French mercenaries. Wellesley started his
homework against French even before reaching to India. While his ship was on repair in Cap,
Richard met Major William Kirkpatrick who worked his entire adult life in India and has
observed French mercenaries from very close contact. Richard took Major Kirkpatrick with
him to Calcutta to implement his plan of expelling the French from India. It showed the
desperateness of Wellesley of making India free from the French domination.
Afterwards, Richard selected his probable targets to achieve his ultimate success. Finally, He
selected Nizam of Hyderabad, Tipu Sultan of Mysore and Maratha as his targets. First of all,
Wellesley decided to deal with the Nizam of Hyderabad which was defended by Raymond’s
French Revolutionary force. Raymond was a brave warrior who had firm love and admiration
for his country, France. So, it was not easy for Wellesley to face Richard. But this time
Wellesley got great support from fortune. His potential enemy Raymond died out suddenly. It
made the task of James Kirkpatrick; in charge of Wellesley’s Hyderabad mission quite easier.
Wellesley made a secret deal with the Nizam of Hyderabad by creating an alliance between
them. Wellesley was promised to get a good amount of annual subsidy from the Nizam along
with the ousting of French force. Wellesley won his first victory against French troops
without having a shot and without any hardship. This increased the confidence of Wellesley
that he could take control of the whole India by his well-trained army.

Wellesley’s next target was Tipu Sultan. For implementing this mission, Wellesley worked
hard. First of all, he had to manage funding for this warfare. Secondly, he made propaganda
against Tipu that he is cruel and harmful enemy of the company. Tipu is accused of having
root hatred of Europeans and also a projector of Islamic Jihad. It was added that Tipu was
tyrant and not a good human being for the people of his kingdom. Wellesley also wrote a
letter to company directors by saying that he has no intention of warfare but it was Tipu who
was provoking for probable conflict. Here we could say that, Richard Wellesley had a habit
of providing wrong information. He did not provide the true information to the company
directors. It was already known that Wellesley had no intention of peace and thus planned to
attack Tipu.

Tipu heard about Wellesley’s plan and asked for help to the local rulers of India. He asked for
unity among all rulers forgetting all conflicts between them. Tipu contacted with the Nizam
of Hyderabad, Marathas and even to the ruler of Afghanistan for military assistance. It
showed that Tipu had a fear that he would not be able to defeat mighty British troops by his
own.

It is to be said that Tipu Sultan was a brave person. When British attacked his kingdom, he
refused to back down. Rather, he wished to fight like a lion. One statement of Tipu can prove
this stand very well,
 ‘I would rather live a day as a lion than a lifetime as a sheep … Better to die like a
soldier, than to live a miserable dependant on the infidels, in their list of pensioned
rajas and nabobs.’

Just like his words, he fought like a brave. He made strong resistance against British troops.
When British troops reached towards the wall, Tipu left his lunch and went to the battlefield.
Here, he fought like a hero although he knew that he alone could not harm British strength
that much. Still, he fought till his last breath. His bravery was acknowledged as ‘his gallant
last stand’ by the British Army.

One thing can be added here. When Tipu was quite sure of his defeat, he consulted his
Brahmin astrologer about the future of the empire. He got something negative from the
astrologer and gave some animals for divination and asked for the prosperity of the Empire. It
showed that Tipu was a superstitious person who believed in divination. Another thing is
crucial here. Although Tipu was a Muslim, his astrologer was a Brahmin. That means, Tipu
established an environment of co-existence among Muslim and Hindus in his kingdom.
Although he fought several wars against Hindu rulers, his kingdom was out from religious
dogmatism. This view became clearer when he saw the picture of Tipu’s funeral. Not only
Muslims but also Hindu populations showed much love and respect to the dead body of Tipu
Sultan. This statement is further verified by following words,

‘Numbers of his confidential Hindoo servants who during the war fell into our hands,
acknowledged him to be a lenient and indulgent master.’ (416)

By this victory of Wellesley over Tipu, he managed to disarm largest French force in India
(Hyderabad) and defeated and destroyed the second largest in the Mysore under Tipu Sultan.
Then, only the French-commanded corps of the Marathas stood between him and complete
mastery of peninsular India.

Earlier I have said that Richard Wellesley got favour from his luck. While facing Maratha,
again he got a huge favour of fortune. On 13 March 1800, Maratha Confederacy’s Prime
Minister Nana Phadnavis had died. He had a brilliant career with Maratha diplomacy and was
the last capable person who could keep Maratha Confederacy united. Moreover, he was the
person who made it possible to unite all Maratha kingdoms earlier. With his death British
Resident at Pune, General Palmer wrote that

‘all the wisdom and moderation of the Maratha government departed.” (420)

Nana Phadnavis’s death made the task of Wellesley quite easier. Because three dominant
house of Maratha; Peshwa, House of Scindia and House of Holker got three teenager as their
leader who increased the internal conflict between them in every possible ways. Peshwa head
Baji Rao II, Scindia head Daulat Rao and Holkar head Jaswant Rao kept themselves busy in
conspiring and intrigue against each other.

By the traditional internal conflict of Holker and Scindia, Peshwa Bajirao II got afraid and
asked for an alliance with British Resident. Wellesley found it as another weapon of diving
Maratha confederacy and he took it happily. He offered Bajirao II the same proposal which
was proposed to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Bajirao agreed to the proposal. From here on,
Bajirao II kept a close contact with Company allies to rescue him from this trouble. Further,
He was rescued by his company allies and a treaty was signed among them which are known
as the ‘Treaty of Bassein’. Inexperience and instability of Bajirao II influenced him to sign
this treaty. Again, Bajirao II lacked courage and determination to fight against mighty British
troops.

Shah Alam was the last survivor of the Mughal Empire. It is exactly the right word ‘survivor’
which goes with him because he only survived. Nothing of Mughal pride had left under him.
In his own words, “he was merely a high-class prisoner” (425). He had to rely on Maratha
rulers for his welfare. That is why Shah Alam had witnessed poverty and negligence from the
Marathas. In my sense, this was the moral degradation of Mughal Empire. The ray of Mughal
Power had ended on that day when Shah Alam had to rely on others for his welfare.
Thereafter, he was just a nominal emperor.

Shah Alam was good at literary works. He liked to write poem and verses in his free time. He
wrote a novel of 4000 pages named Ajaib ul- Qasas. This story is firmly notable. In this
novel, he talked about a prince who passed his life in helplessness due to several
circumstances. This matches the condition of Shah Alam greatly. He himself was helpless in
his last phase of life. At the same time, he wrote about a lavish royal setting in the novel. It
might reflect his internal desire to be treated as an Emperor. Poverty and ill treatment from
the Marathas did not suit with an Emperor. Shah Alam might be frustrated of this issue and
wrote his internal desire in forms of writings.

Wellesley took this chance to communicate with Shah Alam. Through Shah Alam’s confidant
Sayyid Reza Khan, the British had started communication with Shah Alam. In a secret letter,
Wellesley proposed to provide asylum to Shah Alam and to take Mughals back under
company care. This was eventually the plan of diminishing the Mughal Empire from India.

Wellesley faced both Scindia and Holker to gain complete dominance in India. British troops
faced two major wars against them. The battle between Scindia and the Company is known as
the battle of Assaye. Arthur used his intelligence in this war but the Scindia’s were proved
quite smart. They created a strong defence against the Company armies. Arthur had described
Scindia’s army as the second best of India after them. Scindia was also clever enough to fight
this battle. They surprised the company army several times by their war plans. They had well
calculation about the possible attacks by the British. But finally they lost to the British troops.
It caused huge causalities in this battle both from Scindia and from the Company.

On the other hand, Lord Lake was moving towards the Mughal capital. With his military
troops he entered into the Maratha territory. Here, in Aligarh Fort, he negotiated with General
Perron. According to the negotiation, Perron would hand over the fort to the British. In
return, he would get safe passage with all French mercenaries and their lifetime savings
intact.

Lake faced too difficult defence in the fort. He tried to negotiate with money and other
facilities but the Marathas did not accept this. They fought valiantly against the British troops
till the end. Finally, Lord Lake took control of the fort after huge causalities of both parties.

As Perron had already left the fort, Scindia’s army was now dominated by Lieutenant
Colonel Louis Bourquien. All the soldiers were loyal to him and agreed to fight the war
against the British troops. Both Lake and Bourquien moved forward to face each other. On
September 11, Lake was attacked suddenly by the Scindia’s army. This attack was so massive
from the Scindia. It caused several causalities of British side. But the Scindia remained
defensive which gave booth time and opportunity to Lake to rally his men once again. Lake
came back brilliantly and succeeded to defeat Maratha soldiers. This battle was the last time
when British fought against French armies in India thus ending a rivalry of more than a
century.
By this battle of Delhi, the future fate of India was decided. Marathas were the last
indigenous Indian power who could fight hand to hand with the British. After that war,
British troops met both Scindia and Holker in several small battle but those were not that
much remarkable.

Finally, the British took control of the whole India. All the major regimes of peninsular India
had now either been annexed or become allies of the Company through a process of conquest,
collaboration and co-option. Wellesley and Arthur were remarkable in this mission. A
statement from Arthur could prove this easily.

‘Your policy and our power have reduced all the powers in India to the state of mere
cyphers.’ (450)

Wellesley as a cunning person never relied only on military force or on money. He always
tried to frustrate or hopelessly entrap his enemies. Wellesley seduced, corrupt and bribe the
potential enemies. First of all, he entrapped the Commander-in-Chief of Scindia’s northern
forces, General Pierre Perron who already invested so much money in India. He showed
interest to accept Wellesley’s proposal. In this case, Wellesley proved his brilliance in
managing war related affairs. It also proved that as a war planner, Wellesley was superb.

The Qu’tb Minar of India was hit by a massive earthquake. It was considered as a bad omen.
Previously, it was said that Shah Alam was a superstitious person. For this reason, he thought
that this was the right time to negotiate once again with the British. In public, he said that he
would fight against the British but internally, he kept close connection with Lord Lake saying
that this public announcement was just an eye-wash. But this time Shah Alam wanted a
security that the British would not betray with him. He asked for a written document of this
agreement.

Shah Alam congratulated the company troops after their victory and received them with
proper honour and ceremonies. As Scindia’s troops were not that much famous in Delhi, local
people did not look sad by the departure of Maratha regime. From then, Shah Alam became
the ‘chessboard king’. He did not have that much power in his hand but he was happy with
the settlement provided by the British. At least, he escaped from fighting wars at his late age.
But as a person, Shah Alam was so decent and polite. His reign was not that much successful
throughout his life but somehow he managed to kept the Mughal flame alive.

East India Company accused Wellesley for placing the company in the throne of Mughal.
Wellesley had protested to this accusation but in reality this was a true allegation against him.
He took control of the Mughal throne and established a sophisticated administration and civil
service. But for this reason, Wellesley had to expense a lot of money which eventually
resulted to increase the debt of the company. Within his six years of placement in India, he
increased the debt of the company by 14.5million pound. Court of Directors of the company
listed several objections against Wellesley and recalled him to London by the end of 1803.

Afterwards, the Company became more powerful day by day. British Government decided to
rush this power development of the company. British Government decided to permit other
merchant groups to trade in India. In 1825, it was remarked that the existence of the company
can be threatening for the British. As a result, they took an action in 1833 by passing The
East India Company Charter Bill which removed its right to trade. Then, the company
became just a governing corporation. On May 10, 1857, EIC’s own private army rose up in
revolt against its employer. After this incident, British government decided to terminate the
EIC in India. The Company’s navy was disbanded and its army passed to the Crown. In 1859,
it was within the walls of Allahabad Fort. Finally in 1874, they quietly shut down their
operation in India.