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 EIC in
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 took 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 the 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 the 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.

First of all, Richard selected Nizam of Hyderabad, Tipu Sultan of Mysore and Maratha as his
probable targets. Wellesley dealt with the Nizam of Hyderabad at first who was defended by
Raymond’s French Revolutionary force. Sudden death of Raymond made the task of
Wellesley’s Hyderabad mission quite easier. He 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.

Wellesley’s next target was Tipu Sultan. For 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 who had root hatred of Europeans and also a
projector of Islamic Jihad. Wellesley also wrote a letter to company directors by saying that
he had no intention of warfare but it was Tipu who was provoking for probable conflict as he
was a tyrant. Here we could say that, Richard Wellesley had a habit of providing wrong
information. 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. 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 the 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.
He fought till his last breath although he knew that he alone could not harm British strength
that much. His bravery was acknowledged as ‘his gallant last stand’ by the British Army.

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 we 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.

While facing Maratha, Wellesley got Baji Rao II from Peshwa, Daulat Rao from Scindia and
Jaswant Rao from Holker. All of them were young and inexperienced. After the death of
Nana Phadnavis who was the last capable person of uniting Maratha, these young folks came
into power. Instead of keeping unity among them, they increased internal conflict and were
busy in conspiring and intrigue against each other.

Peshwa Bajirao II got afraid by the traditional conflict among the Marathas and thus asked
for an alliance with British Resident. Wellesley found it as another weapon of diving Maratha
confederacy and signed the ‘Treaty of Bassein’ with him. Under this treaty Bajirao II would
be protected by the British. Actually, Bajirao II lacked enough 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 defeat of Mughal Empire. The ray of Mughal
Power had ended on that day when Shah Alam had to rely on others for his welfare.
Wellesley took this chance to communicate 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. Having no other
options in hand, Shah Alam had to accept it. Here, it showed the helplessness of a Mughal
Emperor.

Wellesley faced both Scindia and Holker to gain complete dominance in India. They fought
several battles against the Marathas in Assaye, Aligarh Fort and near Yamuna River. In every
battle, Maratha troops had fought really well. They created a strong defence against the
Company armies. Arthur had described Scindia’s army as the second best of India after them.
They surprised the company army several times by their war plans. They had well calculation
about the possible attacks by the British. All these battles had resulted in huge causalities.
Moreover, it is to mention that the Maratha troops were really brave in the battlefield.
Although they knew that they would not be able to defeat British troops, they fought till the
last breath. At the same time British troops had shown experience and courage in winning
these battles. These battles were the last time when British fought against French armies in
India thus ending a rivalry of more than a century. Additionally, the British took control of
the whole India.

Afterwards, East India Company accused Wellesley for placing the company in the throne of
Mughal intentionally. Wellesley had protested to this accusation but in reality this was a true
allegation against him. Moreover, Wellesley had to expense a lot of money which eventually
resulted to increase the debt of the company. EIC Court of Directors listed several objections
against Wellesley and recalled him to London by the end of 1803. Later on, British
Government decided to rush the power development of EIC. They decided to permit other
merchant groups to trade in India. In 1833, The East India Company Charter Bill was passed
which removed its right to trade. 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.

In this chapter, we see EIC moving to the peak of their success and also the declining trend
from the peak. For Wellesley’s expansionist attitude, EIC had to shut off their operations in
India. EIC which was once an unequal power became a history by the shutdown of their
operation. Richard Wellesley came with a dream in this subcontinent. He made this dream
successful but did not enjoy this victory for long time. A chunk of allegations against him
made it hard for him to stay in India. After his departure, EIC started to lose its glory, power
and domination. Finally, the chapter of EIC was ended by the shutdown of their operations in
India.