MOCK DBQ

Document 1

Sirs, it has been five years since the Company gave me positive orders to take the neighboring state of Tanjore and lent me its troops for that purpose. It has been almost three years since, keeping my promise, I took Tanjore and expelled its ruler.
Since then, I have been paying, out of my state coffers, all the debts that the prince of Tanjore had accumulated, much of it to Europeans of other nations. He had mortgaged parts of his territory to the Dutch; I paid them off. I also paid the troops of his army the back wages that he owed them and took care to suppress the banditry in the Tanjore country that he had allowed to fester. I have also been preventing the Marathas* from attacking this country, by buying them off with large sums of money. I have made great advances to the prosperity of the inhabitants of Tanjore by giving them bulls and rice from my domains.
Sirs, it is well known that Tanjore lies in the Carnatic lowlands and that I am, by the blessing of God, the ruler of that part of India. It is only by your favor and assistance, Gentlemen, that I got possession of my right, and I am thankful to you day and night. Nonetheless, I cannot conclude this letter without noting that, by changing your mind and now insisting that the prince of Tanjore be restored to his throne, you are opening this region to your enemies. Reinstating the prince of Tanjore is just the same as inviting the French in this country, because, when they bring their forces here and start hostilities against you, he is certain to ally with them and supply them with everything they need. Give him back the revenues of Tanjore and you might as well be giving them to the French or to the Marathas. Whereas, should they remain in my hands, I will make sure that no part of the wealth of the country falls into the hands of our common enemies.


*an alliance of states in west-central India which were, at the time, at war with the British

Your Majesty,
Receiving Your letter and gifts, which You sent to me by Your special emissary, has honored me boundlessly. In acknowledgment of Your letter and gifts I respectfully offer You my most humble allegiance and obedience.
As a steadfast believer, and desiring, like You, to always support the noble religion of Muhammad, I have taken it upon myself in recent years to chastise and drive away the adherents of Christianity and especially the wicked English from these parts of India. Unable to continue fighting me in that war,* the English begged me for peace in the most abject manner. This is such a well-known fact that it hardly needs to be mentioned. With the divine aid and the blessing of God, I am now again firmly committed to the total destruction of the enemies of the faith and their extirpation from India.


*the Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–1784), which ended with the East India Company recognizing the independence of Mysore

I am decidedly of the opinion that the tranquility and indeed the security of our vast Indian territories depends on our preserving and protecting those native Indian principalities that have allied with us and rely on us for their security. Not only are these states incapable, in their present condition, of forming any dangerous alliances against us, but they also absorb many elements of sedition or rebellion, which might otherwise have been directed at our rule.
The other great benefit we derive from maintaining these native states is that their continued existence mitigates to some extent the bad general impression that our sovereignty produces in the eyes of many Indians. It helps us dispel the accusation that we make alliances in India only to serve our short-term goals and discard our former allies when they have served our purposes. While this accusation is in many cases untrue or exaggerated, it is one of the most common objections to our power.
It is further to be observed that the native princes, as men of high birth, are greatly respected by their subjects. As such they afford an example to their countrymen of submission to the rule of foreigners and, by doing so, they contribute greatly to the preservation of the general peace. I am convinced that any attempt of ours to annex their territories, while it may temporarily increase our revenues, will be a hazard to the permanence of our rule in India.

To God only belongs the World, and the command of it rests with Him!
Indian Princes! May you always be religious, virtuous, benevolent and brave, and the protectors of your own and of the religion of others. God has created you for the destruction of those who seek to destroy your faith.
It has now become evident to all men that the English are the enemies of all our religions. From time immemorial have they been trying to contaminate the Hindu and Muslim religions by the production and circulation of religious books through the medium of missionaries, and by destroying our own religious books that try to put forth arguments against them. The English have shown their efforts to contaminate our religion and traditions in various ways. First, by forcing Hindu widows to remarry; second, by abolishing our ancient customs; and third, by favoring and promoting those Indians who embrace the Christian faith. The English have also wrongfully held that the succession to the thrones of Indian princes is only permitted to natural sons and have insisted that rulers’ adopted sons are prohibited from succession. This is something that is contrary to Hindu scriptures, in which adopted sons are given the same privileges as natural heirs.
These are the ploys by which the English deprive us of our thrones and wealth—as seen in their recent actions in Nagpur and Oudh.* Now, in their latest outrage, they have given their [Indian] Sepoy troops a new rifle to use that requires the Sepoys to bite through bullet cartridges greased with animal fat** and have begun executing those Sepoys who refused to use the cartridges. I implore the Hindus in the name of the holy river Ganges and the God Vishnu, and I implore the Muslims in the name of Allah and the Holy Qur’an, to join us in destroying the English and in protecting our mutual welfare. Know, oh people, that you would never have another opportunity like this to drive the English away!


*former Indian states taken over by the British in 1853 and 1856, respectively
**The 1857 adoption of the Enfield rifle by the British Indian army was one of the immediate causes of the Sepoy Rebellion.

The practical difference between the British and the Russian empires, assuming one or the other is to be our master, is that, if we fall to the Russians, we would at least be spared the intrusion of having a Resident Political Officer.* It is my understanding that the Russians may put troop garrisons in their Asiatic provinces to give themselves military and political control, but, to the native princes of those provinces, Russian rule basically involves only the payment of tribute, the amount of which, if left to their own devices, the princes can always wring out of their subjects. The British, on the other hand, come upon us with all these preconceived ideas about good governance, administrative propriety, the duties of rulers towards their subjects, etc. They hold these ideas almost religiously (and, like religious ideas, they are not subject to discussion) but to us they are not only unnatural, but absolutely incomprehensible.
The presence of the British Political Officer exposes our weakness to our subjects; and the moment that happens, it is goodbye to our independence. If we do not act in precise conformity with the foreign notions of governance that the Political Officer—a junior representative of a distant European power, ignorant of the practical conditions of our Eastern life—demands of us, he immediately reports this fact to the British Imperial authorities in Calcutta, and his Empire then comes down on us with a heavy hand in the name of “humanity” or “civilization,” or some other such absurdity unheard of in our philosophy. If we were to fall under Russian rule, we shall no doubt be vassals, but vassals free at least to do as we please in our own backyard. We have no such luxury under the intolerable nuisance of the British Political Officer.


*After the mid-1840s, the British colonial government in India began appointing “Resident Political Officers” to oversee the actions of nominally independent Indian rulers.

Regarding the education of my eldest son, you had proposed several fine gentlemen as potential tutors, including Mr. Brian Egerton, previously tutor to the prince of Bikaner, Captain Colvin of the Political Department, tutor of the prince of Rampur, Mr. J. W. D. Johnstone of the Education Department, tutor to the prince of Gwalior and professor Theodore Morrison of Aligarh College. I have chosen to appoint Mr. Egerton, subject to the following conditions:
He shall be considered strictly as a private servant in my household, and as such shall be subject to all restrictions which ancient customs and my personal habits have imposed on that service. He shall in no way meddle with the political and administrative affairs of my state of Hyderabad. Nor should he, without my permission, visit, receive, or have any contact with any Hyderabadi official or nobleman whatsoever. Violation of these conditions will entail his immediate dismissal at my discretion.