Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/281

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OUR ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY.
257

pany the province of Canara, and the districts of Coimbatoor and Daraporum; all the territory between the British possessions in the Carnatic and those of Malabar, with the forts commanding the ghauts or passes to the table-land, and the fortress, city, and island of Seringapatam. To the Nizam were assigned the districts of Gooty and Gurrumconda, together with a tract of country along the line of Chittledroog, Sera, Nundydroog, and Colar. To the Mahrattas were offered Harponelly, Soonda, Anagoondy, Chittledroog, and a part of Biddenoor; but as they refused to accept these territories, they were afterwards divided between the British and their allies.

Thus, as a historian remarks, the balance of power of the whole empire was thrown into the hands of Great Britain; presenting an irresistible force, and enabling her either to concentrate the most efficient part of the resources of Mysore in one mass, for the single object of her own defence against any possible combination; or to throw the same weight into that scale which might appear to require such an aid, in order to preserve the general tranquillity on the solid bases of justice and moderation.

The beneficial consequences to the Company in a pecuniary point of view, by the final arrangements of territory, were very great. There was an augmentation of direct revenue of upwards of two and a half millions sterling; while the subsidiary treaty with the new Rajah gave them as much more; the whole making a net annual increase of about four millions. Nor did the country itself suffer, for it is a pleasing reflection that the inhabitants soon returned to their ancient customs; the deserted villages were soon repeopled; and, under the fostering hand of British protection, the fertile environs of Seringapatam soon began to flourish in a renewed state of peaceful cultivation.