[5]
forward march of the Indian nation under pax Britannica, they are destined to play an important part. They possess a utility all their own, and it is impossible that the purposes they are intended to serve in the economy of this vast empire can be accomplished by any other agency. It is, therefore, in the interests of the British Government as well as of the people of India that these states should be preserved intact and their privileges respected as much as possible. I do not mean to contend that when an Indian Prince is oppressive and tyrannical and palpably misgoverns his people, the Paramount Power in the exercise of its overrule should not heed his conduct nor take no notice of it. By virtue of its very position and the responsibilities that rest upon it, the Paramount Power may, in such an instance, be justified in taking suitable action ; but no interference of a radical nature should, I submit, be ordered till an extreme case is made out, not on mere exparte reports of its Political
