Page:The empire and the century.djvu/730

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RELATIONS WITH THE GOVERNMENT
687

and the peninsula of Kathiawar in Bombay, or the Madras States of Travancore, Cochin, and Vizianagram. It may be sufficient to note that the relations between the Government of India and Native States are governed by treaties and engagements, varying in their conditions in accordance with the size and importance of each State, and the circumstances under which it came into contact with British power. Generally speaking, the position of all Native States is one of subordinate cooperation, the Government undertaking to protect them and to acknowledge their independence on conditions of loyalty to the Crown of England, of good administration, and of due fulfilment of treaty obligations. Some of these treaties have in many respects become obsolete, owing to altered circumstances and to the disappearance of conditions, such as internal warfare and the aggressions of foreign Powers, which were the cause of the original agreements; but, although no treaties have been abrogated, as time has gone on the ties between the British Government and the protected Princes have been strengthened and drawn closer by a series of enactments dealing more directly with the rights of Empire, and emphasizing the policy of union and amalgamation of interests in all matters affecting the protection, the expansion, and the welfare of the States on the one part, and of the Government of India on the other. Thus, the larger principalities contribute towards the maintenance of troops, and provide land for cantonments and railways (admitting the right of jurisdiction of the paramount power in such areas), and facilitate the extension of roads, railways, and telegraphs constructed by the Imperial Government throughout their dominions. They engage not to enter into relations with any other State, to refer all disputes of an interstatal character to the adjudication of the British Government through their political officers, and to employ no Europeans in their service without the sanction of Government. They agree to the extradition of criminals,