A History of the Native States of India: Vol. I

0ne of the most important subjects that can engage the attention of the Indian public is the history of the Native States of India. The novel and unique character of this history, the instructive lesson it conveys, and. the very singular interest attached to it, constitute it a subject for serious and considerate study. It is true that during the palmy days of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire there were a number of vassal kings, who owed allegiance to the “Eternal city but the relation that subsisted between those subject kings and the Paramount Power was not of so close, intimate, and complex a nature as that which exists between the Native States of India and the British Government. The vassal kings of Rome acknowledged her supremacy, paid her tribute, and, in times of war, contributed their respective contingents to her army, but in other matters were quite independent. Such is not the case with the Native States of India.