A History of the Mahrattas v2.c53.31

v2.c53.31

if the British Government renounced its claims to the territory in which any petty state was situated, all obligation to protect it was dissolved. It is not clear, in the circumstances then existing, in what manner Sir George Barlow meant to apply this latter argument, excepting to the Raja of Boondee; but with respect to the former observation, as far as regarded the contentions of those states, Lord Lake had before expressed his opinion that, if left to themselves, they would quarrel with each other, call in the aid of the native powers in their vicinity, and large armies of irregulars would be contending upon the frontier of the most fertile provinces of the British Government, against whose eventual excesses there would be no well-grounded security, but a military force in a constant state of preparation. Had his Lordship’s life been extended to the term which might have been reasonably hoped, he would not only have seen his prediction verified, but that a military force, acting on the defensive, afforded no certain security against the incursions of swarms of brigands which were thus nourished.