Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c9.s6.17

v1.c9.s6.17

In proportion as the strength of the house of Nāgpur decayed through internal discord, lack of far-sighted statesmanship, and incapacity in the rulers, the power of the English increased through their successive triumphs in many a distant quarter of India. So great was the prestige of British arms and British statesmanship even in provinces untraversed by a single British soldier, that no Indian power except Tipu Sultān would willingly provoke an encounter with them. Hence, the most potent cause of the final release of these provinces from the long-drawn agony of Marātha incursions was the recognition of British paramountcy, in fact if not in theory, by the Indian potentates, and the first fruit of that paramountcy, namely *Pax Britannica*, which alone has made the birth of a new India possible.