XXXV111 INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS

was quite in harmony with the system of patriarchal government1
which prevailed in British India till the early years of the present
century; but as a result of the gradual introduction of political
reforms in British India that oft-repeated insistence on benevolent
government became an anachronism. In the days of Lord Curzon
intervention in the interest of benevolent government reached its
zenith.2

Lord Curzon's 'vigorous, if unwise, control' disturbed the
Princes ; but Lord Minto introduced a new policy.3 tk The expla-
nation/' says Dodwell, "lies less in any belated recognition of the
princes' rights than in the fact that political movements within
British India itself were beginning to dispute the right and autho-
rity by which India was governed. Assailed by the intelligentsia,
the government looked round naturally for allies and helpers. In
1857 the princes had in general aided to resist the tide of the
Mutiny. In 1907 they might aid to slacken the onslaught of poli-
tical unrest. They were therefore to be cultivated rather than
coerced ".4 This is why Lord Minto spoke of the ' identity of in-
terests between the Imperial Government and the Durbars'*
Gradually the Princes became—to quote Mahatma Gandhi—
" British officers in Indian dress ".5

The policy of rallying the Princes found expression in two
significant changes. The Imperial Service Troops, employed for
the first time in the Hunza campaign of 1893, provided opportu-
nities of military co-operation* In 1914 they were 22,000 strong.
The loyalty of the Princes was so assured that the State forces,
instead of being looked upon as a source of possible danger,6 were
regarded as useful allies. This was a complete repudiation of Lord
Wellesley's policy of holding the Indian Princes in check by the
subsidiary forces. Secondly, for the sake of political co-operation
the old arrangement forbidding the States to enter into relations
with each other save through the medium of the British Govern*
ment was given up. Lord Lytton, afraid of political unrest, wanted
to establish an Indian Privy Council consisting of the leading
chiefs, who were to consult with and advise the Governor-General

1 Document No. 31, .
3 Butler Committee Report.
3 Document No. 64,
*The Cambridge History of India, Vol. VI, p. 506.
5 Talk with H. N. Brailsford, London, October, 193L
6 See Arthur, Life of Lord Kitchener, Vol. II, pi 135. '