History · Ch 10 — Rebels and the Raj — The Revolt of 1857 and Its Representations
“A cherry that will drop into our mouth one day”
“A cherry that will drop into our mouth one day”
The British had long feared that their Indian empire might one day be lost, and the Revolt of 1857 seemed to confirm that fear. In the immediate aftermath, Governor-General Lord Canning wrote a private letter in which he described the rebellion as “a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day” — meaning that the uprising, however alarming, would ultimately hand the British a perfect excuse to destroy the last vestiges of Mughal authority. Canning believed that by crushing the revolt, the British could finally annex Delhi and end the symbolic sovereignty of the Mughal emperor, an outcome they had long desired but lacked a pretext for. This phrase captures …
Subsidiary Alliance. The Subsidiary Alliance was a system devised by Lord Wellesley in 1798. All those who entered into such an alliance with the British had to accept certain terms and conditions: (a) the British would protect their ally from external and internal threats to their power; (b) a British armed contingent would be stationed in the ally's territory; (c) the ally would provide the resources for maintaining this contingent; and (d) the ally could enter into agreements with other rulers, or engage in warfare, only with the permission of the British. A *Res …