Pondicherry, to regain his dominions. The
Sultan of Mysore, was again defeated, and slain; the dynasty of Hyder
Ali ceased to reign, and the East India Company took possession of the
whole southern peninsula. A subsequent war with the Mahratta powers
completely established the British supremacy in India. Delhi, the
capital of the Great Mogul, fell into the hands of the English, and
the emperor himself became a stipendiary of a company of merchants.
The conquest of the country of the Mahrattas was indeed successful,
but was attended by vast expenses, which entailed a debt on the
company of about nineteen millions of pounds. The brilliant successes
of Wellesley, however, were not appreciated by the Board of Directors,
who wanted dividends rather than glory, and he was recalled.

[Sidenote: Conquest of India.]

There were no new conquests until 1817, under the government of the
Earl of Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings. He made war on the
Pindarries, who were bands of freebooters in Central India. They were
assisted by several native powers, which induced the governor-general
to demand considerable cessions of territory. In 1819, the British
effected a settlement at Singapore by which a lucrative commerce was
secured to Great Britain.

Lord Hastings was succeeded by the Earl of Amherst, under whose
administration the Burmese war commenced, and by which large
territories, between Bengal and China, were added to the British
empire, (1826.)

On the overthrow of the Mogul empire, the kingdom of the Sikhs, in the
northern part of India, and that of the Affghans, lying west of the
Indus, arose in importance--kingdoms formerly subject to Persia. The
former, with all its dependent provinces, has recently been conquered,
and annexed to the overgrown dominions of the Company.

In 1833, the charter of the East India Company expired, and a total
change of system was the result. The company was deprived of its
exclusive right of trade, the commerce with India and China was freely
opened to all the world, and the possessions and rights of the company
were ceded to the nation for an annual annuity of six hundred and
thirty thousand pounds. The political government of India, however,
was continued to the company until 1853.

[Sidenote: Consequences of the Conquest.]

Thus has England come in possession of one of the oldest and most
powerful of the Oriental empires, containing a population of one
hundred and thirty millions of