The Anarchy by William Dalrymple – a warning from history. William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company is undoubtedly one of the best narratives on the East India Company. Dalrymple’s story telling is unrivalled as is the depth of research, and paints a picture of ruthlessness by the British and in fighting between the nawabs. It is, however, a narrow portrayal, without the wider understanding of the trading and economic impact of the Company in India and beyond.
There are numerous characters over the years with bad guys on both sides. Dalrymple has much to complain about in the business of the East India Company but the wars between the different nawabs actually form a significant part of this period of history before the Company could exploit their differences.
One is Mir Jaffa who had to pay off England when Robert Clive was in charge. Mir Jaffa paid a state visit to Clive in the booming Calcutta with its theatre and courthouse where a ball was held. Robert Clive certainly had an ignominious time in India. Dalrymple calls him a “ruthless unprincipled plunderer.” Clive wrote to his father saying he had brought about a “revolution scarcely paralleled in history.” His victory at Plassey turned The Company into a military power. The Company were still largely limited to the Bengal at the time.
After a brief stint back in England Clive could not refuse the offer of governorship of Bengal: “he left his wife and children at the quayside, and was accompanied instead by a French chef, a band of four musicians and twelve dozen chests of champagne.” Clive sensed a financial opportunity and “wrote secretly in cipher to his agent in London to mortgage all his property and to buy as many shares as possible.”
After Clive came Warren Hastings. A visit by three Crown Councillors to him in Calcutta did not go well – “when receiving them for luncheon at his house in informal attire: “surely Mr Hastings could have put on a ruffled shirt.” Hastings then had a feud with Philip Francis of the Supreme Council in Bengal, who challenged him to a duel. It became a farce as neither knew how to use their guns, which kept misfiring. In the end Hastings managed a shot on target but Francis survived.
The Company could have been evicted from India. Under Hastings, it had entered a difficult period, in debt, with nawabs combining with the French and Haider, the Sultan of Mysore, but they missed their opportunity to see off the Company, due to a lack of initiative and self preservation. In 1780 the Marathas had an opportunity to expel the Company for good but Hastings managed to break the unity of the Maratha confederacy.
Although not discussed in much detail Dalrymple does raise that the British Empire was ‘tottering’. They had been kicked out of the USA over the tea tax and warnings of the Company. The British purchase of India was described as more ‘imaginary than real.’
Hastings ended up being impeached, but the latter demonstrated the ignorance of the British about the subcontinent. Hastings was ultimately cleared of all charges but the scars from it led to ‘years of depression.’ Dalrymple asserts the trial did mean that the corruption, violence and venality of the Company was publicised, leading to greater government supervision in 1784 and then nationalisation many years later in 1858.
Under Cornwallis The Company became more oppressive with all non-Europeans ’treated with disdain’ and removed from positions in government with land and taxation reforms to increase revenue but many old Mughal landowning families ruined.
Despite having surrendered half his kingdom in 1792 Wellesley’s army went to battle against the sultan Tipu, who had previously defeated the British. Tipu’s city Srirangaptnam was raped and pillaged and no longer exists. Wellesley called Tipu the “corpse of India.” Under Wellesley the Company were becoming ‘well-armed, well-financed and aggressively militaristic’.
After the battle of Delhi. AS Kahir-ud-din put it he called that century “the great anarchy.” Dalrymple called the battle as decided the future fate of India. Bombay, Madras and Bengal were all now linked up, with treaties to follow. At the Battle of Delhi when the Marathas, the last indigenous Indian power that could have forced The Company out of India, were humbled. Dalrymple records how Muslims saw this as Christians now in control of India was now in British hands – till August 1947. The continuity of power was ensured because the Company understood the importance of infiltrating the Mughal system rather than abolishing it.
Dalrymple measures the sheer weight of power of the Company – its annual spending equalled a quarter of the British Government’s annual expenditure. The Company referred to itself as “the grandest society of merchants in the Universe.”
But its demise is sealed in London. The 1833 East India Company Charter Bill removed the Company’s right to trade. In 1857 its own private rose up in revolt against its employer – the Indian Mutiny. It took the company nine months to crush the rebellion which it did in a very public fashion by hanging and murdering thousands of suspects along the Ganges. Parliament then finally removed the Company from power altogether.
Dalrymple frames the East India Company as the main cause of anarchy in India, despite covering the pre-existing political chaos and frequent invasions by non-British forces. He reflects on the story as “history’s most ominous warning about the potential for the abuse of corporate power.”
Whilst there is much to learn from the book about it being a warning from history, the context is a different world and power is now partly discharged through the control of new technology which nation states mostly fail to keep on top of.
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple – presents a compelling warning from history. To have fully comprehended the power discharged, a wider social, political and economic understanding would have been of benefit. Where this book shines is in Dalrymple’s ability to narrate the historical events into a compelling narrative about corporate greed and military conquest.
Other William Dalrymple book reviews: The Golden Road.
