The Policy of the British Government in attempting a federation of India brings into prominence the fact that one-third of the surface of India and more than a fourth of its people were outside British jurisdiction. As is well known, the government in Indian India was autocratic, and one of the most difficult problems before British statesman in carrying out the new policy was to effect a Synthesis of opposing systems: The personal rule of the states and the Democracy of British India.
In these circumstances it was felt that a short but comprehensive survey of the historical and Constitutional position of the Indian Princes would be welcomed by many who, while interested in the question of Indian reform, have neither the leisure nor the inclination to Study the subject in voluminous Classics such as Lee Warner's Indian States, or in the ephemeral literature of recent years. |
