478 THE BRITISH DOMINION IN ASIA

It may even be suspected that the system rather accelerated than retarded the rapid extension of the English frontier; because, whereas we annexed fresh territory after each collision with our rivals, so we con- stantly advanced their protective border beyond the RECEPTION OP GENERAL OUTRAM AND STAFF AT THE DURBAR OF THE RAJA OP TRAVANCORE. actual line of annexation, and thus have always made a double step forward, keeping the strategic or political boundary well in advance of the limit of our adminis- trative occupation. The lines of earlier British fron- tiers, now left far behind in the interior of India, may often be traced by the survival of some petty prin- cipalities, that escaped being swallowed up by a power-