44 INFLUENCE OF POLITICS IN EUROPE AND ASIA

distant campaigns. Aurangzib had destroyed the Mo- hammedan kingdoms of Golkonda and Bijapur in South- ern India, which might at any rate have served as breakwaters against the spread of the Maratha insur- rection; and the war was now becoming epidemic. The dislocation of the native administration led to the con- solidation of the foreign settlements, since the Com- panies were compelled for their self-preservation to act upon this opportunity of taking up a more independent position in the country. The relaxation of the supreme legitimate authority loosened its hold on the more dis- tant governorships, and with local irresponsibility came local oppression. The merchants became exposed to irregular extortion and capricious ransoming by sub- ordinate officials wHo could give them no valid guaran- tees or regular safeguard; while their immunities and privileges, even when obtained at the capital from the emperor's ministers, were often disregarded with im- punity at the seaports. Under these circumstances, the English Company convinced themselves, after much anxious discussion, that the success and comparative security of the Dutch, as formerly of the Portuguese, had been founded on their practice of seizing and openly fortifying posts strong enough to render the holders independent of the imperial pleasure, and to resist the arbitrary exac- tions of neighbouring officials or potentates. Their assumed jurisdiction was still to be confined entirely to the seacoast, and its object went no further than the security of their trade. But the English soon dis-