342 GOVERNOR -GENERALSHIP OF LORD WELLESLEY

claimed the imperial principle of political supremacy. All his views and measures pointed toward the recon- struction of another empire in India, which he rightly believed to be the natural outcome of the British posi- tion in the country and the only guarantee of its lasting consolidation. It must be acknowledged that Welles- ley's trenchant operations only accelerated the sure and irresistible consequences of establishing a strong civ- ilized government among the native states that had risen upon the ruins of the Moghul Empire; for by swift means or slow, by fair means or forcible, the British dominion was certain to expand, and the armed opposition of its rivals could not fail to be beaten down at each successive collision with a growing European power.