examination of Tipu's
correspondence showed that the Nawab of Arcot had been guilty of
treasonable communications with Mysore. It was accordingly resolved
that the Company should assume control of the Carnatic; but, as the
Nawab was seriously ill, nothing was done until his death, when
British troops were sent to occupy Chepauk Palace.

The Nawab's son refused to recognize the Company's right to control
his father's dominions, whereupon the Company set him aside, and put
his cousin on the throne in his stead. The Company were now the actual
rulers of the Carnatic, and the future Nawabs were styled 'Titular
Nawabs.' In 1855 the third of the Titular Nawabs died without any son
to succeed him. Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General of India at the
time, and it was Lord Dalhousie's declared policy that if the ruler of
any native state died without issue, his dominions should formally
lapse to the Company. On this principle the Carnatic now became a
formal part of the British dominions, and the dynasty of the Nawabs
came to an end; Chepauk Palace, which was the personal property of the
Nawabs, was acquired by the Company's Government for a price, and was
eventually turned into Government offices.

The many thousands of Mohammedans, however, who dwelt in the crowded
streets and lanes of Chepauk, and who had looked upon the Nawab as
their religious chief, would have been afflicted at the cessation of
the Carnatic line; and after the Indian Mutiny the Government of
India, respecting Mohammedan sentiment, recognized the succession of
the nearest relative of the late Nawab and obtained for him from the
King of England the hereditary title of Amir-i-Arcot, or 'Prince of
Arcot'--an honorary title but higher than that of Nawab. A sum of Rs.
1,50,000 per annum--(not an excessive sum in relation to the revenues
of the Carnatic, which are now collected by the Madras Government)--is
expended annually in pensions to the Prince and to certain of his
relatives; and he lives in a house called the 'Amir Mahal' (the Amir's
Palace), which was given to him by the Government. The Amir Mahal
stands in spacious grounds in Royapettah. At the principal entrance,
the gate-house is a tall and imposing edifice in red brick. At the
gateway, sentries, armed with old-fashioned rifles, stand--or
sometimes sit--on guard; and the Prince's Band is often to be heard
practising oriental music in the room up above.

Regarded in relation to its history, Chepauk