He Complains Also,
That, From Want Of An Interpreter, He Had Experienced Much Difficulty In
Explaining To The Mogul, And
To his ministers, the object of his
mission; in particular, the grievances which the English had suffered
from the governor
Of Ahmedabad, because the native brokers, whom he was
obliged to employ, were afraid to interpret literally, lest they should
either incur the king's displeasure, or be disgraced by his ministers.
In his application for redress from the governor of Ahmedabad, he
discovered that this officer was supported by sultan Churrum, the
Mogul's eldest-son,[184] and Asaph Khan, the favourite. By perseverance
and firmness, however, the ambassador at length obtained the relief he
solicited.
[Footnote 184: Sultan Chesuro appears to have been the eldest son of
Jehanguire, but held in confinement for having endeavoured to supplant
his father in the succession, and Churrum seems only to have been the
third son. - E.]
"On the 24th January, 1616, Sir Thomas had a second audience of the
Mogul, at which he complained of the injuries the English had sustained
from the arbitrary conduct of the governor of Surat, and so effectual
were his remonstrances, that this officer was dismissed. The ambassador
then proposed to renew the articles of the phirmaund, or treaty
between the Mogul and the English nation, and solicited to have the
treaty ratified by the signatures[185] of the Mogul and Sultan Churrum,
which being procured, the treaty was concluded.[186]
[Footnote 185: This expression is rather ambiguous, as the ratifications
of such papers in India were by the seals of the princes, and not what
we understand by the term used in the text - E.]
[Footnote 186: It has not been thought necessary to insert the substance
of this treaty as contained in the Annals, as it is given in the
Journal. - E.] "The dispatches of Sir Thomas, of this year, concluded
with recommending to the company, as a commercial speculation, to send
out annually a large assortment of all kinds of toys, which would find a
ready sale at the great festival of Noroose, [the new year] in the
month of March.
"In 1616 we discover a jealousy in the factory at Surat, of Sir Thomas
Roe, notwithstanding his efforts and success in obtaining phirmaunds
from the Mogul favourable to the factories at Surat and Ahmedabad, and
in general for the encouragement of English trade in the Mogul
dominions; for the factors represented to the court that a merchant or
agent would be better qualified for a commercial negociator than a
king's ambassador; and, in support of this opinion, referred to the
practice of the king of Spain, who on no occasion would send an
ambassador, but always a commercial agent; and stated that Sir Thomas
Roe, besides, considered himself to be vested with the exercise of a
controlling power over the commercial speculations of the Surat factory,
and held himself to be better qualified to judge of the English
interests by combining the political relations which he wished to
introduce between the Mogul and the king of England, than by forwarding
any projects for trade which the factory might devise as applicable to
the Mogul dominions.
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