Yet I was deluded to believe
that his favour with the king was tottering, and that he might easily be
brought into disgrace, by complaint of any thing done contrary to the
will or humour of the king; so that we were too bold, and injured our
business when we found him opposing us, as we thought unreasonably. On
enquiring into the state of our business, and the health of our factory,
Mr Aldworth informed me that Paul Canning and several others had died;
that Thomas Kerridge had long since been agent in his room at the court
of the Mogul, and that the factory at Surat now only contained himself
and William Bidulph.
[Footnote 124: Mr Richard Stell, or Steel, had gone to Aleppo, to
recover a debt from a merchant of that city, who had fled to India; and,
following him through Persia, Mr Steel had arrived at Surat. On his
report, the factors at Surat made an experiment to open a trade with
Persia, which will form the subject of a future section of this
chapter. - E.]
In the morning of the 17th, I called a council to advise upon the best
manner of conducting our affairs here, and to consider who might be the
best person to send to Agraas resident. Then entering upon the six
interrogatories, inserted in the second article of our commission, I
required Mr Aldworth to give direct answers to every question.
