Storia do Mogor 292.2.2

292.2.2

In addition, there were many merchants, weavers, cloth-printers, and others, for all of whom the English provided a livelihood. Many subjects of the king of this realm and others knew very well that every year there were earned in Madras five lakhs of gold pagodas (equal to about one million of patacas, more or less) and over ten lakhs of silver rupees (which amounts to five hundred thousand patacas). The whole of this money remained in the country, and in exchange for all this the English carried off to Europe no more than some cotton cloth. Let him reflect, that if he objected to the residence of the English at Madras, and if he bothered his head about their gaining such considerable sums, it was requisite for Aurangzeb and his subjects to give them the time to withdraw to Europe. They (the English) set little store by the place; yet if they were forced to abandon it, they would also give up the other towns and factories they held in the Indies. In that case they would cease to be friends and become enemies. Upon their departure they would without fail seize every ship they came across, and thereby spread ruin and desolation throughout the Mogul empire.