The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul 1.11
The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe (Foster) 1.11
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1.11.1
On the arrival of the 1618 fleet Roe despatched the Expedition to Jdshak with a further supply of goods; but she brought back news that was far from satisfactory. The factors were quarrelling violently among themselves ("of all those I saw," wrote the commander of the ship, "one cannot giue thother a good worde"); Barker had been to Court, but had failed to obtain any further concessions; the Shah had been forced by the Turks to a disadvantageous peace, and schemes for a monopoly of the silk trade, either to the English or the Portuguese, had had perforce to be laid aside; he had expressed his willingness, however, to exchange silk for any quantity of goods the English might bring, though he would not sign any formal contract. Thus matters stood at the time of Roe's departure, and thus he was forced to leave them. The results obtained had by no means answered the sanguine expectations which had first been formed; yet he saw no reason to despair. There appeared to be a reasonable probability of finding in Persia a fresh outlet for English goods—a point which he regarded as of vital importance, for India itself could absorb but a small quantity—while silk was in Europe a most profitable commodity. The Anne, in which he returned, carried home a quantity of Persian silk which was sold at a high price; and estimates then laid before the Company (Court Minutes, Nov. 9, 1619) placed the profit to be made at from 50 to 90 per cent. per annum.
1.11.2
The trade to Persia, though a matter in which Roe took the closest interest, had practically been initiated by the Surat factors, of whose proceedings he could not always approve. There was, however, another development of the Company's commerce—that to Mocha—in which the position was reversed. Roe urging and carrying it through, while Kerridge and his companions somewhat unwillingly acquiesced. Long before the English flag had waved in Indian waters, the merchants of Cambay and Surat had carried on a profitable intercourse with the Red Sea ports. Not only was the pilgrim traffic large and important, but it was accompanied by a lucrative interchange of products. Merchants from Aleppo and Cairo bought eagerly all Eastern commodities, and paid for them partly in European goods, but mostly in gold and silver. The latter circumstance was, in Roe's eyes, a special recommendation. As already noted, the demand in India for English goods was comparatively small, and hence the trade involved a heavy drain of silver from home — a drain which had already seriously alarmed the economists of the time, and had excited an outcry against the Company. Roe, who honestly thought the export of silver from Europe a great evil, saw in the Red Sea trade a means of mitigating it.
1.11.3
Let a ship be yearly sent, he argued, from Surat to the Red Sea ports, and she would not only get rid of some English goods which would not otherwise be sold, but in return for these and for spices, calicoes, etc., she would bring back specie enough to help materially towards lading the ships for home. And, besides this, the move would have a powerful political effect; for the Red Sea trade was the principal dependence of the Gujarat merchants. Roe was sanguine that they would be glad either to freight goods in the English vessels, or at least to pay for the protection afforded by their company; and in any case the power which the latter would possess of taking the native junks at their pleasure would be a powerful lever for securing proper treatment at Surat and elsewhere. To those who objected the treachery of which Sir Henry Middleton had been the victim when he visited Mocha on a similar errand in 1610, Roe replied that that was due to a misunderstanding; and he pointed to the success of the Dutch, who had since made a lucrative voyage to Mocha and had experienced handsome treatment. The Anne was accordingly fitted out, and despatched on March 17, 1618, in company with a Surat junk (p. 495 n). In September she returned, with a favourable account of her reception, and farmáns and letters encouraging a renewal of the enterprise; and to reply to those letters and to despatch his answer by a fresh ship, the Lion, was one of the last of Roe's acts before leaving Surat (p.
1.11.4
515 n). How much Roe hoped from this commerce will be seen from his report to the Company on his return (p. 523); and, although, perhaps, he had not made sufficient allowance for the resentment which was sure to be aroused at Surat by this unwelcome competition with the native merchants, he is certainly entitled to count to his credit the establishment of what afterwards became an important branch of the Company's commerce. The period of his employment in India was for Roe only the commencement of a long and honourable career. It would carry us too far to detail his subsequent history, nor should it be necessary in the case of one who played so important a part in the politics of his time. After a short period of service in Parliament, he was again sent (1621) on a mission to the East, this time to the Grand Signior. At Constantinople he repeated the success he had obtained in India, by restoring English prestige and placing English commerce on a sounder footing; while his influence at the Porte secured the conclusion of a treaty between Turkey and Poland, and the rejection of proposals from Spain which he judged inimical to English interests. Another result of his embassy was the presentation to King James, by Roe's friend the Greek Patriarch, of the celebrated Codex Alexandrinus, which is now one of the glories of the British Museum. His success was, in fact, too complete for his own convenience;
1.11.5
for in spite of his appeals to be allowed to return, his tenure of office was prolonged, and it was not until the spring of 1628 that he obtained his release. His next employment (June, 1629) was the negotiation of a truce between Sweden and Poland. This he successfully accomplished; and his intercourse with Gustavus Adolphus bore further fruit in the following year in that monarch's appearance in Germany as champion of the Protestant faith. Meanwhile, Roe had been warmly received on his return by his own sovereign, who presented him with a gold medal as a token of his approval; and when, early in 1632, the death occurred of his old friend Carleton (created Viscount Dorchester in 1626), Roe looked forward with some confidence to the vacant secretaryship. His opinions, however, were far too liberal to please King Charles and his advisers, and the post was given to Laud's friend, Windebank. Bitterly disappointed, Roe withdrew into the country, and for the next few years lived in retirement. In January, 1637, a tardy recognition of his services was made in his appointment to the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter, to which a year later a pension was added.
1.11.6
At the congress for peace negotiations which sat successively at Hamburg, Ratisbon, and Vienna, Roe represented England, and he is said to have made such an impression upon the Emperor that the latter exclaimed: "I have met with many gallant persons of many nations, but I scarce ever met with an ambassador till now." In June, 1640, he was sworn of the Privy Council, and in the same year he re-entered Parliament as one of the members for Oxford. A fresh mission to Germany (1641), however, prevented him for some time from taking a very active part in the deliberations of the Commons; and when he was once more free to devote himself to parliamentary duties, events rapidly led up to a crisis which placed him in a position of great difficulty. Whatever his convictions, he could not fight against his sovereign, the son of his old master, the brother of his dearly-loved patrons; and in July, 1643, he obtained permission from the Commons to retire to Bath for the improvement of his health. This was almost his last journey. In the tender words of Anthony à Wood, "at length this worthy person Sir Thomas Roe did after all his voyages and ramblings take a little breath; but soon after, seeing how untowardly things went between the king and his parliament, did willingly surrender it to Him that first gave it, on the 6th day of November in 1644, and two days after that his body was buried privately in the church at Woodford, near to Wansted in Essex" (Athenae, ed. Bliss, vol. iii, p. 114).
1.11.7
An admirable Latin epitaph was written by Dr. Gerard Langbaine for inscription on his tomb, but, though Roe's widow survived him over thirty years, no monument was erected over his remains; and now, the church having been rebuilt and enlarged in 1815-16, even the spot where they lie is uncertain. Nor has this omission been entirely made good by the more lasting memorial which can flow from the pen of the historian. Of late years, however, some efforts have been made to do justice to his memory, notably by the greatest living authority on the history of those times, Dr. Samuel Gardiner; and we are promised a biography by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, to which we may look forward with confidence that at last Roe's merits will receive their due meed of praise. How great those merits were may be shown by the testimonies of three writers of a later day, and with these we may fitly take our leave of him. Carte, the historian, after reading through Roe's papers, wrote in March, 1737: "I cannot sufficiently admire his Rare Abilities, judgement and Integrity, his Extraordinary Sagacity in discovering the views and designs of those with whom he treated, and his admirable dexterity in guarding against their Measures and bringing them over to his purpose.
1.11.8
Wise, Experienced, penetrating and knowing, he was never to be surprized or deceived, and though no Minister ever had greater difficulties to struggle with or was employed by a Court that had less power to Support him, yet he Supported all his Employments with dignity and came out of them with Reputation and honour. In all the honest Arts of Negociation he had few Equalls, (I dare say) no Superiors." More than half-a-century before, David Lloyd had written in his State Worthies (London, 1670) pp. 1036-37 : " Sir Thomas Roe understood the dispositions of men so exactly, could suit their humours so fitly, observe opportunities and seasons of actions so punctually, keep correspondence so warily, wade through difficulties so handsomly, wave the pinch of a business so dexterously, contrive Interests so suitably, that he was advised with concerning the most important Affairs of the Kingdoms he resided in abroad, and admitted of the Privy-Council while he lived at home — Where his speech against the debasing of the Coyn at the Council-Table will last as long as there is reason of State in the World : His settlement of Trade as long as this is an Island : and his Eastern MSS. as long as there are Books to furnish Libraries, or Libraries to preserve Books." And finally we may quote the testimony of Anthony a Wood : " Those that knew him well have said that there was nothing wanting in him towards the accomplishment of a scholar, gentleman, or courtier ;
1.11.9
that also, as he was learned, so was he a great encourager and promoter of learning and learned men. His spirit was generous and public, and his heart faithful to his prince. He was a great statesman, as good a commonwealth's man and as sound a Christian as our nation hath had in many ages" (*Athenæ*, ed. Bliss, vol. iii, p. 113).