The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul 1.2
The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe (Foster) 1.2
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1.2.1
There were other reasons also why he was glad to accept employment of this nature. His fortune, which was probably in the first instance but moderate, seems to have been by this time seriously impaired. "I esteeme it an infinite mercy of God," he wrote later from India, "that when I had fully ended and wasted my patrimony and saw no way but scorne (the reward of folly), before I suffred disgrace hee vndertooke mee, and, beeing as it were new borne, hee restored mee to a new Inheritance and sett me right, for I doubt not but to equall my wastes." Further, he had contracted a secret marriage with a lady of good social position (see p. 254): a step which made it all the more prudent for him to take a post which offered a comfortable salary, together with a chance of displaying his diplomatic talents and of thus recommending himself to the notice of the government.
1.2.2
The offer of the East India Company came, therefore, in good season; and no difficulty was experienced in arriving at an agreement. Roe's salary was fixed at six hundred pounds a year, of which one half was, at his request, to be put into the Company's stock. For the expenses of his outfit the Court bestowed upon him five hundred marks; a similar sum was advanced from his first year's salary "to satisfie som debtes which he oweth abroad;" and 100l. was lent for the purchase of plate for his table. Except a chaplain and a chirurgeon, whom the Company provided at the cost of 50l. and 24l. per annum respectively, Roe was to engage his own retinue, receiving for their wages an allowance of 100l. a year, with a grant of 30l. towards the cost of their liveries. Diet and other household expenses were to be charged to the Company, unless the Mogul should make an allowance for this purpose. Finally, Roe was strictly bound to forbear all private trade himself, and to hinder it as much as possible in others; also to abstain from interference with the Company's factors in matters of merchandise.
1.2.3
All that now remained to be done was to obtain the royal sanction. This was readily given, King James approving both the Company's choice of an ambassador and the arrangements made for his mission; "houlding yt a good ground for him to worke vpon yf occasion should be to treate with the Spanyards concerning the East Indies, or else with the Flemynges." Roe was accordingly furnished with letters of credence, a royal missive to the Great Mogul, and detailed instructions for his guidance. The latter, it may be mentioned, included directions as to the reply he was to give if asked why the Portuguese aggressions in Asia were not actively resented; and also a recommendation to impress upon the Asiatic monarch, "by way of discourse," the greatness of King James and the naval strength of his kingdom, which "Maketh vs even a Terrour to all other Nations; Concluding all with this happines, that Wee be not onlie absolutelie obeyed but vniversally beloued and admyred of all our People."
1.2.4
All being ready, on February 2, 1615, Roe embarked with fifteen followers in the Lion at Tilbury Hope. Some time was spent in the Downs, and again at Portland, waiting for a wind, so that it was March 6 before they lost sight of the Lizard. The six months' voyage to Surat was uneventful, and to Roe exceedingly tedious. Apparently, in order to satisfy some of the wiseacres of the Court, the commanders had been warned not to allow Roe to encroach upon their authority, and he found himself, therefore, excluded carefully from their deliberations. "I liue to myselfe, as an Alien among the Tribes, as if the water were not my element," he wrote to the Governor of the Company (Addl. MS. 6115, f. 52). Roe could not help feeling and resenting this suspicious attitude, and he was consequently in a critical mood for the greater part of the voyage. He amused himself, however, by taking observations on his own account, and making notes of such tidings as came to his ears, "as poore men build their howses of reeds and canes for want of timber." The situation was, in fact, a delicate one; and with men less tactful than Roe and Keeling it might easily have brought about a quarrel. The latter, however, showed the ambassador every consideration consistent with obedience to his instructions, and Roe acknowledged in handsome terms his correct behaviour. The ships touched at the Cape, at the Comoro Islands, and at Socotra.
1.2.5
At the first of these stopping-places they fell in with the Merchant's Hope, one of the vessels of Downton's fleet of the preceding year, now on her way back from Surat to England with a lading of chintzes and indigo. She brought news of important events, as well on the Indian coast as at the Mogul Court. Soon after Best's departure from Surat, as already recorded, Canning started upon his mission to the Court. He reached Agra on April 9, 1613, and delivered the presents and royal letters of which he was the bearer. But the influence of the Jesuits and of the anti-English party among the nobles proved paramount; the Mogul and his minister disdained to treat with one who, by his own confession, was merely a merchant; and Canning found himself slighted, and his petitions for a grant of privileges and an answer to King James's missive ignored. Six weeks later he was carried off by sickness, and Thomas Kerridge was despatched from Surat to take his place. He experienced an equally unfavourable reception. Mukarrab Khán, the former Viceroy of Gujarat, to whom he was referred, met his representations with complaints of Middleton's exactions in the Red Sea, and with demands for compensation. The Portuguese agents spent freely, and backed up their presents by threats of retaliation should the English be permitted access to the trade.
1.2.6
"For good successe," wrote Kerridge to Aldworth, in September, 1613, "I haue smale hope exceptt shippinge come this yeare as well to curbe the Portingals as to affright this people, whome nothinge butt feare will make honest;" and he waited only for orders from his superior to abandon his fruitless mission. Suddenly, however, when the prospect appeared most hopeless, an ill-advised move on the part of the Portuguese brought about a complete change. A native vessel returning from the Red Sea with a rich freight was met off Surat by a Portuguese fleet; and, in spite of the fact that she was provided with the usual pass, she was captured and carried off. Apparently this was intended to frighten the Mogul into dismissing the English intruders; but it was presuming too much upon his patience, and the incensed monarch at once imprisoned all the Portuguese in his dominions and despatched Mukarrab Khan to besiege Damán. At this juncture (October, 1614) Downton arrived in Swally Road with his fleet—"four gallant shipps with four hundred gallant men," as Aldworth wrote joyfully to Kerridge (O. C. No. 170). Mukarrab Khán at once applied to the English commander for his co-operation against the common enemy. His credit was involved in the speedy capture of Damán, on the fortifications of which his clumsy artillery could make no impression;
1.2.7
and he was anxious, therefore, that the English ships should go "batter the castle." He was willing to promise, in return, any concessions the English might desire, and he urged with much force that the quarrel was really due to the presence of their vessels. The situation was a difficult one. On the one hand, the triumph of the Portuguese would undoubtedly mean the exclusion of the English from the Mogul's dominions; while their previous attack upon Best's fleet seemed a sufficient justification for measures of reprisal. On the other, Downton's errand was a peaceful one, and he knew that his employers would disapprove of his risking their ships and goods by any warlike operations which were not absolutely necessary; moreover, his commission from the king strictly forbade acts of unprovoked aggression against the Portuguese, and should he aid the infidels to capture one of their fortresses, he must expect that bitter complaints would be made by the Spanish Court; so that, alike in the event of success or failure his position might well become serious. Downton, though a capable seaman and a painstaking and reliable commander, was naturally diffident in matters of this kind; while his feeble health probably had its influence in preventing him from adopting a bold policy. A refusal was therefore returned to Mukarrab Khan's demand, and Downton made it understood that he should confine himself strictly to standing on the defensive.
1.2.8
Mukarrab Khan, indignant at this reply, put for a time every obstacle in the way of the English trade, and made overtures to the Dutch at Masulipatam. Soon, however, the intelligence that the Viceroy of Goa was preparing an armament to attack Surat convinced him of the impolicy of driving away his only friends; and he therefore made Aldworth "large promises of future good respect," and paid a visit to Downton, to whom he was very gracious. A fortnight later, a score of small vessels—the advance-guard of the Portuguese flotilla—arrived; and these were followed shortly after (January, 1615) by the Viceroy himself with a formidable array. Mukarrab Khan, intimidated by these forces, and feeling little reliance on English help, made overtures for peace; but fortunately the Viceroy, convinced that victory was within his grasp, rejected the proferred terms as insufficient. The fight that followed has been several times narrated. The English position amongst the sandbanks of the roadstead, though it had many drawbacks, neutralised to some extent the superiority in numbers of the Portuguese. An attempt to carry the Merchants Hope by boarding was repulsed with great loss; and subsequent endeavours to destroy the English vessels by means of fireships were frustrated by Downton's vigilance and adroit manoeuvring.
1.2.9
Finding at last that he could make no impression upon his opponent's fleet, and not daring to leave his ships exposed to their attacks while he sent his men up the river to attack Surat, the Viceroy was forced to abandon the attempt and to retire baffled. Downton remained until March 2, when the fleet set sail: the Hope for England, and the rest for Bantam. Meanwhile, William Edwards, the chief of the newly-arrived factors, had been despatched to Court with a new letter from King James and a fresh batch of presents, in the hope that, under altered circumstances, he would succeed in obtaining the formal grant of privileges for which Kerridge had pleaded in vain.