New History of the Marathas v1.c10.57

v1.c10.57

No one took notice of Shivaji's warning and none came out to meet him. Besides the Indian merchants in the town there were English and Dutch factories at the river wharf with their own fortified enclosures. But Shivaji had not come prepared with artillery to engage in an open warfare with the handful of foreign traders, who had plenty of goods but little of gold and silver. It is not right to argue that he was afraid of them and so did not molest them. The experience of Rājāpur was fresh in his memory. Indeed he was not in a position to fight even the Governor of Surat if he had chosen to defend the town or the fort. It was because the Governor in a panic ran to the fort for safety and left the town at the mercy of the Marathas, that the subsequent troubles occurred. Shivaji's move was an open challenge to the Emperor and a means of acquiring the sinews of the war that had been imposed on him.