History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s18: § 25. Shambhuji and the English.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s18
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§ 25. Shambhuji and the English.
v4.c64.s18.1
We have already explained why Shambhuji did not go to war with the English traders of the west coast, in spite of the provocations he had received from them, and how the English successfully observed a policy of "keeping fair with all" the rival Powers of the land. A closer approach between the two was made in 1684.
v4.c64.s18.2
On 27th December 1683, Captain Richard Keigwin, at the head of a band of English mutineers, seized the fort of Bombay from the East India Company's governor, and proclaimed the direct rule of the king of England over the island. He adopted a vigorous policy and, in April 1684, forced Siddi Qasim, the Mughal admiral, to respect the neutrality of Bombay by ceasing to make that island the base of his operations against the Maratha villages on the mainland opposite to it. At this time an ambassador of the Maratha State was prisoner to one of the Mughal generals who wanted to put him to death. But Keigwin by friendly negotiations secured the person of the ambassador and set him free. These two events highly pleased Shambhuji, who gave up all hostile intentions towards the English. Keigwin seized the opportunity by sending at the end of April two ambassadors (Captain Henry Gary and Lt. Thomas Wilkins) with Ram Shenvi as interpreter, to Shambhuji, to settle the long-standing differences about the indemnity claimed by the English for Shivaji's sack of their Rajapur factory in March 1661 and other matters and to make a friendly alliance with the Maratha Rajah. The mission was a complete success. Shambhuji granted all the demands of the English and signed two agreements with them containing 30 and 11 articles [Orme MSS. 118.]
v4.c64.s18.3
Among the terms agreed upon the more important were the following, (all the benefits were to be reciprocally shared by the subjects of the two States):—
v4.c64.s18.4
(1) The observance of neutrality in each other's wars.
v4.c64.s18.5
(2) Permission to the English to settle factories and carry on trade in all parts of the Maratha kingdom, including the Madras Karnatak, on the payment of a single import duty of 2½ per cent.
v4.c64.s18.6
(3) English shipping to be allowed to take refuge in Shambhuji's ports, when driven by stress of weather, without hindrance or demand of custom duty. Property in wrecks to be given back to owners, as was the rule of Shivaji.
v4.c64.s18.7
(4) No English factory in the Mughal territory to be plundered by Maratha invaders.
v4.c64.s18.8
(5) English merchandise on board Mughal vessels captured by the Marathas to be restored to the English.
v4.c64.s18.9
(6) Bombay island to be allowed to buy wood (fuel) in Shambhuji's dominions free of custom duty.
v4.c64.s18.10
(7) Maratha officers to help the English to recover their debts from Shambhuji's subjects and to do them justice when such subjects offended against them.
v4.c64.s18.11
(8) English trade not to be molested in transit nor illegal perquisites exacted by local governors from them; English not to be hindered in employing weavers and watchmen or in sending messengers with letters through the Maratha kingdom.
v4.c64.s18.12
(9) Out of the 10,000 hun promised by Shivaji as compensation for the loot of Rajapur, Hubli and other factories, the outstanding balance, 6633 hun, was to be paid to the English by the Maratha governor of Rajapur "in coconuts, betel-nuts &c. by degrees according to the time," after deducting from this amount the money spent by the Maratha Government in rebuilding the English factory-house at Rajapur. [The full details and all the connected papers have been printed by me in the Puna 9th Sammelan Proceedings (Mandal Quarterly), pp. 30-44.]