History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s1: § 1. The beginnings of English trade with Bengal.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s1
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§ 1. The beginnings of English trade with Bengal.
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The English nation established their first trade factory at Surat in 1692 and exchanged goods with Agra and Delhi by the land route. From Agra attempts were made in 1620 and 1632 to open up trade at Patna in Bihar, but the cost of land transport from Surat all the long way across the Indian peninsula to Agra and thence to Patna was prohibitive, especially for bulky goods like saltpetre, and this project was wisely abandoned.*
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In 1633 the English agent at Masulipatam on the Madras coast sent a commercial mission to Orissa. The Mughal subahdar received them very kindly at Cuttack and gave them permission to trade in that province without molestation or duty (5th May.) The result was that an English factory was opened at Balasore and another at Hariharpur, 25 miles south-east of Cuttack. A little later, in 1640, the building of Fort St. George was begun at Madras, on a piece of land bought from a Hindu Rajah of the Vijaynagar dynasty, and thus "the English established their first independent station in India." It lay, however, outside the Mughal empire.
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∗ Except when otherwise stated, this chapter is based on C. R. Wilson's *Early Annals of the English in Bengal*, vol. i.
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But at this time the trade and industry of the Madras coast steadily declined for several years in consequence of famines and wars between local dynasties. In Bengal, on the other hand, there was going on a rapid growth of prosperity and production on account of the long peace which Jahangir's final suppression of the local Afghan chiefs and rebel zamindars and Shah Jahan's strong and beneficent rule had given to the people. So, in 1651 the English opened their first commercial house in Bengal at Hughli on the Ganges, 24 miles north of Calcutta. Their chief exports were saltpetre (brought down in boats from Singhia or Lalganj, north of Patna), silk and sugar. Prince Shuja was then governor of Bengal, and an English surgeon named Boughton was high in his favour. This doctor used his influence to secure from the prince a trade license and freedom from official exactions for his countrymen. In 1652 Shuja granted them a *nishan* (or prince's order) by which the English were allowed to trade in Bengal on payment of Rs. 3,000 a year in lieu of all kinds of customs and dues.
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The beginning of the Hughli factory was very unpromising. The English suffered much loss in the first few years chiefly in consequence of the dishonesty and carelessness of their local agents. Balasore, too, languished on account of its being "distant, unhealthy, and dangerous," though it continued for several years as the place for loading and unloading Europe-going ships.
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But in 1658 the Home authorities reorganised the English establishments in India. All the Company's factories were to be subordinate to the President and Council of Surat, besides which there were to be chief agencies at Madras and Hughli, with out-agencies at Balasore, Qasimbazar and Patna, under the agent of Hughli.