History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s3.5

v5.c83.s3.5

At last the English traders lost all patience with the Mughal Government. "Experience soon showed that treaties were of no avail against the lawlessness of the local officials. It was not that the Mughal Government would not protect the foreign merchants against oppression and wrong. It could not. Whatever control it had, it was gradually losing." The Company, therefore, decided to protect itself by force, break with the Indian rulers, and seize and fortify some convenient place on the Indian coast where their trade would be safe from molestation. This war actually broke out in 1686.