History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s7.3

v5.c83.s7.3

But Sir Josiah Child, the Chairman of the Company in London, was a man of fiery disposition and exceptional force of character. He decided on a policy of firmness, independence, and if necessary of reprisal, against the Mughal empire. Such a policy required three things, namely (a) the withdrawal of the English factory from Surat, which was really a "fool's paradise," (b) concentrating the Company's trade and officers in Bombay as "the Key of India," in order to be free from the intolerable restraints and indignities to which the Company's servants were subjected at Surat, and (c) seizing the Indian shipping at sea in retaliation for the oppression done to English trade in the Mughal dominions.