History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s8.20

v5.c83.s8.20

Itimad Khan, the governor of Surat (really collector of Customs), was a friend of the English and an officer of unrivalled uprightness and purity. Amidst the popular clamour he kept his head and by his judicious measures saved the local Englishmen from being lynched by the Muslim fanatics. An excited and daily increasing crowd assembled before the English factory, threatening death to the inmates. But the governor sent a party of regular troops under his lieutenant Ashur Beg to occupy the factory (14 Sep.), and confine the merchants there pending the receipt of the Emperor's orders. Thus 49 Englishmen,—including not only President Annesley and other members of the Surat Council, but also interlopers like John Vaux and Uphill (who had been