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 346 JIJSTORY OF INDIA. [Book II.

A.D. 1C89. authority. In the ca.se supposed, thei-efore, Sir John Child was to l;e treated apparently as if he had incurred the displeasuie of the Company, and they were to follow out the wretched sy.stem of duplicity by negotiating with the Mogul " for the restoration of their privileges and trade, upon the same basLs as they were anterior to his apparently unwise proceedings."

Came of At this game of deceit it was not easy to overmatch the Mogul, and the

Company's experience ere long furnished a new illastration of the old a^lage, that "honesty is the best policy." Sir John Child di-sjjlayed considerable dexterity. At first he despatched two of the Company's ships to Mocha and Bu.ssorah, and two others to China, with secret orders to seize all the Mogul or Siamese vessels they might fall in with. At the same time he de.spatched a ship to Surat to lie off the mouth of the estuary, and endeavour if possible to bring off all the members and property of the factory. The governor of Sm-at was too well informed, and too much on the alert to be thus imposed upon. Without pro- ceeding to acts of violence, he kept such a strict watch that the escape of the agent and factors was impracticable. Craft being thus unavailing, Sir John Child tried the effect of force, and suddenly seized all the Surat ships in the port of Bombay. The governor, affecting an intimidation which he did not feel, sent one of the English factors to him with a complimentary letter, in which he expressed an anxious wish to come to an accommodation, and to know what terms would satisfy the Company, and induce them to resume trade. The factor returned to Surat with a statement of grievances, comprising thirty-five articles, including, inter alia, satisfaction for stoppage of goods at the custom- house, for the obstruction of investments, for the demurrage of vessels detained, for the refusal to deliver up interlopers and their ships, for the raising of customs from 2 to 3^ per cent., for the refusal of permission to coin money, for the impo- sition of arbitrary taxes, and the seizure of horses and goods for the Mogul's use without paying for them.

Capture of Before any answer was retm'ned to these propositions. Captain Andrews,

commanding one of the ships which had been sent to the Persian Gulf, returned to Bombay, bringing with liim an interloping ship and six Mogul vessels, which were sailing under Dutch colom^s. These captures speedily becoming known, put an end to the trick of concealing actual hostilities, and therefore, without any further attempt at disguise, Sir John Child despatched two large ships to Surat, with orders to seize all Mogul vessels that should be met with, and also to attack the Siddee's fleet, if it should attempt to cross the bar with the view of putting out to sea. During these proceedings a new governor arrived at Svu-at, and professed such friendly feelings, that Sir John Cliild, at the urgent request of the agent, made his appearance off Sm-at, and succeeded, as he thought, in negotiating a provisional convention on the basis of his thirty-five articles. Though these fell far short of what had at one time been anticipated, the Compan}^, now alive to the difficulties in which their fraud and folly had