“In describing his own situation, he stated that the natives could not comprehend what was meant in Europe by the rank or quality of an ambassador, and that in future it would be preferable to employ an agent only, who could bear these affronts without dishonour, which an ambassador, from, his rank, could not encounter.  He complains also, that, from want of an interpreter, he had experienced much difficulty in explaining to the Mogul, and to his ministers, the object of his mission; in particular, the grievances which the English had suffered from the governor of Ahmedabad, because the native brokers, whom he was obliged to employ, were afraid to interpret literally, lest they should either incur the king’s displeasure, or be disgraced by his ministers.  In his application for redress from the governor of Ahmedabad, he discovered that this officer was supported by sultan Churrum, the Mogul’s eldest-son,[184] and Asaph Khan, the favourite.  By perseverance and firmness, however, the ambassador at length obtained the relief he solicited.

[Footnote 184:  Sultan Chesuro appears to have been the eldest son of Jehanguire, but held in confinement for having endeavoured to supplant his father in the succession, and Churrum seems only to have been the third son.—­E.]

“On the 24th January, 1616, Sir Thomas had a second audience of the Mogul, at which he complained of the injuries the English had sustained from the arbitrary conduct of the governor of Surat, and so effectual were his remonstrances, that this officer was dismissed.  The ambassador then proposed to renew the articles of the phirmaund, or treaty between the Mogul and the English nation, and solicited to have the treaty ratified by the signatures[185] of the Mogul and Sultan Churrum, which being procured, the treaty was concluded.[186]

[Footnote 185:  This expression is rather ambiguous, as the ratifications of such papers in India were by the seals of the princes, and not what we understand by the term used in the text—­E.]

[Footnote 186:  It has not been thought necessary to insert the substance of this treaty as contained in the Annals, as it is given in the Journal.—­E.] “The dispatches of Sir Thomas, of this year, concluded with recommending to the company, as a commercial speculation, to send out annually a large assortment of all kinds of toys, which would find a ready sale at the great festival of Noroose, [the new year] in the month of March.

“In 1616 we discover a jealousy in the factory at Surat, of Sir Thomas Roe, notwithstanding his efforts and success in obtaining phirmaunds from the Mogul favourable to the factories at Surat and Ahmedabad, and in general for the encouragement of English trade in the Mogul dominions; for the factors represented to the court that a merchant or agent would be better qualified for a commercial negociator than a king’s ambassador; and, in support of this opinion, referred to the practice of the king of Spain, who on no occasion