Page 154 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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154 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST

tion of his mission. He seemed further than ever from
t
success. The negotiations which had once offered so fair
a prospect had come to nothing, and there was no immedi­
! ate likelihood of their being resumed. The good will of
the Emperor was, it is true, an asset, but the problem of
how to turn it to account was as baffling as ever it had been.
At this juncture the weary current of Roe’s life was
sharply broken in upon by an incident which caused him
momentarily great mortification. In the closing months of
I
i 1616 a fleet arrived at Surat from England bearing with it
a batch of new presents for the Emperor. After some
. i
delay they were despatched to Mandu in the charge of the
Rev. Edward Terry, who had been sent out to act as chap­
. lain to Roe. Jehangir, who was always well posted as to
the movements of foreign ships, caused the presents to
!
be intercepted before they reached the ambassador, and
coolly annexed them. Roe was fired with indignation at
so gross an insult, as he conceived it. His anger was the
•I
deeper because in order to avoid oppressive dues there had
: been sent up with the presents sundry silks and velvets
which were designed for sale in the ordinary way by the
Company’s representatives. It would now be necessary
for him to explain the ruse in order to obtain possession of
the goods.
Roe appears to have lost no time in submitting a pro­
test against the interception of the presents. The account
of his audience with Jehangir on the subject is most amusing
reading.
Jehangir, in reply to the remonstrance, told Roe that he
“should not be sad or grieved that he had his choice,
for that he had no patience to forbear seeing the presents.”
He did Roe no wrong and as for the King of England he

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