Page 175 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

A GROUP OF ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN INDIA 175

thoroughly regularized the position of the English in India
for the first time. It was not a treaty, but only a firman,
such as Roe, at the outset of his mission, declared he would
not accept. Limited, however, as was its diplomatic
character, it served the main purpose of giving the East
India Company a definite status and a basis of self-govern­
ment which saved its representatives from the worst effects
of local oppression.
His work completed, and tired in mind and body, Roe
quitted India on February 17, 1619, arriving home in the
following September. The King received him at Hampton
Court in private audience, and the Company showed their
appreciation of his work by making him a grant of £1,500
and electing him for a year an extra member of the Com­
mittee, with an emolument of £200 a year. During the
remainder of his life, which was protracted to 1644, Roe
kept in touch with Indian affairs, but he was not again
prominently identified with the peninsula. His remains
rest in Woodford Church, Essex.
The question has sometimes been discussed whether
Roe’s mission accomplished anything beyond what the
Company’s representatives could have obtained in the
ordinary way. It is impossible, of course, to say definitely
what might have happened if Roe had never gone to India,
but if the facts are looked at in the fight of history, it is
difficult to avoid the conclusion that to his personal influ­
ence was due the priority of opportunity given to the
English amongst the nations of the West in the Mogul’s
territory. By his strong, intelligent diplomacy the barrier
which blocked the path of English trade was surmounted
and at the same time a tradition of English thoroughness
and integrity was established which secured for the nation

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