Page 266 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

266 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST

of an old Kentish family, who in his youth had seen some
service in India. Oxenden after receiving from the King
the honour of knighthood at Whitehall proceeded to India
in March, 1662, charged with the principal direction of the
Company’s affairs in the East.
It was well that at this juncture the chief control of
affairs in India was in capable hands. A position of extra­
ordinary difficulty had been created which only a man of
sound judgment, wide experience, and abounding courage
could cope with successfully. Apart from the weakness
incidental to a decayed factory and a lowered prestige at <
Surat, the new President had to meet a formidable hostile
combination which had been brought about by the cession
of Bombay. The Dutch bitterly opposed the measure on
the general principle that England must not be allowed to
secure a permanent lodgment in the East. They had as
allies the French, who, having entered into the Indian
trade, were not disposed to see a rival obtain an important
advantage in the principal sphere of operations. The
Mogul authorities, too, were none too friendly to an arrange­
1
ment which promised to enhance the naval power of the
English while at the same time it made it possible for them to
withdraw from the control of the native government on land.
Here was material enough to make the transfer of Bom­
bay a source of great anxiety without any complication
associated with the change. But it was speedily made
V apparent that the island was not to be given over with the
readiness which the English had ventured to anticipate
on the strength of the specific grant which had been made
I
' under the Royal marriage settlement. When James Ley,
the Earl of Marlborough, who was entrusted with the
King’s Commission to take over the assigned territory, pre-

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