The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-10-23

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self, Shah Jehan prepared to receive the
man who had done him q service which,
as he gazed lovingly at the sweet face
beside him, it seemed that the whole OF
| his imperial treasury was hardly rich
| enough to repay. The Enghshman bowed
low as he came into the presence of the
emperor. Then Shah Jehan beckoned
| him to come nearer, took him by the
hand, and looking significantly at the
| Padshah Begun, bade him name his re-
ward. There was breathless silence as
the young Englishman opened his lips.
! AID what was the price he claimed for
| his services ? He asked no private
| emolument; he sought no selfish ad-
| vancement; he simply solicited that his
countrymen, the traders of the East
Company, might have liberty TO trade
free of all duties in Bengal, and establish
| factories in that province! What the
Padshah Begun thought of this unro-
mantle request, or whether she had ever
dreamed of any such romantic termina-
ton to the episode as the Grand Vizier
had vaguely limited at, history does not
| say. But Shah Jehan himself was pro-
foundly impressed with the magnanimity
and unselfshness of the English surgeon
| aDd gave his solemn word that the most
! ample privileges and opportunities for
trading should be granted to the English
| merchants.
Boughton had thought the matter
out patiently and carefully, and had de-
| cided that the position of favorite and
son-in- law of the Great Mogul, though
| dazzling, was precarious; that he should
surround himself with unscrupulous
| enemies, who would sooner or later effect
his murder or disgrace; and that even
those who were his friends at first would
| come to regard him as an upstart and
alien, usurping the riches and the power
| that should belong to one of themselves.
| It would be wiser to use his great infu-
| ence over the Mogul to promote the
interests of the company, whose servant
| he was, and look to the company for
reward, which, though less splendid and
| romantic, would be safer and more en-
during. So he dismissed the fanciful
dreams which for a moment had filled
his brain, and chose the humber and
| more prudent course.
But Shah Jehan would not hear of
Gabriel Boughton's going empty handed
away. He invited him to take up his
abode at the palace as chief court physi-
clan; and this invitation Gabriel thought
it advisable to accept, because his pres
ence at the imperial court would give
him excellent opportunities for pushing
the interests of the company, besides
enabling him to lay the foundation of a
private fortune. Several other success
full cures following close upon that of the
Padshah Begun established Gabriel
Boughton's reputation, and spread his
fame far and wide. His popularity was
extraordinary, mainly, perhaps, because
as he never meddled with political mat
ters, foreign or domestic, no one was
jealous of him. How long he remained
at the court of Shah Jehan is uncertain;
but he at any rate did not leave until he
had seen the Mogul's promises most
amply fulfilled, and the company reaping
the fruits of these liberal concessions.
The richest province of India was thrown
open to the English traders, free of all
duties and payments whatsoever; and
from the granting of that extraordinary
privilege the East India Company dated
its first great stride towards the wealth
and power which eventually made it the
arbiter of the destinies of India. Histo-
rians are often apt to overlook the small
causes from which great events spring.
And most of the historians of India
have wholly ignored the claim of Gabriel
Boughton to be considered one of the
true founders of the British empire in
India. A less public spirited or far
sighted man would have used his i'm
mense influence over Shah Jehan for his
own selfish aggrandizement. tis to the
undying honor of Gabriel Boughton that
he did otherwise, and thereby raised the
East India Company from struggling
body of coast traders into the richest
corporation of merchants in the world.
1t is this fact, we feel, that renders
worthy of more detailed narrative than
| we have ever yet seen allotted to it in
any single history, the romantic episode
of the Surgeon and the Mogul's Daugh-
ter.