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AUGUST, 1908.]
SOME ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES.
that hee would not resolve whither he would Serve the Company any longer till the years Shipping Arrived, his time being before expired, but if hee shall enterteyne himselfe againe, hee shall bee placed as shall bee thought fitting." 33 That Salisbury was still at Peddapalle at this time is evident from a letter to Captain Egmont of the 29th October, 1664, informing him that "Mr. Fleetwood's boats being all gone to Metchlepatam," the writer "hath now borrowed of Mr. Salusbury his boate," 39
219
By the time the letter from the Court of Committees of the 16th December 1663,40 reached India, the Agent and Council at Fort St. George had realized that it was to the Company's interest to retain a factory at Peddapalle, and on the 8th December, 1664, they wrote to the Court, "Pettepolle is no otherwise made use of then for the provision of Saltpetre, which if wee doe not encourage, the Dutch will quickly snatch it from us, they having againe after many yeares absence, renewed their Factory in that place."41
Sir Edward Winter too, would seem to have repeated of his hastiness and evidently feared that the authorities at home would consider his high-handed conduct towards Salisbury in an unfavourable light. In a letter to his brother, Thomas Winter, dated 2nd and 12th January, 1665, he gives the following explanation of his action: "I know the Company will be Informed of my dischargeing Mr. Salusbury their service, but not the true Cause and Reason of it, which was because he plainly told me in March last that he would not Resolve me whether he would any longer serve the Company till the Europe Shipps arrived, his tyme being Expired. Besides, I have under his owne hand his agreement with the Salt petre Merchants, wherein he Contracted with them to bring in peter att 4 pagos. new per Candye, and he rates the same to the Company at 63 pagos. old per Candy; and in his Books hath Charged many large and unnecessary expences as he pleased himselfe, which must not be allowed. This I think a sufficient Ground to keepe him from being Imployed in it again; and yet Mr. Buckeridge (whom I have informed of all this) is so made by Mr. Jearsey that they would Continue him in that busines. Pray let the Committee have notice hereof."4
It is difficult to decide on the justice of Winter's charges. In the matter of indecision, the allegation might well have been true, for Salisbury's vacillation is in constant evidence throughout his life, and he seems to have been incapable of forming a definite resolution.
In the year 1665 there is no record whatever of the late head at Peddapalle, but on the 1st January 1666, there is a reference to him in a letter from Jeremy Sambrooke at Fort St. George to William Jearsey at Masalipatam: "This night is a Letter come from Mr. Clopton at Pettepolee to Sir Edward, declareing how hee &ca. are wounded by some falling out with Mr. Salusbury. I know not the perticulars."43 On the 25th May 1666, Salisbury was at Masulipatam, when he appended his Signature after those of Messrs. Jearsey and Niclaes to a letter to Sir George Oxinden at Surat." This shows that the Chief at Masalipatam, at any rate, still accounted his protégé a Company's servant. Jearsey, no doubt, had his own ends to serve by making Salisbury a debtor to his kindness and protection. In August, 1666, he suggested a voyage to Tenasserim, the real object of which was to anticipate Sir Edward Winter in the seizure of goods at that place. It did not suit Jearsey to appear openly in the matter, and Salisbury, being virtually out of the Company's service, was a safe tool to make use of in the matter. However, weak though he was, Salisbury saw through the motives of his would-be employers.
Factory Records, Fort St. George, Vol. 15. "
10 See ante, p. 217. 41 O. C. No. 8087. Factory Records, Masulipatam, Vol. 9.
Factory Records, Fort St. George, Vol. 15. Factory Records, Miscellaneous, Vol. 8. O. C. No. 3175.
