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When Sir Thomas Roe returned to England in 1619, he carried with him a letter written by the Emperor Jahangir that was to be formally presented at the court of King James the First . Its contents were as follows : "When your Majesty shall open this letter let your royal heart be as fresh as a sweet garden. Let all people make reverence at your gate; let your throne be advanced higher; amongst the greatness of the kings of the prophet Jesus, let your Majesty be the greatest, and all monarchies derive their counsel and wisdom from your breast as from a fountain, that the law of the majesty of Jesus may revive and flourish under your protection. The letter of love and friendship which you sent and the presents, tokens of your good affections toward me, I have received by the hands of your ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe (who well deserves to be your trusted servant), delivered to me in an acceptable and happy hour; upon which mine eyes were so fixed that I could not easily remove them to any other object, and have accepted them with great joy and delight. Upon which assurance of your royal love I have given my general command to all the kingdoms and ports of my dominions to receive all the merchants of the English nation as the subjects of my friend; that in what place so ever they choose to live, they may have free liberty without any restraint; and at what port so ever they shall arrive, that neither Portugal nor any other shall dare to molest their quiet; and in what city so ever they shall have residence, I have commanded all my governors and captains to give them freedom answerable to their own desires; to sell, buy, and to transport into their country at their pleasure. For confirmation of our love and friendship, I desire your Majesty to command your merchants to bring in their ships of all sorts of rarities and rich goods fit for my palace; and that you be pleased to send me your royal letters by every opportunity, that I may rejoice in your health and prosperous affairs; that our friendship may be interchanged and eternal. Your Majesty is learned and quick-sighted as a prophet, and can conceive so much by few words that I need write no more. The God of heaven give you and us increase of honor."

A clear case of myopic thinking. misreading and lack of strategy. This letter would have been different if it was Akbar i feel.

Karthikeyan Thangaraj : To add to your observation... "Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility, and commitment." ~ Ross Perot

Not even in his wildest dreams would the all-powerful Mughal Emperor have imagined that by allowing the people from a tiny little island across the vast oceans to set up a small factory at Surat and permitting them to use his Ports for trade would slowly endanger his dynasty and also his huge Empire ! Such are the interesting lessons in history. To draw parallels in the current economic scenario : would India face similar dangers if : - it allowed capital account convertibility ? - complete freedom to multinational banks and insurance companies to operate in India ? - allow multi-brand FDI into retail ? - allow all the fancy derivative instruments which has destroyed the western economies ? ...well, these are just the 'if' perspectives.

Re: The Big ' If ' and its Place in History You do have a taste for dramatic and sweeping generalisations, do you not, RBSI ? ... But ~ I think that many of us do ! ... I would, however, humbly suggest that one important ' lesson ' that thoughtful students of history might learn should be as follows : 1 + 1 (can and frequently will ) = 32.55 or 64.29... but rarely a simple and harmonious ' 2 ' 'Reductionist' approaches wherein historians attempt to draw firm conclusions based upon a limited (and heavily nuanced or selective ) number of factors (as above) will almost always ensure that the forest will be obscured by its single trees... For example ~ is it really the case that the "all powerful Mughal Emperor... endangered his dynasty ... by allowing the people from a tiny island across the ocean to build a factory at Surat " etc.etc ? If he did, well, he cannot have been that powerful afterall... Was the 'truth' of the matter not considerably more complicated ? In a similair fashion ,will it really be the case that , in our modern world, India will not be able to observe and learn from the mistakes that have been made in the West ? Likewise, will she not be able to gain from the judicous deployment of Western knowledge and technology (does she not do so already ?)... ... these matters are never 'cut and dried' ...

Points taken...Julian Craig ! I agree my comment gives the impression of compressing 400 years of a complex history into a simplistic conclusion by two casual sentences. But then...all said and done : it was true in a way...isn't it ? I quite agree with your observation that in all sciences involving man as the principal figure : " 1+1 need not = 2...and can end up as 42.68". That was indeed a clever way to drive home the point ! ...and of course, as a history-buff one tends to see a certain drama in all events !

... I'm quite sure that the majority of the members of the RBSI who study history and all of its myriad of 'causes' and 'effects', whether it be in the lecture hall or from the armchair, do so with a certain degree of passion ... To do otherwise and without a love for the rich 'drama' of history would be unthinkable and , more's the point, would make us all a bunch of very dull dogs ... Without the inquisitive sort of mind that seeks out the 'dramtic' details of the past , we might as well hang up our historical boots and train to become accountants (with all due respect to accountants etc.etc.etc) ! ...

RBSI & Julian.. Nice to see ur points.. As Julian said it can all powerful empire if it has to fall by a decision of letting someone in. At the same time every fall or rise starts from a small significant or insignificant event. What my point was British could have been let in to do trade vis-a-vis multinational institutions in today's India but the leadership then and now needs a smartness to handle them to keep the balance and not to let anyone party dominate and especially the visitor.

small correction.". it can't be all powerful empire.." what i mean

correct me if i am wrong, but wasnt it empress Nur Jehan who presuaded her opium induced husband to allow the british to trade freely in India , this is was because the british had agreed to protect her own trading ships against the portugese.

Hemangi Jain : Taking a cue from your comment...we have posted an article on Nur Jahan and her role : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150414023596675&set=a.212955701674.174468.196174216674&type=1&theater

This from another book on NurJehan by Ellison Findly ...here is the link http://books.google.com/books?id=ugxFjVDk3I8C&pg=PA132&dq=nur+jahan+trading+ships+portuguese&hl=en&ei=9oyYTuWMNsbu0gGs-_nDBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=nur%20jahan%20trading%20ships%20portuguese&f=false

she was indeed a fascinating women, imagine ruling the entire Indian subcontinent and beyond ,at a time when in India, females were considered as mere property...

she single handedly shaped/misshaped the future of India..

Entering the debate a tad too late.Surat was a critical port to cede (allow) foreigners into India.the mughal empire was not a strong maritime power (zilch).Akbar had the gujerat empire finished as the king had tried to capture Humayun's wife when on her haj pilgrimage. this destroyed the entire naval expertise and power of gujrat- the state that provided alexander all the ships required to carry the loot and soldiers on his way back. the portugese had touched the south and ow englishmen were allowed north. The entire trade with western world which was free of piracy and blockades got monopolized by portugese and later the english.This was one of major death knells of loss of freedom by India. yes , subbiah I share yur passion - one stupid decision cost us an emopire and now I understand that opium and noorjahan were also culprits

Yes Mr. Jayaram.. there could be several other reasons . but this was most important and initial one. And the manner the letter written shows how much Jahangir lacked in strategy. This may be due to the very complacency of the mighty empire built by his predecessors like Akbar.