Page:Shivaji and His Times.djvu/418

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398
SHIVAJI.
[CH. XIV.


conclusion with our neighbour Shivaji for the old wrongs of Rajapur........ The new controversy touching Hubli we have reserved for another time, .......so that if Shivaji attempts Surat you may be somewhat the safer, though we advise you not to trust him, yet we daresay if he hath a kindness for any nation it is for the English, and we believe he will not disturb any house where the English flag is." But the treaty though fully agreed on between Shivaji's envoy and the English in the third week of October was not signed and confirmed by Shivaji himself for more than two months afterwards, as he was absent on a long campaign (O. C. 3910, Bombay to Co., 13 December, 1673.)

§5. Embassy of Henry Oxinden, 1674.

The English, therefore, decided to send a formal embassy to Shivaji to conclude the business, especially as his grand coronation was to take place in June 1674. Mr. Henry Oxinden was chosen for the mission, and Narayan Shenvi was sent to Raigarh (arriving there on 24th March), "to prepare business against Mr. Henry Oxinden's arrival to him." (F. R. Surat, Vol. 3, Surat Consult., 16 April, 1674.)

The story of Oxinden's mission to Shivaji, from 13th May to 16th June, is graphically told at great length in his Letters and Memorial or Narrative which also give valuable details about Shivaji's coronation, the course of the negotiations, and the final agreement.