Editing Elihu Yale (section)

===Presidency of Madras===
{{see also |Madras Presidency}}
[[File:Joppen1907India1700a.jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Mughal Empire]] in 1700, covering most of [[India]], with [[Madras]] being surrounded at the bottom right in pink]]

In July 1687, Yale was appointed [[Madras Presidency|President of Madras]] and Governor of [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St. George]], replacing [[William Gyfford]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Vestiges Of Old Madras 1 |first=Henry Davison |last=Love |publisher=Published for the Government of India |location=London |year=1913 |page=490}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Records of Fort St. George—Fort St. George Diary and Consultation Book |year=1687 |pages=100–101}}</ref> A difficulty of the office was to deal with the native rulers through [[firman]]s, as Madras was surrounded by the [[Mughal Empire]], with rulers always asking for bribes.<ref name="Madras11">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.02148/page/21/mode/2up?q=customs |title=Fort St. George, Madras : a short history of our first possession in India |publisher=Ministry of Culture |location=London |year=1900 |page=21}}</ref> When their demands were refused, they would seized the food supplies, half starving the company's servants with a [[blockade]].<ref name="Madras11"/> In terms of size, [[Madras]] consisted of about 300,000 people, or around 6% of [[England]]'s population at the time.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://files.ehs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/29061004/Wrigley1a.pdf |title=Population Growth: England, 1680–1820 |magazine=Recent Findings of Research in Economic & Social History |date=Autumn 1985 |page=2}}</ref> Yale had previously been popular with both the Europeans and native Indians,<ref name="inlin11"/> and reverted to the former practice of living and dining in the Fort House with merchants, [[Clerk|writers]] and factors.<ref name="inlin11">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57371/page/n155/mode/2up?q=popular |title=History Of The City Of Madras |first=C. S. |last=Srinivasachari |publisher=P. Varadachary & Co. |location=Madras |year=1939 |pages=97–98}}</ref>

With Yale's nomination, [[Sir Josiah Child]] hoped that Madras would be less critical of [[London]].{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=102-105}} As the [[East India House|East India Company's headquarters]] were thousands of miles away, the board implemented policies that were not well adapted to the conditions in Madras.{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=137-210}} Letters took 6 months to be received, sometimes over a year, making communications difficult.{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=102-105}} One of these policies was the creation of a new tax upon Madras inhabitants that Yale had now to carry out, which caused a local [[rebellion]].{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=102-105}} During this time, they accused him of not cutting expenses down, such as keeping a [[Indian tiger|Bengal tiger]] at the fort, among other things.{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=139-140}} Those who were taxed the most were the owners of the 128 houses within the fort, which half belonged to the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] merchants.{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=173-174, 178-180}} The company's chairman sent a letter to Yale, writing that "your elaborate arguments to persuade us not to impose a moderate duty upon the Portuguese and other inhabitants of our city of Madras, whom we do protect and exceedingly encourage in their several vocations, have no weight at all with us".{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=173-174, 178-180}}

Yale had received similar letters during the Great Famine under Gov. [[William Gyfford|Gyfford]], where they had refused to collect taxes, with the directors replying that "you are still fencing against our creating revenue at the Fort, with slight, insignificant arguments, wherein the worst is that you should have so mean an opinion of us, as to think such sophistical reasons will make any impressions on our judgment".{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=173-174, 178-180}} The directors also gave the order to close the Garden House, which was used for those who were resting outside the city, having a place to eat.{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=139-140}} Yale didn't follow this order and kept Gov. [[William Gyfford|Gyfford]] there as his health was fragile.{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=139-140}} During August 1687, Yale is then recorded corresponding with the Ambassador of Shah [[Suleiman I of Persia|Suleiman of Persia]], regarding his arrival with a [[Koran]] to try to convert the Siamese king to [[Mohammedanism]], which the latter refused.<ref name="Persia11">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/englishintercou01andegoog/page/250/mode/2up?q=yale |title=English intercourse with Siam in the seventeenth century |first1=John |last1=Anderson |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. |location=London |year=1890 |pages=251–252}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Matthee |first=Rudi |year=2015 |title=SOLAYMĀN I |editor-last=Yarshater |editor-first=Ehsan |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |edition=Online}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> Being bankrupt after his failed mission, Yale loaned him money, which was never repaid.<ref>{{cite book |title=Records of Fort St. George. Diary and consultation book 1686–1689 |pages=132–201}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2024}}</ref><ref name="Persia11"/>{{sfn|Bingham|1939|pp=138-140}}