Chap. V.J CONVENTION RESPECTING BOMBAY. 319
During this internal strife, there was no small risk that the fort itself would be a.d. iocs.
lost to the Company. The Dutch, now at war with England — the Portuguese viceroy at Goa, offended by the course of proceedings at Bombay — and the King of Golconda — were all anxious to obtain possession of it. The la.st had even taken steps for that purpose, and was meditating an attack by one of his officers, when he was called away for still more urgent service.
Sir Edward Winter at first took credit for loyalty to his sovereign and disinterested zeal to promote the interests of the Comj)any, and endeavoured to justify himself by numerous letters addressed to infiuential (quarters ; among others, it is said, to the king and the Archbishop of Canterbury. His conduct, however, had been too gross to admit of apology ; and on finding that, with the sanction of government, force was about to be employed against him, he managed, after persisting several years in rebellion, to obtain a free pardon, and disappeared from the scene. The leniency with which he was treated says little for the wisdom and vigour of the Company's management at this period, and was doubtless an incentive to similar acts of rebellion on subsequent occasions.
Sir Abraham Shipman, after making an offer of Bombay to the Company, cnnventiou
with the
as has been already mentioned, had continued with his troops at Anjedivah, Portuguese enduring the misery of seeing them dying around him. At last, in 1664, he HomTm"'^ himself became one of the victim.s. Mr. Cooke, who had been his secretary, assumed the command; and, under the conviction that it was the only chance of saving the lives of the soldiers still sm'viving, entered into a convention with the Viceroy of Goa, by which he agreed to accept of the port and island of Bombay, according to the treaty as interpreted by the Poi-tuguese. In one respect the terms were even worse tiian those originally offered to tiie Earl of Marlborough, for, by an additional article not then mentioned, the Portuguese resident in Bombay were, along with other liberties, to be exempted from the ])ayment of customs. When the survivors on Anjedivah left for Bombay, their numbers did not much exceed 100; the expense incuiTcd by government for the pay and maintenance of the troops, from the date of their embarkation in England, was above £13,000.
Mr. Cooke's convention with the Portuguese was no sooner knowTi in Eng- disavowed land than it was disavowed ; and, with the view of caiTving out the cession as the English had interpreted it, Sir Gervase Lucas was appointed governor of Bombay. Before he sailed he drew up a report, founded on the documents transmitted by Mr. Cooke, and gave it as his opinion that the annual expense of the gamson necessary for the island would, Avithout including contingencies, amount to at least £7371, and that, moreover, a large outlay for new stores would be immediately required. This report appeal's to have made government doubtful as to the propriety of continuing to retiiin Bombay as an immediate possession of the crown. As yet it had yielded nothing, though it had already cost much, and was apparently about to cost more. The conclusion therefore
