Chap. VI. J PEOGRESS OF BOMBAY. 329
progress, and the propriety of substituting it for Sura^i, as the seat of the western a.d. 1074. presidency, had become so obvious as now to be regarded only as a question of time. Its fortifications had been carried on for a series of years without inter- ruption, and, as early as IGT-i, mounted 100 pieces of cannon; its regular gan-i- son consisted of two companies, each of 200 men ; tluree companies of militia had been regularly organized ; and several well-manned vessels were permanently stationed in its harbour. The progress would have been still more rapid had not a deficiency of funds induced the government to adopt rather questionable means of replenishing their treasury. The inhabitants were burdened with new taxation in the shape of excise duties, and both imports and exports were charged witii customs equalling, and in some instances far exceeding those which the Great Mogul, in the plenitude of his power, levied either from his own subjects or from strangers. On imports, including corn, grain, and timber, nuties levied 2^ per cent, was to be levied as custom, and 1 per cent, to defray the expen.se anUexiwits. of fortifications ; on exports the customs alone was fixed at 3^ per cent. Some articles of little bulk but considerable value, as gold and silver, jewels, mu.sk and amber, were the only exemptions, while Indian tobacco and Indian iron imported, and, still more unaccountably, the whole produce of the island (cocoa- nuts, salt, fish, &c.) exported, were saddled with a custom of 8 per cent. Some of these impositions almost look as if the object had been not to encourage trade, but to extinguish it. The only justification must be sought in the eager desire of the governor to show that the original estimate of the revenue from the island was not overrated, and that it was able not only to pay its expenses, but yield a surplus.
While the governor was thus taxing his ingenuity in the invention of new Mutiny in
° O ts J Bombay.
som-ces of revenue. Captain Shaxton, his deputy, was, if not actively encourag- ing, at least conniving at proceedings of a mutinous tendency. The principal grounds of complaint by the soldiers were, that their period of service, which was limited to three years, had expired, and that a month's pay, which had been promised them, had been withheld. On these groimds they threatened to lay down their arms. If the complaints were well founded, and it is to be presumed that they were, as Bruce in his Annals commends the prudence of President Aungier in granting the demands of the soldiers, it is not easy to see the justice of the praise which the same author bestows upon him for firmness in afterwards seizing the principal leaders and tr}4ng them, not by civil, but by martial law. The charter, it is true, authorized martial law, but it was surely both right and expedient that, in having recourse to it for the fii-st time, the guilt should not oidy have been of a very aggravated description, but that, even after it was proved, judgment should have been tempered with mercy. Nothing of this is seen in President Aungier's proceedings. The men were ])romised pay and then refused it; they had served the full period for which they had enlisted, and
insisted on their discharge. If the justice of the complaint could not be denied, Vol. I. 42
