expense, the other officers were made to suffer in rank and pay, and the
whole of the small force fell into a dangerous state of discontent. Among
other reductions in the pay of their military force, the Directors reduced
the rate of exchange, a measure that affected the men as well as the
officers; and, not content with making these changes prospective, insisted
that the officers should refund the surplus of what they had received.
Keigwin also had his personal grievance. He claimed subsistence money,
like the rest of the merchants and factors, the Company's table having
been abolished.[4] After much altercation, a grant was made to him, on the
condition that it would have to be refunded if disallowed by the Directors.
He was sick of the Company, with their greed and their selfish economies
at the expense of their servants, their broken pledges and stupid changes
of policy in military affairs, the intrigues of Sir John Child at Surat,
and the schemes of his brother, Sir Josiah Child, in England. Like many
other Englishmen, he considered the Company was an anomaly, dangerous to
the authority of the Crown, and his distrust was increased by the
mismanagement and corruption that existed among their servants in the East.

On the 27th December, 1683, he seized Mr. Ward, the Deputy Governor, and
such of the Council as sided with him, assembled the troops, and issued a
proclamation declaring the Company's authority at an end, and that the
island was henceforth under the King's protection. By general consent he
was elected Governor, and at once proceeded to restore order. The troops
and inhabitants were called on to take an oath of allegiance to the King,
and to renounce their obedience to the Company, a demand that was
universally complied with. Officials were appointed, grievances were
redressed, and trade was encouraged, to be carried on without molestation
so long as Keigwin's authority was not challenged. Money arriving from
England was lodged in the fort, with a declaration that it would be
employed only in defence of the island, and letters were addressed by
Keigwin to the King and the Duke of York, stating his determination to
hold the island for the King till his Majesty's pleasure should be known,
together with the causes that had led to the revolt; one of them being the
necessity of preserving it from becoming a conquest to the native powers.

Never had Bombay been so well governed as it was during the eleven months
o