of rupees. Guards were placed on the factories; all communication with
them was forbidden; their Mahommedan servants left them, and their
creditors were made to give an account to the Governor of all debts owing
by Europeans. The Dutch and French tried to exonerate themselves by laying
all the blame on the English, but the Governor refused to make any
distinction, and called on the three nations to pay fourteen lakhs of
rupees as a compensation for the losses occasioned by piracy. Sir John
Gayer was a man of action. Like Macrae, to be mentioned later in these
pages, he had first brought himself into notice as a sea-captain, and as
Governor of Bombay had upheld the Company's interests for four years, in
circumstances of no ordinary difficulty. The time for some decided action
had arrived if the Company's trade was to continue. On receiving
intelligence of these occurrences, he appeared off Surat with three armed
ships, and sent word to the Governor that he would neither pay any portion
of the fourteen lakhs, nor give security. At the same time he intimated
that he was ready to furnish convoys for the Mocha ships, as he had
already done, and, in proof of good will in acting against the pirates,
pointed out that, now the war in Europe was at an end, a royal squadron
was on its way to the Indian seas to extirpate them. The European traders
on the west coast had always been so submissive to the Emperor's authority
that this unexpected display of vigour astonished the Governor: he
moderated his tone. The Dutch declared they would abandon the Surat trade
rather than pay; so the Governor consented to make no demand for past
losses, if the English would engage to make good all future losses by
piracy. This was also refused. Finally, the English, French, and Dutch
agreed to act in concert to suppress piracy, and signed bonds by which
they jointly engaged to make good all future losses.

Onerous as these terms were, the agreement came not a moment too soon. The
news of it reached Aurungzeeb just in time to procure the reversal of an