The real foundation of the modern city dates from this time, and was the work of Gerald Aungier (or Angier), brother of Francis Aungier, 3rd Lord Aungier of Longford and 1st earl of Longford in Ireland (d. 1700), who succeeded Sir George Oxenden as president of Surat in 1669 and died in 1677. At this time Bombay was threatened by the Mahrattas from inland, by the Malabar pirates and the Dutch from the sea, and was cut off from the mainland by the Portuguese, who still occupied the island of Salsette and had established a customs-barrier in the channel between Bombay and the shore. In spite of the niggardly policy of the court of directors, who refused to incur the expense of employing skilled engineers, Aungier succeeded in fortifying the town and shore; he also raised a force of militia and regulars, the latter mainly Germans (as more trustworthy than the riffraff collected in London by the Company's crimps). In 1672 Aungier transferred his headquarters to Bombay, and after frightening off an imposing Dutch fleet, which in 1670 attempted to surprise the island, set to work to organize the settlement anew. To this task he brought a mind singularly enlightened and a sincere belief in the best traditions of English liberty. In its fiscal policy, in its religious intolerance, and in its cruel and contemptuous treatment of the natives, Portuguese rule had been alike oppressive. Aungier altered all this. With the consent of "a general assembly of the chief representatives of the people" he commuted the burdensome land tax for a fixed money payment; he protected all castes in the celebration of their religious ceremonies; and he forbade any compulsion of natives to carry burdens against their will. The result was that the population of Bombay increased rapidly; a special quarter was set apart for the banya, or capitalist, class of Hindus; while Parsees and Armenians flocked to a city where they were secure of freedom alike for their trade and their religion. Within eight years the population had grown from 10,000 to 60,000. The immediate result of this concentration of people in a spot so unwholesome was the prevalence of disease, produced by the appalling sanitary conditions. This, too, Aungier set himself to remedy. In 1675 he initiated the works for draining the foul tidal swamps; and, failing the consent of the Company to the erection of a regular hospital, he turned the law court into an infirmary. He also set up three courts of justice: a tribunal for petty causes under a factor with native assessors, a court of appeal under the deputy governor and members of council, and a court-martial. A regular police force was also established and a gaol built in the Bazaar.[1]