Civil Disobedience in Indian Tradition, with Some Early Nineteenth Century Documents c6.s3.35

c6.s3.35

4. The promulgation of this tax appears to have excited considerable agitation and we find that it soon assumed an alarming aspect. People of all descriptions assembled in vast multitudes consisting of the inhabitants not only of the town but of neighbouring country. All the shops were shut and business was for many days so much at a stand that nothing except grain was procurable in the city. Numbers intimated a design of proceeding to Calcutta. The endeavours of the Acting Magistrate to allay the irritation and persuade the people to return to their ordinary pursuits and wait the determination of Government proving ineffectual and the public tranquility being endangered, the Acting Magistrate deemed it necessary to call on General Macdonald, the officer commanding the district to prepare for any probable emergency.