Page 265 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

THE ENGLISH SECURE A FOOTHOLD IN INDIA 265

misfortunes. At the end of 1658, before the full tale of
disaster was accomplished, the Portuguese Viceroy at Goa
sent home a despairing letter, in which he predicted that
the whole of the country’s possessions in the East would
be lost if aid was not sent. The Queen of Portugal, writing
in reply to this or some similar missive, buoyed up the de­
pressed official with the prospect of marriages between the
daughter of Cromwell and her son, Don Alfonso, on the one
hand, and the Princess Infanta and the King of France on I
the other. It was suggested that out of these unions might
I develop an alliance which would free Portugal from the
clutches of her remorseless enemy. As we know, these
;
marriages, if they were ever seriously considered, came to
naught; but it is equally a familiar piece of history that
the design which was unfolded in the communication to
the Viceroy at Goa of seeking a potential alliance through
a dynastic union was carried out three years later when
Charles II took as his wife the Infanta of Portugal. In this
marriage we have another of the stepping-stones of British
Indian history, for part of the dower of the bride was the
Island of Bombay.
Few men at the careless period of the Restoration either
knew or cared what a tremendous advantage had been
conferred by this marriage arrangement. It was not an
age of extensive geographical knowledge, and outside a
very select circle the name of Bombay was probably quite
unknown. The East India Company, however, were quick
to understand the importance to their interests of the ac­
quisition. With business-like acumen they prepared for
=!
the new era which they saw was opening up by sending to
India as their special representative one of the most cap­
able men they could find in Sir George Oxenden, a member

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