Page 40 - Anglo Portuguese Rivalry in The Gulf_Neat

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February*, 1633, with a fleet of four sail, specially fitted from the lack of English or Dutch maritime aid, only
1 out with the idea of helping the Khan of Shiras to the terror of Ruy Freyre’s name amongst the
il take Muscat.* Announcing these tidings in a letter inhabitants of the Gulf littoral, had previously
prevented the Persian threats from being translated
! M to the Company from Gombrun at the end of March, into action. Fortunately, the almost simultaneous
he wrote, “ I had a letter since my being att Gombroone
i! from the [Khan] of Serash concerning the business of removal from the scene of the doughty old Imam Quli
l| Muskatt; but that designe perished with his death; Khan, had deprived the Persians of their most trusted
and now since the death of Refrera in December [last], leader, whilst neither English nor Dutch made any
i, vigorous attempts to take the matter up with his
1: who was Governor in Muskatt and hee which formerly
burnt your ships and was busie at sea with his frigotts, * successors. Furthermore, two at least of the contending
which are now more quiett, the Dutch gave it out that parties were no longer enemies, for the Anglo-
i they will undertake Muskatt for themselves. I will Portuguese rapprochment, which culminated in the
k
beleeve it when I see it, for without the land forces agreement of January, 1635, had by now begun,1
f-
of the [Khan] it is impossible to be effected.” Ruy Indirect negotiations between the Viceroy at Goa, and
!i It Freyre had indeed been active to the end, for on the newly-arrived and energetic head of the English
December 1st, 1632, the Dutch ships in Gombrun Factory at Surat, William Methwold, had been carried
i
had been alarmed by the news that he was cruising off ' on through the intermediary of the Jesuit Fathers in
Larak with a fleet of nearly twenty sail; although their this latter place and at Damao, all through 1633 ;
2
1 anxiety was relieved when they heard on the last day it was not until the end of the year that Methwold
of the old year, that Ruy Freyre was dead, and that finally wrote offering to “ lay by these our unwilling
all his flotilla had retired to Muscat under shelter of armes,” and to “ participate in all mutual offices of .
*
,! the Castle walls.1 assured amity.” The Conde de Linhares and his
if Deprived of their redoubtable champion, “ the councillors readily closed with the offer, and granted
: •: mainstay of the soldiery in this India ” as a contem­ full and ample safe-conducts for the English repre­
l r porary writer described him, the Portuguese feared sentatives to proceed to Goa to negotiate a definite
I ! more than ever for an attack on Muscat; for apart peace. This they did in December, 1634, but as
early as April, Methwold had issued instructions to
lCf. Weddell's letter from Gombrun, 24/1U/163J, calendered in Foster. Captain Weddell, who was bound for Persia, and to
*
I I op. cit.y p. 295 and Hendrik Hagenaer’s Journal under i/xii/1632, and all other commanders, that no Portuguese shipping
i i 30/jdi/i632, printed in Vol. II of the Begin ende Voongangh, (Amsterdam, r
1646). It is quite clear from these and other contemporary sources, that
Ruy Freyre died in December 1632, and not in September 1633, as stated in 1The best outline of the course of the negotiations is to be found on pp.
the Commentaries. This latter date was accepted both by Sir William xxxv-xxxvii of the 1630-1633 volume of Foster’s English Factories. On the
Foster (Vol. 1630-1633, p. 295, n. 2) and myself (Commentaries, p. 210, note), Portuguese side, the Diario do Conde de Linhares, may be consulted with
but Hagenaer’s evidence is quite conclusive as he was at Ormuz at the time. profit for the final stages. Tentative negotiations had been started by the
Furthermore, practically all the dates given in the original 1647 edition of English representatives at Madrid in 1630-1631. but the Council of Portugal,
the Commentaries are demonstrably wrong, and the chronology is hopelessly elated with the news of Botelho’s victories at Malaca and Sumatra in 1620-1630
confused as I have shown elsewhere. Further confirmation is afforded by scornfully rejected the proposals with the. dictum that u India had been
the entrv under February 24th, 1634, of the Dagh-Register gehouden in't gained with the sword, and with the sword it would be defended.” (Livros
Casteel Batavia. das Monfies, Livro 30, fl. 263.)
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