Page 23 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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xxxviii INTRODUCTION.
treatment of his ambassadors (if it be as was written to me, which
1 cannot believe), will grasp at1 the friendship of these Hollanders,-
I enjoin upon you, and command, that you arrange to have in the
Sea of Malaca a fleet such as there used to be, reinforcing
it according to the present greater need, in order to prevent them
from going to those ports,3 and to give them the chastisement
that they deserve, whereby they will not be so impudent as to
return again; and even if the many inconveniences that will arise
from their acting thus be prevented, there cannot fail to be
damage and discredit to that State. And for all these reasons
and others, I again enjoin on you that you set greater store on the
friendship of the Dachem, and with services, as necessity in every
way requires.
In another letter, dated January 26th, 1598, the King
again refers to the matter of the Achin ambassadors, and
impresses upon the Viceroy the importance of retaining
the friendship of the king of “ Dachem, » (I because it is not
fitting to have him as an open enemy, especially at a time
when the ships of Holland are going to those parts.”
Writing on March 5th, the King once more reverts to
the subject, as follows :—4
And because I am informed that the ambassadors of the
Dachem, who were waiting in Goa hoping for a reply to the terms
of peace which he wishes to conclude with the State, returned
disgusted at the time that the Viceroy Mathias de Albuquerque
was in the North, it appears to me that it would be of service to
me to send him an embassy conformable to the state of affairs
and to the information that you shall have of the fleet of the
Hollanders that is going to those parts, of which I have com­
manded to advise you by others of my letters, and if they attempt
to transact any commerce in that island of Samatra, it not
appearing to you that anything else is advisable, of which you
shall inform me; and meanwhile you shall proceed as you shall
decide in Council is of most importance to my service.0
1 The orig. has “ (teste mao? which makes nonsense. I take the
words to be an error of the copyist’s for “ deite a mao.11
2 This surmise proved incorrect (see infra).
3 Orig., “aquclles portos,” which is, I think, a copyist’s error for
“ aqucllas parted* (those parts), the expression used in other letters
dealing with this subject.
4 Archivo Portugucz-Oricntal, fasc. iii, p. 848.
6 From another royal letter, of November 21st, 1598 (also printed
in Archivo Portugucz-Oriental, fasc. iii),
we learn that the Viceroy
■ i
INTRODUCTION. XX xix
' X
In a letter of March 10th, 1598, dealing with the revised
instructions to captains of homeward-bound ships, the
■i
King writes1 to the Viceroy:— :•
. . . And although formerly it was customary for the ships to $
wait for one another at Santa Ylena a short period, which did not
go beyond the 20th of May, it was well shown during the past 14
year of what importance it was to extend that period to the end
of May ;2 for this was the cause of the ship Vencimento, which if
was delayed longer than others, coming in company of those that 1
arrived first at that island; and because the said ship there i?:
<!
encountered those of the Hollander corsairs that were coming H
from the parts of the South ;3 and it is probable that those that H
!>■
again make that voyage will always call at Santa Ylena, both from
u
the necessity of watering there and to see if they can encounter
any ship from India ; it is now more than ever necessary that they f.
come with all preparation and caution, as of those that may there !!■
find enemies or meet them afterwards ; . . .
It
A week later the King writes4 as follows, showing his if;
•i
increasing apprehension of the gravity of the situation :— it
:!•
Count Admiral, friend Viceroy.—I the King send you all
greeting, as to him I love. After having written to you by these A.
vias what you will see regarding the matter of the Hollanders’ f
sailing to the parts of the South of that State, whence they
returned last year, it appeared to me that, although I feel certain it.
that on receipt of the news that reached you from Malaca of this t
voyage of the said Hollanders, you will have taken steps to send
at once to those parts a fleet sufficient to destroy them if they
had written by Lourengo de Brito (see infra, p. xlvi) to the king of
Achin in a conciliatory manner, begging for a continuance of his
friendship : this King Philip approves of, and enjoins all means to
bring about amity. The result of this policy towards the Achinesc
I
king and his ambassadors is described below.
1 Archivo Portugucz-Oriental, fasc. iii, p. 865. t
2 An order to this effect was given by the King in a letter to the
Viceroy, dated March 7th, 1596 (see Archivo Portugucz-Oriental,
fasc. iii, pp. 602-603). Fa. Joao dos Santos describes (in his Ethiopia
Oriental^ Pt. II, Liv. iv, cap. xxii) how, when the ship in which he
was returning to Portugal had passed the Cape of Good Hope, the
sealed instructions received by the captain from the Viceroy were
opened and read aloud by the ship’s clerk, one of these being that the
ships of the fleet were to wait for each other at St. Helena until the
end of May.
3 See supra, p. xxxvii and note.
■* Archivo Portugucz-Oriental, fasc. iii, pp. S73-S74.