While Occupied In Making Great Preparations To Relieve Malacca,
And To Remedy Other Disorders Then Subsisting In Portuguese India, He
Was superseded in the government of India, by the arrival of Juan de
Silva Tello, as viceroy, towards the end
Of 1640; on which Antonio
Tellez, having resigned the sword of command, immediately embarked for
Portugal, not thinking proper to serve as admiral where he had enjoyed
the supreme authority.
Other authors will write the actions of the new viceroy, Juan de Silva
Tello, for he begins his task where I end mine.[22]
[Footnote 22: Manuel de Faria rightly thought proper to close his work
at this period, which was immediately followed by the expulsion of the
Portuguese from Malacca and Ceylon, and many other of their Indian
possessions; where, except a few inconsiderable factories, they now only
hold Goa, Diu, and Macao, and even these possess very little trade, and
no political importance. From their subjection to the crown of Spain,
the Dutch, who had thrown off the iron yoke of the Austrian princes of
Spain, revenged their own injuries upon the Portuguese in India: And in
the present age, at the distance of 160 years, having themselves fallen
under the heavy yoke of the modern French Caesar, they have been
stripped by Britain of every foreign possession in Asia, Africa, and
America. - E]
SECTION XV.
_Occurrences in Pegu, Martavan, Pram, Siam, and other places._[23]
We here propose to give some account of the exploits of the _black_ king
of Siam, in whose character there was a strange mixture of virtues and
vices. In the year 1544, the king of the _Birmans_ [24] besieged the
city of _Martavan_ by sea and land, being the metropolis of the great
and flourishing kingdom of that name, which had a revenue of three
millions of gold. _Chaubainaa_ was then king of Martavan, and fell from
the height of fortune to the depth of misery. The Birman fleet, on this
occasion, consisted of 700 sail, 100 of which were large gallies, in
which were 700 Portuguese, commanded by one Juan Cayero, who was reputed
a commander of courage and conduct. After a siege of some months, during
which the Birmans lost 12,000 men in five general assaults, _Chaubainaa_
found himself unable to withstand the power of his enemy, being reduced
to such extremity that the garrison had already eaten 3000 elephants. He
offered, therefore, to capitulate, but all terms were refused by the
enemy; on which he determined to make use of the Portuguese, to whom he
had always been just and friendly: But favours received from a person in
prosperity, are forgotten when the benefactor falls into adversity. He
sent therefore one Seixas, a Portuguese in his service, to make an offer
to Cayero, if he would receive himself, his family, and treasures, into
the four ships which he commanded; that he would give half the treasure
to the king of Portugal, to whom he would become vassal, paying such
tribute as might be agreed on, being satisfied that he could recover his
kingdom with the assistance of 2000 Portuguese troops, whom he proposed
to take into his pay.
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