xieuhoff's brazil. J185 



lion of our Portuguefe Inhabitants has not only been undertaken with the confent of the 

 King of Portugal, or at lead of his governor of the Bahia, but alfo encouraged and fo- 

 mented by his authority and conduct : for how can it be fuppofed that Kamaron, Henry 

 Dias, and the other ring-leaders, fhould have dared to attempt to attack us by force of 

 arms without his approbation ? It was likewife our conftant opinion, confidering the 

 prefent unfettled ftate of Portugal, and the alliance betwixt that King and the ftates of 

 Holland againft Spain, that he would be fure never to acknowledge the tranfaftions of 

 the heads of the rebellion, and the fuccours fent them, to have been done by his au- 

 thority, left the breach of faith and all its ill confequences might be one time or other 

 laid at his door, till he thought himfelf fure in the entire conqueft of the Dutch Brazil. 

 Our guefs has fmce proved more than too true ; for Antonio Telles de la Sylva, 

 governor of the Bahia, (as is evident from his anfwer to our letters here inclofed) denies 

 to have had the leaft knowledge, much lefs any hand, in the contrivance or conduct of 

 this confpiracy ; laying the blame of this infurreftion upon their ring-leaders, who re- 

 fufed to obey his orders, and offering to fend certain commifTioners to appeafe the fury 

 of the rebels ; and in cafe they fhould refufe to comply, to force them by the King's 

 authority to lay down their arms. But how little agreeable this offer of putting an end 

 to this rebellion, is to his real intention, is apparent out of the report made by Mr. Van- 

 der Voerde and Captain Dieterick Hoogflraten, under-written by their own hands ; 

 In which you will find thefe exprefs words of the governor : ' That the Brazilians and 

 negroes were difbanded by His Majefly of Portugal's particular order.' The abflrafts 

 of the feveral inclofed letters fent from the Bahia, and taken from the meffenger by our 

 forces in Seregippo, will put it beyond all doubt, that feveral inhabitants of the Bajila, 

 and among them the bifhop himfelf, had already in May laft fome knowledge of the in- 

 tentions of John Fernandes Vieira, and his accomplices ; add to this, the depofitions of 

 Captain Dieterick Hoogflraten, fubfcribed by himfelf, concerning the propofitlons made 

 to him in private, whilft he was managing the company's bufmefs there, in the quality of 

 one of our deputies ; which as it direftly contradIQ:s the governor's anfwer to us, fo it 

 unravels the whole fecret of his real intentions. And forafmuch as all thefe things are 

 fufEcient forewarnings to us, that the rebels will be conflantly fupplied from the Bahia, 

 whereas we on the contrary mufl expert to be weakened more and more in every refpeft, 

 we judged it abfolutely neceffary and requifite for the fervice of our flate, to fend to you 

 the members of the council of Nineteen, Mr. Balthafar Vander Voerde, counfellor in 

 our court of juftice, to give you a verbal account of the deplorable flate of our affairs 

 here in a more ample manner than the fame may be expreffed in writing, not queflion- 

 ing, but Your Lordfhips will thereby be encouraged to fend us a fpeedy and fufficient 

 fuccour, to re-eflablifh our affairs here, and to deliver your faithful fubjeds from the 

 imminent danger that threatens no lefs than the ruin and lofs of their lives and eflates, 

 and defiring you to give a favourable reception to the faid Mr. Balthafar Vander 

 Voerde. 



" Receif, the 2d of Aug. 1645." 



Immediately after the departure of the two before-mentioned envoys, Mr. Vander 

 Voerde, and Captain Hoogflraten out of the Bahia, being the 20th of July, the go- 

 vernor, Antonio Telles de Sylva, ordered all the fea and land men that could be got to- 

 gether in hafle, to be embarked in twelve fhips ready fitted out for that purpofe, with 

 neceffary ammunition, arms, and provlfion, for the intended invafion. Hieronymo Ser- 

 rao de Payva had the fupreme command over the fleet, as the Colonels Martin Soares 

 Moreno and Andrew Vidal de Nigreiros had over the land-forces, both officers in the 



VOL. XIV. 5 H fervice 



