B 11 A S I L. 



419 



bouring proTinces } while the efforts to which the 

 latter had been impelled by their y.cal in the cause of 

 civil and religious liberty, had raised them to the first 

 rank among maritime powers. The foreign posses- 

 sions of the crown of Spain were then considered of 

 course as their lawful prey ; and thr convenient situa- 

 tion and oilier advantages of Ura/.il, naturally attract- 

 ed their attention towards that settlement. In 16'21, 

 they had formed a West India company, invested, 

 like all the commercial bodies established at that 

 period, for these distant undertakings, with exclusive 

 privileges. In consideration of this boon, the com- 

 pany undertook to carry on the concerns of war, as 

 well as of trade, in these remote regions. In IG'Jl, 

 they fitted out a considerable armament, which they 

 entrusted to Willekens, one of their most esteemed 

 naval commanders. The success of the expedition was 



Dutch prompt and complete. They landed at St Salva- 

 ge Bo- j or> t | lc g 0vernor O f \vhich did not even attempt re- 

 sistance ; all the inhabitants either fled or submitted, 

 and the accumulated wealth of ages fell at once into 

 the greedy hands of the commercial invaders. The 

 whole province followed the example of the capital. 



The Portuguese were struck with the deepest con- 

 sternation, when they learned the disaster which had 

 befallen their country. Their grief was augmented 

 by the strong suspicion which they entertained, that 

 it would be a subject of gratification at the Spanish 

 court ; that the humiliation of a people, who sub- 

 mitted with evident reluctance to the Spanish yoke, 

 would, in its eyes, more than counterbalance the loss 

 which had been sustained. If, however, Philip se- 

 cretly indulged these sentiments, he did not allow 

 them to influence his outward conduct. He sent 

 letters to all the principal Portuguese nobility, urging 

 them to exert themselves in order to retrieve this 

 disaster ; and he ordered a Spanish armament to be 

 prepared for the purpose of co operation. The Por- 

 tuguese exerted themselvta with remarkable zeal, at 

 once to support die honour of their nation, and to 

 disappoint the malignant hopes which they imputed 

 to Spain. In lets than three months they had equip- 

 ped a fleet of twenty-six vessels, with a large force 

 on board, both naval and military; but the tardiness 

 of the Spanish preparations delayed their sailing till 

 the month of February 1626. The whole was om- 

 inanded by Osorio, Marquis of Valduesa ; and the 

 number embarked, including soldiers and sailors, 

 amounted to upwards of twelve thousand. 



expel- Meanwhile events in the colony had prepared the 

 way for their success. After the governor and re- 

 gular force had yielded without any resistance, the 

 archbishop, Michael Texeira, animated by an heroic 

 spirit, rallied round him his clergy and the persons 

 attached to him. With these he retired and fortified 

 himself in a neighbouring post ; multitudes (locked 

 to his standard ; his strength augmented daily ; and 

 from defending himself, he was soon enabled to be- 

 come the assailant. He begun by cutting off the 

 Dutch parties and detachments ; he intercepted their 

 supplies of provisions ; and he at length succeeded in 

 placing the city under a complete state of blockade. 

 His death, . hich unfortunately occurred, did not 

 prevent his successors from persevering in the same 

 system. By the time, therefore, that the Portuguese 



fleet arrived off St Salvador, the place wai reduced ' 



to considerable straits; and when Osorio had landed ~~v ' 

 lOOO men to co-operate with those already in arms, 

 its situation became entirely desperate. '1 lie go . 

 ni'i- made some attempt* at resistance ; but these 

 iercd ineffectual by the inhabitants, who 

 loudly demanded an immediate surrender. The fleet 

 u: in ned in triumph to Europe. 



The Dutch company were inflamed with the most 

 eager desire of repairing this loss and disgrace ; but 

 the deficiency of their resources obliged them to delay 

 an expedition necessarily attended with enormous ex- 

 pense. They attacked, however, with the utmost vigour, 

 the Spanish and Portuguese vessels in the European 

 seas, as they returned from the East and West Indies ; 

 their success was prodigious; and immense wealth 

 v, as the result of this species of warfare. In thirteen 

 years they had taken five hundred and forty-five ves- 

 sels, the proceeds of which amounted to j7,500,000. 

 The equipment of the privateers employed had cost 

 only about half that sum ; so that they were enabled 

 to divide never less than twenty, and sometimes even 

 fifty per cent, on their capital. These funds soon g econt } 

 placed them in a condition to undertake a new expe- Dutch er- 

 dition into Brasil. About the middle of 1629, twen- petition, 

 ty-seven vessels were equipped and sent out under the 

 command of Admiral Lonk. These collecting all the 

 Dutch vessels they met, swelled gradually to forty- 

 six, which, after a somewhat long navigation, ar- 

 rived on the 3d of February 1630, off the coast of 

 the fertile province of Fernambuco. Wardenberg, 

 who commanded the troops, landed at the capital 

 Olinda, which he immediately attacked. The Por- 

 tuguese, however, no longer reposing in their former 

 security, gave him a warm reception. Three forts 

 defended the city, of each of which he rendered him- 

 self master, only by a sanguinary contest ; and he 

 was obliged to call in the aid of the naval force, in 

 order to complete the reduction of the city. When 

 this success, however, was completed, the whole pro- 

 vince, struck with consternation, submitted to the 

 victors. The Portuguese a second time learued, 

 that this settlement, so much valued, was on the 

 point of being wrested from them ; thv nation again 

 strained every nerve to recover it ; and they were 

 again seconded, though more coldly than ever, by the 

 court of Spain. However, a considerable armament Wars be- 

 was equipped, which might have effected its object, tweci > 'he 

 had not an infectious disease seized the troops before K"' a 

 their departure. Two thousand perished ; and the g uete . 

 rest, dreading the same fate, fled from the scene of 

 pestilence. The deserters were compelled to return, 

 and the fleet was again prepared for sea ; but these 

 distressing events delayed its departure till the month 

 of May in the following year. The Portuguese, 

 collecting all their naval fjrce, both in Europe and 

 Africa, assembled a fleet of fifty-four vessels, which 

 was considerably superior to any which the Dutch 

 were able to oppose. The latter, not aware of the 

 strength of the enemy, sailed from their harbours 

 with only sixteen vessels. Accustomed, however, to 

 despise the Portuguese, they hesitated not to engage 

 even against such fearful odds ; but they paid dear 

 for their rashness. The admiral was blown up with 

 his vessel ; the second in command shared the same 



