Book 
72 The HIST 0 R T of the 
but would not permit others to commend them. It 
was a common Saying of his, that he was afraid of no- 
thing but Flattery ; and, it was obferved, that he never 
preferred any who attempted to gain his good Graces that 
way. Let them ferve their King and Country, faid he, 
if they would be beloved by Albuquerque ; and his Actions 
were agreeable to his Words,, for he diftinguifhed none 
but Men of Merit. It has been well obferved by fome of 
the Portugueze Hiftorians, that the Vanity of Almeyda 
made him afferi: the State of a Prince, when the Power of 
the Portugueze was but indifferently eftablifhed ; whereas 
the Modefty of Albuquerque was moft confpicuous when 
his Vidories had left him nothing to fear, and when the 
greateft Princes of the Eaft lent their Erabaffadors to beg 
his Friendfhip. 
Yet, with all thefe Qualities, this Hero had his Faults. 
His Ambition was boundlefs, and carried away by an ex- 
travagant Defire of extending the Dominions of the Crown, 
of Portugal , he very little regarded whether the Mea- 
fures he took for that Purpofe, were juft or unjuft. In 
his private Life, he was a Man of the ftrideft Plonour ; in 
his publick Character Regard to Truth will not permit us 
to fay fo much r. What we have farther to relate of his 
Adions, will fully juftify this Remark. He made him- 
felf Mafter of Goa without any other Pretence than that 
it was neceftary to the Crown of Portugal. He had feized 
Malaca for the fame Reafon : And now he meditated the 
Conqueft of Ormuz from the like Motive, and he ef- 
feded it in the following manner: He had formerly, that 
is, before he was declared General of the Indies , attempted 
to raife a Citadel there without being able to effed his De- 
fign ; but the Power of the Portugueze being now fo 
much increafed, that all the Commerce of the Eaft de- 
pended upon them, the King of Ormuz had been obliged 
to become tributary, becaufe his City and Nation depended 
upon Trade ; other Places could not be rich, but his Do- 
minions, could not fubfift without it. 
The then King of Qrmuz % was Torun-Shah , a young 
Prince of no- great Abilities, and of a weak and 
timorous Spirit, in the Beginning of his Reign,, he was 
entirely governed, as all Princes muft be, who have not 
Parts enough to govern themfelves, by an old Minifter, 
whofe Name was Nqradin a Man of great Cunning,, but 
of no enterprising Genius, and who, to fupport himfelf, 
and fecure the Adminiftration to his Family, brought 
three of his Nephews to Court, and gave them great 
Pofts in the Government and in the Army. Hamed , the 
youngeft of thele, in a fhort Time gained, by his In- 
trigues, fuch a Share of Power, that neither the King 
nor his Uncle, had any more than a Shadow of Autho- 
rity left. Don Alphonfo Albuquerque being informed of this, 
affembled an Army, and gave it out that his Defign 
was to attack Aden •, but, when at Sea, he diredted his 
Courfe to the Coafc of Perfa, and appeared before Or- 
muz when he was Jeaft expedled. He demanded that the 
Citadel fhould be immediately put into his Hands, Por- 
tugueze Fadlories fettled in the Place, and that the King 
fhould abfolutefy acknowledge himfelf dependant on the 
Crown of Portugal. 
Ter un-Shah, thinking it better to be the Valfal of a fo- 
reign Prince, than the Slave of his own Minifter, exert- 
ed his Authority to leffen his own Dignity, admitted the 
General into the Citadel, affigned the Portugueze fome of 
the beft Houfes in the Town for their Fadlory, and order- 
ed their Flag to be difplayed upon the Palace. Hamed 
could not help difcovering his Impatience, at a Change fo 
fudden and unexpected, to prevent the Effects of which, 
he formed fome Defigns againft the General’s Life ; of 
which Don Alphcnfo was no fooner informed, than he 
gave Orders to fome of his Soldiers to cut him off, which 
they, without Ceremony performed. If the General had 
Hopped here, it had been well enough, but his Projects 
were not of a Nature to be bounded by any thing but the 
abfolute Poffeffion of what he aimed at, and therefore, 
under Pretence that a Fleet was coming from Egypt , to 
make a Defcent upon the Hand, he demanded -ajlthe Ar- 
tillery of the Place,, which, he laid,, was neceftary for his 
preferring it from the Enemy. 
Tonm-Shah affembled his Council, who declared, that 
in the firft Place, they knew nothing of any fuch Defton 
and in the next, that they thought it very imprudent°tc> 
comply with the General’s Defign. The Cowardice of 
the King, however, got the better of the good Senfe of 
his Minifters, the Artillery was put on Board for the pre- 
fent Service, which the General would never reftore j but 
having made Pedro d’ Albuquerque Governor of the Citadel 
he feized fifteen of the Princes of the Blood, with their 
Wives and Children, and carried them away with him to 
Goa y that he might have fufticient Hoftages for their good 
Behaviour to him, who, he was conscious, had Reafoa 
enough to be difpieafed with his Conduct towards them > 
and thus, for the prefent, Ormuz, was fubje&ed to the 
Porturueze t 
o 
A little before the Return of Albuquerque , he received a 
magnificent Embaffy from the King'of Perjla y who, find- 
ing himfelf in danger of ftiffering by the new Empire, 
erected by this General in the Eaft, refolved to prevent it 
if he could, by offering him hrs Friendfhip. The General 
received him with all the Refpeci due t6 the Minifter of fo 
great a Prince, and caufed him to be entertained during 
the Time he ftaid at the publick Expence, and that too 
with as great Magnificence, as the Ckcumftances of Time 
and Place would allow. Lie likcwife made the P erf an Mo- 
narch very valuable Prefen ts, and fuch as he very little ex- 
pedted; for he fent him fome very fine Pieces of Bra is 
Cannon, and various other Utenfils of War, together with 
fome able Engineers, to manage them, which he did for 
two Reafons ;• firft, that he might fecure the fincere Friend- 
fhip of fo great a Monarch, which he knew would be of 
prodigious Confequence, as Things then flood, to the Af- 
fairs ol Portugal, and next, becaufe he was perfectly informed 
that the Advantages gained over the Perfians by the Turks 
were intirely owing to their Artillery ; and this great Poli- 
tician very rightly judged, that nothing could ferve their 
Purpofes better than keeping the Force of thefe rival Em- 
pires on an Equality. 
A fhort time after the Return of Don Alphonfo de Albu- 
querque to Goa, he was feized with an Ulnefs, which in a 
few Days carried him off at the Age .of fixty-three. Ho 
was called by the Mohammedans Albuquerque Malandy , be- 
caufe he was born at Melinda in Africa , ■ which in all the 
Eaftern Tongues is called Malanda ; but by the Portugueze 
he was filled, and that very juftly, Albuquerque the Great. 
He was the abieft Statefman, and by far the moft confum- 
mate General they ever had in the Indies, and left their 
Affairs in the beft Situation ; and yet he performed all the 
great Actions of his Life with very 'inconfiderable Force r 
For with thirty Ships he took Calicut r with twenty-one he 
became Mafter of Goa, with twenty-three he furprized 
Malacca , and had no more than twenty-two in his laft Ex- 
pedition againft Ormuz. At the Time of his Deceafe he 
was meditating two Projects, which would have raifed his 
Reputation ftill higher, if he had lived to execute them ; 
and they are both of them worthy the Character of this il- 
luftrious Perfon, and fuch as perhaps would never have en- 
tered any other Plead than his own. 
He had fo firmly eftablifhed the Power of the Portu- 
gueze in the Indies, that he few no Poffibiiity of the Trade’s 
being diverted into another Channel, but by the Turks y 
who he fufpebted would make themfelves Mailers of Egypt ; 
and he very well knew, that by a right Management the 
old Channel of Commerce, by the way of Alexandria , 
might be reftored,and would then.become more confiderable 
than ever. To prevent this, he infinuated to the Emperor 
p If we confider what Sentiments the Indians muft have of the Behaviour of the Potuguezc, we muft naturally conclude, that they thought them as 
Bloody and as barbarous as the Tartars ; and, therefore, when we hear what the Portuguese call A£ts of Treachery, we muft not absolutely attri- 
lute them to the fai chiefs and wicked Difpofition of the Indians , but to their Terror and Apprehenfton of the Portugueze, whofe Yoke they dreaded, 
and whofe Force they knew not how to refill. 
q This City owed both its Being and its Grandeur to its Trade, and therefore we often hear it mentioned, to {hew, that there is no Place fo un- 
comfortable by Situation, that may not be rendered agreeable by Commerce and the • ■ eaith that it brings in c the v/orft of it is, that Luxury never 
Jails to accompany this Abundance ; and it was to. the Factions that took Rife from their Wealth and. Corruption, that the King and People of Or* 
K owed their Deitru&km. 
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