Chap.m. of BRAZIL by the PORTUGUEZE. 
Dirch de Hoogfirate^ to the Viceroy, at the Bay of All 
Saints^ to complain of the Infra6lion of the Truce, between 
the Crown of Portugal and the StaJes General, which had 
ftill four Years to come. The Viceroy received them 
with great Civility, and anfwered them with much Pru- 
dence. He faid that he was refponfible for the Conduft 
of the Inhabitants of that Part of Brazil fubjefl to the 
Crown of Portugal-, and, if they had broke the Truce, 
he would give them what Satisfabtion they could defire ; 
but, vdth refpe6t to the Portugueze fettled in the Dutch 
Dominions, if provoked by Oppreffions they had taken 
Arms, it was what he could not help, and for which it 
was very imjufr to make him anfwerable. 
This v/as what he faid in public, but in a private 
Conference he had with Captain Hoogftrate, he drew 
him over to his Intereft, and prevailed upon him to re- 
folve upon giving up the important Poft of Cape St. Au- 
gujiine, of which he was Governor. In the mean time 
General Htiys attacked Colonel Cameron, but had the 
Misfortune to be beat, with the Lofs of one hundred 
Men. Soon after this the Portugueze Fleet, under the 
Command of Admiral Salvador Correa de Banavides, 
appeared on the Coaft ; and, though it was very nume- 
rous, yet the Dutch Admiral, Lichthart, offered them 
Battle, though he had but five Men of Warj but the 
Portugueze Commander refufed it, pretending he had 
no Orders to a6t againft the Dutch ; and that all his Bii- 
fmefs w'as to land a Body of Men in his M.ffer’s Domi- 
nions, which he accordingly did ; but thofe Men, with- 
out any Ceremony, entered the Dutch Territories, and 
made themfelves Mafters of all the Places that fell in 
their Way. 
The Dutch Council, upon this, fent Orders to their Ge- 
neral Huys to retreat •, but he, flaying for one Captain 
Black, whom he had fent away for feveral Ladies and 
rich Effefts out of the Country, had the Misfortune to be 
furrounded by the Portugueze, beaten, and taken Pri- 
foner ; which the beft Dutch Accounts that I have met 
with attribute to his Want of Condudl and Courage. 
Upon this Orders were fent to Admiral Lichthart to 
attack the Portugueze Ships whenever he had an Op- 
portunity, and he exerted upon this Occafion the fame 
Spirit and Courage which he had fo often fhewn upon 
others •, for, with four Ships, a Frigate, and a Bark, he 
attacked the Portugueze Fleet of feventeen Sail, took 
three of the largeft Ships, together with the Admiral •, 
killed feven hundred Men, and burnt and funk almoft 
all the other Veffels ; which raifed the Hopes of his 
Countrymen not a little, and they began to flatter them- 
felves they fhould have better Succefs for the future, than 
they had hitherto had from the Beginning. 
But thefe Hopes were very foon dafhed, by their re- 
ceiving the unexpected News of the Lofs of St. Augujiine, 
which was given up by Captain Hoogjlrate, in confe- 
quence of the Agreement which, as we have before 
mentioned, he had made with the Viceroy, when fent to 
treat with him by the Dutch Council as their Minifter. 
He received for this infamous ACtion the Sum of 18000 
Florins, which Sum he employed in raifing a Regiment 
of fix hundred and fifty Brazilians, of which he was 
made Colonel by the Portugueze, and wanted not Im- 
pudence enough to appear at the head of it, againft his 
Country ^ and, which was ftill more aftonifhing, behaved 
bravely and with great Fidelity in the Service of his new 
Mafter. 
Their great Superiority enabled them to make a quick 
Difpatch in moft of the Expeditions they undertook ; fo 
that in ftiort Time almoft all the ftrong Places in the 
Captainfnip of Fernarnhuca furrendered to them. At laft 
they blocked up the Receif always the ftrongeft, and 
now the only ftrong Place the Dutch had left ; and re- 
duced thofe who were in it to fiach Hardfliips, that they 
muft have been ftarved out, if they had not been relieved 
by the Arrival of a Fleet from Holland. When the News 
of thefe Proceedings arrived in Holland, the Mob was ex- 
ceffively irritated, and in their firft Fury furrounded the 
Houle of the Portugueze Embaffador; which, but for 
the prudent Interpofition of the Prince of Orange, they 
had certainly pulled down. That Minifter, however, 
endeavoured to perfuade the States General t\idX his Mafter 
had no Concern in this Rebellion ; that he abfolutely 
difapproved it ; and that the Viceroy had never given 
any kind of Countenance "0 Viera. But the Dutch Statef- 
men were too wife to give any Credit to him ; On the 
contrary, they equipped a Fleet of fifty-two fail of Men 
of War, under the Command of Mr. Bayikert, Admiral of 
Zealand, whom they declared Admiral of Brazil, Guinea, 
and Angola with him they fent Colonel Schuppen and 
Colonel Henderfon, who had ferved under Count Mau- 
rice with great Reputation •, and thus an open War begun 
between Portugal and Holland, on the other Side the 
Line. 
But never any Fleet met with fo many unfortunate Ac- 
cidents as this did 5 for, within two Days after they fail- 
ed from thtfexel, they were forced to anchor mi\iQ Downs, 
where they loft two Ships in a Storm *, they failed again, 
and Vv^ere forced into the Ifle of Wight where, the firft 
Sight they faw, was the Wreck of a great Ship, which 
proved a Dutch Merchantman from Brazil^ with a Cargo 
of the Value of tv/o Millions, which was entirely loft; and, 
out of three hundred Perfons, only thirty faVed % in the Port 
of St. HeleVs they remained wind-bound feVen Weeks, 
and at laft met with a Storm on their putting again to- 
Sea, by which they fuffered extremely : Many more fuch 
Checks they met with before they arrived at the Receif-, 
where the People were reduced to fuch Extremity, that 
they were on the Point of throwing themfelves upon the 
Enemy, to feek a certain Death by the Sword, rather 
than expeft a lingering one by Famine. 
By the Help of thefe Reinforcements the War was 
ftill kept on Foot, and fome fmall Advantages gained j 
but, in the Beginning of the Year 1647, they were again 
blocked up in the Receif, where their whole Force con- 
fifted but ol one thoufand eight hundred Men, with 
which they made a gallant Defence j but at length, on. 
the 1 6th of May, they refolved to fally with their whole 
Strength, and to attack the Enemy in the Field, which they 
did, at firft, with fome Degree of Succefs j but, being 
overpowered by Numbers, were at length beaten ; and,- 
in their Fight and Flight, loft one thoufand one hundred 
Men, moft of their Officers, nineteen Colours, and all 
the Artillery and Ammunition they had carried with 
them. This great Misfortune hindred them, indeed, 
from making any more Sallies ; but by leffening their 
Numbers fo much, enabled them to make a longer De- 
fence, fince their Provifions fufficed now for feven Months, 
which would otherwife have lafted them but three. 
I have dwelt the longer upon this Part of the Story, 
becaufe I conceive it cannot be confidered as either un- 
pleafant or ufelefs ; and I have obferved, with fome De- 
gree of Amazement, that this kind of Hiftory is very 
little known here in England -, where the being able to 
difcourfe pertinently of Greek and Roman Hiftory, paffes 
for Learning *, and an Acquaintance with the Story of 
Italy in the middle Ages, has its Admirers amongft the 
Virtuofi ; both which I hold equally laudable and fenfi- 
ble j but ftill I am perfuaded that this kind of Hiftory is 
of more Confequence than both, to the Inhabitants of a 
Country fiourilhing by Trade ; and therefore I have 
taken fo much Pains to reduce thefe Matters into Method 
and Order, that the Study of maritime Hiftory might be- 
come more pleafant and eafy, and confequently grow 
more into Repute and Faffiion, amongft a Nation that 
fo defervedly value themfelves upon the glorious Title of 
a maritime Power. The true Meaning and real Import- 
ance of which Title, can only be learned by the Perufal 
of Works like thefe. But to return from Refledlions to 
the Current of our Fliftory. 
The Progrefs of the Portugueze was fo great, and fo 
irrefiftible, and the Difafters that attended the Dutch fol- 
lowed fo clofe on each other, that nothing feemed capa- 
ble of preventing the total Ruin of the Dutch Affairs in 
that Pan: of theV/orld. This naturally might, and in- 
deed did, produce a kind of national Defpair ; which 
haftened, though I think it did not caufe, that Ruin v/liich 
it forefaw. The Province of Zealand recalled their Ad- 
miral Bankert, with whom came home moft of the Of- 
ficers they had fent with him, heartily difgufted with the 
Service. 
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