n a W E S T E R N H I N D O O S T A N .
and, after feveral lharp adtions, made himfelf again matter of
the city, by a moft fierce and bloody affault; the defence being
equally obftinate as the attack.
F rom that moment the able Vice-roy determined to make
Goa the capital of his matter’s new acquired dominion in India:
he gave it every ftrength his military ikill could fuggeft, and
every encouragement that his wifdom and commercial know-
lege could invent. The fuccefs was, for a long feries o f years,
equal to the greatnefs of the defign, and it flouriihed with unrivalled
fplendor. It became the center o f the riches of India,
and one of the greateft marts in the univerfe. At length the
common confequences o f wealth, pride, luxury, effeminacy, and
every fpecies o f fraud, cruelty, and oppreflion poffeffed the
minds of thefe once brave and gallant people ; they degenerated
into every vile a ¿lion; and thought nothing wrong that
brought in advantage. They eftabliihed here an inquifition to
.enflave the minds o f the people. They perfecuted the poor
natives in every lhape, and in every place. The Abbe Raynal,
in moft animated terms, defcribes the fad change. To him I
refer the reader. After the fall o f the Portuguefe empire in
India, a prieft of Goa being aiked, when he thought his nation
might again refume its power, fenfibly replied— “ As foon as
“ your wickednefs ihall exceed that o f my people.” Let me
only fay, that the meafure of their iniquity being filled, they
were beaten, and expelled from the very feats conquered by the
intrepidity and chivalry of their anceftors; and that by a fmall
nation, who, fallying from the fens of Holland, by temperance,
wifdom, and fortitude, drove from almoft every part of India
that
that nation, whofe monarchs fo long had tyrannifed over them
in Europe. Goa, and fome few places on the Malabar coaft, were
left to them. Moft of them are now deferted, and fallen to
ruin. Goa barely keeps up its head: a Vice-roy, a naan of rank,
is ftill fent here; a Ihew o f ftate is kept up, but nothing o f territory
is left, except the ifland, and the two peninfulas that form
the harbour. The port of Goa is one o f the fineft in India, and
in the hands o f the Englijb or Dutch would be a. wealthy and
flouriihing fettlement; but its commercial confequence is funk
to nothing: and fuch is the ftate of Diu and Damoon i f they
ftill remain in their hands.
I t was at this place that the Apoftle of the Indies, St. Francis
de Xavier, landed, when he undertook his great million for the
converfion o f the Hindoos. He was born at the caftle Xavier, at
the foot o f the Pyrenees, in 1506. He became the friend of.
Ignatius Loyola, and, in concert with him, laid the plan for the
fociety of Jefus. John III. o f Portugal, by his embaffador, re-
quefted o f Loyola the recommendation o f certain miflionaries,
whom he would fend to India on the pious errand. Xavier was
named as one. He landed at Goa on May 7, 154a. His fuccefs
was correfpondent to his zeal': he made numberlefs converts at
Goa, Comerin, Malacca, in the Molucca illes, and in Japan. At
length, in 1552, he paid the debt to nature, in an ifle off the
coaft of China. He had the honor of canonization in 1622. The
citizens o f Goa boaft o f having his body in the church of Bon
Jefus, in a magnificent chapel, dedicated to the faint. His tomb
is o f black marble, brought from Lifbon,' with the hiftory of his
V o l. I. q life
S t . F r a n c i s d e
X a v i e r .