At the same time that he was himself accomplishing these marvellous labours, Albuquerque had desired some of his lieutenants to explore the unknown regions to which access had been given by the taking of Malacca. For this purpose he gave to Antonio and Francisco d'Abreu the command of a small squadron carrying 220 men, with which they explored the whole of the Sunda Archipelago, Sumatra, Java, Anjoam, Simbala, Jolor, Galam, &c.; then being not far from the coast of Australia they sailed back again to the north and arrived at the Islands of Buro and Amboyna, which form part of the Molucca group. After having made a voyage of more than 1500 miles amongst dangerous archipelagos strewn with rocks and coral reefs, and amidst populations often hostile, and after loading their ships there with cloves, nutmegs, sandal-wood, mace, and pearls, they set sail for Malacca in 1512. This time the veritable land of spices had been reached, it now only remained to found establishments there and to take possession of it definitely, which was not likely to be long postponed.
It has been often remarked that the Tarpeian rock is not far from the Capitol; of this Albuquerque was destined to make experience, and his last days were to be saddened by unmerited disgrace, the result of calumnies and lies, and of a skilfully woven plot, which, although it succeeded in temporarily clouding his reputation with King Emmanuel, has not availed to obscure the glory of this great man in the eyes of posterity. Already there had been an effort made to persuade the king that the taking possession of Goa had been a grave error; its unhealthy climate must, it was said, decimate the European population in a short time, but the king, with perfect confidence in the experience and prudence of his lieutenant, had refused to listen to his enemies, for which Albuquerque had publicly thanked him, saying,—"I think more is owing to King Emmanuel for having defended Goa against the Portuguese, than to myself for having twice conquered it." But in 1514 Albuquerque had asked the king to bestow upon him as a reward for his services the title of Duke of Goa, and it was this imprudent step which gave an advantage to his adversaries.
Soarez d'Albergavia and Diogo Mendez, whom Albuquerque had sent as prisoners to Portugal after they had publicly declared themselves his enemies, had succeeded not only in clearing themselves from the accusation brought against them by the viceroy, but in persuading Emmanuel that he wished to constitute an independent duchy of which Goa should be the capital, and they ended by obtaining his disgrace. The news of the appointment of Albergavia to the post of Captain-General of Cochin, reached Albuquerque as he was issuing from the Strait of Ormuz on his return to the Malabar coast, and at a time when he was suffering much from disease. "He raised his hands towards heaven," says M. F. Denis, in his excellent History of Portugal, "and pronounced these few words: Behold I am in disgrace with the king on account of my love to men, and with men on account of my love to the king. Turn thee, old man, to the Church, and prepare to die, for it behoves thine honour that thou shouldest die, and never hast thou neglected to do aught which thine honour demands." Whereupon, being arrived in the roadstead of Goa, Alfonzo Albuquerque set in order the affairs of his conscience with the Church, caused himself to be clad in the dress of the Order of St. Iago of which he was a commander, and then "on Sunday the 16th of December, an hour before daybreak, he rendered up his soul to God. Thus ended all his labours, without their having ever brought him any satisfaction."
Albuquerque was buried with great pomp. The soldiers who had been the faithful companions of his wonderful adventures, and the witnesses of his manifold tribulations, disputed amidst their tears for the honour of carrying his remains to their last resting-place, which their commander had himself chosen. The Hindoos in their grief refused to believe that he was dead, declaring that he was gone to command the armies of the sky. A letter of King Emmanuel has been comparatively lately discovered which proves that, although he were deceived for a time by the false reports of the enemies of Albuquerque, he soon discovered his mistake, and rendered him full and entire justice. Unfortunately this letter of reparation never reached the unfortunate second Viceroy of the Indies; it would have sweetened his last moments, whereas he had the pain of dying in the belief that the sovereign for whose glory and the increase of whose power he had consecrated his life, had in the end proved ungrateful towards him. "With Albuquerque," says Michelet, "all humanity and all justice disappeared from amongst the conquerors. Long years after his death the Indians would repair to the tomb of the great Albuquerque, to demand justice of him against the oppressions of his successors."
Many causes may be adduced as bringing about the rapid decay and dismemberment of that great colonial empire with which Albuquerque had enriched his country, and which even amidst its ruins has left ineffaceable traces upon India. With Michelet we may cite the distance and dispersion of the various factories, the smallness of the population of Portugal, but little suited to the wide extension of her establishments, the love of brigandage, and the exactions of a bad government, but beyond all, that indomitable national pride which forbade any mingling of the victors with the vanquished.
The fall of the colonial empire was hindered for a time by the influence of two heroic men, the first was Juan de Castro, who after having had the control of untold riches, remained so poor that he had not even the wherewithal to buy a fowl in his last illness; and the second, Ataïde, who once again gave the corrupt eastern populations an example of the most manly virtues, and of the most upright administration. But after their time the empire began to drop to pieces, and fell by degrees into the hands of the Spaniards and the Dutch, who in their turn were unable to preserve it intact. All passes away, all is changed. What can be said but to repeat the Spanish saw, in applying it to the case of empires, "Life is but a dream"?
END OF THE FIRST PART.