[281]. Hist. l. 3.
[282]. L. 2. t. 3. c. 4, 5.
[283]. The forts in the harbour of Goa were then occupied by British troops (two king’s regiments, and two regiments of native infantry) to prevent its falling into the hands of the French.
[284]. There is Old and New Goa. The old city is about eight miles up the river. The vice-roy and the chief Portuguese inhabitants reside at New Goa, which is at the mouth of the river, within the forts of the harbour. The old city, where the inquisition and the churches are, is now almost entirely deserted by the secular Portuguese, and is inhabited by the priests alone. The unhealthiness of the place, and the ascendency of the priests, are the causes assigned for abandoning the ancient city.
[285]. I was informed that the vice-roy of Goa has no authority over the inquisition, and that he himself is liable to its censure. Were the British government, for instance, to prefer a complaint against the inquisition to the Portuguese government at Goa, it could obtain no redress. By the very constitution of the inquisition, there is no power in India which can invade its jurisdiction, or even put a question to it on any subject.
[286]. We entered the city by the palace gate, over which is the statue of Vasco de Gama, who first opened India to the view of Europe. I had seen at Calicut, a few weeks before, the ruins of the Samorin’s Palace, in which Vasco de Gama was first received. The Samorin was the first native prince against[against] whom the Europeans made war. The empire of the Samorin has passed away; and the empire of his conquerors has passed away: and now imperial Britain exercises dominion. May imperial Britain be prepared to give a good account of her stewardship, when it shall be said unto her, “Thou mayest be no longer steward!”
[287]. Monsieur[Monsieur] Dellon, a physician, was imprisoned in the dungeon of the inquisition at Goa for two years, and witnessed an Auto da Fè, when some heretics were burned; at which he walked barefoot.[barefoot.] After his release he wrote the history of his confinement. His descriptions are in general very accurate.
[288]. The following were the passages in Mr. Dellon’s narrative, to which I wished particularly to draw the attention of the inquisitor.—Mr. D. had been thrown into the inquisition at Goa and confined in a dungeon, ten feet square, where he remained upwards of two years, without seeing any person, but the gaoler who brought him his victuals, except when he was brought to his trial, expecting daily to be brought to the stake. His alleged crime was, charging the inquisition with cruelty, in a conversation he had with a priest at Daman, a Portuguese town in another part of India.
“During the months of November and December, I heard every morning the shrieks of the unfortunate victims, who were undergoing the Question. I remembered to have heard, before l was cast into prison, that the Auto da Fè was generally celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in the churches that part of the Gospel in which mention is made of the LAST JUDGMENT; and the inquisitors pretend by this ceremony to exhibit a lively emblem of that awful event. I was likewise convinced that there were a great number of prisoners, besides myself; the profound silence, which reigned within the walls of the building, having enabled me to count the number of doors which were opened at the hours of meals.—However, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed by, without my hearing of any thing, and I prepared to undergo another year of melancholy captivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 11th of January, by the noise of the guards removing the bars from the door of my prison. The Alcaide presented me with a habit, which he ordered me to put on, and to make myself ready to attend him when he should come again. Thus saying, he left a lighted lamp in my dungeon.—The guards returned about two o’clock in the morning, and led me out into a long gallery, where I found a number of the companions of my fate, drawn up in a rank against the wall: I placed myself among the rest, and several more soon joined the melancholy band. The profound silence and stillness caused them to resemble statues more than the animated bodies of human creatures. The women, who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed in a neighbouring gallery, where we could not see them; but I remarked that a number of persons stood by themselves at some distance, attended by others, who wore long black dresses, and who walked backwards and forwards occasionally. I did not then know who these were: but I was afterwards informed that the former were the victims who were condemned to be burned, and the others were their confessors.
“After we were all ranged against the wall of this gallery, we received each a large wax taper. They then brought us a number of dresses made of yellow cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew painted before and behind. This is called the San Benito. The relapsed heretics wear another species of robe, called the Samarra, the ground of which is grey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted upon it, placed upon burning torches with flames and demons all round.—Caps were then produced called Carrochas; made of pasteboard, pointed like sugar loaves, all covered over with devils, and flames of fire.