194
HISTOKVr OF INDIA.
[?K,f,K I.
A.D li70.
l')niii(lable attack on (ioa by Ally Adil Shah.
It is repulsed
Causes of Portuguese decline.
ance; and hence, thovigli the attack was .siiiiultaiieons, it was mafle at thret important stations — V)y tlie King of Ahniednuggnr, at Choul — by tlie zarnorin, at Cliale, wliere a fort liad been erected which overawed his capital at Calicut — and by the King of Bejapoor, at Goa. The last, as in every respect the most memorable, is the only one to which it is necessary liere to advert.
Ally Adil Shah, who wfis then sovereign of Bejapoor, having assembled an army of 100,000 foot and 35,000 horse, 2140 elephants and 350 pieces of cannon, suddenly descended from one of the passes of the Western Ghauts intfj the Concan, and then, turning south, marched without of)position upon Goa. No preparations had been made for this formidable attack ; and the governor, on mustering his European troops, found that they did not exceed 700. Besides these he had about 1 300 monks, whose zeal and fanaticism compen.sated in some degree for their want of discipline, and a considerable number of natives, on whom no great confidence could be placed. His great security was in his insular position, which, so long as he held the command at sea, made it impo.ssible for the enemy to attempt an approach on any side but the one which lay nearest to the mainland. Against this side, accordingly, Ally Adil Shah directed all his efforts, and with such overpowering numbers and perseverance, that 5000 men succeeded in passing over into the island. It was only a temporary succeas ; for the Portuguese, aware that if they made good their footing the place must sur- render, mustered all their strength, and by one great effort, in wliich the most heroic valour was displayed, cut their assailants to pieces, or drove them into the sea. Ally Adil Shah had no heart to renew the combat ; and, after lingeiing for a short time, took his final departure. More than 12,000 of his troops had perished. The attacks on Choul and Chale were equally unsuccessful. New lustre was thus added to the Portuguese arms ; and many who looked only at the surface imagined that their power had never been established on a firmer basis. Those who looked deeper could not but see that the whole fabric wac undermined and tlireatening ruin.
It would be out of place here to examine in detail the various causes to which the overthrow of Portuguese supremacy in the East is attributable. A few, however, may be briefly mentioned. One of the most obvious is the com- parative indifference of the Portuguese themselves. When they first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, India was the great goal for which they were stiiving, and all the exertions of which they were capable were exclusively devoted to it. By the discovery of Brazil a new interest was created, and gradually became the more absorbing because the more lucrative of the two. A smaU state like Portugal was unable to superintend the affairs of two mighty empires, situated at the opposite extremities of the globe ; and experience seems to have proved that in giving the preference to the American continent she made the wiser choice. Both empires, indeed, are now lost to her ; but in that of the West her own race of kings still sits enthroned.
