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A Fidalgo in the Far East, 1708–1726: Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho in Macao
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
Extract
If the average foreign visitor to Macao were asked what historical figure he would associate with the little Portuguese colony, he would probably think only of the poet Luis de Cam
s, though if he were better informed than most, he might add the painter George Chinnery and the pioneer Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison. Yet there is no lack of interesting characters connected with the “City of the Name of God” during its three and a half centuries of existence, and the present article deals with the story of one of them. Its perusal may help to recall those picturesque days when Macao formed the sole breach in the Great Wall of China's political exclusiveness, save for the “Thirteen Factories” at Canton.
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References
1 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Macao was famous for its cannon, mostly cast in the years 1625–45 by the celebrated founder Manoel Tavares Bocarro. Alexander Hamilton, who visited the city in 1703, notes “The largest brass cannon that ever I saw are mounted in proper Batteries about the City. I measured one (amongst many) out of curiosity, and found it 23 foot from the Breech to the Muzzle Ring, nine inches and a quarter diameter in the Bore, and it was 12250 Rotullaes or Ib. Weight of Solid Metal.” Hamilton, Alexander, A new account of the East Indies (2 vols. Edinburgh, 1727; New ed. London: Argonaut Press, 1930)Google Scholar.
2 “All the income and revenue of the City and Inhabitants of Macao depends upon the uncertainty of the sea, for all persons whatsoever there, apply themselves to trade; and the gentry deal in their money, putting it out to use, or sending merchandise, or gold ingots to be changed into pieces of eight at Goa.” Careri, Gemelli, A voyage round the world (Churchill's edition of the Giro dal mundo. London, 1744), p. 274Google Scholar.
3 Careri, op. cit., p. 274; Hamilton, op. cit., London ed., vol. 2, p. 116; for the troubles in Timor and Macao's intervention cf. my essay, Antonio Coclho Gucrrcin e as relaçç entre Macao e Timor no começo do seculo XVIII (Macao, 1940)Google Scholar.
4 Copy of the Resolution taken concerning the troubles caused in this City of the officers of His Majesty's frigate 27. xii. 1710 (Arquivos de Macau, vol. 2, pp. 191–92). This and all other relevant documents bearing on Antonio de Albuquerque's career are reproduced in my work on the subject, Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho (1682–1745). Esboço-biografico (Macao, 1939), to which the reader is referred for details in order to avoid burdening this article with references and footnotes. All the illustrations and reproductions in the text of this article are from the originals in the writer's collection.
5 The only English East India Company's ship recorded as having visited Canton this year was the Loyal Cooke (330 tons) but the vessel may have been one of the already numerous “country traders” or “interlopers.”
6 Contrary to the exaggerated version of this sufficiently romantic courtship and marriage given by a French writer, Eugene Gibert, in the Bulletin de la société academique Indo-Chinoise (1881), pp. 337–38, where he asserts that Albuquerque, “surprised at the feet of the unfortunate Maria de Moura, received an arquebus wound and had to have his arm amputated; his mistress died of fright and the child, the fruit of their amours, likewise perished.” This typically Gallic approach to the story reminds one of the anecdotal Frenchman's history of L'Elephant et ses amours.
7 Mr. Trevor Hughes of the Malayan Civil Service has translated that portion of Albuquerque's journey which deals with Johore under the title of “A Portuguese account of Johore” in the Journal of the Malayan branch of the royal Asiatic society, vol. 13,pt. 2 (1955), 111–56 to which the reader is referred for details of this romantic episode. The translator would appear to be in error however when he alleges (p. 112) that this account supports the tradition that the Raja Kechil who usurped the Johore throne in 1717 was a son of Sultan Mahmud and a very young man at the time o f his conquest. In point of fact the Jornada gives no indication of Raja Kechil's age, and expressly states that it was uncertain whether he was the real or supposed son of the pederastic Sultan Mahmud who was assassinated by his Prime Minister in 1699.
8 Relation sincera, y verdadera De la justa defension De las Regalias, y privilegios de la corona de Portugal En la Ciudad de Macao Escrita Por el Doctor D. Felix Leal de Castro En la misma Ciudad A 4 de Febrero de 1712 Impressa en Hiang Xan con las licencias necessarias. Large octavo. Hiang Xan is of course the Portuguese rendering of Heungshan, the capital of the district in which the Macao peninsula is situated.
9 For a good idea of these works cf. H. Cordier,—L'Imprimerie Sino-Européene en Chine. Bibliographic des ouvrages publics en Chine par les Européens au XVIIe et au XVIIIe; sièle (Paris, 1901), which however makes no mention of the Jornada. This omission in itself is sufficient testimony to the latter's rarity.
10 Jornada de Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho por Joaō Tavares de Vellez Guerreiro. Com uma Cartaprefacio de J. F. Marques Peireira (Bibliotheca de Classicos Portuguezes, Lisbon, 1905 and 1913).
11 The imperial present was in return for a thank-offering sent by the Senate to the Emperor on March 1, 1719, in gratitude for the exemption of Macao from the terms of the edict interdicting navigation to the South Seas. A translation of Manoel Vicente Roza's letter on this occasion is given in R. M. Martin's China (London, 1847), vol. 1, p. 372. Marques Pereira and later writers have erroneously ascribed this letter to Albuquerque, but it is clear that he was not involved in this correspondence.
12 After further misadventures the Count finally reached Portugal, via France, in June 1723. In Lisbon he devoted his leisure to his historical and literary studies, being one of the most active members of the Royal Academy of History. Created Marquis of Lourical in 1740, he was nominated Viceroy of India for the second time, and died at Goa two years later.
13 In a letter to the Senators the Bishop complained that “the act of extending my hand to take p a pen causes me unbearable shooting pains in the head.” Despite this constant suffering, he consistently turned a deaf ear to all suggestions that he should resign.