Storia do Mogor 281.15.3

281.15.3

The Brahmans, finding their claims and requests thrown out, were in no position to do anything more at Pondicherry to obtain redress for the infraction of their customs. For at that place are a strong fortress and a good garrison. Acting the part of wise men, they endured, though with murmurs, what they could not hinder, neither by argument nor by assertion of customary right, still less by force. They passed it by, hoping to return to it when a favourable opportunity presented itself. This was the opinion at once arrived at by those who know them, and are aware from long experience how acutely these people feel this sort of infringement of their maxims of conduct. Nor have they failed to act as anticipated, as the facts I am about to state will demonstrate. This was the first breach of Brahman customs, as preserved to them by all the nations of Europe who have established themselves on the coast, in order to attract them to settle in their towns and fortresses, with a view to the increase of their trade. The contravention was due to the intrigues of the reverend Jesuit fathers; and this is what I define as the first, more remote, or secondary cause of the persecution about which I have to speak. There was a second custom of these Hindus infringed by these same reverend Jesuit fathers, and this infraction was one of the three far-off and less influential of the causes of the persecution.