Storia do Mogor 333: NOTE FROM THE ENGLISH RECORDS.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 333
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- English
NOTE FROM THE ENGLISH RECORDS.
333.1
[Although Father Ephraim is not mentioned, there can be little doubt that the incident referred to is the one given in a supplement to a general letter from Fort St. George dated September 20, 1642 (Original Correspondence, No. 1791), under the heading, 'Passages on this Coast from ye pr° 9br 1641 to ye pro 7ber 1642.' The account runs as follows: 'The 11th of August [1642] 3 Portugall Soldiers belonging to the Armada: 11 small Frigotts sent for the Reliefe of St Thoma, with 270 Soldiers came to our Towne, and in a base Arack house, fell to drincking with a Dane, and at length together by the ears, in fine the 3 Portugalls with their rapiers made uppon him and wounded him in 7 places, notice of which being given us, wee sent two Soldiers to part them, who no sooner entred within the Yard, and Commanded them to desist, but on of the three aforesaid soldiers by name Anthony Myrando, ran the one of our 2 soldiers into the right Pappe that instantly he dyed without speaking one word; so soone as they perceived what they had done, they all 3 fledd, but within lesse than halfe an hower, were all thre taken, and being truly informed which was the Homicide, wee kept him and suffered the others to depart for St Thoma, from whence wee received many Letters to release him for that he was a phydalgo, but what thorough our Naiques importunitie, together with our owne people, wee cold not reprieve him till advized to Surrat, but were even forced to execute him the 13th d° [?
333.2
ditto] the morning, and because he pretended to be a Gentleman as aforesaid, wee shott him to death before our Corps du guards ; Since when wee have byn wonderfull at ease in respect of the Portugalls, for till then wee were dayly troubled with one or other, And now in this place it will not be impertinent before wee conclude to say Some what of St Thoma, where from the time the Armado arrived, which was in May last, to the time they parted, which was the 20th of August it is not to be spoken what a many murthers and other crimes which in any part of Christendome deserved death, were committed by the Soldiers, yet no one man suffered for it among them ; this Homicide Myrando about the prime of August kild a man in St Thoma and rann hither for sanctuary, and being wee would not protect him he not having made his peace, he vou'd in some of our hearing to be the death of some English man ere he left the Coast, the said Myrando further confessed ere he Suffered, that this was the 7th Murther he had Committed, but now say the Portugalls of St Thoma or rather the Capt. More [Chief Captain] (for all the Citizens rejoice at what wee did), the peace is broke and they expect order from the Viceroy to fall on us, which were it so (or wee faile much in our Judgements) St Thoma woold not Continue a month more in the hands of the Portugalls.'
333.3
In another account of the murder in Original Correspondence, No. 1792, the name of the murdered soldier is given as James Jaques, and it is also stated that the naique [the native ruler of the country] sent a large body of soldiers into the town, and insisted on the summary execution of the murderer. Father Ephraim, having been appointed chaplain on June 8, 1642, must have been in Fort St. George in August of that year.] If on this occasion and on others the father had not been living at Madras, the English would have broken with us. Indeed, this happened once when he was away. It was the occasion when the general Dom Louis de Mello carried away a ship from their port, and took possession thereof against all reason and justice. For the viceroy caused it afterwards to be restored, and removed the general from his appointment at San Thome. The father found a remedy for all these differences, and by his prudence moderated the passions on both sides. To this he was impelled by his zeal for public peace and welfare, and in this he rendered great service to God, to the king, and to the Portuguese of Mailapur.
333.4
Furthermore, two Capuchin fathers, who came from Persia as assistants to Father Ephraim — that is to say, Father Friar Ambrose of Preuilly and Father Friar Gilles of Dijon — have asked me for the present certificate as a justification of the said father, their brother, and to prove his innocence. I have drawn it up strictly according to truth as an eye-witness of almost all the things that I record and affirm, for I have been his confessor five years and a half, and have conversed with him with all imaginable familiarity. During most of this time we were together, either I in his hospice and church, or he in ours. If I tried to record here all that I know of the said father — of his virtues, of the services he rendered to Christianity in general and to his mission in particular, or did for the welfare and salvation of souls, I should never be finished. All that I have entered in the present certificate I confirm by an oath on my religious profession and on my holy orders as being absolutely true. Done at Goa in the convent of the Mother of God of the Capuchin Fathers this 23rd September, 1650. (Signed) F. Manuel de St. Joseph.