They captured and plundered the
capital, pillaging churches and ransacking the sugar factories. The
Governor, Maciel, appears to have behaved very badly, and with no
little treachery towards his fellow-countrymen. Nassau, when Maciel
surrendered, treated him with contempt, and imprisoned him. The
situation had now become grimly farcical. In Europe the Dutch were
supplying the Portuguese with arms and stores, and acting in general as
their allies; while in Brazil the two nations were openly at war, and
the Dutch were sending hostile expeditions in all directions!
Just at this period, indeed, the ambition of the Dutch appeared to swell
to the highest point. Count Mauritz determined to push his conquests far
to the south, and had even prepared an expedition for the capture of the
Spanish town of Buenos Aires; but the attempt was frustrated by the
hostility of the Portuguese and Indians nearer home. All this time, of
course, Dutch fleets had been harrying the Pacific coast, and the Dutch
had actually obtained a footing in Southern Chile, although this was not
destined to prove permanent. With the extension of their boundaries,
however, it was but natural that the difficulty of preserving their
dominion should increase.
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