During all this time the authorities at Bahia had remained quiescent,
since officially no state of war existed, and in the eyes of the
Government the Dutch were supposed merely to be quelling some
revolutionary movements ere they departed for Europe! Now the time came
for this farce to be ended, and the Governor of Bahia sent troops to the
north to join the insurgents in their struggle against the Dutch. The
traitor Hoogstraten now definitely joined these forces, and the whole of
the country south of Recife fell once more into the hands of the
Portuguese. During this period the bitterness between the two armies was
still further accentuated by the massacre of Portuguese by the Tapuya
Indians at Cunhau. This atrocity, as a matter of fact, was perpetrated
on the initiative of the Indians alone, but at the time the
Dutch--unjustly, as it turned out--were blamed for it. This circumstance
induced retaliation, and eventually caused many barbarous acts to be
done on both sides.
After the fortunes of war had fluctuated on various occasions and the
Dutch had alternately been defeated, received reinforcements, and become
temporarily victorious again, the war came to an end. The Dutch
consented to withdraw entirely from Brazil, to surrender Recife and all
the remaining forts which they possessed, as well as the Island of
Fernando de Noronha.
Pages:
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159