Note 173 — Book II. LETTERS TO RODOLPH.
Reading edition
One of the chief objects of the first expedition of Santa Cruz to the Azores (see Letter VI.) was to provide for the safety of the fleet which was expected from India. Telles Silva, having secured Goa and the other Portuguese possessions in India for Spain, despatched a messenger, Jerome Lima, to Philip by an overland route, viâ Ormuz, Bagdad, Aleppo, Jerusalem, and Tripoli, to inform him of his plans. Matters appear to have been well timed by the Spaniards, for shortly after the defeat of Strozzi the Indian fleet hove in sight, and Santa Cruz, after throwing a garrison into St. Michael, escorted the convoy to Lisbon. Don Antonio was thus left master of the other islands, but, as has already been seen, he quickly decamped, leaving Emmanuel Silva in command. The following year the French sent their second expedition, consisting of 600 men under de Chattes, Knight of Malta; on reaching Terceira this gallant officer strongly urged the Portuguese commander to concentrate his troops in some strong place, as he saw no hope of preventing the Spaniards, who were shortly expected, from disembarking. Silva refused to take his advice; Santa Cruz succeeded in landing, and after a sharp engagement the French, who were deserted by their Portuguese allies, were driven into the interior.
De Chattes asked Silva to join him, suggesting that with their united forces they would be able to offer a better resistance or secure better terms. Silva returned a most insolent answer, telling him to join the Spaniards, and boasting that he and his Portuguese were a match for them both, meanwhile he sent to Santa Cruz, offering to surrender and betray his French allies. This proposition the Spanish admiral forwarded to de Chattes by a man who had served with the latter at Malta. De Chattes no longer hesitated to accept the liberal terms offered by Santa Cruz, and surrendered with 400 men, on condition of their keeping their side arms, and being sent back to France. Silva was quickly hunted down, tortured, and executed. The French who had been taken prisoners before the surrender of the main body were sent to the galleys. See Thuanus, iii. 637-642.