Page:List of Books and Some Manuscripts Relating to the History of the Portuguese in India (1880).djvu/23

 NOTE. I have attempted here to give an alphabetical list of the writers on the history of the Portuguese in India and the connected matters. My object in printing a»few copies of the following pages is as follows. In the .course of twenty years’ studies relating to India, I found that the history of the Portuguese had been shamefully neglected. Robertson (following Raynal) already pointed out in the last century our immense debt to the Portuguese: "It is to the discovery of the passage to India and to the vigour and success with which the Portuguese prosecuted their conquests and established their dominions there, that Europe has been indebted for its preservation from the most illiberal and humiliating servitude that ever oppressed polished nations." In attempting to get better information, I found that the true history of the Portuguese in India furnishes most important guidance for the present day, and that the assertions commonly made about it are utterly false, especially in regard to the ecclesiastical history. To collect this information cost me so much labour and expense, that some friends interested in the subject expressed a wish to know where to find it; for them, I print the following pages.