ohn II, who had directed the explorations which led to
such great results, and who had trained the statesmen and captains
who achieved those results. Emmanuel showed by his internal policy in
Portugal that he was not a great king; his one dream was to secure
the thrones of Spain; for this reason he had married in succession
two of the daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella; and for this purpose
he had consented, at their request, to expel the Jews, to whose
commercial enterprise Portugal owed much, from his dominions.
Personally he was an ungrateful and {174} a suspicious ruler. He
never employed Vasco da Gama after his second voyage in 1502, and he
kept the profits of the commerce which had been opened for Portugal
strictly to himself.

John III, Emmanuel's successor, was a more estimable man than
Emmanuel; he knew how to recognise and reward ability and valour. But
he had one defect which proved fatal to the Portuguese power in Asia:
he was a fanatical bigot. He looked upon the Portuguese connection
with the East not only as a lucrative monopoly to increase the wealth
of the Crown, but as an opportunity for spreading Christianity among
the heathen. He sent out missionaries as his father had sent
soldiers; he established the Holy Inquisition in Portugal which
sapped the intellect and vigour of the Portuguese nation; and it was
directly due to his example that the fatal policy of religious
persecution was introduced into India as a branch of Christianity.

The first selection which John III made for the government of the
Portuguese in Asia was an act of reparation. On his accession to the
throne he created Dom Vasco da Gama Count of Vidigueira, and in 1523
he appointed the discoverer of the direct sea route to India to the
office of Viceroy, which had not been held since the days of Dom
Francisco de Almeida. This title carried with it more extensive
powers than were exercised by Albuquerque and his next successors.
Such powers were sorely needed. Complaints came yearly from India of
the oppression {175} and the peculation of the Portuguese officials
in the East. They made use of their positions to pile up fortunes for
themselves, and charges of corruption were even brought against the
Governor.

Under these circumstances a man of strong character and high rank was
needed to remedy such abuses, and no fitter man could be found than
the illustrious admiral of the Indian Seas, Dom Vasco da Gama. He
justified the opinion h