But the Portuguese Government had no desire to make fresh conquests which it would need fresh supplies of money from home to defend, and the Count of Ega was ordered to surrender most of the conquered towns to their former owners. Meanwhile commerce had entirely deserted the Portuguese possessions, which were given over to the Church; and Captain Hamilton in his travels, after speaking of the poverty of the Portuguese inhabitants, says that he counted no fewer than eighty churches and convents in Goa, and that there were no less than thirty thousand priests in the city and territory. Revenue there was none, and the two thousand European soldiers who defended the ancient capital of Alboquerque had to be paid out of the Portuguese treasury. The last blow was given to what little commerce still remained by Pombal’s suppression of the Jesuits, and in 1759 “Golden Goa,” which had become unhealthy and ruinous, was left to priests and monks, and the seat of government was removed to Panjim. Pombal, with his practical insight, saw that nothing was to be made out of the Portuguese possessions in India, and spent all his efforts in Asia in promoting the prosperity of Macao; and in 1794, when Portugal was in difficulties in Europe, the Viceroy of Goa asked for the protection of English troops, and Goa was garrisoned by the English East India Company throughout the continuance of the great war with France. Very different was the history of Brazil during this century: while India was a source of expense, Brazil was the great source of wealth to the Portuguese treasury, and was to be the refuge of the royal family when it became impossible for it to remain longer in Lisbon. Throughout the century there was a steady influx of immigrants to Brazil from Portugal, and the population of the great colony rapidly increased in numbers. Most of these immigrants settled down as sugar or tobacco planters, and the labour upon the plantations was completely in the hands of the negro slaves, who were imported in vast numbers. The trade in slaves was kept entirely in the hands of Portuguese merchants, in spite of the efforts of the English slavers, and was not only looked upon as a lucrative calling, but as the chief employment for the Portuguese sailors. It was this trade alone which made it worth while for the Portuguese Government to keep up its establishments on the coast of Guinea, and Pombal encouraged it as the only means of supplying Brazil with labourers. The slaves in Brazil were not treated unkindly; their masters were bound to feed them; and were not only allowed, but were obliged to sell them their liberty, on the offer of a certain fixed sum of money. These freed slaves and the mulattoes, who were very numerous, often accumulated considerable wealth, and were treated as citizens in every respect, except that they could not hold any civil or municipal office. They were even enrolled as soldiers, but the mulatto