_ 231 _ are things of silence. The wise give up understanding them, and the common people cannot touch them. Matias de Albuquerque has his feet fixed firmly in the centre of rightful enterprise, determined not to yield one point in its total execution. The surprise is that all the lines go out from the centre equally to the circumference. The conduct of war is equal to governing in time of peace; clemency to punishment, justice to punishment, and the reward resulting from all this was the great admiration and praise he received. The zeal he applied in sending into exile all men of evil ways, disturbers of the peace, and the public order was extraordinary, so that the fear felt for him would exceed the rigour with which he punished them. It was his especial concern to care for the poor and the wretched, uprooting many tyrannical customs, exile, land taxes, and other impositions and facts of violence which the inhabitants of that city practised towards them, keeping them always under the yoke of servitude. He took an especial interest in the merchants, redressed their grievances and favoured them in every way, which was right in the service of His Majesty. So, in his time, all harassments, cases of violence, seizure of goods and other unreasonable measures which hitherto had been inflicted
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