Causes
The conspiracy was inspired by the propaganda of the political agitators that shortly after brought about the French Revolution.
José António and Caetano visited Rome and Portugal to plead for their being appointed as Bishops, but were refused. As a result of this refusal, they hatched the conspiracy along with Abbé Faria. They also managed to obtain the sympathy of similarly disaffected Christians in the Army and local clergy.
The conspirators also negotiated with Tipu Sultan, the usurper of Mysore, so that, when they had thrown Goa into disorder, he would invade and give the finishing touch.
The conspiracy was given up by one of the conspirators to the authorities thereby preventing liberation from Portuguese colonial rule.
The root of the dissent was that missionaries from Portugal (the Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits) were dominating the churches and Government services in Goa towards the end of the 18th century.
The local Christians were being ignored for any prestigious or responsible positions. But it seems it was these Goan priests being bypassed in favour of the South Indian St. Thomas clerics (particularly Bishop Joseph Kariattil) for the appointment to the vacant sees of Cranganore and Mylapore that was last straw on the camel's back.
P. Kamat mentions that the protests of the various priests she studied for their non-submission to the Portuguese authority in Goa were by and large manifestations of their immediate personal grievances arising out of racial discrimination and administrative abuses.
The dissent was also fomented by the bad treatment of Goans by the Portuguese, especially after the loss of Portuguese territories of Daman and Bassein to the Marathas in 1739. This treatment had led to the refusal of Goans to join Portuguese military expeditions in East Africa, leading to the Portuguese Viceroy in Goa to issue an ordinance in 1760 banning the use of the expressions negro or cachorro (dog) to refer to the natives.
Read more about this topic: Conspiracy Of The Pintos