A lieutenant already in 1886, the Minister of the Navy, Manuel Pinheiro Chagas [pt], appointed him director of public works of Macau.

In 1900 the Regenerator Party returned to power and the Counsilor Horta e Costa was again appointed on 12 August as the 71st Governor of Macau, where he conducted a military expedition.

On 14 February 1907, as Chief of Cabinet of the President of the Ministry of João Franco, he was appointed 113th Governor-General of India, an office he bore until the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic in 1910.

He also increased the capacity of the port at Mormugão and he was responsible for Campal Avenue, where he constructed roads with footpaths and planted trees.

A public political rally elected Dr. Francisco Manuel Couceiro da Costa as the new governor, as required by the provisional government.

He married Carolina Adelaide Pinheiro de Vasconcelos Silvano (18 April 1869 – Porto) on 12 April 1886, shortly before embarking to Macau, daughter of António Maria Silvano, then a Lieutenant Colonel of the Infantry Regiment of the Overseas, later Brigadier General and General of the Arm of Infantry, Knight and Officer of the Order of Aviz, Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, etc., and his wife Carolina Xavier Pinheiro.