diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:00:20 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:00:20 -0700 |
| commit | 5353be9f7f59d4e7981676c630e0630904824f32 (patch) | |
| tree | 816430d8a5aab745bda99fe59b779fbc238f74f4 | |
36 files changed, 49093 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33847-8.txt b/33847-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..704aea7 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16357 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The History of Cuba, vol. 1, by Willis Fletcher Johnson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Cuba, vol. 1 + +Author: Willis Fletcher Johnson + +Release Date: October 8, 2010 [EBook #33847] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Etext transcriber's note: + +Although several typographical errors have been corrected, the variation +in the use of Spanish accents has not been altered (ie. both Senor and +Seņor [tilde n] appear.) + +The INDEX included at the end of this etext (which includes volumes 1 +thru 4) appears at the end of volume four of _The History of Cuba_. It is +provided here for convenience. + + + + +THE +HISTORY OF CUBA + +BY +WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON + +A.M., L.H.D. + +Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of +the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations" +Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign +Relations in New York University + +_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ + +VOLUME ONE + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, INC. +156 FIFTH AVENUE +1920 + +Copyright, 1920, + +BY CENTURY HISTORY CO. + +_All rights reserved_ + +ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL + +LONDON, ENGLAND. + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +TO + +THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA + +CONCEIVED BY +JOSE MARTI + +ESTABLISHED BY +THOMAS ESTRADA PALMA + +VINDICATED BY +MARIO G. MENOCAL + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is my purpose in these volumes to write a History of Cuba. The title +may imply either the land and its natural conditions, or the people and +the nation which inhabit it. It in fact implies both, and to both I +shall address myself, though it will appropriately be with the latter +rather than with the former that the narrative will be most concerned. +For it is with Cuba as with other countries: In the last supreme +analysis the people make the history of the land. Apart from the people, +it is true, the Island of Cuba is of unusual interest. There are few +countries of similar extent comparable with it in native variety, charm +and wealth. There are few which contribute more, actually and +potentially, to the world's supplies of greatly used products. One of +the most universally used and prized vegetable products became first +known to mankind from Cuba, and there to this day is most profusely and +most perfectly grown and prepared; while another, one of the most +universally used and essential articles of food, is there produced in +its greatest abundance. There also may be found an immense number and +bewildering variety of the most serviceable articles in both the +vegetable and mineral kingdoms, in noteworthy profusion and perfection, +together with possibilities and facilities for a comparable development +of the animal kingdom. + +Nor is the geographical situation of the island less favorable or less +inviting than its natural resources. Lying just within the Torrid Zone, +it has a climate which combines the fecund influences of the tropics +with the agreeable moderation of the Temperate Zones. It fronts at once +upon the most frequented ocean of the globe and upon two of the greatest +and most important semi-inland seas. It lies directly between the two +great continents of the Western Hemisphere, with such supremely +fortunate orientation that travel and commerce between them naturally +skirt and touch its shores rather than follow the longer and more +difficult route by land which is the sole alternative. A line drawn from +the heart of the United States to the heart of South America passes +through the heart of Cuba. A line drawn from the mouth of the +Mississippi to the mouth of the Amazon traverses Cuba almost from end to +end. Circled about the island and fronting on the narrow seas which +divide them from it are the territories of no fewer than fourteen +independent national sovereignties. It lies, moreover, directly in the +path of the world's commerce between the two great oceans, the Atlantic +and the Pacific, by the way of that gigantic artificial waterway which, +created largely because of Cuba, was the fulfilment of the world's four +centuries of effort and desire. There is scarcely a more suggestive and +romantic theme in the world's history than this: That Columbus made his +epochal adventure for the prime purpose of finding a passageway from the +Atlantic to the Pacific; or rather from Europe to Asia by way of the +Atlantic, since he assumed the Atlantic and the Pacific to be one; that, +failing to find that non-existent passageway, he found Cuba instead and +imagined that he had found therein the fulfilment of his dreams; that +four centuries later that passageway was artificially provided through +the enterprise and energy of a power which in his day had not yet come +into existence; and that this transcendent deed was accomplished largely +because of Cuba and because of the conflict through which that island +violently divorced herself from the imperial sovereignty which Columbus +had planted upon her shores. + +Lying thus in a peculiar sense at the commercial centre of the world, +between North America and South America, between Europe and Asia, +between all the lands of the Atlantic and all the lands of the Pacific +and subject to important approach from all directions, we must reckon +it not mere chance but the provision of benevolent design that Cuba at +almost all parts of her peculiarly ample coastline is endowed with a +greater number of first-rate harbors than any other country of the +world. In recognition of these facts and of their gradual development +and application to the purposes and processes of civilization, is a +theme worthy to pique the interest and to absorb the attention of the +most ambitious historian, whether for the mere chronicling of conditions +and events, or for the philosophical analysis of causes and results. + +All these things, however, fascinating as they are and copious as is +their suggestion of interest, are after all only a minor and the less +important part of the real History of Cuba, such as I must endeavor to +write. Without the Cuban people, Cuba would have remained a negligible +factor in the equations of humanity. Without the people of the island, +"what to me were sun or clime?" The genial climate, the fecund soil, the +wealth of mines and field and forest, the capacious harbors and the +encircling seas, all would be vanity of vanities. Nor is it for nothing +that I have suggested differentiation between the Cuban People and the +Cuban Nation. Without the development of the former into the latter, all +these things could never have hoped to reach their greatest value and +utility. The Cuban People have existed for four centuries, the Cuban +Nation in its consummate sense for less than a single generation. Yet in +the latter brief span more progress has been made toward realization of +Cuba's possibilities and destinies than in all those former ages. It is +a circumstance of peculiar significance that almost the oldest of all +civilized communities in the Western Hemisphere should be the youngest +of all the nations. It will be a task of no mean magnitude, but of +unsurpassed profit and pleasure, to trace the deliberate development of +that early colony into this late nation, and to observe the causes and +forces which so long repressed and thwarted the sovereign aspirations of +the Cuban People, and also, more gratefully, the causes and forces +which inevitably, in the slow fullness of time, achieved their ultimate +fulfilment in the secure establishment of the Cuban Nation. + +The origin of the Cuban People presents a striking historical and +ethnological anomaly. The early settlers of the island, and therefore +the progenitors of the present Cuban people, were beyond question the +flower of the Spanish race at the very time when that race was at the +height of its marvellous puissance and efficience. The Sixteenth Century +was the Golden Age of Spain, and they were conspicuous representatives +of those who made it so who implanted the genius of their time upon the +hospitable soil of the great West Indian island. That rule has been, +indeed, common to the colonial enterprises of all lands. The best men +become the pioneers. Colonization implies adventure, and adventure +implies courage, enterprise, endurance, vision, prudence, the very +essential elements of both individual and civic greatness. Strong men, +not weaklings, are the founders of new settlements. Even in those lands +which were largely populated involuntarily, as penal settlements, the +same rule holds good; because many of the convict exiles were merely +political proscripts, who in fact were men of virtue, light and leading, +often superior to those who banished them. + +There is fruit for almost endless thought and speculation in the +circumstance that so many of the early Cuban settlers, as indeed of all +the Spanish explorers and conquerors of the Sixteenth Century, came from +the two Iberian Provinces of Estremadura and Seville. They were, and +are, two of the most widely contrasting provinces of Spain. The one a +rude, rugged, half sterile region of swineherds and mountaineers, +poverty-stricken and remote; the other plethoric with the wealth of +agriculture, industry and commerce, and endowed above most regions of +the world with the treasures of learning and art. Yet it was from +barren, impoverished and uncultured Estremadura that there came Cortez, +Pizarro, Balboa, De Soto, and their compeers and followers. We might +speculate upon the questions whether great men were thus numerously +produced by nature in that region by way of compensation for the paucity +and poverty of other products; and whether it was because of their +innate genius or because of their desire to seek a better land than +their own, that they became the adventurers that they were. The other +province which most contributed to the founding of Cuba had from time +immemorial been noted for its wealth and culture. In the days of the +Cæsars it had been the favorite colonial resort of the plutocracy and +aristocracy of Rome, and it had been the birthplace of the Emperors +Hadrian, Trajan and Theodosius. Under the Catholic Kings it was the +capital and the metropolis of Spain and the chief mart of her world-wide +commerce. Indeed it would not be difficult to establish the proposition +that it was with the removal of the capital from Seville to Madrid, and +the change of national and international policy which was inseparably +associated with that removal, that the decline of Spain began. + +Cuba was thus in her foundation the fortunate recipient of the rugged +and masterful spirit of Estremadura, and of the elements of government +and of social grace and intellectual power which Seville could so well +and so abundantly supply; and these two contrasting yet by no means +incompatible elements became characteristic of the Cuban people; +complementarily contributing to the development of a national character +quite distinct from that of the Mother Country or that of any other of +her offshoots. For the Cuban people and their social organism, separated +far from Spain, though subject to her rule, retained largely unimpaired +their pristine vigor, and avoided sharing in the degeneracy and decline +which befell the Peninsula soon after the malign Hapsburg influence +became dominant in its affairs of state; a decline which in the +Seventeenth Century became one of the most distressing and pathetic +tragedies in the drama of the world. + +It was an interesting and a significant circumstance, too, that while +Spain was resplendent and exultant in the Golden Age of the Sixteenth +Century, Cuba remained intellectually dormant and inactive, and that +when at the end of the Eighteenth Century Spain reached her nadir of +degradation, Cuba began to rise to intellectual puissance. While Spain +was great, it was to be said of Cuba _stat nominis umbra_; but when +Spain declined, Cuba arose to take her place, insistent that the race +and its letters, at least, should not universally fall into decay. + + * * * * * + +It is one of the anomalies of Cuban history that while the island was +denied the enjoyment of even those incipient and inchoate intimations of +potential nationality which were granted to other Spanish provinces, +such as Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru, it was nevertheless, +perhaps more than any other, involved from early times in the +international complications and conflicts of Spain. At least equally +with the mainland coasts Cuba's shores were ravaged by pirates and +freebooters, and were attacked or menaced by the commissioned fleets of +hostile powers. Her insular character and her geographical position +doubtless accounted for this in great degree, as did also the purblind +policy of Spain in failing to give her the care and protection which +were lavished upon other no more worthy possessions. + +So it came to pass that for a time Cuba was actually conquered and +seized by an alien power and was forcibly separated from Spanish +sovereignty; and that for many years thereafter she was the object of +covetous desire and indeed of almost incessant intrigue for acquisition +by two of Spain's chief rivals and adversaries. For nearly half a +century Great Britain and France were frequently, almost continuously, +each planning to annex Cuba as a colonial possession, either by conquest +in war or through barter or purchase in time of peace. It was not until +a third great power arose and asserted in unmistakable terms its +paramount interest in the island, only a little while previous to our +own time, that such designs were reluctantly forsaken. + +It was the interesting fortune of Cuba, therefore, not only to engage +the early and earnest diplomatic interest of the United States in her +behalf, but also to afford to that country occasion for the conception, +formulation and promulgation of perhaps the most important of all the +fundamental principles of its state policy in international affairs. We +have suggested, in anticipation of the narrative, that Cuba was largely +to be credited with the inception of the impulse for the prompt +construction of the Isthmian Canal. In a far more valid and direct sense +Cuba suggested the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine. It is true that +in relation first to Louisiana and then to Florida there had previously +been preliminary hints at and approximations to that Doctrine. But those +were territories contiguous with our own and already marked by the +United States for eventual annexation and incorporation. Cuba, on the +contrary, was entirely detached from our domain, and while there were +then those who anticipated and desired her ultimate annexation, there +was no such confident and determined resolution to that effect that +there was in the case of the other regions named. Cuba was therefore the +first detached country, not destined for annexation, to which the United +States extended and applied the fundamental principle which was later +developed into the Monroe Doctrine. We may not doubt that the Monroe +Doctrine would have been put forward, even had it not been for Cuba. We +may not deny nor dispute that it was because of Cuba and concerning Cuba +that the first specific and indubitable intimation of that doctrine was +given. + +The development of American policy toward Cuba is an important and +interesting part of the history of the United States as well as of Cuba. +The progressively significant utterances of the younger Adams, of Clay +and of Forsythe, culminating years afterward in those of Cleveland and +McKinley, form one of the most consistent, logical and convincing +chapters in American diplomatic history. It is marred, we must confess, +by some adventitious excrescences, chiefly contributed by Calhoun and +Pierre Soule. Yet even these, deplorable as they ever must be regarded, +fail to destroy the symmetry of the whole. It is a chapter, indeed, +which more than any other is comprehensive and expository of the whole +spirit and trend of American international transactions. + +Cuba has also been intimately connected with three great issues of +American domestic politics, as well as with that supreme principle of +her foreign policy. The first of these was that of human slavery. From +the end of the second war with Great Britain to the beginning of the +Civil War that issue dominated American politics and therefore +determined largely the American attitude toward Cuba. The pro-slavery +influences, which were generally paramount at Washington, resisted all +efforts, which otherwise might have been successful, to draw Cuba into +the community of republics freed from Spanish rule in Central and South +America, because of unwillingness to have her become, like them, free +soil; and subsequently the same influences planned and plotted and +fought for Cuban annexation to the United States, either by conquest or +by purchase, in order that she might thus be added to the slave-holding +domain. On the other hand, the anti-slavery party, because of its +abhorrence of these schemes, opposed the manifestation of what would +have been a quite legitimate and benevolent interest in Cuban affairs. +For forty years Cuba was a pawn in the game between these contending +factions. Of course this issue was disposed of by the Civil War and the +consequent abolition of slavery in the United States. + +Another issue was that of expansion. There was from the first a +considerable party in the United States that favored the widest possible +acquisition of territory, sometimes quite regardless of the means, and +it early fixed upon Cuba as what Jefferson and the younger Adams had +declared it to be, the most interesting and most natural addition that +could be made to the federal system. There was also a party that was +resolutely opposed to any further extension of American territorial +sovereignty, whether by conquest or purchase. Sometimes the one and +sometimes the other of these prevailed in American politics, and not +infrequently Cuba was the chief issue between them. Ultimately it was +over Cuba that their greatest conflict was waged; resulting in a +compromise, under which the United States on the one hand renounced all +designs of annexing Cuba, and on the other hand did annex other still +more extensive territories. + +The third of these issues was that of the tariff. Commercial relations +between Cuba and the United States were naturally intimate and important +to both countries, and afforded scope for almost endless discussions +concerning and manipulations of tariff duties. It was in the power of +the United States to enhance or to depress the prosperity of Cuba, by +the adjustment of tariff rates. To admit Cuban sugar, not to mention +tobacco, freely or at a low duty, into the American market meant +prosperity for the island. To place a high tariff rate upon it meant +hard times if not disaster in Cuba. During the period between the Ten +Years' War and the War of Independence in Cuba, such tariff changes very +seriously affected the economic and also the political condition of +Cuba; and the final withdrawal of the reciprocity arrangement which had +opened American markets to Cuba was one of the chief provoking causes of +the final revolution in the island. That revolution would doubtless have +come, in any case, but it was measurably hastened and exacerbated by the +economic distress which was thus precipitated upon the island, and +against which it was realized there could be no assurance until Cuba was +an independent nation with full power to regulate and control her own +commerce and her own economic system. Even then, as we shall see, for a +time the island was involved in economic distress because of the +unwillingness of certain sordid interests in the United States to +perform the most obvious and indisputable moral duty of that country +toward its neighbor. There are few passages which the friendly historian +must more regret to record in the story of Cuban-American relations than +that of the delay of the American Congress to enter into proper +commercial reciprocity with Cuba as soon as the independence of that +island was established. + + * * * * * + +We shall see in these pages why it was necessary, from the very +beginning, for Cuba to be entirely freed and divorced from all political +connection with Spain, and why all the various proposals of autonomy +were essentially and inevitably unacceptable. Such proposals were +repeatedly made, by the Spanish government, but they were invariably +either consciously or unconsciously delusive. The story of Spain's +promises to Cuba is a story of broken promises, and of disappointed +hopes. Nor is that to be wondered at by those who take into +consideration the circumstances in which the promises were made. When +the impossible is promised, the promise is doomed to non-fulfilment. +Spain was in an impossible position. In order to pacify Cuba she had to +promise her reforms, autonomy, liberty. But in order to maintain herself +at home she had to repudiate those promises. Their fulfilment in the +West Indies would have been disastrous in the Iberian Peninsula. While +Spain was a reactionary monarchy at home, she could not practice liberal +and progressive democracy in her colonies. Even when her monarchy became +constitutional, and even during the brief periods of her republican +government, the full concession of Cuba's demands would have been +incompatible with her domestic status. There was an irreconcilable +conflict between the European system--even European republicanism--and +the American system. Spain was compelled for the sake of her Peninsular +integrity and tranquillity to adhere to the former, while Cuba would be +and could be contented with nothing short of the latter. Such were the +terms of the problem which arose in the early part of the Nineteenth +Century. Its only possible solution was in the complete separation of +the two countries, and the complete independence of Cuba. + +We must not wonder, however, at the circumstance that this was not +universally recognized at first, but that year after year some of the +wisest and best of Cuban patriots strove merely for reforms in +government under continued and perpetual union with the Spanish crown, +and that they even deprecated and opposed all efforts at independence. +We must not wonder, even, that so late as the War of Independence some +of the foremost Cuban statesmen, who yielded precedence to none in +purity of purpose and in sincere devotion to what they regarded as the +best interests of the island, were willing and even proud to be known as +Autonomists and to essay the impossible task of trying to make an +Autonomist government successful. The Cubans of to-day, with vision +cleared of the red glare of war and of the mists of misapprehension, +doubtless understand what the conditions were at that time and +appreciate the motives, however mistaken they proved to me, of the +Autonomists. American readers, with less vision and comprehension of +Cuban affairs, should equally understand the matter when they are +reminded that the Cuban Autonomists were merely following the example of +some of the men whom Americans most delight to honor. + +For precisely the same conditions prevailed, only to a much wider +extent, in the Thirteen Colonies at the beginning of the American +Revolution, when Washington and Franklin and Jefferson and Jay were +American Autonomists, inexorably opposed to independence. Lexington, +Concord and Bunker Hill were fought not for independence but for +autonomy under the British Crown and in perpetual union with the British +Empire. When the First Continental Congress met in the spring of 1774 +there was no word, at least, of independence. On the contrary, +according to some of the very foremost members of that historic body, +the idea of independence, at least in the Middle and Southern colonies, +was "as unpopular as the Stamp Act itself." Not only did that Congress +complete its course without saying a word for independence, but it +adopted an address to the people of Great Britain declaring that the +reports which had got abroad that the Colonies wanted independence were +"mere calumnies," and that nothing was desired but equality of rights +with their fellow subjects in the British Isles. The Second Colonial +Congress met after Lexington and Concord and just before Bunker Hill. +John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were members of it. But they spoke no +word for independence. Instead, Jefferson drafted a declaration, which +Congress adopted, to the effect that the Colonies had "not raised armies +with designs of separating from Great Britain and establishing +independent states"; and in other addresses which the same Congress +adopted after the battle of Bunker Hill it was explicitly stated that +the Colonists were loyal to the British Crown, that they wished for +lasting union with Great Britain, and that they had taken up arms not to +find liberty outside of the British Empire but to vindicate and defend +liberty within that Empire. After the adjournment of that Congress in +August, 1775, less than a year before the Declaration of Independence, +so representative a man and so ardent a patriot as John Jay publicly +denounced the imputation that the Congress had "aimed at independence" +as "ungenerous and groundless," and as marked with "malice and falsity." +Not until the spring of 1776 was there any significant turning toward +independence as the inevitable resort. + +If I have thus dwelt at length upon well-known facts which pertain to +the history of the United States rather than to that of Cuba, it is in +order to remind American readers, on the strength of a precedent which +they, at any rate, must regard with the highest respect, how reasonable +it was for Cubans even as late as in 1897 and 1898 to cling to a policy +and a hope substantially identical with those which were cherished by +the foremost representative American patriots in 1774 and 1775. We can +see now, they themselves can see now, that they were in error and that +their hopes were vain. But they were no more in error than were the +immortal American Autonomists of the beginning of the American +Revolution. + +Similarly it was necessary that Cuba should not only be entirely +separated from Spain but also should be made independent, and not be +annexed to the United States. On that point, too, many good men were in +error. As we shall see, the first important Cuban +revolutionist--although not himself a native Cuban--had in view not +independence but annexation to the United States, and so did many +another sterling patriot after him. Probably the general feeling was +that the one thing supremely essential was to be sundered from Spain, +and since annexation to the United States seemed to promise the +effecting of that most promptly, most easily and most surely, it was to +be accepted as the best solution of the problem. Of course, too, the +annexation sentiment in Cuba was greatly encouraged and promoted by the +advocates of annexation in the United States, who were numerous, and +aggressive, and actuated by a variety of motives. + +For three fundamental reasons, however, annexation would have been a +deplorable mistake, for both parties. One was, that the Cuban people at +heart wanted independence and would permanently have been satisfied with +nothing less. Every other Spanish colony in the Western Hemisphere had +attained independent sovereignty, and it would have been a reproach to +Cuba to have been satisfied with any less status than theirs. The second +reason was that Cuba and the United States were incompatible in +temperament, and could not have got on well together. That is to be said +without the slightest reflection upon either. The two countries were of +different racial stocks, different languages, different traditions, +different civic ideals. It was and is possible for them to be the best +of friends and neighbors, but that is quite different from being +yoke-fellows. + +The third reason was, that Cuba would not have thought of annexation +without Statehood in the Federal Union, to which the United States would +not or at any rate should not have admitted her. Nor is that any +reflection upon Cuba. The principle was established by governmental +utterances, nearly half a century before Cuban independence was +achieved, and indeed before any important efforts were made by the +United States to purchase Cuba, that outlying territories not contiguous +with the continental Union of States, were not to be considered as +fitting candidates for statehood. Had Cuba been acquired by the United +States at any time it is certain that her admission as a State would +have been vigorously opposed on that historic ground. The sequel would +have been either that Cuba would have been excluded from the Union, to +her entire and intense dissatisfaction, or the United States would have +abandoned a highly desirable policy and would have established a +precedent under which grave abuses might thereafter have occurred. + +The redemption of Cuba from Spanish rule was long delayed, for a number +of reasons. One was, obviously, the difficulty of achieving it alone. +The South and Central American provinces had revolted simultaneously, or +in rapid succession, so that each was of assistance to the others. But +at that time Cuba remained faithful to Spain; and when years afterward +she sought to follow the example of the others, she found that she had +to do so single-handed against the undivided might of the Peninsula. +Another very potent reason was, the strength of the pro-Spanish +sentiment and influence in the island, caused by the flocking thither of +many Spanish loyalists from the Central and South American states and +from Santo Domingo. Here, too, American readers may interpret Cuban +conditions through reference to their own history. At the close of the +American Revolution multitudes of British Loyalists left the United +States and settled in Upper Canada, with the result that that Province +of Ontario became proverbially "more British than Great Britain." We +shall see in our narrative how strong the Spanish loyalist party in Cuba +was, and to what extremes it went in its opposition to Cuban +independence. In that we may perceive simply a repetition of conditions +which prevailed at the close of the American War of Independence. It is +probable, too, that the insular position of Cuba, with her coastal +waters controlled by the Spanish fleet, and her central position, making +her an object of intense international interest and intrigue, also +contributed to the same end. Of course, too, since Cuba and Porto Rico +were her last remaining possessions in the Western World, Spain made +extraordinary efforts to retain them and to prevent the success of any +revolutionary movement. + +One other influence must be noted, that of the United States. If at any +time the counsels of that country had been harmonious and united, they +would have had a powerful, perhaps a preponderating, effect upon Cuban +affairs. But as we have intimated, and as we shall more fully see in our +narrative, they were strongly, often violently, divided. Some were for +intervention, some were for non-intervention; some were for making Cuba +a free country, some were for preserving it as a slaveholding land; some +were for aiding it to become independent, some were for annexing it to +the United States. There was no unity of policy, and therefore there was +no assurance as to what the United States would do in any given +emergency. Cubans did not know what they could depend upon. If they +revolted, America might help them, and she might not. There can be no +question that this uncertainty was a potent factor in restraining Cubans +from radical action, and that it materially postponed the final crisis. + + * * * * * + +We shall see that more and more, however, the United States was forced +by the logic of irresistible events into adopting a united and +consistent policy toward Cuba, and that in the ultimate crisis that +country was inextricably implicated with the Cuban cause. This was +indeed a logical development. In each successive Cuban revolution, +beginning with that of Lopez, the United States had been increasingly +interested. Commercial and social relations between the two countries +were strong and intimate. For nearly three quarters of a century the +United States had maintained a quasi-protectorate over the island in +behalf of Spain for the time being, but--though unconsciously--in behalf +of Cuba itself for the greater time to come. The welfare of the United +States had become involved in the disposition of the island in only a +less degree than that of the Cuban people. + +There can be no doubt that the United States was of very great service +and assistance to the Cuban patriots in the War of Independence. Nobody +has testified to that fact more earnestly or more comprehensively than +the Cubans themselves. They realized it. They appreciated it. They were +and are profoundly grateful for it. Their testimony to it is ample for +all time. America is relieved of the need of vaunting herself upon it. +It would, however, be of a great error and a great injustice to assume +that the intervention of the United States in April, 1898, was +indispensable to the achievement of Cuban independence, or indeed that +it was the United States that set Cuba free from Spain. That would be as +great a perversion of the truth of history as it would be to pretend +that the United States went to war with Spain over the sinking of the +_Maine_. For the United States to have done the latter would have been +one of the monumental crimes of history; and of course it was not done. +War was inevitable before the _Maine_ went to Havana Harbor, and would +have come just the same if the _Maine_ had not gone thither; perhaps +sooner than it did, perhaps not so soon. So Cuban independence would +have been won by the Cubans themselves if the United States had not +intervened. Possibly it would have come sooner than it did; probably it +would not have come so soon. But it would have come. Nobody who has +studied the condition of affairs as they then were in Cuba can +reasonably doubt it. Nor should recognition of that fact lessen in any +degree the propriety--indeed, the necessity--of the American +intervention or the grateful appreciation thereof which Cubans feel. + +To draw once more upon American history for an example which should +convincingly appeal to Americans, the case may be likened to the +intervention of France in the American Revolution. There is no American +who does not remember that performance with sincere gratitude and with +deep appreciation of the undoubtedly great aid which France rendered to +the Thirteen Colonies. But I should doubt if there is a well informed +American willing to concede that the French aid was indispensable, or +that without it Washington and Greene would have been vanquished and the +Revolution would have failed. American independence would have been +achieved without French aid, though perhaps not so promptly and at +greater cost. + +An immense service, also, which the United States rendered Cuba in the +War of Independence antedated the actual intervention, and consisted in +the aid in men, money and supplies which went from the United States to +Cuba. It is true that this aid was given largely by Cubans resident in +the United States, though many Americans also gave much in money, and +some were permitted by the Cubans to give themselves for service in the +army. It is also true that much of it was done in surreptitious +violation of the neutrality laws; a species of law-breaking at which +many United States officials were inclined to wink, and which by common +consent was to be regarded as culpable only when it was found out, and +then the finding out was more to be regretted than the act itself was to +be condemned! Such is the "unwritten law" of international relations in +cases in which the technical requirements of the law run counter to +generous and righteous human sympathies. + +While, therefore, we must believe that even without American +intervention in the actual war the Cubans would have won their +independence, we may doubt whether such would have been the case if the +United States had not all along been dose at hand, a resourceful and +hospitable country, in which Cuban political exiles could find secure +asylum, in which a Cuban Junta could plan revolution, in which funds to +aid the patriot cause could be raised, and which, in brief, could partly +in secret and partly in the open be used as a base of supplies and +operations. It is to such aid that Cuba owes more than she does to the +achievements of the American army and navy in 1898, admirable and useful +as they were. + +Comparably great, as we shall most notably see in the ensuing chapters, +were the services of the United States to Cuba after the War of +Independence. These were manifold. The first was diplomatic, in serving +as an intermediary between Cuba and Spain, in making the treaty of +peace, and in securing the Spanish withdrawal from the island. There is +no doubt that all those things were done more smoothly, more +satisfactorily and more expeditiously than they could have been had they +been left to direct settlement between Cuba and Spain. The services of +the United States during the last part of 1898 were more indispensable +than those of the spring and summer of that year. Indeed, it might +perhaps be claimed that the chief advantage in having the United States +intervene was that it enabled her to play that important part in the +making of peace and the post-bellum readjustment. + +The second great service rendered by the United States was the +rehabilitation of the island. This was a manifold undertaking. It +comprised rehabilitation after many years of Spanish misrule and +neglect, and rehabilitation after the ravages of three years of +peculiarly destructive war. The civic maladies to be cured were thus +both chronic and acute. Moreover, the work was political, and sanitary, +and educational, and economic. Order was to be restored, law was to be +administered, government was to be organized, pestilence was to be +abated, schools were to be created, the whole work of civilization was +to be performed. Splendid as was the work of Sampson's fleet at +Santiago, still more beneficent was that of General Wood within the +precincts of that city and throughout the Province of Oriente. Nobly +memorable was the work of Shafter's army, but we shall read history to +little avail if we do not give higher credit to the work of the Military +Governor and his lieutenants. + +A third service was in acting as guide, philosopher and friend in the +great task of organizing and installing the native Cuban government +which had been promised by the United States in the act of declaring war +against Spain. That self-abnegatory pledge was a noble thing, and noble +was the faithful fulfilment of it. I have heard of an eminent and +enlightened Cuban who regarded that pledge with incredulity, saying, "It +can never be fulfilled!" and who persisted in that incredulity until +that memorable noonday when the American flag came down from the Palace +and the Morro and the flag of Cuba Libre rose in its place; and then, +with tear-suffused eyes, exclaimed, "It can't be; but it is!" Never +before in the history of the world had such a thing been done, but it +was done and it was well done. + +There followed a fourth service, which we may hope has now been +definitely completed, but which in the very nature of the case is a +potentially recurrent service, which may--_absit omen!_--be needed again +and again; and which the United States may be trusted to perform, if +necessary, as faithfully and generously and efficiently as it has +already performed it. For we shall see that after the Cuban government +had been established and had vindicated its existence by great good +service to the island, sordid and treacherous men unlawfully conspired +against it and sought to overthrow it by violence and crime. Their +success would have meant ruin for the island. Their partial success--for +such they had--meant immeasurable loss. But fortunately the United +States intervened as readily against Cuban crime as it had against +Spanish oppression, and the republic was saved, though "as through +fire." + +It is this service, following the others which I have named, which +differentiates the Cuban Republic from most of the other states which +have been formed from the Spanish Empire in America. Of the two states +which at one time planned to wrest Cuba from Spain by force and make her +a part of their community of nations, Colombia was for half a century in +a chronic condition of revolution, and Mexico through the same evil +processes has given the word Mexicanize to the political vocabulary. It +was the intention of the United States that Cuba should not fall into +that category; but it is by no means certain that she would not have +done so had it not been for the guardianship of that country. + + * * * * * + +Our history will disclose more than all these things. These are the +records of achievement. But there are other records, even those of +conditions as they exist, and as they have been made to exist by virtue +of these achievements. Marvellous indeed shall we find them. The story +of Cuba's development from a neglected and oppressed colony to an +independent nation is stirring and impressive, adorned with the names +and deeds of brave men. The story of her development in civilization, +from a backward rank to the foremost, is no less impressive, and it is +adorned with the names and the labors of wise men, statesmen and +scholars, who gave of their best for the welfare of the insular republic +for which so many of their kin gave willingly their very lives. + +The account which we shall have of the opulent charms and resources of +Cuba may be regarded as a volume of contemporary history. It will reveal +to us some of the consequences of that narrative of the past which +forms the major portion of our story. But it will be more and will do +more than that. It must serve as an intimation, a suggestion, almost +perhaps a prophecy, of what the future of the Pearl of the Antilles will +be. Grateful as is the work of recalling and rehearsing the story of the +past, from the days of Columbus and Velasquez to the present, the +historian finds it more pleasant and more welcome to dwell upon the +present scene. If these volumes, laboriously produced and with a +consciousness too often of falling short of the high merits of the +theme, shall serve their intended purpose of introducing Cuba, past and +present, more fully and most favorably to the knowledge of the world, I +shall be more than abundantly repaid. But the supreme and most enduring +satisfaction will come from some assurance that I have brought to the +appreciative attention of the world not merely the Cuba of four +centuries past, with all its legends of adventure and romance, and too +often of cruelty and crime, and with its fluctuating though still +persistent progress toward the "foremost files of time," but also and +still more the Cuba of this present moment and, we may hope, of +unmeasured future time. It is a Cuba that is beautiful for situation, +opulent in resources, entrancing in charm, illimitable in +potentialities; a land of "fair women and brave men," upon which +recollection fondly dwells; a land which justifies the latest writer +concerning it to repeat once more the estimate of the first who ever +wrote of it--"the most beautiful that the eyes of man have ever seen." + + WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON. + New York, U. S. A., June, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I 1 + +"In Cuba the Annals of America Begin"--The First Landing Place of +Columbus--Theories Concerning Various Islands--His Expectation of +Reaching the Coast of Asia--Cuba Supposed to be Cathay--The Physical +History of Cuba--Character of the Aboriginal Inhabitants--A Race of +Amiable Savages Without Enduring Monuments. + +CHAPTER II 11 + +Discovery of Cuba on Sunday, October 28, 1492--The First Landing Place +on the Island--Named for the Heir of the Spanish Throne--Appreciation of +the Beauty and Charm of the Island--First Contact with its +Inhabitants--Exploration of the Northern Coast--Cuba Supposed to be the +Country of the Great Khan--Further Explorations of the Coast--Departure +for Hispaniola--Second Visit to Cuba--Exploration of the Southern +Coast--Discovery of Jamaica--Navigating the Caribbean Sea--Some Inland +Excursions--Experiences with the Natives--Reaching the Western End of +the Island--Exhortation of a Native Sage--Columbus's Final Departure +from Cuba. + +CHAPTER III 28 + +First Impressions of Cuba--Columbus's Observations of the People and +Resources of the Island--Native Villages and Boats--Negotiations with +the Natives--First Use of Tobacco by Europeans--Columbus's Meagre +Knowledge of the Island--His Death and Burial in Hispaniola--Removal of +His Remains to Havana--Disputes Concerning His Tomb--Final Return of His +Remains to Spain. + +CHAPTER IV 37 + +Archeology of Cuba--The Oldest Rock Formation--Theory of Cuban +Continuity with Florida--The Eocene Age--Submersion in the Oligocene +Period--Miocene Uplift--Changes During the Pleistocene +Period--Topography of the Island--The Mountain Ranges--The Mountains of +Oriente--The Organ Mountains and Magotes--The Valley of the +Vinales--Plains and Valleys--Composition of the Soil--The Climate of +Cuba--Fortunate Situation of the Island--The Rainfall of a Land of +Sunshine. + +CHAPTER V 53 + +Neglect of Cuba by Spanish Explorers and Conquerors--Rule of +Ovando--Ocampo Discovers Cuba to be an Island--First Attempts at +Colonization--Enciso's Story of Ojeda's Adventure--A Test Between +Christianity and Paganism--The Lust of Gold--Diego and Bartholomew +Columbus--Diego Velasquez Appointed Governor--His First Settlement at +Baracoa--The War with Hatuey--Narvaez and His Horsemen--Las Casas the +"Apostle to the Indies"--More Trouble with the Natives--Exploration of +the Island Throughout its Length. + +CHAPTER VI 68 + +Marriage and Bereavement of Velasquez--Other Settlements Founded in +Cuba--Santiago Made the First Capital--System of +Government--Apportionment of the Natives to the Settlers--Appropriation +of the Land--Evils of the Repartimiento System--The Statesmanship of +Velasquez--Enslavement of the Natives--Famous Men in Cuba's Early +History--Gold Mines and Fertile Plantations--Beginning of the Mission of +Las Casas--Death of King Ferdinand and Accession of Charles I--Cardinal +Ximenes--The Order of St. Jerome--The Fate of the Natives. + +CHAPTER VII 81 + +Gold Mining in Cuba--Political Organization of the Island--Relations +with the Spanish Crown--Development of the Slave Trade--Expeditions to +Yucatan--Exploration of the Mexican Coast--Failure of Grijalva's +Expedition--The Expedition of Christopher de Olid--Unmerited Fate of +Grijalva, the Discoverer and First Explorer of Mexico. + +CHAPTER VIII 90 + +Hernando Cortez Commissioned by Velasquez to Explore Mexico--Some +Romantic Adventures--Why Cortez went to Cuba--His Relations with +Velasquez--A Crisis in Spain's American Affairs--Appointment of +Velasquez as Adelantado--Departure of Cortez--His Refusal to Return when +Summoned by Velasquez--Arrival in Mexico--Appointment of Cortez as Royal +Governor of New Spain--Preparations by Velasquez to Subdue +Cortez--Disastrous Fate of Narvaez's Expedition--Conspiracy to +Assassinate Cortez--Velasquez Removed from the Governorship of +Cuba--Zuazo, the Second Governor--Vindication of Velasquez and +Repudiation of Zuazo--Character and Work of First Cuban Governor. + +CHAPTER IX 105 + +Administration of Manuel de Rojas--The Rise of Cuba's Proper +Interests--Development of Resources--Appointment of Altamarino--Post +Mortem Investigation of Velasquez--Violent Opposition to +Altamarino--Removal of a Discredited Governor--Accession of +Guzman--Controversies over Local Government--Injudicious Course of +Guzman--Protest Against the Tyranny of the Councils--"Cuba for the +Cubans." + +CHAPTER X 115 + +Controversies Over the Treasurership--Appointment of Hurtado, the Honest +but Cantankerous--Fortunes of the Guzman Family--A Marriage for Money +and its Consequences--Services of Vadillo--Investigations and +Reforms--Heavy Sentences Against Guzman--An Appeal to the Council for +the Indies--Manuel de Rojas again Governor. + +CHAPTER XI 122 + +Development of the Church Establishment in Cuba--The First Bishop--Early +Conflict Between Church and State--Transfer of the Cathedral from +Baracoa to Santiago--A Bishop in Politics--The Governor +Excommunicated--Insurrections and Raids of the Natives--Effective Work +of Rojas against the Cimarrones--Disposal of the "Tame" Indians--Further +Conflicts of Church and State--Intervention of the Crown--Practical +Extermination of the Natives--Reforms that Were not Made--Well Meant +Efforts of Rojas--Failure of Attempts to Civilize the Natives--A Good +Governor Ill Treated--His Resignation and Departure. + +CHAPTER XII 137 + +Guzman's Second Administration--A Masterful Politician--Decline of Cuban +Welfare--An Interregnum in the Governorship--The Coming of De Soto--His +Imposing Arrival at Santiago--Progress Across the Island--Vasco Porcallo +de Figueroa Made De Soto's Lieutenant--Cuba a Stepping Stone to +Florida--De Soto's Removal from Santiago to Havana--Organization of the +Florida Expedition--Report of the First Scouts--Departure of De +Soto--Lady De Soto's Faithful Watch--Tragic Fate of the Explorer--Evil +Effects upon Cuba--Serious Trouble with the Indians--Intrigues of Guzman +and Bishop Sarmiento. + +CHAPTER XIII 151 + +Governorship of Juan de Avila--Royal Order against Slavery in the +Mines--An Appeal to the Council for the Indies--Popular Revolt Against +the Council--De Avila's Marriage to a Rich Widow--Removal to +Havana--Appointment of Antonio Chaves--Scandalous Charges Against de +Avila--The Matter Carried to Spain for Settlement--Another Bad +Administration--Chaves Reprimanded by the King--His Persistence in +Slavery--Hurtado's Indictment of Chaves--Gonzalo de Angulo Made +Governor--Trial and Punishment of Chaves--Emancipation Proclamation. + +CHAPTER XIV 165 + +A Bad Time in Cuban History--Santiago in 1550--Raid of a French +Privateer--The Founding and Rise of Havana--The Founding of Puerto +Principe--Baracoa, Trinidad and Other Settlements--Italians and Other +Aliens in Cuba--Efforts to Populate the Island--Importation of Negro +Slaves--Slaves Treated Humanely--Disappearance of the Native +Indians--The Early Industries of Cuba--Discovery of the Copper Mines of +El Cobre--Beginning of the Sugar Industry--Fiscal Policy of the Spanish +Government. + +CHAPTER XV 177 + +A Turning Point in Cuban History--International Interest in the +Island--Raids of French Privateers--A Famous Fight in Santiago +Harbor--The Capture and Looting of Havana--First Building of La +Fuerza--Rise of Havana in Importance--The Governor's Residence in +Havana--Deposition of Angulo--Guarding Havana Against French +Attack--Inadequacy of the Defenses--Seizure of the City by Jacques +Sores--Flight of the Governor and Resolute Defense of Lobera--Attempt to +Destroy the French Conquerors--Destruction of the City. + +CHAPTER XVI 191 + +Administration of Mazariegos--His Disastrous Voyage--Rebuilding of +Havana--Manners and Morals of a Soldier of Fortune--Defense of Havana by +a Military Governor--Improvement of the Fortifications--Rebuilding La +Fuerza--The Founding of Morro Castle--Complications in Florida--Osorio +Appointed Governor--His Care for the Defenses of the Island--The +Campaigns of Pedro Menendez--Conflict Between Osorio and +Menendez--Attempts at Mutiny--Disagreement over +Fortifications--Illegitimate Trade at Santiago--Menendez Appointed +Governor--A Succession of Lieutenants--Charting the Bahama +Channel--Codifying Municipal Ordinances. + +CHAPTER XVII 208 + +Approach of the "Sea Beggars"--More Work on La Fuerza--Seeking Financial +Aid from Mexico--A Requisition for Slave Labor--Investigating Public +Accounts--The Downfall of Menendez--Investigation of His +Accounts--Succeeded by Montalvo--Increase of Smuggling--General Progress +of the Island--Havana the Commercial Metropolis. + +CHAPTER XVIII 217 + +Governorship of Montalvo--Rehabilitation of Santiago--Disorder at +Havana--Conflict with the Rojas Family--Charges Made Against the +Governor--The Increase of Smuggling--Ravages of the French--Seeking +Naval Defenses for Cuba--Haggling Over the Building of La Fuerza--A +Badly Built Fort--Montalvo's Development of Insular Resources--Promotion +of Sugar Growing and General Agriculture--The Governor's Quarrel with +the Bishop. + +CHAPTER XIX 228 + +Administration of Francisco Carreņo--The First Cuban Governor to Die in +Office--A Record of Hard Work and Progress--The Problem of Free +Negroes--Features of the Slave System--Some Literally Constructive +Statesmanship--The First Custom House--Trying to Deal with the Land +Question--The Reforms Proposed by Caceres--Development of Stock +Raising--Bad Administration of Torres. + +CHAPTER XX 236 + +Administration of Gabriel de Luzan--Controversies Among Officials--The +Quarrel Between Luzan and Arana--Questions of Official +Residence--Removal of the Royal Accountant--Charges Against the +Governor--Further Efforts to Complete La Fuerza--The Work of +Quiņones--Unseemly Personal and Political Feuds--Investigation of the +Governor's Administration--Renewal of the Quarrel with +Quiņones--Governor and Captain-General Brought into Accord Through Peril +of an Attack by the British--Desperate Preparations for Defense. + +CHAPTER XXI 246 + +War Between Spain and England--Drake's Conquest of Hispaniola--An Attack +upon Cuba Anticipated--Raising Forces for Defense--Feuds Forgotten in +the Common Emergency--Plans for the Defense of Havana--Increase of the +Garrison--Admirable Unity of the People--Drake's Approach to Cuba--His +Landing at the Western End of the Island--Appearance of his Fleet off +Havana--Departure of Drake's Fleet without an Assault--His Doings at St. +Augustine and in the North--Reasons for Not Attacking Havana--Disaster +to Santiago--That City Destroyed by the French--Rebuilt by an Energetic +Patriot--Interest in Copper Mining. + +CHAPTER XXII 260 + +Drake's Menace a Blessing to Cuba--Spanish Interest in Cuba for Its Own +Sake--The Governorship of Tejada--The Public Works of +Antonelli--Building Roads, Dams and Aqueducts--Havana Made a Real +City--Controversy with Bishop Salcedo--Appreciation of Tejada's +Services--Accession of Barrionuevo--Progress of Civilization in +Cuba--The First Theatrical Performance. + +CHAPTER XXIII 267 + +Changes in European Nations--Rise of the Protectionist +Policy--Retaliation by Smugglers--Hostilities against Spain--Prevalence +of Piracy--Some Strong Governors of Cuba--Good Works of Maldonado and +Valdes--Invasions by Pirates--Division of the Island--Interest in +Religious Affairs--Successive Governors Working at Cross +Purposes--Building a Fleet--Protection of the Port of Havana--An Attack +by the Dutch--The Exploits of Oquendo--The Slave Market in Havana--Fall +of Cabrera. + +CHAPTER XXIV 283 + +The Decline of Spain--Enterprise and Aggressions of the Dutch--The Dutch +West India' Company--Governors Who Saved Cuba for Spain--Warring with +Dutch Privateers--The Great Fight with Pie de Palo--Fiscal Reforms in +Cuba--Gamboa's Improvement of Fortifications--Sarmiento's Organization +of Cuban Troops--Ravages of a Great Pestilence--Noble Deeds of the +Religious Orders--Public Works Planned--The Walls of Havana--Aggressions +of the British--Conquest of Jamaica--Records of Piracy--Exploits of +Lolonois--Henry Morgan--British Capture and Plundering of +Santiago--Repairing the Fortifications--A Compact against Piracy. + +CHAPTER XXV 304 + +British Designs against Spanish Possessions--Covetous Eyes Turned upon +Cuba by British Empire-Builders--Isolation of Cuba from Spain--France +Playing False--Cuban Reprisals--Further Attacks by +Freebooters--Controversy over British Prisoners--Disastrous +Earthquakes--Ecclesiastical Troubles--Spain at the Brink of +Bankruptcy--Cordova's Administration--Revised Code of Laws for the +Indies--Civil and Ecclesiastical Controversies--Some Ruthless +Work--Founding of the City of Matanzas--Official Disputes and Scandals. + +CHAPTER XXVI 325 + +The War of the Austrian Succession--The Treaty of Utrecht--Reign of +Philip V--Renewed Conflicts in the West Indies--Settlement of +Pensacola--Aggressions of the French--Cuban Interests Affected by +European Affairs--Increased Protection of the Island--Two Local +Governors--Attacks upon Charleston--Raids of British +Warships--Speculation in Tobacco--More Fortifications in a Time of +Peace--Churches and Convents--Sanitary Measures--Official +Quarrels--Reorganization of the Tobacco Industry--Seeking Administrative +Stability--A Tobacco Insurrection--A Warning to the +British--Fortifications of Havana. + +CHAPTER XXVII 345 + +Great Impetus Given to Discovery and Exploration Throughout the +World--Interesting Observations upon Cuba and the Indies--Some Quaint +Records--A Description of the Natives of Cuba--Something About the +Natural Resources of the Island from Ancient Authorities--Spanish and +Alien Descriptions of Cuba--Early Writings About Cuba in Various +Languages--Fra Vincente Fonseca--A Dutch Description of Cuba--Attention +Given to the Wealth of Cuban Forests--Reasons Given for the Rise and +Subsequent Decline of Spanish Power--Some Superstitions and Legends. + +CHAPTER XXVIII 360 + +Cuba Neglected During an Era of Great Achievements--The Golden Age of +Spain--Culture at Home and Conquest Abroad--A Noteworthy Group of +Spanish Historians--The University of Santo Domingo--The First American +Books--Cuba's Lack of Participation in these Activities, and the Reasons +for it--A Turning Point in Cuban History at the End of the Sixteenth +Century--Cubans Beginning to Become Cubans and Not Spaniards--A +Significant Change in the Temper and Character of the People of the +Island. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FULL PAGE PLATES: + +Columbus (Janez Portrait) _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE +The Havana Cathedral 36 + +La Fuerza 146 + +Morro Castle, Havana 180 + +San Francisco Church 226 + +Morro Castle, Santiago 298 + + +TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS: + + PAGE + +Monument on Supposed First Tending Place of Columbus, +Watling's Island 3 + +Queen Isabella 13 + +Diego Velasquez 59 + +Baracoa, First Capital of Cuba 60 + +Panfilo de Narvaez 63 + +Bartholomew de las Casas 64 + +Ponce de Leon 72 + +Hernando Cortez 90 + +Hernando de Soto 140 + +San Lazaro Watch Tower, Havana 155 + +Pedro Menendez de Aviles 199 + + + + +THE HISTORY OF CUBA + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +CUBA; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable. The record +of each is in a peculiar sense identified with that of the other. Far +more than any other land the Queen of the Antilles is associated with +that Columbian enterprise from which the modern and practical history of +the Western Hemisphere is dated. In Cuba the annals of America begin. + +This island was not, it is true, the first land discovered by Columbus +after leaving Spain. It was at least the fifth visited and named by him, +and it was perhaps the tenth or twelfth which he saw and at which he +touched in passing. But in at least three major respects it had the +unquestionable primacy among all the discoveries of his first, second +and third voyages, while in his own estimation it was not surpassed in +importance by the main land of the continent which he finally reached in +his fourth and last expedition. It was the first land visited or seen by +him of the identity of which there has never been the slightest +question. It was the first considerable land discovered by him, the +first which was worth while sailing across the ocean to discover, and it +was by far the most important of all found by him in his first three +adventures. It was, also, the first and indeed the only land which +caused him to believe that the theory of his undertaking had been +vindicated and that the supreme object of his quest had been attained. +Let us, in order to appreciate the transcendent significance of his +discovery of Cuba, briefly consider these three circumstances. + +We must remember with respect to the first that the identity of +Columbus's first landing place has been much disputed, and indeed has +never been determined to universal satisfaction: We know that it was an +island of small or moderate size. Columbus himself called it in one +place "small" and in another "fairly large." It was level, low-lying, +well watered, with a large central lagoon, which may or may not have +been a permanent feature, seeing that his visit was in the rainy season, +when any depression in the land was likely to be flooded. It was +certainly one of the Bahama archipelago. But that extensive group +comprises 36 islands, 687 cays, and 2,414 rocks. Which of all these was +it upon which the Admiral landed, which was called by the natives +Guanahani, and which, with his characteristic religious fervor, Columbus +immediately renamed San Salvador, the Island of the Holy Saviour? + +The distinction has been claimed, by authorities worthy of respectful +consideration, for no fewer than five. Down to the middle of the +Nineteenth Century the weight of opinion and tradition favored Cat +Island, and upon most maps and charts it was designated as "Guanahani, +or San Salvador." It is by far the largest and the northernmost of the +five islands in question. Next, to the southeast, lies Watling's Island, +to which the distinction of having been the scene of Columbus's landfall +has now for half a century been most generally given, and upon maps it +is generally named San Salvador. It is the only one of the five which +stands out in the Atlantic, beyond the generally uniform line of the +Bahamas, as a sort of advance post to greet the voyager from the east. +Samana, south by east from Watling's, also called Attwood's Cay, was +selected as the true Guanahani by some officers of the United States +Coast Survey. Mariguana, further in the same direction, was proclaimed +"La Verdadera Guanahani" by F. A. de Varnhagen in a scholarly treatise +published in 1864 at Santiago de Chili. Finally, Grand Turk Island, at +the southeastern extremity of the Bahama chain, and just north of the +coast of Hayti, was designated by Navarrete, in 1825, and by various +other authorities, chiefly American, at later dates. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT ON SUPPOSED FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS, +WATLING'S ISLAND] + +The chief interest of these speculations for present consideration in +this writing is their bearing upon the subsequent course of Columbus, +the identity of the next islands which he visited, and finally the point +at which he first touched the coast of Cuba. If the original landfall +was on Cat or on Watling's Island, then the second land visited, which +Columbus called Santa Maria de la Concepcion, was probably either the +tiny island now known as Concepcion or the larger Rum Cay; the third, +called by him Ferdinandina or Fernandina, was either Great Exuma or Long +Island; the fourth, Isabella, may have been either Long Island or +Crooked Island, according to whether Fernandina was Great Exuma or Long +Island; and the coast of Cuba was reached at some point between Punta +Lucrecia and Port Nuevitas. On the other hand, if Grand Turk Island was +first reached, the second land would naturally have been, as Navarrete +held, at Gran Caico; the third at Little Inagua; the fourth at Great +Inagua; and Cuba would have been reached somewhere between Cape Maysi +and Sama Point. To me it seems decidedly the more probable that the +former course was pursued, and I have accordingly adopted the theory +that Columbus first landed in Cuba in the region between Nuevitas and +Punta Lucrecia. + +The second circumstance which I have mentioned scarcely requires +discussion. The first, second and third voyages of Columbus were +confined to discoveries and explorations of the West India Islands, and +of all of these, even including Hayti and Jamaica, there can be no +question of Cuba's primacy, whether in size, in wealth of resources, in +political and strategical importance, or in historical interest. It was +so recognized by Columbus himself, who indeed in one respect actually +esteemed it more highly than it deserved. For after long and careful +exploration he became convinced that it was not an island, but was the +mainland of the Asian continent--Mangi, or Cathay: that country of the +Great Khan of which Marco Polo had written and which Toscanelli had +indicated upon his map, and the visiting of which was the supreme object +of the Admiral's enterprise. + +To understand this aright we must remember that Columbus was not seeking +a new continent. He had no thought that one existed. He held, with +Isidore of Seville, that all the lands of the world were comprehended in +Europe, Africa and Asia, and that there was only one great ocean, the +Atlantic, which stretched unbroken save by islands from the western +shores of Europe and Africa to the eastern coast of Asia and the East +Indies. Moreover, he considerably overestimated the extent of Asia and +underestimated the circumference of the earth. Years later, long after +the circumnavigation of the globe had been effected, Antonio Galvano, +learned historian and geographer though he was, computed the equatorial +circumference of the earth at only 23,500 miles, or about 1,400 miles +too little; while the best maps of the sixteenth century indicated the +Asian continent as extending far into the western hemisphere, and the +Pacific Ocean as a narrow strip not nearly comparable with the Atlantic +in extent. Schoener's globe, of 1520, which is still to be seen at +Nuremberg, represents the "Terra de Cuba" as integral with the whole +North American continent, with its western coast only five degrees of +longitude or 300 miles from the shore of Zipangu or Japan, and only 30 +degrees or 1,800 miles from the mainland of Asia. + +Columbus therefore expected to find the coast of Asia in about the +longitude in which he actually found America. When he reached the +Bahamas he confidently assumed them to be the group of islands which +Toscanelli had indicated as lying off the coast of Cathay; and when he +learned from the natives of a much larger island lying to the south, +which they called Colba, Cuba, or Cubanacan, he believed it to be none +other than Cipango, or Zipangu, which Toscanelli had shown as by far the +largest of the East Indian islands. It has been commonly assumed, +apparently with little dispute or attempt at investigation, that Cipango +was Japan. But the distance--1,500 miles--at which it was said to lie +from the coast of China, the southerly latitude assigned to it, and the +multitude of small islands which were clustered about and near it, are +circumstances which suggest that instead of Japan the island meant may +have been Luzon, the northernmost and largest of the Philippines. +However that may be, Columbus promptly decided to steer straight for +Cipango, with the result that he reached the northern shore of the +eastern part of Cuba. + +The third circumstance which I have mentioned was then developed. It was +a great triumph, and a vindication of his enterprise, that he had +reached Cipango. But even that was not enough. He was in quest of the +mainland of Mangi or Cathay, the land of the Great Khan. He found in +Cuba no traces of the opulence and splendor of which Marco Polo had +written. Yet the natives frequently referred to "Cuba-nacan" as a great +place somewhere in the interior. The phrase merely meant the central +part of the island, but the final syllable was identified by Columbus +with "Khan," and, with the wish as father of the thought, he presently +conceived the notion that it was not the island of Cipango upon which he +had landed, but the shore of Cathay itself. Further explorations, +including coasting along the northern shore to within a few miles of the +western extremity, confirmed him in this belief, which became absolute +conviction. To the end of his life, therefore, he believed that Cuba was +the eastern extremity of the Asian continent, which indeed Toscanelli +had delineated upon his map as terminating in a long, narrow cape; and +it was upon the strength of this belief and report of Columbus that +Schoener in 1520 and Muenster in 1532 identified Cuba with the whole +North American continent, while various other cartographers of that time +made it integral with Cathay itself. The maps of La Cosa and Ruysch, in +1508, hinted at this. The Nancy Globe, and a notable map in the Sloane +MSS. in the British Museum, dated 1530, do, it is true, indicate Cuba to +be an island, but they also make India Superior and Tibet contiguous +with Mexico at the northwest, with the latter country fronting directly +upon the Indian Ocean. We know, of course, that during his second +voyage, in 1494, while off the southern coast of Cuba, Columbus required +his companions to sign with him a formal declaration that they were off +the coast of Asia. Such, then, was the Admiral's estimate of Cuba, in +which there is no reason to doubt he persisted to the end of his life. +He had achieved the object of his great adventure: He had reached the +country of the Great Khan. + +Despite these delusions and vagaries, however, the facts remain that he +did discover and partly explore Cuba, and that it was the first land in +the Western Hemisphere of which that can confidently be said. Cuba is +therefore the starting point of the history of the Columbian discovery +and exploration and the subsequent colonization and civilization of +America. With Cuba the history of the New World begins. + +Similarly, and with equal truth, we may say that the history of Cuba +begins with the Columbian discovery of America. That is not true of all +parts of the American continents. Some of them had already had important +histories. The northeastern coast of North America had been visited and +temporarily colonized by the Norsemen, and the northwestern coast by the +Chinese; and both of those peoples had left enduring traces of their +enterprise. The Iroquois and Algonquins had for centuries enjoyed a +degree of social, political and industrial development, the records of +which still survive. The Toltecs, the Mayas and the Incas had risen to a +height of culture not unworthy to be compared with that of Egypt, +Persia, Greece and Rome, the remains of which to this day command the +wonder and admiration of the world. But not so Cuba. Carlyle might well +have had this island in mind when he said, "Happy the people whose +annals are blank in history books." + +The physical history of Cuba indicates that in some remote period the +two mountainous ends of the island were two separate and distinctly +different islands, separated by a considerable stretch of sea, and that +they were afterward united by a rising of the bottom of the sea, to form +the central plain of Cuba. It is observed that the two ends are unlike +each other on geological structure and composition, in soil, and in +indigenous flora. Indeed, they have ever differed from each other +radically in their cultivated crops. At what date the union of them +occurred, and by what means it was effected, we can only guess. But it +is a reasonable assumption that the raising of the sea-floor to form the +central plain of the island was caused by one of the seismic +disturbances to which this general region of the earth's surface has +from time immemorial been subject. There are, moreover, reasons for +suspecting that this occurred at a time subsequent to the creation of +man, and indeed after both of the original islands had become inhabited. +That is because the two ends of the island appear, in Columbus's day, to +have been occupied by different races. Of the inhabitants of the western +end we know comparatively little, save that they were more warlike and +adventurous than those at the east, and several authorities have likened +them either to the Caribs or to the Mayas of Yucatan. That they were +Mayas seems, however, doubtful, since they left no traces of the high +degree of civilization which formerly prevailed among that distinguished +race in Yucatan. + +The people of the eastern end of Cuba, when the island was discovered by +Columbus, were doubtless of Antillan stock, or "Tainan" as some have +called them, with possibly a slight admixture of Carib, though not +sufficient materially to affect them in any respect. They were +physically a handsome, stalwart people, of a light reddish brown color, +somewhat lighter than the North American Indians. They wore no clothing, +with the exception of the married women, who wore breech clouts, and +confined their adornments to slight necklaces and bracelets. They lived +in neatly constructed cabins of cane or bamboo and thatch, rectangular +or circular in form and generally of two or three rooms each; equipped +with furniture of cane or of handsomely carved wood. For beds, however, +they used hammocks, of woven cotton or plaited grass; the name, hammock, +being of Antillan or Carib origin. These houses were, according to early +Spanish testimony, kept scrupulously clean and neat. They were grouped +in villages, around a central square which served as a market place and +playground. + +They were agriculturists, tilling the ground with considerable skill and +producing yuca, corn, beans, peanuts, squashes, peppers and various +other crops, besides fruits and tobacco. They were singularly expert +fishermen, and for the purpose of that pursuit they constructed fine +canoes, of the hollowed boles of large trees, but unlike the Caribs they +do not seem to have resorted to navigation for any other purpose. They +also hunted game on the land, solely for food, but their hunting was +much restricted, since there were no large animals of any kind on the +island. Their manufactures were confined to primitive cotton weaving, +wood carving, basketry, pottery--of a pretty good quality of decorated +ware--and various stoneware implements. + +In disposition and manners they were friendly, hospitable, courteous, +and confiding. Despite their nudity they had the unconscious modesty of +nature, and their morals were superior to those of most primitive +peoples. The tradition that venereal diseases prevailed among them and +were thus first made known to European peoples through their having been +acquired from the natives by Columbus's men, seems to be quite void of +foundation; indubitable proof exists of the prevalence of those diseases +in both Europe and Asia at an earlier date than Columbus's time. They +practised but recognized domestic, social and civic equality of the +sexes. They were almost universal tobacco smokers, and it was from them +that the use of that plant was first learned. They were pleasure loving, +much given to dancing, to games of ball, and to swimming. + +Their form of government was patriarchal, though there seem to have been +chiefs of some sort over whole villages or even districts. The laws +were, however, mild and humane. In religion they presented a striking +and most grateful contrast to the Toltecs, Aztecs and other peoples of +the continent, having none of the human sacrifices and atrocious +tortures that disfigured their worship. They believed in a Supreme Being +and a future and immortal life. They had a form of worship in which the +use of idols as symbols, and the smoking of tobacco, largely figured. +They had a regularly constituted priest-hood, the members of which they +credited with powers of divination and of healing. There were none of +the revolting practises and superstitions, however, which have been +common to many primitive peoples. They were not warlike, and had no +military organization, but they certainly were not cowards, as some of +the early Spanish conquistadors had cause to know. + +They had, it is obvious, nothing which could survive them as a memorial +of their existence. Their architecture, if so it may be called, was most +perishable. They had no art, save in pottery, and that was not highly +developed. They had no literature. The result was that when they +perished through unfavorable contact with a more powerful and aggressive +race they left scarcely a trace of themselves behind, save in the +records and testimony of their conquerors and destroyers. Some specimens +of their pottery have been preserved: the words "hammock" and "canoe" +come to us from them; and the use of tobacco is their universal +memorial. + +Such were the aborigines, if not the absolute autochthones, of Cuba. +Their only history lives in the brief and scanty records of them made by +their destroyers. They left no enduring impress upon the island, save +its name. How many they were is unknown, and estimates which are mere +guesses differ widely. In a single generation they disappeared, partly +through slaughter and partly through such diseases as small pox and +measles, which were introduced to the island--of course, not +intentionally--by the Spaniards, and which the natives were unable to +resist. The only significant history of Cuba begins, therefore, with the +landfall of Christopher Columbus upon its shores. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Sunday, October 28, 1492, was the natal day of Cuba; the day of its +advent into the ken of the civilized world. At the island which he +called Isabella--either Long Island or Crooked Island--Columbus had +heard of a very great land which the natives called Cuba, and which, the +wish being father to the thought, he instantly identified with Cipango. +Toward it, therefore, his course had thereafter been directed. Progress +was slow, because of contrary winds and calms, and there were numerous +small islands along the way to engage at least passing attention. +Particularly was there a group of seven or eight, lying in a row +extending north and south, which he called the Islas de Arena, and which +we may confidently identify with the Mucaras. Early on the morning of +Saturday, October 27, he had left the last of the Sandy Isles behind, +and from a point considerably to the eastward of them, probably near +what is now known as Rocky Heads, he had set his course a little west of +south for the shore of Cuba. Thus he had passed across the southeastern +end of the Great Bahama Bank, since most appropriately called the +Columbus Bank, until just at nightfall he had seen looming before him on +the southern horizon the mountainous form of a vast land. It was too +late, however, to continue the voyage that night, so he lay to, and at +earliest daybreak of Sunday morning, leaving behind him the islet +fittingly called Caya Santo Domingo, completed his course to the land +which he fondly but vainly hailed as the much-sought Cipango. + +The coast at the point at which he reached it seemed specially designed +by nature for his favorable and auspicious reception. There lay before +him what seemed the estuary of a large and beautiful river, free from +rocks or other impediments, and with a very gentle current. It had an +ample depth of water for his vessels, and was sufficiently broad, even +at a considerable distance inland, for them to beat about in. It was +encircled by lofty and picturesque hills, the aspect of which reminded +him of the "Pena de los Enamorados" near Granada, in Spain; and upon the +summit of one of them was what he described as another little hill, +shaped like a graceful mosque. Enchanted with the vision, and gratified +beyond expression at what he confidently assumed to be the reaching of +his goal and the vindication of his enterprise, he gave to the spot a +repetition of the name which he had devoutly bestowed upon his first +landfall, calling the port San Salvador. + +The identity of this spot has been much questioned and disputed; perhaps +even more than that of Columbus's first landing in the Bahamas; and it +is not to be regarded as entirely certain. Washington Irving pretty +confidently placed it at Caravelas Grandes, far to the west of Nuevitas +del Principe, while others insist that it was at Nuevitas itself. +Navarrete, on the other hand, with his theory that the first landfall +was at Grand Turk Island, held that Cuba was reached at Nipe Bay, east +of Holguin; while Las Casas and Herrera insisted that the port of San +Salvador was at Baracoa, near Cape Maysi, at the extreme eastern end of +the island. Midway between the extremes, that most scholarly and +judicious of geographers, Sir Clements Markham, selected the natural +harbor of Naranjo, a little to the west of Punta Lucrecia and Punta +Mulas. Other historians and geographers, after painstaking research, +declare that they do not believe the place can be determined. + +With this, in the ultimate analysis, I would agree. It is probably +impossible to establish indisputably the identity of the place. Yet it +does seem to me that the arguments in favor of Naranjo, as selected by +Markham, are so strong as to be all but entirely convincing, and that it +will be judicious, therefore, to assume that it was there that the +Admiral first reached the shore of Cuba. A glance at the map shows this +to be the region which was nearest and which he was likeliest to reach +first, coming from either Long Island or Crooked Island, eastward of the +Mucaras, on a south-southwest course, which, we are told, is what he +steered. The port of Naranjo answers to his description in depth and +breadth more nearly than any other on that part of the coast. It is the +estuary of a considerable river, as was Columbus's San Salvador, though +how large the river really was he does not appear to have undertaken to +ascertain, though he did ascend the stream some little distance on his +first day's visit. Finally, it is to be observed that Naranjo is girt +about by hills, precisely as was his San Salvador, and on the crest of +one of them there is a huge rock, jutting up like "another little hill" +and roughly resembling in shape a mosque, because of which the hill is +called "Loma del Temple." This, then, and not Nuevitas, Nipe, nor +Baracoa, I believe to have been the scene of Columbus's discovery of +Cuba. + +[Illustration: QUEEN ISABELLA] + +We have seen that Columbus at first unhesitatingly believed it to be +Cipango which he had reached. Despite that fact, and also despite the +fact that the natives called it Cuba, he insisted upon renaming it. In +accordance with his previous practice in nomenclature, it must have a +very noble and distinguished name. His first landfall he had named for +the Holy Saviour Himself; the second for the Holy Virgin; the third for +the King, and the fourth for the Queen of Leon and Castile. The next +name in order, in dignity and distinction, was that of the heir to the +dual throne, wherefore he named the land Juana. Most writers, including +Irving, have made the curious but facile mistake of saying that this +name was given "in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and +Isabella." It was, in fact, in honor of Princess Juana, the daughter of +those sovereigns. She was that unhappy princess who because of her +insanity was called "La Loca," and who by her marriage with Philip of +Burgundy and of Hapsburg brought a new dynasty to the Spanish throne and +greatly involved the monarchy in the politics and wars of Central +Europe. Juana was mentally incompetent to succeed to the throne of +Castile which she inherited upon the death of her mother, wherefore she +was compelled to relinquish it to the regency of her father; and when he +united Castile with Aragon, and conquered and annexed Navarre and +Granada, and thus became the first King of Spain, Cuba was renamed in +his honor and known no longer as Juana but as Ferdinandina, or +Fernandina. Still later it was called San Diego, or Santiago; and again +Ave Maria Alfa y Omega. But these names were transitory. The natives +never accepted one of them, but clung to the old name of Cuba, and there +was a fine touch of poetic justice in the fact that that name survived +the extinction of the race that had cherished it. Under the ruthless +rule of the Conquistadores the aboriginal population of the island +almost entirely vanished, and with them practically all traces of their +existence save four. These were the name and use of tobacco, the name +and use of hammocks, the name and use of canoes, and the name of the +island itself. + +It would not have been surprising, and it would have been quite +pardonable, had Columbus seen everything in the New World through +glasses of _couleur de rose_. Naturally of a romantic and imaginative +temperament, he experienced in the realization of his long-cherished +ambition such a degree of spiritual and mental exaltation as seldom has +come to mortal man. Yet quite apart from this, the native beauty of +Cuba, as seen to our eyes to-day, abundantly justifies the rhapsodies in +which he indulged in describing it. On that first memorable Sunday he +wrote in his diary, "This is the most beautiful land ever beheld by +human eyes." From the quarter-deck of the _Santa Maria_ he gazed with +rapture upon the profuse verdure of the shore and of the hills which +rose in the back-ground, observing with admiration and surprise that the +trees grew down to the very water's edge, as did also the herbage, as he +had never seen it elsewhere. The palms and other trees were largely of +different kinds from those which he had seen in Spain, in Guinea, and +elsewhere, and they bore flowers and fruit in great profusion, while +among them were innumerable birds, beautiful to the eye and with songs +entrancing to the ear. + +Two canoes, containing each several natives, put out from a recess in +the harbor shore to meet the Spanish ships, but when a boat was lowered +from one of the latter, to proceed ahead and take soundings, they +incontinently fled. Columbus himself then entered a small boat and went +ashore, where he found two houses, which he assumed to belong to the +owners of the two canoes. No persons were to be found upon the premises, +and the only living things were "a kind of dog that never barks," which +we may assume to have been some small animal of the ant bear tribe, now +probably extinct or at any rate no longer domesticated. The houses were +notably neat and clean, and were evidently the abode of fishermen, since +in them were nets and cordage of palm fibre, fish-hooks of horn, and +harpoons of bone. All about the houses the herbage was as profuse, at +the end of October, as it was in Andalusia in May. Most of the herbs as +well as the trees were strange to Columbus, but he found some wild +amaranth, and much common purslane. He went some distance up the harbor, +or river as he called it, at every step or stroke of the oars seeing +something new to excite his admiration. + +The natives of Guanahani whom he had brought on his ship informed him +that Cuba was a very large island, which could not be circumnavigated in +twenty days; that it contained ten large rivers and that its whole +expanse was well watered. They were also understood by Columbus to say +that gold mines and pearls were to be found in the island, and that +large ships came thither from the mainland domains of the Grand Khan, +ten days' sail away. The bulk of this "information" was of course quite +mistaken by Columbus, his vivid imagination and his eager desires easily +misleading him into interpreting anything which the natives might say, +largely in sign language, as meaning just what he wished to be true. + +The next day Columbus left San Salvador and sailed westward along the +coast. That was the direction in which, according to the natives of +Guanahani, the mainland and the capital of the King or the Grand Khan +were to be found. That, too, was the direction in which Mangi and Cathay +were to be found according to the map of Toscanelli, assuming Cuba to be +Cipango: which Columbus at this stage of his enterprise confidently +believed. Of the researches of the great voyager along the Cuban coast +we have a detailed account in his journal. Unfortunately, there is no +certain means of identifying the points at which he landed. They are +described as being so many leagues from his starting point, San +Salvador; wherefore it is obvious that all depends upon the identity of +the latter. Yet it seems to me that his account of his coastwise +explorations strongly confirms the theory that his San Salvador was Port +Naranjo and not Nuevitas. For we are told that six leagues westward he +found a cape or point of land extending toward the northwest; ten +leagues further another point, extending toward the east; one league +further a small river, which he called the Rio de la Luna; and beyond it +another much larger river, which he called the Rio de Mares. This latter +river had for its estuary a broad basin resembling a lake, and its +entrance was marked by two round mountains on the one side and a lofty +promontory on the other. + +Now, making reasonable allowance for lack of accuracy in measurements +and for discrepancies in descriptions, this account may readily be +applied to the coast westward from Port Naranjo to Nuevitas, while it is +altogether inapplicable to the coast westward from Nuevitas. For a +score of leagues westward from Naranjo there are capes and mountains and +rivers, and there is more than one river with precisely such a +lagoon-like estuary as that which Columbus found at his Rio de Mares. +Indeed, Port Padre, with its extensive lagoon into which several rivers +flow, or Port Manati, with the Cramal and Yarigua rivers, might either +of them be identified, in approximate distance and in topography, with +the Rio de Mares. On the other hand, if we were to assume Nuevitas to +have been the starting point, what should we find? Either he must have +been skirting the outer side of the Sabinal and Romano keys, and Guajaba +Island, which do not at all coincide with the description given, or he +must have been navigating the great littoral lagoon between those keys +and the mainland of Cuba; in which latter case it is to be observed that +that part of the Cuban coast does not correspond with his description, +and that it is certainly extraordinary that he made no mention of his +voyage having been in what is practically an inland sea. That he could +have passed in through the Nuevitas Channel, or the Carebelas Channel, +or the Guajaba Channel, without observing and remarking upon Sabinal +Key, Guajaba Island, or Romano Key, is simply not supposable. Such a +feature of "Cipango" could not have escaped notice on his first arrival +there, though it might easily have been ignored or passed over as of no +special significance in subsequent explorations. + +On Tuesday of that memorable week, October 30, Columbus left the Rio de +Mares and sailed to the northwest for fifteen leagues, and there +discovered a point which he named the Cape of Palms. Beyond it was a +river, the entrance of which was said to be four days' journey from what +the natives called Cubanacan, meaning the heart of the island, the +centre of Cuba. With his characteristic habit of interpreting native +names and statements in accordance with his own desires, Columbus at +once assumed this to mean Kublai Khan, or the City of the Khan, of which +he was in quest; and accordingly he bent all his energies and gave all +his attention to getting thither, disregarding the things which he +passed by on the way. It was probably at this time, therefore, that he +sailed through one of the channels among the keys, and entered the great +coastal sound which stretches from Nuevitas to Caibarien, if not indeed +to Cardenas. He reached the river on Wednesday, but found it too shallow +for his ships, and therefore, after some fruitless cruisings, returned +to the Rio de Mares. + +It was on November 12 that he again sailed from the Rio de Mares, and on +the next day that he sailed south-westward into a great gulf, which he +supposed to divide Cuba from another island called by the natives +"Bohio"--the word really meaning not an island at all but "home." +Thereafter for some time he was obviously cruising around Guajaba Island +and Romano Key, which, with Sabinal Key, he supposed to be the mythical +"Bohio." Some port, possibly Boca de la Yana, he called Puerto Principe, +and the water, presumably between Thiguano Island and Cocos Key, he +called the Mar de la Nuestra Senora. Rounding Guillermo Key, as we may +suppose, he swung into the Old Bahama Channel, and by wind and tide was +carried backward to Guajaba Island and perhaps to Nuevitas. Thence he +made his way westward and southward, rounding Point Sama and Point +Lucrecia, and reaching Port Nipe and Port Banes on the morning of +November 27. Those two capacious bays he did not attempt to enter. He +regarded them indeed not as bays but as straits, or arms of the sea, and +the promontory between them he supposed to be an island. At Taco he +landed for a few moments, and then pursued his way, and at nightfall +dropped anchors at what he called Puerto Santo, which we may probably +identify with the modern Baracoa. There he remained until December 4, +when he sailed to the southeast, and the following day passed out of +sight of Cape Maysi and left Cuba behind him; crossing the Windward +Passage to reach "Bohio" or "Babeque," where there were said to be +pearls and gold, and reaching Hayti, or Santo Domingo, which he called +Espagnola. He did not revisit Cuba during the remainder of his first +American voyage. + +Espagnola, Latinized by us into Hispaniola, became thereafter the chief +care of the Admiral. It was there that he planted, on his second voyage, +the first European colony in the western hemisphere. But after various +operations in Hayti, marked with both trials and triumphs, during his +second American expedition he returned to the Cuban coast for further +explorations of what he still thought to be Cipango. It was at the end +of April, 1494, that he sailed from Mole St. Nicholas, Hayti, across the +Windward Passage toward Cape Maysi, which he himself had called Cape +Alpha and Omega. Instead, however, of retracing his way to Baracoa and +along the north coast, he went to the left of Cape Maysi and began +skirting the southern coast of Cuba. This route would, according to +Toscanelli's map, take him to the southward of Mangi and Cathay, but it +would lead him to the Golden Chersonesus, around the southern shore of +Asia, and so home to Europe by circumnavigating the globe. + +The points visited by him on this excursion are more easily and surely +to be identified than those of his first voyage. His first landing was +at Guantanamo, which he called Puerto Grande. He found an entrance +passage, winding but deep, leading in to a spacious land-locked lagoon, +surrounded by hills covered with verdure. Here he established friendly +relations with the natives, and remained for two or three days. Thence +he sailed westward, as close to the shore as safety would permit, and +frequently entered into friendly intercourse with the natives who +thronged the strand to gaze in wonderment at his strange ships. At +Santiago de Cuba he spent a night, and during his stay he diligently +inquired of the natives for the land in which gold was to be found. They +indicated it to lie farther to the south and west, doubtless meaning +South America. Columbus thereupon set sail in that direction, partly +because gold was most desirable to obtain, and partly because he +assumed the land of gold to be the land of the Great Khan, which he was +still intent upon reaching. The result was his discovery of Jamaica. A +fortnight later, however, on May 18, he returned to Cuba, reaching it at +Cabo de la Cruz, or Cape Cruz. Here he found a large village, whose +chief and indeed all whose inhabitants had heard of him as one descended +from heaven. He was hospitably received, and was able to make many +inquiries about the country. He was told that Cuba was an island, but of +so vast extent that nobody had ever sailed around it. He thereupon set +out to circumnavigate it and sailed from Cape Cruz northward into the +Gulf of Guacanabo. There he found a multitude of small islands, which he +named the Queen's Gardens, and there, remembering that Marco Polo and +Sir John Mandeville had both reported the coast of Asia to be fringed +with a crowded archipelago, he was again confirmed in his belief that he +was approaching the shore either of Cathay or of the Golden Chersonesus. + +Navigation among these islands, however, was difficult, dangerous and +slow, particularly when tropical thunderstorms were raging, as they then +were almost daily, and it was with much relief that the expedition at +last reached the Cuban coast, probably at or near Santa Cruz del Sur. +There they were told that they were in the province of Ornofay; the +province which they had formerly visited, at Cape Cruz, was Macaca; and +to the west there lay the important province of Mangon, where they could +secure much fuller information on all subjects. They were again assured +that Cuba was an island, but so vast in extent that nobody could hope +ever to go around it. The mention of the province of Mangon again +stimulated the hopes and fancy of Columbus. He identified it with Mangi, +the southernmost and richest province of the Great Khan, and in this he +was confirmed by the fantastic statement of the natives, that the people +of Mangon had tails and wore long robes to conceal them! Columbus +recalled that Sir John Mandeville had related a similar story as +current among some tribes in Eastern Asia. He therefore set out with +renewed eagerness and expectation for the coast of Mangon. + +Emerging from the archipelago, he sailed for many miles along the +southern coast of Cuba, through an open sea, with the mountain ranges of +Santa Clara at his right hand and at his left the open expanse of the +Caribbean, its intense blue attesting its depth. After passing the Gulf +of Xagua, however, there came a sudden change. The sea became shallow, +and thickly dotted with small islands, keys, and banks, while the water +was white as milk. The voyagers had crossed the Gulf of Cazones and were +among the Juan Luis Keys, where the water is shallow and where at times +the agitation of the water by storms causes it to be whitened and +rendered opaque with the calcareous deposit with which the sea floor is +there thickly covered. This character of the bottom also made it +impossible for the vessels to find anchorage. The anchors dragged and +the water became more white and turbid. To the members of the crews +these phenomena caused great terror, which was by no means ill founded, +since there was imminent danger of the vessels being driven ashore and +wrecked. To Columbus, in his state of mental exaltation and high +expectancy, however, they were full of inspiration and encouragement to +proceed, indicating to him that he was entering strange regions where +extraordinary discoveries were to be made. For we must remember that, +far as he was in advance of his time in geographical vision, he still +thought that the earth was not globular but pear-shaped, and he expected +to find tribes of men with tails, and with only one eye and with their +heads growing beneath their shoulders! + +Finding anchorage at last upon the shore of a small island, he sent the +smallest of his vessels forward to explore the archipelago and also to +visit the coast of the mainland. The report which was brought back to +him was that the archipelago was as dense and as intricate as the +Gardens of the Queen which they had left behind them, and that the +coast of the mainland was flat, marshy, and covered with almost +impenetrable mangrove forests, far beyond which fertile uplands and +mountain ranges were to be seen, while numerous columns of smoke +ascending gave token of a considerable population. At this the entire +expedition proceeded, to retrace the course which had been pursued by +the pilot caravel, and after much difficulty and occasional groundings +of the vessels, the coast of Cuba was reached, doubtless near the +eastern extremity of the great Zapata Peninsula. The vast marshes gave +little encouragement for landing, and the expedition continued eastward +until Punta Gorda was reached, to which Columbus gave the name of Punta +Serafina. + +Rounding this point and heading northward, the fine expanse of Broa Bay +confronted them, with the coast of the Province of Havana far beyond, +and with another archipelago at the west. The mountains which lie between +Guines and Matanzas fringed the horizon, and toward them the Admiral +steered, presently reaching good anchorage off a most inviting coast. The +mangrove swamps of Zapata had been left behind, and here the shore was +high and dry, and covered with groves of palm and other trees. Here a +landing was made, and copious supplies of fresh water were found for the +refilling of their casks, while some of the archers strayed into the +forest in quest of game. One of the latter presently returned in haste +and fear, crying for help. He reported that he had seen in a forest +glade three men of white complexion, clad in long white tunics, leading +a company of about thirty more, armed with clubs and spears. They did +not attack him, but one of them advanced alone as if to speak with him; +whereupon he fled. At this report all his companions joined him in +hastening back to the ships for safety. + +When Columbus heard these things he was much pleased. He saw in them +confirmation of what he had been told about the Province of Mangon, with +its men who had tails and who wore long robes to hide them. He at once +sent a strongly armed party inland to seek these men and parley with +them; directing them to go as much as forty miles inland, if necessary, +to find them, and to find the populous cities which he confidently +believed to exist in that region. These explorers readily enough +traversed the open palm forest which bordered the coast. But then they +came to extensive open upland plains or savannahs, with few trees but +with rank grass and other herbage as high as their heads and so dense as +to be almost impenetrable. No roads or paths were to be found, and it +was necessary to cut a trail through the herbage. For a mile they +struggled on, and then gave up the attempt and returned to the ships. +The next day another party was sent in another direction, with no better +results. Its members found fine open forests, abounding with grapevines +laden with fruit, and they saw flocks of cranes which they described as +twice the size of those of Europe. But they also saw on the ground the +footprints, as they supposed, of lions and of griffins, which so alarmed +them that they beat a hasty retreat. + +Lions, and indeed all large beasts of prey, were never known to exist in +Cuba, and the griffin was of course never anything but imaginary--unless +a tradition of some prehistoric monster, ages ago extinct. But huge +alligators or caymans abounded in Cuban waters, and the footprints which +frightened Columbus's explorers were doubtless made by them. The +observation of large cranes suggests, also, an explanation of the +panic-stricken archer's story of men clothed in white robes. A flock of +those huge birds, standing erect and in line, with their leader advanced +before them, as is their custom, in the semi-gloom of a strange forest, +might well have given him the impression of a company of white-robed +men. Of course, no men of that description were ever found in Cuba, nor +were there traces of any. + +It did not take Columbus long to explore Broa Bay sufficiently to +ascertain that it was not an arm of the sea, but a mere coastal +indentation; whereupon he resumed his westward cruising. A little +further on, probably in the neighborhood of Batabano, he found the shore +inhabited, and though neither he nor his interpreters could understand +the language of the natives, they contrived to hold some communication +with them by means of signs. He gleaned from them in this manner the +information that far to westward, among the mountains, there was a great +king, ruling in magnificence over many provinces; that he wore long +white robes and was considered a semi-divine personage, and that he +never spoke but conveyed his decrees in signs, which nobody dared to +disobey. To what extent this was really intended by the natives, and to +what extent was the mere figment of the Admiral's lively imagination, it +is impossible to say. It is entirely conceivable, however, that the +Cubans had some knowledge of the Aztecs and Toltecs of Mexico, and the +Mayas of Yucatan, and were referring to them. Certainly they could not +have referred to anybody in Cuba. But Columbus, as ever fondly believing +whatever he wished to be true, confidently assumed that they were +telling him of the mythical Prester John, and that he was on the shores +of that potentate's domain. The mountains of which the natives spoke, he +supposed, were those of Pinar del Rio, which were already in sight on +the northwestern horizon. + +Concerning the extent of Cuba, and of the coast along which he was +sailing, Columbus could get little information. He was told that the +coast extended westward for at least twenty days' journey, but whether +it then ended, and how it ended, he could not learn. He therefore took +one of the natives with him as a guide, and resumed his voyage. Almost +immediately, however, he plunged into another archipelago, almost as +dense and troublesome as that through which he had passed a few days +before. Making his way through it with great difficulty, he reached the +coast of Pinar del Rio, and effected a landing amid swamps and forests, +only to find the region uninhabited, though frequent columns of smoke +rising inland indicated to him the presence of a considerable +population. For some time he made his way along that inhospitable coast, +which trended steadily toward the southwest, a direction agreeing with +his conceptions of the Asian coast as described by Marco Polo. Surely, +he thought, he was on the coast of Indo-China, headed straight for the +Golden Chersonesus. If he persisted, he would cross the Indian Ocean and +reach the Red Sea, whence he could complete his journey to Europe +overland by way of Palestine; or he could steer southward along the +African coast and around that continent, and so reach home by +circumnavigating the globe. + +These fancies appear to have been shared by his companions, among whom +were several accomplished navigators and geographers. The delusions were +of course largely due to the erroneous estimate of the size of the +globe, which made its circumference too little by some thousands of +miles. But his companions could not be persuaded to approve his scheme +of going on to circumnavigate the globe. The glamor of that vision did +not blind their eyes to the worn and dilapidated condition of the ships, +the lack of supplies, and the weariness of the crews. They were in no +condition, they insisted, to proceed further through unknown regions. It +was already satisfactorily demonstrated, they held, that they had +reached the Asian coast. The part of prudence was to turn back to +Isabella, if not to Spain, and refit their vessels for another and +longer voyage. + +These counsels finally prevailed upon Columbus himself, at the time when +his flotilla lay at anchor in the Bay of Cortez, near the western +extremity of Cuba. He was indeed so near that extremity that a day or +two more of sailing would have brought him to Cape San Antonio and would +have shown him that Cuba was an island. Or from the top of some tall +tree, or even from the mast head, he might have looked across the lakes +and lowlands of that region and seen the waters of Guadiana Bay, on the +north side of the island. But this was not to be. Instead, he required +every member of his company, from sailing master to cabin boy, to swear +to and sign a formal declaration to the effect that the land which they +had discovered and explored was a part of the Indies and of the Asian +continent. Then, on June 13, he turned his course toward the southeast, +only to enter another archipelago, the San Felipe and Indian keys. +Beyond lay a large land, with mountains, to which he gave the name of +Evangelista. It was, of course, the Isle of Pines, which he reached a +little south of Point Barcos. Taking in a supply of water and wood, he +skirted the coast southward, with the result that he ran into the +land-locked recesses of the Bay of Sunianea. Finding no thoroughfare in +that direction, he sailed back almost to the Bay of Cortez, and then +made his way along the Cuban coast, through the archipelagoes, milky +seas and what not which had given him so much trouble on his westward +trip. + +It was on July 7 that the next landing in Cuba was made, at a point on +the southeastern coast of Camaguey, and at the mouth of a fine river +which Columbus called the Rio de la Missa but the identity of which is +now uncertain. It may have been the San Juan de Najasa or the Sevilla, +or one of the several streams between those two. There, in a most genial +and fruitful region, they spent some days and established friendly +relations with the chief of a considerable community. In the presence of +this chief and his retainers an altar was erected beneath a great tree, +and mass was celebrated. An aged native, apparently a priest, watched +this proceeding with much interest, and at its close approached Columbus +and addressed him, saying: + +"This which thou hast done is, I perceive, thy method of worshipping thy +God; which is well. I am told that thou hast come hither with a strong +force, and hast subdued many lands, filling the people with great fear. +Be not, however, vainglorious. The souls of men after these bodies are +dead have, according to our belief, one of two journeys to pursue. One +is to a place that is dismal, foul and dark, which is prepared for those +who have been cruel and unjust to their fellow men. The other is to a +place of light and joy, prepared for those who have practised peace and +justice. Therefore if thou art mortal, and must some time die, and dost +expect that all men are to be rewarded according to the deeds done in +their bodies, see that thou work justice and do no harm to those who +have done no harm to thee." + +In this address was revealed the most that we know of the religion of +the Cuban aborigines. Columbus listened to it with surprise and +gratification, not having supposed that any such faith or such knowledge +of the future life existed among the natives of Cuba. He responded +through his interpreter sympathetically, assuring the old man that he +had been sent forth by his sovereigns to teach the true faith and to do +good and no evil, and that all innocent and peaceable men might +confidently look to him for friendship and protection. He also had his +interpreter tell the people of the greatness, riches and splendor of +Spain; to which they listened in credulous bewilderment. Then, on July +16, he sailed away from Cuba again, amid expressions of regret by the +chief and his comrades; taking with him one of the young men whom he +afterward sent to the Spanish court. But a storm struck his feeble +vessels and nearly wrecked them. On July 18 they anchored near Cape Cruz +for repairs, and were most hospitably received by the natives. At last, +on July 22, they departed for Jamaica, whence they returned to Isabella. +Never again did Columbus visit Cuba, though he approached its southern +shore on his fourth voyage, on his way to the coast of Central America. +To the end of his life, presumably, he believed Cuba to be a part of the +Asian continent, continuous with Honduras and Veragua. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +We have already quoted the enthusiastic encomium of Columbus upon Cuba +at his first sight of and landing upon its shore. His diary and his +narrative to the sovereigns of Leon and Castile on his return to Spain +abound with similar expressions, as well as with informing bits of +description of Cuba as they then found it. In the very first days of his +first visit he found villages of houses "made like booths, very large, +and looking like tents in a camp without regular streets but one here +and another there. Within they were clean and well swept, with furniture +well made. All were of palm branches, beautifully constructed. They +found many images in the shape of women, and many heads like masks, very +well carved. It was not known whether these were used as ornaments, or +were to be worshipped." + +The waters abounded in fish, and the people of the coast regions were +apparently nearly all fishermen. The only domestic animals were the +"dogs which never barked," and birds in cages. There were seen, however, +skulls like those of cows, on which account Columbus assumed that inland +there were herds of cattle. All night the air was vocal with the songs +of birds and the chirping of crickets and other insects, which lulled +the voyagers to rest. Along the shore and in the mouths of rivers were +found large shells, unlike any that he had known in Spain, but no pearls +were in them. The air was soft and salubrious, and the nights were +neither hot nor cold. On the other islands which he had visited the heat +was oppressive, a circumstance which he attributed to the flat and +low-lying land; while Cuba was mountainous and therefore was blessed +with cooling breezes. + +At some point on the northeastern coast, probably in the neighborhood +of Point Sama, a month after his first landing, he imagined that he had +discovered deposits of gold. It was in the bed of a river, near its +mouth, that he saw stones shining, as if with gold, and he had them +gathered, to take home to Spain and to present to the sovereigns. At the +same point some of the sailors called his attention to the pine trees on +a neighboring hill. They were "so wonderfully large that he could not +exaggerate their height and straightness, and he perceived that in them +was material for great stores of planks and masts for the largest ships +of Spain." + +Further on, probably in the neighborhood of Baracoa, "they came to the +largest inhabited place that they had yet seen, and a vast concourse of +people came down to the beach with loud shouts, all naked, with darts in +their hands." Columbus desired to have speech with them, and accordingly +anchored his ships and sent boats ashore, bearing gifts for the natives. +The people at first seemed inclined to resist any landing, but when the +Spaniards in the boats pressed on and began to land, without manifesting +any fear, they abandoned their hostile attitude and began to withdraw. +The Spaniards who landed called to them and strove to lure them back, +but without success. They all ran away. In consequence of this and +similar incidents, Columbus wrote: + +"I have not been able to see much of the natives, because they take to +flight. But now, if Our Lord pleases, I will see as much as possible, +and will proceed little by little, learning and comprehending; and I +will make some of my followers learn the language--for I have perceived +that there is only one language up to this point. After they understand +the advantages I shall labor to make all these people Christians. They +will readily become such, because they have no religion nor idolatry; +and Your Highnesses"--he was addressing the sovereigns, in his +journal--"will send orders to build a city and fortress, and to convert +these people. + +"It does not appear to me," he continued, "that there can be a more +fertile country or a better climate under the sun, with more abundant +supplies of water. This is not like the rivers of Guinea, which are all +pestilential. I thank Our Lord that up to this time there has not been a +person of my company who has had so much as a head-ache, except one old +man who has suffered from stone all his life, and he was well again in +two days. I speak of all three vessels. If it should please God that +Your Highness should send learned men out here, they will see the truth +of all I have said." + +While in the neighborhood of Baracoa, at the end of November and +beginning of December, 1492, he saw a canoe made of the hole of a single +tree, 95 palms long and capable of carrying 150 persons. "Leaving the +river, they came to a cove in which there were five large canoes, so +well constructed that it was a pleasure to look at them. They were under +spreading trees, and a path led to them from a very well built +boathouse, so thatched that neither sun nor rain could do any harm. +Within it there was another canoe made out of a single tree like the +others, like a galley with 17 benches. It was a pleasant sight to look +upon such goodly work. + +"The Admiral ascended a mountain, and afterward found the country level +and cultivated with many things. In the middle there was a large +village, and they came upon the people suddenly, but as soon as they +were seen the men and women took to flight. The Admiral made the Indian +from on board, who was with him, give them bells, copper ornaments, and +glass beads, green and yellow, with which they were well content. He saw +that they had no gold nor any other precious thing, and that it would +suffice to leave them in peace. The whole district was well peopled.... +No arms are carried by them except wands, on the point of which a short +piece of wood is fixed, hardened by fire, and these they are very ready +to exchange. + +"Returning to where he had left the boats, he sent back some men up the +hill, because he fancied he had seen a large apiary. Before those he +had sent could return, they were joined by many Indians, and they went +to the boats, where the Admiral was waiting with all his people. One of +the natives advanced into the river near the stern of the boat and made +a long speech, which the Admiral did not understand. At intervals the +other Indians raised their hands to heaven and shouted. The Admiral +thought that the orator was assuring him that he was pleased at his +arrival. But he saw the Indian who came from the ship change the color +of his face and turn as yellow as wax, trembling much and indicating to +the Admiral by signs that he should leave the river, as they were going +to kill him. The Admiral then pointed to a cross-bow which one of his +followers had, and showed it to the Indians, making them understand that +they would all be slain, because that weapon killed people at a great +distance. He also drew a sword from its sheath and showed it to them, +telling them that it, too, would slay them. Thereupon they all took to +flight; while the Indian from the ship still trembled from cowardice, +though he was a tall, strong man." + +Columbus then determined to seek further acquaintance with the natives, +and accordingly had his boat rowed to a point on the shore of the river +where they were assembled in great numbers. They were naked, and +painted; some wearing tufts of feathers on their heads, and all carrying +bundles of darts. "I came to them," said Columbus, "and gave them bread, +asking for the darts, in exchange for which I gave copper ornaments, +bells and glass beads. This made them peaceable, so that they came to +the boats again and gave us what they had. The sailors had killed a +turtle, and the shell was on the boat, cut into pieces, some of which +the sailors gave them in exchange for a bundle of darts. They were like +the other people we had seen, with the same belief that we had come from +heaven." They were ready, he added, to give anything that they had in +exchange for any trifle, which they would accept without saying that it +was little, and Columbus believed that they would thus give away gold +and spices, if they had had any. In one of the houses which he entered +"shells and other things were fastened to the ceiling." He thought that +it was a temple, and he inquired, by signs, if such was the case and if +prayers were there offered. The natives replied in the negative, and one +of them climbed up to take down the ceiling ornaments and give them to +Columbus, who accepted a few of them. + +It was early in November, 1492, that one of the most noteworthy +discoveries in relation to Cuba was made. At that time Columbus sent +inland from the port at the mouth of the Rio de Mares two men, Rodrigo +de Jerez and Luis de Torres, to explore the inland country and to find +if possible the high road to the capital and palace of the Great Khan. +These men did not find what they had been sent for, but something else, +which proved in after years to be of incalculable value to Cuba and to +the world. To quote Las Casas: + +"They met on the road many men and women, passing to their villages, the +men always with half-burned brands in their hands and certain herbs for +smoking. These herbs are dry and are placed in a dry leaf made in the +shape of the paper tubes which the boys make at Easter. Lighted at one +end, at the other the smoke is sucked or drawn in with the breath. The +effect of it is to make them sleepy and as it were intoxicated, and they +say that using it relieves the feeling of fatigue. These rolls they call +'tabacos.'" Some of Columbus's men, when it was reported to them, tried +smoking the "tabacos," and the habit soon became prevalent among the +Spanish colonists in Hispaniola. + +These few items, then, compose practically the sum and substance of the +knowledge which Columbus acquired of that land which was, second to only +the continent, by far the most important of all his discoveries. They +are few and meagre. It is indeed doubtful if history records an even +approximately comparable instance of the disappearance of a numerous and +capable people from a country of vast interest and importance, leaving +behind them so few traces of themselves and so little information +concerning them. For these things are not merely all that Columbus +learned about Cuba. They are all that his successors learned and that +the world has ever learned about Cuba as it existed prior to and at the +time of the great discovery. Tobacco, hammocks, canoes, and the name of +the island and the names of various places on it which have persisted in +spite of the repeated attempts to substitute a new nomenclature; these +are the world's memorials of pre-Columbian Cuba. + +The brief visits and superficial inspection which we have recorded were +not, however, destined to be the full compass of the Discoverer's +personal relationship to Cuba. While he did not again visit the island +in life, nor give to it any of the attention which ampler knowledge +would have shown him it deserved, his mortal remains were conveyed +thither, and there remained for a considerable period; though by a +strange fatality this fact, well authenticated as it is, has been +persistently and elaborately disputed, until the tomb of Columbus has in +the minds of many become almost as much a matter of speculation and +uncertainty as the place of his birth. + +It was on Ascension Day, May 20, 1506, that Columbus died at Valladolid, +in Spain, and there his body was laid to rest in the parish church of +Santa Maria de la Antigua, a church of the Franciscan Fathers. The date +of the first removal is unknown, and is much disputed. Some have placed +it as late as the year 1513, while others, as the result of later and +more assured research, declare it to have been within a year or two, or +at most within three years, of his death. Of the new place of sepulture, +however, there is no question. It was in a chapel of the Carthusian +monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, at Seville; where also, years +afterward, were laid the remains of his son, Diego, who died at +Montalban on February 23, 1526. + +But as in life, so in death Columbus must needs be a wanderer. In 1542 +the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of that island colony of +Hispaniola to which Columbus's chief attention had been given, demanded +to be made the repository of the body of its founder. Accordingly, +Charles I decreed the removal, and the bodies of Christopher Columbus +and his son Diego were both transferred from Seville to a double tomb in +the cathedral of Santo Domingo, hard by the fortress in which the +Discoverer had once been confined by Bobadilla as a prisoner. Thus far +the record was and is clear; and for two and a half centuries the tomb +remained inviolate. Indeed, it was so little meddled with that its +precise location became a matter of doubt, save that it was somewhere +"in the main sanctuary" of the cathedral. + +The first attempt to determine it was made about 1783 by the French +politician and writer, Moreau de Saint-Mery, a kinsman of the Empress +Josephine and a member of the Colonial Council of Santo Domingo. +Diligent inquiry, without actual exhumation, resulted in the information +that the remains of Christopher Columbus, enclosed first in a leaden +casket and then in a massive coffin of stone, lay underneath the Gospel +side of the sanctuary, and that those of his brother, Bartholomew +Columbus, similarly enclosed, lay underneath the Epistle side. This was +contrary, in one respect, to the understanding of years before, which +was that it was the body of Columbus's grandson Luis which lay under the +Epistle side of the sanctuary. The problem was complicated by the fact +that the cathedral had been so remodelled that the tomb of Columbus was +underneath its wall, where actual examination was difficult; and in fact +no exhumation was then attempted. + +In 1795, however, the island was transferred to French sovereignty, and +the Spanish governor, on relinquishing his rule, requested permission to +remove the remains of Columbus to Havana, Cuba, in order that they might +continue to rest beneath the Spanish flag. This was granted to him, and +accordingly, in January, 1796, the tomb beneath the wall on the Gospel +side of the sanctuary of the cathedral of Santo Domingo was opened, and +the coffin found within was reverently removed and borne to Havana, +where it was deposited in a new tomb in the cathedral--formerly the +Church of the Jesuits--where its presence was indicated by a medallion +and inscription on the wall of the chancel. For many years that was +indubitably regarded as the tomb of the Discoverer. + +It was not until 1877 that doubt of this fact arose. In that year +repairs were made to the cathedral of Santo Domingo, in the course of +which the rector, the Rev. Francis Navier Billini, insisted upon +reopening the tomb underneath the Epistle side of the sanctuary, which +had of old been reputed to contain the coffin of Luis Columbus, but +which Saint-Mery had been informed contained the remains of Bartholomew +Columbus. There was discovered a leaden casket, which, like that which +had been taken to Havana, bore no inscription. But upon or close by it +there lay a sheet of lead bearing the words, "The Admiral Don Luis +Colon, Duke of Veragua and Marquis of...." The remainder was +undecipherable. The casket was therefore accepted as that of Columbus's +grandson; confirming the common belief before the time of Saint-Mery. + +Not content with this discovery, the enterprising rector continued his +excavations, and presently the finding of another leaden casket was +announced, which was reported to bear an inscription, much abbreviated, +which, amplified, ran thus: "Discoverer of America; First Admiral." This +created a great sensation, and stimulated Dominican pride. The rector at +once sent for the President of Santo Domingo and other dignitaries of +state and church, including various foreign diplomats and consuls, and +in their presence continued the examination of the treasure trove. Upon +opening the casket, the inner side of the lid was found also to bear an +inscription, greatly abbreviated, which was interpreted as reading: +"Illustrious and Noble Man, Don Cristoval Colon." This the Dominicans +joyfully proclaimed to be proof positive that the remains of the +Discoverer were still in their possession, and that the casket which had +been taken to Havana contained the bones of some other member of the +Columbus family. + +From that event arose a controversy which probably will never be settled +to universal satisfaction. The Dominicans marshalled to the support of +their claims various historical and antiquarian authorities, and the +Cubans and the Spanish government secured at least an equal array in +support of their claim that the remains of Columbus had been transferred +to Havana. A strongly convincing report to the latter effect was made to +the Spanish government by Seņor Colmeiro, of the Spanish Royal Academy +of History, and his judgment was generally accepted throughout Cuba and +Spain. It was pointed out that the inscriptions contained various +anachronisms indicating that they must have been written at a much later +date than that of the death and interment of Columbus. + +Havana therefore continued confidently to pride itself upon being the +repository of the dust of the Great Admiral, and his tomb in the ancient +cathedral was thus recognized and revered by countless visitors. But at +last, in 1899, after the independence of Cuba from Spain had been +accomplished, a request was made by the Spanish Government for the +transfer of the casket and its precious contents back to Spain, where +historically they belonged. It was indeed pointed out that the transfer +to Havana in 1796 had been intended to be only temporary, pending a +fitting opportunity for a further removal to Spain. This request was +granted, and the dust of the Discoverer was finally reinterred in the +cathedral of Seville. + +[Illustration: THE HAVANA CATHEDRAL + +Originally the church of the Jesuits, this imposing edifice was built in +1656, though not completed until 1724, and took the place of the first +cathedral in 1762. Within a tomb within its walls the remains of +Columbus rested from 1796, when they were taken thither from Santo +Domingo, to 1899, when they were conveyed to Spain.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Between these first merely tentative and inconclusive visits of Columbus +to Cuba, in which so much was imagined and so little learned or done, +and the actual occupation and settlement of the island, which were +reserved for a few years later, it will be profitable to pause for a +brief space, to review what science has revealed to us of not merely the +pre-Columbian but indeed what we may term the archaic history of this +chief member of the Antillean group. It is a history written in the +rocks and soils, in the mountains and plains and rivers; in brief, the +natural history of the island. + +This was something at which Columbus could merely have guessed, if +indeed he had taken the trouble to think of it at all. He knew only that +it was a fair land to look upon and promised to be a pleasant land in +which to dwell; and his successors in the quest hoped to find its river +beds and its mountain rocks rich with the gold which they coveted. That +was all. It remained for the ampler knowledge and the more patient and +painstaking research of later years to analyze the structure of the +island, to discern the causes and the processes through which it had +been developed into its present beautiful and opulent condition, and to +learn that on the surface and just below the surface of its almost +infinitely variegated face there lay the potency and the promise of +wealth beyond the utmost limits of the dreams of those conquistadors of +ancient Spain who were oestrus-driven by the _auri sacra fames_. + +Let us consider, then, the geological history of Cuba, so far as it has +been ascertained; and the topography of the land as it has been revealed +through a far more comprehensive survey than that of the Great Admiral's +enraptured vision. + +It is, of course, impossible to know the geological history of a country +until its paleontology has been thoroughly studied and investigated. +Where formations of different geological ages are lithologically so +similar as to be often indistinguishable, the only method of +differentiating them is by their fossils. Some paleontological work has +been done in Cuba, but the specimens collected were not accompanied by +the necessary data. + +In the present imperfect state of our knowledge of the stratigraphy and +areal geology of the island, it would be hazardous to attempt to +indicate the times at which the various levels were developed, or to +designate the periods during which they remained above the level of the +sea. To do this would require a detailed knowledge of nearly all the +various phases of its geology. + +The oldest rocks in Cuba, with the possible exception of the schistose +limestones of Trinidad, are composed of granites and serpentines. The +relative age of these rocks, to the central mass of limestones in the +province of Pinar del Rio, has not been determined, but we do know that +the oldest igneous rocks were themselves folded, faulted and subjected +to other processes of metamorphism, and that subsequent to the changes +to which they were subjected, the entire region was uplifted and deeply +eroded before the cretaceous sedimentation began. No data are available +for determining the geologic period at which the pre-cretaceous erosion +began, but the region has doubtless been standing above the waters of +the ocean for a very long interval, since the amount of rock carried +away has been manifestly great. + +The surface upon which the cretaceous sediments were deposited, appears +to have been reduced by erosion to a very low relief, so that the land +was a featureless plain when the cretaceous subsidence began. The time +interval required for the accomplishment of this erosion must have been +very long, since when it began the region was undoubtedly mountainous. + +The complex character and disturbed altitude of the pre-cretaceous +rocks, the granites, diorites and other granular rocks which appear on +the surface because of this erosion, were originally formed deep within +the crust of the earth, and therefore furnish a reason for believing +that this period of erosion was exceedingly long. + +It has been suggested that during the Jurassic times, the southeastern +coast of the United States was connected by a long isthmus, following +the line of the Antilles, to the northeastern coast of South America. +The data presented would seem to indicate that at least the eastern half +of Cuba stood high above the level during this period of the earth's +history, and although data concerning the western half are less +definite, it too was probably composed of high land masses. + +The elevation, and long period of erosion just described, were followed +by subsidence, and on the surface of these old rocks the cretaceous +formations were deposited. The lowest cretaceous rocks yet found are +composed of an arkose, derived in large part from the original igneous +mass. The main body of the strata is composed of limestones, and such +fossils as they contain belong to the genera similar to those of the +cretaceous rocks of Jamaica--Radiolites, Barrettra, Requienia, etc. + +During this time the whole of the Island of Cuba was probably submerged +below the level of the sea. The cretaceous rocks in Santa Clara province +occur in the bottoms of synclines, and the projected dips appear +sufficiently to carry the beds over the tops of the dividing anti-clinal +axis. It is believed, however, that the depth of the cretaceous sea over +the island was probably never very great. + +Owing to a lack of paleontological data, the history of the island +during the Eocene time is vague, but it is probable that a large part of +it was submerged. This is certainly true of the province of Oriente, +where Eocene fossils have been collected. During, and possibly previous +to that period, volcanic agencies were active in Oriente, since volcanic +rocks are found interbedded with sediments of the Eocene age. The same +forces were probably active in other sections of the island, and the +intrusion of Diorite porphyries in Santa Clara and other provinces +probably took place during that period. + +A portion of the island, at least in the vicinity of Baracoa, was deeply +submerged during the lower Oligocene times, as is proved by the +occurrence of radiolarian earth beneath the upper oligocene limestones +near the above town. Radiolarian oozes are at present being formed on +the sea bottom at depths of between 2,000 and 4,000 fathoms. This, of +course, does not prove that the deposits of Baracoa were laid down at so +great a depth as present day dredging would indicate, but we can at +least feel confident that they were formed in very deep water. This does +not imply however that the whole island was sunken to the abysmal +depths. + +During the upper Oligocene time very nearly the whole island was +undoubtedly submerged. Previous to this volcanic agencies had been very +active throughout the larger portion of the island. Mountain building in +Oriente had begun before the deposition of upper Oligocene strata, and +the Sierra Maestra had already been elevated to a considerable height +above the sea. It is probable that the sea at this time covered the +whole of the island, with the exception of portions of Oriente province +along its north and south coast, and occasional high peaks along the +axis of the provinces further west. + +The Miocene period was one of general uplift. The whole of the island as +we at present know it, was above the level of the ocean's waters. There +were foldings and uplifts during this period, and volcanic elevation +along the axial line being greater than at the sides. It is probable +that the folding of the Oligocene strata noted in the vicinity of Havana +and Matanzas took place during this time. It may be inferred that the +central portion of the province of Oriente was more highly elevated than +the coastal portions, since upper Oligocene limestones occur in this +section at considerably higher elevations than along either the north or +south coast. + +It is furthermore very probable that the terracing of the Oligocene +coral reefs, such as may be seen in the vicinity of the city of +Santiago, was taking place during that time. All the evidence goes to +show that these are wave-cut terraces. It may be added here that all of +the elevated Pleistocene coral reefs recorded are plastered on the +surface of the upper Oligocene formations, or in some instances older +geologic rocks. This applies to every later coral terrace that has been +described, beginning with Cabanas and extending entirely around the +island to the City of Santiago. + +The existence of marine Pliocene in Cuba has not been proved. There may +be pliocene rocks in the vicinity of Havana some 60 feet above the sea +level. If these are true Pliocene, it would indicate a subsidence during +that time of from ISO to 180 feet. The character of the fauna found in +the quarry on Calle Infanta does not indicate a greater depth than from +SO to 70 feet for the water in which the limestone was deposited. + +Subsequent to this deposition, there was an elevation which caused the +land to stand some forty or fifty feet higher than it does to-day. This +probably took place in early Pleistocene times, at which time the Isle +of Pines and Cuba were connected. One reason for the belief in this +elevation is the existence of an old, deep and comparatively narrow cut +in the bed of the present channel leading out of Havana harbor. There is +further evidence of a general elevation found in borings for water, +three miles southeast of the city of Santiago. + +At a depth of some 70 feet below the sea level, in the Rio San Juan +Valley, stream-carried pebbles were found. This would indicate that the +bottom of this valley once stood at least 70 feet or more above sea +level. Subsequent to this elevation, there was a subsidence varying from +40 to 70 feet. There were doubtless other slight oscillations during +the Pleistocene period, and these may be going on at the present time, +although we have no evidence from records of actually measured monuments +established since the Spanish occupation of the island. + +Paleontologic, biologic and physiographic research seems to indicate +that there has been no land connection between Cuba and North America at +any time since the beginning of the Tertiary, unless perhaps during the +Oligocene period, and it seems probable there was no connection whatever +during cretaceous times. + +Cuba furnishes a very interesting field, not only for geologic research, +but for a far more extended study and survey of its many important +mineral zones both for scientific and for economic reasons. + +Topographically the surface of Cuba may be divided into five rather +distinct zones, three of which are essentially mountainous. The first +includes the entire eastern third of the province of Oriente, together +with the greater part of its coast line, where the highest mountains of +the island are found. The second includes the greater part of the +province of Camaguey, made up of gently rolling plains broken by +occasional hills or low mountains, that along the northern coast, and +again in the southeast center of the province, rise to a height of +approximately 1,500 feet above the general level. + +The next is a mountainous district including the greater part of eastern +Santa Clara. The fourth comprises the western portion of this province +together with all of Matanzas and Havana. The surface of this middle +section is largely made up of rolling plains, broken here and there by +hills that rise a few hundred feet above the sea level. + +The fifth includes the province of Pinar del Rio, the northern half of +which is traversed from one end to the other by several more or less +parallel ranges of sierras, with mean altitudes ranging from 1,000 to +2,000 feet, leaving the southern half of the province a flat plain, +into which, along its northern edge, project spurs and foot hills of +the main range. + +The highest mountains of Cuba are located in the province of Oriente, +where their general elevation is somewhat higher than that of the +Allegheny or eastern ranges of the United States. The mountainous area +of this province is greater than that of the combined mountain areas of +all other parts of the island. The mountains occur in groups, composed +of different kinds of rock, and have diverse structures, more or less +connected with one another. + +The principal range is the Sierra Maestra, extending from Cabo Cruz to +the Bay of Guantanamo, forty miles east of Santiago. This chain is +continuous and of fairly uniform altitude, with the exception of a break +in the vicinity of Santiago where the wide basin of Santiago Bay cuts +across the main trend of the range. The highest peak of the island is +known as Turquino, located near the middle of the Sierra Maestra, and +reaching an altitude of 8,642 feet. + +The hills back of Santiago Bay, separating it from the Valley of the +Cauto, are similar in structure to the northern foothills of the main +sierra. In the western part of the range, the mountains rise abruptly +from the depths of the Caribbean Sea, but near the City of Santiago, and +to the eastward, they are separated from the ocean by a narrow coastal +plain, very much dissected. The streams which traverse it occupy valleys +several hundred feet in depth, while the remnants of the plateau appear +in the tops of the hills. + +East of Guantanamo Bay there are mountains which are structurally +distinct from the Sierra Maestra, and these continue to Cape Maysi, the +eastern terminus of Cuba. To the west they rise abruptly from the ocean +bed, but further east they are bordered by terraced foothills. Towards +the north they continue straight across the island as features of bold +relief, connecting with the rugged Cuchillas of Baracoa, and with "El +Yunque" lying to the southwest. + +Extending west from this eastern mass are high plateaus and mesas that +form the northern side of the great amphitheatre which drains into +Guantanamo Bay. Much of this section, when raised from the sea, was +probably a great elevated plain, cut up and eroded through the ages +since the seismic uplift that caused its birth. + +The most prominent feature of the northern mountains of Oriente +Province, west of "El Yunque," is the range comprising the Sierras +Cristal and Nipe. These extend east and west, but are separated into +several distinct masses by the Rio Sagua, and the Rio Mayari, which +break through and empty into harbors on the north coast. The high +country south of these ranges has the character of a deeply dissected +plateau, the upper stratum of which is limestone. + +The character of the surface would indicate that nearly all the +mountains of the eastern part of Oriente have been carved through +erosion of centuries from a high plateau, the summits of which are found +in "El Yunque" near Baracoa, and other flat topped mountains within the +drainage basins of the Mayari and the Sagua rivers. The flat summits of +the Sierra Nipe are probably remnants of the same great uplift. + +Below this level are other benches or broad plateaus, the two most +prominent occurring respectively at 1,500 and 2,000 feet above sea +level. The highest summits rise to an altitude of 2,800 or 3,000 feet. +The 2,000 foot plateau of the Sierra Nipe alone includes an area +estimated at not less than 40 square miles. It would seem that these +elevated plateaus with their rich soils might be utilized for the +production of wheat, and some of the northern fruits that require a +cooler temperature than that found in other parts of Cuba. + +In the province of Oriente, the various mountain groups form two +marginal ranges, which merge in the east, and diverge toward the west. +The southern range is far more continuous, while the northern is +composed of irregular groups separated by numerous river valleys. +Between these divergent ranges lies the broad undulating plain of the +famous Cauto Valley, which increases in width as it extends westward. +The northern half of this valley merges into the plains of Camaguey, +whose surface has been disturbed by volcanic uplifts only by a small +group known as the Najassa Hills, in the southeast center of the +province, and by the Sierra Cubitas Range, which parallels the coast +from the basin of Nuevitas Bay until it terminates in the isolated hill +known as Loma Cunagua. + +The central mountainous region of the island is located in the province +of Santa Clara, where a belt of mountains and hills following +approximately northeast and southwest lines, passes through the cities +of Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara. Four groups are found here, one of +which lies southwest of Sancti Spiritus and east of the Rio Agabama. A +second group is included between the valleys of the Agabama and the Rio +Arimao. + +The highest peak of Santa Clara is known as Potrerillo, located seven +miles north of Trinidad, with an altitude of 2,900 feet. A third group +lies southeast of the city of Santa Clara, and includes the Sierra del +Escambray and the Alta de Agabama. The rounded hills of this region have +an altitude of about 1,000 feet although a few of the summits are +somewhat higher. + +The fourth group consists of a line of hills, beginning 25 miles east of +Sagua la Grande, and extending into the province of Camaguey. The trend +of this range is transverse with the general geological structure of the +region. + +East of the city of Santa Clara the hills of this last group merge with +those of the central portion of the province. The summits in the +northern line reach an altitude of only a thousand feet. The principal +members are known as the Sierra Morena, west of Sagua la Grande, Lomas +de Santa Fe, near Camaguini, the Sierra de Bamburanao, near Yaguajay, +and the Lomas of the Savanas, south of the last mentioned town. + +In the province of Pinar del Rio, we find another system, or chain of +mountains, dominated by the Sierra de los Organos or Organ mountains. +These begin a little west of Guardiana Bay, with a chain of "magotes" +known as the "Pena Blanca," composed of tertiary limestone. These are +the result of a seismic upheaval running from north to south, almost at +right angles with the main axis of the chains that form the mountainous +vertebrae of the island. + +Between the city of Pinar del Rio and the north coast of La Esperanza, +the Organos are broken up into four or five parallel ridges, two of +which are composed of limestone, while the others are of slate, +sandstones and schists. The term "magote," in Cuba, is applied to one of +the most interesting and strikingly beautiful mountain formations in the +world. They are evidently remnants of high ranges running usually from +east to west, and have resulted from the upheaval of tertiary strata +that dates back probably to the Jurassic period. + +The soft white material of this limestone, through countless eons of +time, has been hammered by tropical rains that gradually washed away the +surface and carved their once ragged peaks into peculiar, round, +dome-shaped elevations that often rise perpendicularly to a height of +1,000 feet or more above the level grass plains that form their base. +Meanwhile the continual seepage of water formed great caverns within, +that sooner or later caved in and fell, hastening thus the gradual +leveling to which all mountains are doomed as long as the world is +supplied with air and water. The softening and continual crumbling away +of the rock have formed a rich soil on which grows a wonderful wealth of +tropical vegetation, unlike anything known to other sections of Cuba, or +perhaps to the world. + +The valley of the Vinales, lying between the city of Pinar del Rio and +the north coast, might well be called the garden of the "magotes," since +not only is it surrounded by their precipitous walls, but several of +them, detached from the main chain, rise abruptly from the floor of the +valley, converting it into one of the most strangely beautiful spots in +the world. + +John D. Henderson, the naturalist, in speaking of this region, says: +"The valley of the Vinales must not be compared with the Yosemite or +Grand Caņon, or some famed Alpine passage, for it cannot display the +astounding contrast of these, or of many well-known valleys among the +higher mountains of the world. We were all of us traveled men who viewed +this panorama, but all agreed that never before had we gazed on so +charming a sight. There are recesses among the Rocky Mountains of Canada +into which one gazes with awe and bated breath, where the very silence +oppresses, and the beholder instinctively reaches out for support to +guard against slipping into the awful chasm below. But the Valley of +Vinales, on the contrary, seems to soothe and lull the senses. Like +great birds suspended in the sky, we long to soar above it, and then +alighting within some palm grove, far below, to rejoice in its +atmosphere of perfect peace." + +A mountain maze of high, round-topped lomas, dominates almost the entire +northern half of Pinar del Rio. It is the picturesque remnant of an +elevated plain that at some time in the geological life of the island +was raised above the surface 1,500, perhaps 2,000, feet. This, through +the erosion of thousands of centuries, has been carved into great land +surges, without any particular alignment or system. + +Straight up through the center of this mountainous area are projected a +series of more or less parallel limestone ridges. These, as a rule, have +an east and west axis, and attain a greater elevation than the lomas. +They are known as the Sierras de los Organos, although having many local +names at different points. Water and atmospheric agencies have carved +them into most fantastic shapes, so that they do, in places, present an +organ pipe appearance. They are almost always steep, often with +vertical walls or "paradones" that rise 1,000 feet from the floor or +base on which they rest. + +The northernmost range, running parallel to the Gulf Coast, is known as +the "Costanero." The highest peak of Pinar del Rio is called Guajaibon, +which rises to an altitude of 3,000 feet, with its base but very little +above the level of the sea. It is probably of Jurassic limestone and +forms the eastern outpost of the Costaneros. + +The southern range of the Organos begins with an interesting peak known +as the Pan de Azucar, located only a few miles east of the Pena Blanca. +From this western sentinel with many breaks extends the great southern +chain of the Organos with its various groups of "magotes," reaching +eastward throughout the entire province. At its extreme eastern terminus +we find a lower and detached ridge known as the Pan de Guanajay, which +passes for a few miles beyond the boundary line, and into the province +of Havana. + +Surrounding the Organos from La Esperanza west, and bordering it also on +the south for a short distance east of the city of Pinar del Rio, are +ranges of round topped lomas, composed largely of sandstone, slate and +shale. The surface of these is covered with the small pines, scrubby +palms and undergrowth found only on poor soil. + +From the Mulato River east, along the north coast, the character of the +lomas changes abruptly. Here we have deep rich soil covered with +splendid forests of hard woods, that reach up into the Organos some ten +miles back from the coast. Along the southern edge of the Organos, from +Herredura east, lies a charming narrow belt of rolling country covered +with a rich sandy loam that extends almost to the city of Artemisa. + +Extensions, or occasional outcroppings, of the Pinar del Rio mountain +system, appear in the Province of Havana, and continue on into Matanzas, +where another short coastal range appears, just west of the valley of +the Yumuri. This, as before stated, has its continuation in detached +ranges that extend along the entire north coast, with but few +interruptions, until merged into the mountain maze of eastern Oriente. + +Outside of the mountainous district thus described, the general surface +of Cuba is a gently undulating plain, with altitudes varying from only a +few feet above the sea level to 500 or 600 feet, near El Cristo in +Oriente. In Pinar del Rio it forms a piedmont plain that entirely +surrounds the mountain range. On the south this plain has a maximum +width of about 25 miles and ascends gradually from the shores of the +Caribbean at the rate of seven or eight feet to the mile until it +reaches the edge of the foothills along the line of the automobile drive +connecting Havana with the capital of Pinar del Rio. + +North of the mountain range, the lowland belt is very much narrower and +in some places reaches a height of 200 feet as a rule deeply dissected, +so that in places only the level of the hill tops mark the position of +the original plain. + +The two piedmont plains of Pinar del Rio unite at the eastern extremity +of the Organos Mountains and extend over the greater part of the +provinces of Havana and Matanzas and the western half of Santa Clara. +The divide as a whole is near the center of this plain, although the +land has a gradual slope from near the northern margin towards the +south. + +In the neighborhood of Havana, the elevation varies between 300 and 400 +feet, continuing eastward to Cardenas. The streams flowing north have +lowered their channels as the land rose, and the surface drained by them +has become deeply dissected, while the streams flowing toward the south +have been but little affected by the elevation and remain generally in +very narrow channels. + +East of Cardenas the general elevation of the plain is low, sloping +gradually both north and south from the axis of the island. Considerable +areas of this plain are found among the various mountain groups in the +eastern half of Santa Clara province, beyond which it extends over the +greater part of Camaguey and into Oriente. Here it reaches the northern +coast between isolated mountain groups, extending as far east as Nipe +Bay, and toward the south, merges into the great Cauto Valley. + +From Cabo Cruz the plain extends along the northern base of the Sierra +Maestra to the head of the Cauto Valley. Its elevation near Manzanillo +is about 200 feet, whence it increases to 640 feet at El Cristo. In the +central section of Oriente, the Cauto River and its tributaries have cut +channels into this plain from 50 to 200 feet in depth. In the lower part +of the valley these channels are sometimes several miles across and are +occupied by alluvial flats or river bottoms. They decrease in width +toward the east and in the upper part of the valley become narrow +gorges. + +A large part of this plain of Cuba, especially in the central provinces, +is underlaid by porous limestone, through which the surface waters have +found underground passages. This accounts for the fact that large areas +are occasionally devoid of flowing surface streams. The rain water sinks +into the ground as soon as it falls, and after flowing long distances +under ground, emerges into bold springs, such as those of the Almendares +that burst out of the river bank some eight miles south of the City of +Havana. Engineers of the rope and cordage plant, just north of the City +of Matanzas, while boring for water, found unexpectedly a swift, running +river, only ten feet below the surface, that has given them an +inexhaustible supply of excellent water. + +Most of the plains of Cuba above indicated have been formed by the +erosion of its surface, and are covered with residual soil derived from +the underlying limestones. Where they consist of red or black clays they +are, as a rule, exceedingly fertile. Certain portions of the plains, +especially those bordering on the southern side of the mountains of +Pinar del Rio, are covered with a layer of sand and gravel, washed down +from the adjoining highlands, and are, as a rule, inferior in fertility +to soils derived from the erosion of limestone. Similar superficial +deposits are met in the vicinity of Cienfuegos, and in other sections of +the island, where the plain forms a piedmont adjacent to highlands +composed of silicious rocks. + +The most striking and perhaps the most important fact in regard to the +climate of Cuba is its freedom from those extremes of temperature which +are considered prejudicial to health in any country. The difference +between the mean annual temperature of winter and that of summer is only +twelve degrees, or from 76 degrees to 88 degrees. Even between the +coldest days of winter, when the mercury once went as low as 58 degrees, +and the extreme limit of summer, registered as 92 degrees, we have a +difference of only 34 degrees; and the extremes of summer are seldom +noticed, since the fresh northeast trade winds coming from the Atlantic +sweep across the island, carrying away with them the heated atmosphere +of the interior. + +The fact that the main axis of the island, with its seven hundred mile +stretch of territory, extends from southeast to northwest, almost at +right angles to the general direction of the wind, plays a very +important part in the equability of Cuba's climate. Then again, the +island is completely surrounded by oceans, the temperature of which +remains constant, and this plays an important part in preventing +extremes of heat or cold. + +Ice, of course, cannot form, and frost is found only on the tops of the +tallest mountain ranges. The few cold days during winter, when the +thermometer may drop to 60 after sundown, are the advance waves of +"Northers" that sweep down from the Dakotas, across Oklahoma and the +great plains of Texas, eventually reaching Cuba, but only after the +sting of the cold has been tempered in its passage of six hundred miles +across the Gulf of Mexico. + +A temperature of 60 degrees in Cuba is not agreeable to the natives, or +even to those residents who once lived in northern climes. This may be +due to the fact that life in the tropics has a tendency to thin the +blood, and to render it less resistant to low temperature; and also +because Cuban residences are largely of stone, brick or reinforced +concrete, with either tile or marble floors, and have no provision +whatever against cold. And, although the walls are heavy, the windows, +doors and openings are many times larger than those of residences in the +United States, hence the cold cannot readily be excluded as in other +countries. There is said to be but one fireplace on the Island of Cuba, +and that was built in the beautiful home of an American, near Guayabal, +just to remind him, he said, of the country whence he came. + +Again, in the matter of rainfall and its bearing on the climate of a +country, Cuba is very fortunate. The rains all come in the form of +showers during the summer months, from the middle of May until the end +of October, and serve to purify and temper the heat of summer. On the +other hand, the cooler months of winter are quite dry, and absolutely +free from the chilling rains, sleets, snows, mists and dampness, that +endanger the health, if not the life, of those less fortunate people who +dwell in latitudes close to 40 degrees. + +Cloudy, gloomy days are almost unknown in Cuba, and the sun can be +depended upon to shine for at least thirty days every month, and +according to the testimony of physicians nothing is better than sunshine +to eliminate the germs of contagious diseases. Hence we can truthfully +say that in the matter of climate and health, Cuba asks no favor of any +country on earth. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +For a considerable time after the last visit of Columbus, Cuba was +strangely neglected by the enterprising explorers and conquistadors of +Spain. Hispaniola, since known as Hayti or Santo Domingo, became the +chief colony and centre of Spanish authority in the Antilles, and it for +many years far outranked Cuba in interest and importance. It does not +appear that for more than a dozen years after the last visit of Columbus +any attempt whatever was made to colonize or to explore the great +island, if indeed it was so much as voluntarily visited. Navigators +doubtless frequently passed near its shores, on their way to and from +Darien and the Venezuelan coast, and occasionally stress of weather on +the "stormy Caribbean" or actual shipwreck compelled some to land upon +it. Such involuntary landings were presumably made either in the +neighborhood of the Zapata Peninsula or, still more probably, not +exactly upon Cuba at all but upon the southern shore of the tributary +Isle of Pines. In consequence, the voyagers carried back to Hispaniola +or to Spain the not unnatural report that Cuba consisted of nothing but +swamps; a report which of course did not inspire others with zeal to +visit so unfavorable a place. + +For a similar space of time, too, the delusion that Cuba was a part of +the continent generally prevailed. It is true that on a map of Juan de +la Cosa's, to which the date of 1500 is attributed, Cuba is indicated to +be an island. But the date is not certain, by any means; and it is +notorious that more than one early cartographer drew upon imagination as +well as upon ascertained geographical facts. Somewhat more significant +is the fact that Peter Martyr spoke of Cuba as an island, and said that +some sailors pretended to have circumnavigated it. There is no proof, +however, that this was more than rumor. What seems certain is that as +late as 1508 the best authorities were ignorant whether Cuba was island +or mainland, and that not until that time was the question settled. + +Columbus had been succeeded in authority in Hispaniola by Francisco de +Bobadilla, and the latter in turn had in 1501 given way to Nicholas de +Ovando. It does not appear that Ovando sought to colonize Cuba. But he +did wish to determine its extent, and whether it was insular or +continental, and in a memorial to the King of Spain he broached a +proposal for at least its littoral exploration. Ferdinand gave him, +however, no encouragement. On the contrary, he forbade him to spend any +public money on so needless and useless an enterprise. Ovando then +decided to undertake the exploit at his own charge, and, according to +Las Casas, commissioned Sebastian de Ocampo to explore the coasts of the +country and, if he found it to be an island, to circumnavigate it. This +Ocampo did, returning to Hispaniola in the fall of 1508 with the report +that he had sailed completely round Cuba. On the way, he said, he had +made occasional landings, and had found the whole island to be inhabited +by a kindly and intelligent people, well disposed toward Spain. + +Immediately following this expedition, various efforts were made to +colonize Cuba, and to enter into relations with the natives. Conspicuous +among these efforts was one which had for its object the introduction of +Christianity into Cuba, and of which an interesting account is given by +Martin Ferdinand de Enciso in his "Suma de Geografia," the first book +ever published about America. Enciso, it will be remembered, was a +partner of Alonzo de Ojeda, that brilliant and gallant cavalier of Spain +who in 1508 was Governor of Nueva Andalusia, a region which we now know +as the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was Enciso who in 1509 went to +Uraba to the relief of Francisco Pizarro, who had been in command there +but who had become discouraged, had suffered heavy losses from attacks +by the natives, and who was about to abandon the place. It was on one of +Enciso's ships, too, that his friend Vasco Nuņez de Balboa, concealed in +a cask to avoid his creditors, escaped from Hispaniola and was conveyed +to Darien, thus getting his opportunity to cross the isthmus and to +discover the Pacific Ocean. + +Enciso relates that a Spanish vessel, cruising off the southern coast of +Cuba, somewhere near Cape de la Cruz, put ashore a young mariner who had +fallen ill, so that he might have a better chance to recover from his +illness than he would on shipboard. The identity of this young man is +not assured, though it has been strongly suggested that he was no other +than Ojeda himself. However that may be, he found himself in his +convalescence the guest of a native chieftain or Cacique who professed +Christianity. The chief had presumably been visited by Ocampo's +expedition. He had been much impressed by the prowess and culture of the +Spaniards, and had desired to become affiliated with the religion which +they professed and to which he attributed their superiority to the +natives of Cuba. Hearing from them that they had been sent thither by +the Comendador Ovando--the Governor of Hispaniola was a Comendador of +the Order of Knights of Alcantara--he chose that title for his own +baptismal name, and was thenceforth known as the Cacique Comendador. + +Pleased to find a Christian chief, and grateful for his own restoration +to health, Ojeda--if it was indeed he--erected in Comendador's house an +altar and placed thereon an image of the Holy Virgin, and instructed the +people to bow before it every evening and to repeat the "Ave, Maria!" +and "Salve, Regina!" This was pleasing to Comendador, but offensive to +the neighboring Caciques, who worshipped an idol which they called Cemi. +In consequence a primitive religious war arose among the natives, in +which, according to Enciso, Comendador and his followers were pretty +uniformly successful. His victories were attributed to the intervention +and aid of "a beautiful woman, clad in white, and carrying a wand." +Finally a test was agreed upon which reminds us of Elijah's Battle of +the Gods on the scathed crest of Mount Carmel. A representative warrior +of each party was to be bound securely, hand and foot, and be placed in +an open field for the night, and if one of them was set free from his +bonds, that would be proof of the superiority of his God. "The God who +looses his servant's bonds, let him be the Lord!" This was done, and +guards of both parties were placed about the field, to make sure that +nobody should meddle with the experiment. + +At midnight, says Enciso, Cemi came to unbind his follower. But before +he could reach him or touch his bonds, the Holy Virgin appeared, clad in +white and bearing a wand. At her approach, Cemi incontinently fled. At a +touch of her wand the bonds fell from the limbs of the Christian +champion, and were added to those already on the limbs of the other man. +Despite the presence of the guards, the Caciques insisted that there had +been trickery, and demanded another trial, to which Comendador, +confident in his faith, agreed. The result was the same as before. Still +they were unconvinced, and demanded a third trial, at which they +themselves would be present as watchers and guards. This also was +granted, and once more the same miracle was wrought. At that the +Caciques all confessed their defeat and the defeat of Cemi, and declared +that the Virgin was worthy to be worshipped. + +This auspicious implanting of Christianity and of good relations between +the natives and the Spaniards did not, unfortunately, endure. It was +interfered with by the too common cause of trouble in those days, the +_auri sacra fames_, the accursed lust for gold. We have seen that King +Ferdinand was unwilling, in his niggardliness, for money to be spent +from his treasury for the exploration of Cuba. But after that work had +been done at Ovando's personal cost, Ferdinand desired to reap the +gains, if any there were. The suggestion was revived that Cuba might be +rich in gold. The King suspected that Ovando and others were deceiving +him concerning the island, and were secretly planning to secure its +riches for themselves. These suspicions were materially increased by the +course of Diego Columbus which, while probably quite honest, was lacking +in tact and worldly wisdom. For when Diego succeeded Ovando as +Governor-General or Viceroy of the Indies, at Hispaniola, one of his +first acts was to commission his uncle, Bartholomew Columbus, to lead an +expedition for the exploration and settlement of Cuba. That was a +legitimate and indeed praiseworthy enterprise. But unfortunately Diego +did not secure in advance the King's authority for it, nor did he +acquaint the King with his intentions. His enemies, however, of whom he +had many, were quick to report the matter to the King, putting it in the +light most unfavorable to both Diego and Bartholomew; and the result was +that Ferdinand at once recalled Bartholomew Columbus to Spain, and +compelled Diego to select another head for the expedition. + +In 1510, then, the King directed Diego Columbus to send forth his +proposed expedition to Cuba, to make a careful examination of the +island, to ascertain the character of its resources, and above all to +determine whether it contained gold. He took pains, moreover, to impress +upon Diego and through him the actual members of the expedition, the +eminent desirability of cultivating the most friendly and confidential +relations with the natives, both as a matter of policy and for the sake +of humanity and religion. The result was the sending, early in 1511, +from Hispaniola, of an expedition in which were interested if not +actually implicated a number of the most conspicuous men in the Indies, +and which marked the actual and permanent opening of Cuba to Spanish +settlement and civilization. + +Diego Columbus was the son and heir of the Great Discoverer, who under +the terms of the royal compact of 1492 was to inherit all his father's +powers and dignities as Admiral and Viceroy of the Western Hemisphere. +For a time Ferdinand on various pretexts refused to fulfil that compact +and to recognize his rights, but appointed Ovando to rule in Hispaniola +in his stead. But after Diego's marriage to Doņa Maria de Toledo, the +daughter of the Grand Commander of Leon and the niece of the King's +favorite councillor and friend, the Duke of Alba, a combination of +personal, social and political influence prevailed for the vindication +of his claims, and he was invested with supreme authority in place of +Ovando, who was provided for elsewhere. Diego seems to have been a man +of integrity and engaging character, though perhaps more idealistic than +practical, and not always a match in policy for the scheming politicians +by whom he was surrounded. + +Bartholomew Columbus was the brother of Christopher, was intimately +associated with him in his great enterprises, and was named by him +Adelantado, or Lieutenant Governor, of the Indies. He too was a man of +character and fine parts, bold and enterprising, and possessed of more +practical worldly wisdom than either his brother or his nephew. + +These two stood alone, against a numerous company of personal and +political enemies, both in Hispaniola and in Spain. Indeed, as +Bartholomew was recalled to Spain and was kept there for some time, +Diego was left solitary to contend with or to yield to his foes. It was +therefore probably through necessity that he organized the Cuban +expedition largely with men hostile to him. + +Miguel Pasamonte was his chief foe. He had been the secretary of Queen +Isabella, and had filled important Ambassadorships, but was now the +royal treasurer in Hispaniola. He had been one of the bitterest enemies +of Christopher Columbus, and had transferred a full measure of hostility +to Diego; and it was he who reported to the King in its most unfavorable +light Diego's plans for sending Bartholomew Columbus to Cuba. In his +hostility to both Christopher and Diego Columbus he was greatly aided +and abetted by Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Bishop of Seville; who had +violently quarrelled with Christopher Columbus over the fitting out of +his second voyage and who also had transferred his hatred to the +Admiral's son. + +[Illustration: DIEGO VELASQUEZ] + +Diego Velasquez was another of the faction hostile to the Columbuses, +though at first he had been a friend and companion of the Admiral. It is +probable that he had no personal enmity toward Diego Columbus, but +joined himself to the other faction through motives not unconnected with +personal pecuniary profit. He had gone from Spain to Hispaniola with +Christopher Columbus on his second voyage, and had ever since been one +of the most efficient administrators in that island and indeed in all +the Indies. For a time he was a military leader in campaigns against +hostile natives, and afterward he became Lieutenant Governor of the +island. He was a man of high ability, of singularly handsome person, of +engaging manners, of much popularity, and of abundant force of character +for successful leadership and command of men. He was, however, not +always scrupulous in his dealings, and it was not to his moral credit +that he became the richest man in all the Indies. He was a close friend +and partisan of Pasamonte, and associated with him in the same alliance +were the royal secretary in Hispaniola, Conchillos, and also the royal +accountant, Christopher de Cuellar, who was both the cousin and +father-in-law of Velasquez. + +Diego Columbus, then, either through policy or through compulsion, +appointed Velasquez to be his lieutenant in Cuba, and commissioned him +to organize and personally to lead the intended expedition to that +island. He also promised that the King would refund whatever private +expenditures Velasquez and his companions should make on account of it; +a promise which was authorized by the King, but not fulfilled save in +the indirect way of empowering the members of the expedition to recoup +themselves at the expense of the people of the island; an arrangement +decidedly at variance with Ferdinand's former solicitude for good +treatment for the natives. Further than that, Diego had little or +nothing to do with Cuba, and in a short time Velasquez was known not as +Lieutenant but as Governor, as though he were entirely independent of +the Viceroy in Hispaniola. + +[Illustration: BARACOA + +First Capital of Cuba] + +Early in 1511 Velasquez assembled a flotilla of three or four vessels on +the northwest coast of Hispaniola, at or near the place where Columbus +had landed when he discovered that island and first visited it from +Cuba. In the adjacent region he recruited a company of about three +hundred men, and with that force set out for the conquest and +colonization of Cuba. The precise date of his expedition is not to be +ascertained, but it was probably in February or at latest March of that +year. The place of his landing in Cuba, however, is known. It was at +Baracoa, where also Columbus had landed before him. Following the +practice of Columbus and the other explorers he promptly gave the place +a new name of his own selection, calling it the City of Our Lady of the +Assumption. There he established his seat of government and base of +further operations, giving to the place in both civil and ecclesiastical +affairs the technical rank and dignity of a city. But, as also +frequently happened, the new name was unable to supplant the old one in +popular usage; and when, in 1514, the insular capital was transferred to +Santiago de Cuba, and in 1522 the cathedral of the diocese was similarly +transferred, the new name was permitted to lapse, and the place became +again universally known as Baracoa. Despite its vicissitudes of fortune, +therefore, and its loss of its former high estate, Baracoa is entitled +to the triple distinction of having been the site of the first permanent +European settlement in Cuba, of the first civilized government, and of +the first cathedral church. + +At Baracoa, immediately upon his arrival, Velasquez built a fort, the +exact site of which is now matter of conjecture, and various other +edifices. These were all constructed of wood, probably of bamboo and +thatch, and no trace of them remains to-day. Search was also promptly +made for gold, and some seems to have been found in the beds of streams, +though in no large quantities, and the attempt to operate mines was soon +abandoned. Attention was then turned to further explorations and +conquests, and to the quest for gold in other parts of the island. + +Still more unfortunate than the failure to find much gold, and largely +because of that fruitless quest, was the rise of bitter hostilities +between the Spaniards and the natives. This was also a sequel to and in +part a consequence of the Spanish administration in Hispaniola and +particularly of the part which Velasquez had played therein. Shortly +before coming to Cuba, Velasquez had waged several strenuous and +probably somewhat ruthless campaigns against the natives of Hispaniola, +chiefly in that part of the island which lay nearest to Cuba and in +which he recruited his Cuban expedition. His chief opponent there was a +native chief named Hatuey, who, finding himself unable to cope with the +Spaniards, fled to Cuba with many of his followers and settled in the +country near Baracoa. These refugees were of course quick to report to +the natives of Cuba the cause of their migration, and to portray the +conduct and character of the Spaniards, and of Velasquez personally, in +the most unfavorable light. The natural result was to predispose the +Cuban natives to regard the Spaniards with distrust and aversion. And +when Velasquez himself presently appeared among the very people who had +been thus prejudiced against him, trouble inevitably arose. + +The leader in the trouble was Hatuey, who had a large following both of +his own tribe from Hispaniola and also of Cubans. He had maintained a +system of spying and communication through which he kept himself +perfectly informed of the doings of Velasquez, whom he considered his +chief foe, not only politically but personally, and when he learned that +he was coming to Cuba he busied himself with preparations to resist him. +He was foremost in spreading among the Cuban natives all manner of evil +reports concerning the Spaniards, all of which, whether true or false, +found ready credence. + +Thus on one occasion, as related by Herrera, he gathered many of the +natives together with a promise to reveal to them the God of the +Spaniards, whom they worshipped and to whom they made human sacrifices +of Indians' lives. When they were assembled and their anticipation was +whetted, he placed before them a small basket filled with gold. "That," +said he, "is the God which the Spaniards worship, and in quest of which +they are following us hither. Let us, therefore, ourselves pay this God +reverence and implore him to bid his Spanish worshippers not to harm us +when they come hither!" The natives performed a religious dance and +other rites about the gold, until they were exhausted, and then Hatuey +further counselled them to cast the gold into the river, where the +Spaniards could not find it; since if they found it they would continue +their search for more, even to cutting out the hearts of the people in +quest of it. + +Whether true or fabricated, the story indicates the attitude of Hatuey +toward the Spaniards and explains the intensity of the bitterness which +prevailed between him and Velasquez. Of course, when the Spaniards +arrived and immediately began to hunt for gold, Hatuey's words about +their God seemed to be confirmed. War began, which soon resulted in the +defeat and capture of Hatuey, who was put to death. Tradition has it +that he was burned at the stake, as was the common custom in those +times, and that just before the fire was lighted he was invited to +accept Christianity and be baptized, but refused on the ground that he +did not want to meet any Spaniards in the other world. He was succeeded +in command of the hostile natives by Caguax, who had been his comrade in +Hispaniola and who had come to Cuba with him; and the hostilities were +continued with the usual result of conflicts between a higher and a +lower civilization. In a short time the province of Maysi was conquered +and partly pacified, and that of Bayamo was invaded. + +[Illustration: PANFILO DE NARVAEZ] + +At this time and in these operations there appeared in Cuba two more men +of commanding importance in the early history of the island, who were +sent thither from Hispaniola to assist Velasquez soon after the defeat +and death of Hatuey. One of these was Panfilo de Narvaez, a soldier and +the leader of a company of thirty expert crossbow-men who had been +serving in Jamaica but were no longer needed by the governor of that +island, Esquivel. Narvaez was a native of Valladolid, Spain, near which +city Velasquez also had been born. It is possible, indeed, that the two +men were related, since there was a marked physical resemblance between +them; both being tall, handsome, and of a pronounced blond complexion. +At any rate, they had long been friends, and Velasquez was glad to make +Narvaez his chief lieutenant and right-hand man. Narvaez appears to have +been a man of high intelligence, honorable character, and much personal +charm. He was, however, too much inclined toward fighting, was sometimes +reckless in his leadership, and was no more scrupulous in his conduct +toward the natives than were many other conquerors of various lands in +those days of adventure and violence. At the head of a force of more +than a hundred and fifty men, including a score of horsemen, he led the +way in the conquest, first of Bayamo and finally of all the rest of the +island. In his campaign he enjoyed immense advantage from the awe and +terror which were caused among the natives by the appearance of the +horses, which were the first ever seen in Cuba. + +[Illustration: BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS] + +The other and more famous of these two men was Bartholomew de Las Casas, +known to the world as the "Protector of the Indians" and as the "Apostle +to the Indies." As a youth he had accompanied his father on Columbus's +third voyage to America, and he had come to the Antilles a second time +and permanently with Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, in 1502. In +1510 he was ordained to be a priest, and it was in that clerical +capacity that he was sent over to Cuba to assist Velasquez in the +conquest, pacification and settlement of the island. He appears at first +to have had no important religious scruples against oppression of the +natives, but joined with Velasquez and Narvaez in their sometimes +ruthless policy. When the island was divided among the conquerors under +the system of repartimientos, or allotments of natives as practical +slaves of the Spaniards, he received and accepted without demur his +encomienda or commandery, and held it for some time in partnership with +his friend Pedro de Renteria. But a little later, realizing the +injustice and cruelties which the natives suffered under this system, he +became, as he himself described it, "converted," and thereafter was an +earnest, zealous and almost fanatical champion of their rights. He +visited Spain several times, to secure commissions of inquiry and other +measures for their relief. Also, thinking thus to redeem them from +enforced servitude, he secured royal sanction for the introduction of +Negro slavery and the importation of Negro slaves into Cuba; a policy +which he afterward deeply regretted. + +After a brief campaign in Bayamo, which was not particularly successful, +beyond the killing of Caguax and the final dispersion of the force which +Hatuey had organized, Narvaez formed an expedition of perhaps five +hundred men for more extended enterprises, in which he had as his +principal companions Las Casas and a young nephew of Velasquez, Juan de +Grijalva. The precise route of this expedition cannot now be stated. It +certainly, however, traversed the Bayamo region, and went as far west as +Camaguey. It also visited the neighborhood of Cape Cruz and there passed +through the town of Cueyba, as Las Casas called it, where, as hitherto +related, a Spanish mariner, presumably Ojeda, had landed and had +established a Christian shrine with a statue of the Holy Virgin. Here +and at other places amicable relations were maintained between the +Spaniards and the natives. + +Unhappily that was not always the rule. At the large town of Caonao, +probably near Manzanillo, a number of Spanish soldiers, as if suddenly +stricken with madness, began a massacre of the natives, killed a great +number, and drove the rest into flight. Narvaez does not seem to have +ordered nor to have taken part in the slaughter, but neither did he +exert himself to prevent it or to stop it. Whereupon Las Casas, +righteously wrathful, bade him to go to the Devil, and thereafter +devoted himself to ministering to the sufferers and to reassuring the +survivors. + +From Caonao the expedition moved westward, through the southern part of +the Province of Camaguey, where the natives were so frightened that they +fled to the little islands off the coast which Columbus had named the +Queen's Gardens. Thence it went across the island to the north coast, +and probably in the region of Sagua la Grande, in Santa Clara Province, +found some small deposits of gold. After stopping there for some time, +it continued its progress into Havana Province, where more gold was +found and where, unhappily, serious trouble with the natives was +renewed. + +On the way across the island Narvaez had heard of three Spaniards, a man +and two women, who had been shipwrecked on the coast and were living +with the Indians somewhere in the west. He sent word of this report back +to Velasquez, who returned him orders to search for the castaways even +in preference to gold, and who also dispatched a ship along the north +coast to meet Narvaez and his party in the region to which they were +going. In Santa Clara the two women were found, unharmed and well, and +they presently married members of the expedition. Finally, in Havana the +man also was found. He too was unharmed and well, though he had become +in speech and habits more like an Indian than a Spaniard. According to +his story, he and the two women were the sole survivors of a company of +twenty-six. They had fled from Ojeda's ill-starred settlement at Uraba, +on the Gulf of Darien, and were trying to make their way back to +Hispaniola, but had been driven out of their course around the north +coast of Cuba. Not far from Cape San Antonio they had been shipwrecked +and thence had made their way by land, along the north coast. Most of +them had been killed by natives while trying to cross an arm of the sea, +which has been assumed to have been the Bay of Matanzas, which was so +named on that account. + +On the Havana coast the expedition met the vessel which Velasquez had +sent. But leaving it in port there the expedition went across the island +again to Xagua, or Cienfuegos, there to meet Velasquez himself and +another expedition which he was leading, and there to spend with him the +Christmas season of 1513. At the beginning of 1514 Narvaez and a hundred +men returned to Havana and thence marched westward into Pinar del Rio, +the vessel keeping in touch with them along the coast. How far they went +in that province is not now certainly known. Some accounts have it that +they stopped at Bahia Honda and there took ship back for Baracoa, while +others insist that they got as far as Nombre de Dios. All that is +certain is that Narvaez and his comrades visited on this expedition all +parts of the island, and thus completed the nominal exploration and +occupation of Cuba in the early part of 1514. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Velasquez was for a number of years the dominant figure in Cuban +history, and he much more than any other man is to be credited with the +settlement of the island and its social, political and economical +organization. He was married at Baracoa in the early part of 1513 to +Donna Maria de Cuellar, daughter of Christopher de Cuellar, the royal +treasurer in the island, but within a week was left a widower. To find +solace for his grief in action, he threw himself with extraordinary +energy into the work of exploring, pacifying and colonizing the island. + +After founding the town of San Salvador de Bayamo he went westward, as +already stated, to meet Narvaez and to spend Christmas at Xagua or +Cienfuegos. Less than a month later he founded La Villa de Trinidad, and +later in the year La Villa de Sancti Spiritus and, finally, Santiago de +Cuba. At all of these places excepting the last named gold was found, +though not in any large quantities. He was thus encouraged to continue +his search for that precious metal, while at the same time he was +admonished not to look too much to it for the prosperity of the Island, +but to pay attention to the development of its other resources, and +particularly its obvious agricultural potentialities. + +Accordingly in the spring of 1514 he sent a vessel to Hispaniola for +horses and cattle with which to stock Cuba, and for supplies of grain +and other seeds, and agricultural implements. In the cargo which it +brought back to him lay the germ of the subsequent agricultural +greatness of Cuba. At about the same time, also, he founded Cuban +commerce by the establishment of regular communication between the +island and Jamaica, Darien and other Spanish settlements at the south. +In this latter enterprise the King was especially interested, and his +directions to Velasquez were that he should develop it to the largest +possible extent. He did not expect Cuba ever to rival Darien and other +regions in mineral wealth, but that island could, he thought, surpass +them in agriculture, and thus could serve as a source of supply to them, +and as a base of operations. + +It was, indeed, in pursuance of this policy of commerce with the +countries at the south and west of the Caribbean that Santiago de Cuba +was founded as the seventh of the seven cities among which the island +was partitioned, and that it was made the insular capital. The site was, +as already stated, the only one at which gold was not found. It was +selected partly because of the secure and commodious harbor, one of the +finest anywhere on the shores of the Caribbean, and partly because its +situation on the south coast made it particularly accessible to and from +Jamaica, Darien and the other regions in which the Spanish crown was +interested. As soon as it was founded, the seat of civil, military and +ecclesiastical authority was transferred thither from Baracoa, and +Santiago de Cuba became the second capital of the island. Meantime +Narvaez, at the north, had founded Havana, which was destined to be the +third and final capital. + +Each city or town was made, however, a capital unto itself. The +principle of local autonomy or home rule had long been cherished by the +Spanish people in the Iberian Kingdom, and it was transplanted by them +in an increased degree to their Antillean colonies. In accord with that +principle, these first seven cities were planned and arranged with a +view to civic self-sufficiency. The plan was uniform. Each place had its +central park or plaza, upon which fronted the town hall, the parish +church and the residence of the governor or the alcalde. The plan of +government was also uniform. In each place Velasquez appointed an +Alcalde, who was not a mayor but a judge of first instance; a Deputy +Alcalde, and three regidores or councillors; the Alcalde and the +regidores sitting together forming the Town Council. There were also a +procurador, or public prosecutor; an alguacil, or sheriff; and one or +more escribanos, or notaries public. + +There was also at this time established throughout the island a social +and economic system borrowed from Hispaniola, where it had not been in +operation long enough for its evil effects to be demonstrated. Its +intention was unquestionably benevolent, and, given a sufficiently +altruistic quality of human nature, its results might have been good. +With human nature what it was, it became almost unrelievedly evil. This +was known as the system of Repartimiento, or Encomienda. First of all, +the whole territory of the island was partitioned among the seven +cities. Then in each there were appointed persons whom we might describe +as land-holders and slave-holders. The former, known as vecinos, were +the representatives of the king in ownership of the land, all of which +was regarded as the property of the crown, to be apportioned for working +to suitable loyal subjects. The latter were called encomenderos, and to +them were apportioned the native population, in tutelage and servitude. + +Now the fundamental evil of the system lay in the appropriation of the +land. It was all taken for the crown, and the natives who had been +occupying it were _ipso facto_ transformed into squatters, or +trespassers. But as the king claimed the whole area of the island, there +was no other land for them to occupy; wherefore they must remain on the +king's land. But if they did that, they must become his serfs. They were +therefore apportioned among the land-holders; to remain in their homes +and to be educated, fed and clothed and generally cared for by the +latter; and in return to do a certain amount of useful work. Thus they +would become civilized and Christianized, and perhaps themselves fitted +to become land-holders. + +It was an excellent plan, in theory; and it seemed the more likely to +succeed because the Spanish colonists manifested no such caste prejudice +against the natives as those of some other lands did. Thus it was an +unusual thing for a French settler in North America, and a still more +unusual thing for a British settler, to marry an Indian woman, and such +unions, when they did occur, were generally regarded as debasing. But +there was no such feeling among the Spanish, and intermarriages between +the races, of an entirely legal and honorable character, were not +uncommon and were not regarded with disfavor. Nevertheless, the +repartimiento system soon lapsed into utter evil, as such a relationship +between a superior and an inferior race seems certain to do. In brief, +it became slavery, pure and simple. + +The benevolent and statesmanlike spirit of Velasquez was shown, in +contrast to that of most other conquistadors of that time, in the +circumstance that he ordered the natives to be thus impressed into work +for a period of only a single month, to be paid for their labor at a +prescribed rate, and to be engaged as largely as possible in +agricultural pursuits. He did not prohibit the employment of them at +gold mining, but he strove earnestly to extend agricultural enterprise. +This was partly, no doubt, in pursuance of the king's order, that he +should make Cuba a source of food supplies for the supposedly less +favored regions at Darien and elsewhere, but was partly, too, because +Velasquez recognized the agricultural possibilities of Cuba and was +determined to make it self-supporting. He exercised this authority, not +merely as Governor General of the island, but also as Repartidor, or +Partitioner of the Natives, to which office he was expressly appointed +by the king, with responsibility to nobody but the king himself. He +apportioned the natives in lots of from not fewer than forty to not more +than three hundred, according to the land held by the vecino, and +ordered that they be well treated, and of course be not sold nor +transferred from one master to another. + +There was, unfortunately, another class of native servitors, to wit, +those taken as captives in battle in the occasional hostilities between +the two races. These were by royal decree made outright and life-long +slaves, subject to be bought and sold and even branded with their +owners' names, like cattle. The number of these being few after the +collapse of Hatuey's short-lived resistance, the practice arose of +adding to their number natives from Mexico, Darien and elsewhere, who +were seized and brought to Cuba as slaves. All this was declared to be +illegal and was ordered abolished by a royal decree which was +promulgated in Cuba in November, 1531. But long before that time the +evil system had become widespread, and had involved in absolute slavery +encomendado natives as well as the captives. The bad results of the +system were reflected upon the masters if possible more than upon the +slaves, and were felt for many years after the native population had so +nearly vanished as to be no longer a factor in Cuban affairs worthy of +consideration. + +[Illustration: PONCE DE LEON] + +Following the establishment of these political and industrial systems, +Cuban colonization made extraordinarily rapid progress. The island which +for years had been neglected and all but ignored became the chief centre +of Antillean interest. It drew from Hispaniola, Darien and other lands, +both insular and continental, many of their best colonists, including +some who afterward became famous for their achievements elsewhere. Thus, +Hernando Cortez was alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. Bernal Diaz, whose +honest soul revolted against the infamies of Pedrarias Davila at Darien, +settled for a time at Sancti Spiritus before following Cortez to Mexico. +Vasco de Figueroa was a great plantation owner at Camaguey. Las Casas +was at Trinidad until he returned to Spain to begin his propaganda for +the welfare of the Indians. Ponce de Leon also spent some time in Cuba, +and so did La Salle. Velasquez himself was of course settled at Santiago +de Cuba, with Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer, and Hurtado +de Isunsolo and Amador de Lares, fiscal agents of the King. At Santiago +was established the royal assay office and refining works for the output +of the gold mines of the island. + +In brief, the island prospered greatly in all respects. The mines were +rich, the plantations fertile and productive, and live stock greatly +thrived. The island, according to Oviedo, became "much populated with +both Christians and Indians." It appears to have been at the instance of +Velasquez that its name was changed in 1515 from Juana to Fernandina, in +honor of the king; an incident which added to the high regard which that +monarch cherished for Velasquez, of whom he said that "no man could more +wisely administer the affairs of the island." This tribute was probably +deserved. But it cannot be said that Velasquez served his King for +naught, or that he promoted the interests of the island to the neglect +of his own, since he himself so greatly prospered that he became the +richest man in all Cuba and probably in all the Antilles, and was so +secure in his place that he could feel quite independent of even the +Admiral himself, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola. + +A noteworthy tribute to Velasquez was paid, also, in a series of cedulas +issued by the King. The first, dated December 12, 1512, thanked him for +his pacification of Cuba and his tactful and humane treatment of the +natives. Another, on April 8, 1513, was much to the same effect, adding +the exhortation: "Because I much desire that all diligence possible be +used to convert the natives of the island, I direct that you undertake +this with all means possible. In nothing can you do me greater service." +Five days later a third cedula formally appointed Velasquez Governor of +the town and fortress of Baracoa, with a salary of 20,000 maravedis a +year. After the complete organization of the insular government and +industrial system, as already described, the King in a cedula of +February 28, 1515, commended all that had been done, adding: "The chief +recommendation I would make to you is that you have all possible care +for the conversion and good treatment of the Indians of the island, and +that you endeavor in every way to have them taught and indoctrinated in +our Holy Catholic Faith and to have them remain in it; so that we may be +without burden on our conscience regarding them and so that you may free +yourself of all the obligation which you have assumed for their +welfare." + +It was impossible that Velasquez should, however, escape the attacks of +envy and malice. Suggestions were made to the King that he was growing +too rich, and that he was manipulating the affairs of the island in his +own interest rather than in the interest of the royal treasury. But +these were without effect, save to confirm Velasquez in royal confidence +and favor. To the suggestion that a residencia or investigation be made +of the administration of Velasquez and his lieutenants, the King +returned an emphatic negative. In a cedula of July 7, 1515, he expressly +ordered that no residencia be taken, since he was entirely satisfied +with the administration of the island. This was of material advantage to +Velasquez, and was also a most unusual honor; the more unusual and +noteworthy when we remember that Ferdinand had developed a particularly +selfish and suspicious disposition and was little inclined to give full +confidence to any man. + +Nor was the royal favor short lived or confined to the reign of +Ferdinand. In November, 1518, another royal decree from Ferdinand's +successor, Charles I, appointed Velasquez Adelantado of all lands which +he personally or through his agents might discover, and endowed him with +one-fifteenth part of all the revenues which might be obtained from +them. At this time Velasquez was already busy with enterprises of +exploration, and his efforts were redoubled under this incentive. But in +so doing he suffered the same fate that he himself had inflicted upon +Diego Columbus. For he sent Hernando Cortez, who had been alcalde of +Santiago de Cuba, upon the expedition which resulted in the conquest of +Mexico; upon achieving which transcendent exploit, Cortez repudiated him +and his authority, much as Velasquez had repudiated the authority of +Columbus in Hispaniola. + +The year 1515 marked a turning-point in the early history of Cuba. In +that year Las Casas began his great crusade in behalf of the natives. At +first, as we have seen, he accepted and approved the repartimiento +system, and himself with his partner and close friend Pedro de Renteria +took several hundred Indians as his wards and servants on the land which +had been allotted to him at Trinidad. But when he became "converted," as +he himself described it, he was convinced that the system, which had +degenerated into little else than slavery, was wholly evil and could be +nothing else, putting all who practised it in imminent danger of hell +fire. To this conviction he was brought through consideration of what he +had heard Dominican friars preach in Hispaniola. + +At this time his partner, Renteria, was absent, in Jamaica, and Las +Casas was ignorant of his views on the subject. Moreover, he realized +that the natives whom he had in his possession belonged to Renteria as +much as to him, and he could not properly do anything which would be +injurious to the interests of his partner. Accordingly he went to +Velasquez and told him that his conscience would no longer permit him to +hold slaves, and he must therefore release them; but he wished the +matter held in abeyance and confidence until the return of Renteria, in +order that the latter might protect his own interests as he saw fit. In +addition, he passionately adjured Velasquez, for the sake of his own +soul, to free all the natives and to abolish the repartimiento system. +Velasquez did not follow this advice, but he continued to hold Las Casas +in the highest esteem and to show him all possible favors. + +Las Casas then at once began publicly preaching against the sin of +slavery, and proclaiming the right of the natives to equal freedom with +the Spaniards; a course which gave great offense to many in the island +but in which Velasquez protected him. Then he determined to hasten at +once to Spain and to lay the matter before the King, who in his various +cedulas and messages to Velasquez had expressed so much concern for the +welfare of the Indians. He accordingly wrote to Renteria, in Jamaica, +that he was called to Spain on imperatively urgent business, and that +unless he, Renteria, could return to Cuba at once, he would have to go +without seeing him first, which he would regret to do. Upon receiving +this letter, Renteria immediately hastened back to Cuba; and then was +disclosed one of the most extraordinary coincidences in history. + +The meeting of the two friends was in the presence of Velasquez and +others, and nothing was said by Las Casas concerning his plans, nor did +Renteria say anything about his own affairs. But as soon as they were +alone together, Renteria announced that he was planning himself to go to +Spain, and that he would therefore accompany Las Casas. He then +explained that while in Jamaica he had gone for a time into "retreat" at +a Franciscan monastery, and while thus engaged in pious meditation had +become convinced that the Indians of Cuba were being very badly treated, +and had resolved to go to Spain and there to plead their cause before +the King, especially asking for the foundation of schools and colleges +in which the Indian youth could be educated. The astonishment and +delight of Las Casas at hearing this was equalled only by the similar +feelings of Renteria when in turn Las Casas told him the purpose of his +proposed mission to Spain. Hundreds of miles apart, and entirely unknown +to each other, the two friends at precisely the same time had been +cherishing the same noble purposes. It was quickly agreed between them +that Las Casas alone should undertake the mission, that their native +wards should be surrendered at once to Velasquez, and that their land +and other property should be sold, if necessary, to provide Las Casas +with the money needed for his journey. In his departure from Cuba and +his journey to Spain, Las Casas was also greatly assisted by Pedro de +Cordova, the head of the Dominican Order in Hispaniola. + +Simultaneously with the departure of Las Casas another and very +different mission was dispatched to the same goal. This was one +consisting of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez--not the Governor, Diego +Velasquez--bearing a petition to the King to the effect that the +repartimiento system should be transformed into one of absolute and +perpetual slavery; so that the land-owners might hold their Indians +permanently, and bequeath them to their heirs like any other property. +That this was sent simultaneously with Las Casas's going is not to be +regarded as a coincidence, however. It is altogether probable that the +action was inspired by knowledge of the purpose of Las Casas and by a +determination to forestall him or to defeat him. + +How Ferdinand would have decided between the two, whether the +impassioned eloquence of Las Casas or the gold which Narvaez and Antonio +Velasquez bore with their petition, would have been the more potent, +must ever remain matter of uncertainty; for he was never called upon to +make the decision. Before the issue could be put to him, on January 23, +1516, he died. In the interregnum, before the arrival of the new King, +Charles I, from Flanders, Cardinal Ximenes was Regent, and it was to him +that Las Casas addressed himself; after he had first been scornfully +received and his mission ridiculed by Bishop Fonseca, of Burgos. The +great Cardinal had long been an advocate of humane treatment of the +Indians, and was quite ready to listen to Las Casas, calling into +council for the purpose several other prelates and statesmen. Early in +the hearings, in order to make sure of his ground, Ximenes bade the +clerk to read the full text of the laws relating to the Indians, and +that functionary, being a partisan of the advocates of slavery, +purposely misread one important clause. Las Casas cried out, "That is +not the law!" Ximenes bade the clerk to read it again. He did so, with +the same perversion; and again Las Casas exclaimed, "The law says no +such thing!" Annoyed, Ximenes rebuked Las Casas and threatened him with +a penalty if he interrupted again. "Your Lordship is welcome to send my +head to the block," retorted the undaunted Las Casas, "if what the clerk +has read is in the law!" Other members of the Council thereupon snatched +the laws from the clerk's hand, and found that Las Casas was right, +whereupon the clerk wished that he had never been born, while Las Casas, +as he himself modestly records, "lost nothing of the regard which the +Cardinal had for him or of the credit which he gave to him." + +The result of the conferences was that Ximenes authorized Las Casas, +Palacios Rubios and Antonio Montesino to prepare the draft of a plan for +emancipating the Indians and providing for their just government and +education. When the plan was completed and adopted there was some +question as to whom it should be entrusted for execution. Ximenes +invited Las Casas to nominate a commission, but the latter declined +because his long absence from Spain had left him unfamiliar with men +there and their qualifications. The Cardinal therefore decided to select +a commission from among the monks of the Order of St. Jerome. That Order +was selected because, while the Dominicans and Franciscans were already +settled in Hispaniola and Jamaica and had committed themselves to a +certain policy toward the Indian question, the Jeronimites had not yet +gone thither and were quite without bias or predisposition. + +This was on July 8, 1516. The following Sunday the Cardinal and other +members of the council, and also Las Casas, went to the Jeronimite +monastery, near Madrid, to attend mass and to make a selection of three +Commissioners or judges from among the twelve who had been nominated by +the head of the Order. There Las Casas was received with much +distinction by the monks and by the Cardinal, to the chagrin of his +enemy the Bishop of Burgos, who was present in the congregation. After +some consideration, Ximenes then announced that Las Casas should be +provided with money and letters of credit to the General of the Order at +Seville, and should himself go thither and select the three +Commissioners. This was immediately done, and the result was the +selection of Luis de Figueroa, Prior of La Mejorada; Alonzo de Santo +Domingo, Prior of Ortega; and Bernardino Manzanedo. These three were +thereupon commissioned by Ximenes to proceed to Hispaniola, to take away +all the Indians held by members of the Council, judges and other +officers, and hold a court of impeachment upon all colonial officers, +who were charged as having "lived, like Moors, without a king." They +were then to consult with both the colonists and the chief men among the +Indians as to the condition of the Indians and the ways and means of +bettering it; so that the Indians, who had become Christians, should be +set free and enabled to govern themselves. They were to assure the +Indians it was the will of the Cardinal that they should be treated as +free men and Christians. That Ximenes was sincere in giving these orders +there can be no question. On more than one occasion he vehemently +declared that the Indians were as a matter of right and should and must +be as a matter of fact free men. + +But all this was too late to save the Indians. Immediately upon Las +Casas's departure from Cuba, treatment of the Indians there and +elsewhere in the Indies became more harsh and oppressive, actually +tending toward extinction of the race. Moreover, when the bearers of the +petition of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez finally got a hearing before +Ximenes, they were referred to the three Commissioners, who were about +to leave Spain for Hispaniola. They therefore went to see them, and +succeeded, apparently, to some degree in alienating them from Las Casas +and his colleagues and in prejudicing them against the Indians; to such +an extent that before their departure for Hispaniola Las Casas had begun +to doubt whether much real good would come from their mission. He and +the three Commissioners travelled to Hispaniola on separate ships, and +on their arrival in that island the three were more ready to confer with +others, even with his opponents, than with him. + +It is true that Cardinal Ximenes gave detailed and generally admirable +directions to the Jeronimite Fathers as to the course which they were to +pursue; not only toward the natives of Cuba but also toward those of the +other islands and the continent. These provided that the natives were to +be well treated. They were to be formed into autonomous communities of +their own, under their own chiefs and owning their own land and cattle. +They were to be provided with churches, schools and hospitals, and were +to be converted to Christianity and educated. They were, however, to be +required to work for a part of the time in the gold mines of the +Spaniards, for which service they would be paid a percentage of the gold +obtained. In compensation for thus being deprived of what was fast +becoming the slave labor of the native islanders, the Spanish settlers +of Cuba were permitted each to hold as outright slaves four or five +Caribs from other islands, Negroes from Africa, or, in time, Red Indians +from the North American continent. The net result was that for a time +the Cuban natives were fairly well treated, though their fate was simply +postponed for a few years. At the same time there was generally +established in Cuba, as in most other lands of the world at that time, +the hateful institution of human slavery. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Gold mining in Cuba appears for some time to have been profitable. There +was not the vast opulence of the precious metal which a little later was +discovered in Peru and elsewhere on the South American continent, but +there was enough greatly to encourage an influx of colonists from Spain +and also from the other Antilles. Hispaniola itself was for a time +almost depopulated. Nor did this multitude of settlers consist +exclusively of gold-seekers. There were also many agriculturists, +artificers and tradesmen, who perceived that their activities would be +needed to complement the gold-mining industry. + +From the same cause arose at this time an important development of the +political organization of the island. Nominally, all the provincial +capitals were of equal dignity. But the smelting works and assay office +were at Santiago, and thither, therefore, all gold miners had to repair +at intervals, to have their nuggets, dust and ore refined and its value +determined. They came in the spring, just before the beginning of the +rainy season. Naturally their coming thither attracted at the same time +tradesmen from all parts of the island, and Santiago thus became the +business and social metropolis. + +Moreover, each of the other provincial capitals deemed it profitable to +send to Santiago at that time an official representative of its local +government. These procuradors, as they were called, came together at +Santiago to exchange experiences and advice and to confer for the +general welfare of their respective communities. Thus early in Cuban +history were the rudiments of a representative insular legislature +established; through the influence of which the various provinces were +drawn together in sympathy and made uniform in administration, and the +foundations of Cuban nationality were laid. + +Soon, indeed, a regular organization was voluntarily formed, with the +Alcalde of Santiago as presiding officer and with rules of order and a +programme of procedure. As a result of each annual session of this +primitive insular council an address was prepared for transmission to +the King of Spain. This consisted of a report upon the condition, +progress and prospects of the island, and a request for the supplying of +its legislative, administrative or other needs. In the presentation of +this address the insular council performed a function practically +identical with that of the Spanish Cortes of that time; a body which had +no legislative or other authority, but merely the privilege of protest +and petition to the King. Usually a procurador representing the council +was despatched to Spain, to present the address in person to the King; +who was received with something of the attention and honor which were +paid to important foreign ambassadors. + +The first such mission from Cuba to the King was that which has already +been mentioned as consisting of Panfilo de Narvaez and Antonio +Velasquez. It went to Spain in July, 1515, and it bore not alone the +address of the council but also the king's share of the gold that had +down to that time been mined in the island. The amount of that share was +more than 12,000 "pieces of eight," which we must believe was most +welcome to the money-loving King. As that was supposed to be twenty per +cent of the whole output of gold, but was certainly not more than that +proportion, it follows that in about three years more than 60,000 pesos +of gold had been taken. It is not to be wondered at that Ferdinand +welcomed them cordially, and promptly granted many of their requests; +those which required expenditure of cash being paid for out of the +insular tribute which the envoys had brought; and that he expressed +profound satisfaction, as already mentioned, with the existing +government of the island. + +One of the requests which these envoys bore was not, however, granted. +That was, their request that the natives of Cuba be given to them in +perpetuity as slaves. In consequence of the refusal to grant this, the +Cuban gold-miners and planters suffered more and more from scarcity of +labor, and more and more engaged in slave-hunting elsewhere to supply +their needs. This pernicious traffic was resolutely opposed by Las +Casas, but not with entire success. But it brought with it in a measure +its own penalty. As a direct result of it there soon occurred an event +mischievous to Cuba, but of transcendent interest to Spain and to all +the world. + +The slave-hunters naturally sought new islands, which had not yet been +depopulated, and where the Jeronimite Fathers had not yet established +themselves to interfere with the trade in human flesh. Accordingly in +1516 a squadron of vessels from Cuba visited the Guanajes Islands, as +they had been called by Columbus when he discovered them, off the coast +of Yucatan. There they took many captives, loading all the vessels with +them. Leaving twenty-five men to guard their landing place on the +island, the squadron returned to Cuba with the slaves. Havana was the +port to which they were taken; a port which from that time forward +increased rapidly in importance. Before they could all be landed, the +slaves on one vessel mutinied, overpowered the crew, took possession of +the vessel, and sailed back to the Yucatan islands. There the vessel was +run ashore and wrecked, but the slaves escaped from it and, going +ashore, exterminated the Spanish garrison which had been left there. A +relief expedition was hastily sent from Havana, but it arrived too late. +It found only the wreck of the ship, and no trace of the Spanish +garrison. However, it looted the islands and was thus enabled to carry +back to Cuba some 20,000 pesos in gold. + +This had a revolutionary effect. Cubans who were becoming dissatisfied +with the scarcity of slave labor and with the waning production of gold +in the island, were roused by the promise of greater riches in the lands +to the westward, and began to plan further adventures in that direction. +In this movement the first important leader was Francisco Hernandez de +Cordova, a wealthy land-holder, planter and miner of Sancti Spiritus. He +with more than a hundred others equipped a squadron of three vessels, to +sail westward, not, however, for slaves but for gold. One of these +vessels appears to have belonged to Velasquez, the Governor, and in +return for the use of it he asked that the expedition should bring him +back a cargo of slaves. This Cordova indignantly refused, declaring that +the slave-trade was offensive to God and man. So, at least, says Bernal +Diaz del Castillo; though there are others who say that slave trading +was the real object of the expedition. However that may be, the +expedition set out from either Havana or Jaruco, near by, on February 8, +1517, piloted by Antonio Alaminos who, as a boy, had sailed with +Columbus on his fourth voyage on which he skirted the coast of Central +America. Columbus had believed that coast to be the Golden Chersonesus, +a land of fabulous riches, and it was with eagerness that Alaminos +guided the Cuban expedition thither. + +The Mugeres Islands were the first land reached after leaving Cape San +Antonio, and two days later, on March 4, 1517, they landed at Punta +Catoche--a name said to have been given to it by them because of the +words "con escotoch" which the natives uttered on greeting them upon +their landing, words meaning "welcome to our home." All thoughts of +seizing slaves were quickly abandoned when they found the natives a well +clad, armed and civilized people, living in large cities, with houses +and temples built of fine masonry, comparable with those of the cities +of Spain. Hostilities, however, speedily arose. It does not appear +whether the Spanish or the natives of Yucatan were the aggressors, but +the upshot of it was that the Spanish were ambuscaded and several of +them were badly wounded. The explorers persisted in their enterprise, +however, and made their way along the northern coast and thence +southward along the shore of the Gulf of Campeche, as far as Champoton. +Hostilities with the natives increased, and nearly a third of the party +perished from wounds or thirst and fever before they got back to +Havana. Moreover, one ship was lost, and the other two were in so bad +condition that they with difficulty were beached for repairs at Havana, +while the survivors marched afoot across the island to Santiago, there +to report to Velasquez the results of their expedition. It is believed +that on their way back they were driven by a "norther" far out of their +course, and touched the southern extremity of Florida, or at least some +of its islands. Cordova himself had been so badly wounded that he was +unable to go to Santiago, but made his way to his home at Sancti +Spiritus, where he soon afterward died. + +Immense interest was aroused in Cuba by the tales of Cordova's men, and +by the appearance of the two captive Mayas of Yucatan whom they brought +with them. The reports of large cities, built of stone dressed and +carved and laid in mortar,--reports which were, of course, entirely +true,--piqued curiosity as to the identity of the people who had built +them, and the belief became widespread that they were some of the Ten +Lost Tribes of Israel, or at least descendants of the Jews who were +driven into exile after Vespasian's conquest of Jerusalem. Velasquez +himself was foremost in interesting himself in the matter, perhaps +partly with a desire to recoup the loss of his ship; and he accordingly +sent his nephew Gonzalez de Guzman, of Santiago, as a messenger to the +King in Spain, to tell him of these discoveries and to ask that he, +Velasquez, be commissioned Adelantado of Yucatan and all other lands +which he might discover. + +Now we have seen how high an opinion King Ferdinand had of Velasquez; +regarding him as the best possible Governor of Cuba, whose +administration should not be subject even to the balancing and auditing +of accounts which he elsewhere required. But Ferdinand was now dead, and +the new king, Charles, knew not Velasquez, or at least not so well. +Guzman pleaded the cause as strongly as he could, and so, we may assume, +did Narvaez, who was still in Spain, though Antonio Velasquez had +returned to Cuba. The king was not, however, to be so easily persuaded. +He was not unfavorable to the ambition of Velasquez, but neither was he +unhesitatingly favorable to it. Accordingly he temporized. Instead of +giving Velasquez the appointment, he sent two agents, procuradors, to +Hispaniola, to look into the whole matter with plenary authority. These +agents, the name of one of whom marks an epoch in Cuban and in American +history, were Diego de Orellano and Hernando Cortez. + +Velasquez was disappointed but not deterred from prosecuting the great +enterprise which he had in mind. He would not wait for the report of the +procuradors and the action which the king might take upon it, but +hastened his preparations for another expedition to Yucatan, which he +regarded as by far the most important land of all that had thus far been +discovered by the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The leader of the +new venture was to be his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, who appears not to +have been well fitted for the task. Grijalva was commissioned in +January, 1518, and in the same month set out from Santiago de Cuba with +a flotilla of four vessels. Sailing eastward he rounded Cape Maysi and +thence proceeded north and west along the Cuban coast to what is now +Matanzas, where a stop was made for repairs and supplies. Thence he went +to Havana for further supplies and men, and tarried for some time, so +that it was not until some time in April--some say April 5, others a +much later date--that he finally set out from Cuba. He had four vessels, +carrying two hundred and fifty men, among whom were several of whom the +world was later to hear much; such as Bernal Diaz, and Pedro de +Alvarado, who was captain of one of the vessels. The chief pilot was +Antonio Alaminos, whose plan was to follow the same course that +Cordova's expedition had pursued. + +Upon passing Cape San Antonio, however, the little squadron fell into +the grip of a "norther" which carried it somewhat out of its course, and +on May 3 it first sighted land at Cozumel Island, of which Grijalva was +thus the discoverer. Doubling back, the expedition followed the course +of its predecessor around Punta Catoche and along the Yucatan coast to +Champoton. Thence it continued westward, discovering the Tabasco and +other rivers, and the great bay near Vera Cruz which still bears the +name of Alvarado. How far up the Mexican coast it sailed is not +altogether clear, but it certainly passed Cabo Rojo, and probably +reached Tampico and the mouth of the Panuco River. Thus to two Cuban +expeditions must be credited the discovery of the vast empire thereafter +known as New Spain. De Solis and Pinzon had skirted a part of the coast +of Yucatan in 1506 but had made no landing. Indeed, Columbus himself on +his last voyage had visited some of the coastal islands, but had +apparently ignored the proximity of the mainland. Cordova was the first +to reach the actual coast of Yucatan and to explore a portion of that +country. Grijalva in turn was the first to discover and to land in +Mexico; of which country he formally claimed possession, in the name of +Velasquez, for the King of Spain, it was he, too, or some member of his +expedition, who gave to Mexico the name of New Spain. + +In his commission Grijalva had been directed to discover and explore new +lands, and to take possession of them for the King of Spain, but he was +forbidden to undertake colonization of them or to make any permanent +settlements. To that prohibition must be ascribed the practical failure +of his expedition. He appears to have realized the desirability of +making permanent settlements, but felt himself restrained by his orders. +His men murmured and almost mutinied because they were not permitted to +build forts, take land, and establish colonies; but Grijalva, though +firm to resist them, dared not violate the orders of his uncle. However, +at midsummer he sent Alvarado back with two ships, carrying the sick and +wounded, and also much treasure in gold which had been obtained from the +natives in barter. He likewise wrote to Velasquez, asking and indeed +urging that his commission be so amended as to permit him to make +permanent settlements in the lands which he had discovered. + +It does not appear that Velasquez made a favorable response to this +request, if indeed he made any at all. He had previously manifested his +impatience to learn what Grijalva was doing and what he had found, by +sending Christopher de Olid with one vessel to offer him reenforcements +and supplies, if needed, and to get a report of his achievements. Off +the Mexican coast, however, that expedition ran into a succession of +violent storms which so discouraged and dismayed Olid that he abandoned +his errand and scuttled incontinently back to Cuba without so much as +communicating with Grijalva. The latter, accordingly, after spending the +summer and early fall in Mexico, and despairing of receiving the +increased authority which he deemed essential to the further success of +his expedition, reembarked and returned to Cuba, arriving at Matanzas +early in October. + +There he found Olid, who had reached that port only a few days before, +and who had not yet communicated with Velasquez the news of the failure +of his errand. Olid's report to Velasquez, which was then promptly +dispatched, contained therefore the news of Grijalva's return as well as +his own. As soon as he received this, Velasquez sent word to Grijalva to +come at once to Santiago and report to him in person, but to let his men +remain at Matanzas, or at Havana, since he wanted them to serve in +another Mexican expedition which he was already fitting out. Most of the +men were willing to do this, and were accordingly maintained there at +the cost of Velasquez, or of the Spanish Crown, until he was ready to +use them; though a certain number expressed themselves as having had +their fill of exploring and accordingly returned to their homes in +various parts of Cuba. + +Grijalva repaired, as summoned, to Santiago, and there met what we must +regard as an unjust and unmerited fate. Velasquez expressed entire +dissatisfaction with his conduct, particularly in not having planted +permanent settlements in Mexico; the very thing which Grijalva had +wanted to do but was forbidden by Velasquez himself to do. This +extraordinary inconsistency on the part of Velasquez can probably be +explained on the ground that he himself had been forbidden by the +Jeronimite Fathers to plant such colonies, and did not venture to +disobey them, but had hoped that Grijalva would disobey them. He further +let his unhappy nephew know that, because of his failure to disobey +orders, he would have no further use for him. He was sending out another +expedition to Mexico, to plant permanent colonies there, but it would be +under other leadership, and Grijalva would have no part in it whatever. +As Grijalva had already alienated most of his men by refusing to break +his orders, he was thus left friendless, and he played no further part +in the history either of the Cuba which he had loyally served or of the +Mexico of which he was the discoverer and first explorer. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +[Illustration: HERNANDO CORTEZ] + +The new Mexican expedition was entrusted by Velasquez to the leadership +of the greatest of all the Spanish conquistadors, Hernando Cortez, then +Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. This famous man was then, in 1518, only +thirty-three years of age. He had been born in Estremadura, had survived +a particularly weak and sickly childhood, and had studied law at the +University of Salamanca. Leaving the University, he enlisted in the +company of Nicolas de Ovando, also of Estremadura, for an expedition to +America. But on the very eve of sailing he went to bid a tender farewell +to his inamorata; while scaling the garden wall to reach her window he +fell and had part of the wall topple upon him, and in consequence was +laid abed for some time, while Ovando's expedition sailed without him. +Recovering from this mishap, he passed a year or two in obscurity and +poverty, and then secured passage, in 1504, for Hispaniola. His courage +and prowess during a storm which threatened to swamp the vessel made him +a conspicuous member of the company, and on landing at Hispaniola he was +quickly taken into the good graces and the employ of both Velasquez and +Ovando. Having overcome his early delicacy of constitution, he was now a +stalwart, handsome youth, of engaging manners, fine education and much +spirit and capacity in martial adventure; in brief, admirably fitted for +the great career which he was already unconsciously confronting. + +We have seen that a mishap in a love affair determined the time and +circumstances of his leaving Spain for the New World. A sequel to that +incident again determined his course. He had enlisted in the expedition +of Diego de Nicuesa bound for Darien when from the old injury from his +garden wall disaster there developed an abscess in his right knee, which +again disabled him for a time and restrained him from going on that +voyage. Had he gone on it, perhaps he might have become the conqueror of +Peru, instead of his fellow Estremaduran, Pizarro, who was a member of +Nicuesa's company, and the discoverer of the Pacific, instead of that +other Estremaduran, Balboa, who went to Darien at a little later date. +Instead, Cortez was detailed by Diego Columbus to go to Cuba as a +secretary to Velasquez. In that capacity he acquitted himself so well +that he received an extensive grant of land, together with a large +number of natives as slaves, and for a time he settled down as a Cuban +planter. + +His adventurous spirit would not permit him permanently to engage in so +placid an occupation, however, and he presently became involved in some +strenuous transactions which came near to making an end of him. +Precisely what happened is uncertain. Historic accounts differ. +According to Benito Martinez, he made himself the leader of a faction +opposed to Velasquez, and undertook to go from Cuba to Hispaniola in an +open boat to carry to certain royal Judges there complaints and +accusations against the Governor. As he was setting out on this venture, +however, he was betrayed and arrested, was charged with fomenting a +revolt against Velasquez, and was condemned to be hanged. Upon the +intercession of friends, however, Velasquez commuted the sentence into +exile from Cuba, and put Cortez aboard a vessel bound for Hispaniola. +Soon after the vessel sailed Cortez contrived to slip overboard +unperceived, caught hold of a floating log, and swam back to Cuba. There +he found refuge in a church, until once more his passion for the fair +sex came near to being his undoing. For one day as he was slipping out +of the church to keep a love-tryst, he was seized by an alguazil named +Juan Escudero, and returned to prison. Velasquez then again ordered him +hanged, but again yielded to intercession, and gave Cortez his freedom. +Incidentally, Cortez afterward hanged Escudero, in Mexico. + +So runs one version of the story, told by Herrera and others. Gomara, +Barcia and others tell quite another. It is to the effect that Cortez +went to Cuba as an accountant for Miguel de Pasamonte, the royal +treasurer, though he also did much business for Velasquez and was in +charge of the assay office and the hospital at Santiago; and that the +feud between him and Velasquez arose over a love affair. Cortez had +engaged himself to marry Doņa Catalina Suarez, one of the ladies in +waiting upon Maria de Toledo, the consort of the Admiral and Viceroy, +Diego Columbus, but either delayed to fulfil the engagement or was +suspected of an intention to break it by Velasquez, who was much +interested in the lady's sister. In the course of this feud, Cortez was +arrested and was found to have on his person papers unfriendly to +Velasquez. He escaped, and took refuge in a church. But in time he +emerged from sanctuary, married Doņa Catalina, and "lived happily with +her ever after." He also became reconciled to Velasquez, so much that +the latter stood as god-father to the first-born child of Cortez. + +This latter story seems the more probable of the two, and more in accord +with what we know of the characters and dispositions of both Velasquez +and Cortez. Certain it is that after their disagreements and conflicts +Velasquez took Cortez back into full favor, made him Alcalde of Santiago +de Cuba, and selected him in preference to his own nephew, Grijalva, to +be the leader of what he himself considered to be the most important of +all his enterprises. + +In making this choice, which was of epochal importance both to himself +and to Cuba and the Spanish colonial empire, Velasquez was doubtless +largely influenced by the arguments and persuasions of his own +secretary, Andres de Ducro, and by the royal contador in Cuba, Amador de +Lares. These two appear to have worked together, with a mutual +understanding, and also with an understanding with Cortez; so that we +might almost consider the three to have formed a conspiracy to prevail +upon the Governor. Perhaps their chief argument, or temptation, was to +promise Velasquez the royal appointment as Adelantado, not alone over +Cuba but also over all other lands which he might discover, and it was +shrewdly pointed out to him that if haste was made, he might secure that +appointment in time to claim the enormously rich land of Mexico as part +of his domain. All that would be necessary would be for him to get the +appointment before the return of Grijalva with the official report of +his discoveries. As this appointment was the dearest wish and ambition +of Velasquez's life, it is easy to understand how potent this offer was +in persuading him to make Cortez the leader of the expedition. + +There was on the other hand much opposition to the choice. All of the +relatives and many of the friends and counsellors of Velasquez warned +him not to trust Cortez. Las Casas joined his advice with theirs, +warning Velasquez, however, not so much against Cortez as against the +royal contador, De Lares, and anyone whom he might favor. De Lares, he +said, had lived long in Italy, a country then considered to be a very +hotbed of trickery and treachery, and was doubtless deeply imbued with +the spirit of conspiracy and intrigue, which he was quite likely to +exercise against Velasquez himself. + +Cortez was of course well aware of these conflicting influences, and for +some time felt much uncertainty as to which side would prove the more +powerful. He especially dreaded the return of Grijalva, fearing that +either he would regain the favor of his uncle, or would give so glowing +a report of the wealth of Mexico as to excite the cupidity of Velasquez +to a degree that would move him to go thither in person. When he learned +that Grijalva had arrived at Havana and was about to come across the +island to Santiago, he pushed preparations for his departure with +feverish haste, apparently determined to set out whether Velasquez +approved his going or not. He borrowed large sums of money, wherever he +could, for fitting out the expedition at his own expense if necessary, +and in fact he did thus provide a large share of its cost. He also +recruited a number of men upon whom he could depend to stand by him in +any emergency; even if he should have to defy the authority of Velasquez +and sail without his permission. + +The middle of November, 1518, was the crucial and indeed epochal time; +in which the fate of Velasquez, the fortunes of Cortez, and in a large +measure the future of the Spanish empire in America, were all decided. +Within a week, three major incidents occurred. First, on November 13, +Velasquez received his commission from the King, as Adelantado of Cuba +and all new lands which he might cause to be discovered. In getting that +for him, De Ducro and De Lares fulfilled their promise; whereupon +Velasquez in turn fulfilled his agreement, by confirming the appointment +of Cortez. Two days later, on November 15, Grijalva arrived at Santiago, +and as already stated was unfavorably received. Nevertheless, the +apprehensions of Cortez were partially fulfilled. Velasquez did not, +indeed, restore his nephew to favor, but he was so impressed by the +reports and visible and tangible tokens of the wealth of Mexico, that he +hesitated to let Cortez go. The thought occurred to him that it would be +better to go himself, or to send somebody upon whom he could more +implicitly depend. + +His hesitation became known to Cortez, and of course greatly disquieted +and alarmed him. But with the intrepidity and resolution which were +characteristic of him, he hastened his preparations for departure and +added to them preparations for breaking away by force if that should be +necessary. It has been said by some that he finally sailed secretly, by +night. Las Casas tells that story, and the American historian of Cortez, +Prescott, credits and repeats it. Others have pictured Cortez as sailing +away openly, with Velasquez falling upon his knees on the shore, +imploring him not to go. We may prudently relegate both these versions +to the realm of imagination. The far more likely story is that given by +honest Bernal Diaz. He tells us that Andres de Ducro--probably knowing +that there was danger that Velasquez would change his mind and revoke +the appointment of Cortez--urged Cortez to sail without delay; that +Cortez accordingly, the second day after Grijalva's arrival at Santiago +ordered all his men to go aboard ship and remain there; that he then +went with De Ducro and De Lares to bid Velasquez adieu; and that the +next day, November 18, after attending an early mass at the cathedral, +he went aboard and at once set sail for Mexico. That was five days after +the appointment of Velasquez as Adelantado, and three days after the +arrival of the real discoverer of Mexico, Grijalva, at Santiago. + +With those three incidents, as we have said, a new era began. We need +not here concern ourselves with the further doings of Cortez, excepting +in that he took from Cuba several hundred of its most venturesome and +competent men, including many of those who had been with Grijalva; and +that he promptly renounced the authority of Velasquez over the new lands +which were to be discovered. The breach between the two occurred when +Cortez, having sailed from Santiago, put into the Cuban port of Trinidad +for men and supplies. There he was intercepted by a messenger from +Velasquez, with orders to return at once to Santiago. If he would not +obey this summons, the Alcalde, Verduzo, was authorized forcibly to +deprive him of his commission and to give it instead to Vasco Portallo. +The latter was a friend of Velasquez, who had formerly been considered +by him for the leadership of the expedition, before the choice fell on +Cortez. Another candidate had been Baltazar Bermudez, whom indeed +Velasquez actually selected for the place, only to have him decline it. + +Cortez, as might have been expected, refused to return. Instead, he +prevailed upon the Governor's own messenger to join his expedition. To +the demand of the Alcalde, that he surrender his commission, he replied +with a haughty refusal, and so strong was the force which he had with +him that Verduzo prudently refrained from any attempt to coerce him. He +then wrote a friendly letter to Velasquez, assuring him that he was +giving himself needless concern, took on additional supplies, and +resumed his voyage. He had previously helped himself freely from a royal +storehouse at Macaca, saying that he was going on the King's business +and was therefore entitled to the King's goods. Also he is said to have +stopped a merchant ship bound for Hispaniola, and to have taken such +goods from its cargo as he desired. + +Thus provided, he next put in at the harbor at or near Batabano which +had in 1514 been called San Cristobal de la Havana, but which by this +time was falling into some disuse and was surrendering its name to the +far more important port on the northern coast. Here another messenger +from Velasquez intercepted him, with a similar command, to which Cortez +gave a similar reply. Last of all, he touched at Guane, on what is now +appropriately known as Cortez Bay, near the western extremity of the +island; and thence, at the middle of February, 1519, left Cuba for the +island of Cozumel, thence to proceed to Vera Cruz, Mexico. The story of +his burning his ships after he had landed, in order that his men might +have no thought or hope of returning, is historic, and is true. But in +effect he did the same, at least for himself, before that time. He +departed from Cuba in circumstances which made his return to that island +impossible; at least as long as Velasquez was its governor. Then, to +seal the matter and make the breach with his former friend and patron +more absolutely irremediable, immediately upon landing at Vera Cruz he +organized a government by appointing some of his own men to be a +municipal council. Then to that Council of his own creation he +surrendered the commission which Velasquez had bestowed upon him; and +finally, also from his own creatures, he accepted appointment as Royal +Governor of New Spain! + +It was of course out of the question that Velasquez would meekly +acquiesce in this flouting of his authority, and particularly in this +open attempt to deprive him of his newly-won authority as Adelantado of +Mexico. He immediately reported to the King what Cortez had done, and +protested against it as a defiance of the King's authority as well as +his own. But Cortez answered his protests and appeals to the Crown with +still more potent arguments in justification of his course. These +arguments took the form of bars and ingots of gold, which he secured in +Mexico and sent to Spain; in some cases "ballasting his ships" with the +precious metal. One of the first of these treasure ships was a +brigantine, dispatched in the midsummer of 1519 under the pilot-captain +Alaminos. As it passed Havana it was espied by Juan de Rojas, a cousin +of Velasquez, who sent word of it to Velasquez. The latter sent out +Gonzalo de Guzman to intercept and seize it, but he failed in the +errand. + +Finding his appeals and protests ineffective against the gold of Cortez, +Velasquez determined to use force. He was Adelantado, by royal +commission. Therefore Cortez was a rebel. He rallied his friends, in +both Cuba and Hispaniola. He used his own immense wealth freely for the +purchase and equipment of ships. He enlisted an army twice as great as +the force which had accompanied Cortez. With this expedition he purposed +to follow Cortez to Mexico, and compel his submission. Whether he would +have succeeded in this undertaking, had it not been interfered with, +must remain subject matter of speculation; for there was prompt and +effective interference. Diego Columbus, in Hispaniola, became much +concerned. He was still Admiral, and nominally, at least, superior in +authority to Velasquez as well as to Cortez, and he did not wish to have +his subordinates fighting among themselves. So he sent one of the most +eminent Spanish colonial judges, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, to Cuba to +make peace. This envoy reached Santiago in January, 1520, just in time +to find that Velasquez and his expedition had already sailed for Mexico. +With the swiftest vessel he could find he set out in pursuit, and was +lucky enough to overtake them where they had stopped for supplies, in +Corrientes Bay, near the extreme western point of the island. + +Ayllon seems to have been vested with no actual authority over +Velasquez. He merely tried to dissuade him from executing his purpose. +He urged him to content himself with sending one or two vessels on to +Mexico, with a summons to Cortez, to return or at least to abandon his +pretensions of independence and to acknowledge the authority of +Velasquez; under penalty of being reported to the King as a contumacious +rebel. The rest of the expedition, he suggested, might be used in +explorations elsewhere. Above all, he pleaded with Velasquez not to go +to Mexico himself, but to return to Santiago, where his presence was +sorely needed. Velasquez yielded to these entreaties so far as to +abandon personal leadership of the expedition. He made Panfilo de +Narvaez leader in his stead, and then returned to Santiago. Ayllon went +along with Narvaez, to keep the peace. The result was that soon after +landing in Mexico, Narvaez was wounded and made captive by Cortez, and +practically all his men, with their stores, munitions, arms and ships, +who had been sent out to subdue Cortez, became loyal followers of that +resourceful conquistador. In fact, we may judiciously reckon that Cortez +owed his success in the conquest of Mexico to the reenforcements which +he thus received from the expedition which had been sent against him. + +Later, it is true, some members of Narvaez's party became a source of +serious peril to Cortez. This was at the beginning of the year 1521, +after the death of Montezuma and the _noche triste_, and at the time +when Cortez was planning to return to the city of Mexico as its +conqueror. A number of Narvaez's men entered into a conspiracy to +assassinate Cortez, and at their head was one Villafana, who had been a +very close friend and earnest partisan of Velasquez. Because of that +relationship, it was suspected by Cortez that the man had been incited +to undertake the crime by Velasquez himself. Of this there was, however, +no proof, and no attempt was made to fasten responsibility or odium upon +Velasquez; which we may be sure would have been done had any real ground +for it been discovered. By interesting coincidence, the conspiracy was +made, detected and punished at the very time when, as we shall see, +Velasquez was being removed from the Governorship of Cuba. + +Villafana modelled his plans upon those of the slayers of Julius Cæsar. +All the conspirators were to approach Cortez in public, and one of them +was to approach him with what should purport to be a letter from his +father, Martin Cortez, just arrived on a vessel from Spain. The moment +he took the letter and began to read it, all were to rush upon him and +stab him with their knives. Cortez detected the plot just in time. He +personally went with guards to Villafana's apartments and arrested him, +while others took the other conspirators into custody. Villafana was put +to death, and the others were imprisoned. Then Cortez, with +characteristic resourcefulness, turned the incident to account for his +own profit, by making it the pretext for continually thereafter +surrounding himself with an armed body guard of his most trusted +soldiers. + +Velasquez returned to Santiago to find affairs in a sad plight. Small +pox, measles and other epidemics were raging, and disastrous tropical +hurricanes had swept the island, destroying crops and buildings. A large +proportion of the most efficient men of the island had followed +Cortez--and Narvaez--to Mexico. Moreover, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola, +was threatening trouble. It must be remembered that Velasquez had +practically flouted Columbus's authority, almost as much as his own had +been flouted by Cortez. At any rate, the Admiral had a serious grievance +against him, and deemed this a fitting time for calling him to account. +Apparently he was further aggrieved because Velasquez would not more +fully accept the counsel of Ayllon. At any rate, in the middle of +January, 1521, he sent over to Cuba an envoy, to take the place of +Velasquez as Governor of Cuba and to investigate the manner in which +Velasquez had administered his affairs. This envoy was Alfonso de Zuazo, +who thus became the second Governor of Cuba. + +In this action Velasquez acquiesced; probably because he durst not do +otherwise. It would have been a dangerous thing in any circumstances to +defy the Admiral; and it would have been superlatively so at a time when +Cuba had just been stripped of its ships and its best fighting men. +Nevertheless, he pointed out that he himself was still commandant of the +fort at Baracoa, and was Repartidor of the natives throughout the +island. This latter was in some important respects a more influential +office than that of Governor, and it Velasquez held, not by the +Admiral's appointment but by virtue of a commission granted directly by +the King himself. He could not, therefore, be superseded or interfered +with in any way by the Admiral or any of his underlings, nor by anybody +short of the King himself. In this he was quite right, and when Zuazo, +relying upon Diego Columbus's authority, did infringe upon some of +Velasquez's functions and powers, the latter complained to the King, and +the King disavowed Zuazo, and severely reprimanded Columbus. + +Velasquez was not, however, yet at the end of his difficulties. The +royal vindication of his claims was gratifying, and he doubtless felt +some secret satisfaction in the humiliation of Diego Columbus. But the +son of the great Admiral was not a man to be flouted with impunity, not +even by the King of Spain. True, he acquiesced, perforce, in the royal +decree. But his resourceful mind quickly devised another line of attack +upon Velasquez. At the beginning of 1522, accompanied by two judges of +the supreme court of Hispaniola, he proceeded to Santiago de Cuba, and +there instituted a judicial investigation into the conduct of +Velasquez's administration. To this Velasquez demurred, on the grounds +already mentioned that as Repartidor he was accountable to the King +alone. Diego Columbus responded by pointing out in the commission of +Velasquez as Repartidor a provision that the judges of Hispaniola might +and indeed should give him specific advice as to the conduct of his +office; and such advice they thereupon proceeded to give, in terms +indistinguishable from commands. To this Velasquez could not demur; the +text of his commission did indeed provide for that very thing. But his +retort was prompt and effective. The commission provided for the giving +of advice, but it did not require Velasquez to accept it! As a matter of +fact, it was not accepted but ignored, and Diego Columbus and his judges +returned to Hispaniola in defeat. + +One more effort was made by Velasquez to vindicate his authority over +Cortez in Mexico. He went so far as to equip a third expedition of which +he personally took command, intending to invade Mexico and compel Cortez +to submit to his authority. This expedition sailed from Cuba in the fall +of 1522, but never reached the coast of Mexico. It was intercepted by a +message from the King, announcing that he had appointed Cortez to be +Governor of Mexico in entire independence of Cuba, and expressly +forbidding Velasquez to interfere with him in any way. This was +conclusive, and Velasquez returned home, abandoning all further thoughts +of Mexico. + +Despite his losses and the great expense to which he had gone in +fruitless Mexican ventures, he was still one of the richest men in Cuba; +especially since the death of his father-in-law, Cristobal de Cuellar, +who had left him the major part of his large fortune. As Repartidor, +also, he continued his activities in public affairs. In the summer of +1523 he personally directed a campaign against a revolt and depredations +of an Indian tribe inhabiting some of the small islands off the Cuban +coast. He suffered humiliation, it is true, in having at about that same +time public proclamation made in Cuba of the royal decree inhibiting him +from further designs against Cortez. But before the end of the year +atonement was made for this in another royal decree completely restoring +Velasquez to his place as Governor of Cuba. + +The causes which led to this extraordinary action are obscure, but it +seems probable that the King recognized the really great services and +merits of Velasquez, and it is quite possible that he had reason for +dissatisfaction with Zuazo. At any rate, at about Christmas time, 1523, +Velasquez was restored and Zuazo was summarily dismissed. No charges +were at that time preferred against Zuazo, nor was he prosecuted or +subjected to any penalties. But his commission as Governor was declared +to have been illegal and all his acts to have been therefore null and +void. Everything was therefore put back in as nearly as possible the +condition it was in when Velasquez was formerly Governor. + +Zuazo seems to have taken his dismissal philosophically, without demur +or resentment; wherefore we may suspect that as a lawyer he realized +that there had indeed been a fatal flaw in his commission. He remained +at Santiago for a few weeks, and then went to Mexico as the attorney and +envoy of Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, who had a +controversy with Cortez as to which of them was the rightful Governor of +Panuco. In this errand he was frustrated by shipwreck and other +vicissitudes, and it does not appear that he ever had an opportunity of +serving Garay as had been intended. In time, however, he reached Mexico, +and was regarded with much favor by Cortez, who appointed him to a +lucrative and influential office. A little later he was extradited by +the Cuban government, and was brought back to that island as a prisoner, +to undergo trial for alleged misdemeanors committed when he was +Governor. This strenuous action was taken in 1525. Zuazo complained +bitterly of such harsh treatment, which probably was unwarranted. At any +rate, he was acquitted; whereupon he went to Hispaniola and spent the +remainder of his life there in prosperity. + +We have seen that the restoration of Velasquez to the Governorship of +Cuba came as a sort of solatium for his loss and humiliation with +respect to Mexico. But it did not altogether reconcile him to the +destruction of his hopes and ambitions. On the contrary, he conceived +the scheme of remonstrating with the King and pleading his cause in +person. Setting his affairs in order, therefore, he prepared to set sail +for Spain, and was just on the point of doing so when death supervened. +He died on June 12, 1524, and was interred, according to his wish, in +the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. + +The King, who had so recently both humiliated him and honored him, was +profoundly affected by the loss of one who had added much lustre to the +crown of Spain, and wrote for his tomb an epitaph in Latin, eloquently +setting forth his merits and his services. This was not, however, +inscribed above his remains, and soon was forgotten. Instead, there was +popularly circulated and remembered an epigram upon him coined by some +adversary whose identity is unknown. This declared Velasquez to have +been "Covetous of honor, but more covetous of gain." + +This we must regard as unjust. Velasquez had his faults, and some of +them were grave. He was at times arbitrary and ruthless, as most +empire-builders of all lands have been. He was not always grateful to +those who served him faithfully, nor was he impartial in his dealings +with men. These faults were, however, common in those times, and they +were no more marked in Velasquez than in his contemporaries. On the +other hand he unquestionably had great virtues. He had courage, vision, +enterprise, and statesmanlike views for the development of his domain. +His work in Cuba was over-shadowed by that of Cortez in Mexico and of +Pizarro in Peru, but it was in essence not less meritorious than theirs, +for which indeed it prepared and opened the way. It is one of the +tragedies of history that his very tomb should have been forgotten and +lost, and his name remembered as a name and nothing more. For in the +early history of Cuba there is no other name which stands for so much in +conquest and colonization, and in the foundation, organization and +development of the State, as that of the first Cuban Governor, Diego de +Velasquez. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Velasquez had been Governor--technically Lieutenant-Governor under the +Admiral, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola--for more than thirteen years; +save for the abortive and illegal administration of Zuazo. But after him +gubernatorial terms were destined to be of much shorter duration, and +marked with many vicissitudes. His nominal successor was appointed some +time before his death. Whether in anticipation of his decease, or with +the design of ousting him, is not clear. At any rate, at the middle of +May, probably on May 20, 1524, Juan Altamarino was named by the King to +be the next governor, for a term of two years and no more. He appears +not to have been in any way identified with the island, though probably +he had been associated with Diego Columbus in Hispaniola; and at the +time of his appointment he was in peninsular Spain. He made no haste to +go to Cuba and assume his office, wherefore it was necessary, upon the +death of Velasquez a few weeks later, that some stop-gap governor should +be named. Diego Columbus, who as Admiral might have made such temporary +appointment, was also in Spain. In consequence, the Audiencia or supreme +court of Hispaniola acted in his stead, and appointed Manuel de Rojas. + +This forceful and patriotic man was a cousin of Velasquez, who had been +sent by the latter to Spain in July, 1521, as his advocate before the +King in the controversy with Cortez over Mexico. He had served for some +time as Alcalde of Baracoa; he was a loyal friend of Velasquez, and a +man of approved ability and integrity. He was also the first Cuban +governor of Cuba. By that I mean that he was the first to regard Cuba as +a separate entity, apart from Hispaniola and Mexico and even from Spain +itself. Velasquez, vast as were his services, was never able to +dissociate the interests of Cuba from those of Spain, or even from those +of Mexico and other Spanish lands in this hemisphere, insular and +continental; and had actually compromised the welfare of Cuba in +grasping at the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Zuazo, if he is to be reckoned +in the line of governors at all, was quite alien to Cuba. But Rojas was +an insular patriot. He was of course entirely loyal to Spain. But that +fact did not restrain him from developing an intense local patriotism. +He regarded Cuba as a great enough country to command his entire +attention and devotion. His policy was, Cuba for the Cubans; and he was +the first of a line of Governors, not always unbroken, committed to that +enlightened policy. + +The island at this time, indeed, well merited such regard. It had been +extensively settled, and its resources were beginning to be developed. +Gold mining was profitably practised. Agriculture and cattle-raising had +made great progress. Juan Mosquera, as the envoy or representative of +the Cuban municipalities in Spain, had in February, 1523, secured from +the King the first recognition of and encouragement for the sugar +industry, which had already been established in Hispaniola, and which +far-sighted men perceived to be capable of great things in Cuba. He had +also, a year earlier, secured from the King grants of free trade between +Cuba and all other Spanish colonies around the Caribbean, insular or +continental; together with some reforms of the royalty system in gold +mining and a comprehensive and orderly scheme of taxation for the +building of roads and bridges and other necessary public works. In fact, +Cuba was beginning to "find herself" and to show herself worthy of the +affection and patriotism of her people. + +The administration of Rojas was for the time, however, cut short. It had +been ordered legally enough, but with the understanding that it was only +temporary, pending the coming of Altamarino. Unfortunately the +Hispaniola audiencia went too far. It also appointed Rojas to succeed +Velasquez as repartidor of the natives, which it had no right to do, the +power to make that appointment being reserved exclusively for the King +himself. It does not appear that he misused his power, or even indeed +that he exercised it at all as repartidor; though it is likely that his +illegal appointment to that office caused some quite unmerited prejudice +against him at Madrid. His administration of the governorship, which was +legal, was brief. Altamarino entered Santiago de Cuba on March 14, 1525, +and at once assumed office, and Rojas retired without demur and without +reproach. + +Altamarino had been commissioned as juez de residencia, to investigate +the administration and conduct of Velasquez. That commission came of +course from the King, but there is reason for suspecting that Diego +Columbus had something to do with it. If he did not instigate it, he +certainly heartily approved it. Now Velasquez had, at the time of +Altamarino's appointment, been living and in office. But at the time +when Altamarino actually assumed the powers and duties of the +governorship and those of the juez de residencia, Velasquez had been +dead and buried in the cathedral of Santiago for nine months. No such +trifling circumstance as that was, however, to be permitted to cause any +deviation of the course of Spanish official procedure; particularly when +the latter was urged on by personal animus. Diego Columbus had desired +and the King had commanded Velasquez to be investigated, and +investigated he must be, alive or dead. His remains were not, it is +true, to be disinterred and placed at the bar. But his name and +reputation were made the target for all manner of attack. A proclamation +was issued, inviting everybody who had anything against the former +governor to make it known, publicly, fully and fearlessly, being assured +of immunity for anything they might say. + +In response there was a mighty flood of insinuations, complaints, +accusations, calumnies. Nor did Altamarino content himself with this. +He ransacked the archives of Cuba for all complaints, protests and what +not that had ever been made, and if the makers of them could be found, +as most of them could, he summoned them before his tribunal and required +them to testify everything they could to the discredit of Velasquez. A +similar inquisition was conducted into the affairs of all the chief +office-holders and administrators under Velasquez. The result was what +might have been expected, seeing that there was no opportunity for +Velasquez to reply to the charges or to cross-examine the witnesses +against him, or to produce other testimony in rebuttal. The founder of +the Cuban State was charged with the acceptance of gifts, including a +horse and a mule; with having levied and collected taxes without special +authority from the King, though these were admittedly for road-building +and other useful public purposes; with having participated in gambling +games, though Rojas pointed out that his fellow gamblers were among the +foremost members of the community; with having failed to check and +punish blasphemous utterances; with having neglected to pay for some of +the supplies which were taken for his Mexican expeditions; and with +having administered justice without due regard to the letter of the +statute law, which was not strange, seeing that he was not a lawyer. In +his mortuary absence, he was found guilty, by default, and was condemned +to pay heavy fines; which were collected from his heirs. + +The dead lion was not, however, without his vengeance upon the jackals +that would defile his sepulchre. The inquisition went too far, and too +dearly disclosed its animus. A vigorous resentment and reaction soon +arose, widespread and formidable; among the municipal councils and among +the people. The kinsmen and friends of Velasquez were numerous, loyal to +his memory, and powerful in influence. Gonzalo de Guzman, who had been +the advocate of Velasquez at court at Madrid, not only against Cortez +but also against Diego Columbus himself, and Nuņez de Guzman, the royal +treasurer at Santiago de Cuba, were brothers-in-law of Velasquez; and +Andres Duero, Pedro de Paz, and Diego de Soto were his steadfast +friends. These were all men of wealth and influence. Like Rojas, they +were Cuban colonists, and resented meddling in Cuban affairs by one whom +they considered an outsider. They were, moreover, life members of the +Municipal Council of Santiago, by appointment of the King, and were +therefore independent of the Governor so far as their tenure of office +was concerned, and removable only by the King. + +They therefore arrayed themselves solidly against Altamarino, and +rallied to the opposition the councils of the other municipalities and +many of the principal men throughout the island. Altamarino replied by +trumping up charges against several of the life councillors, of having +expended public funds without authorization, and suspended them from +their functions, or attempted to do so. He certainly could not remove +them outright, and there was much question of his right to suspend them, +unless during actual trial in court. The Guzmans and their allies +retorted by obtaining from the court at Hispaniola an injunction +restraining Altamarino from attending meetings of the Council, so that +he would not know whether the suspended members continued their +functions or not. Against this the Governor furiously protested, +declaring that his predecessors had habitually attended all Council +meetings, and he issued an order forbidding the Council of Santiago to +transact any business whatever or indeed to meet officially, in his +absence. Of course this brought matters to an impasse, which could be +solved only through appeal to the King. This was made, and resulted in a +royal decision in favor of the Councils, confirming the injunction of +the Hispaniola tribunal against the Governor's intrusion into council +meetings. + +This, in the early autumn of 1525, was obviously the beginning of the +end for Altamarino. A little later, in October of that year, the +various municipal councils of the island united in sending Rodrigo Duran +to Hispaniola, to prefer to the court there charges against Altamarino +of a most serious character. They were indeed tantamount to his +impeachment and a demand for his removal from the Governorship. The +court hesitated to take action so radical, but considered the charges +sufficiently important to warrant reference to the King. The result was +that the King promptly decided against the Governor. Less than nine +months after his actual assumption of office, and little more than a +year and a half after his appointment to it, Altamarino was summarily +removed from the place to which he had been appointed for two years. + +Immediately after this, at the beginning of December, 1525, Altamarino's +chief antagonist, Gonzalo de Guzman, a life Councillor of Santiago, was +appointed to succeed him as Governor, and also as Repartidor of the +natives, with all the plenary authority that Velasquez had exercised. +Nor was that all. Guzman was commissioned juez de residencia, to +investigate the affairs of the deposed Altamarino as the latter had +investigated those of the deceased Velasquez. Guzman appears not +actually to have taken office until April 25, 1526, and not to have +begun his inquest into his predecessor's affairs until midsummer of that +year. But he then made up for the delay with the searching and ruthless +character of his investigation. We can scarcely doubt that he was moved +by a large degree of personal vindictiveness. Certainly he seemed to try +to be as irritating and as humiliating to Altamarino as possible; the +more so, perhaps, because he realized that there was nothing serious to +be proved, and that the chief penalty the ex-Governor would suffer would +be the heckling and denunciation which he received during the +investigation. There were charges enough against him, but not one +warranted any severe punishment. As a matter of fact, all the penalties +imposed upon him were light, and they were all promptly remitted by the +King; the royal advisers at Madrid reporting to His Majesty that the +whole business had been nothing but a tempest in a teapot. Nevertheless, +the episode ended the career of Altamarino in Cuba. He at once departed +to Mexico, and was seen in the island no more. + +We may now fittingly observe a certain highly significant political +development which at this time was manifested in the island. Reference +has already been made to the rise of a feeling of local pride and +municipal independence in the various provinces into which the island +was divided, and also to the marked assertion of insular patriotism +under Rojas and his colleagues. The former movement dated from as early +as 1518, when Panfilo de Narvaez secured from the King a decree giving +to some of the members of municipal councils life terms of office. In +that year, accordingly, Gonzalo de Guzman and Diego de Sumana were +appointed by the King to be life Councillors, or Regidors, in Santiago; +Alonzo Bembrilla and Bernardino Yniguez in Trinidad; and Francisco Santa +Cruz and, as we might suppose, Panfilo de Narvaez himself in Bayamo. A +little later Diego de Caballero and Fernando de Medina were appointed in +Sancti Spiritus, and Rodrigo Canon and Sancho de Urrutia in Puerto del +Principe. In addition to these there were, of course, other Councillors +appointed by the Governor for limited terms. But the life Councillors +gave tone and direction to the municipal administrations and developed a +certain degree of local independence of the general government of the +island. In brief, there began to be promulgated at this early date the +salutary principle that the various municipalities or provinces were to +enjoy home rule in all purely local matters, while of course remaining +subject to the Governor in everything relating to the general welfare of +the island; and also that the island was to enjoy home rule in all +matters pertaining exclusively to it, while subject and loyal to the +Crown in everything affecting the general welfare and integrity of the +Spanish kingdom and its colonial empire. + +The motives and purpose of Narvaez in seeking this permanent tenure for +municipal Councillors have been much debated. He has been charged by +some, and not unnaturally, with a selfish purpose to entrench himself +and his friends irremovably in office. On the other hand there have been +those who have credited him with a high-minded and statesmanlike design +of promoting the welfare of Cuba by securing stability of local +government under the best men. Knowing what we do of his character, it +seems reasonable to suppose that the latter motive was potent, even if +the other also had some influence. What is quite certain is, however, +that the system quickly became a formidable power in Cuban politics, +sometimes beneficent and sometimes mischievous. These permanent +Councillors were powerful in bringing to naught the brief administration +of Zuazo, and they formed, as already stated, the head and front of the +successful opposition to Altamarino. At the same time, through their +control of the election of alcaldes and other local officers they gave +to the local administrations a stability which they might not otherwise +have enjoyed. + +With the accession of Gonzalo de Guzman to the Governorship, however, a +strong and widespread reaction against the Councillors arose. This was +doubtless largely provoked by the injudicious action of Guzman himself. +As a life Councillor of Santiago he had been foremost in securing the +exclusion of Altamarino from sessions of the councils. But when he +himself became Governor, he retained his life Councillorship and +therefore insisted upon his right to continue attending the meetings. +Remonstrance against this was made, to the King; he having appointed +Guzman to both offices; but he declined to interfere. He did, however, +appoint additional life Councillors, enough largely to outnumber the +partisans of Guzman. He also took the very important step of authorizing +each municipality to elect from among its Councillors a Procurator, or +public advocate, corresponding in some respects to a Tribune of the +ancient Roman Republic. + +These procurators soon found their chief occupation in resisting and +protesting against those acts of the Councils which they deemed inimical +to the public welfare. The procurators of all the municipalities met +together, to compare notes and to take counsel together for the common +good, and there was an increasing inclination among them to oppose what +they regarded as the growing tyranny of the Councils. At such a meeting +of all the procurators, in March, 1528, Manuel de Rojas, procurator for +Bayamo, took the sensational action of presenting a formal popular +protest against what was described as the arrogance and oligarchical +tendencies of the Councils. This provoked an impassioned reply from Juan +de Quexo, the procurator for Havana, who denied the statements and +insinuations of the document and opposed its reception by the meeting. +But after an acrimonious controversy, Rojas won the day. The protest was +received, adopted by the convention, and forwarded to the King of Spain. +Together with it the procurators forwarded to the King some radical +recommendations for the improvement of the insular government. These +were, that the Governor should always be selected from among the bona +fide residents of the island and should be appointed for a term of three +years; that the life tenure of Councillors should be abolished; and that +all councillors, alcaldes and procurators should be elected yearly by +the people. + +These suggestions were not in their entirety received favorably by the +King. He refused outright to adopt those relating to the selection and +appointment of governors, and to the abolition of life councillorships. +He did, however, order that the procurators should be elected yearly by +the people, and he greatly enlarged the functions and powers of that +office. A new system of choosing alcaldes was also decreed. Instead of +their being elected yearly by the Councils, it was ordered that the +Council presided over by the alcalde should nominate two candidates, +that the Council members without the alcalde should nominate two more, +and that the Governor should name one; and that from among these five a +first and second alcalde should be chosen by lot. + +Thus in the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman the principle of "Cuba +for the Cubans," afterward long neglected, was pretty efficiently +established. The Governor, at that time, and all other royal officers of +the island, were Cuban colonists; and the people were invested with +power to select their own procurators or advocates, who were +irremovable, and who were competent to represent the people not only in +the Cuban courts and in those of Hispaniola, but also before the Royal +Council for the Indies at Madrid, and who were empowered to proceed +against the municipal councils, the royal officials, or even the +Governor himself. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +The early part of the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman was chiefly +occupied with the investigation of his predecessors' stewardships, and +with controversies with the municipal councils. There was also a +controversy with the Crown over the payment to him of a salary for his +services, which he requested of the King, and which the King ordered to +be paid to him, but which he did not receive. Then came complications +over the royal treasurership in the island. Christopher de Cuellar had +been succeeded in that office by Pedro Nuņez de Guzman. The latter died, +leaving a considerable fortune, and the colonial government at +Hispaniola immediately designated Andres Duero to succeed him +temporarily, until the King should make a permanent appointment; the +expectation apparently being that Duero would be confirmed in the +office. Unfortunately for the success of this design, however, the +temporary appointment had been made without consulting the royal +officials; who were not unnaturally piqued and offended. The result was +that a protest was made to the King, not only against the method of his +appointment but also against Duero himself. To this the King listened +sympathetically, and he presently overruled the appointment of Duero, +and in place of him named Hernando de Castro as temporary treasurer, +until such time as he could have conditions investigated and could +select some fitting man as a permanent incumbent. + +Oddly enough, Castro had once before supplanted Duero, as the royal +factor in Cuba. This office had first been held by Bernardino Velasquez, +upon whose death Andres Duero had been appointed to hold it temporarily, +only to be speedily replaced by Castro. The latter appears to have been +one of the most enterprising men of affairs of that time, and to have +done more than most of his contemporaries for the industrial and +economic development of the island. He became engaged in commerce +between Spain and the West Indies at an early date, and paid much +attention to agriculture, which he believed would be the chief permanent +industry of Cuba. It was he who introduced the cultivation of wheat and +other staples, with a view to making the island self-supporting, and for +such activities he received the formal thanks of the King. +Unfortunately, he too somewhat compromised himself by attempting to +appropriate as his own the native Cubans who had been the serfs of +Bernardino Velasquez and whom Duero, the factor pro tempore, had seized. + +Soon after the replacing of Duero with Castro as treasurer pro tempore +the former died, and then the latter was in turn replaced by the +permanent appointment of Lopez Hurtado, who held the place for many +years, and who was distinguished at once for his honesty and his +irrepressible cantankerousness. He seemed to have a mania for +faultfinding; though doubtless there was much legitimate occasion for +the exercise of that faculty. To his mind, almost every other man in +Cuba was a knave, and he never wearied of reporting to the King, in +interminable written messages, his complaints and accusations. Not only +in spite of but also because of this he was a most useful public +servant. + +Pedro Nuņez de Guzman, who died in 1527, left, as we have seen, a +considerable fortune. Practically all of it was left to his widow, and +her the thrifty Gonzalo de Guzman presently married, and thus got +himself into one of the most serious controversies of his whole career. +A part of the fortune of Pedro consisted of about two hundred Cuban +serfs. These Gonzalo de Guzman, as Repartidor, transferred to the widow, +and then, of course, when he married her, they became his property. This +roused the animosity of the honest but cantankerous Hurtado, who thought +that the Cubans should have been given to himself, as their former +owner's official successor; according to the example set by Hernando de +Castro, as already related. Hurtado accordingly wrote to the King a long +letter on the subject, which, though it did not cause intervention in +that special matter, attracted the King's attention to the complications +which the Guzman marriage was producing. + +The mother of the late Pedro Nuņez de Guzman next appeared as a party to +the controversy. This lady, Doņa Leonora de Quiņones, who had remained +in Spain, complained that a great injustice had been done to her and to +her other children by the transfer of Pedro's entire fortune to his +widow and thence to the latter's second husband, and she applied to the +Spanish courts for relief. The result was a series of lawsuits, which +scandalized the Spanish courts for a term of years. In these suits many +prominent Cubans were involved, and nearly the whole population of the +island took sides for one or the other of the parties. Street brawls +occurred over it, and the violence culminated in a physical scuffle in +the aisle of the cathedral, between Gonzalo de Guzman and the Alcalde of +Santiago, in which the latter had most of his clothes torn from his +back, and for which Guzman was required to do penance. + +The King had given his assent to the Guzman marriage, and was unwilling +to withdraw it, or to censure Guzman for taking and striving to retain +all of Pedro's estate. Nevertheless he remonstrated with the litigants +for the fury of their controversy, which he truly told them was not only +a disgrace to the island but was also a grave practical injury to it. +The conflict continued, however, until all the resources of the law +courts were exhausted. By that time many of the lawyers were +considerably enriched, but a still large part of the estate was +confirmed in the possession of Gonzalo de Guzman and his wife. All this +militated against the confidence with which Guzman had been regarded, +and hastened steps for the subjection of him to the fate of his +predecessors. + +We have seen that Guzman had been commissioned to investigate the +administration of his predecessor, Altamarino, and that he had performed +that congenial task with energy and zeal. Now came his own turn to +undergo the same treatment. It was only a little more than two years +after his accession to the governorship that the King or the Crown +officials in Spain concluded that it would be well to have his affairs +looked into. For the performance of this work Juan Vadillo was selected, +in the autumn of 1528. He was a notably efficient man. He had been +employed for some time by the crown as a debt-collector in Cuba, +Hispaniola, Jamaica and Porto Rico, and had been highly successful in +that work; wherefore it was thought that he would subject Guzman's +administration to a particularly thorough examination. + +He declined, however, to accept the commission; for a variety of +reasons. One was, that he had thitherto taken his orders and received +his commissions directly from the King, and he considered it beneath his +dignity now to be an underling of a mere Admiral of the Indies--or of +the widow of the Admiral, since the commission for this job was to be +given by the widow of Diego Columbus. Another reason was found in the +terms on which the commission was to be granted. He was to be governor +of Cuba for thirty days. During that time he was to conduct his +investigation of Guzman's administration. Then, with the assumption that +thirty days would afford him ample time to complete the work, he was to +restore the governorship to Guzman, apparently quite irrespective of the +result of his inquest. Still another reason was, that his instructions +were not sufficiently explicit. It was not, for example, made clear +whether he was to replace Guzman as repartidor as well as in the +governorship. A final reason, perhaps not least of all, was that the +salary offered was not sufficient. + +While thus declining to accept the commission, Vadillo manifested his +fitness for it and his serviceable interest in Cuban affairs by pointing +out to the sovereign various grave defects in the administration of +Cuban affairs, particularly in that of the repartidor's functions. One +important object of the repartimiento system was to assure a suitable +distribution of native labor throughout the island. It was in fact +operating to just the contrary effect. Some parts of the island were +overcrowded, while others were almost entirely destitute of labor. These +representations had their effect at court; not, it is true, in the +ordering of correction of the evils, but in confirming the desire to +have Vadillo investigate insular affairs. + +After more than two years' delay, then, on February 27, 1531, another +summons was sent to Vadillo. This time it was not a request but a +peremptory order to go at once to Cuba and undertake the work. The +conditions were, however, materially changed. He was to have his +commission from the King. He was to be governor for sixty days instead +of thirty. He was to be repartidor, also, in conjunction with the Bishop +of Cuba. He was to have an adequate salary. And at the end of his +investigation of Guzman's administration he was to hand the governorship +over, not necessarily to Guzman again, but to anyone whom he might +choose, until the widow of Diego Columbus should make a permanent +appointment. + +On these conditions Vadillo accepted the commission and entered upon his +work with the efficiency and zeal that had marked his former +undertaking. He quickly found that there was much need for +investigation, and of thorough reforms. The whole administration had +become demoralized by the personal jealousies and local feuds which for +years had been raging. Bribery, slander, false arrest, even murder, had +been resorted to by political partisans for the accomplishment of their +ends, until something like chaos had been precipitated upon the unhappy +island. It was in November, 1531, that Vadillo arrived at Santiago de +Cuba on his formidable errand. He purposed to spend a few weeks in +preliminary surveys of the ground, announcing that his sixty days' +incumbency of the governorship would begin on January 1. + +On the latter date the actual house-cleaning began. The tremendous +indictment which Guzman had made against Altamarino was a petty trifle +in comparison with that which Vadillo launched against Guzman. There was +scarcely any conceivable form of maladministration which was not charged +against the governor. He had, said Vadillo, interfered with freedom of +suffrage at elections. He had levied and collected taxes for which there +was no warrant in law. He had appointed and commissioned notaries, +although he had no legal power to do so. He had failed to compel married +men either to return to their wives in Spain or to send for their wives +to come to Cuba. He had permitted illicit trade in slaves. He had been +biassed and partial in his administration of justice. All these and +other accusations were made with much circumstance and with a formidable +array of corroborative testimony, against Guzman as governor. Against +him as repartidor it was charged that he had been guilty of gross and +injurious misrepresentations to the Crown and to the people; that he had +assigned natives as serfs to his relatives and friends in defiance of +law; and that he had made the distribution of native labor inequitable. + +All these charges were indignantly denied by Guzman, who defended +himself with much vigor and shrewdness. But Vadillo found him to be +guilty of almost every one of them, and sentenced him to pay a heavy +fine and to be removed from office, both as governor and as repartidor. +Against this judgment Guzman made appeal to the Council for the Indies, +in Spain. In order to bring all possible influence to bear upon that +body, he himself went to Spain, in August, 1532, carrying a vast mass of +documents, and accompanied by Bishop Ramirez, who was returning to Spain +to be consecrated. This ecclesiastic had been Guzman's most staunch and +zealous partisan during the investigation. He had gone so far as to +threaten with excommunication anyone who should testify against the +governor, and had actually excommunicated Vadillo. Against this act +Vadillo had protested to the King, and the King had reprimanded the +Bishop and had compelled him to withdraw the writ of excommunication. +Guzman therefore took the Bishop along with him, partly so that the +latter might be formally consecrated and have his conduct if possible +vindicated, and partly to aid himself in his appeal to the Council for +the Indies. + +Vadillo did not trouble himself to go to Spain to counteract Guzman's +appeal. A month before the departure of Guzman and the Bishop he left +Cuba for Hispaniola, conscious of having done his duty. He had been a +fearless and thorough investigator and a just judge; and he had rendered +to Cuba and to the Spanish crown services far greater than he ever +received compensation or credit for. Indeed, he did not enjoy so much as +the gratitude of the people of Cuba, most of whom were partisans of +Guzman or of some other political leader, and had become so accustomed +to the corrupt ways which had been followed for years that they were +inclined to resent any attempt at reform. + +Upon the expiration of his sixty days' incumbency, Vadillo designated +Manuel de Rojas to be governor in his stead, until an appointment of +permanent character could be made by the Admiral at Hispaniola. Rojas +was reluctant to accept the place, knowing that he would find it more +arduous and even perilous than before, but he was finally prevailed upon +to do so, apparently more through a sense of public duty than for any +expectation of personal advantage. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +The first governorship of Gonzalo de Guzman was marked with two features +of very great importance to the young nation--for such we may properly +regard Cuba as having been at that time. One of these was the +development of the ecclesiastical establishment into a strong and +sometimes dominant force in the body politic and social; and the other +was the crisis of the protracted problem of dealing with or disposing of +the native Indians. These two matters were, as they had been from the +beginning, closely related to each other. + +It is a commonplace of history that there was a certain thread of +religious motive running all through the exploits of Columbus. He +emphasized the significance of his name, Christopher, Christ-Bearer, +sometimes signing himself X. Ferens. The same idea was expressed, as we +have already seen, in the names which he gave to the various lands which +he discovered. Nor were his successors in exploration and conquest +neglectful of the same spirit. Accordingly the first Spanish settlers in +Cuba took pains to plant there immediately the church of their faith, +and to seek to convert the natives to Christianity. Among the very +earliest to land upon the shores of the island were priests of the Roman +Catholic church, and the first church was built at the first point of +settlement, Baracoa. + +Some obscurity invests the records of the early ecclesiastical +organization, but it seems altogether probable that the first Bishop was +Hernando de Mesa, a member of the Order of St. Dominic. There is no +available record of his appointment and consecration, but he appears to +have begun his episcopal work at Baracoa in 1513 and 1514. He built the +first Cuban cathedral at Baracoa, and secured from the Spanish +government in 1515 a system of tithes for the support and propagation of +the church. These tithes were to be paid not in coin but in +merchandise, and they were to be collected not by the priests or other +agents of the church, but by officers of the secular government. The +latter was, moreover, to retain one-third of them for the erection of +new church buildings, a task which it took upon itself as a measure of +public works. It was not infrequently remarked that these royal +tithe-gatherers were much more diligent, prompt and efficient in +collecting the tithes from the people than in turning the proceeds over +to the church. + +Bishop De Mesa reigned over the diocese for about three years, and then +was succeeded by Juan de Ubite, concerning whom the records are much +more detailed and explicit. He seems to have been an aggressive and +fearless man, who did not hesitate to engage in controversy and even in +litigation with the royal government over the matter of the tithes. He +protested against the government's retaining and administering the +one-third of the tithes which was devoted to church-building, insisting +that it also should be turned over to the ecclesiastical authorities, +who were best fitted to know the needs and to direct the work of church +building. In this contention he was not successful, but he did manage to +secure the levying of tithes upon the crown estates the same as upon all +other property. + +One of the most important achievements of Bishop Ubite was the transfer +of the cathedral from Baracoa to Santiago. For this change he gave two +reasons. One was, that Baracoa was an unhealthful spot; in which he was +surely in error. The other was, that Santiago was a larger and more +important place, indeed, the chief city of the island; in which he was +quite correct. The transfer was authorized by the civil government in +October, 1522, and plots of land were granted to the Bishop for the +sites of the new cathedral and of the houses of the Bishop and other +clergy. These latter were the same plots which are still occupied by +ecclesiastical buildings, in the heart of the city of Santiago de Cuba. + +This change of the site of the cathedral was doubtless to the advantage +of the church. It was probably profitable, also, to the good Bishop +personally. Following it he became the proprietor of extensive lands, of +great herds of cattle, and of a number of Negro and Indian slaves. He +interested himself to good effect in seeing to it that the civil +government provided from its third of the tithes abundant funds for +church building, and thus secured the erection of two churches at +Trinidad, one at Sancti Spiritus, and one at Havana, a place even at +that early date rising rapidly in importance. + +Bishop Ubite reigned over the diocese until April, 1525, and then, in +circumstances which are obscure and for reasons not clearly apparent, +took the extraordinary step of resigning his see. The office remained +vacant until early in 1527, when Miguel Ramirez was appointed to it. +This third Bishop was, like each of his predecessors, a Dominican. He +was officially styled not only Bishop but also Protector of the Indians, +with the purpose of making him a sort of check upon the Repartidor. He +did not arrive at Santiago until the fall of 1528, when he promptly made +up for the delay by plunging into both industrial and political +activities. Like Bishop Ubite, he was an extensive land owner, +cattle-raiser and slaveholder. + +Bishop Ramirez appears to have been a great meddler into politics, +particularly as a hot partisan of Gonzalo de Guzman. He came into +conflict more than once with the royal treasurer, Hurtado, and was +denounced by that austere censor as a scandalous disturber of the peace. +This characterization was provoked by the Bishop's attitude and conduct +toward Vadillo's investigation of Guzman's administration; and it is +probably not unjust to assume that the Bishop's attitude and conduct +were due to the fact that Vadillo had seized a lot of gold which had +been mined by the husband of the Bishop's niece. Vadillo made this +seizure on two grounds: That the nephew-in-law was a mere figure-head +for the Bishop himself, who had no legal right to engage in +gold-mining; and that the gold in question properly belonged to the +royal treasury and therefore should be turned over to Hurtado. At any +rate the Bishop was furious, and strove to restrain, with threats of +excommunication, witnesses from testifying against Guzman in the +inquests which Vadillo was conducting. Vadillo was not at all alarmed or +abashed by the episcopal wrath, but proceeded to look into the affairs +of the church as well as the civil government, and among other reforms +ordered the Bishop and clergy to stop charging for funeral masses higher +fees than those which were charged in Hispaniola. At this the Bishop +seems quite to have lost his head. He began a denunciatory tirade +against Vadillo in the cathedral, at which the latter contemptuously +turned his back upon the speaker and walked out of the building. Then +the Bishop excommunicated him. Vadillo made appeal to the King, and the +King, after careful consideration and investigation, compelled the +Bishop to withdraw the excommunication, and in addition gave his royal +approval to all that Vadillo had done with respect to the church. + +In the first clash between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, +therefore, the former were victorious. Nevertheless, the church exerted +much and steadily increasing influence, particularly in matters relating +to the Indian natives. And these matters were of much importance. +Although the repartimiento system, adopted early in the administration +of Velasquez, was designed and supposed to put all the natives under +government control, it failed to do so. Among those apportioned to the +colonists as serfs--practically slaves--dissatisfaction and resentment +widely prevailed, and insurrections sometimes occurred. But by no means +all the natives were thus apportioned. Some fled to mountain fastnesses, +and others, perhaps the majority, to the small islands or Keys off the +Cuban coast, whence they became known as Key Indians. They used these +islands, moreover, not alone as places of refuge but also as bases from +which to make depredatory raids upon the mainland of Cuba, to the great +detriment and disturbance of the Spanish settlers. + +So numerous, extensive and disastrous did these raids become that +Velasquez in 1523 commissioned Rodrigo de Tamayo to organize a military +and naval expedition against the Key Indians, and to kill or capture +them all. This programme was not fully carried out, but it was +sufficiently executed to abate the troubles and to secure peace on the +coasts for several years. Tamayo's commission was renewed by Altamarino, +as a matter of form, there being then no need of action; and when in the +administration of Gonzalo de Guzman there was some recrudescence of +hostilities, the royal government specially authorized the waging of a +campaign which should bring the last of the Key Indians into subjection. +The new outbreaks did not, however, prove sufficiently serious to call +for or to warrant strenuous action. + +The scene of trouble was, however, shifted from the coast to the +interior of the island. Several numerous companies of Indians, securely +lodged among the mountains, began hostilities, raiding the very suburbs +of Santiago itself. They were known as Cimarrons, or Wild Indians, to +distinguish them from the serfs and slaves. Their pernicious activities +began in 1529, and in the following year their operations were so +extensive and persistent as to simulate civil war. Manuel de Rojas +organized a force and led it against them with much success, and would +probably have soon made an end of the troubles had he not been +restrained by Guzman. The governor was probably jealous of the ability, +popularity and rising influence of Rojas, and was not willing that he +should gain the prestige which complete victory would confer upon him. +So he called him back in circumstances which would, he thought, +discredit Rojas and make his campaign seem a failure. Vadillo during his +brief administration sought to end the troubles by pacific and +conciliatory overtures, but failed. + +It was thus left for Rojas, on becoming governor in succession to +Guzman, to take up again the work from which he had been recalled by his +predecessor. This he did to much effect at the end of 1532. He sent a +strong force against the mountain fastness of Guama, the foremost +chieftain of the Cimarrons, and completely defeated him, putting him to +flight and almost extirpating his band. Shortly after this victory of +Rojas's, Guama was killed by one of his own few remaining followers. +Rojas then sent his troops to disperse Cimarron bands near Bayamo, and +Baracoa, which they did with much success, so that peace and security +were pretty well restored throughout the island. + +This left unsettled, however, the other and in some respects more +important and more trying phase of the Indian question, namely, the +treatment and disposal of the "tame" Indians, who for years had been in +a state of practical slavery under the repartimiento system. It will be +recalled that at the beginning they were placed under the protection of +the Jeronimite Order of monks; a protection which did not effectively +protect. In fact, within a dozen years of the foundation of the system +the Jeronimites were more oppressors than protectors, and were chiefly +engaged in making what pecuniary profit they could out of their hapless +wards. On this account their nominal protectorate was formally abolished +by the crown, in 1526, and Gonzalo de Guzman was made repartidor with +powers equal to those which Velasquez had exercised. Indeed, his powers +were even more absolute than those of Velasquez, since the supreme court +of Hispaniola was deprived of jurisdiction over him in his +administration of Indian affairs. Later the Bishop, Ramirez, was made +co-repartidor with him. + +There then arose a protracted and bitter rivalry between the governor +and Bishop on the one side and the municipal alcaldes on the other, for +the exercise of powers of inspection of and supervision over the labor +of the natives. Both sides appointed inspectors, whose functions +clashed. Appeal was made to the crown, with the result that the dispute +was decided in favor of the alcaldes, who were authorized to appoint +inspectors, which the governor and Bishop were forbidden to do. As is +usual in such cases, the objects of the contention were the chief +sufferers. Indeed, so wretched became their plight that some inkling of +the truth reached the ears of the King, who thereupon commissioned a +Provincial of the Franciscan Order to go from Hispaniola to Cuba, to +investigate charges of cruelty, and to punish severely all who were +found guilty. The King also directed that he should arrange for the +liberation of the natives to the fullest extent for which they seemed to +be fitted. + +Learning of this before the arrival of this commissioner, Guzman and his +friends set energetically to work to defeat his mission in advance. A +vast mass of "evidence" was cooked up, pretending to demonstrate the +unfitness of the Indians for any greater measure of liberty than they +were already enjoying, which was practically none at all. It was +declared that the Indians were at that very time largely armed and +threatening the Spaniards with massacre and extermination, and that any +further privileges granted to them would certainly provoke a tragic +catastrophe. The Indians would exterminate the Spanish colonists and of +course revert to heathen idolatry, and it would be necessary to conquer +and to convert the island over again. This perjured stuff, +responsibility for which must be regarded as the worst stain upon +Gonzalo de Guzman's fame, was presented to the King in the name of the +government and people of Cuba. + +But King Charles was no fool. Thousands of miles away though he was, and +absorbed in important problems of other parts of his vast empire, he +took pains to find out the truth about Cuba. Learning it, he threw the +stuff which Guzman had sent him into the waste basket, gave his +Franciscan commissioner stronger orders, declared that he wanted the +Indians to be treated as free men and not as slaves, and promulgated a +set of new laws concerning them. In connection with these laws, as a +statement of the need of them, the King delivered himself of a scathing +indictment of the Cuban government and people for ill-treatment of the +natives and for causing depopulation of the island. (The original +population of the island at the time of the first Spanish settlements is +unknown, but has reasonably been estimated at several hundred thousand. +By the end of Guzman's administration the number of surviving Indians +was reckoned at not more than five thousand!) + +These new laws, issued in the latter part of 1526, forbade further +compulsion of the Indians as laborers in the mines. But in the course of +a few weeks some modifications of them--to the disadvantage of the +Indians--were obtained through false representations at court, with the +result that conditions became almost as bad as before. The King next +directed Sebastian Ramirez, who was Bishop of Hispaniola and president +of the supreme court, to report to him on the desirability of retaining +or abolishing the repartimiento system; and that functionary reported in +favor of retaining it. Then Miguel Ramirez was made Bishop of Cuba and +Protector of the Indians; and he, as we have seen, fell completely under +the influence of Guzman. The result was that no reforms were effected, +and the state of the Indians went from bad to worse. + +The King learned of this, and was profoundly dissatisfied. In the latter +part of 1529 he demanded to know why reforms had not been effected, and +especially why there had not been made the experiment of granting the +natives entire freedom. Equivocal replies were made, and it was not +until the spring of 1531 that Guzman undertook the experiment. At that +time one of the colonists, who had held some 120 slaves, died, and +Guzman directed that they be set at liberty and be given a chance to +show what they could do as farmers. Every conceivable condition was +imposed upon them which would tend to make the experiment the failure +which Guzman intended that it should be. In the midst of the +experiment, which was to last a year, Guzman was removed from office. +Vadillo, who succeeded him for sixty days, had no authority to do +anything in the premises, and so the completion of the ill-begun +business was left for Manuel de Rojas. + +Then began one of the most deplorable passages in all the early history +of Cuba, in which good intentions were frustrated, benevolent purposes +defeated, and the remnants of a race undeservedly doomed to destruction. +Manuel de Rojas should be credited with having been of all men of this +time one of the most honest and able, and most sincere in his desire to +do justice to the native Indians. He saw through the web of trickery and +malign conditions in which they had been enmeshed by those who were +predetermined that the experiment of emancipation should fail, and he +unsparingly denounced it all. The Indians who had been "selected" for +the experiment had in fact not been selected at all, but had been taken +at haphazard, without regard to their fitness; if indeed they had not +been taken largely because of their unfitness. They had, moreover, been +subjected to the instruction and direction of those who seemed more +interested in extorting profit from them than in assisting them to +independence. + +Rojas demanded that these abuses should be corrected, and that the +natives should have at least a fair, unhampered chance to show +themselves fit for freedom and Cuban citizenship. As a result of his own +painstaking investigation, he reported to the King that the tales of +Indian insurrections, actual or threatened, which his predecessor had +circulated, were chiefly false; obviously invented for the purpose of +discrediting the Indians. It was the old story: "Give a dog a bad name, +and hang him." The Indians were to be slandered, and represented as +incorrigible criminals, and then doomed to slavery. Moreover, in the few +cases in which revolts or attempted revolts had occurred, the blame +should rest upon the Spaniards more than upon the Indians, for the +former had goaded the latter to desperation by inhuman cruelties, in +resisting which the Indians were manifesting not savagery but manhood. + +In support of this view of the situation, Rojas was able to cite many +specific and perfectly well authenticated instances of cruelty and +injustice. To correct these evils he recommended that whenever it was +proved that a mine-owner, farmer or other employer of native labor, had +deliberately treated his Indians cruelly or unjustly, the men should be +taken away from him and either set at liberty or be assigned to a more +humane employer. The danger of thus being deprived of their workmen +would, he plausibly believed, restrain employers from brutality. He also +insisted that the professional "slave catchers," who made a profitable +business of running down and returning to their employers fugitive +Indians, and who notoriously treated such captives with gross cruelty, +should be forbidden longer to ply their nefarious trade. + +This wise and humane policy was approved by the crown, and Rojas +sincerely and perseveringly strove to make it effective throughout the +island; devoting to it for a couple of years the greater part of his +time and attention. But unfortunately he found the people, the civil +officials, and to a large extent the clergy, arrayed against him. The +_auri sacra fames_ possessed the people. Slave labor was profitable; +therefore they resented and opposed anything which would deprive them of +it. Especially did they oppose the provision that men should be deprived +of their workmen because they had treated them cruelly. Fines or other +penalties for excessive brutality might be well enough, but to take a +man's slaves away from him was, in their opinion, going too far. He was +not thus deprived of his horses and cattle. Why should he be deprived of +his Indians? + +Yet in the face of such opposition Rojas bravely persevered. He seems to +have been animated by two motives, both creditable and honorable. One +was that of humanity and justice. It revolted him to see his fellow +human beings treated as badly as beasts. The other was that of patriotic +policy. He believed that it was bad for Cuba, that it corrupted the +present and compromised the future, to maintain this abominable system +of human slavery. So he flung himself into the work of emancipation and +reform with all the resolution and energy of which he was capable. He +travelled over the island, personally inspecting the conditions of labor +at all points, and personally listening to all complaints, petitions, +suggestions and what not that were offered. Particularly was he +interested in the "experimental village" near Bayamo, where natives were +trying to work out their own salvation on farms of their own. He +corrected as far as possible the unfavorable conditions which had been +imposed upon them, and encouraged them to their best efforts. + +Unfortunately the royal government had been misled into sanctioning the +imposition upon these people of burdens "almost too heavy to be borne." +Regardless of the fact that as inexpert beginners in agriculture they +were not likely in the first year or two to make large profits from +their labor, they were weighed down with far heavier taxation than that +to which Spanish colonists were subjected. They were required to pay a +large tribute in cash as "vassals." They were also required to pay large +salaries to various functionaries who were saddled upon them without +their desire or need. One was an ecclesiastic, who was charged with +protecting their spiritual welfare. Another was a layman, who was +supposed to be their political guide, philosopher and friend. These +overseers probably did them much more harm than good, though Rojas seems +to have selected for those places the best men he could find. But the +result of these impositions was that many of the Indians became +discouraged and indicated a preference for returning to serfdom or +slavery. As free men in the experimental village they had to support +themselves and in addition to pay practically all their earnings to the +tax-gatherer. It would be better to give all their labor to an employer +who in return would at least provide them with the necessaries of +existence. + +On this ground many of the villagers indicated a desire to abandon the +experiment and return to the old system. It is probable that some of +them were really convinced that this would be best. They were driven to +despair by being thrown upon their own resources and then being +oppressed with unjust taxes. But there is also reason to suspect that +other influences were brought to bear upon many of them. They were +threatened with all manner of punishment and persecution if they did not +renounce the experiment and ask to be returned to slavery. Similar +tactics were certainly employed against those outside of the villages. +Wherever Rojas went on his tours of inspection and investigation, he +heard of natives who had complaints to make, or petitions to offer, or +who wished to be released from serfdom and to enter the free village. +But when he reached the spot and sought for these Indians, they had +disappeared, or had changed their minds. He had little doubt of foul +play, that they were smuggled out of sight, or were coerced into action +and speech contrary to their real desires; but he was seldom able to +prove it, so general was the conspiracy against emancipation. + +The result was inevitable. Rojas lost heart. It is possible that he +still clung to his beliefs, but realized that the obstacles to his +policy were too great for him to overcome. It may be, on the other hand, +that he became convinced that he had erred, that the Indians were not as +fit for freedom as he had supposed, and that their general emancipation +was impracticable. In any case, he gave up the struggle. "Before God and +his conscience," he said, he was convinced that little if any good had +come of the experiment of freedom, and that it would be best to abandon +it and to return the Indians to the control of well-disposed Spaniards; +with a proviso that any who wished for freedom and showed fitness for +it should be emancipated. A tone of sadness but of sincerity pervaded +the report in which he made this recommendation. The King accepted it +and approved it, doubtless with the same reluctance and regret which +Rojas must have had in making it; and that chapter of Cuban history was +ended. + +Not one of all the early governors of Cuba deserves more grateful memory +than Rojas. Not one of them surpassed him in ability, in statesmanship, +in executive efficiency, in breadth and penetration of vision in +discerning the needs and the possibilities of the island. Not one, +certainly, surpassed if indeed any rivalled him in integrity, +benevolence, and self-sacrificing devotion to duty. Velasquez, indeed, +occupied the governorship for a longer period, and was associated with +more striking events; naturally, being the first and the founder of the +line. But not even he had as true a public spirit or as just a +conception of the ways and means by which a substantial and prosperous +commonwealth was to be developed, as had Manuel de Rojas. + +Yet no other governor in those times was more shabbily and ungratefully +treated than he, both during and after his administration. A wise, just +judge, an indefatigable administrator, above all an honest man, he +devoted himself to the task of promoting the interests of the island, of +its people, with a sincerity and a whole-heartedness unfortunately +uncommon in those days or in any days. It is true that he failed to +solve the problem of saving the Indian natives, and some others which +confronted him. But that was not for lack of noble effort or high +purpose. It was because he was either honestly misled by those upon whom +it was necessary for him to rely, or because he found himself confronted +with difficulties too great for a man to overcome alone, and at the same +time abandoned if not actually betrayed and antagonized by those who +should have aided him and with whose aid he might have been triumphant. + +He labored at the cost of great self-sacrifice. The salary which was +paid to him by the Crown was insufficient, and his personal fortune was +not large. He was, moreover, too busy with public affairs to engage in +gainful occupations of any kind while governor, and he was too honest to +enrich himself in any devious ways. He spent his own private means +freely for public purposes, not only in official tours of the island, +but in paying the expenses of suppressing Indian outbreaks and +apprehending criminals. The result was that he found himself becoming +impoverished. Nor did he have so much as the consolation of +appreciation. Doubtless the King did appreciate, theoretically, his +loyalty, efficiency and integrity; but he altogether neglected to +manifest his appreciation in a practical manner by giving Rojas the +encouragement and support which he deserved and which he greatly needed. +So far as the people of Cuba were concerned, they showed still less +regard for him, while the majority of their political and social leaders +were openly hostile to him. Guzman and his relatives and friends, who +were numerous and powerful, in particular neglected no opportunity to +thwart, annoy or discredit him. + +In these circumstances it was not to be wondered at that Rojas grew +weary of his discouraging and ungrateful task, in which he had not even +the satisfaction of feeling that he was accomplishing something, and +consequently begged to be relieved of it. He had too high a sense of +duty to abandon his place without the permission of the King, and that +for some time was withheld. But at last his increasingly importunate +appeals had their effect. In October, 1535, the King accepted his +resignation, and, it is pleasant to record, paid him a tribute which was +unique and which must have been peculiarly gratifying to Rojas. That +was, that the examination of his accounts should be of an altogether +perfunctory and formal character. There was to be no such inquest as all +other governors had been compelled to endure. There was really no need +of any, but in order to maintain the custom one must be held. But there +were no charges, no investigations, no trials. This was the more +noteworthy because of the hostility of so many of the people, and above +all of Rojas's successor. + +But this exemption from inquest was his sole reward. He had asked to be +relieved not merely of the governorship of Cuba but also of all public +duties, in order that he might give his undivided attention to his own +personal and private interests. But this was denied him. The King +accepted his resignation of the governorship, but refused to grant him +permission to join his brother in Peru, where he had hoped to recoup his +fortunes. Instead, he sent him to Jamaica, as a royal auditor of +accounts, an arduous and somewhat invidious duty, which Rojas accepted +doubtless with much reluctance. Still more distasteful was the task +which followed it, which was to return to Cuba to conduct a judicial +investigation into the conduct of the royal officials there, including +the governor himself, and to try those who seemed deserving of +prosecution. To some this would have been a welcome undertaking, since +it involved the prosecution for serious misdemeanors of those +politicians who had been most hostile to him and had given him the +greatest annoyance; and even bringing his arch-enemy, the governor, +Guzman, under scrutiny. But it was a repugnant task to Rojas, who had no +vindictiveness in his nature, and who wished above all to get away and +remain away from the scenes of his unsuccessful labors and agonizing +ordeals. He bore himself, however, with the same firmness, integrity and +high spirit that had marked his former services, and at the end +departed, with the royal permission, from Cuba, not to visit it again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The successor of Rojas was Gonzalo de Guzman, who thus returned for a +second term of the governorship. That adroit, masterful and often +unscrupulous politician had spent his time in Spain to good advantage. +In various ways and through various methods, not altogether dissociated +from the golden treasure which he carried thither from the mines of +Cuba, he ingratiated himself with a number of influential courtiers, and +through them with the royal court itself. Before long he was able to +secure a revision of the sentence which Vadillo had passed upon him, and +a reversal of its most harsh decrees and a mitigation of others. Thus he +was largely vindicated, and was enabled to plume himself upon having +received the royal favor. At the same time he conducted, through his +faithful retainers, a campaign of intrigue in Hispaniola, with the +result that the Admiral, or Vicereine, the widow of Diego Columbus, +appointed him back to his old place as governor of Cuba. The appointment +was not to be effective, however, until ratified by the King, and such +ratification the King for some time delayed to grant. + +Guzman was confident, however, of receiving the royal ratification, and +so, without waiting for it, he proceeded to Cuba as governor-elect, and +began elaborate preparations for resuming office. That was in the +midsummer of 1534, more than a year before Rojas was permitted to +retire. Indeed, we may well believe that it was the presence and conduct +of Guzman that made the island intolerable to Rojas. For Guzman +established himself in a fine house, with a retinue of servants, and +attracted to himself most of the practical politicians of Cuba, +especially those who were inclined to "welcome the coming, speed the +parting, guest." They all knew that Rojas was to retire, and that Guzman +was to succeed him; wherefore they paid all possible deference to the +former and treated the latter with neglect if not with contempt. + +The actual change came, as we have already seen, in October, 1535. Rojas +relinquished the governorship, and Guzman resumed it; and a most +grievous decline of Cuba began. Guzman promptly set about serving his +own personal interests, rewarding his friends, and punishing all of his +opponents who were still within reach. Few of them were within reach, +however; all who could do so having fled the island, for Jamaica or +elsewhere. Cuba was thus deprived of some of its most useful citizens, +while its important public offices were filled with self-seeking +politicians. + +Happily, this unworthy and detrimental administration was short lived; +and it was ended through what was nothing less than a peaceful +revolution in the political status of Cuba. For some time there had been +controversy and litigation between the heirs of Columbus and the Spanish +crown, concerning the rights, powers and privileges of the former in the +West Indies. The suits came to an end in the spring of 1537, when a +settlement was effected, one of the bases of which was the complete +renunciation, by the heirs of Columbus, of all right, title or +jurisdiction of any kind whatever over the island of Cuba. That of +course completely separated Cuba from the jurisdiction of Hispaniola, +and made it directly responsible to and dependent upon Spain. It was no +longer an adjunct to Hispaniola, but a colony of Spain. + +Now thitherto the governor and most of the other officials in Cuba had +received their commissions from the Admiral or Vicereine in Hispaniola, +or from the Supreme Court there. Such was the case with Guzman, though +his Hispaniolan commission had received the ratification of the King. It +was therefore logically held that all commissions thus given in Cuba by +the Hispaniola government became null and void with the emancipation of +Cuba from dependence upon the other and smaller island. In consequence, +Guzman's second term in the governorship came to an end in March, 1537. + +An interregnum ensued. The King was contemplating further reorganization +of his American domains, and consequently forebore for some time to +appoint a successor to Guzman, or indeed to any of the important +officials whose terms of office had been involuntarily ended. There had +just been, as we have seen, widespread investigations and trials of +royal functionaries for frauds, and the King was solicitous to find +someone who was indubitably trustworthy, before making further +appointments. The result was that the affairs of the island, which had +been gravely disturbed and damaged by Guzman, went rapidly from bad to +worse, and threatened to plunge into utter chaos. + +Nor was the solution of this crisis for the advantage of the island. On +the contrary, it was to its still further detriment. Once before, in the +time of Velasquez, Cuba had been made to suffer greatly because of the +development of Mexico and the exodus of many enterprising Cubans to that +country. That experience was now to be repeated even more disastrously, +in the attempted development of Florida. That country had long been +known. It was placed upon the maps as early as 1502, and it was in 1513, +at the time when Velasquez was making his first settlements in Cuba, +that Juan Ponce de Leon obtained a royal charter to discover and to +settle the Island of Bimini, as it was called, on which there was +reputed to be a fountain of extraordinary curative powers, capable of +restoring to the aged all the vigor of youth. Actual colonization of +Florida was not undertaken, however, until 1521, in which enterprise +Ponce de Leon himself was wounded in a fight with Indians, and came to +Cuba to die. Again in 1527 Panfilo de Narvaez led a large expedition +from Cuba to Florida, in which he and all but four of his six hundred +men were lost in Indian fighting and in a great Gulf storm. + +[Illustration: HERNANDO DE SOTO] + +There next came upon the scene a far more formidable personage than any +of these, or indeed than any who had visited Cuba since Columbus with +the exception of Cortez. This was none other than Hernando de Soto. Like +many another famous Spanish conquistador, he was an impoverished +nobleman of Estremadura, who had been in youth a protégé of the infamous +Pedrarias d'Avila, the constructive murderer of Balboa and the scourge +of Darien. Through the bounty of d'Avila he had passed through a +university; he had gone to Darien with his patron in 1519; and in 1532 +he had gone with reenforcements to Pizarro in Peru. There he played a +great part, personally seizing the Inca monarch, Atahualpa, and +discovering the mountain pass which led to the treasure city of Cuzco. +Incidentally he seized for himself a vast fortune, with which he +returned to Spain, where he married the daughter of d'Avila and for a +time settled down in splendid state. + +When, however, Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the last +expedition of Narvaez, reached Spain with stories of the marvellous +wealth of Florida, de Soto's adventurous spirit, or his cupidity, was +again aroused. He disposed of part of his estates, purchased and armed +four ships, recruited a force of 620 foot soldiers and 120 horsemen, and +sought from the King a commission to explore, conquer and colonize +Florida. In him the King apparently saw, as he imagined, the solution of +the problem, what to do about Cuba. He accordingly joined Florida and +Cuba together, politically, making de Soto Adelantado of the former and +governor of the latter. With this commission de Soto sailed from Spain +in April, 1538, bound first for Cuba and thence for Florida. The +expedition called for a time at the Canary Islands, where its members +were richly entertained by the Governor of Gomera. There De Soto's wife, +the Lady Isabel, engaged the beautiful daughter of the Governor to +accompany her as her chief lady-in-waiting, a choice which led to some +interesting personal complications, actually affecting the progress of +the expedition. + +It was on June 7, 1538, that De Soto arrived at Santiago with probably +the most imposing fleet that had ever yet visited that port or the +waters of Cuba. It comprised more than a score of vessels, carrying more +than a thousand soldiers. This armada comprised the galleons _San +Cristobal_, _Buena Fortuna_, _Magdalena_, _Conception_, _San Juan_, _San +Antonio_, and _Santa Barbara_; one caravel (a three-masted vessel), two +light brigs (two masted), and about a dozen smaller craft. Juan de +Anasco was chief pilot of the expedition, and the captains were Nuņez +Tobar, Luis Morosco de Alvarado, Andres de Vasconcelas, Arias Tinoco, +Alfonso Robo de Cardenosa, Diego Garcia, and Pedro Calderon. Among the +commanders of the troops were Carlos Enriques, Micer de Espinola, +Dionisio de Paris, Rodrigo Gallego, Francisco del Poso, and Diego +Banuelos. Nor was the propagation of the True Faith neglected. It was +entrusted to a mission comprising four priests and a number of Dominican +friars, under the leadership of the friar Luis de Soto, a cousin of the +generalissimo of the expedition. Santiago was naturally selected for the +entry to Cuba seeing that it was still the official capital and that De +Soto was already commissioned Governor. There was a narrow escape from +shipwreck in entering the narrow and somewhat tortuous mouth of the +great harbor, after which the Governor was received by the municipal +functionaries with all the pomp and dignity of which the capital was +capable. Tidings of the coming of the new Governor had spread +throughout the Island and people of consequence from all parts had +flocked to Santiago to welcome him, to seek to ingratiate themselves +with him and to celebrate what they fondly hoped would prove to be the +beginning of a new and splendid era in the history of Cuba. It is +recorded that the gentlemen of the town sent down to the boat landing a +fine roan horse for De Soto to ride and a richly caparisoned mule for +Doņa Isabel. He and all his company were lodged in the most luxurious +quarters the town could afford and were hospitably entertained without +cost to themselves. Santiago had at this time about eighty houses which +were described as spacious and well appointed. About half of them were +of masonry and tile and the remainder of boards and thatch. There were +also many attractive country estates surrounding the city. + +The day following his landing De Soto formally assumed his authority as +Governor, and Bartolome de Ortiz became Alcalde mayor of Santiago. +Scarcely had he done this, however, when news came that a French corsair +had attacked Havana, ransacked the church, and burned a number of +houses; after which he had sailed away. De Soto at once sent Mateo +Aceituna to the scene, with a company of soldiers and artisans, with +instructions to rebuild the houses and then to begin the construction of +a fort which would serve as an adequate defence for the town. Having +done this, he sent Lady Isabel, escorted by his nephew Don Carlos, to +Havana by sea, with a strong squadron, while he himself with the +remainder of his company set out on horseback for a tour of the islands. +He first went to Bayamo, and thence to Trinidad, and Puerto Principe. +From the latter place he went in a canoe to the great country estate of +Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa at Camaguey, there to get news of Lady +Isabel's arrival at Havana. Thence he proceeded to Sancti Spiritus, +which at that time was a place of only about thirty houses. Half of his +company landed there, and half went on to Trinidad, which was a still +smaller place of not more than twenty houses, though it contained a +hospital for the poor, the only such institution on the whole Island. +Thence he proceeded to Havana without finding another town or settlement +of any kind on the entire road. + +During his stay in Havana De Soto deprived Nuņez Tobar of his rank as +Captain-General and gave it instead to Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, +because Tobar had made love to Doņa Isabel's lady-in-waiting, the +daughter of the Governor of Gomera, and indeed had seduced her. In +spite, or perhaps because of this punishment Tobar thereupon married the +girl and afterward joined De Soto's expedition to Florida in a +subordinate capacity. + +There can be no question that Hernando de Soto came to Cuba with a +prestige far surpassing that of any of his predecessors. He was in the +prime of manhood and at the height of his fame. He had been the hero of +great adventures and of marvellous achievements, and was possessed of +great wealth. He was not only governor of Cuba but also Adelantado of +Florida, which meant all the lands at the north of the Gulf, from the +Atlantic to Mexico, and thus, it was confidently assumed, Cuba would +become the chief province and Santiago the capital city, of an empire +exceeding in extent and wealth both Mexico and Peru. + +These brilliant anticipations were, however, doomed to speedy and most +crushing disappointment. It soon became clear that de Soto regarded Cuba +as a mere stepping stone to Florida, and that he was not merely willing +to sacrifice the island's interests to the gratification of his +continental ambitions, but had from the first been intent upon so doing. +He paid little attention to the representations which were made to him +in behalf of Cuba, or indeed to the duties of his office as governor. +Instead, all his thought seemed to be given and all his efforts +directed, to preparations for proceeding on his way to the alluring +regions beyond the Gulf. Moreover, he tempted into joining him in that +enterprise many of the richest and most forceful men of Cuba. Among +these was Vasco de Figueroa, who had been a comrade of Velasquez. He had +settled in Camaguey as early as 1514, and had grown very rich. We may +say, indeed, that he was the richest and most influential man in all +that part of Cuba. He eagerly accepted an invitation to join the +expedition, as de Soto's first lieutenant, and he drew along with him +many other substantial men from Camaguey and other parts of the island. + +Nor was the island thus to suffer for the sake of Florida, merely as a +whole. The capital, Santiago, was specially to suffer. Its traditions +and its long-established interests were nothing to De Soto, who looked +for nothing but to promote his Florida venture. Manifestly, Santiago was +no place to serve as a base of operations to the northward, so he +presently transferred his headquarters to Havana. That city had been +founded in 1514 on the south coast, near what is now Batabano, but a few +years later had been transferred by migration of populace and name to +its present commanding site at the north. In 1537 it had been raided and +partly destroyed by fire, by buccaneers, but at the time of de Soto's +coming was rapidly being rebuilt and restored to greater importance than +before. + +So a few weeks after his arrival at Santiago, in the early part of +August, 1538, de Soto ruthlessly closed his mansion at Santiago and +removed his whole household to Havana. His household and his foot +soldiers were sent thither in his vessels, of which he now had five. He +himself with his horsemen travelled overland, Vasco de Figueroa acting +as guide. The beauty and riches of the island seem not greatly to have +impressed the great adventurer; certainly not enough to withhold him for +one moment from his quest. Mountain and plain were alike to him merely +the road toward Florida. + +It was late in December before all members of the expedition were +assembled at Havana. There it was necessary to remain a while, to refit +the vessels, gather provisions, and prepare for an adventure into an +unknown and potentially hostile wilderness. Additional ships were +sought, and more men; and recruits came flocking thither eagerly from +all parts of the island. Meanwhile, a scouting party of fifty, with one +vessel, was sent to the Florida coast, to discover a desirable spot for +the landing of the whole expedition. It returned in February, 1539, with +the report that no suitable place could be found, and with a +recommendation against undertaking the venture. This incensed de Soto, +and he made the men hasten back to Florida and not return until they had +found that which was the object of their quest. Their second expedition +lasted three months. At the end of that time they reappeared at Havana, +disembarked, fell upon their knees, and on their knees made their way +from the wharf to the church, where they offered thanks for their +deliverance. This was their fulfilment of a vow which they had made when +they were in imminent danger of death; and they would not so much as +speak to the governor or to anyone until the pious act was completed. + +They then reported to de Soto that amid great perils they had found a +place which would be suitable for his purpose. They had named it the Bay +of Espiritu Santo, as it is to this day called, on the West Coast of +Florida. To this place accordingly de Soto hastened, at the end of May, +1539, with nine vessels, more than 500 men beside sailors, and half as +many horses; leaving his wife at Havana as acting governor in his +absence, with Juan de Rojas as her chief assistant. Vasco de Figueroa +soon returned, disgusted with Florida, which he described as a land of +interminable swamps, but he left his son with de Soto to serve as +lieutenant in his stead. Then Gomez Arias, brother of Lady Isabel de +Soto, also returned, with glowing reports of the beauty and wealth of +Florida, and it was proclaimed throughout all Cuba that the expedition +was succeeding beyond all expectation, and that Florida was the garden +of the world. The effect was to excite the Spaniards of Cuba with +eagerness to leave their homes in quest of fortunes in this new land. + +Accordingly, when in February, 1540, Diego Maldonado came from Florida +to Havana, to obtain recruits, arms and provisions, there was no lack of +response to his call. It seemed as though almost every able-bodied man +in Cuba had caught the Florida fever, and went flocking to Maldonado's +standard. Eight great ship-loads of men, horses and provisions were +quickly obtained, and sailed away for Florida, leaving behind them three +classes of people in Cuba. There were those who lamented that there had +not been room enough on the ships to take them, too. There were those +who lamented that Cuba was thus being stripped and impoverished to +enrich another country, if not in a vain and profitless quest. There +were also those, the surviving Indian natives, who rejoiced, because the +Spaniards were all leaving Cuba, so that the natives could come to their +own again. But all three classes were mistaken in their views of the +situation. + +Maldonado and Gomez Arias sailed away with their eight ships, to meet de +Soto at an appointed place on the Florida coast. Months later they +returned without having met him or having been able to ascertain any +information of his whereabouts. That was in 1541. In 1542 they sailed +again to meet him at the same place; with like result. In 1543 they made +a third such venture, and explored the entire coast from the southern +extremity of Florida to Mexico. They posted messages upon trees, rocks +and headlands. They sent Indian runners inland to inquire for the +adventurers. They resorted to every effort they could devise to find +their missing chief, but all in vain. + +Meantime at Havana the Lady Isabel awaited his return, with unfaltering +loyalty and unshaken hope. Bartholomew Ortiz, alcalde mayor, by her +lord's appointment, relieved her of the technical duties of +gubernatorial rule; which was well, for there was much trouble +abroad in the island. It was thus left for her to watch and wait for +the coming of the ship which never came. At morning and at evening, day +after day, she paced the little pathway on the crest of a fort which her +husband had begun to build, the beginning of La Fuerza--of which we +shall hear much more. Hour by hour she gazed from that parapet +northward, not on guard for hostile sail, but to espy the first glimpse +of one returning from the Land of Flowers. There is no more touching +picture in all the early history of Cuba than that of this devoted +woman, scanning the northern horizon in vain for the appearance of one +whose restless and adventurous body was sleeping the last sleep in the +bed of the Father of Waters. + +[Illustration: LA FUERZA + +Havana's oldest and most famous fortress and the oldest inhabited +building in the Western Hemisphere. The construction of it was prolonged +through the administrations of many Governors and was for years the +chief issue of political contention in the island. It was long the +Governor's residence as well as a fortress; from it Hernando de Soto set +out for the exploration of Florida and the discovery of the Mississippi +River, and from its ramparts his wife, Doņa Isabel, long but vainly +maintained her daily vigil for his return.] + +News came at last, to end in grief her agonizing vigil. It was near the +end of 1543 that some three hundred weary and worn survivors of de +Soto's expedition reached Panuco, on the Mexican coast, with tidings of +their leader's death and the destruction of all the rest of the party. +They had wandered through what is now the State of Georgia northward as +far as the Tennessee Mountains, thence back to Mobile Bay, in Alabama, +thence northwest to the Mississippi, and to the Ouachita, or Washita, in +Arkansas. While thence descending the Mississippi, in June, 1542, de +Soto had died, and his body had been sunk in the great river. The +remainder of his company, led by Luis de Alvarado, had continued down +the Mississippi River to the Gulf, and thence sailed along the coast to +Panuco. + +Thus ended the career of one of the most famous of all the Spanish +explorers; and thus ended another brief but disastrous chapter in Cuban +history. The island had been drained of men, horses, supplies of all +kinds; for its population was still so small that the loss of a few +hundred of its best men and horses was a serious deprivation. Its own +domestic interests had been neglected. Its government had become +inefficient. The Indians, taking advantage of the weakness of the +Spaniards, had begun to cherish hopes of regaining their old freedom, +and in some places had risen forcibly to seek that end, with the effect +of enraging the Spaniards against them even to the extreme of resolving +upon either their complete enslavement or their extermination. + +Indeed, serious trouble arose with the Indians during de Soto's brief +stay in the island. Shortly before his arrival there had been an +outbreak of the natives at Baracoa, which resulted in the partial +destruction of that town by burning. Towns built entirely of sun-dried +thatch were easily burned. Hearing of this, de Soto in almost his first +official utterance in Cuba authorized the sending of strong expeditions +against the natives, to hunt them down and destroy them ruthlessly. The +offending Indians were all Cimarrons, or "wild" Indians who had never +been under the repartimiento system, and who expected and solicited the +"tame" Indians to rise and join them. The latter not only refused to do +this, however, but offered to go out and fight and subdue the Cimarrons, +provided they were permitted to do so without being accompanied by +Spanish troops; to which the authorities unfortunately would not agree. + +De Soto sent all available men out against the Indians, and suppressed +them, for the time. But as soon as he left Santiago for Havana, taking +with him all the fighting men in the eastern end of the island, the +Cimarrons sprang to arms again behind him and became more menacing than +ever. They again threatened Baracoa, and were active even in the suburbs +of Santiago itself. The departure of Vasco de Figueroa from Camaguey was +disastrous. He had been vigorous and unsparing in his suppression of +even the slightest uprising, and in his absence the Indians were freed +from the greatest restraining influence in that part of the island. + +The general confusion of affairs was further aggravated by the intrigues +of two marplots. One of these was Gonzalo de Guzman, who had remained in +the island after his removal from office, and who was never weary in +mischief-making. He kept himself in frequent communication with the +government in Spain, and made all sorts of complaints against de Soto +and against the Florida enterprise. Doubtless he was right in saying +that the taking of so many fighting men out of Cuba for Florida +endangered the peace and safety of the island; though we must think that +he exaggerated the condition of Cuba when he wrote to the Spanish +government that two-thirds of the island had become depopulated, and all +of the towns in the central part of it had been or were in imminent +danger of being burned. + +The other trouble-maker was the new Bishop, Diego Sarmiento, who had +succeeded Bishop Ramirez, deceased. He maintained a large establishment +of slaves, and continued the political policy of his predecessor. He had +arrived in Cuba almost simultaneously with de Soto, and inclined toward +the policy of the latter in respect to Florida. + +A strong governor might have saved even this unfortunate and unpromising +situation. But there was none. Lady Isabel died of grief a few months +after learning of her husband's fate, and for a time thereafter there +was no actual governor at all. De Soto had been empowered to appoint an +alcalde mayor to serve as his substitute while he was out of the island, +if he so desired. He did thus appoint Bartholomew Ortiz; a good enough +man but aged and infirm, and quite unable to cope with the problems +which confronted him. He found himself involved in a vigorous rivalry +between Santiago and Havana in the matter of fortifications. De Soto had +begun the construction of an earthwork fort at the entrance to Santiago. +Then when he went across to Havana he ordered the building of a strong +fort there of stone masonry. This of course aroused the jealousy of +Santiago, whose indignant citizens pointed out that their city was and +always would be the capital of the island, and was therefore at least as +well entitled to a stone fort as Havana. The sacking and burning of +Havana, and of Carthagena and other places on the continent, alarmed +them, lest Santiago should suffer a like fate. Their insistence was +finally rewarded in the building of a stone fort near the mouth of the +harbor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Bartholomew Ortiz was at last, on his earnest entreaty, relieved of his +duties as alcalde mayor in the fall of 1542, and for some time the +insular government was again without a head. But in August, 1543, since +nothing had been heard from or of de Soto for three years, the crown +assumed that he was dead and that his office was vacant. It therefore +appointed Juan de Avila to be not alcalde mayor but governor; permitting +the title of Adelantado of Florida to fall into desuetude. The new +governor was a young lawyer, whose chief recommendation was that he was +a member of the de Avila family, a relative of Lady Isabel de Soto and +of her father, the formidable Pedrarias d'Avila. He seems to have been +doubtful of his own ability to administer the office successfully, and +therefore reluctant to assume its duties. However, he finally came to +Cuba, arriving at Santiago at the beginning of February, 1544, nearly +six months after his appointment. He was, of course, regularly appointed +and commissioned by the crown, with the full powers of governor, and for +those reasons he was received at Santiago with grateful rejoicings. The +people of that city and indeed of all Cuba had become tired of having an +absentee governor and an alcalde mayor in his place. + +Juan de Avila's first official act of importance was to make the usual +examination of his predecessor's affairs. This was a slight task, +because of the short time in which de Soto had actually administered the +governorship, and nothing wrong appears to have been found. The affairs +of all other officials were likewise in good order. He then turned his +attention to the question of the Indians; after which, the deluge. + +The royal government had for the time acquiesced in the ruthless policy +of de Soto. At least it had not vetoed nor opposed it. But now it had +reconsidered the matter, and had resumed its former and better policy, +of treating the natives justly and kindly, and giving them their +freedom. Perhaps it was moved to do this partly through horror at what +Pedrarias d'Avila had done at Darien, in all but exterminating an entire +race, and was minded to make atonement by requiring the young kinsman of +that "Timour of the Indies" to do the opposite in Cuba. At any rate +orders were sent to Cuba that there should be no more enslavement of the +natives in gold mining. In fact, they were not to be employed in mining +at all. Now as mining was practically the only work in which the Indians +were engaged, the effect of that order, if enforced, would have been +very marked. It would have stopped gold mining, and would have left the +natives in idleness. In fact, it was not enforced. The governor received +it, and transmitted it to the various local officials for promulgation +and enforcement; and they ignored it. Presently the governor wanted to +know why the order had not been obeyed, and was curtly told that it +would have been disastrous to the industries and interests of the +island. This he reported to the crown, asking for further directions. + +The reply was a reminder that the new Bishop, Sarmiento, was Protector +of the Indians, and that the governor and he should cooperate for their +welfare and for the enforcement of the decrees in their behalf. But the +people were no readier to listen to the bishop than to the governor; +particularly since that ecclesiastic was himself a slave-holder. Indeed, +the municipal council of Santiago formally protested against his +appointment as Protector of the Indians and refused to recognize his +authority. There were some actual conflicts with force and arms between +the two factions, in which the followers of the local government appear +to have triumphed over the fewer adherents of the Bishop, and from which +no profit nor advantage of any kind accrued to the unhappy objects of +the strife. + +When these things were reported to the King and his advisers, there was +much indignation, and new and peremptory orders were sent to the +governor, that involuntary service by the Indians was immediately to be +abolished, and that the natives were to be free to work for whom they +pleased, or not to work at all. Moreover, they were to be treated in all +respects as well as the Spaniards themselves. This radical decree seems +to have impressed the governor and bishop as going a little too far, and +an appeal was made by common consent to the Council for the Indies, in +Spain. That body was divided in opinion, but the majority of it inclined +to a modification of the order, to which the King agreed. The governor +and the bishop were directed to act together for the welfare of the +natives, with a view to granting them ultimately entire liberty and +equal rights. There was to be no more slavery. All the Indian slaves who +had been brought to Cuba from other islands or from the mainland were to +be released and returned to their homes. To hold such slaves, or to +engage in the slave trade, was made a grave penal offense. The native +Cubans who were held under the repartimiento system were not immediately +to be released, but they were not to be transferred from one master to +another, and upon the death of their master they were not to be +bequeathed as chattels to his heirs, but were to be released. Moreover, +if any of the proprietors were proved to be cruel to their native +workmen, or neglectful of their interests, the natives were to be +released from their authority and set at liberty. In all cases, the +natives were to receive fair wages for their labor, and were not to be +compelled to do any kind of work for which they were not suited or to +which they objected. Finally, it was forbidden for the governor, the +bishop, or any other functionary of state or church to hold native Cuban +Indians in bondage, though negro slavery was apparently still +permitted. + +These regulations, put forward by the King and the Council for the +Indies, were actually more far-reaching than the order of the crown +which had been disputed, though they would not take effect so abruptly. +The governor received them, and himself had them publicly proclaimed +throughout the island; with prodigious effect. The whole island rose +against them. Municipal councils and others officials, as well as +planters and gold miners, protested against them, and pleaded for at +least postponement of their enforcement until they could have an +opportunity to appeal to the crown and to the Council for the Indies +against them. To this plea for delay, De Avila acceded; to his own +subsequent undoing, as we shall presently see. His own brother, Alfonso +de Avila, turned against him, and went to Spain as the chief spokesman +of the opponents of the new rules. + +While the question of the Indians was thus held in suspension, De Avila +turned his attention to other matters, largely matrimonial and domestic. +On coming to Cuba, a young bachelor, he made his home in the house of +the wealthy widow of Pedro de Paz. This lady, who had otherwise been +much married, and who was by birth a member of the formidable Guzman +family, whose name she now bore, was past fifty years old, or about +twice the age of the young governor. Indeed, she had sons and daughters +of about De Avila's age. It was therefore assumed to be quite +permissible for the governor to live in her house. The arrangement +proved in the end, however, to be disastrous. It was probably the lady's +intention from the beginning to take the young man for her husband--her +fourth or fifth. At any rate, his domestic association with her, while +it could not compromise her reputation, did so compromise his that he +could get none of the eligible young women of Cuba to marry him, +although he sought the hands of several of them. So after a time, +despairing of any other bride, and doubtless much impressed by the +wealth of his mature hostess, he married her; and thereafter was her +slave. + +[Illustration: SAN LAZARO WATCH TOWER, HAVANA + +Built 1536] + +For the remainder of the ill-starred administration the lady was the +real governor. A large part of her fortune was in Indian slaves, or in +enterprises dependent upon their labor. Therefore it was she who was +foremost in opposing the enforcement of the decrees for their +emancipation. It was owing to her influence that De Avila acquiesced in +their suspension. Then, when the matter was being appealed, it was she +who constrained De Avila to leave Santiago for a tour of the island, +ostensibly for inspection, but in reality to get away from Santiago, +where the social atmosphere was not agreeable, and to settle in some +more advantageous place. + +That new place was found at Havana. Since the burning of it by French +buccaneers that city had been rebuilt in a much more attractive style +than Santiago, and society there was more hospitable to the governor's +wife. A plausible excuse for settling there was, moreover, readily +found. It was necessary, for the protection of the place against another +French attack, that the valiant governor should remain there in person. +For the furtherance of this purpose, he procured the free granting to +him of a choice tract of land, and also the free gift of materials for +building him a fine mansion. Whether the citizens of Havana gave the +materials willingly, for the sake of having the governor of the island +living among them, or under some sort of compulsion, may not certainly +be declared. Two traditions have been extant. One was, that they gave +the materials under compulsion, and that for that reason the governor's +mansion was called the "House of Fear." The other was, that they gave +them willingly, even eagerly, because of actual dread of another French +descent; thinking that if the governor himself lived there, he would +take all possible measures for the defence of the place; and that it was +for that reason that it was called the "House of Fear." + +After completing the house and living there for some time, however, De +Avila deemed it politic to return to Santiago. His absence from the +latter place had given rise to great dissatisfaction there and +throughout all the eastern part of the island, where of course the +majority of the population, of wealth and of political and other +influence were still to be found. Indeed, protests had been lodged with +the crown against what was described as the governor's abandonment of +the lawful seat of government of the island. Suspicions of his +unworthiness had already strongly arisen at court, and orders were sent +for the Supreme Court of Hispaniola, which still had jurisdiction in +Cuba, to investigate his conduct. The report was unfavorable, and in +consequence the crown summarily appointed Antonio Chaves to succeed him +as governor; directing Chaves to conduct a searching inquest into De +Avila's administration without regard to the report already made by the +agent of the supreme court of Hispaniola. + +The sequel was the greatest public scandal that had thus far marred the +history of Cuba. It was at the beginning of October, 1545, that Antonio +Chaves was commissioned to be governor of Cuba, and it was at the +beginning of June in the following year that he arrived at Santiago and +entered upon the duties of his office. The first task was to investigate +his predecessor, and this he performed with a thoroughness which seemed +ferocious and which certainly suggests either some personal hatred of De +Avila or a natural desire to be cruel and ruthless. He charged De Avila +with having committed malfeasance of office for the furtherance of his +wife's interests; with having engaged in commercial and industrial +enterprises himself, to the detriment of public interests; with having +established monopolies for enriching himself or his wife; with having +both given and accepted bribes; with having intimidated local officials +and the people; and with having, largely at the instance of his wife, +neglected to enforce the order of the King for the emancipation of the +natives. + +It is quite probable that De Avila was guilty of most of these charges, +particularly of those in which his wife was concerned. Certain it is +that Antonio Chaves set about trying to prove them with a strenuous zeal +which had never before been displayed. One of his first acts was to +seize and search the governor's house; not merely in its public or +semi-public offices but in its most private parts. The wardrobe of the +governor's wife was ransacked, the furniture examined, the walls and +floors sounded and even broken in quest of concealed treasure. To some +of these proceedings the governor, or ex-governor, and his wife, too, +attempted to offer physical resistance, but they were overpowered and +bound while the search went on. Their servants, or slaves, were +questioned and even, it is said, threatened with torture if they did +not tell all they knew. Under such compulsion they told of bars of gold +hidden underneath the floor of a country house; which were found. + +Chaves went so far as to order De Avila to be chained fast to a post in +the market place, where fugitive slaves had formerly been chained, and +the former governor was actually subjected to this indignity, though he +had not yet been convicted and sentenced by a court of justice. But this +was carrying prosecution too far. It was regarded as not prosecution but +persecution. There was a reaction of popular sentiment in favor of De +Avila, and he was assisted to escape from his bonds and to find +sanctuary in the Franciscan monastery. After a time he undertook to get +away, to Spain, but was quickly detected and recaptured by Chaves. After +some further controversy, Chaves discreetly agreed that De Avila might +go to Spain, to defend himself if he could before the Council for the +Indies; doubtless expecting that such defence would be in vain because +of De Avila's offences against that Council's decrees. + +So De Avila departed for Spain, with his advocates and his accusers on +the same ship. Most fortunately for him, his wife also went, carrying +with her an ample store of gold and gems which had escaped the search +and confiscation of Chaves. Her conduct in this emergency indicates that +she had a sincere devotion to her young husband, in addition, of course, +to a desire to protect her own material fortune. Certain it is that she +constituted herself his chief and most effective champion, freely +expending in his behalf the gold which she had taken to Spain. She +testified that all the property which he was accused of having +unlawfully acquired was in fact hers and not his, possessed by her +before she was married to him, and that if he had in any sense acquired +it, it was solely through having married her; and there was no law +against a governor's marrying a rich wife. + +Her argument prevailed. The litigation in Spain lasted for several +years, during part of which time De Avila was in prison. But in the end +he was released; the heavy fines which had been levied against him were +remitted; and the sentence of perpetual banishment from Cuba was +revoked. Thereupon the devoted couple returned in triumph to Cuba, with +a great retinue of servants, and reestablished themselves at Santiago. +They held aloof from political affairs, and gave their attention to an +exceedingly profitable commerce between Cuba and other West India +Islands and Spain; which happy state of affairs lasted until De Avila's +death, a dozen years later. He left behind him the reputation of being +one of the worst of Cuban governors, not so much because of any inherent +viciousness as because of his weakness of character and his complete +subservience to the often sordid and sometimes unscrupulous doings of +his wife. + +That there was any gain for Cuba in the substitution of Antonio Chaves +for Juan de Avila is scarcely, however, to be maintained. On the +contrary, there was probably some loss. It was a substitution of King +Stork for King Log. De Avila had been weak and passive. Chaves was +strong and aggressive; as his campaign against his predecessor +demonstrated. In point of morals there was probably little to choose +between them. So far as enforcement of the laws concerning the natives +was concerned, Chaves was worse than De Avila. For De Avila personally +wished to enforce them, but was dissuaded from so doing by the influence +of his wife and the almost unanimous demands of the officials and +people. Chaves, on the other hand, appears to have been personally +opposed to all emancipation laws, and inclined to subject the natives to +ruthless slavery. Although he had savagely attacked De Avila for +acquiescing in the suspension or postponement of the royal decrees, +Chaves himself went even further in the same direction. He declined to +enforce the laws, protested against them, and petitioned for their +repeal on the ground that they would be ruinous to the material welfare +of the island. The rule against employment of natives in the mines was +especially obnoxious to him, and he advised the crown that unless it +were repealed, together with all other such measures, the island would +soon be "possessed of the devil." + +Seeing that Chaves was now doing the very thing that he had condemned +his predecessor for doing, the King was disgusted with him, and sent him +the sharpest kind of a reprimand, reminding him of his gross +inconsistency and bidding him to enforce the law without further ado. +Chaves pretended to obey. In fact, he promptly replied that he was +obeying. But he obeyed only in pretence. He did not scruple to +declare--in Cuba--that he was opposed to giving the natives their +freedom. He did not consider them fit for it. Why? Because they were not +Christians, and if set free they would not become Christians, and +therefore would infallibly be damned eternally. Therefore to save their +souls from hell fire, their bodies must be enslaved, so that they could +find salvation through being physically compelled to conform with the +external practices of Christianity. Particularly necessary was it, he +argued, for this system of spiritual salvation through corporeal bondage +to prevail in the provinces of Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus and Puerto del +Principe, because they had no agricultural interests but were dependent +upon mining, and if they could not compel the Indians to work in the +mines, they would be ruined. + +This logic, more ingenious than ingenuous, did not favorably impress the +King, nor was he better pleased with Chaves's proposal that the Indians +should be made free in name only, and that while traffic in them as +chattels should be forbidden, they should in fact remain in involuntary +domestic servitude. Another sharp reprimand was accordingly sent to +Chaves, with an intimation that something worse might follow; to which +warning the governor was blind and deaf. Accordingly, the blow soon +fell. + +We have hitherto heard much of Lopez Hurtado, the crabbed, surly and +cantankerous old royal treasurer, with his impregnable honesty. It was +quite impossible that he should countenance even passively such conduct +as that of Chaves. So at the end of 1548 he sent to the King an +appalling indictment of the governor, charging him with all manner of +public crimes and private vices. He declared that Chaves was enriching +himself at the expense of the people, and that he was neglecting public +business for private enterprises, that he was permitting his +subordinates to practice extortion and oppression, that he was +ill-treating and persecuting honest men, and that he was corrupting the +women of the island; all of which was probably true. + +The King acted promptly. Chaves had been appointed governor in October, +1545, for a term of four years, at a salary of a thousand ducats a year. +He had now, at the end of 1548, been in office three years and more; +though he claimed that his term ran for four years from June, 1546, when +he actually took office. However, there was no tenure of office law to +keep him in his place beyond the royal pleasure; certainly not to +protect him from removal for cause. So the supreme court of Hispaniola +was directed to investigate him, and Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was +appointed governor in his stead. The court of Hispaniola sent Geronimo +de Aguayo to Cuba to make a private investigation of the governor's +doings; Hurtado agreeing to pay the expenses out of his own pocket. +Aguayo came to Santiago in April, 1549, while Chaves was absent at +Havana, planning to remove the seat of government to that city. Three +months were spent in the investigation, and then Aguayo reported to the +court a docket of about three hundred charges against Chaves, some of +which were serious enough but many of which were altogether trifling. +The court decided to take no action upon them, but to hold them for the +new governor, Angulo, to use as the basis of the investigation which +he, according to law and precedent, would at once make into his +predecessor's administration. + +Gonzalo de Angulo had been appointed at the beginning of September, +1548, but did not at once come to the West Indies. He reached Hispaniola +in the summer of 1549, shortly after Aguayo had made his report, and he +remained there for some time, considering the report and conferring with +the members of the supreme court. Finally, at the beginning of November, +he proceeded to Santiago and assumed the governorship. He entered upon +the investigation, using Aguayo's three hundred charges as the basis of +it, despite the protest of Chaves that Aguayo had been a prejudiced +investigator, moved by political and even pecuniary considerations and +intent not upon discovering the truth but merely upon defaming him +(Chaves) to the fullest possible extent. + +The result of the new governor's inquest was that at the beginning of +July, 1550, Chaves was arrested and sent as a prisoner to Spain, for +trial there upon a multitude of accusations. These were partly grave and +partly--mostly--frivolous. In the former category was the charge that +Chaves had refused or at least failed to enforce royal decrees for the +enfranchisement of the natives. That was a very serious matter, +apparently, and there was no question that it was true. Indeed, Chaves +admitted it. But, he said, some of these decrees had been suspended, +there had been pleas for the suspension of others, officials had failed +to proclaim some, and the Hispaniola court had interfered with others; +so that the whole business was in a hopeless tangle and he really could +not determine what he ought to do. This argument impressed the Spanish +authorities, and they consequently dismissed that and other like charges +against him. + +But when it came to other charges, they could not be got rid of so +easily. Thus, he had refused to pay an apothecary for a dose of +medicine. He had called Hurtado's nephew a Jew! He had called certain +citizens "conspirators" because they were forming some sort of a secret +organization. He had arrested a priest for acting disrespectfully toward +him. These were indeed serious matters; particularly when the irate +Hurtado produced voluminous affidavits, from parents, physicians, +clergy, and whom not, to prove that his nephew like himself was a good +Christian. So for these things Chaves was thrown into prison, and even, +it is said, bound with heavy fetters, until he should pay the fines +which were imposed upon him. + +It must be recorded in Chaves's favor that he was unable to pay these +fines. Indeed, he seems not to have had means sufficient to employ a +lawyer to defend him, wherefore he was compelled to conduct his own +case; which he was quite competent to do, being a licentiate of the bar. +There was, then, of course no thought of his being able to influence the +course of justice by the use of money, as De Avila was supposed to have +done. Whether he was actually so poor, or whether his fortune had been +so invested in Cuba that he was unable at once to realize upon it, does +not appear. In charity we may accept the former theory, as the more +creditable to him. At any rate, after two years of litigation and +imprisonment, he secured a final reduction of the fines levied against +him to a little more than 100,000 maravedi, which he was required to pay +within a year. This trifling amount he contrived to raise and so +regained his freedom; going thereafter back to Cuba to settle up his +personal affairs there, and thence to Peru, to engage no more in Cuban +politics. + +Apart from his prosecution of Chaves, the first act of Gonzalo de Angulo +on assuming the governorship was to attempt a radical solution of the +Indian problem. This he did by proclaiming the full and universal +emancipation of all natives, however and by whomsoever held. Seeing how +strenuously and vociferously similar action had been resisted only a few +years before, as sure to be ruinous to the island, it is worthy of +remark that this provoked no remonstrances and caused no economic +disturbance. The explanation is simple. The former proposals for +emancipation included slaves who had been brought to Cuba from other +lands, while this one applied only to natives. Now the latter, through +disease, fighting, and other causes, had been steadily decreasing in +numbers, until they were now practically a negligible quantity. They +probably numbered not more than twenty-five hundred in the entire +island. It really mattered little, from an industrial point of view, +whether they were enslaved or free. They were in fact set free, in good +faith, and then practically disappeared. They did not relapse into +primitive barbarism, but they lived in squalor, most of them, and +gradually died out. + +Not all of them, however, suffered such a fate. Some settled on lands +near if not actually among the Spanish colonists, adopted the ways of +civilization, and prospered. They acquired freehold of land and houses, +kept herds of cattle, built ships and engaged in commerce. Some of them +intermarried with Spanish families, and the offspring of such unions +often rose to honorable rank in society and the state. + +The question of slavery was not by any means disposed of by this +emancipation of the native Indians. There was a much larger number of +slaves in the island who had been brought thither from other countries, +including both insular and continental Indians and African negroes. +Governor Angulo was directed to order their emancipation and +repatriation at the same time with the others. But he withheld the +decree. These foreign slaves were far more numerous than the natives and +were consequently more important to industry and commerce. They had not +been simply "assigned" to owners, like the Cuban Indians, but had been +purchased outright for cash, like any other merchandise, and were +legally as much the property of their owners as land, houses or cattle. +In view of this circumstance, Angulo declined to proclaim their +emancipation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The administration of Gonzalo Perez de Angulo marked the lowest point in +the early history of Cuba. That was not because of the character of his +administration, which was indeed better than some of its predecessors, +but because various processes militating against the progress and +prosperity of the island then reached their culmination. Foremost among +these was the migration to Florida, Mexico, Peru and other lands, which +were richer, or were reputed to be richer, than the Pearl of the +Antilles. Cuba contained no such cities and treasures as those of Mexico +and Peru; no such traditions as that of Florida's Fountain of Youth +pertained to her. The island had been explored from end to end, and its +resources were known; though by no means appreciated. The adventurers of +those days were not inclined to engage in agriculture, even in so +fertile a land as Cuba, when the gold and gems of the Incas were within +reach. With the decline and practical disappearance of the Indians, and +the increasing difficulties of the African or other slave trade, the +scarcity of labor disinclined the Spanish settlers even to raise cattle. +The middle of the sixteenth century saw, therefore, a menacing +emigration from Cuba to other lands which threatened to leave the island +uninhabited. + +Statistics of those days are scanty and not altogether trustworthy. It +was the custom to report merely the number of householders or +land-owners or heads of families in a place, leaving it to be estimated +how many members each family contained. An exact census of the island in +Angulo's time would astonish the reader of to-day with the meagreness of +the settlements which had been effected in the course of forty years. + +Of the seven cities which Velasquez had founded--they were called +cities, and we must through courtesy retain the name--Santiago was still +the largest, and was the capital. It probably contained at the period of +which we are writing fewer than five hundred Spaniards and other +Europeans. De Avila saw only two hundred assembled to welcome him on his +arrival as Governor. The number of houses and other buildings was less +than a hundred. The first town hall and church which were built there +were structures of logs and thatch, which were burned by a fire which +destroyed most of the place in 1528. Four years later the Franciscan +monastery and other buildings shared a like fate. The Spanish government +then urged the erection of buildings of stone with tiled roofs, and a +few such were erected. At the end of Guzman's second administration +there were perhaps a dozen such, of which Guzman himself owned two. The +harbor boasted a single wharf or pier, of logs and earth, near which for +protection two small cannon were placed behind an earthwork. + +Such was the Cuban capital in 1550. Three years later, in 1553, a French +privateer entered the harbor, silenced the two cannon, and landed a +company of four hundred men, who outnumbered the entire population of +the place. These freebooters took possession of Santiago and lived there +at their ease, at the expense of the people, during the whole month of +July. Then, having exacted from the inhabitants a ransom of what would +be about $80,000 in modern currency, they departed, leaving the place +uninjured save for the depletion of its people's purses. Following this +visitation there was a numerous exodus of the inhabitants, to Bayamo and +other places; some leaving the island altogether. + +Havana was at this time the second city of the island, and was steadily +rising toward first place. It had been the last of the seven cities to +be founded by Velasquez, and was now occupying its third and final site. +It was first planted in July, 1515, near the mouth of the Guines or +Mayabeque River, on the south shore of Cuba; that shore then being the +favorite part of the island for the sake of trade with Jamaica and the +South American continent. But the location was unhealthful, the swarms +of mosquitoes particularly being intolerable, and two years later the +city was transferred almost directly across the island to the north +shore. This second site was near the mouth of the Almendares River, near +the present town of Vedado, and was found to be vastly preferable to the +former one. It was impossible, however, that the superb harbor on which +the city now fronts should be neglected. It had been discovered in 1508 +by Sebastian de Ocampo, while circumnavigating the island, and had been +called Carenas. Accordingly in 1519 the young city of Havana, bearing +the Indian name of that province of the island, was transported thither. + +Credible tradition has it that the first meeting of the Municipal +Council was held under a huge ceiba tree, and that Mass was first +celebrated at the same sylvan spot, the site of the tree now being +marked by the building known as the Templete, in the heart of the great +city. Two fine historical paintings by the artist Escobar, representing +the two gatherings named, hang upon the walls of that building. In De +Soto's time Havana became marked as the coming capital and metropolis of +the island, partly because of its unsurpassed situation, and partly for +a reason similar to that which caused it first to be founded on the +south coast, namely, for the sake of trade with Mexico and Florida. De +Soto during his brief sojourn there began the erection of the +fortification known as La Fuerza, which has long been noted as the +oldest inhabited building in the western hemisphere which was built by +Europeans. By the time of Governor Angulo, Havana had grown into--or +been reduced to--a community of about two hundred Europeans, and perhaps +three hundred Indians and negro slaves. + +Santa Maria del Puerto Principe was originally founded in 1515 on the +north coast, but a dozen years later was removed inland for security +against the rovers of the sea, and became known by its present name of +Camaguey. For many years Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa was its chief man; a +man of wealth and great force of character, who lived like a prince upon +a vast estate with a great retinue of servants and slaves. All the rest +of Camaguey was tributary to him; with a total population of fewer than +five hundred souls. + +Baracoa, originally Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, was the first +permanent settlement in Cuba. Shut off from the rest of the island by a +mountain wall, and visited by several disastrous epidemics, it was all +but obliterated, and in the time of De Soto and Angulo contained fewer +than a dozen European families. As for Trinidad, on the south coast, it +fared even worse, for every Spanish or other European settler deserted +it, chiefly for Sancti Spiritus, leaving there only a score of Indians. +But that did not mean any great accession to Sancti Spiritus, which +place had only about two hundred Europeans, and perhaps as many more +Indians and negro slaves. Bayamo was another city which was moved inland +from its original site. It had in Angulo's time fewer than a hundred +Spaniards and perhaps twice as many Indians and negroes. + +Thus after forty years of settlement and colonization, all Cuba had not +more than 1,200 inhabitants of European origin, and perhaps twice that +number of Indians and negroes. The great majority of the former were, of +course, Spaniards. Even at this early date, however, there was a +sprinkling of other nationalities. Some Portuguese came hither in the +second quarter of the century, and engaged in vine growing and +agriculture. Indeed, by the middle of the century most of the profitable +and commercial agriculture of the island was in their hands. The value +of such colonists was appreciated by the Spanish, who were glad to have +others engage in the agriculture for which they themselves had little +taste or aptitude. Accordingly Portuguese settlers were encouraged to +come to Cuba, and legislation was enacted in their favor. Their +naturalization as Spanish subjects was facilitated, and free homesteads +were given to them, of choice agricultural lands. + +Some Italians also came to Cuba in those early years, partly as soldiers +of fortune, to enlist in the forces of the island or to seek further +adventures of exploration and conquest, and partly to become +horticulturists and agriculturists, after the manner of the Portuguese. +Even a few Arabs and Moors visited the island, and some German artisans. +French and English there were none, because of the generally prevailing +hostilities between them and Spain. + +The Spanish government was chiefly intent upon encouraging conquests in +the great treasure-yielding lands of Mexico and Central and South +America. Yet it was not blind to the potential value of Cuba, nor +altogether neglectful of that island's interests. Various attempts were +made to stimulate immigration and permanent settlement, and even to +prevent settlers, once there, from leaving the island. Some of these +measures were, indeed, so stringent as probably to react against their +own purpose. Thus it was required that merchants and ship-masters +sailing from Cuba for trade with other lands should give bonds for their +return, while the death penalty, with confiscation of estate, was +actually prescribed for many years for all persons leaving the island +without permission from the authorities. The effect of this +extraordinary measure was what might have been expected. Knowing that +once in Cuba it would be difficult and perhaps impossible for them to +get away again, prudent people were reluctant to go thither. + +Efforts were also made to stimulate increase of population. Married men +in Spain were forbidden to go to Cuba without taking their wives with +them. Bachelors and widowers in Cuba were not permitted to employ +Indians or to hold slaves, while illicit unions with native women were +discouraged under penalty. Regular marriages with native women were, +however, legitimized, and there were many such which resulted +satisfactorily. In spite of these precautions there were, of course, +some illegitimate children, and these the government took steps to +legitimize, in order that they might, in default of other heirs, inherit +their fathers' property and become substantial members of the community. + +The population of Cuba was materially increased in another and by no +means commendable way. This was by the importation of negro slaves from +Africa. The traffic in human beings began in the West Indies at about +the time that Velasquez began the conquest and settlement of Cuba; +perhaps a little before that time. Naturally, with the settlement of +Cuba slave traders visited that island to offer their wares. It must be +recorded to the credit of Velasquez that he at first prohibited the +entrance of negro slaves into the island, and to the end of his life +opposed it though he was forced after a while to permit it. This was +partly on the ground of morals, and partly on that of prudence. He did +not scruple to enslave to some extent the native Cubans. But that was in +order to civilize and Christianize them, and also to afford the +colonists protection from them in their wild native state. Such, at +least, was the argument with which he justified his policy. Moreover, +the Indians were already there, in the island, and had to be dealt with +in some fashion. But it was manifestly a very different thing to import +savages from some distant land for the express purpose of making slaves +of them. The other reason was his fear that if many negroes were +imported they and the Indians would so outnumber the whites as to be a +grave menace. + +Nevertheless the slave trade was established and soon attained +considerable proportions. It became so flourishing that presently the +Spanish government forbade private parties to conduct it save under +special charter from the crown and on payment of a considerable royalty +on each negro imported. Ostensibly, this was because it was feared that +too many negroes might be imported, so as to endanger the security of +the colonists, as Velasquez had suggested; but in fact it was largely +for the sake of the revenue which thus accrued to the royal treasury. +The popular sentiment in Cuba was generally in favor of slavery. It was +held that thus only could sufficient labor be secured for the +development of the resources of the island. The number of negroes never +was as great as some colonists urged that it should be, to wit, three +male and three female slaves for every white householder, but it is +probable that before the middle of the century the negro population of +the island outnumbered the European. + +Treatment of the slaves was on the whole humane. The negroes were +forbidden to carry weapons, or to go about in companies of more than +four. They were at times subjected to physical punishment by their +masters for misdemeanors, though generally such discipline was required +to be administered by the authorities. Miscegenation between Europeans +and negroes was prohibited under penalty, and as an additional safeguard +against it slaves were required to be imported in equal numbers of the +sexes, and all were required to be married. It may be doubted if a +similar regard for their sexual morals was ever exhibited elsewhere. +There was a provision under which it was possible for industrious and +faithful slaves to purchase their freedom, and a considerable number of +them did so; after which they became members of the community with +almost the same legal rights and privileges as the Europeans. + +There was, it is pleasant to record, never the prejudice against the +negro in Cuba that prevailed in the states of North America. He was a +slave, but he was a man. He was a social and political inferior, because +of his enslavement; but he was mentally and spiritually the peer of his +master. The text "Cursed be Canaan" was never thundered from Cuban +pulpits, nor was it ever held that the negro must not be educated nor +instructed in religion. On the contrary, it was required by law that +the slaves should have the advantages of all the services of the church +equally with their masters; and the Spanish aristocrat and his African +slaves thus knelt side by side at the same altar. This attitude of the +races toward each other had two natural results. One was, that the +slaves were generally contented and peaceful, and attempts at +insurrection among them, while not unknown, were rare. The other was, +that amalgamation of the races became frequent and was recognized as +quite legitimate. We have said that miscegenation in illegitimate +fashion, between negro slaves and Europeans, was forbidden. But there +was no ban against marriage between whites and emancipated negroes, and +such unions not infrequently occurred, with satisfactory results. + +The importation of negroes naturally increased with the gradual +extermination of the native Indians, and it was favored by the very men +who most strongly inveighed against the enslavement of the Indians. Even +La Casas himself, with all his fervor in behalf of the natives, +acquiesced in negro slavery; favored it, indeed, as a means of saving +the Indians from such a fate. During the second administration of +Guzman, the restrictions which had been placed upon the slave trade were +removed, and free importations, without payment of a royalty, were +thereafter permitted. Indeed, a further step than this was contemplated. +It was urged that if the King wished the Indians to be emancipated, he +should supply their places with negroes. This extraordinary argument +prevailed, and for at least one year all the King's revenues from Cuba +were ordered to be invested in negroes, who were then to be distributed +among the colonists of the island in place of the Indians who were set +free. These were not, however, to be free gifts, but were to be paid for +by the colonists in the course of a term of years. The revenues for that +year amounted to about 7,000 pesos, and it was reckoned that at the +prices then prevailing in the slave market at least 700 slaves could be +purchased. But at the last moment the King, or else the Council for the +Indies, reconsidered the matter, and the slaves were never purchased. At +the same time the enfranchisement of the Indians was postponed. + +The early industries of Cuba were, in the order of their importance, +gold mining, stock raising, and agriculture. The last named was +practised by the Spanish settlers only to an extent sufficient to supply +their own needs for food. Stock raising, both horses and cattle, was +engaged in much more extensively, not only to supply local needs but +also to supply the needs of Spanish explorers and gold-seekers in Mexico +and Central and South America, who had no time nor opportunity in their +strenuous quest there to attend to such matters. But the first thought +of the first settlers in Cuba was for gold, and for many years the +mining of that metal was the most profitable occupation. Within the +first twenty years of Spanish settlement more than 500,000 pesos in gold +were secured. Indeed in a single year, 1531, the mines at Cuyeba +produced 50,000 pesos. There were paying mines at Savanna, at Savanna de +Guaimaro, at Puerto Principe, at Portillo, and elsewhere throughout the +central districts of the island; some of them being ore veins in the +mountains and some placers in the river beds. But in the course of +twenty-five years the mines began to fail and new ones were not +discovered, so that by De Soto's time the output of gold had become +insignificant. This was doubtless one of the strong contributing causes +of the migration of so many settlers from the island, the eagerness of +men to seek new fields in Florida, and the general decline which Cuba +then suffered. + +There was some compensation for the decline of gold mining in the +discovery of rich copper mines, though the full value of them was not at +first realized. It was during the first administration of Guzman that +copper was discovered at Cobre, near Santiago. (This was the place +where, as formerly related, Alonzo de Ojeda, in gratitude for his +restoration to health, presented a statue of the Holy Virgin to the +native chief, Comendador, who had been his host and nurse and who had +embraced Christianity. The statue was long famous as Our Lady of Cobre.) +There is reason for believing that the Cuban natives had formerly worked +those mines to a considerable extent, for traffic with other lands, +though they themselves apparently did not make use of the metal in their +own arts. The governor, Guzman, learning of the discovery, urged the +development of the mines as the property of the discoverers, while the +royal treasurer claimed that they should belong to the crown. A +controversy was maintained for some time, with the result that the +crown, lightly esteeming the value of the find, permitted private +exploitation of the mines on a basis of ten per cent royalty. An assayer +was sent from Spain to superintend the refining of the copper from the +ore, and suitable works were erected. But little or nothing was done for +several years. Then, after the administration of De Soto, and while the +alcalde mayor, Ortiz, was acting governor, a great demand for copper +arose, for the casting of cannon, in Spain, and interest in the mines +was revived. A German engineer made an agreement with the local +authorities to extract the copper and did so with great success. The ore +was found to be very rich in copper and also to contain so much gold and +silver that it would be worth working for those metals entirely apart +from the copper. Under this expert management the mines became highly +profitable. + +In the administration of Angulo the German engineer had two mines +assigned to him as his own, in return for which he instructed all +comers--chiefly slaves who were sent to him for the purpose by the +settlers--in the art of smelting and refining copper. Large quantities +of the copper were at that time sent to Spain, and the first cannon +mounted on La Fuerza, in Havana, were made of it, being cast at the +royal foundry at Seville. It is related that one of these cannon, a +small falconet, burst in the casting, and so badly injured the +superintendent of the works that he had to be taken to a hospital, +where he expressed a bad opinion of Cuban copper. This was the origin of +the really unfounded belief which long prevailed, and which was recorded +in technological works, that Cuban copper had some peculiar quality +which rendered it difficult and even dangerous to work. + +The first essays toward the growing of sugar, which has become one of +the greatest industries of the island and in which Cuba surpasses any +other equal area of the earth's surface, were made as already related in +the closing years of Velasquez's administration. They did not at that +time prove important, and nothing more was done until the first +administration of Guzman. That enterprising governor, always ready to do +anything to enrich himself, asked permission to import negro slaves free +of royalty, in order to establish the sugar industry, promising under +penalty to begin the construction of a sugar mill within two years and +to complete it within four years. The crown considered that too long a +time, and refused to waive the royalty on slaves for his benefit, +whereupon he abandoned the scheme. Then Hernando de Castro made a +similar proposal, reducing the time of completion of the mill to three +years. The crown was more favorably impressed by his offer, and agreed +to it, only to have him withdraw it. Juan de Avila and his brother +Alfonso reported strongly in favor of establishing the industry in Cuba, +and asked for a loan of capital from the royal treasury to finance the +undertaking; but nothing was done. Chaves and Angulo also successively +reported that Cuba was admirably adapted to the industry, and it was +known that at that very time sugar growing was enormously successful in +Hispaniola, Porto Rico and other islands. Yet by some strange fatality +nothing practical was done, and the actual establishment of the great +industry was postponed until near the end of the century. + +The fiscal policy of the Spanish government was in early years not +unfavorable to Cuba. Apart from a royalty of from five to ten per cent +on precious metals mined, and on copper, and the royalty already +described on the importation of negro slaves, and a customs duty of +seven and a half per cent ad valorem on all imports, the island was free +from taxation. The royalties in question were certainly not oppressive, +and the fact that the Seville government imposed the same customs duty +on all goods imported into Spain from Cuba made the tariff seem entirely +just. Indeed, Cuba was favored above all other islands In the West +Indies for many years. Thus after the middle of the sixteenth century +one-third of what had been the import duty on goods received in Spain +from the West Indies was required to be paid in the Indies as an export +tax; but Cuba alone of all the islands was exempted from this +arrangement. It was not, indeed, until the decline of Spain herself set +in, with increasing expenses for maintaining an inefficient and often +corrupt bureaucracy, and with sorely diminishing resources and revenues, +that Cuba began to be detrimentally exploited for the sake of the Mother +Country. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +We have said that the administration of Angulo marked the nadir of early +Cuban history. It also marked the turning point, and the entrance of the +island into international affairs. Not yet had the great duel between +Spain and England begun; which in the next century was to have so +momentous results. France was the enemy. Francis I became King of that +country in 1515, when Velasquez was beginning the settlement of Cuba, +and Charles I (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) became King of Spain +in the following year; and in 1521, while Velasquez was still governor +of Cuba, those two monarchs began the first of their series of six wars. +Adopting the policy which was afterward pursued by England against Spain +and against France, and by France against England, France struck at +Spain in her American colonies. During the first, second and third wars, +French attention was chiefly given to conquests in North America, with +occasional raids against Spanish commerce in the Caribbean and along the +coast of Mexico. Cuba appears to have remained unscathed. + +With the outbreak of the fourth war in 1536, however, trouble for Cuba +began. French privateers, little better than pirates in their practices, +sometimes, swarmed the Caribbean and the Gulf, preying upon Spanish +commerce and raiding Spanish seacoast towns. The first such blow was +struck at Cuba in 1537. A fleet of five Spanish ships, richly laden, was +about to set forth from Havana for Spain, by way of the Bahama Channel. +Just as they spread their sails and weighed their anchors, a venturesome +French privateer entered the harbor's mouth. The intruder hesitated at +sight of so many vessels, whereupon three of the Spaniards, being well +armed as well as laden, as most ships had to be in those troublous +days, gave chase. The Frenchman retired, fighting stubbornly, as far as +the harbor of Mariel, where he turned at bay and for three days kept up +the unequal conflict. Then, just as he seemed preparing to give up the +fight and flee, an unfavorable wind struck the Spanish ships, placing +them at such disadvantage that their captains ordered them to be +abandoned and burned. This was done, but the French boarded one before +the flames had made headway, extinguished the fire, and sailed away with +the prize. The daring Frenchman then returned to Havana, entered the +harbor with the two ships, and proclaimed to the alcaldes and citizens +that he would do the place no harm if none was done to him, but that if +any attack was made upon his ships, he would sack the town. After a +while he went out and sailed away to the west. + +At that same time all commerce out of and into Santiago was practically +blocked by the presence of French privateers hovering off that port. In +April, 1538, an attack was made upon Santiago, and the place was +defended in a most extraordinary fashion. A Spanish vessel tried to +leave port, met a French vessel returning from a raid on Hispaniola, and +tried to scuttle back, but was overtaken and captured at the entrance to +the harbor. Next day, having despoiled the prize, the Frenchman sailed +into the deep harbor, which never before had been thus invaded, and +menaced the town. The town had no defences whatever, and the citizens +were unarmed. Guzman, then just at the end of his administration, was +furious at his helplessness. He railed against the citizens because they +would not rush down to the wharf and repel the invader with clubs and +stones. But railing was in vain, and so there was nothing to do but to +take to flight inland, which most of the officials and citizens did, +carrying all portable treasure with them. + +The Frenchman then threatened to burn the town, which Guzman wished he +would do, in order to bring the King's government to its senses and +arouse it to the necessity of defending Cuba. But there chanced to be +in the port a certain merchant of Seville, by name Diego Perez, who was +at least as daring as the Frenchman himself. He had a little merchant +sloop, not more than half the size of the Frenchman, but well armed, +with guns that would carry at least as far as the Frenchman's. He ran +his little craft into water too shallow for the bigger Frenchman, where +he would be secure against ramming or boarding, and there began +peppering the enemy with his long range guns, Perez himself aiming the +best of them. The fight lasted all day, and Perez was ready to resume it +next morning. But in the darkness of the night the Frenchman stole away +and was seen no more in Santiago harbor. Perez had three men killed, and +his vessel was badly damaged; but the Frenchman probably suffered +heavier losses, since two of his men who were killed fell overboard and +were picked up and buried by the Spaniards, and there were almost +certainly others killed. For his valor on thus saving the capital of +Cuba from destruction, Perez received from the King a coat of arms with +a device emblematic of his achievement. + +That same Frenchman a little later, having repaired his vessel, wreaked +his revenge upon Havana. When he entered the harbor there the people +fled and left the town for him to loot at his leisure. It is recorded +that he took even the church bells. Moreover, being a truculent +Huguenot, he took an image of Saint Peter from the church and let his +men use it as a target to pelt with oranges! This incident caused De +Soto, who arrived at Havana a little later, to hasten work on the +defences of the place. For some time there had been talk of building a +fort, but no agreement had been reached as to where it should be; +whether at the Cabana, or the Morro, or on the hill in what is now +Central Park. But the Frenchman's raid brought the controversy to an +end, and De Soto was authorized to build wherever he thought best. The +result was the building of La Fuerza. It was hastily built, and +therefore badly, so that ten years later part of it had to be torn down +and the whole remodelled into its present form. + +By this time it was considered certain that Havana would one day become +the capital and chief city of Cuba, wherefore it was decided to fortify +it rather than Santiago or any other port. Beside, it was the most +convenient port of call for treasure ships and others plying between +Mexico and Spain. A battery of cannon was therefore placed upon the +Morro headland, long before the building of the castle, and La Fuerza +was strongly armed. It became the custom for treasure ships to put into +Havana harbor, and if pursued to unload their treasure there, for safe +keeping on shore until the danger was past. But no further attack was +made upon Havana or any other Cuban port, and in 1544 the war was ended. + +The prospect of Havana's becoming the capital seemed temporarily to be +realized in 1550, when Angulo established his permanent residence +there--the first governor so to do, though some of his predecessors had +spent some time there, and De Avila had actually established a residence +there. Angulo began building a large stone church at Havana, in place of +the wooden thatched hut which had served the purpose before him; he +built an addition to the hospital, two store houses and a slaughter +house, and rebuilt the jail. He also regulated the prices of food, so as +to put a stop to the artificial raising of prices whenever ships came in +for supplies. Yet when, in obedience to the orders of the crown, in +November, 1552, he issued an emancipation proclamation in favor of the +Indians, a storm of abuse broke upon him, in Havana as well as +elsewhere. Santiago, piqued because he had spent so much time away from +that place, took the initiative in demanding a judicial investigation of +his conduct, charging him with venality and peculations. But the city +council of Havana quickly followed suit, made more than fifty specific +charges against him, and provided a ship to fetch a judge from +Hispaniola to try him. + +[Illustration: MORRO CASTLE, HAVANA + +A grim guardian, seated on the headland at one side of the entrance to +Havana's peerless harbor; founded to protect the city from the +sixteenth-century corsairs; captured in the seventeenth century by the +British and the American Colonists after the most stubborn resistance; +and in later years the prison in which many Cuban patriots were +immured.] + +Curiously enough, while Santiago was hostile to him because he would not +live there, Havana was hostile because he would live there. It was +specifically complained that he persisted in living at Havana against +the will of the people of that place. They did not want him there, they +said, because they were convinced that he was there for his own profit. +So they besought the court to compel him to return to Santiago. Other +complaints were that he had imposed various new-fangled devices upon the +city, that he was a gambler, that he engaged in trade for his own +profit, that he permitted his wife to decide suits at law, and that he +had instructed one of his officers to strike with a club anyone who did +not rise to his feet when the governor entered the church. + +Angulo denied all the charges, and declared that they had been trumped +up against him because he had obeyed the King in emancipating the +Indians. He went to Hispaniola in person to argue his cause before the +Supreme Court, the chief counsel against him being Alfonso de Rojas. The +court decided in his favor so far as to suspend all action and let him +return to Havana, until the King could pass upon the case. No judge +would be appointed to investigate him, the court added, unless one were +sent from Spain. So the governor returned to Cuba in triumph. Landing at +Santiago, he proclaimed the freedom of all Indians there. Thence he +proceeded to Baracoa, to Bayamo, to Trinidad, and to Puerto Principe, +repeating the emancipation proclamation at each place. At the midsummer +of 1553 he reached Havana, to find that the town council had "deposed" +him, on the ground that he had been absent from his jurisdiction without +leave for more than ninety days; a decree which he ignored. Meanwhile +the crown had appointed a judge to investigate him, but the judge did +not come and the inquest was not held. Soon after his arrival at Havana, +finding that he would not give up the governorship at its word, the town +council begged the Hispaniola court to have him investigated, and the +court commissioned a judge for that purpose, who declined or at least +failed to act. This was in August, 1554. + +Now trouble was renewed with France, the sixth war between Henry II, who +had succeeded Francis, and Charles beginning in 1552 and continuing +until 1559, Charles meanwhile abdicating in favor of Philip II in 1556. +The French navy was more potent than ever, and French privateers swarmed +the Spanish Main. Every Cuban port was warned to be on its guard against +attack, Havana most of all, since it was now the richest and was in the +most exposed situation. It was not until the fall of 1553 that the +official news of the renewal of hostilities reached Cuba, and great was +the consternation which it caused. + +Juan de Lobera was at that time the commander of the fortifications of +Havana, to wit, La Fuerza. He appears to have been a man of strangely +mingled temperament, at times fearful and timorous, at others resolute +and valiant. At the beginning the former characteristics prevailed. He +realized, only too truly, that the fortifications and petty garrison +would be entirely insufficient for the protection of the place against +any considerable force, such as even a single French ship might bring +against it, and he fell into something like a panic. Happily, however, +he did not desert his post, but made passionate demands upon the +governor and the town council for additional guards. Happily, too, in +the presence of menace the animosities of faction were stilled, and the +council cooperated heartily with the governor whom it had just been +trying to depose and whom only a little later it denounced to the court +as worthy of investigation and indictment. + +New guards were supplied. Day and night the beach was patrolled. +Watchmen were stationed on the Morro headland to espy approaching +vessels and to signal the tidings to the fort and city. At the mouth of +the Almendares River, where it was supposed that invaders were likely to +land, horsemen were stationed, to hasten back to the city with news of +any such landing or of the appearance of a hostile vessel. Twelve men, +expert in arms, were held in readiness day and night to man the fort the +moment a strange vessel was reported; La Fuerza being otherwise without +a garrison--which amply justified the commander's lack of faith in its +defensive efficiency. In case of an attack, all able-bodied citizens +were to present themselves in a massed levy under command of the +governor. Every man was to be armed, at least with a sword, day and +night, and none was to absent himself from the city without the +permission of the governor. Every vessel of any kind that approached the +harbor was signalled to stop outside until it could be visited and its +identity be established; though if any refused thus to halt there was no +adequate power to compel it to do so. However, refusal to stop would of +course be regarded as proof of hostile character. + +With all these preparations the defensive ability of Havana was +pitifully if not ludicrously slight. Three small cannon manned by twelve +volunteers constituted the armament of a fort which might be attacked by +a ship of twenty guns and two hundred men. The "army" of the place +comprised sixteen horsemen and less than seventy footmen, scarcely any +two of them armed alike. The chief commander under the governor was Juan +de Rojas, who was the governor's bitterest political enemy, though he +had once been his close friend and deputy. He was a brother of the +former governor, Manuel de Rojas. In these circumstances the commander +of the fort awaited with unspeakable trepidation the anticipated +approach of the enemy. + +His fears were presently realized in the coming of perhaps the most +formidable of all the Frenchmen then scouring the seas; the famous +Jacques Sores. This daring captain was not only a Frenchman and +therefore hostile to Spaniards on racial and political grounds, but he +was also a Huguenot, like many other French seamen of that day, and +therefore hostile to them on religious grounds. He was supposed to be +under the patronage of the great Condé, and also at one time to have +received material aid from Queen Elizabeth of England. Indeed, he was at +this time regarded as the foremost champion of the Protestant cause at +sea. Although a privateer, he commanded not a single vessel but a +squadron of three, which he handled with the skill of a master mariner. + +Sores did not, however, deem it needful to bring his whole array against +Havana. A single vessel, a brigantine, would be sufficient. So it came +to pass that in the early morning of July 10, 1554, a signal came from +the watchers on the Morro headland, that a strange sail, probably +French, was approaching. A shot was fired from La Fuerza, to summon the +men of Havana to arms. Lobera led his garrison of twelve men to their +places within the fort. Angulo took command outside. For an hour or two +there was uncertainty as to the identity of the vessel, and horsemen +were dispatched to the beach to watch its movements. They presently +hastened back with the news that the brigantine had cast anchor off what +is now San Lazaro and had sent ashore two boatloads of armed men, who +were now approaching the city through the jungle. This indicated +treachery, for the jungle was impenetrable save by a certain secret path +which no strangers could know, and indeed it was presently disclosed +that the invaders were guided by two men who had formerly lived in +Havana, one of whom had been a harbor pilot. + +The governor unhesitatingly considered discretion to be the better part +of valor, and betook himself to instant flight, conveying his family and +such of his property as he could carry to the native village of +Guanabacoa, at the other side of the bay, where he was joined during the +day by a majority of the residents of Havana. Lobera, on the other hand, +now that he was face to face with a great crisis, forgot his fears and +acquitted himself as a man of valor. With his little garrison, half of +whom were negro slaves, and with a score of refugees, old men, women +and children, he shut himself within the fort, with its walls of stone +and gates of timber, and prepared to fight to the death. He had found +three more cannon and had taken them into the fort, thus totalling six, +with a good supply of ammunition and provisions. He dispatched a message +to Angulo, reproaching him for his cowardly flight and imploring him to +send all able bodied men to the aid of the garrison, for the honor of +Spain. This the governor promised to do at or before nightfall; a +promise which was not kept. + +The invaders were commanded by Captain Sores in person. They took +possession of the town without resistance, and then summoned the fort to +surrender; expecting to find in it much treasure from Spanish vessels +which had recently been wrecked on the Florida coast, though in fact no +such treasure was there. Lobera unhesitatingly refused to surrender, and +the fight began. The first assault upon the fort, from the landward +side, was repulsed. Then the brigantine was seen to be approaching at +the other side, accompanied by another and larger vessel of Sores's +squadron, which had just arrived; wherefore Lobera had to transfer two +of his cannon to that side of the fort to prevent a landing of more +troops. A second assault was repulsed, during which a Spanish gunner +shot down the French flag from the staff on which Sores had raised it at +the stone house of Juan de Rojas, which the French had occupied as +headquarters. A third assault, near nightfall, was also repulsed, but +the two wooden gates of La Fuerza were burned with nearly all the +contents of the tower. The little garrison and the refugees spent the +night on an open terrace, with only a little powder and shot and not a +day's food left. Hoping for help from the governor and citizens, Lobera +fired his largest gun at intervals during the night, beat the drums and +sounded bugle calls; but all in vain. "The darkness gave no token." + +The French demanded his surrender, promising good treatment, but +threatening a ruthless assault which would mean death if he persisted +in trying to hold his indefensible position. Lobera refused, until the +break of day. Then he saw that no help was approaching from Angulo, that +an overwhelming force of French soldiers surrounded him on all sides, +and that successful defence was impossible. His ammunition was all but +gone. The cords of the crossbows with which his men were armed were +frayed and broken. Some of his men were slain, while some of the +survivors, especially one German gunner, mutinously held converse with +the enemy. The refugees fell on their knees before him bidding him die +fighting if he would, but to let their lives be spared. In this +desperate plight Lobera yielded, offering to surrender on honorable +terms, if the lives of his men were spared and the women were protected +from dishonor. To this Sores gave his word, and the fort capitulated. +The flag of France was raised over La Fuerza, and twenty-odd Spanish +subjects were prisoners. + +The women and children were quickly released, but all the men were +locked up in the house of Juan de Rojas, which was the strongest stone +building in the city. About a score more were added to their number, of +Spaniards and Portuguese whom Sores had captured elsewhere. + +A few hours after the surrender, word was received from Angulo. He had +at last organized a force of about fifty men, chiefly Indians, and had +started to the relief of the fort when he heard of its capitulation. At +this he realized that all was lost, and retired to Guanabacoa, there to +seek negotiations with the French for the ransom of Havana. A truce was +declared, and the prisoners were released from Rojas's house on parole, +pledged not to fight, or to leave town, and to return to their prison at +nightfall. Angulo offered a ransom of three thousand ducats, declaring +that no more could be raised. The Frenchmen scorned the offer, and +demanded thirty thousand pesos--eighty thousand had been collected at +Santiago the year before--and a hundred loads of bread. Angulo +protested his inability to raise such an amount, but begged for time in +which to see what he could do. + +A week passed, the French occupying Havana at their ease and Angulo +scouring the surrounding country, ostensibly for ransom money but in +fact for men and arms. By the end of the week he had surreptitiously +collected a force of 335 men, of whom about thirty-five were Spaniards +and the rest negroes and Indians. They were armed chiefly with clubs and +stones. Himself and eight others were mounted on horseback. With this +motley force he hoped to surprise the French by night, and to capture +Rojas's house, where he would take Sores himself prisoner and release +the Spanish captives. + +The desperate plan would probably have succeeded had not some of the +Indians indiscreetly uttered their war cry as they rushed upon the +house, arousing the Frenchmen and giving them time to close and bar the +massive doors. The few Frenchmen who were sleeping outside of the house +were quickly overcome and slain, and Angulo laid siege to the house +itself, summoning Sores to surrender. The French commander was furious +at what he not unreasonably regarded as a breach of the truce. Moreover, +his brother was among those who had been killed outside the house. In a +fury he ordered that all the Spanish prisoners in the house be put to +death. This was quickly done, with the exception of Lobera, who was +confined in an upper room. Sores reserved the killing of him for +himself, and entered the room where Lobera was for that purpose. Lobera +defended himself, meanwhile protesting that he had had no part in the +treachery; and his evidently honest pleas moved a French officer to +intervene in his behalf and to disarm Sores. Then, at the direction of +Sores, Lobera showed himself at a window and addressed Angulo, +reproaching him for the breach of truce, and imploring him to withdraw. +Angulo refused, declaring that he had already recaptured the town, and +that at daylight he would complete the work by capturing the Rojas house +and its inmates. + +With the coming of daylight, however, the folly of this course became +apparent. Angulo had, indeed, a larger force than the Frenchmen still +remaining in Havana; though as the latter were far the better armed a +conflict between them would probably have been disastrous to the +Spaniards. But the two ships in the harbor were now aroused and began +firing upon the Spaniards with their artillery, while reenforcements of +men for Sores put off for shore in boats. Sores and his companions made +a fierce sally from the house. The few Spaniards made a stand, but the +negroes and most of the Indians would not oppose clubs and stones to +swords and arquebuses. They fled incontinently to the jungle, followed +by Angulo himself. + +His victory thus completed, Sores returned to the house where he had +left Lobera locked in a room with the dead and dying. He absolved the +commander from all responsibility for Angulo's treacherous conduct, and +complimented him upon the valor with which he had defended La Fuerza as +well as upon his good faith. He would not, however, release him without +a ransom, according to the custom of the times. In default of the +ransom, he would take him to France as a prisoner, though treated with +all consideration. Lobera was without means, but his friends with whom +he was permitted to communicate soon raised the required sum of two +thousand two hundred pesos, and he was set at liberty. He thereafter +went to Spain, carrying with him the news of what had happened to +Havana. + +The negotiations for the ransom of the town were less successful. Angulo +had fled far inland, and could not be reached, and the Spaniards who +remained could not offer more than a thousand pesos, a sum which Sores +scorned. In default of ransom, therefore, the place was looted and +burned. Three buildings alone remained standing: La Fuerza, the church, +and the hospital. Indeed, the interior of the church was almost entirely +destroyed. Sores and his men were fierce Huguenots, and they tore down +the images of saints and took the robes and altar vestments to make +cloaks for themselves. All the boats found in the harbor were burned. +The neighboring estates for miles around were destroyed, and some of the +negroes who offered resistance were hanged. The harbor was carefully +surveyed and sounded, to facilitate future entries. Finally, his work +being thus thoroughly done, Sores sailed away at midnight of August 5, +less than a month after his arrival. + +At the end of September a little French vessel, containing only a dozen +men, entered the harbor, inspected the ruins of the city, and seized a +Spanish caravel which lay there, taking it away with them to the harbor +of Mariel, where there were several French ships. Ten days later the +entire French force entered the harbor of Havana and landed many men. +They did not, however, molest the Spanish residents nor destroy the new +buildings which they were beginning to erect, but seemed to regard them +with good humored tolerance, as too insignificant to merit attention. +Indeed, there were only a few dozen of the Spanish, all told, and they +were helpless and disheartened. The Frenchmen contented themselves with +going to several of the outlying farms and taking all the hides they +could find to add to the cargo which they were already carrying. They +remained there, on amicable terms with the Spanish, for more than a +fortnight, and then sailed away. + +These things occurred at the time when Philip of Spain was marrying +Queen Mary of England and was taking possession of the Netherlands, and +when Spain vaunted herself as the foremost military power of the world. +It must not be wondered at that the people of Cuba, and particularly of +Havana, regarded themselves as grievously neglected by those who should +have been their protectors, and bitterly reproached not alone the +governor but even the King himself for not having afforded them more +ample protection. The explanation was, doubtless, that Spain regarded +Mexico, South America, and of course her European possessions, as of +far greater importance than the island whose gold mines were about +exhausted, which had failed to provide iron for Spanish artillery, and +which had served chiefly as a stepping stone to more valuable lands. It +was a strange irony of fate that the island which was thus slighted was +destined to be the most faithful and the longest held of all the +colonial possessions of Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +The disastrous events which have been related in the preceding chapter +suggested to the Spaniards in Cuba and also to the government at Seville +the desirability, if not the necessity, of establishing a more militant +administration of affairs if the island was not to be the prey of all +comers and perhaps ultimately be lost to the Spanish crown. Thitherto, +with the exception of Velasquez and the possible exception of De Soto, +every governor of the island had been a civilian and a lawyer. It seemed +an experiment worth making, then, to appoint a military man to the +office, in the hope that he would be better fitted to provide for the +protection of the island against the privateers and corsairs who roved +the seas in increasing numbers and with increasing boldness. True, +immediately after the abdication of Charles I and the accession of +Philip II, in 1556, a truce was concluded between France and Spain, +which was to last five years. But few expected that it would last so +long, as indeed it did not, being broken in two years; and even while it +did last privateering was by no means abolished. In any case, be it +peace or be it war, Spain had tried to hold her western empire by virtue +of Divine Right and ecclesiastical decrees, and had failed. Now she +would try holding what was left of it with military and naval force; and +to that end would have a soldier for governor of Cuba. + +The man chosen was indeed an expert and competent soldier, by no means +devoid of statesmanship. Diego de Mazariegos had been one of the most +efficient lieutenants of Cortez in Mexico, and distinguished himself as +a brave and skilful fighter against the Indians. He had also given much +attention to international relations, and to the privateering which had +become such a scourge of the seas. Indeed, it was through some of his +writings on this latter subject that the court of Seville was led to +consider him as a candidate for the Cuban governorship. Dr. Angulo had +been appointed in 1550, and five years was long enough, it was thought, +for a man to serve, unless he served better than Angulo had done in the +latter part of his term. So Mazariegos was selected to succeed him, in +March, 1555. Juan Martinez, a lawyer, was selected to go with him as +lieutenant governor. These were the last appointments made in Cuba by +King Charles before his retirement from the throne. + +Some time was required for preparations for the voyage and for residence +in a new land, so that Mazariegos and Martinez did not sail from Spain +until late in the summer. On the way they suffered shipwreck and +Martinez and all his family were drowned. Mazariegos escaped, but lost +everything he had with him save the clothes which he was wearing. This +disaster made it necessary still further to postpone his assumption of +the governorship, so that he did not reach Cuba until March 7, 1556. It +is noteworthy that instead of landing at Santiago, as every other +governor had done, he went straight to Havana, where Angulo awaited him, +and the very next day, March 8, he was installed as governor. In +accordance with custom he conducted an investigation of Angulo's +accounts and general administration, which was permitted to pass as a +merely formal and perfunctory performance. The passionate demands for +Angulo's indictment and punishment were by this time forgotten. + +Havana had been partially rebuilt since the raid of Captain Sores, and +had been completely transformed in character. It had a very much larger +population than before, and that population was restless and turbulent +to a degree. It contained adventurers from every country and of every +type; fortune hunters, fugitive criminals, gamblers, bankrupts, the +shady output of Mexico, Darien and Peru, who sought in Cuba a No Man's +Land in which they would not be troubled with law and order. In this +expectation they reckoned without their host. Or perhaps they counted +upon the rough and ready soldier as likely to countenance a large degree +of laxity. If so, they were mistaken. Mazariegos had indeed the personal +morals of a soldier of fortune. Soon after the death of Angulo he took +the latter's widow for his mistress and lived with her openly, to the +great scandal of the church, until after the death of the lady's mother, +when he married her, as he said he had all along intended to do; the +delay being due to his unwillingness to have a mother-in-law. But this +was regarded by the governor as a trifling peccadillo. Upon graver +offenses, murder, robbery, brawling and what not, he frowned with the +wrath of a Precisian. + +Nor was he any respecter of persons. When Francisco de Angulo, the son +of the lady whom he had taken as his mistress and was soon to make his +wife, scandalized law and order with his drunkenness and brawling, he +exiled him to Mexico. For like offenses he also banished Gomez de Rojas, +the youngest brother of Juan de Rojas, one of the foremost citizens of +Havana; expressing as he did so a fervent wish that the young man might +quickly meet with an evil death. As for his own nephew, Francisco de +Mazariegos, when he became notorious for gambling, lechery and fighting, +he inflicted upon him with his own hands a physical chastisement which +was a more than nine days' example to all the other youth of the town. + +Santiago still being the nominal capital of the island, the new governor +thought it incumbent upon him at least to visit it. In fact, he spent +nearly the whole year 1557 there, endeavoring to provide it with means +of defence against French privateers. He stationed a captain of the army +there, with four small cannon, some muskets and pikes, and a supply of +gunpowder, urging the citizens to learn to fight so as to defend +themselves. Then, in January, 1558, he hastened back to Havana to defend +it against raiders who were said to be on their way thither. Five months +later a French privateer visited Santiago, took the place without so +much as a blow from the captain, considered it too small and poor to be +worth looting or burning, and sailed away again after collecting only +400 pesos ransom; probably the smallest ransom on record for a capital +city! + +On his return to Havana, Mazariegos showed the value of a military +governor for the protection of a city. For six weeks that summer a +French squadron of four vessels lay off Havana, without venturing to +attack the place, knowing that Mazariegos had mobilized and trained for +fighting every able-bodied man in the place, and even some robust and +athletic negro women. But the governor was not satisfied with defence +alone. He contrived to get word to some Spanish captains at Nombre de +Dios, who were going to convoy treasure ships to Spain, with the result +that they presently came up unannounced and captured the whole French +squadron. Again and again thereafter Havana was menaced, even attacked, +but invariably Mazariegos repulsed the enemy, generally with heavy loss +to the latter. + +He felt, however, the need of better equipment, particularly of more +cannon, and asked the crown to provide it. The crown declined or at any +rate failed to do so, whereupon he set about doing it himself, and +succeeded in getting, sometimes by rather strenuous means, a number of +cannon and a good supply of powder. But a better fort than the ruins of +La Fuerza was also needed, and to that enterprise he turned his +attention with zeal. At the beginning of his administration Geronimo +Bustamente de Herrera was commissioned by the crown to build a new fort, +but after making plans and engaging workmen he fell ill and had to +abandon the job. At the beginning of 1558, just as Mazariegos returned +thither from Santiago, Herrera was replaced by Bartolome Sanchez, a +competent engineer; who prepared new plans for the rebuilding of La +Fuerza as it stands to this day. The Viceroy of Mexico, who was much +interested in the safety of Mexican treasure ships which might put in at +Havana, contributed 12,000 pesos in gold for the beginning of the work. +There was much trouble in getting laborers for the work, in Spain. +Sanchez wanted at least a hundred negro slaves. The government thought +the number excessive, and gave him authorization for only thirty; +whereupon he declared that the enterprise might as well be given up. In +fact he secured in Spain only fifteen workmen, and with them he sailed +for Cuba, hoping to secure the rest there, or elsewhere in the West +Indies. + +The work began early in December, 1558. A stone quarry was opened near +Guanabacoa, and a kiln for making lime was built. But labor was still +lacking. Sanchez wanted two hundred, negro slaves or others, and +appealed to the people of the town to help him get them. In response +they procured for him thirty slaves--their own, whom they were willing +to turn over to him "for a consideration." Then the governor took a hand +in the game. There were forty slaves at Santiago, who had been brought +thither without the proper shipping papers, and were being held for that +reason. Mazariegos sent to Santiago, confiscated them all, and brought +them up to Havana, to work on the new fort. Some French prisoners who +had been taken in a fight off Matanzas were also set at work on it. All +tramps and vagabonds who were arrested were sent to La Fuerza or to the +quarry, and for a time, until the crown stopped it, one third of the +Indian village of Guanabacoa were kept at work on the fort. + +Although Sanchez was in charge of the work and was responsible for it, +Mazariegos spent much of his time there, watching it, directing it, and +chastising with tongue and sometimes even with rod all who seemed +laggards at the job. In time he succeeded Sanchez in authority. For +Sanchez incurred much enmity on the part of some influential citizens, +whose houses he took in order to make an open place about the fort. They +accused him of corruption, of making gross errors in the plans for the +fort, of fomenting discord, and of wasting money. He was too busy with +building the fort to pay much attention to these things, even when they +took the form of letters to the King. The outcome of it was that in the +summer of 1560 Sanchez was removed from his place, and Mazariegos was +put in charge of the completion of La Fuerza. A few months later Sanchez +reached Seville, and pleaded his case to so good effect that the crown +was convinced that injustice had been done him, and that he should not +have been discharged. However, it was not practicable to reinstate him, +though he was sent back a few years later to make an official inspection +of the completed fort. + +In addition to La Fuerza, Mazariegos built the first forerunner of the +Morro Castle. In 1563 he built on the Morro headland a tower of masonry +more than thirty feet high. It was intended primarily as a landmark, and +was therefore painted white in order to make it visible at the greatest +possible distance. But a watchman was generally kept in it, to espy +approaching vessels and to signal to the city news of their approach. +The tower is said to have cost only 200 pesos, and was paid for by the +city of Havana. + +Mazariegos presently became involved in affairs outside of Cuba. Many +men deserted at Havana from the vessels of Angelo de Villafane, governor +of Florida. Villafane complained and wanted Mazariegos to capture and +return them. Mazariegos replied that he could not do it; to which we may +doubtless add that he would not have done so if he could. He was +desirous of increasing the population of Cuba, even in that way. When +Villafane attempted to plant a Spanish colony at what is now Port Royal, +South Carolina, and failed, Mazariegos had some correspondence with the +King, and probably acquiesced in the royal opinion, that it would be +impracticable to establish a colony at that point. In 1563, however, the +King learned that the French had been quite successful in planting a +colony on that very spot where the Spaniards under Villafane had failed, +and he informed Mazariegos of the fact. The governor, acting upon his +own initiative, but shrewdly guessing what would be acceptable to the +King, sent Hernando de Rojas thither with a frigate and twenty-five +soldiers, to see how much of a settlement the French had made, and to +destroy it if he was able to do so with that force. In the summer of +1564 Rojas returned, reporting that the settlement had been abandoned by +the French. He brought back with him one young Frenchman as a prisoner, +and also a memorial stone which the French had set up to commemorate the +founding of the place, bearing the date, 1561. Mazariegos commended +Rojas for his work, sent the memorial stone to Seville, and then began +planning to go in person or to send an expedition to search the Carolina +and other coasts in quest of new French colonies. His theory was that +the more French settlements there were, the more French vessels there +would be, and therefore the more subject Cuba would be to alien +annoyance. + +This, however, was not to be. The end of Mazariegos's administration was +already drawing near. He fell into some violent disputes with the +citizens of Havana, over the appointment of alcaldes, a duty which they +charged him with neglecting. He was also charged with packing the town +council with his own creatures, with tampering with the mails so as to +prevent people from writing to Spain any complaints of his +maladministration, and of other misdemeanors. Bartolome Sanchez, who had +returned from Spain and who had a bitter personal grudge against the +governor for supplanting him as builder of the fort, petitioned the King +to have a judge sent from Hispaniola to investigate him, but the King +refused. Mazariegos, learning this, and feeling unwarrantably secure in +royal favor, adopted a more arrogant attitude toward his opponents and +critics, which did him no good. + +In the spring of 1565, Garcia Osorio de Sandoval was appointed to +succeed him as governor. Mazariegos thereupon wrote to the King, asking +that there be no unnecessary law suits brought against him, as he was +old, and ill, and poor. (He was not yet fifty years of age!) The King +granted his request, and in consequence instructed Osorio to make his +investigation as little annoying as possible. Osorio obeyed, and +although the report of the inquest filled three big volumes, Mazariegos +was not brought to trial on any charges and had no fines assessed +against him. He remained living at Havana for some time, and then +completed his career in the King's service as governor of Caracas, +Venezuela. His administration had been a stormy one, but on the whole +advantageous to Cuba, and had confirmed the Seville government in its +policy of appointing others than mere lawyers to the insular +governorship. + +Garcia Osorio de Sandoval became governor of Cuba on September 12, 1565. +As he was not a lawyer, the precedent which had been set in Mazariegos's +case was followed in his, of appointing a lieutenant governor who was a +lawyer to serve with him. His lieutenant was Luis Cabrera, who did not +reach Cuba until later in the year, having suffered shipwreck and been +obliged to put back to Spain and await the sailing of another vessel. + +Osorio appears to have been a soldier, though probably retired from +active service at the time of his appointment to the governorship. At +any rate he made it his first care to improve the defences of the +island. It is related that he bore with him from Spain to Havana a cargo +of arms and munitions, including four brass cannon. These he placed upon +the fortification, thus making a battery of eight pieces, and built a +substantial platform of timber for them to stand upon. La Fuerza was not +yet completed, but he took measures to expedite the work and hoped to +have it finished in a year. In order to protect the place from possible +raids by land, he closed and blocked all roads and trails leading into +it from the west excepting the one along the beach. He organized a force +of seventy men armed with arquebuses, to be quickly summoned in an +emergency, and required them and all citizens to assemble for service +whenever a strange sail was sighted. In addition, as a permanent +contribution to defence, a spacious arsenal was built near the water +front, to contain the stores of ammunition and to shelter the guards and +citizens. + +There was thus much promise that Osorio would prove to be an energetic +and useful governor. Unfortunately, at the very beginning of his +administration he came into conflict with another and much stronger +functionary of the Spanish crown; indeed, one of the most formidable +figures of the time. This was none other than Pedro Menendez de Aviles, +whose record fills so large a place in the early annals of Florida and +the West Indies. He took to the sea in boyhood, and became one of the +most expert navigators of Spain. At the age of thirty he was captain of +his own ship, and it was one of the most active and efficient vessels +among all that guarded and convoyed the treasure ships and fleets of the +Spanish Main. At that time he warned the government of Hispaniola and +also that of Mexico of the grave danger of letting the French get any +foothold upon those shores, or even of navigating those waters. The +Bahama Channel, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea should all, he +insisted, be declared and kept closed seas, into which no vessels but +those of Spain should enter save by special license. + +[Illustration: PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES.] + +Menendez was, moreover, an ardent and indeed fanatical Catholic, who +deemed it a duty to extirpate "Lutheran dogs," as he termed the French +Huguenots and other Protestants; and as most of the French seamen and +foreign adventurers at that time were of the Huguenot faith, he +cherished a special animosity against them. + +Now, his recommendations to the governments of Hispaniola and Mexico +were transmitted to Seville and were laid before the King. Charles was +at that time weary of royal cares and was about to resign them, and he +paid little or no attention to the letters of the young captain. But +when Philip II came to the throne, attention was given to them. That +painstaking monarch read them and was much struck by them, both in their +warning of military danger from the French and in their zealous +animosity against heretics. Their writer was evidently, he thought, a +man after his own heart. So he sent for Menendez, talked with him, and +commissioned him to be the guardian of the highway to the Indies, with +the title of captain-general. It was his function to guard Spanish +treasure ships all the way across the Atlantic, from Mexico to Spain, as +he had formerly guarded them in the narrow seas about the Indies. It was +thus that he was serving during a part of Mazariegos's administration in +Cuba, and in that capacity he spent much time at Havana. On one or two +occasions he took charge of the few little vessels which formed +Mazariegos's navy, and did good service with them. At this time, also, +he wrote to the King about the increasing ravages and peril of French +privateers in those waters, very much as he had written to the local +governments years before. + +The result was that the King in March, 1565, appointed him to be +Adelantado of Florida, and captain-general of the Spanish fleet in that +part of the world specially commissioned to guard the coasts and ports +of the Indies. That was six months before Osorio became governor of +Cuba. + +The commission of Menendez bade him to "guard the coasts and ports of +the Indies." Very well. Cuba was certainly one of the Indies. Therefore +he was commissioned to guard the ports and coasts of Cuba. Being +familiar with Cuba, and recognizing its very great importance, he +naturally deemed the guarding of that island as one of the very first of +his duties. Mazariegos did not demur, since he was himself soon to +retire from the governorship. But when Osorio came to Havana six months +later, and found Menendez in command of all that pertained to harbor and +coast defence, there was trouble. Osorio asserted his rights and +authority as governor of Cuba. Menendez replied with an assertion of his +as captain-general "to guard the coasts and ports." + +The first clash came because Menendez interpreted his jurisdiction as +extending to fortifications on land as well as to shipping; which we +must regard as extreme if not overstrained. He assumed direction of the +garrison of Havana, and had two hundred men sent thither from a large +detachment which was sent to Florida. As La Fuerza was not yet finished +sufficiently to accommodate them, houses were hired to receive them. +Osorio was not notified in advance that they were coming, or that they +had arrived; and after they were there they refused to regard his +authority but took orders solely from Baltazar Barreda, a captain whom +Menendez had assigned to their command. Presently Barreda took charge of +La Fuerza and began moving thither the artillery, including the four +pieces which Osorio had brought with him from Spain. Osorio +remonstrated, saying that the fort was not yet sufficiently completed +for use. Barreda defied his authority, and was sustained by Menendez, +who happened to be in Havana at the time. The governor yielded, for the +time. But as soon as Menendez was out of the city he clapped Barreda +into jail, after a violent physical struggle, and appointed Pedro de +Redroban to the command of the fort in his stead. News of this reached +Menendez and he hastened back and released Barreda. As for Redroban, he +and half a dozen of his men fled to the woods, in well-founded fear of +Menendez. + +Now, Redroban was one of Menendez's soldiers, just as much as Barreda, +and was probably as loyal to him as Barreda. But he had deemed it +incumbent upon himself to obey the commands of the governor of the +island. Nevertheless, Menendez charged Osorio with having incited mutiny +in the garrison, and he denounced Redroban as a deserter and traitor, +who should be captured and put to death, and his head exhibited in the +market-place with an inscription proclaiming him a traitor to the King +and disobedient to his commander. Redroban and some of his comrades +were captured, tried, and condemned to death; but on appeal to the crown +their sentences were commuted. Menendez then ordered Barreda to set the +garrison at work digging a moat about the fort, and demanded picks and +shovels from the governor for the purpose. These Osorio refused to +supply, and Barreda thereupon secured them from the people of the town. +Still another cause of friction was found in the coming to Cuba of many +men, both civilians and runaway soldiers, from Florida. These Osorio +received and sent to the interior of Cuba to engage in agriculture. +Menendez complained that Osorio was inciting and assisting desertions +from Florida; and Osorio bitterly replied that affairs were so bad in +Florida under Menendez's rule that people had to flee from the place to +save their lives from starvation and pestilence. + +Whatever were the general merits of the controversy between the two men, +it was certain from the beginning that Menendez would win. He had the +higher official rank, and he enjoyed the special favor of the King. More +and more he made Havana his headquarters, preferring it to any port on +the Florida coast; to which it was, of course, naturally much superior. +More and more, too, he assumed authority in Havana, not alone in +military but even in civil affairs. More and more Osorio was ignored. +And as Menendez had the stronger force of men, and was backed by the +approval and favor of the King, it was in vain that Osorio resented the +slights which were heaped upon him. + +Matters reached their climax in the matter of further fortifications. +Osorio wanted to build a sea wall in front of the city, such as the +engineer Sanchez had planned years before, at the beginning of +Mazariegos's administration. Menendez curtly dismissed that scheme, and +commissioned his son-in-law, Pedro de Valdes, with some other officers +from Florida, to survey the waterfront of the city and recommend +additional fortifications. They reported that it would be folly to +build a sea wall, and that all that was needed was a round tower, about +thirty-seven feet high, on the headland opposite the Morro, on which +latter an observation tower had already been erected. Valdes suggested +that the tower might be built by the garrison of La Fuerza, at no cost, +if the governor would provide the materials. This Osorio refused to do. +He had no money for such a purpose, and no authority to spend any for +it. Moreover, he condemned the plan of thus dividing the garrison, +holding that it would be far better to finish La Fuerza and concentrate +all the forces there. The outcome of it was, therefore, that the +proposed Punta Castle had to be for the time abandoned; Menendez +perforce contenting himself with some earth-works on Punta, in which he +placed a couple of cannons. + +At the same time other friction arose at Santiago, a place which could +not yet be altogether neglected. Menendez's attention was called to that +place by having one of his own ships chased into Santiago harbor by a +French privateer. The captain of that ship reported to him that Santiago +had a fine harbor but practically no defences. A fort had indeed been +begun on the headland at one side of the harbor entrance, but had not +been finished, and the sea wall for which the people had petitioned had +not been started. Menendez thereupon sent thither a company of fifty men +with four cannon, under command of Captain Godoy; without, of course, +consulting Osorio as governor of the island. + +This force remained there about three months, in the summer of 1567. It +saw nothing of French privateers, or of any menace of an attack upon the +town. But it did see a good deal of merchant ships of various nations, +French, Scottish and Portuguese, which came thither with slaves and +merchandise, but which seldom ventured in for fear of Godoy and his men. +For such trade with foreigners, and particularly with those who were or +were suspected to be heretics was strictly forbidden. Godoy and his men +were therefore most unwelcome visitors, to the merchants and people of +Santiago, and to the lieutenant of the governor, Martin de Mendoza. It +was suspected, not without reason, that Osorio had sent word to Mendoza +to antagonize Godoy as much as possible. At any rate, one day a +particularly big French merchant vessel came into the harbor; Godoy +rallied his men to the battery near the wharf, to prevent it from +landing its cargo; and Mendoza arrested Godoy and sent him to jail, +where he kept him until the cargo had been discharged and another taken +on in its place, amid the jubilations of the people. Then Godoy was +released, with profound apologies for the error which had been committed +in arresting him! + +Godoy remained for some time thereafter at Santiago, though much against +his will. His superior officer commanded him to remain. But he sent an +appeal for relief to the Supreme Court of Hispaniola, with the result +that Mendoza was removed from office, in the winter of 1557-58. This was +a relief to both Mendoza and Godoy, though it did not make their +feelings less bitter. On Palm Sunday the two met at church, Mendoza +accompanied by his wife and Godoy by a friend named Cordoba. The latter +two grossly insulted both Mendoza and his wife, then ran into the church +for security from chastisement, forcibly resisted arrest, and committed +acts of sacrilege. They were finally overpowered, and on being brought +to trial before the local court were condemned, Godoy to be hanged and +his body quartered, and Cordoba to be flogged and sent to the galleys. +The sentence was executed, Godoy being hanged on a gallows at the door +of the church the sanctity of which he had violated. When Menendez heard +of this he was furious. He instituted proceedings against Mendoza and +the local alcaldes at Santiago, charging them with conspiracy to destroy +Godoy so that their illegal traffic with Frenchmen and other foreigners +would not be molested. Mendoza thought it prudent to remove to +Carthagena, in New Granada, for fear of personal violence; whence he +proceeded to Spain, where he was acquitted of all the charges which +Menendez had made against him. + +Meantime, the governorship of Osorio had ended. Early in 1567, at the +time when the controversy arose over the sea wall and the Punta +fortifications, he had realized that his usefulness as governor was +ended, and had asked the King to accept his resignation; declaring that +his presence there was no longer of value to his majesty. In August, +1567, the King appointed Diego de Santillan to be governor in his stead, +and commissioned him to investigate Osorio's stewardship, and +particularly to bring him to trial on certain charges of false arrest +and cruelty to a prisoner. But just as Santillan was about to embark for +Cuba, in October, 1567, his commission was revoked and Menendez was +appointed governor of Cuba in his stead. It has been said that this +appointment was made by the fanatical King to show his approval and +appreciation of Menendez's act on September 20, 1565, when he massacred +the French garrison of Fort Caroline, Florida, "not as Frenchmen but as +Lutherans." + +Menendez was not able, however, as Adelantado of Florida, to reside +permanently in Cuba, or indeed to spend much time there; wherefore it +was arranged that a lieutenant governor should be the actual +administrator in his stead. The man chosen was Francisco Zayas, a +lawyer, who had been selected by the King to be lieutenant governor with +Santillan. He reached Havana in July, 1568, and at once assumed the +office which Osorio was glad to relinquish. It cannot be said that he +was greatly welcomed by the people of Havana or of any part of Cuba, +since it was assumed that he would be a mere puppet acting for Menendez, +and it was feared that Menendez would use Cuba as a mere stepping stone +or adjunct to Florida, draining it of men and resources for the benefit +of the larger province on the continent. This apprehension, happily, was +not realized. + +Osorio personally had cause for fear. Zayas was commissioned to conduct +the investigation into his affairs, and there was every reason to +suppose that Menendez would compel him to make the inquest as drastic as +possible and to impose the heaviest possible penalties for any +misdemeanors which might be proved against him. But Zayas was after all +a just and reasonable man, who was not afraid to assert his independence +of Menendez, particularly since, as he pointed out, his commission as +lieutenant governor antedated that of Menendez as governor by two +months. Moreover the people of Havana, through dislike of Menendez and +fear of his policy, gave their strongest support to Osorio, testifying +in his behalf, and at the end sending a great memorial to the King, +signed by almost every man of consequence in Havana, petitioning for the +utmost possible favor for the governor. The result was that the lightest +of sentences was passed upon Osorio, two years after his actual +retirement from office. + +In dealing thus with Osorio, however, Zayas sealed his own fate. Nothing +that he could do thereafter pleased Menendez, while he was called upon +by the latter to do or to sanction things which offended his sense of +right. By the beginning of May, 1569, relations between them reached the +breaking point. Menendez caused the city council to protest that Zayas +had never filed the bond which was required of a lieutenant governor, +and to characterize this as a grave offence, indicating criminal intent. +Zayas thereupon resigned his office. Suits were instituted against him +and his wife in Spain, by Menendez, and he returned to the country to +meet them. He appears to have been successful in his defence, since the +King subsequently appointed him to be a judge in the Canary Islands. + +Menendez appointed in place of Zayas as lieutenant governor Diego de +Cabrera, who had filled that place under Osorio. His term of service was +short, however, and no fewer than five others succeeded him, one after +another, during the administration of Menendez. They were Diego de +Ribera; Pedro Menendez Marquez, a nephew of Menendez; Juan de +Ynestrosa; Juan Alfonso de Nabia; and Sancho Pardo Osorio. + +Diego de Ribera, who served for a brief space under Menendez as +lieutenant-governor, was captain of the galleons, and was presently +commissioned for an expedition to Florida. He was succeeded by Pedro +Menendez Marquez, a nephew of Menendez. He was an accomplished navigator +and on that account was directed by his uncle to sound and chart the Old +Bahama Channel, a much-frequented route of commerce and approach to Cuba +from the north and east. To this undertaking he devoted only a few +weeks, but his observations were so exact, thorough and comprehensive +that the Council for the Indies, on receiving his charts, immediately +approved them and ordered them to be regarded as the authority for +navigation of those waters. + +The administration of Sancho Pardo Osorio was marked with much energy in +advancing the defences of Havana and in caring for the commerce which +frequented or touched at Cuban ports. The former work proceeded slowly, +because of the necessity of depending almost exclusively upon the local +community for aid. At this time also was effected the immensely +important reform of codifying the municipal ordinances. This work was +done under a commission of the Supreme Court by Dr. Alfonso Casares, of +Havana, who on January 14, 1577, presented the results of his labors to +a council consisting of Sancho Pardo, the Alcaldes Geronimo de Rojas +Avellaneda, and Alfonso Velasquez de Cuellar, and the Regidores Diego +Lopez Duran, Juan Bautista de Rojas, Baltasar de Barreda, Antonio Recio, +and Rodrigo Carreņo. The code was unanimously approved by them, and it +remained in force and active practice until the War of Independence in +1898. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Menendez was governor of Cuba for a little more than six years, from +October 24, 1567, to December 13, 1573. Those were important years for +the world at large. They saw the Duke of Alva, as governor of the +Netherlands, establish there the Bloody Tribunal, and in return the +"Beggars of the Sea" engage in their indomitable campaigns against the +oppressor, extending even to the coasts of Cuba. Spain engaged in a +great war with the Ottoman Turks. France had the second and third civil +wars, culminating in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. Elizabeth of +England fully committed herself to the Protestant cause and was +excommunicated by the Pope. Mary of Scotland fled from her throne and +was succeeded by young James VI. + +Menendez, more a statesman of world-wide vision than any of his +predecessors, was not unmindful of these transactions, or of the far +greater events which they portended, and he strove after his fashion to +prepare Cuba for her part in great affairs. He realized that in the wars +of the European powers their American possessions were increasingly +likely to become implicated. Despite his utmost efforts, various other +nations sent vessels to West Indian waters, to harry the fleets of +Spain. The numbers of such intruders were increasing. His utmost efforts +had not been sufficient to drive the French away and to keep them away. +Now others than the French began to appear. The "Sea Beggars" of the +Netherlands were daring navigators and formidable fighters, and they +began to prowl around the coasts of Cuba. English captains had found +their way to the Spanish Main, and Hawkins made his way to Vera Cruz, +and Drake plundered Nombre de Dios. + +Finding himself unable to protect the Spanish treasure ships and to keep +all enemies away from West Indian waters, Menendez sought at least to +make Cuba secure against invasion, or its capital--for such Havana was +about to become in name as well as in fact--secure against capture and +looting by buccaneers. To this work he gave his chief attention, and, +above all else, to the completion of La Fuerza. The rebuilding of that +fortification dragged scandalously. Sometimes it was for lack of money, +sometimes for lack of workmen. Menendez told the Council for the Indies +that in its unfinished state it was an actual menace to the town, +because a hostile force could easily land and capture it, and having +done this, they could quickly complete it and make it almost impregnable +against any attempt to drive them out. He did not explain why he could +not complete it as quickly as an invading force could, but he asked for +a force of three hundred negro slaves to work on it. With them, he said, +it would be possible to finish the fort in two years. The Council was +not favorably impressed. It could not understand how a few score +buccaneers, landing and seizing the fort, could finish it in a few days, +while it would take Menendez with three hundred slaves two years to do +the work. + +Diego de Ribera, as Acting Governor, also took up the matter. The fort +was already sufficiently advanced to permit him to mount eight pieces of +artillery, but he wanted twenty more. Also, he wanted a large permanent +garrison of professional soldiers. It was unsatisfactory to have to +depend upon a rallying of the citizens, because it interfered with the +occupations of the citizens, because they were not expert in arms, and +because when they were summoned not more than half their number +responded, so that the commander never knew how many he could depend +upon. There should, he urged, be a permanent garrison of two hundred +men, under the command of the governor. Of course such a garrison could +not be furnished by the town itself, because there were not in all +Havana more than two hundred fighting men, all told. This gives, by the +way, a hint concerning the rapid growth of the place at the time of +Mazariegos. A town containing two hundred men capable of bearing arms +must have had a total population approximating two thousand. + +Ribera's arguments and appeals appear to have been more effective than +those of Menendez. The Council for the Indies, and the King, too, +ordered practical steps to be taken for finishing and equipping the +building which had so long been neglected. As Cuba, or perhaps +especially the port of Havana, was of no great importance to the Spanish +colonies on the mainland, for the safeguarding of their shipping, and +also as Cuba had been so drained of men and supplies in former years for +the exploitation of colonies on the main land, it was but justice as it +was a matter of practical convenience and expediency for the government +to call upon Mexico and Castilla del Oro to contribute largely to the +payment of the cost of fortifying Havana. That place was a little later +called, by royal decree, "Llave del Nuevo Mundo y Antemural de las +Indias Occidentales," or Key of the New World and Bulwark of the West +Indies. Certainly it was fitting that the New World should pay for its +key and that the Indies should pay for their bulwark. + +So Mexico was required to contribute four thousand ducats, and Florida +to provide fifty good men to form the garrison of La Fuerza. The cost of +maintaining the garrison was charged against Venezuela and Darien. The +providing of labor was a more difficult matter. It seemed to be settled +that negro slave labor must be employed. In order to secure it at little +cost it was proposed to give slave-traders the privilege of taking as +many slaves as they pleased to Cuba, provided that they would lend them +to the government to work on La Fuerza until its completion; after which +they might be sold or otherwise disposed of at the traders' will. The +objection to this from the traders' point of view was the length of time +that it was expected to take to finish the fort. The government +estimated it at three years. Now the traders would have been willing +thus to lend their slaves for a shorter time, for six months, or for a +year. But they considered three years entirely too long. After working +for so long a time, under a rigorous taskmaster, the average slave would +be so nearly worn out that his value would be much impaired. So that +scheme failed. + +The next plan for getting labor for the fort was disastrous. A contract +was made with a trader to provide three hundred negro slaves, by the end +of 1572. He did deliver 191 of them in the summer of that year, and +later sent the rest but they never got further than Hispaniola. The 191 +whom he did deliver were, however, infected with small pox. A number of +them died of that plague after their arrival at Havana, and the +contagion got abroad in the city with the result that many other slaves +and a number of the Spaniards also perished from it. Still, enough of +the slaves in that plague-stricken cargo survived to cause the +authorities of Havana much embarrassment in feeding and clothing them. +Agriculture was not yet receiving the attention which it deserved, and +even a hundred or a hundred and fifty more mouths to feed overtaxed the +local resources. Requisition was therefore made upon the government of +Yucatan to send a sufficient supply of corn and meat to feed the slaves, +while the king himself undertook to clothe them. He was led to do this +in a way which strikingly indicates the limitations of Philip's mind. To +all appeals for clothing for their comfort or for decent appearance's +sake, he was deaf. But when it represented to him that they must have +clothes in order to be able to attend mass, he at once ordered them to +be clad from his royal bounty! + +More money was needed, and was raised in various ways. An examiner went +about the island, looking into the accounts of public officials. +Generally he found that there was something due to the state from them. +Of the money thus collected, nearly all, to the amount of nearly four +thousand pesos, was devoted to the costs of the fort. Other funds were +taken for the purpose, and when there was still a deficit it was +actually proposed to sell some of the slaves to pay for the maintenance +of the rest. This counsel of despair was not, however, acted upon. +Instead, Sancho Pardo Osorio when acting governor, near the end of +Menendez's administration, advanced much money from his own purse, +trusting to the government to reimburse him. Another draft of four +thousand ducats was finally obtained from Mexico, and smaller sums came +from Venezuela and Darien. Thus the enterprise dragged on, until the +summer of 1573 found the fort still far from finished, the builders of +it heavily in debt for labor, materials and maintenance, and the +garrison, workmen, and citizens of Havana all profoundly dissatisfied. + +Naturally, and inevitably, this state of affairs reflected upon +Menendez, and compassed his downfall. He was not merely governor of +Cuba. He was Adelantado of Florida, and he gave to Florida his first +thought and chief attention. He spent most of his time there, leaving +Cuban affairs to be administered by acting governors of his own +selection. This was altogether unsatisfactory to the people of Cuba, and +especially of Havana. They wanted their governor to live among them, +where he would be accessible, and pay much more attention to them and +their interests. So they began agitating against him, and demanded a +governor who should not be Adelantado of Florida, nor subject to that +functionary. They did more than complain. They refused supplies. They +would not send to Florida the supplies which Menendez urgently needed +for his enterprises there. When the King reprimanded them and bade them +do their duty, they replied with surprising defiance that they wanted +payment, first, for supplies long ago furnished to the Havana garrison. +They also wanted to be relieved of the burden of being compelled to +guard or to watch the coast themselves, at their own cost for arms and +ammunition. They wanted these things done for them before they would +trouble themselves for the furtherance of the Adelantado's enterprises +in Florida. + +Meantime, the Council for the Indies, at Seville, was also unfriendly to +Menendez. Tired of the delay in building La Fuerza, it recommended to +the king his removal in favor of someone who would more vigorously +expedite that essential work. It was the bitter irony of fate that he +should thus be condemned for failing to do the very thing upon which he +had most set his heart to do. The Council also condemned him for faults +of administration which were due, it held, to his personal neglect +through absence from the island, and it therefore urged that a governor +be appointed in his place who would spend his time chiefly in Cuba and +would give to that island and its interests his first and best thoughts. +These representations were made to the King as early as the spring of +1571, and they had much weight with him. + +The sequel was that in 1572 Menendez was recalled to Spain, and was +commissioned for a work similar to that in which he had first won +distinction, to wit, the protection of Spanish commerce against hostile +privateers; only it was not now the commerce between Spain and Mexico +which he was to safeguard in the West Indian seas, but that between +Spain and the Netherlands, along the coast of France and in the British +Channel. In that capacity he was commander of a considerable fleet, and +the work was doubtless in itself congenial to him, and one which he was +well fitted to perform with success. But his heart was set on Florida, +with which he aspired to be identified as Cortez had been with Mexico +and Pizarro with Peru; and he bitterly lamented his being so far +separated from that country. + +So far as his governorship of Cuba was concerned, which is all in which +we need here be interested, he had at this time reached the beginning of +the end. The king decided to remove him from that office, though +probably not so much to get rid of him there as to be able to keep his +valuable talents continually employed nearer home. He had decided that +Menendez was of more value to him as a captain of his fleet than as a +civil administrator. Accordingly at the beginning of 1573 Alfonso de +Caceres Ovando, a temporarily retired judge of the Supreme Court of +Hispaniola, was commissioned to make the customary investigation of +Menendez's administration. He was not, however, appointed to succeed +Menendez as governor, but the latter was left for the time in office. +This was a mark of the high favor in which Menendez was held by the +king; and another token to the same effect was the provision that +Menendez need not personally appear to answer any charges which might be +made against him, but might, if he preferred, send an attorney in his +stead. A third and perhaps still more notable indication of royal favor +was in the fact that when Menendez elected not to appear in person, and +not to send an attorney, but to ignore the whole investigation, he was +not called to task, but was permitted to go without so much as a +reprimand. + +The investigation did not take place until November, 1573. Though brief +it was thorough and searching. But it disclosed little that was to the +discredit of Menendez, and nothing that was really serious. He seems to +have been a somewhat gloomy and cruel fanatic, but a man of integrity +and singular loyalty to his sovereign and his faith. He was zealous and +energetic, but better fitted to command a ship or a fleet, or indeed an +army, than to govern a state. Yet in both respects he failed. His chief +concern in Cuba, as we have seen, was to promote her military defences; +but he left La Fuerza incomplete, while the inestimable economic +potentialities of the island were altogether neglected. So in Florida, +he aimed at conquest with the sword and little else; and while he +succeeded in holding the land against French assaults and intrigues, he +did not develop there a colony comparable with those which were being +developed elsewhere in the New World; and he had the mortification of +seeing, in the closing years of his life, French, Dutch and British +privateers swarming in defiance of him the seas which Spain claimed for +her exclusive own. + +It was just a month after the beginning of the investigation into his +affairs that Menendez was superseded in office by the appointment as +governor of Cuba of Don Gabriel Montalvo. This gentleman was a nobleman +of great distinction in Spain. He was a Knight of the Order of Saint +James, and he was also high sheriff of the Court of the Holy Inquisition +in the city of Granada. The latter office indicates him to have been a +man after the King's own heart. It remains to be added that Menendez +returned to Spain after being superseded, and died there a few months +later, at Santander; men said, of a broken heart at the enforced +abandonment of his ambitions in Florida. + +Little either attractive or grateful is to be found in the record of the +condition of Cuba during the administration of Menendez, or as he left +it to his successor. Rich as the island was in agricultural +possibilities--it might well have been said of Cuba as Douglas Jerrold +said of Australia, "Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a +hoe and she laughs with a harvest"--and few as were its inhabitants, it +yet produced not enough to feed those few. It produced nothing with +which to clothe them. After the decline of gold mining, the raising of +cattle became the chief industry; chiefly for their hides, which were an +important article of export. Bayamo was the centre of this industry, and +was also the centre of a thriving but illegitimate commerce. + +In fact the whole southeastern part of the Cuban coast was the resort of +contraband traders, who brought thither silks and linens, wines, and +sometimes cargoes of slaves, to exchange without paying tariff duties +for hides and the valuable woods with which Cuba abounded. No attempt +was made, at least with any efficiency, by the governor or the royal +officials at Havana to stop this lawless trade. Now and then, however, +the Supreme Court at Hispaniola interfered, arrested citizens of Bayamo, +Manzanillo, and Santiago itself, and fined them heavily. Then the +government at Havana, which had done nothing to enforce the law, +remonstrated and protested against so much money being taken from Cuba +to Hispaniola. + +The island was, nevertheless, making some progress; appropriately enough +through a reversal of the conditions which had formerly involved it in +disaster. The Mexican adventure of Cortez had drawn away from Cuba men +and resources almost to the exhaustion of the island. But now that +country began sending men and means back to Cuba. Cortez had long been +dead, but under his successors the wealth of Mexico was being wondrously +developed, as was indeed that of Peru and other South American +countries. Some of the commerce between South America and Spain went by +other routes, though a considerable portion of it passed by the shores +of Cuba and utilized that island as a stopping place, to its material +benefit. But all the Mexican traffic followed the Cuban route, the most +of it passing along the north coast and making Havana a port of call or +of refuge. Florida, too, which had likewise drawn much from Cuba, was +now sending men and supplies back to the island. + +By 1575 Havana was the commercial metropolis of the West Indies, and it +had for some years been the practical capital of the island, though +Santiago continued nominally to enjoy that distinction until 1589. +Vessels from Vera Cruz, bearing the treasures of New Spain, and from +Nombre de Dios, laden with the wealth of Castilla del Oro and of Peru, +thronged the harbor, and contributed to the trade of the city. To meet +the requirements of the thousands of transient visitors, houses in the +city were multiplied in number, and plantations in the suburbs extended +their borders. The people began to realize how profitable a business was +to be conducted in providing supplies of food for the ships' companies. +And while the southeastern part of the island was, as we have seen, in a +backward condition, the northwestern part entered upon an era of +progress and prosperity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Don Gabriel Montalvo was appointed to be Governor of Cuba early in +December, 1573. As was the custom in those days, however, he delayed for +some time actual assumption of office, so that it was not until October +29, 1574, that he entered upon his duties. He was also charged with some +important duties in Florida, but they were subordinate to those in Cuba. +He made his home in the island and spent most of his time there. Indeed, +he seems to have planned to make his home at Santiago, and to restore +that place to its former prestige. On coming to Cuba he landed at +Manzanillo instead of coming to Havana, and sent Diego de Soto to be his +representative, practically deputy governor, at the latter place. From +Manzanillo he went straight to Santiago, refurbished the governor's +house and the public buildings, and began planning an elaborate system +of harbor defences worthy of the capital of the island. He was naturally +received with great joy by the people of Santiago and of the eastern end +of the island generally, who saw in him, as they thought, a promise of +restoration of that region to its former importance. + +From Santiago the governor set out on a tour of the eastern cities and +towns, and had got as far as Bayamo when there came a hurried and urgent +appeal for him to come to Havana. There was trouble in the city. Diego +de Soto, the deputy governor there, had made Gomez de Rojas commander of +La Fuerza--that reckless and truculent younger brother of Juan de Rojas +whom Governor Mazariegos had once exiled from the island for disorderly +if not criminal conduct. Now Gomez de Rojas was a land owner, and +therefore, under the law, ineligible thus to serve. But confiding in the +powerful influence of his family he ignored the law and held his place +in defiance of all protests and demands for his retirement. The town +council demanded his retirement, and the populace of Havana raged +against him, but he shut himself up in the unfinished fort, trained his +guns against the town, and prepared to resist with force any attempt +which might be made by force to compel his resignation. + +Such was the emergency which sent a message post haste to the new +governor asking him to hasten to Havana. He came, and at his coming +Gomez de Rojas capitulated without a blow. Montalvo rebuked him severely +and imposed upon him a heavy fine, which was paid. But in this the +governor incurred the hostility of the Rojas family. The feud was taken +up by Juan Bautista de Rojas, who had succeeded his cousin Juan de +Ynestrosa, deceased, as royal treasurer. This official charged the +governor with conniving with smugglers and receivers of smuggled goods, +and also with those who exported goods to countries with which traffic +was prohibited, and on that account demanded for himself the right to +inspect vessels and their cargoes; a function which had been exercised +by the governor. + +This demand was curtly rejected by Montalvo, who appears to have been a +stickler for dignity and technical rights. Thereupon De Rojas made +appeal to the King, coupling the appeal with a detailed and bitter +arraignment of the governor and an impeachment of his integrity. This +seems to have impressed the king deeply, for he presently decided the +controversy in favor of his own treasurer. He sent word to the governor +that thereafter he should not inspect or even visit ships, but should +leave that whole business in the hands of the royal treasurer. The +advantage thus gained was mercilessly pressed by the Rojas family, with +the purpose of compelling the retirement of Montalvo. They accused him +of employing for his own private work slaves belonging to the crown and +intended for employment on La Fuerza and other public works. They +charged him specifically with having made Bartolome Morales a notary for +a consideration of five hundred ducats; a transaction the evil of which +consisted not in selling the appointment for cash, but in selling it for +so little to a favored friend when it might have been sold to someone +else for twice as much. Finally he was accused of corruption and +maladministration in connection with La Fuerza, in that he had appointed +friends to places at exorbitant salaries, and that he had ignored the +suggestions of the royal officials in completing the plans of the fort. + +These charges were serious, and there is reason to think that some of +them, at least, were true. The Rojas family made them and repeated them +to the king, again and again, until that monarch was constrained to +remark that the time seemed to be near at hand when an investigation +would have to be ordered, and Montalvo's administration be brought to a +close. Nevertheless the king's favorable disposition toward Montalvo was +potent, and prevailed. The governor had been appointed, as was the +custom, for the specific term of four years, reckoned from the date of +his appointment and not of his actual assumption of office, and the king +delayed calling for an investigation until the four years were so nearly +expired that they would be entirely filled out by the time the +investigation was completed and a new governor was ready to take the +place. + +The order for the investigation was given in February, 1577, and at the +same time, on February 13, Captain Francisco Carreņo was named to +succeed Montalvo as governor. The investigation was vigorously +prosecuted, and some of the charges against Montalvo were proved. Yet so +great was the king's personal regard for him that he was permitted to go +with a nominal fine, and was retained in the royal service in important +capacities for some years thereafter. He remained governor of Cuba until +the accession of his successor, which did not occur until June 2, 1578. + +The administration of Montalvo was unfavorably marked by three things. +One was, the continuance of the contraband trade already referred to, +in both imports and exports; in which, as already related, the governor +himself was charged with participating. Montalvo at any rate gave the +appearance of striving to suppress it. He sent agents to investigate the +business, some of whom found their own relatives engaged in it and +therefore refrained from reporting upon it, and some were prevented by +the people from executing that for which they had been sent. Not merely +the people, but the local officials all along the southeastern coast did +all in their power to hamper and prevent investigation or any +interference with the contraband trade. Indeed, alcaldes and other +officials were foremost among those engaged in the unlawful commerce. + +The second feature of the administration was the persistent ravages of +the French. Despite the fact that they were engaged in contraband trade +with the people of Cuba, the French were at this time the most frequent +raiders of Cuban coast towns; sometimes directing their attacks against +the very towns in which they had been peacefully trading, while the +people were quite ready at any time to trade with those who just before +had visited them with fire and sword and demands for ransom. It was a +curious circumstance that by far the most efficient guardian of Cuba +against such raids was that same Gomez de Rojas who had been exiled by +Mazariegos and who had illegally assumed command of La Fuerza and had +bitterly quarreled with Montalvo. After being compelled to leave La +Fuerza he had taken to seafaring, and as commander of a Spanish vessel +he drove more than one French privateer away from the neighborhood of +Havana. + +Montalvo was the first to urge that Cuba be protected not alone with +land fortifications and batteries but also by naval vessels. +Particularly he wished for a powerful war-galley, which the king did not +provide him. In 1576 French raiders attacked Santiago, and were with +difficulty repulsed; upon which Montalvo sarcastically reported that if +another such attack occurred he would himself be relieved of the +necessity of fortifying the harbor and city of Santiago, for the place +would cease to exist. A little later a daring French raid was made upon +Spanish shipping just outside the harbor of Havana. This greatly +incensed Montalvo, and caused him to renew his pleadings for a galley. +He urged that the whole Cuban coast should be patrolled by light, swift +vessels, preferably frigates, and that strong galleys should be +stationed at the chief ports. He would have had the frigates, at any +rate, built in Cuba and at least partly paid for by that island; but the +Havana municipal council protested against this, demanding that Cuba be +entirely exempted from the costs of defending her from enemies. The +result was that in the lack of means of defence Cuba suffered more and +more from the ravages of privateers and freebooters, which became more +frequent as the island increased in population and wealth and thus +became better worth raiding. + +The third unfavorable feature of the time was the haggling over La +Fuerza. Begun by De Soto, and later almost entirely rebuilt, that famous +fortress seemed to be under some malign spell which made it a source of +injury rather than of benefit to Havana. Year after year passed, +appropriation after appropriation was made and expended, and still it +remained unfinished. Man after man undertook the task of completing it, +only to fail and lose his personal reputation either for efficiency or +for honesty. Moreover, as the work proceeded grave faults were +developed, both in plan and in construction. The fort, which at first +had been denounced as needlessly large, was seen to be entirely too +small to shelter a garrison sufficient for the defence of Havana. The +original design had been to make it a shelter to which all the people of +the town could flee in case of attack, and it might have served this +purpose at a time when the people of Havana were numbered by scores, or +at most by a hundred or two. But with the figures extending into +thousands it became evident that La Fuerza was entirely inadequate to +any such purpose. Indeed, it was realized that that design was +ill-conceived, for if the place was to grow into a considerable city it +would be impracticable and undesirable to make any fortification large +enough to hold all the population. + +The construction was also faulty. The fort was built of stone, but there +had thoughtlessly been chosen for the purpose a stone which had the +advantages of being plentiful and so soft as to be easily worked. +Unhappily it had also the very serious disadvantages of being so soft +that it would probably soon be battered to fragments by cannon balls, +and of being so porous that water soaked into and through it as through +a sponge. During the rainy season the place was flooded, water standing +in pools on the floor, and the magazine being so wet that gunpowder +could not be kept there without spoiling; wherefore another building, of +wood, had to be provided for that purpose. The same kind of stone was +used, moreover, for the reservoir which was to provide fort and city +with water, with the result that its contents quickly leaked out. There +arose a proverbial saying in the city that the powder magazine was +always wet and the water reservoir was always dry; and it was +sarcastically proposed that the functions of the two be exchanged. The +powder would be kept dry in the reservoir, and there would always be +plenty of water in the magazine! Nor was this the only error in +construction. The whole structure was said to be dangerously weak, so +that if all its guns should be fired simultaneously, the shock might +tumble the walls into ruin. The guns were available for use in only a +narrow zone; they were of too short range to carry to the other +extremity of the harbor, and they were so placed that they could not be +depressed so as to hit vessels which had come close in toward the water +front of the city. Therefore a hostile ship with long range guns could +lie out of reach of La Fuerza and bombard the fort and city at will. Or +one could sail swiftly in, running the gantlet of the narrow zone of +fire, and gain a place under the walls of the fort where it would be +quite safe for the guns of the latter while it could use its own at +short range with deadly effect. It was also complained that the parapet +was too low to afford shelter to the men serving the guns, and that the +four big wooden gates were a source of fatal weakness. + +It was presently perceived, too, that fortifications elsewhere than in +the heart of the city were needed for adequate defence of the place. +Especially were such works needed at the headlands commanding the +entrance to the harbor. Without them, a daring enemy might seize one of +those spots, bring up some long range guns from his ships, and have not +only Havana but La Fuerza itself at his mercy. Montalvo appears to have +recognized this need, and to have urged the construction of such forts, +especially on the Cabaņas hill, but to no avail. Instead, the royal +government proposed the construction of a strong wall around the entire +city, including the water front. It actually ordered that work to be +undertaken, the first step being to destroy a large part of the city, +including the church, to make room for the wall. Against this suicidal +policy Montalvo effectively protested, declaring that if the city were +thus demolished it would never be rebuilt, and also pointing out that +the day of walled cities was past. In the face of his representations +the wall scheme was abandoned; but his wise suggestions of forts +commanding the harbor were not acted upon until years afterward. + +It is to be recorded to his credit that Montalvo gave more attention +than his immediate predecessors had done to development of some of the +natural resources of the island. He interested himself in forestry, and +soon had an immense trade in timber and lumber between Cuba and Spain. +The exquisite cabinet work of the Escurial, in Spain, was made of wood +from the forests of Cuba--mahogany, ebony, ironwood, cedar, and what +not. Wood was supplied for other purposes, too, notably for +ship-building. It was at this time that interest arose in the great +island just off the southern coast, which at that time was so richly +clad with pine forests as to receive from Montalvo on that account its +present name of "Isle of Pines." During the administration of Menendez +the whole island was granted to Alfonso de Rojas for a cattle range, a +purpose for which it was admirably adapted, and there are legends to the +effect that the water between the Isle of Pines and Cuba was at times so +shallow as to make it possible to drive herds of cattle across from the +one land to the other. It is to be observed, in passing, that thus early +in history was the Isle of Pines recognized as an integral part of Cuba. + +Montalvo also did much to promote agriculture, and the raising of swine. +He endeavored to revive interest in both gold and copper mining, and +seems to have been persuaded that there were enormously rich deposits of +the former metal hidden somewhere on the island, in places known only to +the natives. He strove diligently and persistently to get from the few +surviving Indians information concerning these mines, but in vain. If +the Indians knew, they would not tell; but it seems altogether probable +that they did not know, and that no such mineral wealth existed on the +island. + +It was in Montalvo's time, too, that what was destined to become Cuba's +greatest industry had its permanent establishment. At various times and +places thitherto men had experimented with sugar growing and +manufacture, with varying degrees of success. But every such undertaking +had after a while been abandoned, either for lack of profit or because +of the superior attractions of something else. It was not until 1576 +that plantations were established which were never to be abandoned but +were to continue in cultivation down to this present time, and that +sugar mills of similar permanence were put into operation. The scene of +this epochal enterprise was the region around Havana, particularly +between Havana and Matanzas. There in the year named at least three +mills were established, a fact indicating that a considerable area was +planted in cane. These mills were of the most primitive description, +each consisting of three wooden rollers, formed of logs of trees denuded +of the bark, mounted in a rude frame of timber, and caused to revolve by +a long pole of which one end was fastened to the end of one of the +upright rollers while to the other was hitched a mule or an ox, which +walked in a circle around the "mill." The expressed juice was caught in +trays or jars of earthenware, and then was boiled in open pans. The +sugar thus produced was not refined beyond the stage of what would now +be considered a very coarse brown sugar, but it served the uses of the +island. It does not appear that any considerable quantity was exported +until a number of years later. These primitive establishments in 1576 +were, however, the beginning of Cuba's gigantic sugar industry. + +One other incident of Montalvo's administration must be recalled, to +wit, his quarrel with the church, or at least with the Bishop. Diego +Sarmiento, who became Bishop in De Soto's time, had been gathered to his +fathers, and had been succeeded by Bishop Durango. The latter had in +turn died, and in 1560 had been succeeded by Bernardino de Villapando, +who spent only three years in the island and then departed for Mexico +under unpleasant charges of embezzlement of funds. The charges against +him do not appear to have been pressed, nor did they affect his standing +in the church, for he was presently transferred to the then much more +important see of Guatemala. Moreover, despite the charges made against +him, he was recognized as a most energetic and successful prelate. He +established many mission stations throughout the island, and expedited +the completion of the cathedral at Santiago. + +Upon his promotion to Guatemala after three years' service Bishop +Villapando was succeeded by Juan de Burgos, who continued with much +success the work of his predecessor. He secured the erection of a large +church school on the site now occupied by the Hospital of San Juan de +Dios, at Havana, and there the famous missionary preachers and teachers, +Juan Roger and Francisco Villaroel, gave instruction to Indian youths in +the Christian religion and in the Spanish tongue. In connection with +this school there was built the church of San Juan de Dios, and from the +establishment thus founded by Bishop Burgos grew the first hospital in +Havana. It took originally the form of a military hospital, for the +soldiers of the Havana garrison and for soldiers in transit to or from +Florida, Mexico and other places. It is recorded that for his work +Bishop Burgos depended entirely upon the offerings of the people; +demonstrating what could be accomplished by an honest and businesslike +administrator. + +The next Bishop of Cuba was Pedro del Castillo, who came to the island +from the University of Salamanca. He was a most aggressive and strenuous +prelate, with policies of his own and with the courage to enforce them. +Arriving in Cuba in 1570, he glanced at Santiago when he landed there, +crossed the island to Havana, where he spent a little time, and then +proceeded to Bayamo, where he established his home, preferring that to +any other city of Cuba. He then laid claim to the island of Jamaica as a +part of his bishopric, and succeeded in carrying that point despite the +opposition of the Archbishop at Hispaniola. Then he complained that the +royal officials were not properly collecting the tithes, or at any rate +were not paying him his proper revenue; wherefore he himself began +collecting the tithes. This brought him into conflict with the crown, a +circumstance which did not alarm him nor swerve him from his course. He +made a number of appointments of the clergy under him which he deemed to +be for the good of their parishes but which made him unpopular with +them. Also he incurred much unpopularity among the people by his +insistence upon certain reforms in their morals. + +This strenuous policy presently led Castillo into conflict with +Montalvo. The Governor thought that the Bishop ought to reside at +Santiago, where were his official residence and also the Cathedral. +Castillo refused to do so, on the nominal ground that he considered +Santiago an unhealthful spot. There is reason to suspect, however, that +he preferred Bayamo because of certain very rich legacies which had been +left years before for the erection of a masonry church and parochial +school at that place. The provisions of these wills had not been carried +out, and the strenuous Bishop set himself to the task of finding out why +the church and school had not been built, and of getting possession of +the legacies and administering them himself. In the litigation which +ensued he quarrelled with Montalvo so bitterly that he excommunicated +him; an act which the governor did not take greatly to heart. The strife +between the two accentuated, however, the antagonism between church and +state which was even at that early time beginning to prevail. + +[Illustration: SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH + +One of the most ancient of the many ecclesiastical edifices in Havana, +built in 1575 and rebuilt in 1731, and presenting a singularly perfect +and characteristic example of ancient Spanish architecture. In late +years it was used by the Government for a custom house, and post office. +The illustration presents it in its earlier aspect with its former +surroundings restored.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +It would be easy for the reflective historian to engage in many +interesting and pertinent observations concerning the time in which +Captain Francisco Carreņo became governor of Cuba. It was the year 1577. +That was the year in which the sixth religious war in France began, a +struggle which made inevitable the still greater religious wars which +followed, in which not merely two factions in France but the two great +powers of Spain and England were the chief belligerents. That was the +year, too, in which Sir Francis Drake began his voyage around the world, +which was perhaps the most momentous since that of Columbus in 1492, +since it led directly to the strife between Spain and England in +America, the English conquest of Cuba, the foundation of the English +colonies in North America, and the subsequent development of the United +States; all having the most direct and important bearing upon the +fortunes of Cuba. + +Albeit he was a native of that city of Cadiz in the harbor of which +Drake performed one of his most daring and most famous feats, Carreņo +probably entered upon his governorship with no premonitions of what was +in store. While Drake was furrowing the strange expanses of the South +Sea, it was French privateers that chiefly troubled the Spanish Main and +menaced the ports of Cuba. Their favorite cruising ground was in the +waters between Cuba and Jamaica, and between Cuba and Hispaniola, and +their menace to Cuba was chiefly to the ports between Cape Maysi and +Cape Cruz, and in the Gulf of Guacanabo. The chief sufferers, as also +the chief gainers from contraband trade, were Santiago, Manzanillo, and +the settlements at the mouth of the Guantanamo River. The people of +those places were never sure whether an approaching French vessel was +bent on contraband trade or war and plunder; and indeed the Frenchman +himself sometimes left that question to be answered after he had landed +and viewed the place. He then decided which would be the more +profitable, to trade with the people or to plunder them. At times, too, +it must be confessed, the Spaniards were in similar uncertainty whether +to receive the French as traders or to slay them--if they could--as +enemies. + +Carreņo was the first governor of Cuba to die in office, his death +occurring on April 27, 1579. His administration thus lasted only two +years; but they were years filled with hard work on his part and with +much progress for the island. The sugar industry which had been founded +in the preceding administration prospered and expanded, and caused a +considerable increase in slave-holding. Negro slaves were the favorite +workmen on the plantations and at the mills, and a large number of them +was needed at each establishment. The increase in the number of slaves +caused, however, some anxiety lest there should be servile +insurrections, such as had occurred on the Isthmus of Panama, in Mexico +and elsewhere; so that in 1579 the government refused to permit any more +to be imported, even though they were wanted by the governor himself. It +is recorded that his personal request for a thousand negroes to work at +copper mining was refused by the King, or by the Council for the Indies. + +Anxiety was caused, also, by the increasing number of free negroes, and +of slaves who were practically free. Most of the entirely free negroes +had been slaves but had bought their freedom from their masters for +cash. This was not particularly difficult, since the market value of the +best negro slaves at that time was only from fifty to sixty pesos. Those +practically free were slaves who were permitted by their owners to live +where they pleased and work as they pleased, on condition of paying +their masters certain royalties every week or month. In Carreņo's time +there were hundreds of negroes of these classes in and about Havana, and +probably still more of them in the eastern end of the island. The +anxiety concerning them arose from two causes. One was, the fear that +they might incite the slaves to insurrection, placing themselves at the +head of the movement; a fear which was not at that time realized. The +other was, the fear that they would build up objectionable communities. +Thus in Havana they occupied a quarter of the town by themselves, in +which their wooden cabins were huddled closely together; the sanitary +conditions were bad; and the danger of fire which might imperil the +whole town was obviously imminent. There was in Carreņo's time a +movement to procure their deportation to Florida or elsewhere, and to +forbid the residence of free negroes in Cuba; but it did not become +effective. + +It is agreeable to remember that in spite of the obviously objectionable +nature of the institution of slavery, and in spite of the fears and +anxieties which have been mentioned, negro slavery in Cuba in those +early days was not marked with the distressing features which it has +elsewhere borne. It was probably more humane than it was two and a half +centuries later in the United States. The slaves were seldom sold by one +master to another, and never in circumstances which separated husband +and wife, or parents and young children. Severe physical punishments +were prohibited. Their masters were compelled to feed them well, and to +provide them with decent and comfortable clothes. There was no personal +or social prejudice against them, but they were permitted to attend +church and to frequent all public places on equal terms with the +Spaniards. Ordinarily they were not permitted to carry weapons; but +those who occupation seemed to make it desirable for them to be armed, +such as cattle-rangers, and messengers travelling from one part of the +island to another, were permitted to bear arms just as white men would +have done. Moreover, the free negroes were called upon equally with the +whites to serve as sentinels on the water fronts of cities, and were of +course provided with arms. There are no authentic records of +intermarriage between Spaniards and negroes, yet neither is there any +proof that it did not occasionally occur. We have already seen that +amalgamation with the Indians was not unknown, and in other Spanish +colonies of those and later days there were some fusions with African +blood. + +What is chiefly to be remembered, however, is that negroes, although +enslaved, were regarded in Cuba as human beings, with immortal souls, no +less than their masters, and that they were invariably so treated. There +was no pretence that they were of an intrinsically inferior race, or +that they were suffering from the primaeval curse of Canaan or of Ham. +And when they gained their freedom and became educated, they were +treated socially and politically according to their merits, without +regard for the color of their skin. + +In the most literal sense, the administration of Carreņo was marked with +constructive statesmanship. As a statesman this Governor set about +enlarging and improving Havana and other cities, and providing them with +public and private buildings commensurate with the needs of an +increasing population. He laid out enough of the streets of Havana to +establish for all time the plan of that city. He encouraged the building +of houses, or at any rate discouraged the holding of town sites +unimproved, by making distributions of lots to all who wished them, on +condition that the owners would promptly build. If they did not build +within six months, their titles were forfeited. Another important reform +effected by him was the substitution of adobe or other masonry for wood +as building material. By the end of his administration fully half of the +houses in Havana had walls of masonry, and a considerable number had +also tiled roofs. + +It was Carreņo, too, who began the building of the first custom house in +Cuba, at Havana. The king had ordered Montalvo to undertake this +enterprise, but he appears to have taken no steps whatever in that +direction, not even selecting a site. Carreņo essayed the task with +characteristic energy. He selected an appropriate site, at the water +front and close to the principal wharf, where an excellent rock +foundation was to be found, and there he planned to erect a building of +solid masonry, seventy feet long and two stories high. The royal +government approved the plans, and the work was promptly entered upon. + +Finally, it was impossible that the new governor should not be seriously +concerned with La Fuerza. Carreņo found that long-delayed edifice +practically finished, according to the old plans; its though condition +was, as hitherto suggested, decidedly unsatisfactory. He began by +insisting upon clearing away all buildings of any kind close to the +fort. This had been ordered nearly a score of years before but had never +been done. The purpose was, of course, to strengthen the fort by leaving +no shelter near its walls which might harbor or facilitate the approach +of a hostile force. Then he insisted upon building an additional story +on La Fuerza. This he declared was necessary, for barracks for the +garrison, and for a storage place for gunpowder, the fort proper being +flooded more than half the time. Doubtless these needs were real, and +Carreņo intended to meet them with the new story. Yet it seems also to +have been his plan thus to secure for himself living quarters more +pleasant than the house which had been assigned to him for that purpose. +There was much opposition to his plans for enlarging La Fuerza, but he +persisted in them, and they were nearly completed at the time of his +death. + +During the administration of Governor Carreņo the question of the +distribution, proprietorship and use of land became of much social and +economic importance in Cuba. The population of the Island was still +small, and yet because of the immense size of the tracts which many +settlers had appropriated for cattle ranges nearly all the accessible +and available area had been taken up. In the eastern part of the Island +there was practically no unclaimed land left excepting that in the +mountains and some almost impenetrable swamps, and already many +controversies and not a few forcible conflicts had arisen over rival +claims. Thus far no private ownership of land was authorized outside of +building sites in the towns and cities. Cattle ranges and farms were +held under indefinite leases from the Crown, subject to forfeit if the +land were permitted to remain unoccupied and unused for the space of +three years. These grants were made by the municipal government in the +name of the Crown. At first the tracts thus taken were of unlimited +extent and indeed their boundaries were defined in only the vaguest +possible manner. The result naturally was that innumerable and +interminable conflicts arose over overlapping claims. + +To correct such evils and to provide for a more equitable distribution +of land in future, Alfonso Caceres, who had been sent to investigate the +administration of Governor Menendez, was charged with a complete +revision of the land system of the Island and with the prescribing of +new rules and regulations for subsequent grants and titles. In entering +upon that work he found some settlers holding enormous tracts which they +had never attempted to utilize. Of these he summarily voided the titles +and assigned the land to others. Such areas were quickly taken up by new +comers, in smaller and definitely bounded tracts, so that by the time of +Governor Carreņo practically the only unoccupied lands of considerable +extent and practical value were to be found in the extreme west end of +the Island. + +Around Havana and some other large municipalities there were reserved +unassigned zones of from fifteen to twenty miles in width which were +kept practically as public game preserves. No grants of cattle ranges +were made in them. But they were infested by many stray cattle and hogs +which had escaped from the ranges beyond and were there running at large +in practically a wild state, and these were regarded as fair game for +hunters from the cities. It was, however, insisted that anyone killing +such stray animals must bring their hides to market with the ears +attached, so as to prove that they were indeed wild strays, since then +their ears would be unbranded while all the animals on the ranges had +their ears branded with their owner's marks. + +The Government wisely desired to encourage agriculture, even at the +expense of stock raising, the latter occupation having been expanded +disproportionately to the former. It was accordingly provided that +grants of land for farming purposes might be made within this hunting +zone, and also that such grants might be made of land already +apportioned for cattle ranges, the owners of the ranges thus invaded +being indemnified by other grants of land elsewhere. By this means a +varied agricultural industry was gradually developed to the great +advantage of the Island, though for many years cattle raising remained +the chief industry. During Carreņo's administration more than 20,000 +hides were exported yearly, and in the great demand for leather at that +time this trade was exceedingly profitable. Of course a large amount of +meat was also produced, but the difficulty of preserving it in the warm +climate of Cuba caused much of it to go to waste, so that yearly +thousands of heads of cattle were slaughtered for their hides alone, +their carcasses being left to the dogs and buzzards. + +The sudden death of Carreņo caused some curious complications in the +Government of the Island. As he had been appointed for a definite term +of four years, and as that term was scarcely half expired, no successor +had yet been chosen for him. In this emergency the Supreme Court of +Hispaniola appointed a temporary governor to discharge the functions of +the office until the Crown should make a permanent appointment. The +choice of the court fell upon a lawyer, Gaspar de Torres. Even he was +not appointed until several months after the death of Carreņo, and in +fact not until after the King had selected a permanent Governor to +succeed Carreņo. However, as the permanent Governor would not take +office until the expiration of the term for which Carreņo had been +appointed it was necessary for the temporary Governor to fill the +vacancy. Torres was appointed in October, 1579, but did not actually +assume office until the first of January, 1580. Little is known of his +antecedents, but he appears to have been an unworthy member of the legal +profession. He was possessed of an itching palm. As a result his brief +administration was filled with scandals and with controversies and +conflicts, practically all arising from his pecuniary greed and from the +unscrupulous means which he employed for satisfying it. + +He came into conflict with the powerful and numerous Rojas family, and +particularly with the most conspicuous member, Juan Bautista Rojas, the +Royal Treasurer. This latter official declared that Torres was the worst +Governor Cuba had ever had, and that he misappropriated more funds than +all his predecessors put together. Apparently as Torres had been +appointed merely to fill out Carreņo's unexpired term, he determined to +make hay while the sun shone. He took office in January, 1580. Eight +months later a judicial investigation into his administration was +ordered, as a result of which he was very quickly convicted of +misappropriation of funds and was ordered to refund several thousand +ducats which had been improperly collected and retained by him. Instead +of refunding, however, he absconded, leaving his bondsman to make good +his liabilities. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +The regularly appointed successor of Governor Carreņo was another +soldier, to wit, Captain Gabriel de Luzan. He was an army veteran who +had performed distinguished service in the Netherlands and elsewhere and +was personally known to and greatly favored by the King. He was selected +for the governorship and was informed of the appointment in the early +fall of 1579, a few weeks before the malodorous Torres was appointed by +the Court of Hispaniola. It was intended, however, that he should not +actually take office until the expiration of the full term for which +Carreņo had been appointed, and he accordingly had much time to attend +to his affairs in Spain and elsewhere before removing to Havana. His +duties were not to begin until 1581. But he removed to Cuba in the fall +of 1580 while Torres was being investigated. There came to Cuba with him +Juan Ceballos, who had been selected for Lieutenant-Governor. Both of +these officials were to receive the same salaries that their +predecessors had received, although Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, +vigorously protested that their salaries should be reduced by one-half. + +Governor Luzan was very soon involved in numerous controversies, largely +over questions of dignity and precedents among insular officials. +Something of the spirit of the formal Spanish Court appears to have +permeated Cuba at this time, and the insular and municipal officials +became as great sticklers for forms and ceremonies and for recognition +of their comparative ranks as any of the Grandees at Seville or Madrid. +Thus Jorge de Balza, Adjutant General of the Royal Forces in the Island, +insisted upon the privilege of wearing his sword at meetings of the +municipal council of Havana, of which he was ex officio a member, +although it was a penal offense for anyone else, even the Governor +himself, to wear a sword or dagger in that assembly. Another controversy +arose, as might confidently be assumed, over La Fuerza. The office of +captain or commander of that fortress paid a salary of 300 ducats, on +which account several former governors had appointed themselves to the +place and had drawn that salary for themselves. Governor Carreņo +regarded this practice as reprehensible. It was not right, he said, for +the Governor to hold another office and to draw a second salary. +Therefore, he appointed his own son, a lad just in his teens, to be +Captain of La Fuerza and to draw the salary. Whether the boy had the +spending of the money himself or dutifully handed it over to his father +is not a matter of record. + +Governor Luzan stopped this nonsense and put a real soldier at the head +of the Fort and then quarreled with him. This commander was Captain +Melchior Sarto de Arana, an expert soldier who had been Luzan's comrade +in arms in the wars of Spain, in the Netherlands and in Italy. He and +his family moved into that upper story of La Fuerza which Carreņo had +insisted upon building, regarding it as the most desirable place of +residence in Havana. The unhappy garrison in the lower part of the +building was subject to the dampness which there prevailed, to the great +detriment of health. Indeed conditions were so bad that their weapons +became almost ruined with rust and it was almost impossible to keep +gunpowder in condition for use. The Governor appears to have envied +Captain Arana his quarters in the Fort, but he was not able to displace +him, and so he turned his own attention to completing the Custom House +for his own use. Governor Torres had stopped all work upon this latter +building because of some uncertainty concerning the site, and had +appropriated to his own use some of the funds which had been provided +for completing it. But Luzan secured the necessary funds, hurried the +work of construction and soon moved in to the fine new quarters which +that building provided. + +This gave great umbrage to the royal accountant of the Island, one Pedro +de Arana, who does not appear to have been related, unless very +remotely, to the Commander of the Fort. He declared that the Governor +had no right to live in the Custom House, that the King's money had not +been appropriated for any such purpose. It was true, he admitted, that a +part of the Custom House building had been designed for an official +residence. But it was not for the Governor, but for one of the royal +officials. Now as Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, had a fine house of his +own, the meaning of this suggestion was obvious. The royal accountant +wanted the place for himself. He indeed went so far as to order the +Governor, in the King's name, to vacate the building. But he did not +venture to move in and take possession himself, and so the Governor +presently returned and remained. In retaliation Luzan personally charged +Pedro de Arana with various illegal acts, particularly in violating the +law which forbade royal officials to encourage any trade. He declared +that Arana was the owner, or half owner, of a vessel trading between +Cuba and Yucatan, a vessel which was built to be chiefly used for +smuggling. He also said that Arana was organizing an expedition to seek +and raise sunken treasure ships along the coast and was planning to +establish cattle ranches in Bermuda. On the strength of these charges, +which were probably true, he began a searching investigation into +Arana's affairs, raided his house and ordered him to be arrested by his +namesake and confined in a cell in La Fuerza. To this, however, Captain +Melchior de Arana demurred. It was not that he did not regard the +accountant as worthy of arrest. But he held that it was beneath his +dignity to arrest a mere civilian and beneath the dignity of the Fort to +serve as a prison for him. The arrest, he said, should be made by the +sheriff, and the prisoner should be confined in the civil jail. At this +the Governor was furious and he retaliated by sending the sheriff to +arrest Captain Melchior de Arana and to confine him not in the military +fortress but in the civil jail. A little later, however, he had the +Captain transferred to a cell in La Fuerza. Then he made his +brother-in-law, Juan de Ferrer, Captain of the Fort in Melchior's place. + +In his strenuous dealings with the royal accountant the Governor appears +merely to have anticipated the King himself. At any rate, a very little +while after he had begun his investigation of Pedro de Arana the +instructions came to him from Madrid that he should pursue precisely +that course. This naturally encouraged him to renewed zeal in the +prosecution. And the result was that in March, 1582, he removed Arana +from the office of royal accountant and appointed Manuel Diaz +temporarily to fill his place. At this Arana made his way to Hispaniola, +there to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Governor. He did more +than appeal. He made grave charges against Luzon and got the court to +order an investigation. The court appointed as chief inquisitor into +Luzan's affairs Garcia de Torquemada, who went to Cuba in April, 1583, +taking Arana along with him. Diaz made no attempt to maintain his title +to the office, but, regarding discretion as the better part of valor, +left Havana and repaired to his plantation in the Far West. But the +Governor and also Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, who sided with him against +Arana, stood their ground. + +In the meantime, early in 1582, the King became dissatisfied with the +fast and loose game which was being played at Havana, and chiefly at La +Fuerza, and determined to take matters into his own hand. He did so by +appointing a Captain-General to be Commander of the Fortress, who should +be independent of the Governor of Cuba. This involved some awkward +complications. The Governor, Luzan, had been regularly commissioned as +Captain-General as well as Governor. And the King naturally hesitated +for a time over the question of appointing another man to the same +place. He would have preferred that the Governor and Captain-General +should have continued to be one and the same man. But that seemed no +longer practicable, unless indeed he should dismiss Luzan altogether, +which he was not yet prepared to do. He therefore consulted with the +Council for the Indies, and in conjunction with that body finally +decided to make a new appointment. Luzan was to continue to bear the +nominal title of Captain-General, so as to give him rank comparable with +that of the military and naval commanders who might visit Havana with +the fleets of Spain. But the same title with real authority over the +fortifications and defenses of Havana, and indeed a measure of authority +over the fortifications and defenses of the entire Island, was to be +given to another man. + +The man selected for the new Captain-Generalship was a practical soldier +of experience named Diego Hernandez de Quiņones. He took office in July, +1582, and found La Fuerza substantially complete, save for the +construction of a moat, and containing a garrison of 120 men, the +majority of whom were always more or less sick because of the dampness +and unsanitary conditions of the place. The fortress had been completed, +however, in some respects in a highly unsatisfactory way. Thus there was +no stairway inside the building connecting the lower and upper stories. +There was a stairway on the outside of the building, constructed of wood +and it was obvious that in case of attack that stairway might easily be +destroyed by cannon shot and thus communications between the two stories +of the fortress be cut off. The moat had not yet been constructed, and +numerous wooden and even some masonry houses had been constructed close +to the fort, which might give sheltered approach to an attacking party. + +The King and the Council obviously apprehended some friction between the +Governor and the newly appointed Captain-General, and they therefore +prepared an elaborate code of rules and regulations intended to avert +such trouble and to conduce to harmonious co-operation between the two +officials. Thus it was provided that in all matters of law relating +exclusively to the soldiers, the Captain-General should have entire +jurisdiction. In all matters relating entirely to civilians, the +Governor should have jurisdiction. In cases in which both soldiers and +civilians were concerned the two officials should act together with +concurrent jurisdiction, and in case they could not agree the senior +royal official at Havana should act as umpire between them. + +This plan seemed fair enough and was expected to work well. But Luzan +immediately protested against the whole scheme with much vigor and even +violence of speech. In this he was heartily supported by the town +council of Havana. When his protests were ignored by the Crown, or at +least were not favorably heeded, he asked to be relieved from office as +Governor and to be assigned to duty elsewhere. This request the King +refused to grant, at the same time bidding Luzan to avoid any quarrel or +disagreement with Quiņones. In spite of this admonition within a few +weeks a bitter quarrel arose over the case of a soldier and a civilian +who had had some strife over an alleged insult offered by the soldier to +a young woman. From this there developed a bitter feud between the +Governor and the Captain-General which soon became apparently +irreconcilable. Each reviled the other, not only in his public capacity +but in relation to his private life and morals. The partisans of each +took up the strife and the entire city was soon involved in it. + +Such was the deplorable state of affairs, when, as already related, +Torquemada began his investigations. He found affairs in what seemed to +him as bad a state as possible. The City of Havana, and indeed the +entire Island of Cuba, were rent by faction. The Governor and the +Captain-General each had a band of armed retainers in Havana, and these +were at the point of open conflict which would amount practically to +civil war. Regarding the emergency as critical, Torquemada acted +promptly and strenuously. He ordered both the Governor and the +Captain-General under arrest, commanding Luzan to remain within his own +dwelling and Quiņones to remain within La Fuerza. Then he literally read +the riot act to them both. He reproved them scathingly for their lack of +loyalty to the King in letting personal animosities and jealousies have +sway over their sense of duty. He secured from each a full statement of +his complaints and grievances against the other. Then he compelled them +to submit their cases to a tribunal consisting of himself, the Captain +of a Mexican fleet who happened to be visiting Havana, and two judges of +the Supreme Court of Hispaniola. As a result of the deliberations of +this tribunal the two men were compelled to shake hands and pledge +friendship and co-operation. They were then released from arrest and +told to attend to their respective duties without any more nonsense. + +This did not halt Torquemada, however, in his investigation of the +general conduct of Luzan's administration in other respects than the +quarrel with Quiņones. The charges which were made against the Governor +were of a very serious character. It was said that he had interfered +with the administration of justice by preventing people who had +grievances from communicating with the courts or with the royal +government in Spain. He had defied the authority of the Supreme Court in +Hispaniola and treated it with contempt. He had enriched himself by +taking bribes. He had encouraged desertions of soldiers from the +garrison of La Fuerza. He had interfered with the functions of the Royal +Treasurer and other officials. In view of these accusations Torquemada +ordered Luzan to relinquish the exercise of all official functions until +the truth or falsity of the charges could be determined. Then he removed +from Havana to Bayamo and summoned Luzan to follow him thither in order +that the case might be tried in a place free from the local influence of +Havana. Luzan obeyed the order but at the same time sent his sister to +Spain to intercede with the King and the Council for the Indies, and +also sent her husband to Hispaniola to plead his cause before the +Supreme Court. + +The result was that in mid August of 1584 the Supreme Court reversed +Torquemada's order and authorized Luzan to resume the full exercise of +his powers and functions as Governor. Luzan at once did so and +immediately the old quarrel with Quiņones was resumed. So furious did +their strife become that within three months the Supreme Court reversed +its own orders and restored that of Torquemada. At this Quiņones cast +off all restraint and summarily ordered Luzan to leave Havana and to go +to Santiago to protect that place against the hostile raiders who were +hourly expected to descend upon the Cuban coast. Luzan demurred, +whereupon Quiņones threatened him with arrest. Thereupon Luzan left +Havana, but instead of going to Santiago went to Guanabacoa and thence +by slow degrees to Bayamo, where he opportunely arrived, as we shall +see, at the beginning of January, 1586. + +In the interim the civil affairs of Havana were conducted by the Town +Council until the end of 1585, when one of Menendez's soldiers, Pedro +Guerra de la Vega, was sent by the Supreme Court of Hispaniola to serve +as Mayor. He got on well enough with Quiņones, but not with Rojas, the +Royal Treasurer, who frankly declared him unfit for office and charged +him with possessing a too itching palm. His administration of affairs +seems to have been confined to purely local matters and, as we shall +see, in a very short time, before the spring of 1586, Luzan was again +exercising his full civil authority as Governor, though still most of +the time absent from Havana. Quiņones was also in full authority as +Captain-General, and these two former enemies were acting together in +complete accord. + +This radical change in the aspect of affairs was due to an impending +crisis, the most serious thus far in the history of the Island. A new +enemy had arisen, far more formidable than any the Island had yet +known. For years Cuba had been harried by French privateers often little +better than pirates, but now the English rovers of the sea began to +infest the Spanish Main. In 1577 Sir Francis Drake entered upon his +memorable voyage around the world, defiantly navigating that South Sea +which Spain has regarded as exclusively her own, and ravaging the +Peruvian treasure ships even more ruthlessly than the French had preyed +upon those of Mexico. Early in Luzan's administration warnings were +given that this bold adventurer was planning a descent upon the West +Indies and probably, therefore, upon Cuba. + +This menace naturally caused great alarm at Havana and throughout the +Island, and urgent appeals were made to the royal government and also to +the Viceroy in Mexico for aid. It was represented that galleys were +needed to patrol and to defend the coast. Artillery was needed for La +Fuerza and for other fortifications at Havana and elsewhere. A larger +garrison was also needed for La Fuerza. To these and other like appeals +the King made no satisfactory reply. He apparently had no galleys nor +men to spare for the defense of the Island. The best he would do was to +direct Luzan to utilize his own resources to the full. A military census +of the Island was to be taken, the first in its history, and all +available men including Indians and negroes, were to be mustered into +service. + +The result of this enrolment, which was made in the spring of 1582, was +unsatisfactory. In Havana itself only 226 men fit for service could be +found, and no other town on the Island could furnish more than a quarter +as many. They were, moreover, chiefly men unused to arms and therefore +of little prospective value against the formidable fighting men whom +Drake was reported to have in his train. As for La Fuerza, sickness and +desertion had so depleted its garrison that not a score of able-bodied +men were left. Quiņones gathered in reinforcements of 60 or 70, chiefly +young and inexperienced men and thus raised the apparently effective +strength to something less than 100, when more than 200 were considered +necessary. Two small brass cannon and a supply of powder and small arms +came from Spain, and Luzan either purchased or requisitioned from a +visiting ship four more small cannon. The Governor also destroyed, by +burning, all the houses which had been built close to La Fuerza so as to +leave an open zone of considerable strength around that fortress. + +Despite the conflict between Luzan and Quiņones already recorded, some +substantial progress was made, especially by the latter, in +strengthening the defenses of Havana to meet the coming storm. La Fuerza +was improved in various respects, though it was impossible to get rid of +the dampness which pervaded the place. On the Punta at the entrance to +the harbor trenches were dug and a gun platform was built. The +efficiency of these was unsparingly ridiculed by the Royal Treasurer, +Rojas, and indeed Quiņones himself soon realized their unsatisfactory +character. He therefore undertook the construction of the real fort, and +by the end of 1583 had it sufficiently completed to permit the mounting +of eight pieces of artillery. He then declared that if he were properly +supplied with powder and shot he could defend Havana against all comers. +He did not wish more soldiers, and indeed he strongly protested against +the levies from Mexico for which Luzan had sent. During the spring of +1583 about 100 men did arrive from Mexico under a Captain who looked to +Luzan and not to Quiņones for orders; a circumstance which naturally +added to the confusion and conflict of authority. But after a few months +Luzan himself agreed with Quiņones in regarding the men as practically +worthless, and assented to their shipment back to Mexico. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Such, then, was the state of affairs when in 1585 war began between +Spain and England. English adventurers infested Spanish territory on the +main land in the northern part of the vast region which the Spanish +still called Florida. They planned an English colony at the Bay of Santa +Maria and renamed that place "Roanoke" and they also renamed that part +of Florida after the Queen of England; calling it "Virginia." The news +of this invasion appears to have been known in Cuba, by the way of +Southern Florida, before it was known in Spain, and a fleet vessel was +accordingly sent from Havana to bear the tidings to the King and to ask +for further protection from Cuba. + +There was a period of hesitancy and uncertainty, and then the storm +broke. On January 10th, 1586, Sir Francis Drake landed in Hispaniola and +occupied the City of Santo Domingo, the nominal capital of all the +Spanish West Indies. Some of the judges of the Supreme Court at that +place escaped and fled to Cuba, where they arrived a week later with the +startling news. Luzan, as already related, was then at Bayamo, and it +was there that he received the news. He was startled and alarmed, but +appears not to have been panic stricken. Indeed he acted with coolness +and judgment and in a manner which must be regarded as going far toward +redeeming his reputation from the reproaches which he had formerly +incurred. Discreetly assuming that Drake's attack upon Cuba, whenever it +was made, would be not at Bayamo but at the Capital and metropolis +itself, his first thought was for Havana. Immediately upon receiving the +news from Santo Domingo he dispatched horsemen across country from +Bayamo to Havana to bear the tidings to Quiņones, bidding them also to +spread the news through all the country as they went and to command all +towns to marshal all available men and send them on to Havana for the +reinforcement of that place. As soon as possible he also sent two +vessels from Bayamo to Havana laden with men and supplies. Ignoring +their former quarrels in the face of the common danger he wrote to +Quiņones outlining his plans for a defense of the Island and urging that +an appeal should be sent to Mexico for aid, from which country it could +be procured much more quickly than from Spain. Then he hastened to +Santiago and from that port sent two vessels to Spain to tell the King +what had happened at Santo Domingo and what was being done to avert, if +possible, a like calamity at Havana. + +The Governor's appeals to the various municipalities were not without +effect. The people of Cuba seemed to be aroused by the imminence of +danger to a better degree of public spirit than they had ever before +manifested. Bayamo, Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, and even poor +little Trinidad, the smallest and weakest town of the Island, +contributed men and arms to their full ability, and when at the +beginning of May these levies were mustered in Havana they numbered more +than 225 efficient men, tolerably well armed. Luzan himself remained at +Bayamo, in the absence of orders or even permission to return to Havana, +professing readiness and eagerness to serve the King there or elsewhere, +wherever he could be of most use. At Havana Quiņones was in command, +loyally supported by the Town Council, the royal officials and the +entire community. Even the austere and censorious Rojas, the Royal +Treasurer, who had been the bitter critic and opponent of Quiņones, +forgot his animosity and hastened to offer his services in any capacity +in which they might be utilized. It is related that Rojas, despite his +years, his wealth and his social dignity, worked as a common laborer +with pick-axe and shovel in digging trenches and throwing up breastworks +for the fortification of the town, thus setting an example which left no +other citizen any excuse for shirking duty and indeed went far toward +inspiring the whole community with patriotic fervor. A proclamation was +also issued by the Mayor, Pedro de la Vega, addressed to all citizens +who, because of debts, quarrels, crimes, or other causes, had sought +sanctuary in the church or gone into hiding in the jungle, asking them +to come forward and aid in the defense of Havana, and promising them +immunity from arrest or prosecution and a period of a fortnight's grace +in which to return to their asylums or their hiding places after the +need of their services was ended. This extraordinary call was responded +to by scores of fugitives. + +There was no neglect, either, in preparation for the defense of the +suburbs of Havana. Chorrera was generally regarded not only as a +possible but as a very probable landing point for the invaders, from +which a march could be made by land against Havana. It was not +practicable to fortify the place strongly enough to prevent the landing +of any considerable force, but a small camp was established there, +occupied by a company of horsemen, who were to keep watch day and night +for the approach of the enemy, and upon his first appearance were to +ride post-haste to Havana with the news. The first horseman was to set +out the moment the enemy was sighted in the distance. A second was to +follow as soon as the fleet was near enough for the number of vessels +and their approximate strength and men and guns to be determined. A +third would set out the moment the enemy's intention, either of landing +there or of proceeding on to Havana, was ascertained. A fourth would +wait until the enemy was actually landing and his numbers could be +determined, and would then hasten after the others with the news. + +Nearer the city there were several other possible landing places at +inlets of the coast and some of these were fortified with earth-works +and artillery. Chief among these was the inlet of San Lazaro, where in +addition to earth works an enclosed fort of timber, stone and earth was +constructed with several cannons mounted on a platform. At the entrance +to the harbor of Havana itself the strongest preparations were made. At +Punta a dozen guns were in readiness to make that the chief point of +defense outside of La Fuerza itself. Much attention was given to all +roads leading into the city for several miles around; particularly +toward the west from which direction the attack was chiefly expected. +Some of the roads were blocked altogether, others were mined and +provided with pitfalls. Still others were screened and hidden with trees +and brushwood so as to serve as secret means of passage for the +Spaniards in advancing against or retreating from the enemy, and these +were so mined that after having served their purpose to the Spaniards +they could be readily destroyed. Elsewhere trees, underbrush and jungle +were cleared away so that there would be no cover nor concealment for +the invading force. Trenches and earth-works were constructed between La +Fuerza and Punta, and the former fortress was provisioned and prepared +for a siege. Special parapets of timber, stone and earth were +constructed upon the top of the fort, and numerous houses and other +buildings near it were destroyed in order that there might be no shelter +for an attacking force. + +Nor was the possibility of an attack from the eastward overlooked. On +the Morro headland at the important entrance a battery of three guns was +placed, well protected by breast-works of timber, stone and earth, and +the coast from Morro to Matanzas was continually patrolled by horsemen +on the lookout for the coming of strange vessels, and under orders +similar to those which had been given to the watchmen at Chorrera. As +for the harbor itself, a great chain was stretched across its entrance +buoyed with logs and fastened with a huge padlock at the foot of the +Morro headland. + +Finally the few swift sailing vessels which could be mustered into the +service were kept cruising off the shore to espy the approaching +squadron. They were not sufficiently strong to give battle, but they +could give warning to the city. Also they could bear to Spain or to +Mexico tidings of what occurred. Thus one vessel lay in the estuary of +the Puercos River, ready to flee to Mexico, while another cruised around +Ycacos Point, to hasten to Spain to tell if Havana should fall into the +hands of the foe. + +Meanwhile in Havana itself all possible forces were mustered for +defense. The volunteers from the other towns were drilled into an +efficient state of discipline. Such was their zeal that they gladly +served without pay while a considerable number of them in addition +provided their own rations at their own cost. For the necessary expenses +of their maintenance Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, used what royal funds +were in hand regardless of the purpose for which they had been designed, +and when these were insufficient he collected taxes without authority, +on the principle that the safety of the city and Island was the supreme +law. At the beginning of April some welcome aid arrived from Mexico, +which even Quiņones was now glad to have. The Viceroy sent four vessels, +bearing about 300 fighting men, with six months' supplies of food and +with pay for eight months in advance. These increased the force under +Quiņones to more than 900 well-trained soldiers. During the month of +April Luzan arrived from Bayamo with nearly 100 more men, thus +increasing the garrison of Havana to about 1,000. This was a force which +the Captain-General confidently believed would be able to resist and to +repulse any force which Drake might be able to land. + +Luzan had meantime, in February, received from Spain orders to resume +the governorship of the Island with full power, to return to Havana, and +to consider his term of office indefinitely prolonged. He had been +appointed in 1579 for a term of four years and had assumed office in +1580, so that his original term was by this time long since expired. +Reckoning the four years from his actual assumption of office in the +summer of 1580 his term had ended in 1584. If his return to Havana was +not altogether agreeable to Quiņones, and it is quite probable that it +was not, at least a semblance of harmony was preserved between them, and +there was certainly efficient if not cordial co-operation. To this +auspicious state of affairs the Royal Treasurer contributed in no small +degree. + +In fact, in the face of the great peril which confronted it, all Cuba +arose to the occasion with a unity of public spirit never before known +in its history, and wholly admirable. All the officials, civil and +military, insular and royal, were in accord, and all classes of the +population, Spaniards, Indians and negro slaves were loyal and devoted +in their support. In these circumstances it is of fascinating interest +to speculate upon what might have happened had Drake made the expected +descent upon Havana. It is well within the limit not only of possibility +but of probability that he would have been decisively defeated. It is +even possible that in the conflict with more than a thousand well-armed, +well trained and resolute Spaniards, than whom there were then no braver +or better fighting men in all the world, he would himself have been +captured or slain. And such a disposition of Francis Drake in the summer +of 1586, only two years before the descent of the Invincible Armada upon +the shores of England, might well have changed the history of the world. + +But this was not to be. Some say that Drake did not intend to attack +Havana at that time, preferring to raid Carthagena, as he did. Some say +that by means of spies he ascertained the strength of Havana's defenses +and deemed it, therefore, prudent not to meddle with that place. Some +say that there was an interposition of Providence to dissuade him from +what might have been a disastrous fiasco. We have also, as we shall +presently see, the testimony of some Spanish fugitives, which is +entirely plausible, though not certainly correct. Conjecture is +inconclusive. Only the fact remains that Drake passed by and left Cuba +unassailed. + +From the latter part of February until the beginning of May no word of +his doings came to Havana; anxiety meanwhile prevailing and preparations +for his anticipated arrival being unabated. At last word came, most +ominous. A vessel from Spain, a heavily armed frigate, had been +searching for Drake. It had tracked him from Santo Domingo to +Carthagena, and had found him in full possession of the latter place. +There apparently, after two months' occupancy, he was preparing for some +fresh adventure. This information convinced the Cuban authorities that +the great struggle was at hand, and that the approach of the enemy would +be from the westward by way of Cape San Antonio. After despoiling +Carthagena Drake's logical course would be to raid Havana, and +preparations for defense were therefore redoubled. Nor were these +anticipations soon to be dispelled. A few weeks later, on May 27th, a +courier arrived from Cape San Antonio, the western extremity of the +Island, with the news that five days before a powerful British armada, +doubtless Drake's, had touched at that point for fresh water and other +supplies. It was no mere raiding flotilla of privateers, such as those +with which the French had long been troubling the Cuban coasts, but it +was a fleet of thirty-sail, probably with two or three thousand soldiers +aboard, and with artillery far superior both in number and range to all +the defenses of Havana. The courier could not tell what the intentions +of the fleet were or what was its destination. Possibly it was simply +seeking to anticipate and capture the treasure ships of Spain coming +from Mexico or from Darien with the silver, gold and gems of Peru and +Golden Castile. More probably it was planning the conquest of Havana, as +Santo Domingo and Carthagena had been conquered. This latter supposition +seemed to be confirmed two days later, when another messenger arrived +from the west, telling that it was indeed Drake's fleet and that it had +sailed from Cape San Antonio eastward toward Havana. + +In a minor measure Havana and all Cuba now anticipated the feelings +which England had two years later upon the approach of the Invincible +Armada. Every man was summoned to his appointed place in the scheme of +defense and insistent vigilance was maintained night and day. For this +there was full need. Within an hour of the arrival of this second +messenger from the west a Spanish ship from Mexico came flying into the +port of Havana with half a dozen English ships in hot pursuit. She +passed Punta and gained safety before they came up, the big chain being +slackened to let her pass within and then tightened again to shut out +her pursuers. They did not, however, attempt to enter the harbor. One +came so near as to draw a few shots from the guns of the Morro Fort and +then withdrew without returning fire. But an hour later eight more +English sails appeared, making fourteen in all. + +Evidently the crisis was at hand. Every available man in Havana was in +his place. Every available cannon was double-shotted and trained upon +the spot at which the English vessels would first come within range. +There was, however, no panic, no confusion. All men were resolute, +confident and in high spirits. All night long sentinels watched the +English fleet expecting to see it send boat loads of men ashore; ready +to signal the news with beacon fires and torches. But all night long the +English fleet lay dark and silent in the offing. + +The morning of May 30 dawned. It was clear and bright, the sea was +smooth, the wind just sufficient to fill the sails. There could be no +fitter day for a landing or for an approach to the harbor to bombard the +forts and city. The sentinels on Morro counted all thirty of Drake's +vessels, drawn up in line. Now and then one swept out in pursuit of some +incautious or uninformed coasting vessel, but did not go far. The whole +fleet maintained order as if in preparation for some great concerted +operation. + +Hours passed and nothing was done. At mid-afternoon some boats were sent +toward the shore near Chorrera, and the watchers on Morro signaled to La +Fuerza that a landing was being made; only a little later to recall the +tidings as those of a false alarm. Night came on, and again under cover +of darkness it was imagined that Drake's men were seen approaching +Chorrera. Every man in Havana remained awake with arms in hand, but the +night waned and daylight showed the fleet still motionless and the shore +at Chorrera still untouched. Thus for three days and nights the tension +was maintained. The thirty English vessels lay off Havana, firing not a +shot, sending not a man ashore, and making no sign of their commander's +purpose. + +Then the suspense was ended, to the relief of many but to the +disappointment of some. On June 4th the English fleet spread all its +canvas and sailed away, heading north and east, and vanished forever +from the sight of the watchers at Havana. Not the Cuban capital but the +chief city of Florida was to be its prey, and presently word came back +that Drake had attacked and captured the town and fortress of St. +Augustine, which Menendez had built and in the building of which he had +drawn so sorely upon the scanty resources of Cuba. Quiņones regretted +that Havana had not been attacked, confident that the result would have +been disastrous to the assailants. He took, however, all possible +precautions against a surprise by a possible return of the English +fleet. The coast patrols to Matanzas and beyond were maintained and +vessels were sent out as scouts to follow in Drake's track and watch for +his turning. + +But no more was seen of Drake or heard of him until the end of June. +Then word came of his destruction of St. Augustine and of his departure +thence to the northward, on some unknown errand. It was supposed that +he had gone straight home. In fact, he went first to Virginia to visit +the English colony at Roanoke and to take back to England its few +discouraged survivors. Thus relieved from fear of invasion Havana +rejoiced and gave a most practical turn to its thanksgiving by sending a +vessel or two richly laden with supplies to the relief of the hapless +people of St. Augustine, many of whom had been former residents of Cuba. + +Meantime some explanation, as we have already seen, came to Havana of +the reason for Drake's failure to take that place. Several Spaniards +whom Drake had captured at Carthagena, had contrived to make their +escape from him when he touched at Cape San Antonio, and after much +wandering found their way to Havana. They reported that on the way from +Carthagena to Cuba the English fleet had been sorely afflicted with +disease including scurvy and possibly also yellow fever, so that many +persons died and many more were incapacitated. Moreover his vessels were +crowded with captives and with plunder. In these circumstances he was +obviously in no condition to attack so strong a place as Havana, and in +a conference with his captains he practically decided to pass by that +place and to seek cooler northern latitudes where his sick men might +more speedily recover. + +Havana's deliverance was Santiago's disaster. The preparations for the +defense of the former city had drawn thither the fighting strength of +the entire Island. Men, munitions, even artillery, had been stripped +from all other places for Havana's sake. Even after the departure of +Drake, and after it was known that he had at least for the time +abandoned his designs against Havana, the forces were still retained at +the capital. This, of course, was known to the foes of Cuba and of +Spain, as well as to Havana itself, and there were those who were not +slow to take advantage of it. French privateers were still hostile and +were raiding Spanish ports wherever opportunity afforded, and the +stripping of Santiago for Havana's defense gave such opportunity. + +So at the very time when Havana learned that Drake had taken Carthagena +and was on his way to the Cuban capital, two French vessels appeared off +Santiago with hostile intent. A demand was made for food, which the town +authorities refused. Probably the demand was a mere pretext. At any rate +the refusal of it was the signal for immediate attack. From noon to +night of May 2nd the battle raged, the Spaniards, only a handful of men, +displaying invincible valor in circumstances of desperate difficulty. +The leader of the defense was a parish priest who was badly wounded by +one of his own men. One other Spaniard was killed by the explosion of a +wretched little cannon which had been pressed into service, all good +guns having been taken to Havana. But these were the only Spanish +losses. On the other hand, one of the French ships, going aground, was +almost destroyed by the Spanish fire before her consort could pull her +off. And the two riddled with shot were at last glad to make their +escape in flight, throwing overboard as they sailed away more than a +score of bodies of men killed by the Spanish musketeers. It was too much +to hope, however, that this repulse of the French would prove final. It +would almost certainly be followed with a stronger attack for vengeance, +and Santiago made what scanty preparations it could to meet the coming +storm. + +Gomez de Rojas, a member of the illustrious family whose members played +so great a part in early Cuban history, was at that time the deputy of +the Governor in that part of the Island, making his headquarters at +Bayamo. A few days before this attack on Santiago he and his men had +killed seven Frenchmen and captured ten more under the lead of a +notorious freebooter. The heads of the seven he displayed on pikes at +Bayamo, and on the very day when the two French vessels reached Santiago +he hanged eight of the ten prisoners. It is recorded that the trial of +these men was not yet concluded. But Rojas grimly observed that the +trial could be finished after the hanging just as well as before, as +there could be no doubt as to what the verdict and the sentence would +be. For this ruthless proceeding the Bishop, Salcedo, reprimanded and +indeed excommunicated Rojas, and there was danger that thus disastrous +dissension would arise among the Spaniards. But Rojas, who seems to have +been a diplomat as well as a soldier and administrator, contrived to +make peace with the Bishop, and all was well. + +Of such unity there was sore need. For a few days later a squadron of +seven French ships, carrying 800 soldiers, appeared off Santiago. To +meet them Santiago, with all possible aid from Bayamo and the country +around could number less than 100 men, some say not more than 70, +indifferently armed and with only a few pounds of gunpowder. For several +days the French vessels lay off Santiago, frequently firing upon the +town at a range at which their own cannon were effective but at which +the Spaniards, with far inferior guns and little ammunition, were quite +helpless. However, the French made no attempt at landing, a circumstance +which for a time puzzled the Spaniards. Then came the explanation. While +their fleet lay directly before Santiago the French had put 150 men +ashore at Zuragua, and these were advancing upon Santiago over land. As +soon as this was known a little force of 20 Spaniards and 10 Indians was +sent out to meet them, with only two or three rounds of ammunition to +each man. They met in unequal battle and the Spaniards lost five men. +But they killed twenty Frenchmen before they were completely exhausted +and were compelled to surrender. Another detachment of thirty Spaniards +kept up a good fight at the landing place in Santiago until their +ammunition was exhausted and then they retreated to the hills. The +French fire from the ships destroyed more than half the town, and the +troops who were then landed demolished most of the remaining buildings. +Then a hasty retreat was made, presumably through fear of the rumored +approach of the powerful Spanish fleet, which unfortunately did not +materialize. + +Gomez de Rojas had been at Bayamo when this attack began. As soon as he +heard of it he hastened on horseback to Santiago, but arrived in time +only to see the last French sail vanish in the distance. Had he been +there it is not certain that he could have saved the town. Indeed it is +probable that he could not have done so. But it is certain that he saved +it after the event. So completely had Santiago been demolished by the +French that many of the people were determined not to attempt to rebuild +but to abandon the place and go elsewhere. A council of war was held on +May 25, at a country house a league inland from the ruined city, at +which all the officials and most of the citizens of Santiago were +present. Rojas was, fortunately, the presiding officer. The military +commander, Captain Camacho, told of what had happened and what the +condition of the place was. It had no military strength. There was not a +pound of powder or shot left. The few pieces of artillery which had not +been captured or destroyed were concealed in the woods, but were of +course useless without ammunition. Fewer than a score of houses were +standing. The cathedral and the monastery had been destroyed, though the +hospital and a church had received little damage. There was, he +believed, nothing left to serve as the nucleus of a rebuilt town. + +Much discussion followed his report. Some were resolute for rebuilding +the place, which they regarded rightly as the birthplace of the Spanish +settlement of Cuba. Others were equally bent on abandoning it altogether +and migrating to Havana or elsewhere. Opinions were so evenly divided +that it was finally agreed to suspend decision until one other leading +citizen, who was absent from the meeting, could be heard from, with the +understanding that his vote should be decisive. + +Then it was that Gomez de Rojas rose to the height of the occasion. He +ascertained secretly that this missing citizen was in favor of +abandoning Santiago and would so declare himself. Determined to +forestall and to prevent such a decision and thus to save the town, +Rojas immediately ordered the clergy to celebrate mass next morning. He +ordered the town authorities to put all the remaining buildings in order +for occupancy and to repair those which had been damaged. He ordered +every man in town to appear at the church that morning, ready for any +action which might be needed. He ordered the Town Council to meet as +usual the next day. He ordered the market to be opened at once, and +artisans to get to work and the Indians to burn the bodies of the +Frenchmen who had been killed in battle, and in brief he ordered +everybody in Santiago to get to work to rehabilitate the town. The sheer +energy of this one strong man carried the day, and Santiago arose from +its ruins larger and more important than ever before, though it was +never again to be the capital of all Cuba. Havana had already for +several years been practically, though without full authority, the +capital of the Island. The formal and authoritative change was made a +few years later, in 1589. + +During the administration of Governor Luzan there was some renewed +interest in copper mining in Cuba, although the wealth of the island in +that metal was not yet appreciated. In 1580 what was supposed to be an +immensely rich mine was discovered, but it proved to be a mere "pocket" +of limited extent. That disappointment, together with the cost of +transportation from the neighborhood of Santiago to Havana for shipment, +discouraged further efforts for a time. But in May, 1587, after +inspection of the Cobre mine, near Santiago, the Governor reported to +the Spanish government: "There is so much metal, and the mines are so +numerous, that they could supply the world with copper." Comparatively +little was done, however, until 1599, when effective work was begun at +El Cobre. The ore was conveyed to Havana for smelting and casting, and +on the site of the present Maestranza Building there was established a +foundry where copper was cast into both cannon and kettles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +It is an interesting circumstance that what threatened to be a great +disaster to Cuba proved in fact to be one of the greatest blessings that +the Island had enjoyed since the Spanish settlement. We have already +seen how great an alarm was caused at Havana and throughout Cuba by the +threatened attack of the British under Sir Francis Drake and how fine a +degree of public spirit and unity among all classes was thereby +inspired. The threatened attack did not occur, and it was many years +before an actual British conquest or even invasion of the Island was +effected. But the lessons learned in that period of agitation and after +were not speedily forgotten, either in Cuba or in Spain. Therefore, a +much larger degree of public spirit and of unity prevailed in the +Island, among the Government officers and among the people, while the +Spanish crown was awakened to a fuller realization than ever before of +the value of Cuba and the imperative necessity of defending the Island +if the integrity of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere was to +be maintained. It was then that Philip II began to appreciate Cuba as +the bulwark of the West Indies and of the City of Havana, its capital, +as the key to the New World. Hitherto Cuba had been nothing but a +stepping stone between Spain on the one hand and Mexico, Darien and +Florida on the other; and Havana was merely a convenient base of +operations and a port of call. But now the immense strategical +importance of Havana was realized, while the value of the Island, in its +products of copper, wood, sugar, hides and other commodities, was +appreciated. + +Governor Luzan administered the affairs of Cuba until the end of March, +1589. On that day he was succeeded by Juan de Tejada, a Field Marshal +of the Spanish Army. He was selected by the King chiefly because of his +military experience and knowledge, and he was the first of the line of +governors of Cuba to be known as Captain-General. In him were merged +both the civil and the military authority of the Island, so that there +would no longer be any such friction as had prevailed between Luzan and +Quiņones. Tejada was speedily commissioned by the King to make plans for +the fortification of Cuba and also of the other important islands of the +Spanish West Indies. He was accordingly accompanied on his coming to +Cuba by one of the most distinguished Italian engineers of that age, +Juan Bautista Antonelli. Together they surveyed the port of Havana, the +port of San Juan in Porto Rico, and that of Carthagena in Colombia and +planned powerful defenses for them all. There fortifications were in +fact constructed under the direction of Antonelli and to this day bear +impressive testimony to his skill. + +His first attention was paid, most properly, to Havana. Already there +had been constructed temporary fortifications at La Punta and El Morro, +and also a camp more of observation than of defense at San Lazaro Cove, +probably where the Queen's battery stood in later years. Both +Captain-General Tejada and Antonelli were quick to see the importance of +the Punta and Morro fortifications and to approve those headlands as the +sites of the most powerful fortifications of Havana. Plans were +accordingly made for extensive masonry forts at both those places, and +these were approved and very prompt execution ordered by the King. Funds +for the work were obtained from Mexico, from which source also +appropriations were received for the maintenance of La Fuerza with its +garrison of 300 men. + +The work of Antonelli in Cuba was by no means confined, however, to +military engineering. He laid out and constructed a number of roads, +including some which are to this day principal streets of Havana and its +suburbs. He also constructed a dam across the Chorrera River and an +aqueduct by means of which an ample water supply was conveyed to Havana +and distributed through the city. For by this time it must be understood +Havana was rapidly growing into a populous and prosperous community and +was already the assured metropolis of the Island and indeed one of the +three or four chief centres of Spanish civilization and authority in the +western world. It was during the administration of Tejada that the +technical legal title of "City" was conferred upon Havana, and the place +received the grant of a coat-of-arms. Its escutcheon bore the emblems of +a crown, underneath it in a blue field three silver fortresses, +emblematic of La Fuerza, La Punta and El Morro, and finally a golden key +symbolic of Havana's importance as the key of the western world. The +administration of Tejada lasted a little more than five years and was +marked with almost unbroken peace, prosperity and progress. The new +fortifications of Havana were not all completed in that time, but they +were carried far toward completion and the work upon them was marked +with no such difficulties and complications as had been the bane of La +Fuerza. + +The one exception to the rule of peace and harmony which prevailed +during the administration of Captain-General Tejada was a controversy +with Bishop Salcedo, who was then in charge of the diocese. Because of +some differences of policy concerning the finances of the colony and the +church, Salcedo bitterly criticised Tejada and even cast unfavorable +reflections upon his integrity, which we must regard as unwarranted. To +these attacks, however, Tejada gave little or no attention, and the +peace of Cuba was therefore not materially disturbed by the incident. It +seems probable that the Bishop desired larger revenues than the +straitened condition of Cuban affairs made possible. Tejada indeed +almost exhausted the pecuniary resources of the island in the +prosecution of the much-needed works of fortification, road building, +and what not, and also drew heavily upon his own private funds. He was +saved from more serious embarrassment by the arrival of a treasure fleet +from Vera Cruz, which enabled him to discharge all obligations and to +place a fund of 120,000 ducats in the insular treasury for future needs. + +At this period, it is interesting to recall, the salary of the Governor, +or Captain-General, was only 2,000 pesos a year, that of the Alcalde of +El Morro was 6,600 reales, that of the Alcalde of La Punta was 4,400 +reales, and that of the Sergeant-Mayor was 2,700 reales. The total +yearly budget of the island was about 100,000 pesos. + +It is gratifying to know that Tejada's fine services were appreciated by +the royal government. His insistent resignation was accepted in April, +1595, with sincere regret, and he was made a Knight Commander of the +Order of St. James and was placed in charge of the castle and district +of La Barlete, at Naples. + +Tejada's successor, the second Captain-General of Cuba, was Juan +Maldonado Barrionuevo, who took office in July, 1594. This distinguished +servant of the crown had been an equerry to the Queen of Spain and +Treasurer of the Invincible Armada which had come to grief a few years +before in the Narrow Seas. He was also a Knight of the Military Order of +St. James. Having had, while with the Armada, a taste of Drake's +quality, and learning that that formidable commander was meditating +another descent upon Cuba he gave his first and best attention to +hastening the completion of the fortifications of Havana. Drake was +indeed at that very time in Spanish-American waters planning disaster to +every seaport within reach, but disagreement between himself and other +officers of the fleet made the entire expedition a failure and led, +probably, to the death of Drake himself in 1595. Learning of Drake's +death Maldonado sent out an expedition to attack the British fleet as it +was returning from Darien and succeeded in capturing one of its vessels +and putting the others to flight near the Isle of Pines. This triumph +over the much feared British fleet caused great rejoicing throughout +Cuba and immensely encouraged the Government and the people in their +hope of making a successful stand against British aggressions. + +Despite the growth and importance of Havana it must be remembered that +at this time that city was still in a very primitive condition. The +great majority of the houses were still built of cedar or pine boards +with thatched roofs. They were so scattered, even in the heart of the +city, that it was possible to have gardens and orchards around them. +There were some houses of substantial masonry two or three stories in +height. And the rich cedar, mahogany and other woods native to Cuba made +it possible to finish and furnish them in very rich style. The houses of +the rich were lighted with lamps of bronze or other metal, generally fed +with olive oil, and those of the poor with candles made of suet. The +streets were unlighted save by an occasional lantern at the entrance to +some house. And they were so infested not only with stray dogs but with +vagabonds and ruffians that it was unsafe for citizens to go abroad +after dark without an armed guard. Social and domestic customs, which +had at first been kept after those of Spain itself, by this time began +to have an individuality suited to the circumstances and conditions of +life on the Island. It was the custom to have the chief meal of the day +at noon and a lighter supper quite late in the evening, probably between +eight and ten o'clock. + +It is interesting to record that during the administration of Maldonado +occurred the first theatrical performance in the history of Cuba. This +was on the night of St. John, in the year 1599, and the performance took +place in honor of the Captain-General in the great hall of the military +barracks. It is recorded that on assembling the audience was so noisy +that it was impossible to begin the performance until threats had been +made of serious physical punishment. Despite this vexatious incident the +people were so delighted with the performance that when it came to an +end they unanimously clamored for its repetition although by this time +it was one o'clock in the morning. + +The sugar industry was now rising to great importance, especially in the +vicinity of Havana and thence toward Matanzas. The largest of all the +sugar mills in the Island was that founded by Anton Recia at Guaicanama, +now known as Regla. In 1588 a royal decree was issued bestowing upon the +sugar mills of Cuba the same favor that was formerly granted to those of +Hispaniola, namely, the exemption of the buildings, machinery, negro +slaves and in fact all other property from seizure or attachment for +debt. The sugar plantations were somewhat hampered at this time by lack +of labor, and on that account the importation of negro slaves was +encouraged and hundreds were brought in every year. + +In fact, negro slavery was by this time fully established as the +principal reliance of the industries of the island. It was recognized +that Cuba was a land of inestimable wealth, particularly in agriculture. +Stock raising was the chief industry, but sugar growing was rising in +importance, while the production of honey and wax was also a widespread +and highly lucrative occupation. Of all industries sugar growing was the +most laborious and called, therefore, for the greatest number of slaves. +Each mill required from eighty to a hundred workmen. + +Strangely enough, while the royal government strove in some ways to +encourage and stimulate the sugar industry, it persisted in hampering +it, at any rate in Cuba, in the matter of slave labor. As far back as +1556 a decree fixed the maximum price at which slaves might be sold in +the island at one hundred ducats, or about seventy pesos. Yet at the +same time the price fixed for slaves in Venezuela was one hundred and +ten ducats, and in Mexico one hundred and twenty ducats. The result was +inevitable. Slaves were sent to Venezuela and Mexico rather than to +Cuba; or the best were sent thither and the poorest to the island. This +was only one of a number of eccentricities of government, which +suggested a persistent and inexplicable tendency to discriminate +against Cuba in favor of the other colonies. + +Against such purblind policies the ablest administrators and the most +enterprising planters and merchants struggled to little avail. It was a +splendid achievement for the engineer Antonelli in 1586 to tap the +Almendares River, west of Havana, with a system of canals and aqueducts, +and thus bring an abundant supply of fresh water into Havana. In so +doing he not merely provided the capital with one of the prime +necessities of life, but he also made Havana the centre of the sugar +industry. For it was along these artificial watercourses that the first +sugar mills were erected and operated. But this availed little while +there was persistent discrimination against Cuba to a degree that kept +the island without a tithe of the labor which was needed for the +development of its resources. We cannot, of course, approve the slave +trade, or argue that it should have been followed to a greater extent +than it was. But if it was to exist at all, and Spain was willing and +indeed determined that it should, justice and economic reason required +that it should exist as freely in Cuba as in the neighboring colonies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +The character of the European nations whose navigators and explorers had +sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and had opened to the bewildered +gaze of the Old World a vista of unlimited possibilities in the New, +underwent a great change during the seventeenth century. Acclaimed as +national achievements, adding new lustre to national glory, these +discoveries at first only stimulated patriotism and became an incentive +to national effort. But as Spain and Portugal which had given to the +world those men with the large vision and the undaunted courage, +awakened to the importance of their exploits and began to see them from +the angles of political and economic advantages, the desire to restrict +those advantages to their own use became so powerful, that consideration +for the interests of other nations was ignored. The spirit of +imperialistic expansion was roused and demanded no less than a monopoly +of the traffic and trade of the world. + +With this end in view the two countries adopted a protectionist policy +and imposed restrictions upon mariners and merchants of other nations +that in time became intolerable. The government of Spain forbade its +colonists in Spanish America to receive European merchandise from any +but Spanish ports, which in turn enabled Spanish exporters to demand +unreasonable prices. This was resented by many colonists, and they were +willing to deal with smugglers who sold this merchandise at a lower +price or exchanged it for the produce of the colonies, especially for +hides and sugar. The governors of Santo Domingo were among the first in +the colonies to take steps against this trade. They fitted out small +vessels, which they called Guardacostas, coastguards, and had them +patrol all along the coast. If they succeeded in capturing the +smugglers, they proceeded against them with little ceremony. They were +either thrown overboard or hanged. + +This summary process having stirred in the smugglers the spirit of +vindictiveness, they organized for concerted action, determined to +resist what they considered unwarranted severity and cruelty. They began +to group into fleets, and openly invaded the coasts, burning, +plundering, marauding and killing. They looked about for suitable places +where to establish settlements of their own that could be used as bases +of operation in the neighborhood. Hispaniola or Hayti, where the natives +had been almost exterminated and which by misgovernment was nearly +deserted, invited them. Herds of cattle and swine were running wild +about the island and offered not only valuable provisions for +themselves, but promised to become marketable commodities. Some French +smugglers settled there, killed the cattle and swine, smoked the beef +and salted the pork, and opened a remunerative trade with visiting +sailors in these commodities as also in tallow and hides. The Indians of +the island called smoked beef "boucan"; hence these traders were called +boucaniers which was anglicized into buccaneers. In a similar way the +English freebooter was by the French corrupted into flibustier and later +came back to us as filibuster. At first the term boucanier was limited +to the smugglers and traders in smoked beef living on land, while the +flibustier was applied to the smuggler and trader living on board of a +ship. But later these nice distinctions were ignored and the names +applied indiscriminately to smugglers, freebooters and pirates. + +Whatever term one chose to apply to them, these Brethren of the Coast +and outlaws of the oceans became almost a recognized institution of the +century when rival European powers were fighting for supremacy in the +New World and were unanimously arrayed against Spain. There were among +them recruits from almost all nations, classes and professions. There +were bankrupt shopkeepers, discharged soldiers, runaway convicts, +thieves and murderers, vagabonds and adventurers and many a black sheep +of good family under an assumed name. A large proportion was attracted +by the possibility of getting hold of some of the unlimited treasures of +gold and silver which the New World was said to hold. For the reports +that had been spread by the participants in the early expeditions, not +always limited to natives of Spain and Portugal, were so fairy-like that +the classic tale of the Argonauts paled into insignificance beside them. +It is reported that a noted French freebooter who had joined the pirates +as a runaway debtor, hoped in this way to secure enough to pay off his +debts. An equally large number consisted of men who in that period of +adventure were seized with an insatiable desire for roving about the +world, free from all fetters of conventional life. + +The attitude of England, France and Holland against Spain was so +hostile, that whenever one of these powers was at war with Spain, these +outlaws were granted the rights of belligerents. Mariner-warriors, +prepared to defend themselves and to attack by force, they became a +mercenary navy at the service of any power that happened to be at war +with Spain. At bottom of this united effort, which at the end resulted +in ruining the overseas commerce of Spain, was the opposition against +its restrictions of the navigation and commerce of other countries. +Bancroft who is referred to by Pedro J. Guiteras in his "Historia de la +isla de Cuba" says in the first volume of his "History of the United +States" (p. 163) + + "The moral sense of mariners revolted at the extravagance; since + forfeiture, imprisonment, and the threat of eternal woe were to + follow the attempt at the fair exchanges of trade; since the + freebooter and the pirate could not suffer more than menaced + against the merchant who should disregard the maritime monopoly, + the seas became infested by reckless buccaneers, the natural + offspring of colonial restrictions. Rich Spanish settlements in + America were pillaged; fleets attacked and captured; predatory + invasions were even made on land to intercept the loads of gold, as + they came from the mines, by men who might have acquired honor and + wealth in commerce, if commerce had been permitted." + +John Fiske, too, in the second volume of his "Historical Essays," dwells +upon the causes of the enormous development of piracy in the seventeenth +century. Speaking of the struggle of the Netherlands and England against +the greatest military power of the world, he said that the former had to +rely largely and the latter almost exclusively, upon naval operations, +and continued: + + "Dutch ships on the Indian Ocean and English ships off the American + coasts effectually cut the Spaniard's sinews of war. Now in that + age ocean navigation was still in its infancy, and the work of + creating great and permanent navies was only beginning. Government + was glad to have individuals join in the work of building and + equipping ships of war, and it was accordingly natural that + individuals should expect to reimburse themselves for the heavy + risk and expense by taking a share in the spoils of victory. In + this way privateering came into existence and it played a much more + extensive part in maritime warfare than it now does. The navy was + but incompletely nationalized. Into expeditions that were strictly + military in purpose there entered some of the elements of a + commercial speculation, and as we read them with our modern ideas + we detect the smack of buccaneering." + +England in dealing leniently with these buccaneers sailing under her +flag, argued that since the gold and silver carried from America to +Spain in Spanish ships was used to defray the expenses of a war which +threatened her, English mariners were justified in capturing these +vessels and seizing such treasures. But there is little doubt that by +this interpretation the doors were opened wide to all sorts of trickery +and outrage, carried on regardless whether the countries under whose +flags both captors and captured sailed were at the time at war or at +peace. Thus the naval and commercial restrictions, which Spain imposed +upon other countries, proved at the end a boomerang, which did +irreparable loss to Spain itself. + +For the long war with England had greatly weakened Spanish power and +when the peace of 1604 was concluded, the once so powerful country was +visibly entering upon its downward path. Philip II, called the Great, +had left a son, Philip III, who had neither the personality nor the +ability to continue his famous father's policy of imperialism. Before +long it was found that the naval power had sunk from the proud Armada +which had challenged England in the time of Queen Elizabeth to no more +than thirteen galleys. Ship-building practically ceased. To bring the +tobacco crop from Havana to Spain, French and British vessels had to be +hired. Nothing was done to keep up the military strength of the kingdom +which had once ranked as Europe's greatest military power and had as +such been feared by other nations. The army was composed either of +inexperienced youths or of nerveless old men. The magazines and arsenals +stood empty. With no ships patrolling the seas and protecting the +coasts, the predatory outlaws of the ocean, sailing under various flags, +soon recognized in the Spanish overseas possessions a territory which +upon slight effort promised to yield rich booty. Cuba, Santo Domingo, +Jamaica and other West Indian Islands were repeatedly ravaged by them. +They established settlements on St. Christopher's Island, called St. +Kitts, and on one of the Bahamas, and from these bases carried on their +destructive operations. + +Notwithstanding the great progress which navigation had made during the +previous century, news between the Eastern and the Western continent +traveled slowly. This proved a serious drawback to an efficient +management of the colonies which European powers had established in +America. It was responsible for a great deal of confusion and for the +dilatory policy which characterized the government of the Spanish West +Indies. Communication between the mother country and Cuba was so +irregular and unreliable that Philip III, the new king, was not +proclaimed in Cuba until the spring of the year 1599. Yet at no time was +the fate of the island more closely linked with that of Spain, whose +decline profoundly affected Cuba's political and economic conditions +during the seventeenth century. + +In that most critical period for Spain, when the fate of the Kingdom +passed from the hands of Philip the Great into those of his incapable +successor, Cuba had the good fortune of being under the administration +of strong and able governors. D. Juan Maldonado Barrienuevo, who entered +upon his office in the year 1596, did a great deal towards the +improvement of the capital, starting the erection of a government house +and a public prison. He recognized the great value of sugar as one of +the staple products of the island and by every measure possible +encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane. He obtained from the King +special exemptions and privileges for the builders and owners of sugar +mills. He was the first to construct that of Vicente Santa Maria in +Fuente de Chaves. Sugar was at that time sold at fabulous prices. A +cargo of sugar of inferior quality brought in Seville as much as twelve +pesos per arroba (twenty-five pounds). The importation of and traffic in +African negroes who were set to work on the sugar plantations was +inseparable from this industry which henceforth became the chief source +of Cuba's wealth. But Maldonado, too, had troubles with the pirates. As +the two galleys in the port were known to be absolutely useless, the +pirates approached almost within cannon-shot of the place. + +The administration of D. Pedro de Valdes, Ensign (alfevez major) of the +Order of Santiago and nephew of the famous admiral of that name, began +most auspiciously. He was appointed successor of Maldonado in 1602. A +worthy heir of his uncle's glory, he started for his post from San Lucas +with a galleon and a galizabra (vessel used in the Levantine trade) on +the seventeenth of April. On his voyage he captured an enemy vessel, +sailed bravely through a Dutch squadron and sank three of their ships in +the port of Santo Domingo. After putting to flight a horde of smugglers +that swarmed about the coasts of Cuba, he cast anchor in Havana on the +nineteenth of July, 1602. + +Valdes immediately set out to improve the artillery of the +fortifications, and even to superintend the casting of the cannon. +Within the short space of two years he succeeded in providing the port +of Havana with eighty pieces of good quality and various calibre, most +of which had been cast in the capital itself. Frequent changes of +administration had not only hampered the initiative of minor +functionaries and opened the door to official malpractice of +miscellaneous nature, but had also perceptibly weakened authority. +Valdes was determined to re-enforce it and by his energy and rectitude +brought upon himself the hatred of those elements who had encouraged +disorder. At the end his only loyal supporter was Friar Juan Cabezas de +Altamirano, who had succeeded Salcedo in the bishopric of Santiago. But +Valdes did not mind the hostility, which was more or less openly +manifested towards his government, and continued his untiring efforts in +defense of Spanish interests and policies. + +The steadily increasing wealth of these colonies excited the +covetousness of the pirates and buccaneers. Realizing the necessity of +taking defensive action against them, Valdes armed a few vessels, which +under the command of his son, D. Fernando, cruised about and succeeded +in capturing several ships. In one of these encounters Valdes was +wounded, but he pursued his policy undauntedly. He was also successful +in his campaign against smuggling which had extensively developed, +especially in Bayamo, whither he sent as his deputy the licentiate +Melchior Suarez to inquire into the state of things. + +The depredations committed by the pirates at this time were so serious +that the safety of the inhabitants was imperilled. The population of +Santiago seems to have been especially singled out to be harassed by the +outlaws. They set fire to the cathedral and other churches of the town, +robbed them of the precious vessels and vestments and committed other +outrages. Terror-stricken, the inhabitants fled to neighboring towns or +hid in the country. The city faced gradual depopulation. Even the Bishop +D. Friu Juan de las Cabezas and some of the government officials +withdrew to Bayamo, which, for a time at least, offered safety. + +But in the year 1604 even the roads in the vicinity of Bayamo were no +longer safe for travelers. When the bishop was on a tour of visitation +in the neighborhood, in company with the canons Francisco Pueblo and +Diego Sanchez, a horde of pirates under the leadership of the notorious +Giron surprised him at the stock farm of Yara. They tied him and took +him barefoot to Mazanillo, where one of their bilanders (sloops) was +anchored. They kept him on board their vessel for the period of eighty +days, expecting the authorities of the town to present themselves and +offer an enormous sum as ransom. The name of Gregorio Ramos is inscribed +in the annals of the island as the bishop's deliverer. It was an +undertaking calling for unusual cleverness and courage and Ramos +acquitted himself most brilliantly. He bravely faced the redoubtable +Giron and rescued the bishop by paying a ransom of two hundred ducats, +one thousand skins and one hundred arrobas (twenty-five pounds of +sixteen ounces each) of jerked beef. After having brought the prelate +into security, he returned with a force of valiant men and attacked the +pirates. He succeeded in destroying the whole horde and even in killing +their leader Giron, whose head was triumphantly carried on the point of +a lance to Bayamo, where it was exhibited in the market-place. + +The growth of the island which then numbered from eighteen to twenty +thousand inhabitants was greatly hampered by such invasions. Santiago +offering so little safety, the bishop ventured to suggest the removal of +the cathedral to Havana; but the plan was found impracticable and never +carried out. In time, however, the prelates began to ignore the +disapproval of the government and to install themselves in Havana. Other +members of the ecclesiastical cabildo (chapter) followed their example +and also left Santiago. Governor Valdes, in accord with the ayuntamento, +demonstrated to the king the pitiful state of the island and urged as an +indispensable necessity the stationing of a permanent fleet in Cuban +waters. Only in this way did it seem possible to check the increasing +pirate menace which was paralyzing commerce and arresting the progress +of the island. + +But the royal government at Madrid, weak and helpless in the hands of an +incapable sovereign, lacked stability and strength to cope with the +unrest and confusion that gradually set in. The inadequate +fortifications and insufficient garrison had left the coast of Cuba +almost without defense. Knowledge of these conditions had spread among +the corsairs prowling about and awaiting an opportunity to descend upon +the unprotected population and made them more and more audacious. Philip +III, a weak though humane ruler, had transferred the reigns of +government to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma. But procrastination seems +to have been one of the permanent features in the Spanish kingdom's +management of her American possessions, and little was done to insure +her safety. + +At last the king heeded the clamorous appeals of the authorities +representing his loyal but unfortunate subjects in Cuba and ordered some +timely steps to be taken. Royal letters patent of October eighth, 1607, +arrived from Madrid. In order to safeguard the interests of the +inhabitants they decreed that the island be divided into two districts, +an eastern and a western, with separate jurisdiction, and Havana and +Santiago as their respective capitals. The governor of Havana retained +the title of Captain-General of the island, but his general jurisdiction +was reduced to the territory between Cape San Antonio and eighty leagues +east of the capital. The governor of Santiago was named Capitan de +Guerra (chief military authority) with a salary of one thousand eight +hundred pesos and jurisdiction over the rest of the island including +Puerto Principe. The governor and military commander were to remain in +Havana, this being the most important district. As governor of Santiago +was appointed Juan de Villaverde, a Castilian from the Morro. He was +charged with the defense of the place against pirates and other enemies +disturbing the peace of the island and impeding its economic and social +development. + +This division caused innumerable difficulties and conflicts of authority +and Valdes had reasons to object to it. He had established order in the +Treasury and other branches of the administration, and he feared that +the new order might bring new confusion. In the meantime his energy and +rectitude caused the plots and intrigues spun by his enemies to multiply +to such an extent that they succeeded in reaching the ear of the Spanish +Audiencia. Valdes and his deputy Suarez were indicted, but on proving +their innocence triumphed over their slanderers by being reinstated in +authority. Then the Audiencia reversed the trial by order of the Court, +and the calumniators were convicted and sentenced to various penalties. +But Valdes once more manifested his noble character by joining the +Bishop in an appeal to the King to pardon the convicted men. Soon after +he retired from his office. + +The court of Spain, represented by the Duke of Lerma, who towards the +end of his career succeeded in adding to this title that of a cardinal, +seemed at this period to be deeply concerned with the religious life of +Cuba. This is apparent during the governorship of Don Gaspar Luis +Pereda, Knight of the military order of Santiago, who was inaugurated on +the sixteenth of June, 1608. Don Juan de Villaverde y Oceta was +appointed to the governorship of Santiago. Monastic orders had acquired +much land on the island and established their homes. There were at that +time six convents in Cuba; three in Havana, of the order of San +Franciscus, San Domingo and San Augustin, one of mercenarios, of the +order of la Merced in Trinidad, and two others of the Franciscan order +in Santiago and Bayamo. The government of Cuba was instructed by royal +decree to inquire into and superintend the establishment of the convent +of St. Augustine, then in process of erection in Havana. + +The excellent bishop Cabezas, who had so signally distinguished himself +during the preceding administration, was in the year 1610 promoted to +the bishopric of Guatemala. He was replaced by the Carmelite padre Don +Alfonso Enriquez de Almendariz, who immediately made efforts to have the +king remove his episcopal seat to Havana. This caused serious disputes +between the bishop and Governor Pereda, who sent the king a report +disapproving of this removal. The conflict between the two culminated in +the excommunication of Pereda by the bishop. The administration of his +successor, Don Sancho de Alquiza, former governor of Venezuela and +Guyana, was brief. He was inaugurated on the seventh of September, 1616, +and died on the sixth of June, 1619. He was much interested in the +economic development of Cuba, promoted the development of sugar +industry, encouraged the employment of negroes on the plantations. His +efforts to exploit the mineral wealth of the island were also +commendable. He placed the supervision of the copper mines under the +direction of the military government and the work proceeded most +promisingly. The copper extracted was of superior quality and two +thousand quintals of the metal were annually exported to Spain. + +The sudden death of Alquiza led to much agitation due to the violent +spirit of rivalry between the auditor Don Diego Vallizo and the +Castellan of the Morro, Geronimo del Quero, who aspired to the +governorship. A great calamity occurred in Havana during this interim +administration. On the twenty-second of April, 1620, a fire broke out +and assumed such disastrous proportions, that two hundred homes were +destroyed and the growth of the city was for a time seriously crippled. + +The dangers that beset the development of Cuba were rapidly multiplying +instead of diminishing. Frequent change of administration was not +calculated to insure efficiency and stability in the management of the +island's affairs. Enterprises begun under one governor were interrupted +under the next. Sometimes the original plan was essentially changed and +entirely abandoned. A striking example of this sad state of affairs was +furnished during the third decade of the seventeenth century. Don +Francisco Venegas was inaugurated as governor on the fourteenth of +August, 1620. He had been charged with the organization of a war fleet +for the protection of the coast from invasions by pirates and +freebooters. For that purpose he had brought with him some vessels. They +came at an opportune moment for British and Dutch hookers had been +roving in West Indian waters. The vessels of the Cuban armadilla under +Vazquez de Montiel defeated these intruders at the Island of Tortuga, +captured three of them and put their crews to the sword. But joy over +this victory was offset by the epidemic of malignant fever which broke +out and raged among the population. Another great loss to Spain was +occasioned by the hurricane which in the following year sank on the +reefs of Los Martires several vessels of the fleet that had been sent by +Marquis de Cadreyta, D. Lope Diaz Armendiarez, and were returning to +Spain with great riches. + +Governor Venegas had in obedience to instructions from his government +armed an esquadron, for the maintenance of which he had imposed upon the +people a special tax. But on his death, on the eighteenth of April, +1624, it was found that the work on the fleet was far from complete, and +in spite of the constant menace of invasion by pirates, nothing was +heard of a resumption of the task during the governorship of his +successors. The political governor who temporarily assumed the reigns of +the administration was D. Damian Velasquez de Contreras, assisted by +Juan Esquiro Saavedra as military governor. During their interimistic +rule a prison was built and a new monastery established. + +The successor nominated in the place of Venegas in the year 1624 was +the Governor of Cartagena, Don Garcia Giron, who, however, resigned on +the twentieth of July of the same year. During the interim occasioned by +his resignation the names of Esquival Aranda and de Riva-Martiz are +mentioned in connection with the management of the island's affairs. +There finally arrived from Spain D. Lorenzo de Cabrera, a native of +Ubeda, corregido of Cadiz, field-marshal and Knight of the Order of +Santiago. He was duly installed in his office on the sixteenth of +September, 1626. In the command of the Morro Esquival was replaced by +Captain Cristobal de Arranda and in the government of Santiago Rodrigo +de Velasco was succeeded by Captain D. Pedro de Fonseca. + +During the administration of Cabrera, Cuba was agitated by many exciting +occurrences. Cabrera and the Marquis de Cadreyta, who commanded the +fleet that had brought him to Havana, made a thorough inspection of the +fortifications in order to report on their condition and propose +improvements. Among the most urgent Cabrera considered the manufacture +of a copper chain to shut off the entrance to the two forts; he also had +an intrenchment constructed capable of sheltering two companies. The +plan to block the entrance of the port with trunks of trees in order to +prevent pirates from making an entry, seems, however, to have been +somewhat quixotic. As Spain was then at war with the United Provinces, +Cabrera provided for possible contingencies by furnishing the forts with +large stores of provisions and took other measures to prepare for +eventual attacks by the enemy. + +These preparations proved to be only too justified. For the Dutch had +fitted out an expedition against the Spanish possessions in America. In +June of that year there appeared a fleet of more than thirty vessels +with three thousand men, commanded by Pit Hein, one of the most famous +mariners of his time. The Dutch had several encounters with the Spanish +fleet and were compelled to retire from Havana, which they had tried to +enter. They gained some advantages over the armada commanded by Don +Juan de Benavides, but in the following year the Spaniards inflicted +great losses upon the Dutch fleet commanded by Cornelius Fels, driving +him back from Havana and capturing one of his frigates. + +A little pamphlet published or printed by Heinrich Mellort Jano in +Amsterdam in 1628 gives the Dutch version of the expedition of Pit Hein. +It is entitled "Ausführlicher Bericht wie es der Silber Flotille +herganger wann (durch wen wie und wie viel) solcherin diesem 1628. Jahr +Erobert fort und eingebracht." Therein is related with much detail how +the West India Company, recognizing the rich booty which the capture of +Spanish ships promised, had furnished and fitted out a fleet and manned +it with a crew of brave and hearty sailors and soldiers, with the avowed +purpose of intercepting a silver-laden fleet returning from the colonies +to Spain. The Dutch set out on the twentieth of May, 1628, under the +command of General Petri Peters Heyn and Admiral Heinrich Corneli Lang. + +The Dutch reached San Antonio on the west end of Cuba on the fourth of +August. Their arrival became known to the Spaniards and on the +twenty-third of that month Governor Cabrera dispatched some vessels to +warn the silver fleet. General Peters Heyn sailed close up to the +fortifications of Havana and then turned three or four miles out to sea +to meet the treasure-laden ships, which his informers had reported to be +sailing in that neighborhood, but south winds drove him northeast. +Finally on the eighth of September the famous fleet hove in sight, and +the Dutch captured nine vessels, and seeing eight more, sailed briskly +out to cut them off from the port of Havana. The Spaniards arrived at +Matanzas Bay, hotly pursued by the Dutch, and immediately organized a +defensive. But they were outnumbered in the combat which ensued and laid +down their arms. The Dutch General and his staff offered thanks to the +Almighty for this great victory. The next day the ships were all secured +fast by chains, and the third day the booty was unloaded from the +Spanish and transferred to the Dutch ships. There were bars of silver, +crosses, chalices, other vessels and art objects fashioned out of +silver, in all weighing eighteen thousand four hundred pounds. + +The Dutch started on their home voyage on the seventeenth of September +and took with them four Spanish galleons, two laden with skins and two +with iron and other ore. On the twenty-sixth they reached Bermuda and +sent two couriers to Holland to report to the directors of the West +India Company. The first reached Rotterdam on the fifteenth of November +and received from the Prince of Orange as reward for the good news a +jewelled gold chain. To the story of the expedition is added a detailed +account of the goods carried by the individual ships, which shows that +they also brought dye-stuffs, oil, wine, silks, furniture and other +merchandise which with the silver, other ore and skins brought the total +value up to thirty millions, presumably of Dutch gulden. + +In the meantime there sailed from Cadiz an imposing squadron under the +command of the Marquis de Valdueza and carrying as second in command the +celebrated mariner D. Antonio de Oquendo. The object of the expedition +was to clear the coasts of the islands of all the pirates which had +begun to infest the Antilles. Off Nelson's Island, or Nevis, so called +by Columbus in 1493 because the cloud-veiled summit of its highest peak +reminded him of snow, they captured four Dutch corsairs in a violent +combat from which the island suffered seriously. In September the +Spanish fleet sailed for the island of San Cristobal, and obtained +possession of the fortifications of Charles and Richelieu, compelling +the French filibusters who were garrisoned there to surrender. These +brilliant exploits had within the brief space of eight weeks placed the +Spaniards in possession of two thousand three hundred prisoners, one +hundred and seventy-three pieces of artillery, seven vessels and a great +quantity of arms, powder and tobacco. Besides losing the islands the +pirates suffered a loss of property to the amount of fifty million +pesos. For a time the Antilles and surrounding sea enjoyed freedom from +the menace that had hung over them and disturbed their tranquillity for +so many years. + +But in spite of these successes Cabrera was unpopular. By permitting a +cargo of negroes to be sold in Havana he had called forth heated +discussion in official circles and among the people. Not a few voices +were heard to question his honesty. Other charges, some of a grave +nature, were raised against him and an investigation was demanded. In +response to the island's urgent request the Court of Madrid sent Don +Francisco de Praga, prosecutor of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, to +Cuba, with instructions to inquire into the state of things. The charges +being proved, Cabrera was removed from office on the seventh of October, +1630, and taken to Spain for trial. He died in Seville in a dungeon. De +Praga acted as provisional political governor, and the Alcalde of the +Morro, Cristobal de Arranda, as military governor until the successor of +Cabrera arrived from Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +Spain was at this time gradually working her defection, political and +economic. Philip III. had died in 1621 and, as he had thrown the +responsibilities of the government upon the shoulders of the Duke of +Lerma, so his successor, Philip IV., left them to his favorite Olivares. +Olivares immediately renewed the war with the United Provinces, which +were still a thorn in the flesh of Spain, for, on being freed from the +Spanish yoke, they had plunged into feverish activity which portended +their development into a maritime and mercantile power bound in due time +to rival and surpass Spain. + +The Dutch were by the nature of their country obliged to seek their +means of subsistence upon the sea and in far-off regions. Their famous +son, Hugo Grotius, had been the first to proclaim the freedom of the +seas as an indispensable condition to the growth and progress of the +world's civilization. Since Lisbon had closed her ports to the +Netherlands and Spain was imposing a series of unreasonable restrictions +upon the navigators of other countries, the Dutch had for some time past +been determined to discover a passage by which their ships could +penetrate the seas of Asia. Dutch mariners who had been in the employ of +the Spaniards and Portuguese and had shared in their voyages of +discovery, had brought home tales of the strange lands and stranger +peoples, which stirred the imagination of the ambitious and capable +nation. The unknown continents and islands stimulated the scholars' +desire for investigation and research. Exaggerated reports about the +mineral wealth and other treasures of the New World had roused the +merchants' spirit of enterprise and acquisition. As visions of the +riches that awaited development in those foreign climes, and of +territories they might once call their own, rose before the minds of +these merchant princes and lords of the sea, the thirst of conquest +quickened in this sturdy seafaring people. + +Step by step the Dutch followed the discoveries and explorations of the +Spaniards, and recorded and described them minutely. From the middle of +the sixteenth century on the publishing houses of Amsterdam, Leyden and +other centers of the printing trade of the country sent out books +dealing with the new continent conquered by their enemy, and especially +the West Indies. Stirred by this reading, the spirit of the people rose +and demanded a share in the lands and the wealth which their mariners +had helped to discover. There was an abundance of unemployed labor and +capital in the country. Hence the government, knowing only too well that +the future of the Dutch people lay on the seas, encouraged this spirit +and deliberated upon numerous plans of exploration and colonization. + +The first step towards a realization of these plans was taken when a +charter was granted to the Dutch East India Company, which gave that +organization the exclusive right to commerce beyond the Cape of Good +Hope on the one side and the Straits of Magellan on the other side. As +it recalled similarly privileged institutions in feudal times, when the +rights of the classes engaged in trade and industry had to be protected +against violation by noble lords, more properly called robber barons, +the ideal this company represented appealed to the people. Statesmen of +other countries realized its advantages and the Dutch East India Company +became the model for the great trade corporations which eventually +sprang up in France and England. + +But the East alone could not engage all the forces of the active little +country. The tales of the sailors and the books about the Western +Hemisphere made the people look more and more longingly towards the +continent and the islands across the Atlantic. There unlimited +opportunities beckoned; there was an outlet for their energies. But +unfortunately the Spaniards had long before this established their +claims in that continent and the men at the helm of the Dutch government +were determined to keep peace with Spain. Although Holland's great +pioneer of the "freedom of the seas," Hugo Grotius, refers in his +writings to the great plans upon which the Dutch were deliberating at +the time when Captain John Smith sailed for Virginia, no step was taken +in that direction until two years after the founding of Jamestown. The +voyage of Henry Hudson up the river that bears his name, and the +eventual establishment of the colony called Nieuw Amsterdam, did not +conflict with any Spanish interests and opened the eyes of the +enterprising people to other possibilities in the vast new continent. +Before long the ships of the little confederacy were found in many +harbors all along the Atlantic coast. They discovered some little +islands in the West Indies, which the Spaniards had not found worth +while to colonize, because their rocky structure was prohibitive to +cultivation. So they did not hesitate to anchor their ships in the +inlets of these islands and finally made them a center of contraband +traffic with the continent. + +The States-General of Holland still hesitated to grant a charter to the +long-projected West India Company. But they found means to open to +private enterprise almost unrestricted facilities for operation. On the +twenty-seventh of March, 1614, they enacted a measure giving private +individuals an exclusive privilege for four successive voyages to any +passage, harbor or country they should hereafter find. This gave a +powerful impetus to the enterprise of Dutch mariners and merchants, and +also to adventurers of divers nationality. Finally on the third of June, +1621, the Dutch West India Company received a charter for twenty-four +years with privilege of renewal, which gave it the right to traffic and +plant colonies on the coast of America from the Straits of Magellan to +the extreme north. The ships of the company immediately adopted the +policy of reprisals on Spanish commerce. In the expedition of Pit Hein +in 1628, which has been narrated in the previous chapter, the privateers +of the company secured booty eighty times more in value than all their +own exports for the preceding four years had amounted to. Dutch +buccaneers became as much of a menace to Cuban ports and to the ships +plying between Cuba and other countries as the French and British had +been. + +The sixty years of Philip IV.'s reign proved a long series of failures +for Spain. They would have resulted in serious disadvantage to the +American possessions, and especially to Cuba, had not the immediate +successors of Cabrera in the governorship of Cuba been able men who +managed the affairs of the island with sagacity and foresight. D. Juan +Bitrian de Viamonte, Caballero de Calatrave, a native of Navarre, was +appointed head of the administration and entered upon his duties on the +seventh of October, 1630. As auditor of the interior was appointed the +Licentiate Pedro so who a few months later was succeeded by D. Francisco +Rege Corbalan. One of the most famous religious institutions in the West +Indies was founded about this time. A pious woman, known as Sister +Magdalen de Jesus, opened a retreat for women devoting themselves to a +religious life; it was at first called Beaterio, but subsequently became +known far and wide as the convent of the nuns of Santa Clara. + +Governor Bitrian de Viamonte was neither strong of physique nor of +personality; yet he discharged the functions of his office most +successfully. During his administration was projected the construction +of two towers, one in Chorrera, the other in Cojimar. The garrison of +the place was increased and Castellane was made a respectable +stronghold. He also organized the militia, creating six companies in +Havana, two in Santiago and two in Bayamo. He had, however, serious +disagreements with the Marquis de Cadreyta, and being something of an +invalid and considered unfit to defend the island against the attacks +of some powerful enemy, he was removed to the comparatively easier post +of Captain-General of Santo Domingo. His successor was the Field-marshal +D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa, a native of Burgos. He suffered shipwreck +on the coast of Mariel while on his voyage from Spain and lost +everything but his patents, but was duly inaugurated on the twenty-third +of October, 1634. + +The precautions taken by his successor to insure an effective defense of +the island were by no means superfluous. For as the power of Spain was +steadily declining, that of the Netherlands and of England was rising. +The establishment of the Dutch along the Hudson, their founding of Nieuw +Amsterdam and their settlements on some of the minor West Indies, had +brought the danger of Dutch invasion nearer than ever before. The +colonies founded by the British at Jamestown and Plymouth had brought +within reach the eventuality of having to guard the Spanish possessions +against the British as well. Dutch and British navigation on the +Atlantic was vastly increasing and the future foreshadowed conflicts of +the interests of Spain and Holland on the one, and Spain and England on +the other side. The Cuban authorities, wrought up and kept in a +perpetual state of tension by their experiences with the buccaneers, had +become morbidly susceptible to danger of any kind. The appearance of a +foreign ship in the neighborhood of Cuban waters sufficed to fill them +with the gravest apprehension, lest the stranger might harbor hostile +designs. + +These apprehensions were justified, for the Dutch soon resumed their +operations against Cuba. It was reported that Maurice of Nassau himself +had set out with a powerful squadron, though no historian has any record +of it. But in July, 1638, Cornelius Fels, who was by the Spaniards +called Pie de Palo, appeared in the Bahama Channel, and from that point +sailed for Havana at the head of a fleet of some twenty Dutch vessels +enforced by some filibusters. Pie de Palo took his post at a convenient +place to intercept any message sent by Governor Riano to Mexico or Peru. +Near the coast of Cabanas the fleet of the Spaniards, commanded by D. +Carlos Ibarra and composed of seven badly armed galleons and hookers, +came across the Dutch. Ibarra formed a battle line extending his vessels +so as to flank the enemy. Pie de Palo with six of his galleons bravely +attacked the Spanish ships _Capitana_ and _Almirante_, being under the +impression that they carried a great quantity of coined money and bars +of gold and silver. + +Relying on the experience and the valor of Ibarra and Pedro de Ursua, +who commanded the two vessels so proudly attacked by Pie de Palo, the +captains Sancho Urdambra, Jacinto Molendez, the Marquis de Cordenosa, +Pablo Contreras and Juan de Campos endeavored in the mean time to check +the other galleons of the enemy. The unequal combat between Ibarra and +Ursua and the Dutch vessels lasted eight hours and the brave Spanish +sailors issued from it as victors. Pie de Palo was seriously wounded, +more than four hundred Dutchmen were killed and three of their vessels +were destroyed. The enemy fled, pursued by Ibarra, who returned to Vera +Cruz after saving the honor of the Spanish flag and the riches the fleet +had carried. They sang a Te Deum in Mexico as thanksgiving for the +victory and King Philip IV. rewarded Ibarra and his men by rich gifts. +The success of this expedition awakened in Havana the old spirit of +adventure and military prowess. Cuba had so far been the victim of +piracy and privateering; now it decided to defend her rights by fitting +out her own privateers and sending them against the enemy. The first +encounter was with corsairs that had been lying in wait for a vessel +coming from Vera Cruz; the Cuban who distinguished himself in the +command of the expedition which frustrated the enemy's designs, was +Andres Manso de Contreras. + +The demand for ships suitable for undertakings of this kind was so great +that the ship-builders Carera and Perez of Oporto were kept busy +building vessels for that purpose. + +The administration of D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa was short, but some +important measures were enacted in that period. The Exchequer Tribunal +de Corientes was established with a single auditor for the royal chests +of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida and other Spanish possessions. When it was +subsequently found that the duties were too numerous for one man, a +second official was appointed. It was then arranged that while one of +the auditors was to remain in Cuba, the other was alternately to visit +the other cajas (chests). In this way the government tried to avoid +delays and complications which had caused considerable trouble. At this +period, too, a commission of the Inquisition of Carthagena, elsewhere +generally abolished, established its residence in Havana. Ecclesiastical +life assumed greater proportions and a wider sphere of influence. +Bishops who had previously looked upon Havana as an undesirable place of +residence, no longer hesitated to accept a call to that city. + +Work on the fortifications of the island was actively pursued during the +administration of Gamboa. It was ordered that el Morro should have a +garrison of two hundred, and that as soon as feasible, la Punta and la +Fuerza were to be garrisoned by one hundred men each. The construction +of the fort at the entrance to the port of Santiago de Cuba was an +important improvement. It was called San Pedro de la Rocca, in honor of +the governor of that city, D. Pedro de la Rocca, although it is +generally known as the Morro. A garrison was installed, consisting of +one hundred and fifty men sent from the Peninsula, and the ammunition +destined for the defense came from New Spain. The power of the +armadilla, which had theretofore been arbitrary, was also regulated at +this time. Governor Gamboa, however, retired from office on the +fifteenth of September, 1639, when he had barely inaugurated these +improvements, and sailed for Spain. + +Gamboa's successor was D. Alvaro de Luna y Sarmiento, a knight of the +Order of Alcantara. During his administration, which began on the +fifteenth of September, 1639, and ended on the twenty-ninth of +September, 1647, the work of constructing defenses was eagerly pushed. +Two leagues leeward of Chorrera a fort was erected. At the mouths of the +rivers Casiguagas and Cojimar were built the two towers that had been +planned by Governor Viamonte; they were intended to protect those +advanced points of the capital. The able engineer Bautista Antonelli +superintended the construction of these works of fortification. As the +cost of these structures was defrayed by the inhabitants of the city, +the governor saw fit to entrust their defense to three companies of men +recruited from the native population. It was the first regiment of the +kind organized on the island. By January of the next year the +fortifications of the Castillo del Morro were also completed. + +With the insurrection of Portugal which occurred at this period the +pirates became bolder and renewed their outrages. The Dutch, too, +threatened Havana once more. A squadron commanded by Admiral Fels had +approached close to the coast, but had been driven back by a violent +hurricane. Four of the vessels had been left between Havana and Mariel. +Governor Luna sent Major Lucas de Caravajal against them; three hundred +Dutch were taken prisoners, and seventeen bronze cannon, forty-eight +iron cannons, two pedreros (swivel guns) and a great stock of arms and +ammunition were captured. The captured pieces served to reenforce the +artillery of the forts of La Punta and Morro. + +D. Diego de Villalba y Toledo, Knight of the Order of Alcantara, became +the successor of Governor Luna on the twenty-eighth of September, 1647. +His assistant deputy was the Licentiate Francisco de Molina. A great +calamity befell the island in the second year of his administration. A +terrible epidemic broke out in the spring of 1649; the documents and +chronicles of the period give hardly any details about the origin and +the character of the disease, but it was most likely a putrid fever +imported from the Indian population of Mexico and Cartagena by barges +that had come from those places. The people who were attacked by it +succumbed within three days, and it was estimated that in the course of +five months one third of the population died. + +Among those who died as victims of the scourge were the deputy auditor +Molino and the three licentiates who succeeded him, Pedroso, Torar and +Olivares, an Alcalde and many other functionaries, one third of the +garrison and a great number of the passengers and crew of the fleet +which its general, D. Juan Pujedas, had held ready to station in Havana. +Governor Villalba himself was seriously ill and only saved by utmost +care. The ravages of the epidemic seriously disturbed not only the +ordinary activities of the population, but also the regular routine of +the administration. + +During this period of suffering and sorrow the conduct of the religious +orders of both sexes was so admirable as to deserve special mention and +warm recognition. The monks and nuns received the sick in their +monasteries and convents, tenderly cared for them and when they did not +succeed to nurse them back to health, escorted the victims to their +graves. Among those who individually distinguished themselves by this +true Christian spirit was Padre Antonio de Jesus. After the epidemic had +spent itself and Governor Villalba had recovered, he organized a company +of militia lancers under the command of Martin Calvido la Puerta, one of +the wealthiest men of Havana. Like many other governors of Cuba, +Villalba became at the end the victim of calumny and cabal. The +government of Spain relieved him from his office and the Oidor of Santo +Domingo, D. Francisco Pantoja de Ayala, was charged with an +investigation of the complaints and accusations brought against him. + +The victories of the Dutch fleets in India, Brazil and Peru and their +conquest of some of the West Indian Islands, as also England's +expansion of her dominions and the growth of her naval power were cause +for grave anxiety. Measures of defense and protection became the subject +of interminable discussions in the official circles of Madrid and +Havana. The governors sent over by the court were urged to multiply +their effort to fortify Cuba and insure safety from attacks by covetous +enemies. D. Francisco Gelder, Field-marshal and Knight of Calatravas, +succeeded Villalba and was inaugurated on the twenty-eighth of March, +1653. One of his first official acts was to sever communication with +Santiago and Bayamo, for these two towns were at that time ravaged by +the same epidemic from which Havana had suffered. His preventative +measure set an example which was soon after followed by the authorities +of Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, Baracoa and Remedios, and +the spreading of the epidemic being checked, the island soon returned to +normal conditions. + +Like other governors before him, Gelder showed a deplorable leniency +towards those elements of the population that carried on contraband +traffic with negroes. But he displayed great energy in the persecution +of pirates. During his administration Captain Rojas de Figuerosa +captured the island of Tortuga, which had been a formidable base of +corsair operations. The news of this exploit caused great rejoicing in +Havana and was celebrated by a Te Deum under the direction of Bishop +Torre. Gelder also devised a plan to protect Havana from invasion by +land. He proposed to open a canal from the extreme interior bay running +north and extending to the sea, which would have surrounded the town by +water and make it practically safe. But the suggestion did not seem to +meet with approval. Before any other plans could be drafted, he died of +apoplexy, on the twenty-third of June, 1654, and in the interval between +his death and the arrival of his successor from Spain, the government +was administered by the Regidor D. Ambrosio de Soto and D. Pedro Garcia +Montanes, commandant of Morro. + +The newly appointed governor, Field-marshal D. Juan Montano Velasquez, +was inaugurated in June, 1655, but dying within a year, did not vitally +influence the course of affairs in the island. His plan of fortifying +Havana consisted in enclosing the city with walls from the landside, +running a rampart with ten bastions and two half-bastions. For the +execution of this plan the neighborhood of Havana offered to contribute +nine thousand peons (day-laborers) and the town corporation imposed a +tax on every pint of wine sold to assist in defraying the expenses of +the construction. The king approved heartily of these offers and ordered +that the treasury of Mexico should aid by an additional contribution of +twenty-thousand pesos. But the historian Arrato reports that the whole +scheme was soon after abandoned on account of the war in which Spain was +about to be involved. + +The British, their appetite for colonial possessions once being +awakened, saw in the growing weakness of Spain an opportunity to get +hold of some of her dominions. It was well known that Cromwell, although +England was then at peace with Spain, tried hard to increase and +strengthen its political and commercial power in America. The British +had already conquered the islands Barbadoes and San Cristobal, and in +the year 1655 a squadron of fifty-six vessels and a great number of +transports sailed from England, determined to wrest from Spain more of +her West Indian possessions. A force of nine thousand men was on these +vessels, many of them filibusters who had joined the British. + +The British command had primarily in view the conquest of Santo Domingo; +but, being repelled, it concentrated its efforts upon Jamaica. The +governor and his people stubbornly resisted the inroads of the enemy. In +the desperate struggle with a superior and well-trained force two brave +land-holders distinguished themselves by their heroism: D. Francisco +Proenza and D. Cristobal de Isasi. But their small and poorly equipped +forces were outnumbered by the numerous and well prepared enemy; they +were finally obliged to retire within the fortified camp and to +surrender the place to the British invaders. Panic-stricken and +unwilling to live under the rule of the enemy, thousands of Jamaicans +left for Cuba. The population of this island having been recently +decimated by the great epidemic, the refugees were warmly welcomed. They +numbered about ten thousand and the population of Cuba increased, until +it was estimated at forty thousand. This, however, did not compensate +Cuba for the loss of Jamaica, which in time became as valuable to the +British as it became ruinous to Spanish commerce. + +The comparatively easy victory of the British was a heavy blow to +Spanish pride and ranks high among the great disasters that marked the +reign of Philip IV. Realizing that Cuba might at any time suffer the +same fate as Jamaica, one hundred thousand soldiers were sent over from +the Peninsula and some ammunition from Spain. The establishment of the +British in colonies so near to Cuba was a constant menace to its +security, and during his brief administration Governor Montano devoted +himself with commendable perseverance to the improvement of the defenses +of Havana, beginning with the most important and urgent work upon its +walls. But before the realization of his plans Montano was taken ill and +died during Easter week of the year 1656. + +The conquest of Jamaica by the British had furnished the world such +incontestable proof of Spain's military decline, that the lawless +elements roving the sea under the black flag of the pirates once more +set out upon their criminal expeditions. They extended their +depredations to the whole coast of Spanish America and menaced the life +and property of the inhabitants wherever the lack of forts or adequate +garrisons facilitated their manoeuvres. As the pirates were supposed +to be either British or French, the government of Spain was suddenly +roused to action and entered complaints at the courts of France and +England. But they received little satisfaction beyond an exchange of +polite diplomatic notes, which contained nothing reassuring whatsoever. +Both governments replied that the miscreants were private individuals +and criminals for whose actions their government, however seriously it +discountenanced them, was by no means responsible. Moreover, +interference was out of the question, since the offenses were committed +outside of the jurisdiction of the respective countries. Spain was thus +left to her own resources in proceeding against those disturbers of the +peace and safety of her American colonies. + +But these colonies were thousands of miles away and Spain, under the +weak rule of a weak sovereign, was too much absorbed by the futile +effort to stay the decline of her European power. Roussillon and Artois +had been ceded to France, the war with Portugal was dragging along +hopelessly. Although the revenues of the crown had been materially +increased under the king's favorite, Olivares, the profligate +extravagance of the court was forever draining the coffers. The colonies +had to get along as best they could and they had a troublesome time to +fight the ever growing menace of pirate invasion with little or no aid +from the mother country. + +The death of Governor Montano made necessary another provisional +government; it consisted of D. Diego Ranzel, as political and the +Alcalde Jose Aguirera as military governor. When the duly appointed new +governor, Captain General D. Juan de Salamanca, entered upon his office +on the fifth of March, 1658, he soon found his hands full. Some years +before, a number of Frenchmen, regardless of the Spanish claim of +priority, had settled on the island of Tortuga. They were hunters, +planters and laborers, with a fair sprinkling of adventurers. The +settlement had grown into a real colony, before the Spaniards became +aware of the fact that it constituted a grave danger. Several +expeditions were sent against them, but failed to dislodge them. +Encouraged by this triumph over the Spaniards, these intruders set about +to extend their operations to the coast contiguous to Hayti. Sometimes +these men were working by authority of the French Company of the West +Indies, and of the governor appointed to rule over them; at other times +they undertook excursions quite independently. They fairly succeeded in +making themselves masters of Cape France. Before long they seem to have +reached some agreement with the British authorities of Jamaica, to +combine for concerted action against Spain, and they began to terrorize +the population of the Spanish possessions by sending out piratical +expeditions that kept the people on the coasts in constant fear for +their life and property. + +The work entitled "Pirates of America" contains a wealth of facts +concerning the corsairs sent out by these French and British settlements +and the many other buccaneers and filibusters that harassed the people +of the Spanish colonies. Among them is the story of the famous pirate +Lolonois, also known as Francisco Nau and el Olones, whose descent upon +Cuba during the administration of Governor Salamanca has all the +elements of a thrilling though gruesome melodrama. Lolonois had been in +Campeche and was supposed to have perished in one of his forays. But in +reality he had made his escape and reached Tortuga, where he was able to +arm himself anew. He reached the northern part of Cuba at a small +trading town, los Cayo, which he intended to rob of its stores of +tobacco, sugar and skins. Some fisherman recognized him and hurried to +Havana with the news that Lolonois had arrived with two boats and was +planning a raid. The governor doubted, having been assured of his death +at Campeche, but urged by the entreaties of the men, he sent against him +a vessel with ten pieces of artillery and ninety armed men. Their order +was not to return until the pirate horde was annihilated; every one of +them was to be hung, except Lolonois who was to be brought to Havana +alive. + +The pirates somehow were fully informed of the expedition against them +and awaited the arrival of the vessel in the Riviera estera where it was +to anchor. They terrorized some poor fisherfolk into showing them the +entrance to the port, hoping there to find better boats than their own +canoes. They reached the war-ship at two o'clock in the morning and were +asked by the sentinel whence they came and whether they had seen any +pirates. They made a prisoner answer for them, that they had not seen +any, and the sentinel saw no cause for alarm. At day-break the Cubans +found out their mistake; for the pirates began to attack them from all +sides with such violence that their artillery was soon of no avail. +Sword in hand the outlaws forced the Spaniards to hide in the lower +parts of the ship. Then Lolonois ordered them to be brought on deck, one +by one, and had their heads cut off. Thus the whole force perished with +the exception of one, who was sent as courier to the governor with the +insolent message: + + "I shall never give quarter to a Spaniard, I cherish the firm hope + to execute on your own person what I did with those you sent with + your vessel and what you intended to do with me and my companions." + +Lolonois finally met with a tragical death in Nicaragua. But although +the lack of preparedness on the part of the Cubans and the inefficiency +of the commander and his crew make this story almost incredible, the +exploit of the British pirate Juan or Henry Morgan in Puerto del +Principe, is equally remarkable and vouched for not only in the book +mentioned above, but also by the historian Urrutia. Morgan planned an +attack upon Havana with twelve vessels, but yielding to the persuasion +of his officers who feared its forts, he contented himself with +descending upon the neighboring coast town. As the fleet approached, a +Spanish prisoner dashed into the water, swam ashore and warned the +people of the danger. They put into safety their most precious household +goods and when they gathered about the alcalde numbered about eight +hundred men. A detachment of cavalry was displayed in hope of +intimidating the approaching pirates and attacking them from the rear. +But the enemy advanced in good order, and when the Alcalde and many of +the leaders were killed, the people fled to the mountains. Morgan's +forces entered the city, where they met with some resistance, but when +the pirates threatened to set fire to the town, the people gave up to +them. As soon as they saw themselves masters of the place, the pirates +locked the inhabitants into the churches, plundered as much as they +could find and so ill-treated their victims that many died. Then they +demanded ransom, threatening to take them to Jamaica, if it were not +paid in two weeks. Before the term expired some of the pirates captured +a negro coming towards the town with a message from the governor of +Cuba, promising the people quick help. Morgan then demanded five hundred +bulls or cows with sufficient salt to salt them to be driven to the +coast, took with him six hostages and fifty thousand pesos cash and +jewels, and left his companions attending to the shipping of the cattle. + +To fortify her coasts and strengthen the garrison of her forts became an +urgent need for Cuba and brooked no delay. For while the government of +Spain deliberated at leisure upon means to furnish the much-needed aid, +the enemy was alive to the opportunity which inadequate defense offered. +The invasion of Santiago de Cuba, which is the most important event of +Salamanca's governorship, was a flagrant example of what could at any +time happen at any point along the Spanish American coast. One October +day in the year 1663, a British squadron, according to some authorities +consisting of fifteen, according to others of eighteen ships of various +sizes appeared at the entrance to the port, with unmistakably hostile +intention. The commandant of the Morro immediately informed the +governor, D. Pedro Morales, of this unwelcome arrival, but the governor +did nothing except summon the troops to their respective quarters. Morro +was garrisoned by only eighty men, under an inexperienced captain; some +historians give the number as only twenty-five. It seems to have been an +unpardonable carelessness on the part of the governor not to have at +once dispatched an enforcement to the garrison. The inhabitants +volunteered to make a sortie to attack the enemy. But the governor did +not seem to realize the seriousness of the situation and forbade them to +take any action against them. + +[Illustration: MORRO CASTLE, SANTIAGO + +The oldest of the fortifications of the former capital of Cuba, erected +in the sixteenth century to protect the place from French and English +raiders. It occupies a commanding position on a headland overlooking the +splendid harbor and the waters which were the scene of the destruction +of the last Spanish fleet in Cuban waters.] + +The enemy's forces landed at a point called Aguadores, three quarters of +a league from the city. They numbered eight hundred men and encountered +no opposition whatever. But as it was then night, they decided to encamp +on the little plain of Lagunas and wait until daybreak. The officials of +the garrison, relying on their familiarity with the ground, urged the +governor to let them make a sortie with three hundred picked men and +take them by surprise. But Governor Morales still doubted that they +would have the courage to attack the city and refused the proposal of +the brave troops as he had the offer of the people. When the morning +came, his amazing credulity must have received a stunning blow. For the +enemy, fully armed, began to move towards the city. Disconcerted and +confused, Morales hastily ordered the troops out and placed himself at +their head. Without any order or strategic plan they moved towards the +heights of Santa Anna, where as sole defense he had planted a cannon and +had some trenches dug. + +It was an easy task to get the better of a commander of such little +foresight. Realizing the confusion of the Cuban forces the enemy +separated into two columns and proceeded to surround Morales and his +men. In the panic which broke out, the voice of Morales was heard to +order a retreat. He himself escaped into the city. The British +dispatched two hundred men to take Morro, which they found abandoned, +the garrison having fled instead of making an attempt to save the fort +and their honor. When the British commander entered Morro he was +reported to have made the remark, that he alone with his dog and his +sword could have defended the place. Morro and Santiago were captured +and the enemy unhindered indulged in plunder. The bells of the churches +were taken, the artillery of the fort, three vessels lying in the +harbor, and a number of negro slaves. Unable to get the furniture and +jewels which had been hidden by the residents, the enemy vented their +wrath on the Morro, which they blew up; they destroyed the cathedral and +killed a few people. + +For almost a month they lingered about the place and still the governor +did nothing to force them to leave. When the governor of Cuba heard of +the plight of Santiago, he immediately summoned an expeditionary corps +of five hundred men and hurried to the relief of the sorely tried town; +but when he arrived on the fifteenth of November, he learned that the +British had on that very day evacuated the town. The historian Urrutia +reports that the Audiencia of Santo Domingo entrusted the licentiate D. +Nicolas Munez with the investigation of this disgraceful defeat and +brought about the removal of Morales. By order of the king he was +replaced by the Field Marshal D. Pedro de Bayoa, who was also given two +hundred soldiers and war provisions for future eventualities of this +kind. + +The island had at that time a population of over three hundred thousand +inhabitants. The number of negroes had increased and furnished the labor +so much needed to work on the plantations. The cultivation of the land +was carried on with greater efficiency and began to yield rich results. +Governor Salamanca, in spite of his glorious military antecedents, +devoted himself preferably to works of peace. He succeeded in promoting +tobacco culture and was the author of the decree issued on the fifteenth +of October, 1659, which authorized the extension of the fields into the +uncultivated plains that were not used for any other purposes. He was +profoundly concerned about the morals of Cuban society and attempted to +combat the laxity and dissipation that characterized its life. But it +seems that his moralizing had no great effect upon the people that were +bent upon taking life easy and plunged into pleasure with greater zest +than they pursued their work. + +But while the population of the island enjoyed comparative security and +prosperity, that of the coast towns was steadily worried by danger of +invasion. When Governor Salamanca retired from office, the menace was +still far from removed. After a provisional government of ten months, +Don Rodrigo de Flores y Aldama, Field Marshal and Caballero de +Alcantara, entered upon his administration on the fifteenth of June, +1663. With him arrived also a new bishop, Don Juan Saenz de Manosca, a +Mexican of immaculate purity and uncompromising severity. He took charge +of the diocese on the sixth of August and continued with greater success +than Governor Salamanca in the moralization of the community. Realizing +the increasing danger of invasion Governor Aldama at once set about to +push the work on the walls of Havana. The garrison was increased by two +hundred men. + +But Aldama was only a year later appointed Captain-General of Yucatan, +and a new governor succeeded him, the Field Marshal Don Francisco Davila +Crejon y Gaston, who had previously been governor of Gibraltar and +Venezuela. He entered upon his office on the thirtieth of July, 1664, +and immediately set to work with great energy and perseverance to hasten +the construction of more fortifications. His predecessors had stored up +an immense amount of building material and there was no reason why the +work should not be carried on without delay. But Davila encountered +serious difficulties and obstacles because his plans were opposed by the +engineer Marcos Lucio and the viceroy la Espanola Marques de Muncere. +The resources of the exchequer were at that time so scanty that Orejon +ordered the provisory use of fagots in the construction of the +fortifications of Havana. + +However, El Morro of Santiago de Cuba which had been blown up by +filibusters a few years before, was rebuilt under his orders. The +batteries of La Punta, la Estrella and Santa Clara were established. +The governor of Santiago and D. Pedro Bayone finished these works and +also walled up the convent of San Francisco making it equivalent to a +fort. In the year 1665 the French pirate Pedro Legrand penetrated into +Santo Espiritu with a force of filibusters. He set fire to thirty-three +houses and demanded a ransom from every inhabitant. During that and the +following year, the pirates plundered more than two hundred haciendas +(farms) carrying off cattle and furniture. They committed unspeakable +outrages, violating even the wives and daughters of the men whose homes +they destroyed or robbed. + +One of the most curious historical documents of this period is "De +Americansche Zee Rovers," a narrative of piratical exploits on the +coasts of Cuba and other Spanish possessions by a member of the +redoubtable fraternity, Alexander Exquemeling, a Dutch pirate, whose +talent for piracy was coupled with the gift of literary style and a +pious disposition. The book was translated into many languages and was +very popular at the time; it gives a vivid account of the life and +habits of the buccaneers and of conditions in the colonies they visited. +Exquemeling had come to Tortuga in one of the vessels of the Dutch West +India Company and, as was frequently done then, was sold into servitude +for three years. Being ill-treated by his masters, he made his escape +and joined the Brothers of the Coast. He was with Morgan at the capture +of Puerto del Principe in Cuba, at an attack upon Porto Bello on the +Isthmus of Darien and at the dastardly sack of Panama, and indulges in +no little moralizing about the monster Morgan and his associates. + +In the year 1670 steps were finally taken by the British and the Spanish +government to crush this outlaw power of the seas. As if in defiance of +this act the expedition against Panama was made which Exquemeling +describes with evident horror. He also reports that the new governor of +Jamaica, who had been particularly instructed to enforce the treaty +against piracy, which in the diplomatic documents goes under the name +"American treaty," ordered three hundred French corsairs who had been +shipwrecked on the coast of Porto Rico to be slaughtered. But he does +not forget to add that the same governor only a few years later secretly +abetted the operations of the pirates and even shared in their booty. +One ship alone carried such rich freight, that every member of the +pirate crew received four hundred pounds and the governor himself a +handsome sum of hush-money. + +But the grim tragicomedy of Morgan's career reached its climax when the +scoundrel, who had brought untold misery to homes in Cuba and other +Spanish colonies, suddenly turned about, became respectable, married the +daughter of one of the most prominent citizens of Jamaica, and was +appointed Judge of the admiralty court. Nor was this all: Charles II +knighted him and in 1682 the whilom buccaneer, as Sir Henry Morgan, +became Deputy Governor of Jamaica. He held the office three years, +during which he mercilessly sacrificed some of his former comrades. Then +King James II came upon the throne, and Spain having gathered sufficient +evidence to accuse "Sir Henry" of secret complicity with the pirates, he +was discharged, sent to England and spent some years in prison. The +"American Treaty," however, dealt a blow to piracy in the Western +hemisphere; and in due time relieved the inhabitants of Cuba as of other +Spanish possessions in America for the nightmare that had threatened +them for over a century. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +In spite of the "American Treaty" which had for the moment bound Great +Britain and Spain together for mutual protection against the pirates, +the designs of land-hungry British courtiers and adventurers were by no +means abandoned. Spain was not blind to the fact that she had all powers +against her, that were playing an important part in the development of +the New World. French, Dutch and British were stung with the desire to +appropriate to themselves some of its wealth. For many years the British +government had jealously watched the progress of Dutch navigation and +commerce. Its settlements in North America had whetted the appetite for +colonial expansion, which, once awakened, was bound to be satisfied by +whatever means diplomacy or strategy offered. Though England and Spain +were then nominally at peace, Cromwell was haunted by dreams of British +world power and as soon as the Revolution gave him authority to act as +Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, pursued his visions of conquest. + +The act of navigation which was issued in the year 1651 does not with a +word mention British monopoly of the colonies; it only established the +principle of exclusive maritime commerce by British vessels, equipped +for the most part with British citizens, and prohibited foreigners from +importing into the Commonwealth other products than those of her own +soil or those the sale of which was established in the importing +country. Cromwell's idea was without doubt to attack Dutch commerce and +build upon its ruins a national British commerce. Holland opposed in +vain the act intended to break the friendly relations between the two +nations. Parliament was concerned only about British interests and +refused to revoke her laws to please her neighbor and ally. The war +between England and Holland became inevitable. Cromwell's squadron +triumphed and Dutch commerce had to give way to British. + +This lesson was not lost upon France which was also haunted by visions +of colonial empire and was therefore interested in defending the +principle of monopoly. As early as the reign of Queen Isabella, French +ambition and desire for colonial possessions had become manifest. As +British vessels began to prey upon Spanish colonies, France followed +their operations with keen interest and at opportune moments managed to +acquire a slice of territory in the New World. In the year when the +British had taken possession of Barbadoes, France took half of San +Cristobal; when the British settled on the other half of that island, +the French took possession of Martinique, Guadeloupe and other small +islands. They founded a colony in Cayenne and assisted by corsairs got a +hold on the western part of Santo Domingo. + +But the greed for territory once awakened, was not easily appeased, and +the courtiers of the Restoration, in need of new avenues of wealth to +carry on their wonted extravagance, were among the most rapacious +claimants of land in America. In the Spring of 1663, the province of +Carolina was established, extending from the thirty-sixth degree of +north latitude to the river San Matheo and some dissatisfied planters +from Barbadoes founded a settlement in the fall of the same year. Having +been included by the Spaniards within the limits of Florida, this +arbitrary act was bound not to pass unchallenged by Spain. In defiance +of the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine the Earl of Clarendon +obtained from the King in June, 1665, a charter granting him and his +partners all territory lying between the twenty-ninth and the +thirty-sixth degree of north latitude from the Atlantic to the Pacific. + +Not satisfied with these acquisitions, the British turned covetous eyes +upon Cuba. A letter written by a Major Smith in the year 1665 and +published in the Universal Museum of London in the year 1762, gives an +account of the island which requires no comment. It reads: + +"Cuba is a very good island and in it is generally, for so large a +country, the best land I have seen in America, although I have traveled +the main continent in several places and crossed from the north to the +south seas as also the north side of Hispaniola, and most parts of +Jamaica. This great island is easily to be conquered, and would make the +best plantation, besides the prejudice it would be to the Spaniards and +the great advantage to our nation. For instance had we the port and city +of Havana, which might in all probability be reduced with two regiments +of good soldiers from Jamaica, carrying with them two or three sloops or +shallops for sending men, provided with good arms and other necessities +for an assault. The descent is to be undertaken presently after their +armada hath passed out of the Indies which is once in two years, towards +the end of the summer. There is a good landing on the west side of the +city where it lies open and you need fear no ambuscades, but not on the +east side of the harbor, for there you will be galled by the Morro until +the city be secured; but when once that is taken, you may easily reduce +the castle also and there being no danger of retaking it until the next +armada arrives, which will be almost two years, in which time you will +have planters enough from other of your islands to manure the land and +assist the soldiers in the defense of the island. This conquest being +once effected, would utterly ruin the Spaniards and for these reasons; +our ships lying both here and at Jamaica, would be at all times ready to +gather up their straggling fleet which it is difficult to keep embodied +without the help of that port of Havana, it being windward from the bay +of Mexico or Puerto Bello, without separation and on the other hand, to +pass the Gulf of Florida is impossible should they lose the Havana where +they rendezvous victual water and provide all things necessary for their +return to Spain. When this is done, they wait for a convenient season +of weather (being much observed from the changes of the moon) in order +to pass the dangerous strait; for to say truly, the Spaniards are +neither very fit for sea nor for land service, excepting some officers +and soldiers bred in Flanders, for the latter and a few Biscaniers for +sea affairs. They are so sensible of their weakness, and jealous of +their riches in those parts that it is very difficult for any ingenious +man, once taken by them, to get his liberty, fearing he might give such +intelligence as would be the cause of their ruin, witness their +blindfolding of all strangers, when they pass their cities and castles, +for they much dread an old prophecy among them, _that within a short +time the English will as freely walk the streets of Havana as the +Spaniards now do_, which indeed had been easily performed with a third +of the army sent to Jamaica and a far greater advantage to the nation; +for I esteem that port and harbor of the Havana in the West Indies to be +as great a check upon the Spaniards as Tangier in the straits of +Gibraltar; and if we were once masters of both they would without doubt +be so straightened as absolutely to admit us a free trade into their +ports of America, where they import our commodities and sell them for +ten times more than they first cost in Spain, by reason of the great +plenty of silver, which trade would not only be of great advantage to +us, but also prevent their future enslaving our nation in chains, as +they now do; for being employed in their fortifications, they are worse +used, all things considered, than if they were taken by the Turks. I +have seen other parts of the West Indies, where the Spaniards might be +fleeced of considerable quantity of riches; as at Panama, where there +are silver bars piled up in heaps in the open street day and night, +without guard, four, five or six months together, waiting the arrival of +the armada, which when arriving in Puerto Bello, they transport it +thither with so slender a guard for so great a treasure, that it would +be easy prey for a thousand resolute men the expense of whose +expedition would be small in comparison to the prize. But there is no +resting or long tarrying about the business, the Spaniards being +numerous here as in all other places of the main land; a catch and away. +This island of Cuba hath adjacent to it great conveniences of salt and +fishing and in it is very great plenty of horses, meat, sheep and hogs, +both wild and tame, of a far larger and better breed than in other parts +of America. Which hath also many rich mines of copper already open and +it is the only place which supplies all the West Indies with metal for +the infinite number of ordnance they have in all their ports and +castles, both in the north and south seas; but whether it hath any mines +of silver or gold, I know not; but if there were any such they would +venture their opening a discovery fearing the invasion of that island +which is of so easy access by sea and of such great importance to their +whole interest in America; for which reason also they refuse to work any +mines in Florida that are near the north sea (although they have there +very many) but would rather employ themselves about others farther in +the country although with great labor and cost for conveyance of the +produce by land to Mexico; lastly, this island (to complete its praise) +hath very good ports and harbors of great advantage to ships for safe +passing the gulf; and should the Spaniards keep two or three frigates +always plying off there between the western end of Cuba and the Havana, +it were impossible for any ships of ours that came from Jamaica to +escape them. The scales turned would be their case to all America. +Neither wants it great sugar-works, which have both water-mill and horse +mills and very many large cocoa walks; the most and best tobacco; in +short, it produces all other commodities that any of our American +islands have knowledge of." + +This letter shows plainly how preoccupied was the British mind with the +acquisition of Cuba, and foreshadows the coming events, for which Cuba +in spite of all warning symptoms was little prepared. Clouds had +gathered about the horizon of Spain and darkened its own outlook. + +King Philip IV. had died on the seventeenth of September, 1665, and so +inadequate was at that time the means of communication between Spain and +her American dominions that it took seven months before news of the +event reached the people of Cuba. The heir to the Spanish throne was the +three-year-old Charles II. the queen, assisted by the junta, being named +regent. If the reign of Philip IV. had been called the most disastrous +in the history of the kingdom, that of Charles II. was hardly less so. +It was the period when Louis XIV. of France had begun to cherish a dream +of universal empire and although a brother-in-law of the Spanish +infant-king, did not hesitate to do his share in weakening the power of +Spain. In spite of the critical position of the mother-country, the +proclamation of the new king was celebrated in Havana with great pomp on +the ninth day of May in the following year. At the review held in San +Francisco square of that city appeared two companies of mounted militia, +four companies of veteran infantry and four others of free Pardos (a +mixed race of blacks and whites) and Morenos, sent by the Major Jeronimo +Luque Salazar. + +The perfidy of the French king contributed seriously to the insecurity +of Cuba at this period. There is little doubt that he aided and abetted +the operations of French pirates in the West Indies. The island of +Tortuga was once more in their hands. Barbadoes and Jamaica were the +haunts of great numbers of these outlaws, who kept the Spanish ships +sailing on these seas as well as Campeche, Tabasco, Honduras, Nicaragua, +New Granada, Costa Rica, Santa Catalina, la Guayra and others of the +rich Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere in a continual state of +suspense. Governor Davila succeeded in several punitive expeditions +against the pirates. The notorious Lolonois or El Olones, was executed +in Nicaragua and in Cuba itself more than three hundred were hanged in +the different places where they had been caught. During Davila's +administration some wealthy citizens made bequests for the public good. +The most important was that of Martin Calvo, who left an income of five +thousand pesos to be annually distributed as gifts among five poor +orphan girls. Governor Davila Orejon y Gaston was in the military +literature of his time known as the author of a work called "Escelencias +del arte militare y variones illustres." He demonstrated in that work +the importance of the port of Havana for the conservation of Spanish +dominion in Mexico and Peru. He retired from the governorship on the +sixth of May, 1670, and died in Venezuela. + +The immediate successor of Davila was Field Marshal D. Francisco +Rodriguez de Ledesma, Chevalier of the Order of Santiago. Determined to +curb the brazen bullying in which the buccaneers were still indulging, +he issued privateering patents to a number of valiant mariners and +merchants, who were willing to face the foreign pirates in open fight +and prevent further encroachments upon the coasts of Spanish America. +The two men who especially distinguished themselves in these expeditions +were Felipe Geraldini and Major Marcos de Alcala. Ledesma also carried +on the work of fortification. During his administration was built a +portion of the cathedral under the supervision of D. Juan Bernardo +Alonso de Los Rios; but the imposing edifice was not finished until many +years later. + +Governor Ledesma was not to be spared an experience with the +freebooters. In the year 1678 the governor of Guarico sent a certain +Franquinay to Santiago with the evident intention of conquering the +place. Franquinay, who was a French corsair well-known among the +Brotherhood of the Coast landed with eight hundred men at Jaragua Grande +in the eastern part of the island. There he engaged a half-witted native +by the name of Juan Perdomo to act as guide and started with his forces +to march toward the city. It was a moonlit night and on arriving at a +point where the road branched into two, the pirate divided his forces, +each taking one of the roads. On meeting again at the place where the +two branches continued as the highroad, the idiot Perdomo began to shout +"Santiago, Spain!" The moon had set in the mean time and in the darkness +enveloping them, the pirates did not recognize their own forces and +thought this call a signal to the enemy lying in wait for them. They +began to fire upon their own forces, in the belief that they were +betrayed and surprised by the Spaniards, and killed a great number of +their own people, before they became aware of their mistake. In this way +was Franquinay's plan to take and ransack the city of Cuba frustrated by +a mentally deficient native, one who in the language of the Latin people +is called an "innocent." The corsair turned back to the shore with the +intention of re-embarking and left Perdomo behind. The half-wit, +although manacled, managed to reach Santiago and related his experience +to the great delight of the governor and the residents. This was the +last attempt of pirate forces upon the capital, the inhabitants of which +had been kept in a state of constant alarm for a century and a half. But +the smaller towns of the vicinity were for some time harassed by +Franquinay who, unable to accomplish his ambitious purpose, vented his +wrath upon their population by committing the most cruel outrages. + +The expedition of buccaneers under the command of M. de Grammont in +February, 1679, was another event that justified the fears of the Cubans +and their steps to insure the safeguard of their ports. M. de Grammont +landed with a force of six hundred men at Guanaja and succeeded in +capturing Puerto del Principe. But the inhabitants valiantly organized +and armed themselves to fight the invader. With a scanty reenforcement +of soldiers from the garrison they managed to defeat the enemy's horde +and pursued them as far as the port of Guanaja. There M. de Grammont, +who was wounded in the course of the combat, retired into a trench +which was sufficiently fortified to offer some resistance. On the +twenty-fifth of the month an engagement took place, which forced the +pirates to take to their ships and hurriedly to leave for the open sea. +They had not only accomplished nothing, but suffered the loss of seventy +dead and many wounded. + +Notwithstanding the two countries being at peace, the feeling between +Great Britain and Spain was gradually becoming more and more hostile. +During the pirate raids and other expeditions of British vessels off the +Spanish-American coasts, British soldiers and sailors had been taken +prisoners and were held in what was equivalent to bondage. The British +government had repeatedly remonstrated against this procedure, but the +Cuban authorities had not forgotten Jamaica and other operations of the +British in Spanish America and were not inclined to parley. Ships had +been sent to Havana to demand the release of the men, but even then the +emissaries of the British government failed to obtain any satisfaction. +Their demands were flatly refused. Finally the Earl of Clarence, who was +then governor of Jamaica, dispatched the British ship _Hunter_ under +command of Captain John Tosier to Havana. A full account of this +expedition is given in "A Letter from Captain John Tosier, Commander of +His Majesty's ship the _Hunter_ at Jamaica. With a narrative of his +embassy to the governor of Havana to demand His Majesty's of Great +Britain's Subjects kept prisoners there." The letter is dated Port +Royal, Jamaica, March 28th, 1679, and was published in London in the +same year. + +Captain Tosier tells of previous efforts made to obtain the deliverance +of these British prisoners, saying that even messengers backed by +frigates of fifty guns had so far failed in their purpose. He sailed +from Port Royal on the twenty-fifth of January and on the eleventh of +February arrived off the coast of Havana. There he waited for two days +for more settled weather before he approached within two miles of Morro +castle, "top-sails a-Trip, Jack, Ancient and Pendant flying." He sent a +boat with Mr. Richard Bere, Governor Carlisle's "Gentleman of the Horse" +as messenger and interpreter, and bearer of the list of British subjects +kept prisoners in Havana. The guard of Morro castle ordered the boat +ashore, put a sergeant and soldiers on board and escorted the messenger +to Governor Ledesma. Another guard remained on the boat. Governor +Ledesma read the letter and the sailing orders and replied that the +British prisoners were pirates. According to Captain Tosier's narrative +he refused the British emissaries the customary salute and more or less +politely ordered them out of the house. They were escorted back to the +boat and "were forced to sea at seven o'clock at night." + +Early the next morning the answer was received by Captain Tosier. Within +three hours he sent the boat ashore once more, telling the governor of +Havana "His Majesty's Ship under my command is well Man'd, where he +might be safe and welcome if he would vouchsafe to give her his company; +and His Majesty of England never spared his powder to answer Civilities, +nor received such indignities as waiters or guards on board of any of +His Majesty's Ships of War, which will be a strange report, when His +Majesty shall come to hear of it." Captain Tosier then demanded in the +name of the King of England and "in obedience to the Catholic King" that +forthwith all subjects of his "most Excellent Majesty" detained as +prisoners in Havana be set at liberty and delivered to him to be +transported to the Territories of the King of England. If pirates they +were, they should have been sent to Old Spain to be tried. Great was the +excitement at the government house in Havana, when this message reached +there. But the Cuban authorities saw no other way out of the difficulty +but to give up the captives. Captain Tosier reports that the governor +ordered the prisoners to be called over in a back court near his house +and examined some of them, one after another, and before he had done +said: "Though I have no order to deliver them to you and though I may be +blamed, yet take them all with you, and if there be any more, let them +come forth immediately and they shall be discharged." + +Captain Tosier had cause to be proud of his success, as the Spanish +authorities had never before been known to deliver any British +prisoners. The announcement that they were free was received with wild +cheers by the forty-six Englishmen who had spent from one to six years +in Cuban captivity. The following day the _Hunter_ sailed and at some +distance out of Havana, Captain Tosier came across a long boat, +containing one hundred and forty-four men with their commander, Captain +John Graves who had sailed a month before for London and eight days +before meeting the _Hunter_ had been cast away thirty leagues east of +Havana and expected to be utterly lost or to be made prisoners by the +Cubans. + +Though Governor Ledesma had in this instance yielded to the pressure +exercised by the British, he was by no means convinced of the honesty +and sincerity of the Governor of Jamaica. He had reasons to believe that +in spite of peace between the two countries the governor of Jamaica was +secretly in league with the pirates that had molested Cuba, and that +while pretending to persecute the outlaws, he had really encouraged them +in their raids upon the Spanish colonies. Governor Ledesma collected +evidence to that effect and presented it at the court of Spain. But his +appeal arrived at a time when Spain's European losses had alarmingly +decreased her prestige and when even her national wealth showed a +perceptible shrinkage. So the court at Madrid did nothing but deliberate +at length upon the ever present problem of insuring the safety of the +colonies and limited its practical assistance to the sending over of a +few ships with instructions to organize an armada which was to patrol +the coasts and force the outlaws to respect Spanish possessions. The +island itself armed a few vessels and the garrisons were slightly +increased. + +The great earthquake of the year 1675 added to the sufferings of the +people of Cuba and caused loss of life and property. Three years later a +violent hurricane swept over the island and worked great havoc. It not +only robbed great numbers of the inhabitants of their homes, and did +serious damage to commerce and traffic, but it also destroyed the +recently finished cathedral. Though such catastrophes were of no rare +occurrence in that climate, they invariably left the people's spirits +depressed and indirectly affected their initiative and enterprise. Thus +the copper mines were abandoned about this time, because their +production seemed out of proportion to the labor and expense of working +them. But the real reason was probably the ignorance and inefficiency of +the forces in charge of the work and the lack of energy and courage +which frequently manifested itself in the wake of great disasters. + +A change in the ecclesiastical affairs of Cuba caused considerable +commotion during the administration of Governor Ledesma. Bishop Saenz de +Manosca was promoted to the bishopric of Guatemala. The Trinitarian (in +Mexico a member of a society hired to carry the corpse in the funeral +procession) who had temporarily succeeded him was shortly after +appointed Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo. Thus the diocese came under the wise +spiritual guidance of the Canon of Avila, D. Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon, +who was not only a learned theologian of great reputation, but a priest +of uncompromising moral austerity. He devoted himself with great ardor +to reforming the church in the West Indies. On a single visit to Florida +he was reported to have made as many as four thousand converts. On his +return to Cuba he inaugurated a reign of unwonted severity. He had been +deeply shocked by the levity and frivolity of his diocesans; he had +learned that even ordained priests and personages in high official +positions were in the habit of attending public balls and masquerades, +the latter especially offering opportunity to indulge in polite +intrigues and adventures of a dubious nature. He justly opined that men +in clerical garb and those in responsible government offices lowered +their dignity and abused the trust reposed in them by participating in +such entertainments. He prohibited his diocesans under threat of +excommunication to attend such amusements and by this rigorous +restriction of the gayeties in which the people had been accustomed to +indulge, made not a few enemies. When he died on the sixteenth of March, +1676, public rumor attributed his death to poison administered by some +person in revenge for his interference with the social life of his +diocese. + +Spain was at this period at the lowest ebb of her power. Financially she +was on the brink of bankruptcy. Her commerce was paralyzed by stupid +laws. The scandalous conduct of her officials had sadly lowered her +prestige. Nature herself seemed to conspire against the once so powerful +empire. Storms and inundations had swept over the country and ravaged +the land, until its very soil had become unproductive. Tempests along +her shores had destroyed even the ships lying in port. The mentally and +physically feeble monarch, Charles II., was a helpless puppet in the +hands of his favorites. A believer in witchcraft, astrology and the +black arts and devoted to superstitious practices, he left the affairs +of state to his prime ministers who conducted them with varying ability. + +When Ledesma's governorship terminated on the thirty-first of August, +1680, there was appointed in his place D. Alonso de Campos Espinosa. But +as Valdes and other authorities on Cuban history have nothing to record +about his official career, it must have been only provisional, and was +certainly very brief. For in September of that year the Field Marshal D. +Jose Fernandez de Cordova Ponce de Leon took charge of the office. +Governor Cordova proved to be a very conscientious and energetic +functionary and distinguished himself first by the vigor and +perseverance with which he pushed work on the fortifications of Havana. +He also showed his ability in fighting the pirate scourge. The +filibusters had begun to organize bases of operation on the islands of +Signale and Lucayas, similar to those of Tortuga. He sent against them +an expedition headed by the captains Acosta and Urubarru, who succeeded +in destroying the outlaw colonies in the name of the king and took a +great number of prisoners. The chief event of Governor Cordova's +administration was an encounter which the coast guard Galliot of the +port Virgen del Rosario y Santa Jose had with a host of French invaders. +The governor and organized forces of patriotic citizens so ably seconded +the guard in the defense of the place that the enemy was defeated. + +Governor Cordova made many enemies by his vigorous persecution of the +smugglers who had greatly increased in number and by their clandestine +operations were interfering with and discrediting the legitimate trade +of the island. They had become such a power that they had the audacity +to bring denunciations and accusations against the governor before the +court, which, however, set these charges aside and approved all of +Cordova's measures directed against them. He also had grave difficulties +with the commissary of the Santo Officio, D. Jose Garaondo. They were +not yet settled, when Governor Cordova suddenly died on the second of +June, 1685. There were rumors afloat that he, too, like Bishop Calderon, +had been poisoned by his enemies. During the interim between his death +and the arrival from Spain of his successor, the affairs of the island +were administered by D. Antonio Manuel de Murgina y Meņa and Captain D. +Andres de Munive, who shared between them the political and military +authority. + +The newly appointed governor of Cuba was the general of artillery, D. +Diego de Viana y Hinojosa. When he arrived in Havana in November, 1687, +he brought with him the first copies of the "Codigo e Recopilacion de +India," as the statutes or laws of the West Indies were called. They +were in force by royal decree, although they were in reality only a +confirmation of the famous Ordinances of 1542. They were distinguished +by a spirit of rectitude and impartiality and were particularly +commendable for their justice towards the native Indians, who were +exempted from all servitude and were accorded equal rights with the +Spaniards. Unfortunately these laws suffered from one serious defect: +they were framed so as to apply to all dominions of Spanish America and +did not take into account the indisputable fact that laws applicable to +and beneficent in Peru, might be prejudicial in Mexico and Cuba. This +did not, however, diminish in the least the ethical significance and +humanitarian value of this codex of some four hundred laws, decrees and +mandates; they gave proof of the admirable sentiment of the mother +country towards her colonies. + +Among the functionaries who arrived from Spain at the same time as +Governor Viana, were a new Auditor, D. Manuel de Roa, and a new bishop, +D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. This noted ecclesiastic was famous in +Spain not only for his sterling character as a man, but also for his +extraordinary gifts as an orator. On his succession to the episcopate a +spirit of altruism seemed to awaken in the population and find fruition +in various works of charity. Bishop Compostela was conspicuous in these +organizations and in every possible way encouraged his diocesans in +contributing to and actively participating in such works. He founded +many parishes and in Havana organized the seminary of San Ambrosio, the +academy for young ladies called San Francisco de Sala, and the hospital +for convalescents of Bolen. During the fifteen years of his episcopate +Bishop Compostela accomplished what none of his predecessors had +succeeded in doing. He really raised the moral standard of the diocese, +and he attained that end more by his own noble example, than by his +eloquent sermons on moral issues. He was a gentleman of distinguished +manners, who treated all that came in contact with him with the utmost +courtesy. He lived very modestly and was known always to travel on foot. +He devoted his income to alms freely dispensed to all the needy, and by +his numerous works of beneficence built for himself an imperishable +monument in the memory of the grateful population. + +Governor Viana's administration was filled with what at first appeared a +petty local squabble, but later developed into a serious conflict. +Harassed by pirates, the town of San Juan de los Remedios del Cayo had +in the year 1684 obtained permission to remove to another place, +sufficiently distant from the coast to insure the safety of the +inhabitants. The permission arrived at a time when conditions seemed to +have improved and the majority of the population was satisfied to remain +where they were. The parish priest, however, had favored and decided +upon removal to a place called Cupey, and Governor Viana approved of +this choice. When the residents began to discuss the problem of the new +location, it was found that the greater number was of the opinion that +the cattle farms known as Santa Clara offered a more convenient site, +and the governor and bishop were won over to this view and agreed. As +head of the town was appointed the Alcalde Manuel Rodriguez de Arziniega +and as its spiritual adviser was chosen the Cura Gonzales. It so +happened that neither of the two favored the place that had been +selected. The Alcalde and his adherents wanted to settle at Sabana +Largo, near the hacienda of Santa Clara. The priest preferred the place +called El Guanal, in the body of that farm. To adjust the difference the +governor and the bishop chose two men, D. Christobal de Fromesta, Cura +and Vicar of Sancti Spiritu, and the Contador D. Diego de Penalver, who +were both residents of that town. It is characteristic of the manner in +which municipal and other public business of importance was then +conducted, that the two men deliberated without result until the year +1689, when the administration of Governor Viana came to an end. + +Of Governor Viana's share in furthering the building of fortifications +an inscription in the ravelin of the gate of Tierra bears proof. It +reads: + + Reynando La Magestad Catolica De Carlos II. Rey de Las Espanas Y + Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General De Esta Ciudad E Isla de Cuba + D. Diego Antonio De Viana Hinojosa, Caballero del Orden De + Santiago, Veinte Y Cuatro Perpetuo De La Ciudad de Granada, Y + General De La Artilleria Del Reinado de Sevilla, Se Acabo Esta + Puerta Con Su Puente Levandizo, y Su Media Luna, etc. Ano de 1688. + + (In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Charles II. King of Spain, + the resident governor and captain-general of this city and island + of Cuba was D. Diego Antonio de Viana Hinojosa, Cavalier of the + Order of Santiago, the twenty-fourth Perpetuo of the city of + Granada, and the General of Artillery of the ruler of Sevilla, this + gate with its drawbridge and its ravelins was finished. In the year + 1688.) + +The affair of El Cayo continued to absorb the attention of the +government during the administration of D. Severino de Manzaņeda y +Salines. This new governor entered upon the functions of his office on +the thirtieth of October, 1689, and remained until the second of +October, 1695. According to the decision which the court rendered after +endless discussion the inhabitants of El Cayo were to move to Santa +Clara. From the oldest Alcaldes and Magistrates of both towns two men +were chosen with orders to superintend the removal: the Cabilde Captain +Luis Perez de Morales and Ensign Gaspar Rodriguez. They proceeded to el +Cayo and issued a proclamation which ordered the residents to move +within a fortnight. When the term expired, and the order had not been +complied with, they went to the church, accompanied by forty men armed +with machetes, lances, battle-axes and guns, and began to harangue the +people. When this had no immediate visible effect, they started to +destroy house upon house, applying either the torch or the sword. They +spared only the church and the residence of the prefect of the new town. + +After committing these unwarranted ruthless outrages they forbade any +one under severe penalty to attempt to rebuilt his house; nor was any +one allowed to admit a homeless neighbor to his hacienda or offer him a +roof. Exposed to the inclemency of the weather, left without shelter or +provisions, the temper of the inhabitants was roused, but they were too +bewildered by the cruel injustice to see their way to demand redress of +their wrongs. A man from the pueblo San Jacinto de Royas, deeply +resenting the heinous crime, resolved not to remain passive. He made his +way to the bishop and the governor, gave them a vivid account of what +had occurred, and lodged a complaint in the name of the poor victims. +Both Bishop Compostela and Governor Manzaņedas readily yielded to his +arguments, but it does not appear from the records of the time that the +men who had so flagrantly abused their power were punished. The +governor, probably from fear of stirring up dissatisfaction with his +administration and ultimately losing his position, contented himself by +adjusting the differences between the two parties. He ordered the people +of both towns to live together until the king had handed down his +decision. When His Majesty finally approved of the action taken, the +feelings of both parties were pacified and the new town thus founded +became known as Villa Clara. + +During the administration of Governor Manzaņedas the city of Matanzas +was founded. According to some authorities the name is derived from the +Spanish _matanza_, which means slaughter or killing and it was supposed +to refer to the extermination of the Indians who had been the native +owners of that territory. Others derive the term from a corruption of +the word _martizaban_, which the Indians had adopted from the Castilian +when they wailed during the suffering inflicted upon them. Still others +try to establish a certain connection between that name and the +following story of Indian perfidy. It seems that some Spaniards had +engaged a number of Indians to carry them in their canoes from one end +of the bay to another. When they reached the middle of the bay, the +Indians left the boats, and hitting the Spaniards on the head with the +oars, tried to drown them, while they took to the mountains. Seven of +the victims succeeded in escaping from death by swimming to the shore; +but there they were caught by other natives, taken to the nearest pueblo +and hanged. One of them however, managed to get away and reach another +pueblo, whose cacique gave him shelter until the arrival of a Spanish +rescuing force under Narvaez. The cacique, preceded by three hundred men +carrying gifts, went to receive the party from Havana, leading the +prisoner by the hand. In addressing Narvaez and P. Casas, who were the +leaders, he told them that he had treated the man as if he had been his +own son, that he had guarded and protected him for three years and had +refused the strenuous demand of the other caciques to deliver him to +them, knowing that they would have killed him. + +Whatever the origin of its name may be, Matanzas eventually lived down +its sinister significance. The bay of Matanzas with the canal opening +into it, had long been considered a point of great importance. For it +was patent that, if the British set out to capture it and succeeded in +establishing themselves there, the danger to Spanish commerce and +especially to that of Havana would be very grave. A village had existed +there from the time of the Spanish conquest; it had grown in population +and the surrounding land was well cultivated. Governor Manzaņedas +decided at once to begin to fortify the bay. He re-organized the +administration of the place and raised it to the rank of a city, which +the authorities named after San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas. + +The solemn ceremonies of its foundation took place on the tenth of +October, 1693, in the presence of Governor Manzaņedas and many other +prominent citizens and high officials of the island. After an +examination of the previously drafted plan a Plaza des Armas, or +military parade-ground was the first to be decided upon; then the +principal streets of the city were traced. Two days later an altar and a +cross were raised on the square destined for the church, and Bishop D. +Diego Evelino de Compostela blessed the spot, said mass over it and with +the aid of Governor Manzaņedas laid the first stone of the temple which +was to have for its patron saint San Carlos Borromeo. On the following +day the governor went to Punta Gorda on the north side of the bay and +selected a place for the fort which was to be built. When the structure +was completed it was in his honor given the name San Severino. The +industry of the residents, the fertility of the soil and the unusually +favorable location of the port made the small town grow within a few +years into one of the most important cities of the island. Subsequently +Matanzas developed to such size and prominence that it is to-day ranking +next to Havana both in population and in commerce. + +The administration of Manzaņedas was toward the end disturbed by the +scandalous dispute between the governor Villalobas and the Licentiate +Roa, Lieutenant Auditor of the Royal Audiencia (a court of appeals in +the West Indies). The affair created a great deal of sensation at the +time, because it threatened to divide the population into hostile +factions. Villalobas was charged with having allowed his adherents to +call themselves Villalobistas, in opposition to those of Lieutenant Roa, +who promptly assumed the name Roistas. Controversies and quarrels arose +and grew to such alarming proportions that civil war seemed imminent. +The two rivals fought each other mercilessly, until Roa fled to Madrid, +where he died in exile. Villalobas justly feared that the report of +these disturbances would damage his reputation at the court of Madrid +and was taken dangerously sick. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo which had +instituted an inquiry into the matter discharged Villalobas from his +office. An Oidor (hearer or judge) of the Audiencia, D. Diego Antonio +Oviedo y Banos was appointed to hear the arguments of the case. But +Villalobas, a broken old man, was so grieved by the disgrace that he +survived the ordeal only a few days. The administration of Governor +Manzaņedas came to an end in the year 1695 when he was appointed to the +presidency of Santo Domingo. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +With the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty +upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his +predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had +become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these +marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession +and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most +harassing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had +signed a will in favor of the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, who +succeeded him as Philip V., but the Austrian archduke Charles contested +this succession, until the death of his brother. Joseph called him to +the throne of Austria and forced him to relinquish his claim to that of +Spain. The interval, however, was spent in what is known as the War of +the Austrian Succession which was far more than a war of succession to +the Spanish throne, but one which involved a European problem. + +The hostility between England and France was known to be acute; the +designs of Austria upon Spain were also known to be the source of +incipient conflicts. In order to curb the insatiable ambition of Louis +XIV., England had entered into an alliance with Austria and Holland. The +unexpected ascension of the archduke Charles to the throne of Austria +suddenly changed the political aspect of the time for England. Louis +XIV. and Philip V. had agreed that in order to secure the balance of +European power the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. +Spain, however, was bound in the future to follow the trend of French +politics. It renounced her rights to the Netherlands, which were the +only barrier against invasions of France on the continent, and left +England in possession of Gibraltar. As this was its most important +fortress, Gibraltar was ever to be a thorn in the flesh of Spain. + +The treaty of Utrecht, which was signed in the year 1713, seemed by its +reapportionment of the countries and the readjustment of the map of +Europe to have temporarily assured peace. But the price paid for this +peace by Spain was hardly to be estimated in currency. As Guiteras +justly remarks, Philip V. found Spain prostrate from the impudent +efforts of the Austrian dynasty to preserve her predominance among the +European nations. The wars waged during the reigns of his predecessors +had drained the coffers of Spain and alarmingly decreased her +population. The powerful kingdom which a century before had dared to +threaten the independence of England and had enjoyed prosperity and +opulence, had become almost tributary to France and England. The treaty +of Utrecht reduced Spain to her peninsular provinces and her overseas +colonies. Though united with them by the ties of racial origin, religion +and tradition, it was not an easy task to defend them against the +inimical designs of powers that planned to dominate the seas and usurp +the place which Spain had won for herself. + +Philip V. realized that the condition in which Spain had been left at +the end of the wars that preceded his reign made it incumbent upon him +to maintain peace and to further the country's recovery from a century +and a half of constant warfare. He was inspired by the example of France +under Colbert and Richelieu and his aim was by applying to Spain the +lessons France had learned during the leadership of those men, to bring +about a revival of Spain's previous greatness. He aspired to make Spain +internally stronger than she had ever been, to enable her to humble +England and to wrest from that great rival her ever increasing power in +America. His task was extremely difficult, for it really meant a +thorough reconstruction of the entire government. He found Spain in such +a state of stagnation that it required extraordinary efforts to rouse +in the country only a spark of the old spirit. He was the first +sovereign since Philip II. who had a strong will and a strong +personality and made his absolute power felt in every branch of the +government. He had to create a new navy; he had to organize and train a +new army; he had to reform the legislation, the finances, even the +police of the country. So poor was Spain at that time in men of strong +character and executive power, that he was obliged to employ foreigners +in some of the most important places in the army and navy as well as in +the council chamber. + +Although during the latter half of his reign of forty six years his +initiative and energy were paralyzed and he lapsed into the passive +indifference which had characterized the attitude of some of his +predecessors, his innovations and reforms were the means of stimulating +inquiry into some of the evils, political and social, that Spain had +suffered from. He ushered in a new life, which slowly penetrated to +every corner of the kingdom and brought it into closer contact with the +outside world for which it had hitherto had a curious contempt. However +slow was the work of regeneration which he had inaugurated, it was sure +to benefit the next generation which could never return to the old order +of things. + +The influence of this new life in the mother country was, of course, +still slower in manifesting itself in her colonies. Cuba had still to +rely upon her own resources, both in inaugurating internal improvements +and in combatting external dangers. As both Great Britain and France +were eagerly pursuing their plans to extend their colonial power in +America, conflicts between these powers and the Spanish possessions in +America were inevitable. Towards the end of the seventeenth century +attempts to establish direct maritime intercourse between France and the +Mississippi, and to colonize the southwest of the continent; which was +under the patronage of Louis XIV. created no little anxiety in the old +Spanish settlements of Florida and eventually had to lead to armed +conflicts in which the West Indies, and especially Havana, as the +metropolis of the Spanish island colonies, became involved. + +As early as the year 1693 D. Andres de Pes had settled in Pensacola and +three years later three hundred Spaniards from Vera Cruz and other parts +had under the leadership of D. Andres d'Arriola taken formal possession +of the harbor. Henceforth no foreign ship could enter without being +challenged. This the valiant commander of the French expedition, +d'Iberville, the pioneer founder of Louisiana, was to experience. He had +sailed in October, 1698, with a company of Marines and some two hundred +colonists, among them women and children. At Santo Domingo he took on +board a seasoned veteran of the golden age of piracy, a man who in 1683 +had made a fortune of eight million pesos by the capture of Vera Cruz, +had been an associate of M. de Grammont, Lolonois, Morgan and other +notables of the Brotherhood of the Coast, and as such was familiar with +every spot along the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of New Spain; it was +Captain Laurent Grave or Graff, linguist, sailor and intrepid fighter. +They arrived at the island St. Rose in January, 1699, cast anchor and +applied for permission to enter the harbor of Pensacola. This being +refused they sailed westward and settled in the country west of the +Perdido River, which was later recognized by King Philip V., who was +bent upon a conciliatory policy, as the boundary between Louisiana and +Florida. + +From that time, however, Pensacola was to know no peace, for the French +cast ever a covetous eye upon that Spanish settlement. Nor did the +authorities of Pensacola hesitate to harass the settlers to the west, +resenting the appearance of any rival neighbor. Governor Ravolli made an +expedition in 1700 against the French who had settled on Ship Island, +but he himself was soon to experience that he was being surrounded by +neighbors determined to show their hostility towards Spain by open or +secret operations against the Spanish settlement in Florida. Governor +James Moore of South Carolina, which bordered on Spanish Florida, +undertook in the year 1702 an expedition against the old Spanish town of +St. Augustine, in the defense of which a Cuban force was eventually to +take part. The British succeeded in making their entry into the town and +ravaging it; but they could not reduce the fort, which the garrison +defended with desperate determination. The British sent to Jamaica for +some heavy artillery. But in the meantime the Spanish viceroy had been +informed of the attack and sent two war ships for the relief of the +town. The governor of Cuba, too, dispatched five vessels with troops of +infantry and militia, which sailed from the port of Havana under the +command of Captain D. Esteban de Beroa, a Havanese of great enterprise +and valor. When the Spanish fleet arrived near the harbor, Moore with +his South Carolinians made a hasty retreat by land, leaving behind his +vessels and stores of ammunition. The help which D. Esteban had lent the +garrison of St. Augustine in this critical moment was highly appreciated +by the King of Spain, who took notice of this valuable service in a +cedula addressed to the Captain General of the island in 1703, in which +he especially lauded the exploits of D. Esteban. + +The administration of D. Diego de Cordova Lazo de Vega, Knight of the +military order of Santiago and General of the Galleons, was profoundly +affected by the political unrest of Europe, due to the controversies +about the succession and by the conflicts with the French and the +British in the newly settled continent, which began to darken the future +of the Spanish possessions. Cordova had entered upon his office on the +third of October, 1695, and was reported to have bought the governorship +for fourteen thousand dollars. Some very important internal improvements +were made during his time of office. The territory from the gateway of +la Punta to la Tanaza and the hospital of San Francisco de Paula was +organized into districts. He was like some of his predecessors much +concerned with the religious life of the island and encouraged the +building of churches and convents. One of the most important convents +founded at this time was the third convent of the barefoot Carmelites, +dedicated to Saint Teresa. + +Realizing the need of greater garrisons for the protection of the people +of Cuba from invasions, whether by foreign powers or by corsairs, the +Spanish government sent over twelve companies of militia. So impressed +was the governor with their general condition and their discipline, that +he sent the king a special message referring to them. But he was too +prudent to rest satisfied with this help from the government overseas; +he raised and organized four more companies of infantry and cavalry, +recruited from the population of Cuba itself, and this placed the island +in a better state of defense than it had ever been before. He also +granted a number of merchant mariners privateering privileges, which +enabled them to cruise about and hunt down foreign pirates and +smugglers. These men, among whom the Regidor of Trinidad, Juan Vasquez, +distinguished himself by his valor, made numerous excursions in the +neighborhood, retaliating upon the French colonies for the outrages of +French corsairs, by invading them and capturing some of their vessels, +not excepting the crew, and by carrying off their cattle. Cordova was +also instrumental in promoting the tobacco culture of the island, by +encouraging the employment of new mechanical contrivances. + +When on the thirtieth of November, 1700, King Charles II. expired in +Madrid, and was followed by Philip V., the first Spanish sovereign of +the house of Bourbon, the Spanish Colonies in America paid no heed to +the war of the succession which was carried on between King Philip and +the Archduke of Austria. Without hesitation they recognized the former +as their ruler and thanks to the wholesome influence exerted upon the +population by Governor Cordova and the estimable Bishop Compostela, King +Philip was formally and peacefully proclaimed in Cuba. Cordova's +governorship was so highly appreciated by the royal government in Spain +that he received for his services the title of Marquis de Valdo and was +soon after promoted to the presidency of Panama. But he later returned +to Spain and died in Madrid as Counsellor of State in the year 1720. + +After the departure of Cordova in September, 1702, the government of the +island was for a number of years once more of a rather interimistic +nature, which greatly hampered the efforts of the government to insure +the safety of the coasts against invaders. The British, being since the +accession of Philip V. to the Spanish throne no longer the allies of +Spain as they had been during the validity of the "American Treaty," +were now her enemies, and once more began to harass the Spanish colonies +by encouraging the pirates to interfere with their traffic. The squadron +of three vessels which France sent over to patrol the ocean in the +vicinity of the Antilles, did not seem to intimidate the lawless +elements working more or less directly under orders of and agreements +with the British. + +The administration of Cordova's successor, D. Pedro Benitez de Lugo, +Maestro de Campo and former Counsellor to the Elector of Bavaria, began +on the twentieth of September, 1702, and ended with his death only three +months later, on the fourth of December. But in that brief period +occurred the invasion of the island of Trinidad by the British pirate +Grant, who had under him a force of three hundred men and succeeded in +thoroughly terrorizing the people. + +After the death of D. Benitez, the provisional government was entrusted +to two Habaneros, D. Luis Chacon, Castellan of the Morro, and D. Nicolas +Chirmo Vandeval. They seem to have governed with commendable prudence. +Determined to defend the island against the corsairs which renewed their +activity, the Cuban authorities retaliated by sending out corsairs of +their own. Thus D. Juan Baton de Chavez, governor of Santiago de Cuba, +started from that city in 1704 with a force of two hundred and fifty men +and invaded the islands of New Providence and Siguatey. He destroyed +their fortifications, sacked the houses, took one hundred prisoners and +returned with twenty-two cannon and a large quantity of ammunition and +arms. The town of Santiago having generously contributed to the success +of this enterprise both with volunteers and with material resources, the +king rewarded the city with the title "muy noble y muy leal" (very noble +and very loyal). In the same year there died in Havana the venerable and +much beloved Bishop, D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. In fifteen years of +faithful service he had succeeded in stimulating the religious life of +the diocese by the building of churches, especially those in the plains, +where tobacco was raised and thousands of laborers lived with their +families, and in raising the moral standard of Cuban society. + +The spirit of animosity between France and England on the one hand, and +Spain and England on the other, gave birth to two schemes to attack +Charleston in the year 1706. The valiant Canadian pioneer d'Iberville +was on the way with a respectable force. He reached Santo Domingo, where +he was reenforced by Spanish troops, and set sail for the coast of South +Carolina. He was stricken with yellow fever and the undertaking had to +be abandoned. At the same time the Spanish authorities in the West +Indies, having decided upon an aggressive policy towards the British in +America, planned retaliation for some of the wrongs suffered in recent +years. The unwarranted attack of Governor James Morgan of South Carolina +upon the old Spanish town of St. Augustine, only four years before, was +not forgotten and offered a welcome pretext to launch an offensive +movement. Accordingly an expedition was fitted out in Havana, mostly of +French privateers, but also some Cuban forces and on the way was joined +by more from St. Augustine. The squadron arrived at Sullivan's Island +off Charleston on Saturday afternoon in August of that year. The +militia of the city was rapidly mobilized but open combat did not begin +until the following Wednesday, when the French commander demanded the +surrender of the city in the name of Louis XIV. The South Carolinians +replied by a violent attack, which drove a large number of the French +that had landed into the water. The fight was renewed when more ships of +the expedition came up, and though the attack was repulsed and there was +considerable loss of life, the Cuban force that had participated, +returned with considerable booty. + +The new governor who entered upon his office May 13, 1706, was Field +Marshal D. Pedro Alvarez de Villarin, a native of Asturia, gentilhombre +(a nobleman-attendant of the young princes of Spain and counsellor of +the Elector of Bavaria). But his reign was one of the shortest in Cuban +history. He died on the eighth of July, and the former provisional +governors, D. Luis Chacon and D. Nicolas Chirmo Vandeval, once more +administered their duties, political and military. British warships were +haunting the coasts of the island and kept the authorities and the +residents in a perpetual state of suspense. But the French were now the +allies of the Spaniards and their able admiral Chavagnac came to the +rescue of Cuba. The unrest due to the disputed Spanish succession +encouraged the defiant attitude of the British. In the year 1707 a +British armada appeared on the coast for the purpose of engaging in +propaganda against Philip V. and winning over the population to the +support of the Austrian Archduke's claims. They flooded the island with +grandiloquent proclamations and tried to bribe the people by making the +most alluring promises. But D. Luis Chacon was not the man to betray the +king to whom the island had sworn allegiance at his accession in 1700. +He so effectively replied with cannons that the conspirators withdrew. + +The next duly appointed governor of Cuba and the thirty-second in order +was Colonel D. Laureano de Torres Ayala, a native of Havana, Knight of +the Order of Santiago and former Governor of Florida. He entered upon +his office on the eighteenth of January, 1708. His attention was at once +directed to an economic problem of great importance. The landowner Orri, +an official in the service of Spain, had conceived the project to sell +the tobacco on the island for the government. This measure was opposed +by the speculators in tobacco, who sold it without custom duties to the +Peninsula and other parts of America. But Governor Torres was so +impressed with the advantage which would accrue from the new arrangement +to the government of Spain, that he did not rest until the measure was +carried and enforced. The Exchequer of Spain was henceforth enabled to +purchase almost the entire tobacco crop and to make enormous profits +thereby, which the coffers of the kingdom, depleted by the many wars of +the past century, sorely needed. For the successful negotiation of this +matter, which created the government's tobacco monopoly, the governor +was rewarded with the title Marquis de Casa-Torres. + +Governor Torres like his predecessors was much concerned with the safety +of the island, and accordingly resumed work on the Havana forts. He +added to the fortifications by having the bulwark halfway between la +Punta and la Fuerza built; it was considered of great importance at that +time, but was later demolished, when Governor Don Dionisos Martinez +proceeded with the wall of la Punta in the same direction. The Marquis +de Casa-Torres had grave disputes with the Lieutenant-Auditor Don Jose +Fernandez de Cordova, which caused endless discussion, not only among +the officials of the island, but also in the population. The Court was +finally compelled to submit the controversy to the Oidor D. Pablo +Cavera, who came over from Spain to begin an investigation. Governor +Torres was temporarily suspended. But the Oidor Cavera died while the +inquiry into the differences between the two men was in progress. Hence +Torres and the lieutenant-auditor were obliged to sail for Spain and +explain their grievances. + +The administration of Governor Torres was a period of comparative peace. +The enemies of Spain that were ever waiting for an opportunity to do +something that might weaken her power in America and deprive her of some +of her American possessions had not molested Cuba and the governor was +able to devote his energies to internal improvements and even to aid the +new bishop in his many works for the welfare of the diocese. This worthy +successor of the unforgettable Bishop Compostela was D. Jeronimo Valdes, +formerly Bishop of Porto Rico, provincial of the order of St. Basil and +professor of Alcala. He had entered upon his duties on the thirteenth of +May, 1706, and at once proved that he, too, was imbued with that noble +disinterestedness which characterized his predecessor. He insisted upon +strict observance of the doctrines and customs of the church and founded +many new parishes. He enlarged the Belen convent by adding to the +building a wing which was to be used as hospital for convalescents. He +also founded the Casa de Beneficiencia, a Foundlings' Home, investing in +it eleven thousand pesos of his private fortune. Another charitable +institution which he called into being was a home for the poor that were +reduced to beggary. He also succeeded in having a building finished, +which was destined to be a hospital for lepers. In all these enterprises +for the public welfare he was seconded by the Marquis de Casa-Torres. +The island increased in population during this time and among the towns +founded was Bejucal. + +The year 1709 is also memorable for an important measure which was to +safeguard the public health of the island. As early as the year 1634 a +so-called Protomedicato had been created by a certain Nuņez, a graduate +of the university of Seville. It was an institution intended to check +the unlawful practice of medicine by ignorant and inexperienced persons +or by downright quacks. For some years Dr. Don Francisco Teneza, +assisted by a duly appointed clerk, who performed the functions of a +notary, embodied in his person the authority of a Protomedico, examining +surgeons, druggists and barbers, who at that time were performing dental +and minor surgical operations. But not until the beginning of the +eighteenth century was the Protomedicato completely organized for +efficient work. It was a college or tribunal composed of physicians duly +licensed by royal patent, who were charged with examining and issuing +licenses to students of medicine. In this way the government hoped to +combat the evil of unlawful medical practice by unknown and incapable +individuals, which had long been a grave menace to the public health. +The king endowed the Protomedicato of Cuba with the same prerogatives +and the same jurisdiction as were enjoyed by the corresponding +institutions of Lima and Mexico. + +Upon the departure of the Marquis de Casa-Torres the affairs of the +island were once more in the hands of a provisional government. The +ayuntamento (municipal government) entrusted D. Luis Chacon with the +military governorship and in default of an auditor the political was +given to two alcaldes, D. Augustin de Arriola and D. Pedro Hobruitinier. +But by royal order of the year 1712 D. Luis Chacon resumed the superior +authority, both civil and military. At the end of the year, when the +re-election of the alcaldes took place, violent disputes arose, which +necessitated the intervention of Chacon and the Bishop Valdes. The court +was called to inquire into the matter and settled the quarrel which had +threatened to disturb the peace of the community. + +In the year 1712 the official circles of Cuba were greatly agitated by a +sensational occurrence. It was the affair between the acting governor of +Cuba, Don Luis Sanudo, and the royal Ensign, who was also Alcalde of +Bayamo. The governor had ordered the Ensign to imprison two Indian +chiefs who were accused of theft, but the Ensign, interpreting +differently a certain royal decree and the municipal ordinances, made no +move to obey the command. Governor Sanudo accordingly betook himself to +Bayamo, and as the Ensign failed to present himself, went to his house. +There he upbraided him, and as was reported by some at the time, slapped +his face. Boiling with wrath at this insult and outrage, the Ensign +killed him on the spot. The court before which he was tried condemned +him to death and ordered his home to be razed. The office was for the +time abolished, but later re-established. + +The Casa-Torres affair had been in the meantime thoroughly aired before +the Court of Spain and the king had found the charges against the +Marquis unfounded. So he restored him to office on the fifth of July, +1712, and in February of the following year he re-entered upon his +duties as Captain-General of Cuba. During the three years of this his +second term, Governor Torres actively promoted the armament of corsairs +which were sent out to counteract the manoeuvres of the enemy pirates +cruising along the Spanish-American coasts. Among the men entrusted with +this venturesome task one especially distinguished himself by his +prowess: Don Juan del Hoye Solorzano. He was later appointed governor of +Santiago de Cuba. About the same time Spain suffered the loss of a rich +fleet, which, sailing from Vera Cruz under command of General Ubilla, +with port at Habana, was on its way to the mother country. It was +wrecked at el Palmar de Aiz, the place where the New Canal of Bahama was +located. To the energetic efforts of the Marquis de Casa-Torres, who at +once ordered divers to go to work, was due the recovery of more than +four million pesos and some valuable merchandise. + +The thirty-third governor duly appointed by decree of the Spanish court, +dated December 15, 1715, was the Field-marshal Don Vicente Raja. He was +inaugurated May 26, 1716, and although in office little more than a year +succeeded in completely reorganizing the tobacco industry of the +island. He was accompanied on his arrival from Spain by a commission of +financial and industrial experts; the director of the bank of Spain, D. +Salvador Olivares, the Visitador, a judge charged with conducting +inquiries, D. Diego Daza, and the licentiate D. Pedro Morales, the chief +of the revenue department. The historian Alcazar gives a clear account +of the proceeding of this commission and the disturbances they created. +He relates that the success of the first tobacco sales in the Peninsula +had suggested the establishment of a factory in Seville. But Orri, the +great landowner and planter, knew that the three million pounds of +tobacco produced by Cuba would not suffice for consumption, and not +wanting to have recourse to the inferior leaf produced in Brazil and +Venezuela, decided to monopolize the tobacco industry of Spain. To +realize this plan he proposed to increase the production of tobacco in +Cuba by extending its cultivation over the whole island and guaranteeing +the laborers full value of their harvest, but insisting that the product +be submitted for examination to the committee presided over by Olivares. + +This proposition, however just it seemed, produced serious disturbances. +The commission favoring the government monopoly had ordered by decree on +April 17, 1717, that there should be established in Havana a general +agency for the purchase of tobacco with branch offices in Trinidad, +Santiago and Bayamo. This decree in reality was of great advantage to +the laborers who were thus certain of selling their crops and with +advance payments could extend and improve their sembrados (tobacco +fields). On the other hand it was opposed by the speculators, who had up +to this time lived on the fat commissions which their operations had +brought them. These men spread all sorts of rumors detrimental to the +newly appointed commission and its work among the producers of tobacco. +Deluded by this insidious propaganda, the men rebelled. Five hundred +vegueros or stewards of the tobacco fields armed themselves and captured +Jesus del Monte. Even in the capital there were public demonstrations +against the commission and the municipal authorities so weakly supported +the governor in his defense of the employees of the estance (monopoly) +established by the royal government, that he resigned his office in +favor of the royal tenente Maraveo (according to the historian Valdes he +was expelled) and sailed for Spain in company of D. Olivares. The +earnest exhortations of Bishop Valdes and the archbishop of Santo +Domingo induced the rebels to cease their hostile activities and to +withdraw to their homes and temporarily quiet was restored. + +So much confusion had been created by frequent changes of governorship +and the interim rule of provisional authorities, that the royal +government at Madrid took steps to establish greater stability and +insure an uninterrupted function of the administrative machine of Cuba. +After the affair of Casa-Torres it became imperative to provide for the +cases of absence or suspension from office. A royal decree dated +December, 1715, ordered that in future, whenever the office of the +Governor and Captain-General should become vacant, by default, absence +or sickness, the political and military power should be held by the +Tenente-Rey (or Royal Lieutenant), or in his default by the Castellan +(warden or governor) of el Morro. + +Upon the return of Vicente de Raja to Spain, Lieutenant-Colonel D. Gomez +de Maraveo Ponce de Leon temporarily exercised the functions of +governorship. Cuba was at that time in a peculiar state of political and +social unrest. There were still some demonstrations of the +tobacco-planters going on in different parts of the island. Maraveo, +instead of being upheld in his authority, soon discovered that he was at +the mercy of the magistrates and some of the wealthy citizens who seemed +to back the rebellious elements. In the eastern part of the island the +miners had joined the tobacco-planters in disturbances, intended to +convey to the government their disapproval of its measures. It required +all the persuasive power of Bishop Valdes and other spiritual leaders of +the colony to pacify the turbulent agitation fermenting among the +people. + +The court of Spain realized the seriousness of the situation and was +particularly circumspect in the choice of the new governor. A man was +needed, firm of will, yet possessed of a sense of justice and of tact in +the handling of the two hostile factions. After long and serious +deliberation D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez de la Vega, a native +of Ossuna, Brigadier-General and Knight of the Order of Santiago was +selected. D. Guazo had in his previous official activities proved his +energy and bravery and soon after entering upon his office relieved the +Spanish authorities of their worries concerning the state of affairs in +Cuba. He took charge of his duties on the twenty-third of June, 1718, +and immediately called a meeting of the Ayuntamento, the bishop and +leading prelates. The men who by their participation in the recent +disturbances compromised their reputation were filled with anxious +apprehension. But the king wished to avoid internal unrest and +discontent and had recommended a policy of reconciliation. + +It was an auspicious beginning of D. Guazo's administration when he +announced at this meeting that the King in his clemency would forget the +past occurrences, if the mischief-makers would in future show loyal +obedience to his orders. A proclamation which Governor Guazo issued the +next day informed the people of the whole island that royal pardon had +been granted to the chiefs of the recent mutiny, and quiet and order +were soon restored. The tumultuous manifestations which a few greedy +speculators had deliberately stirred up among the people associated with +tobacco culture, ceased for the time being. He reorganized the +tobacco-factory and reinstalled the former employees. The factory +advanced funds to the vegueros, who, having no other creditors, could +now fix the price and sell the crop themselves. + +But in the year 1721 the vegueros once more revolted; they resented the +dictatorial manner in which the Visitador D. Manuel Leon exercised his +functions as inspector and supervisor. The Bishop and D. Jose Bayona +Chacon who filled the office of provisor (a sort of ecclesiastical +judiciary), managed by earnest exhortations and promise of watching over +their welfare to pacify the insurgents and prevent blood-shed, a service +for which Bayona was later rewarded by the rank and title of a count. +But the arguments of the two prelates had no effect upon the Visitador +who continued his unwarranted severity. The result was a revolt in 1723 +of the vegueros of San Miguel, Guanabacoa and Jesus del Monte, who +numbered five hundred men with arms and horses. They proceeded to +destroy the tobacco fields of the cultivators of Santiago and Bejucal +who had agreed to sell their tobacco at the price proposed by the +Visitador. Governor Guazo was obliged to send a company of mounted +soldiers under the command of D. Ignacio Barrutia to parley with the +rebels. But at the suggestion of submission they replied with +musket-shot and Barrutia was forced to fire upon them. Several were +killed and wounded, and twelve were taken prisoners. These unfortunates +were hanged at Jesus del Monte on that same day. + +As soon as this matter was disposed of, Governor Guazo directed his +attention to the military affairs of the island. Florida had at this +time been annexed to the government of Cuba and Guazo reorganized the +army of both colonies, and called into being a number of new militia +companies in different parts of the island. He replaced the old pike or +lance and the antiquated musket or blunderbus by the bayonet and rifle. +The garrison of the capital was raised to eight hundred and sixty-five +men, all properly armed and equipped. At the same time the salaries in +the army were increased. The soldiers received eleven pesos a month, the +salaries of the Teniente de Rey--the King's Lieutenant--and of the +governors of el Morro and la Punta were raised and the Captain-General +was paid ten thousand pesos a year. An important measure for the +promotion of West Indian commerce was inaugurated by Patino, the +Minister of the Treasury, who, in order to increase the imports of goods +from Spain, conceded to the merchants the same rights as those given to +the merchants of Seville and Cadiz. + +Guazo had warned British privateers to desist from raids upon the +Spanish possessions and in the year 1719 had to address the same warning +to the French. For the rupture of diplomatic relations between France +and Spain had once more increased the insecurity of the Spanish-American +coasts. The privateers fitted out by the Cuban government and authorized +to retaliate upon the French and British vessels they would meet, were +under the command of men of tried valor, like Gonzalez, Mendreta, +Cornego and others. They succeeded in capturing a number of bilanders +(small one-mast vessels), which carried cargoes of over one hundred +thousand pesos in value. On one of these expeditions the soldiers and +sailors attempted to revolt against the customary discipline, but Count +Bayona suppressed the incipient mutiny before it had the time to +develop. + +As soon as war had been declared between France and Spain the promoters +of the French colonization schemes that had modestly begun to +materialize along southern coast of the American continent, embraced +this opportunity to attack the Spanish settlements in Florida. On the +fourteenth of May, 1718, Bienville, the brother and successor of the +famous d'Iberville, arrived at Pensacola and in the name of the French +king demanded the capitulation of the town. Unprepared for such an +eventuality and unable to resist superior forces, D. Juan Pedro +Metamores, the governor of Pensacola, surrendered and the garrison left +with all honors of war. They were transported in French vessels to +Havana. But already on this involuntary voyage Metamores was considering +measures of retaliation. When the French vessels _Toulouse_ and +_Mareschal de Villars_ reached Cuba and landed the prisoners, they were +seized by the Governor of Havana, who on learning of the disaster at +Pensacola decided upon its recapture. A fleet consisting of one Spanish +warship, nine brigantines and the two French vessels was quickly made +ready and Metamores with his captured troops embarked for Pensacola. On +the sixth of August he entered the harbor with the French vessels flying +the French colors as decoys. The French commander refused to surrender +and a cannonade began. Then the French demanded an armistice which was +followed by the exchange of more shots and finally the garrison of one +hundred men marched out, also with honors of war, under the command of +Chateaugue. They were sent to Havana and were to be transported to +Spain, but in the meantime were imprisoned in Morro castle. Metamores +resumed his governorship of Pensacola. + +But in September Bienville, the brother of Chateaugue, assisted by a +French fleet under Champmeslin, with a large force of Canadians and +Indians, attacked Pensacola once more. Metamores was defeated and with +some of his Spanish troops sent to Havana to be exchanged for the French +prisoners held there since August. The remaining Spaniards were sent to +France as prisoners of war. It seems from the records of the historian +Blanchet that Governor Guazo in the following year made an attempt to +reconquer Pensacola. He sent an expedition of fourteen ships and nine +hundred men under the command of D. Esteban de Berroa, who succeeded in +taking the place. But in the further course of the engagement between +the two forces, the French regained possession and defeated the Cubans, +many of whom were made prisoners and sent to Spain. + +Of Governor Guazo's efforts to improve the fortifications of Havana, an +inscription on the inner side of the gate of Tierra bears witness. It +reads: + + Reynando La Majesdad Catolica del Senor Felipe V. Rey de las + Espanas y Siendo Gobernador de Esta Ciudad, E Isla de Cuba El + Brigadier de los Reales Exercitos D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon + Fernandez de la Vega, Caballero del Orden de Santiago. Ano De 1721. + + In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Philip V. King of the Spains, + and when the Governor of this town and island of Cuba was the + Brigadier of the royal armies D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez + de la Vega, Knight of the Order of Saint James. In the year 1721. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +The wonderful impetus which the discoverers and explorers of Spain gave +to the spirit of adventure by opening to the world the gates of a new +and strange world, promptly began to bear fruit among those nations who +had always been daring navigators. Young men with no ties, either of +family or profession, to hold them, were suddenly fired with the desire +to see the new continent which the genius of Columbus and his associates +had brought within their reach, and set out in quest of what promised to +be a precious new experience. Most of these men were fairly well +educated and sensed the importance of all these enterprises. They set +out as eager observers and they did not fail to record their +observations and impressions in the frank and unadorned manner of +unsophisticated onlookers. Some kept a daily record of their +experiences, others jotted down what seemed to them the most striking +incidents; still others embodied their reflections on what they had seen +and heard in letters that were sent home whenever an occasion presented +itself. + +Out of this great mass of personal records of travel in the New World a +number stand out as deserving of more than passing notice, and though a +careful perusal of these books shows a tendency on the part of some +authors to repeat what they had heard or read in the reports of their +predecessors, there is something worth noting in every individual +volume. Among the writers who were evidently the source from which many +authors drew to corroborate and complete their personal observations is +Tordesillas Herrera, his Spanish Majesty's Chief Chronicler, traces of +whose "Description of the West Indies," which was translated into Dutch, +English, French and other languages are found in many books. The +writings of that worthy prelate and Champion of the Indians, Bartolomeo +de Las Casas, have also been drawn upon by many writers. Almost amusing +in the light of later day events, is a copiously illustrated little book +in which a pious German translator dwells with unctuous +self-righteousness on the cruelties practised by the Spaniards upon the +natives of the islands. + +Herrera thus relates the story of the first settlement of Cuba in the +second volume of "A Description of the West Indies," which was +translated into Dutch, English, French and other languages and appeared +in English in the year 1625: + + "This same year 1511, the Admiral Don James Columbus, resolved to + make settlements in Cuba, knowing it to be an island, the soil + good, populous and abounding in provisions. To this purpose he made + use of James Velasquez, being the wealthiest and best belov'd of + all the first Spanish inhabitants in Hispaniola. Besides he was a + Man of Experience, of a mild and affable Temper, tho' he knew how + to maintain his authority; of Body well-shap'd, of Complexion fair, + and very discreet. As soon as it was known in Hispaniola that James + Velasquez was going to make settlements in Cuba, Abundance of + People resolv'd to bear him Company, some because, as has been + said, he was belov'd and others because they were ruin'd and in + Debt. All these, being about three hundred Men, rendezvous'd in the + Town of Salvatiena de la Zavana to embark aboard four ships, this + Place being at the Extremity of Hispaniola. Before we proceed any + further, it is fit to observe that the Province of Guahaba lying + next to Cuba, the Distance between the two Points being but + eighteen Leagues, many Indians went over to Cuba in their Canoes + and among them pass'd over, with as many of his Men as could, a + Cazique of the said Province of Guahaba, call'd Hatuey, a brave and + discreet Man. He settled on the nearest Country known by the name + of Mazci, and possessing himself of that Part kept the People as + Subjects, but not as Slaves; for it was never found in the Indies + that any Difference was made between a free people or even their + own Children and Slaves, unless it were in New Spain, and the other + Provinces, where they us'd to sacrifice Prisoners to their Idols + which was not practis'd in these Islands. This Cazique Hatuey, + fearing that the Spaniards would at some Time pass over into Cuba, + always kept Spies to know what was doing in Hispaniola and being + inform'd of the Admiral's design, he assembled his People who it + is likely were of the most martial, and putting them in Mind of + their many sufferings under the Spaniards told them: 'They did all + that for a great Lord they were very fond of, which he would show + them' and then taking some Gold out of a little Palm Tree Basket, + added 'This is the Lord whom they serve, him they follow, and as + you have already heard, they are about passing over hither, only to + seek this Lord, therefore let us make a Festival, and dance to him, + to the End that when they come, he may order them not to do us + harm.' Accordingly they all began to sing and dance till they were + quite tir'd, for it was their Custom to dance as long as they could + stand, from nightfall till break of Day, and these Dances were as + in Hispaniola, to the Musick of their Songs, and tho' fifty + thousand Men and Women were assembled, no one differ'd in the least + from the rest in the Motions of their Hands, Feet and Bodies; but + those of Cuba far exceeded the natives of Hispaniola, their Songs + being more agreeable. When they were Spent with Singing and Dancing + before the little Basket of Gold, Hatuey bid them not to Keep the + Lord of the Christians in any Place whatsoever, for if he were in + their Bowels, they would fetch him out, and therefore they should + cast him in the River under Water, where they would not find him, + and so they did." + +Following is a description of the natives of Cuba, quoted from the same +work: + + "The first inhabitants of this Island were the same as those of the + Lucayos, a good sort of People and well temper'd. They had Caziques + and Towns of two or three hundred houses with several Families in + each of them as was usual in Hispaniola. They had no Religion as + having no Temples or Idols or Sacrifices; but they had the + physicians or conjuring Priests as in Hispaniola, who it was + thought had Communication with the Devil and their questions + answered by him. They fasted three or four months to obtain this + Favour, eating nothing but the juice of Herbs, and when reduced to + extreme weakness they were worthy of that hellish Apparition, and + to be inform'd whether the Season of the Year would be favorable or + otherwise, what Children would be born, whether those born would + live, and such like questions. These were their Oracles, and these + Conjurers they call'd Behiques, who led the People in so many + Superstitions and Fopperies, during the Sick by blowing on them, + and such other exterior actions, mumbling some Word between their + Teeth. These People of Cuba knew that Heaven, the Earth and other + Things had been created, and said that they had much Information + concerning the Flood, and the world had been destroy'd by water + from three Persons that came three several ways. Men of above + seventy years of age said that an old Man knowing the Deluge was to + come, built a great Ship and went into it with his Family and + Abundance of Animals, then he sent out a Crow which did not return, + staying to feed on the dead Bodies, and afterward return'd with a + green Branch; in the other Particulars, as far as Noah's Sons + covering him when drunk, and then they scoffing at it; adding that + the Indians descended from the latter, and therefore had no Coats + nor Cloaks; but that the Spaniards, descending from the other that + cover'd him, were therefore cloath'd and had Horses. What has been + here said, was told by an Indian of above seventy years of age to + Gabriel de Cabrera who one Day quarreling with him called him Dog, + whereupon he call'd, Why he abus'd and call'd him Dog, since they + were Brethren, as descending from the Sons of him that made the + great Ship, with all the rest that has been said before." + +Herrera's description of the island may have inspired many writers +coming after him; it had, however, the advantage of giving one of the +earliest and therefore most spontaneous impressions on record. Here is a +sample of his descriptive power: + + "This Island is very much wooded, for Man may travel along it + almost two hundred and thirty leagues, always under Trees of + several Sorts, and particularly sweet scented and red Cedars, as + thick as an Ox, of which they made such large Canoes that they + would contain fifty or sixty Persons, and of this Sort there were + once great numbers in Cuba. There are Storax Trees, and if a Man in + the Morning gets upon a high Place the Vapors that rise from the + Earth perfectly smell of Storax coming from the fire the Indians + make at night, and drawn up when the Sun rises. Another Sort of + Trees produce a Fruit call'd Xaguas, as big as veal kidneys, which + being beaten and laid by four or five days, tho' not gather'd ripe, + are full of Liquor like Honey, and better tasted than the sweetest + Pears. There are abundance of wild Vines that run up high, bearing + grapes, and Wine has been made of them, but somewhat aigre, and + there being an infinite Quantity of them throughout all the Island, + the Spaniards were wont to say they had seen a Vineyard that + extended two hundred and thirty Leagues. Some of the Trunks of + these Vines are as thick as a Man's Body, which proceeded from + extraordinary Moisture and Fertility of the Soil. All the Island is + very pleasant and more temperate than Hispaniola, very healthy, has + safer Harbors for many Ships than if they had been made by Art, as + is that of Santiago on the Southern Coast being in the shape of a + Cross, that of Xagua is scarce to be matched in the World, the + Ships pass into it through a narrow Mouth, not above a Cross bow + Shot over and then turned into the open Part of it, which is about + ten Leagues in Compass with three little islands so posited, that + they may make fast their Ships to Stakes on them, and they will + never budge, all the Compass being shelter'd by Mountains, as if + they were in a House, and there the Indians had Pens to shut up the + Fish. On the north Side there are good Harbours, the best being + that which was call'd de Carenas, and now the Havana, so large that + few can compare to it; and twenty Leagues to the Eastward of it is + that of Matanzas, which is not very safe. About the middle of the + Island is another good Port, call'd del Principe, and almost at the + End that of Baracoa, where much good Ebony is cut; between which + there are other good anchoring places, tho' not large." + +In a volume entitled "Voyages and Travels" and edited by Raymond +Beazley, there is a record of travels in Mexico 1568-1585 by one John +Chilton, which says on the title-page: "A Notable Discourse of Master +John Chilton, touching the people, manners, mines, metals, riches, +forces and other memorable things of the West Indies seen and noted by +himself in the time of his travels continued in those parts the space of +seventeen or eighteen years." He writes of Havana: + + "Merchants after travelling from Nicaragua, Honduras, Porto Rico, + Santo Domingo, Jamaica and all other places in the Indies arrive + there, on their return to Spain; for that in this port they take in + victuals and water and the most part of their landing. Here they + meet from all the foresaid places, always in the beginning of May + by the King's commandment. At the entrance of this port, it is so + narrow that there can scarce come in two ships together, although + it be above six fathoms deep in the narrowest place of it. + + "In the north side of the coming in, there standeth a tower in + which there watcheth every day a man to descry the call of ships + which he can see on the sea; and as many as he discovereth so many + banners he setteth upon the tower, that the people of the town + (which standeth within the port about a mile from the tower) may + understand thereof. + + "Under this tower there lieth a sandy shore, where men may easily + go aland; and by the tower there runneth a hill along by the + water's side, which easily with small store of ordnance, subdueth + the town and port. The port within is so large that there may + easily ride a thousand sail of ships, without anchor or cable; for + no wind is able to hurt them. + + "There inhabit within the town of Havana about three hundred + Spaniards and about sixty soldiers; which the King maintaineth + there, for the keeping of a certain castle which he hath of late + erected, which hath planted in it about twelve pieces of small + ordnance. It is compassed round with a small ditch, where through + at their pleasure, they may let in the sea. + + "About two leagues from Havana there lieth another town called + Guanabacoa, in which there are dwelling about one hundred Indians; + and from this place sixty Leagues there lieth another town named + Bahama, situated on the north side of the island. The chiefest city + of the island of Cuba which is above two hundred miles in length, + is also called Cuba (Santiago de Cuba); where dwelleth a Bishop and + about 200 Spaniards; which town standeth on the south side of the + island about a hundred leagues from Havana. + + "All the trade of this island is cattle; which they kill only for + the hides that are brought thence into Spain. For which end the + Spaniards maintain there many negroes to kill the cattle, and + foster a great number of hogs, which being killed are cut into + small pieces that dry in the sun; and so make provisions for the + ships which come for Spain." + +Many books of West Indian travel are by French writers, among them an +anonymous "Relation des voyages et des decouvertes que las Espagnols on +fait," Jean de Laët's "Histoire du Nouveau Monde," Jean Baptiste Labat's +"Nouveau Voyage aux îles de l'Amérique," Franįois Coréal's "Relation des +Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" and that interesting work entitled +"Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans les îles et Terra Firma de +l'Amérique," which does not give the name of the author, but bears on +its title-page the name of the printer, "Gervais Clouzier au Palais, ā +la seconde Boutique sur les degrés en montant pour aller ā la Ste. +Chapelle au Voyageur MDCLXXI" and is dedicated to the Duc de Luynes, a +peer of France. There is also the work of a Dutchman, Linschoten: +"Histoire de la Navigation de Jean Hugues de Linschoten," which has been +translated into English, French and other languages. + +Jan Huygens van Linschoten was a born traveler. His favorite reading had +always been books of travel and as the news of the exploits of foreign +mariners in the New World came pouring into Holland, this young Dutchman +was seized with an irresistible longing to see those far-off worlds. He +frankly speaks in his book of travel of the difficulties he encountered +in trying to persuade his family to approve of his venture, and whether +they did or not, he set out for Lisbon as the place where he would be +most likely to obtain passage. He arrived there just after the death of +Alba. He found the Peninsula in great commotion which even interrupted +the regular routine of overseas traffic. But a man of daring puts his +trust in chance, and chance favored the venturesome youth by an +extraordinary opportunity. + +There was at that time a noble Dominican monk in Lisbon, Fra Vincente +Fonseca, scion of a distinguished family. He had been a preacher to King +Sebastian of Portugal, had done missionary work in Africa and been later +attached to the court of Madrid as confessor of Philip II. The +archbishopric of the West Indies having become vacant, Fonseca was +appointed, but he was unwilling to accept this position, dreading the +long voyage and a repetition of some unpleasant experiences which he had +had in Africa. The king, however, insisted, promised to recall him in +four or five years and held out to him the lure of rich revenues. So Fra +Fonseca finally accepted, and Jan Huygens van Linschoten succeeded in +obtaining a position in the retinue of the prelate. Linschoten's +brother, who was secretary to the king, being tired of court life, had +also asked to be sent overseas and was about to sail as scribe on board +a vessel going to the Levant. But on learning of his brother's luck, he +decided also to go to the West Indies and joined the fleet waiting to +embark in some professional capacity. There were five vessels; the +Admiral ship called _San Felipe_, the Vice-Admiral _San Diego_, the +third was _San Laurente_, the fourth _San Francisco_ and the fifth _San +Salvador_. The two brothers boarded the latter, and set sail on Good +Friday, the eighth of April, 1583. + +Jan Huygens van Linschoten has this to say of Cuba: + + "Cuba is a very large island belonging to the Antille group, first + discovered by Christopher Colomb in 1492, and called by him Jeanne + et Ferdinande and also Alpha and Omega. It has also by others been + called Island of Santiago, after the name of the principal town, so + considered on account of the great harbor and big trade. To the + east it has the island of San Domingo, to the west Yucatan, to the + north the extremity of Florida and the Lucaya islands, to the South + the island of Jamaica. The island of Cuba is greater in length than + in width; it measures from one end to the other three hundred + leagues, from North to South seventy and in width it is only + fifteen and in some places nineteen leagues. The center of the + island is at 91 degrees longitude and twenty latitude. The island + has long been considered part of the continent on account of its + size, of which one ought not to be surprised, for the inhabitants + themselves seem not to know its limits and since the arrival of the + Spaniards they know no better, being a people, naked and simple and + contented with their government and bothering about no other. The + ground is rough and hilly. The sea makes inlets in various places; + there are small rivers, the good waters of which carry gold and + copper. The air is moderately warm, sometimes a little cold. You + find there dye-stuffs for linen and furs. The island is full of + shady woods, ponds and beautiful fresh water rivers; you also find + plenty of ponds the waters of which are naturally salt. The forests + contain wild boars. The rivers frequently yield gold. + + "In this island are six cities, inhabited by Spaniards, the first + and principal of which is San Jago, which is the seat of the + archbishop; but Havana is the principal mercantile center of the + island and there they build ships. Two notable things were remarked + on this island by Gonsalo Onetano. One is a valley between two + mountains, of the length of two or three Spanish leagues, where you + find boulders by nature so round that they could not be rounded + better, and in such quantity that they could serve as ballast for + several ships, that use cannon balls instead of lead or iron. The + other is a mountain, not far from the coast, from which there is a + constant flow of pitch to the coast and wherever the wind may + divert it. The residents and Spaniards use this pitch to tar their + vessels. + + "The inhabitants of this island are like those of the island of + Spain (Hispaniola) though a little different in language. Both men + and women go about naked. In their marriage a strange custom + prevails; the husband is not the first to approach his wife. If he + is a gentleman, he invites all gentlemen to precede him; if he is a + merchant, he invites the merchants, if he is a peasant, he asks the + gentlemen and the priests. The men can for the slightest cause + abandon the women; but the wives cannot desert their husband for + any reason whatsoever. The men are very inconstant and lead a bad + life. The soil produces big worms and serpents or snakes that are + not poisonous so the people eat them without danger. And these + snakes feed on certain little animals called Guabiniquinazes, of + which sometimes seven or eight are found in their stomach, although + they are as big as hares, resembling a fox, the head of a weasel, + the tail of a fox, the hair long like a deer's, color somewhat + reddish, and the flesh tender and wholesome. This island should be + well populated; but it is not so at present, unless it be by some + Spaniards, who have exterminated the greater number of natives, of + which many died of starvation." + +The Sieur Jean de Laët d'Anners, whose History of the New World bears +the imprint of Bonaventure and Elzevir, Printers of the University of +Leyden, also gives a description of Cuba as it was in the sixteenth and +beginning of the seventeenth century. He says: + + "There are few towns in proportion to the size of the island; + Santiago ranks first, both for its age and name; it was built by + Diego Velasco. At the south coast of the island about 20 degrees + North Latitude, opposite Hispaniola, almost two miles from the sea, + in the depth of a harbor which one may well pronounce the first + among the large and safe harbors of the New World. For the ocean + enters through a narrow inlet and is received by a large bay, like + a gulf, with several little islands; it is so safe a port that one + does not need to cast anchor. This city was once well populated, + but now the population is reduced to a very small number. It has a + cathedral church and a bishop Suffragans of the archbishopric of + San Domingo and a monastery of the Minorite brothers. It is owned + by the Lieutenant-Governor of the island. The chief articles of + trade are ox-skins and sugar. Three miles from the town are rich + mines of copper, which is now extracted from high mountains, called + for that reason by the Spaniards Sierras de Cobre. + + "Near this town to the East about thirty miles is the town of + Baracoa, built by the same Velasco on the North Coast The forests + near this town yield very good ebony and according to other reports + Brazilian redwood. + + "The third city is San Salvador or Bayamo from the name of the + province, built by the same Velasco, thirty miles from Santiago, + which surpasses all other towns of the island by good air, fertile + soil and beautiful plains; it is in the center of the island, but + merchandise is brought from the sea by the river Caute, which is + opposite. Among the treasures of this island are certain stones of + divers size, but all perfectly round, so they could serve as cannon + balls; they are said to be so numerous on the shores of the river + bearing the name of the town, that they seem to have rained from + the sky. Oniedo says they are found in a marshy valley almost + midway between this city and Santiago. + + "Puerto de Principe ranks fourth; town and harbor, much esteemed by + mariners, are to the north of the island, forty leagues from + Santiago northwest. Not far are springs of bitumen, which Monardes + mentions (and which the Indians use as remedy for chills). I + believe they are the naptha of the ancients. + + "Santi Spiritus of forty to fifty houses is more a village than a + town and its harbor is good only for barges and sloops. But vessels + stop there on their way from Santiago, Bayamo and Puerto Principe + to Havana. + + "Trinite-Trinidad--once populated by Indians, now almost deserted, + has an inconvenient harbor and was the scene of some shipwrecks. + + "Havana receives the sea by a narrow but deep inlet, enlarging into + a wide bay, with coasts at first diverging and then meeting, + capable of holding a thousand vessels as if in a safe bosom. All + the Spanish fleets coming from the meridional continent, New Spain + and the islands, loaded with a variety of merchandise and an + abundance of gold and silver, stop there to take on water and + necessary victuals, and when a sufficient number has collected, in + September or later, they go out together or in two fleets through + the straits of Bahama towards Spain: The city has besides the + garrison (the number of which is uncertain, although the king sends + the pay for a thousand soldiers and more) three hundred Spanish + families, some Portuguese and a large number of slaves. The + governor of the island and the other royal officers reside there. + It surpasses not only the other cities of the island, but almost + all of America by the size and safety of her port, her wealth and + her commerce. The neighboring forests furnish a great abundance of + excellent woods, which they use to build their ships, which is a + very great convenience. They have also tried to work some copper + mines not far from the town; but without success, either because + the veins failed, or the laborers were too ignorant or the expense + was greater than the profit." + +Many of the writers of these books of travel dwell at length upon the +wealth of precious woods found on the island. One of them makes a list +which contains the following: l'acana, called vegetable iron, cedar, +majagna (mahogany) frijolillo, a wood with shaded veins, granadillo, a +wood light purple in color, ebony, yew and many others. Wood was so +plentiful that it was even used instead of metal in machinery. +Foreigners visiting the first sugar refinery in Cuba, which was in 1532 +founded by Brigadier Gonzales de Velosa, associated with the veedor +Cristobal de Tapia and his brother, found the machines made of hard +wood. The variety of fruits is also commented upon by the travelers that +visited Cuba in the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth +century. They mention among the fruit trees abundant in Cuba the cocoa +trees of Los Remedios, the ubiquitous banana, the orange, the West India +chestnut, the fruit-bearing palms, guesima, garoubier, yaya and others. + +Franįois Coréal's "Relation des Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" also +contains some interesting data and goes into the causes of the decline +of Spanish power in the West Indies. Coréal, who seems to be of Spanish +origin or at least citizenship, says among other things: + +"There grows in Porto Rico a guiac tree, the wood of which was +considered a sovereign remedy against small-pox. Indians sometimes told +me, were it but for that wood, one should be glad that America was +discovered. These Indians often asked me whether there are any drugs +against small pox growing in Europe; and when I told them that many +excellent antivenereal remedies came from the West Indies, they remarked +with some common sense and not without a touch of irony, that God had +much kindness for the Castellanos, having given them their gold, their +wives and even their guiac." + +In another part of the very readable work he says: + +"It is certain the Spaniards owe the rapidity of their conquest of +America to the sudden (and almost miraculous) fear with which the +Indians were seized at the approach of the new enemy. It seems that +without it we would have had much more trouble; but artillery was +unknown to these Americans, so was military discipline, which we +understood better than they, so they with extraordinary rapidity cleared +for us the roads to the South Sea and on to Chili and the Straits of +Magellan. This facility of our conquest made for carelessness, which +from that time through the luxury and idleness of our people increased, +until it became almost inconceivable. As our people rather scorned the +Indians and considered them almost a sort of intermediary creature +between man and beast, it was believed that lands so easily conquered +could not be as easily lost; and there was some reason for this belief, +for at that time Spain had no rival on the sea, there was nothing to +fear from the Indians themselves, who could not hold out against us +conquerors. Later we had even less fear, for the Spanish monarchy became +a formidable power to all Europe and when it ceased to be so, interests +and politics had so changed that one was obliged to leave us in peaceful +ownership of a possession which could have been taken from us as easily +as we had conquered it. + +"This is according to my opinion the main cause of the decline of +Spanish power in America. There are others which are no less real. As +soon as one has set foot in the New World, you are confronted with an +endless lot of plunderers and marauders, who call themselves soldiers, +ravage the beautiful country, pillage the treasures of the Indians, +torture the inhabitants and rob them of their property and freedom, +under a thousand pretences unworthy of Christianity and of Spanish +generosity. So that several of these nations which at the beginning +favored the Spaniards, became in time their most mortal enemies. These +plunderers, I cannot call them anything else, ruined at the outset the +authority of the King and by their wickedness hindered all the good +that one could have expected from the friendship of native residents. +Royal authority being poorly upheld by these bad subjects of the King, +and the facile abundance which they had found, having plunged them into +all sorts of vice, their pride made them look upon the Indians as their +slaves and even as property acquired by the sword, which succeeded in +spoiling our position with the natives. It is quite certain that these +people would not wish for more than to throw off the yoke of servitude +under which they sigh to-day as did their ancestors before them." + +The author of the book printed by Gervais Glouzier, "Relation de ce qui +s'est passé dans les îles et la Terra Firma de l'Amérique pendant la +derničre guerre avec l'Angleterre, etc." also dwells upon the policy +pursued by certain Spanish adventurers and officials towards the natives +of the islands: + +"The Spaniards pretended to have recognized the natives of these islands +as being anthropophagous, and asked the king of Castile permission to +capture them, i.e., to take and make them slaves (which they did +elsewhere without permission), so they did not approach the Antilles +except armed, and in the character of enemies; and the Indians who +inhabited them prepared to make upon them the most cruel war, as soon as +they saw vessels off their coasts, be it openly or from ambush in the +woods, or by surprise attacks, when the strangers wanted to take water +or leave the vessels, which irritated these people and many a Spaniard +regretted having obliged them to go to such extremities. + +"Things of this kind happened in the Antilles during the fifteenth +century when the Spaniards were busy making other discoveries, wherever +gold or silver attracted them and for the conservation of which and the +exploitation of mines they could not furnish a sufficient number of men. +They had no idea of settling down to cultivate the soil of these lands, +and waiting only to procure the convenience of taking on water or +leaving their invalids to recuperate on St. Christopher island, they +made peace with the Indians who inhabited this island, and continued to +treat as enemies all those of other islands. + +"When at the end of this century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the +English and French sailed on the seas of America, the first with more +considerable forces like those conducted by Drake, Walter Raleigh, +Kenits and others, and the French with less armaments, the voyages of +the ones and the others in those little frequented climates made some +other compatriots conceive the idea of establishing themselves on +American soil and found colonies, which would furnish subsistence to a +considerable number of their nation and serve as retreat to those +vessels where they could renew their supplies. In this way in 1625 two +adventurers, the one French, named d'Enemčne 'de la maison de Duil en +Normandie,' the other also a gentleman, an Englishman named V. Varnard, +moved by the same desire landed on the same day on St. Christopher's, +which they had chosen for their purpose and from there all the French +and British settlements in the Antilles radiated." + +These records of visits to the West Indies by Dutch, English, French and +other travellers following in the wake of the great discoverers and +explorers, rise almost to the importance of documentary evidence, when +they attempt to deal with such questions as the attitude of the +Spaniards towards the natives of the New World. But mainly they are +narratives, setting down simply and unpretentiously the impressions made +upon European visitors by the bigness of dimensions and proportions and +the abundance of natural products of all sorts. There is a spirit of +wonderment at the riches so profusely bestowed upon this Western world; +but there is not yet a trace of the jealousy so apparent in later +writings, when commercial rivalry had divided the nations of Europe into +hostile camps and finally arrayed all of them against Spain. Though not +always written by men who had set out in pursuit of adventure, they +convey to the reader a breath of the oldtime romance of travel in +countries the plants and animals and native residents of which are so +many objects of curious interest. But viewed as a whole, these books are +full of information, at times strangely quickened by an individual human +touch, and read at leisure in a certain order, reconstruct the panorama +of West Indian life in a period which had no parallel in the history of +the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +It was the inscrutable irony of fate that Cuba should remain so +negligible a quantity during one of the most momentous and progressive +periods of human history. No other era since man began his career had +been on the whole so marked with greatness. Discovery and exploration +had doubled the known area of the globe, and the intellectual +achievements of the race had even more than kept pace with the material. +The era of which we have been writing in this volume saw the completion +of Columbus's work in his fourth voyage, the exploits of Magellan, +Balboa and Cabot, the enterprises of Cortez and Pizarro, of Cartier and +Raleigh. It saw the rise of religious liberty, and of modern philosophy +and science. It saw the art of printing, invented in the preceding +century, developed into world-wide significance. + +This was the era of genius. Its annals were adorned with the names of +Shakespeare and Cervantes, of Rafael and Titian and Michael Angelo, of +Holbein and Durer, of Luther and Erasmus, of Ariosto and Rabelais, of +Tyndale and Knox, of Calvin, Loyola and Xavier, of Copernicus and +Vesalius, of Montaigne and Camoens, of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, of Tasso +and Spenser, of Bacon and Jonson, of Sidney and Lope de Vega. It was a +wondrous company that passed along the world's highway while Cuba was +struggling in obscurity to lay the foundations of a future state. + +Nor did Spain herself lag behind her neighbor nations. The sixteenth +century saw her swift rise to the greatest estate she has ever known, +and her development of many of the greatest names in her history. She +began the century a newly-formed kingdom uncertain of herself and +timorously essaying an ambitious career; and she reached its close one +of the most extensive and most powerful empires in the world. We +commonly think of her chiefly as a conquering power. But in fact that +century of her marvellous conquests of empire was also her golden age in +intellect. We may imagine that the swiftness of her rise to primacy +among the nations, and the dazzling splendor of her conquests, +stimulated and inspired the minds of her people to comparable +achievements in the intellectual world. The sixteenth century was indeed +to Spain what the Augustan Age was to Rome, and what the Elizabethan and +Victorian ages were to England, and for some of the same reasons. + +It was then that three great universities were founded: Salamanca, +Alcala for science, Valladolid for law; and a noteworthy school of +navigation at Seville. There flourished the philosopher Luis Vives, the +tutor of Mary Stuart. In jurisprudence there were Victoria and Vazquez, +from whom Grotius received his inspiration; and Solorzano, with his +monumental work of the Government of the Indies. The drama was adorned +by Lope de Rueda, Lope de Vega, Gabriel Tellez, and Juan del Enzina. The +greatest name of all in literature was that of Miguel Cervantes y +Saavedra. There were the poets Garcilaso de Vega, and Luis de Argote y +Gongora. There were the painters Ribera, and Domenico Theotocopuli, who +inspired Velazquez. + +Above all, there was one of the most remarkable groups of historians of +any land or age. Paez de Castro was more than any other man the founder +of history as a philosophical study as distinguished from mere polite +letters; the forerunner of Voltaire and Hume. There were Florian de +Ocampo, Jeronimo Zurita, Ambrosio de Morales, and the famous Jesuit +Mariana. Then there was a remarkable company of historians inspired by +the American conquests of Spain, who gave their attention to writing of +the lands thus added to her empire: Oviedo, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, Lopez +de Velasco, Las Casas, and many more. Cortez, Pizarro, Velasquez and +others might conquer lands for Spain. These others would see to it that +their deeds were fittingly chronicled. + +There was something more, still more significant. There arose +distinguished writers, producing notable works, in the countries of +Spanish America; some born there, some travelling thither from the +peninsula. It was in 1558 that the University of Santo Domingo was +founded, which for a time served all the Spanish Indies and was a great +centre of learning. How many poets and dramatists, not to mention +historians and other writers, there were in America in that century, we +are reminded in Cervantes's "Viaje de Parnaso" and Lope de Vega's +"Laurel de Apolo." These writers were chiefly in Mexico and Peru, for +obvious reasons. Those were Spain's chief colonies, and they were those +which had themselves the most noteworthy past, a past marked with a high +degree of civilization. The first book ever printed in the Western +Hemisphere was the "Breve y Compendiosa Doctrina Cristiana," published +by Juan de Zumarraga, the first Bishop of Mexico, in Mexico in 1539. + +It was about the middle of the century that there appeared the first +American book of real literary merit. This was "La Araucana," a Chilean +epic poem, by Alonso de Ercilla y Zuņiga. Another epic, with Hernando +Cortez for its hero, was "Cortez Valeroso," by Gabriel Lasso de la Vega, +in 1588. The next year saw Juan de Castellanos's prodigious historical +and biographical poem of 150,000 lines, "Elegias de Varones Ilustres de +Indias." Another epic of Cortez was Antonio de Saavedra Guzman's +"Peregrino Indiano," in 1599. + +In all these things Cuba had no part. In later centuries that island +could boast of poets and other writers worthy to rank with their best +contemporaries of other lands. But in that marvellous sixteenth century +she seems to have produced not a single name worthy of remembrance. In +the rich productivity of Spanish intellect Cuba remained unrepresented. +In Oriente, in Camaguey and in Havana there may be found legends and +ballads of unknown but ancient origin, which are assumed to have been +composed perhaps in the days of Velasquez, and to have been passed down +orally from generation to generation. _Quien sabe?_ It is quite probable +that such was their origin; but it is quite certain that their authors +are unknown. + +For this lack of intellectual productivity in the first century of +Cuba's history, and indeed the lack of any noteworthy achievements, the +reason is not difficult to perceive. As we observed at the beginning of +this volume, Cuba, at the advent of Europeans, was a country without a +civilization and without a past. Mexico, Yucatan and Peru had enjoyed +civilizations not unworthy of comparison with those of Europe and Asia, +the remains of which attracted thither the intellects of Spain, and +inspired them. But Cuba had nothing of the sort. Again, the vast wealth +of Mexico and Peru attracted to those countries many more explorers, +conquerors and colonists than Cuba could draw to herself. And there was +also the partiality which was shown to them by royal favor and in royal +interest. We shall have reviewed the annals of the first Cuban century +to little purpose if we do not perceive that during the greater part of +that time the "Queen of the Antilles," the "Pearl of the West Indies," +as she was even then occasionally and afterward habitually called, was +the Cinderella of the Spanish Empire; a Cinderella destined, however, +one day to meet her Fairy Prince and thus to be wakened into splendor +not surpassed by the finest of her sisters. + +The close of the sixteenth century marked, then, approximately a great +turning point in Cuban history. Thitherto she had been exclusively +identified with Spain. She had developed no individuality and had +exercised no influence upon other lands and their relationships, or +indeed upon the empire of which she was a part. It was left for later +years to make her an important factor in international affairs and to +develop in her an individuality worthy of an independent sovereign among +the nations of the world. + +Yet in these very circumstances which we have recounted, and which upon +the face of them appeared to be and indeed were for the time so +unfavorable, there were developed the influences which unerringly led to +the subsequent greatness of the island. The earliest settlers were not +only of Spanish origin but also of Spanish sympathies. They could not be +expected to have any affection for or any pride in the land to which +they had come as to a mere "Tom Tiddler's ground," on which to pick up +silver and gold. They valued Cuba for only what they could get out of +her; many of them glad, after thus gaining wealth, to return to Spain, +or to go to Mexico, Venezuela or Peru, there the better to enjoy it and +to mingle in social pleasures which the primitive life of Cuba did not +yet afford. + +There were, however, some even in the first generation who were +exceptions to this rule, who loved Cuba for her own sake, who wished to +identify themselves permanently with her, and who wished to see her +developed to the greatness and the splendor for which her natural +endowments seemed to them to have designed her. In the second generation +the number of such was of course greatly multiplied, and in succeeding +generations their increase proceeded at a constantly increasing ratio. +Thus by the end of the first century of Cuban history the great majority +of residents of the island regarded themselves as Cubans rather than as +Spaniards. They were Spaniards in race and tongue, and they were ready +to stand with the peninsular kingdom and the rest of its world-circling +empire against any of other tongues and races. But while thus to the +outside world they were Spaniards, to Spain itself and to the people of +the peninsula they were Cubans; differentiated from Spain much more than +the Catalonian was from the Castilian, or the Andalusian from the +Navarrais. + +This sentiment of differentiation, and of insular individuality, was +naturally strengthened by the treatment which the peninsular government +accorded to the island. The Cubans were made to feel that Spain regarded +them as apart from her, just as much as they themselves so regarded her. +They felt, too, that she was treating them with injustice and with +neglect; that instead of nourishing her young plantation and giving it +the support of her wealth and strength she was drawing upon it for her +own nourishment and support. They would have been either far more or far +less than human if they had not thus been incited to a certain degree of +resentment and to an assertion of independence. + +In brief, it was with the Cubans even at that early day as it was with +the British colonists in North America a century and a half later; +though indeed the Cubans determined upon separation from the mother +country at a comparatively earlier date than the people of the Thirteen +Colonies, or certainly much longer before their achievement of that +independence. We know that the British colonists were dissatisfied and +protesting for nearly a score of years before their Declaration of +Independence, but that down to within a few months of the latter +transcendent event scarcely any of them thought of separation from +England. Lexington and Concord, and even Bunker Hill, were fought not +for independence but for the securing of the same rights for the +colonists that their fellow subjects in the British Isles enjoyed. But +the Cubans resolved upon separation from Spain not only years but at +least two full generations before they were able to achieve it. + +This spirit belongs to a much later date in Cuban history than that of +which we are now writing, and to refer to it here is an act of +anticipation. But it is desirable to some extent to scan the end from +the beginning; to see from the outset to what end we shall come as well +as to see at the end from what beginning we have come. Moreover, it +cannot be too well remembered that even as soon as the latter part of +the sixteenth century the people of Cuba regarded themselves as Cubans, +and so called themselves, and had begun the cultivation of a social +order and a sentiment of patriotism quite distinct from though not yet +necessarily antagonistic to that of Spain. + +The transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century was marked, +then, with a significant change in the temper and character of Cuba, +especially by a great accession of the spirit of insular integrity and +independence. While Spain was great and apparently growing greater, +there was a gratifying pride in identification with her. But when her +decline began, and showed signs of being as rapid as her rise had been, +that pride waned, and there began to arise in its place a pride in Cuba, +or perhaps we might say at that early date a determination to develop in +Cuba cause for pride. From that time forward Cuba was destined to be +more American than European; and though for nearly three centuries she +might continue to be a European possession, yet her lot was decided. +Unconsciously, perhaps, but not the less surely she was drawn into the +irresistible current which was drawing all the American settlements away +from the European planters of them. It was one of the interesting +eccentricities of history that the first important land acquired by +Spain in the western hemisphere should be the last to leave her sway; +and that the first European colonists in America to have cause for +complaint against their overlords should be the longest to suffer and +the last to secure abatement of their wrongs. Such is the reflection +caused by consideration of this first era in the history of the Queen of +the Antilles. + + +THE END OF VOLUME ONE + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX + + + Abarzuza, Sr. proposes reforms for Cuba, IV, 6. + + Abreu. Marta and Rosalie, patriotism of, IV, 25. + + Academy of Sciences, Havana, picture of, IV, 364. + + Adams, John Quincy, enunciates American policy toward Cuba, II, 258; + portrait, 259; + on Cuban annexation, 327. + + Aglona, Prince de. Governor, II, 363. + + Agramonte, Aristide, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Agramonte, Enrique, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12. + + Agramonte, Eugenio Sanchez, sketch and portrait, IV, 362. + + Agramonte, Francisco, IV, 41. + + Agramonte, Ignacio, portrait, facing. III, 258. + + Agriculture, early attention to, I, 173, 224; + progress, 234; + II, 213; + absentee landlords, 214; + statistics, 223; + discussed in periodicals, 250; + rehabilitation of after War of Independence, IV, 147. + + Aguayo, Geronimo de, I, 161. + + Aguero, Joaquin de, organizes revolution, III, 72; + final defeat, 87. + + Aguiar, Luis de, II, 60. + + Aguiera, Jose, I, 295. + + Aguila, Negra, II, 346. + + Aguilera, Francisco V., sketch and portrait, III, 173. + + Aguirre, Jose Maria, filibuster, IV, 55; + death, 85. + + Albemarle, Earl of, expedition against Havana, II, 46; + occupies Havana, 78; + controversy with Bishop Morell, 83. + + Alcala, Marcos, I, 310. + + Aldama, Miguel de, sketch and portrait, III, 204. + + Aleman, Manuel, French emissary, II, 305. + + Algonquins, I, 7. + + Allen, Robert, on "Importance of Havana," II, 81. + + Almendares River, tapped for water supply, I, 266; + view on, IV, 167. + + Almendariz, Alfonso Enrique, Bishop, I, 277. + + Alquiza, Sancho de, Governor, I, 277. + + Altamarino, Governor, I, 105; + post mortem trial of Velasquez, 107; + attacked by the Guzmans, 109; + removed, 110. + + Altamirano, Juan C., Bishop, I, 273; + seized by brigands, 274. + + Alvarado, Luis de, I, 147. + + Alvarado, Pedro de, in Mexico, I, 86. + + Amadeus, King of Spain, III, 260. + + America, relation of Cuba to, I, 1; + II, 254. See <sc>United States</sc>. + + American Revolution, effect of upon Spain and her colonies, II, 138. + + American Treaty, between Great Britain and Spain, I, 303. + + Andrea, Juan de, II, 9. + + Angulo, Francisco de, exiled, I, 193. + + Angulo, Gonzales Perez de, Governor, I, 161; + emancipation proclamation, 163; + quarrel with Havana Council, 181; + flight from Sores, 186; + end of administration, 192. + + Anners, Jean de Laet de, quoted, I, 353. + + Annexation of Cuba to United States, first suggested, II, 257, 326; + campaign for, 380; + sought by United States, III, 132, 135; + Marcy's policy, 141; + Ostend Manifesto, 142; + Buchanan's efforts, 143; + not considered in War of Independence, IV, 19. + + Antonelli, Juan Bautista, engineering works in Cuba, I, 261; + creates water supply for Havana, 266. + + Apezteguia. Marquis de, Autonomist leader, IV, 94. + + Apodaca, Juan Ruiz, Governor, II, 311. + + Arana, Martin de, warns Prado of British approach, II, 53. + + Arana, Melchior Sarto de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 237. + + Arana, Pedro de, royal accountant, I, 238. + + Aranda, Esquival, I, 279. + + Arango, Augustin, murder of, III, 188. + + Arango, Napoleon, treason of, III, 226. + + Arango y Pareņo, Francisco, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. II; + organizes Society of Progress, II, 178; + leadership in Cuba, 191; + attitude toward slavery, 208; + his illustrious career, 305 et seq. + + Aranguren, Nestor, revolutionist, IV, 85; + death, 92. + + Araoz, Juan, II, 181. + + Arias, A. R., Governor, III, 314. + + Arias, Gomez, I, 145. + + Arignon, Villiet, quoted, II, 26, 94. + + Armona, José de, II, 108. + + Army, Cuban, organization of, III, 178; + reorganized, 263; + under Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 301. + + Army, Spanish, in Cuba, III, 181, 295. + + Aroztegui, Martin de, II, 20. + + Arrate, José Martin Felix, historian, II, 17, 179. + + Arredondo, Nicolas, Governor at Santiago, II, 165. + + Asbert, Gen. Ernesto, amnesty case, IV, 326. + + "Assiento" compact on slavery, II, 2. + + Assumption, Our Lady of the, I, 61. + + Astor, John Jacob, aids War of Independence, IV, 14. + + Asylums for Insane, II, 317. + + Atares fortress, picture, II, 103. + + Atkins, John, book on West Indies, II, 36. + + Atrocities, committed by Spanish, III, 250; + Cespedes's protest against, 254; + "Book of Blood," 284; + Spanish confession of, 286; + war of destruction, + 295; + Weyler's "concentration" policy, IV, 85. + + Attwood's Cay. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Autonomist party, III, 305; + IV, 34; + attitude toward Campos in War of Independence, 59; + Cabinet under Blanco, 94; + earnest efforts for peace, 101; + record of its government, 102. + + Avellanda, Gertrudis Gomez de, III, 331; + portrait, facing, 332. + + Avila, Alfonso de, I, 154. + + Avila, Juan de, Governor, I, 151; + marries rich widow, 154; + charges against him, 157; + convicted and imprisoned, 158. + + Avila. See <sc>Davila</sc>. + + Aviles, Pedro Menendez de, See <sc>Menendez</sc>. + + Ayala, Francisco P. de, I, 291. + + Ayilon, Lucas V. de, strives to make peace between Velasquez + and Cortez, I, 98. + + Azcarata, José Luis, Secretary of Justice, sketch and portrait, + IV, 341. + + Azcarate, Nicolas, sketch and portrait, III, 251, 332. + + Azcarraga, Gen., Spanish Premier, IV, 88. + + + "Barbeque" sought by Columbus, I, 18. + + Bachiller, Antonio, sketch and portrait, III, 317. + + Bacon, Robert, Assistant Secretary of State of U. S., intervenes + in revolution, IV, 272. + + Bahia Honda, selected as U. S. naval station, IV, 256. + + Balboa, Vasco Nuņez de, I, 55, 91. + + Bancroft, George, quoted, I, 269; + II, 1, 24, 41, 117, 120, 159. + + Banderas, Quintin, revolutionist, IV, 34; + raid, 57; + death, 84. + + Baracoa, Columbus at, I, 18; + Velasquez at, 60; + picture, 60; + first capital of Cuba, 61, 168. + + Barreda, Baltazar, I, 201. + + Barreiro, Juan Bautista, Secretary of Education, IV, 160. + + Barrieres, Manuel Garcia, II, 165. + + Barrionuevo, Juan Maldonado, Governor, I, 263. + + Barsicourt, Juan Procopio. See <sc>Santa Clara</sc>, Conde. + + Bayamo, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168; + Cuban Republic organized there, III, 157. + + Bayoa, Pedro de, I, 300. + + Bay of Cortez, reached by Columbus, I, 25. + + Bees, introduced by Bishop Morell, II, 104; + increase of industry, 132. + + "Beggars of the Sea," raid Cuban coasts, I, 208. + + Bells, church, controversy over, II, 82. + + Bembrilla, Alonzo, I, 111. + + Benavides, Juan de, I, 280. + + Berrea, Esteban S. de, II, 6. + + Betancourt, Pedro, Civil Governor of Matanzas, IV, 179; + loyal to Palma, 271. + + Betancourt. See <sc>Cisneros</sc>. + + "Bimini," Island of, I, 139. + + Bishops of Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, I, 122. + + "Black Eagle," II, 346. + + <i>Black Warrior</i> affair, III, 138. + + Blanchet, Emilio, historian, quoted, II, 9, 15, 24; + on siege of Havana, 57, 87. + + Blanco, Ramon, Governor, IV, 88; + undertakes reforms, 89; + plans Cuban autonomy, 93; + on destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99; + resigns, 121. + + Blue, Victor, observations at Santiago, IV, 110. + + Bobadilla, F. de, I, 54. + + Boca de la Yana, I, 18. + + "Bohio" sought by Columbus, I, 18. + + Bolivar, Simon, II, 333; + portrait, 334; + "Liberator," 334 et seq.; + influence on Cuba, 341; + "Soles de Bolivar," 341. + + Bonel, Juan Bautista, II, 133. + + "Book of Blood," III, 284. + + Bourne, Edward Gaylord, quoted, on slavery, II, 209; + on Spanish in America, 226. + + Brinas, Felipe, III, 330. + + British policy toward Spain and Cuba, I, 270; + aggressions in West Indies, 293; + slave trade, II, 2; + war of 1639, 22; + designs upon Cuba, 41; + expedition against Havana, 1762, 46; + conquest of Cuba, 78; + relinquishment to Spain, 92. See <sc>Great Britain</sc>. + + Broa Bay, I, 22. + + Brooke, Gen. John R., receives Spanish surrender of Cuba, IV, 122; + proclamation to Cuban people, 145; + retired, 157. + + Brooks, Henry, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Buccaneers, origin of, I, 269. + + Buccarelli, Antonio Maria, Governor, II, 110; + retires, 115. + + Buchanan, James, on U. S. relations to Cuba, II, 263; + III, 135; + Minister to Great Britain, 142; + as President seeks annexation of Cuba to U. S., 143. + + Bull-fighting, II, 233. + + Burgos, Juan de, Bishop, I, 225. + + Burtnett, Spanish spy against Lopez, III, 65. + + Bustamente, Antonio Sanchez de, jurist, sketch and portrait, IV, 165. + + + Caballero, José Agustin, sketch and portrait, III, 321. + + Caballo, Domingo, II, 173. + + Cabanas, defences constructed, II, 58; + Laurel Ditch, view, facing, 58. + + Caballero, Diego de, I, 111. + + Cabezas, Bishop, I, 277. + + Cabrera, Diego de, I, 206. + + Cabrera, Luis, I, 198. + + Cabrera, Lorenzo de, Governor, I, 279; + removed, 282. + + Cabrera, Rafael, filibuster, IV, 70. + + Cabrera, Raimundo, conspirator in New York, IV, 334; + warned, 339. + + Cadreyta, Marquis de, I, 279. + + Cagigal, Juan Manuel de, Governor, II, 154; + defence of Havana, 155; + removed and imprisoned, 157. + + Cagigal, Juan Manuel, Governor, II, 313; + successful administration, 315. + + Cagigal de la Vega, Francisco, defends Santiago, II, 29; + Governor, 32; + Viceroy of Mexico, 34. + + Caguax, Cuban chief, I, 63. + + Calderon, Gabriel, Bishop, I, 315. + + Calderon, Garcia, quoted, II, 164, 172. + + Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister, + on <i>La Verdad</i>, III, 19; + on colonial status, 21; + negotiations with Soulé, 140. + + Calhoun, John C., on Cuba, III, 132. + + Calleja y Isisi, Emilio, Governor, III, 313; + proclaims martial law, IV, 30; + resigns, 35. + + Camaguey. See <sc>Puerto Principe</sc>, I, 168. + + Campbell, John, description of Havana, II, 14. + + Campillo, Jose de, II, 19. + + Campos, Martinez de, Governor, III, 296; + proclamations to Cuba, 297, 299; + makes Treaty of Zanjon and ends Ten Years War, 299; + in Spanish crisis, IV, 36; + Governor again, 37; + establishes Trocha, 44; + defeated by Maceo, 46; + conferences with party leaders, 59, 63; + removed, 63. + + Cancio, Leopoldo, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 161, 320. + + Canizares, Santiago J., Minister of Interior, IV, 48. + + Canning, George, policy toward Cuba, II, 257; + portrait, 258. + + Canoe, of Cuban origin, I, 10. + + Canon, Rodrigo, I, 111. + + Canovas del Castillo, Spanish Premier, IV, 36; + assassinated, 88. + + Cape Cruz, Columbus at, I, 20. + + Cape Maysi, I, 4. + + Cape of Palms, I, 17. + + Capote, Domingo Menendez. Vice-President, IV, 90; + Secretary of State, 146; + President of Constitutional Convention. 189. + + Carajaval, Lucas, defies Dutch, I, 290. + + Cardenas, Lopez lands at, III, 49. + + Caribs, I, 8. + + Carillo, Francisco, filibuster, IV, 55. + + Carleton, Sir Guy, at Havana, II, 47. + + Carranza, Domingo Gonzales, book on West Indies, II, 37. + + Carrascesa, Alfonso, II, 6. + + Carreņo, Francisco, Governor, I, 219; + conditions at his accession, 228; + dies in office, 229; + work in rebuilding Havana, 231. + + Carroll, James, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Casa de Beneficienca, founded, I, 335; + II, 177. + + Casa de Resorgiamento, founded, II, 31. + + Casares, Alfonso, codifies municipal ordinances, I, 207. + + Castellanos, Jovellar, last Spanish Governor of Cuba, IV, 121; + surrenders Spanish sovereignty, 123. + + Castillo, Demetrio, Civil Governor of Oriente, IV, 180. + + Castillo, Ignacio Maria del, Governor, III, 314. + + Castillo, Loinaz, revolutionist. IV, 269. + + Castillo, Pedro del, Bishop, I, 226. + + Castro, Hernando de, royal treasurer, I, 115. + + Cathcart Lord, expedition to West Indies, II, 28. + + Cathedral of Havana, picture, facing I, 36; + begun, I, 310. + + Cat Island. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Cayo, San Juan de los Remedios del, removal of, I, 319. + + Cazones, Gulf of, I, 21. + + Cemi, Cuban worship of, I, 55. + + Census, of Cuba, first taken, by Torre, II, 131; + by Las Casas, 176; + of slaves, 205; + of 1775, 276; + of 1791, 277; + Humboldt on, 277; + of 1811, 280; + of 1817, 281; + of 1827, 283; + of 1846, 283; + of 1899, IV, 154; + of 1907, 287. + + Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, III, 157; + portrait, facing 158; + in Spain, 158; + leads Cuban revolution, 158; + President of Republic, 158; + proclamation, 168; + negotiations with Spain, 187; + removed from office, 275. + + Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, filibuster, IV, 55. + + Cespedes, Enrique, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Cervera, Admiral, brings Spanish fleet to Cuba, IV, 110; + portrait, 110; + surrenders, 114. + + Chacon, José Bayoma, II, 13. + + Chacon, Luis, I, 331, 333. + + Chalons, Sr., Secretary of Public Works, IV, 297. + + Chamber of Commerce founded, II, 307. + + Charles I, King, I, 74; + denounces oppression of Indians, 128. + + Chaves, Antonio, Governor, I, 157; + prosecutes Avila, 157; + ruthless policy toward natives, 159; + controversy with King, 160; + dismissed from office, 161. + + Chaves, Juan Baton de, I, 331. + + Chilton, John, describes Havana, I, 349. + + Chinchilla, José, Governor, III, 314. + + Chinese, colonies in America, I, 7; + laborers imported into Cuba, II, 295. + + Chorrera, expected to be Drake's landing place, I, 248. + + Chorrera River, dam built by Antonelli, I, 262. + + Christianity, introduced into Cuba by Ojeda, I, 55; + urged by King Ferdinand, 73. + + Church, Roman Catholic, organized and influential in Cuba, I, 122; + cathedral removed from Baracoa to Santiago, 123; + conflict with civil power, 227; + controversy with British during British occupation, II, 84; + division of island into two dioceses, 173; + attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 26; + controversy over property, 294. + + Cienfuegos, José, Governor, II, 311. + + Cimmarones, "wild Indians," I, 126; + revolt against De Soto, 148. + + Cipango, Cuba identified with, by Columbus, I, 5. + + Cisneros, Gaspar Betancourt, sketch and portrait, II, 379. + + Cisneros, Pascal Jiminez de, II, 110, 127. + + Cisneros, Salvador, III, 167; + sketch and portrait, 276; + President of Cuban Republic, 277; + President of Council of Ministers, IV, 48; + in Constitutional Convention, 190. + + Civil Service, law, IV, 325; + respected by President Menocal, 325. + + Clay, Henry, policy toward Cuba, II, 261. + + Clayton, John M., U. S. Secretary of State, issues proclamation + against filibustering, III, 42. + + Cleaveland, Samuel, controversy over church bells, II, 83. + + Cleveland, Grover. President of United States, issues warning against + breaches of neutrality, IV, 70; + reference to Cuba + in message of 1896, 79; + its significance, 80. + + Coat of Arms of Cuba, picture, IV, 251; + significance, 251. + + Cobre, copper mines, I, 173, 259. + + "Cockfighting and Idleness" campaign, IV, 291. + + Coffee, cultivation begun, II, 33, 113. + + Coinage, reformed, II, 142; + statistics of, 158. + + Collazo, Enrique, filibuster, IV, 55. + + Coloma, Antonio Lopez, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Colombia, designs upon Cuba, II, 262; + III, 134; + attitude toward Cuban revolution, 223. + + Columbus, Bartholomew, recalled to Spain, I, 57. + + Columbus, Christopher, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. I; + discoverer of America, I; + i; + first landing in America, 2; + monument on Watling's Island, picture, 3; + arrival in Cuba, 11; + question as to first landing place, 12; + first impressions of Cuba and intercourse with natives, 14; + exploration of north coast, 16; + end of first visit, 18; + second visit, 19; + exploration of south coast, 21; + at Bay of Cortez, 25; + turns back from circumnavigation, 26; + at Isle of Pines, 26; + final departure from Cuba, 27; + diary and narrative, 28 et seq.; + death and burial, 33; + tomb in Havana cathedral, 34; + removal to Seville, 36; + removal from Santo Domingo to Havana, II, 181; + epitaph, 182. + + Columbus, Diego, plans exploration and colonization of Cuba, I, 57; + attempts mediation between Velasquez and Cortez, 97; + replaces Velasquez with Zuazo, 100; + rebuked by King, 100. + + Comendador, Cacique, I, 55. + + Commerce, begun by Velasquez, I, 68; + rise of corporations, II, 19; + after British occupation, 98; + under Torre, 132; + reduction of duties, 141; + extension of trade, 163; + Tribunal of Commerce founded, 177; + Real Compania de Havana, 199; + restrictive measures, 200; + Chamber of Commerce founded, 307; + commerce with United States, III, 2; + during American occupation, IV, 184; + present, 358. + + Compostela, Diego E. de, Bishop, I, 318; + death, 332. + + Concepcion, Columbus's landing place, I, 3. + + Concessions, forbidden under American occupation, IV, 153. + + Concha, José Gutierrez de la, Governor, III, 62, 290. + + Conchillos, royal secretary, I, 59. + + Congress, Cuban, welcomed by Gen. Wood, IV, 246; + turns against Palma, 269; + friendly to Gomez, 303; + hostile to Menocal, 323; + protects the lottery, 324. + + Constitution: Cuban Republic of 1868, III, 157; + of 1895, IV, 47; + call for Constitutional Convention, 185; + meeting of Convention, 187; + draft completed, 192; + salient provisions, 193; + Elihu Root's comments, 194; + Convention discusses relations with United States, 197; + Platt + Amendment, 199; + amendment adopted, 203; + text of Constitution, 304 et seq.; + The Nation, 205; + Cubans, 205; + Foreigners, 207; + Individual Rights, 208; + Suffrage, 211; + Suspension of Guarantees, 212; + Sovereignty, 213; + Legislative Bodies, 214; + Senate, 214; + House of Representatives, 216; + Congress, 218; + Legislation, 221; + Executive, 222; + President, 222; + Vice-President, 225; + Secretaries of State, 226; + Judiciary, 227; + Supreme Court, 227; + Administration of Justice, 228; + Provincial Governments, 229; + Provincial Councils, 230; + Provincial Governors, 231; + Municipal Government, 233; + Municipal Councils, 233; + Mayors, 235; + National Treasury, 235; + Amendments, 236; + Transient Provisions, 237; + Appendix (Platt Amendment), 238. + + "Constitutional Army," IV, 268. + + Contreras, Andres Manso de, I, 288. + + Contreras, Damien, I, 278. + + Convents, founded, I, 276; + Nuns of Santa Clara, 286. + + Conyedo, Juan de, Bishop, II, 35. + + Copper, discovered near Santiago, I, 173; + wealth of mines, 259; + reopened, II, 13; + exports, III, 3. + + Corbalon, Francisco R., I, 286. + + Cordova de Vega, Diego de, Governor, I, 239. + + Cordova, Francisco H., expedition to Yucatan, I, 84. + + Cordova Ponce de Leon, José Fernandez, Governor, I, 316. + + Coreal, Francois, account of West Indies, quoted, I, 355. + + Coronado, Manuel, gift for air planes, IV, 352. + + Cortes, Spanish, Cuban representation in, II, 308; + excluded, 351; + lack of representation, III, 3; + after Ten Years' War, 307. + + Cortez, Hernando, Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, I, 72; + sent to Mexico by King, 74; + agent of Velasquez, 86; + early career, 90; + portrait, 90; + quarrel with Velasquez, 91; + marriage, 92; + commissioned by Velasquez to explore Mexico, 92; + sails for Mexico, 94; + final breach with Velasquez, 96; + denounced as rebel, 97; + escapes murder, 99. + + Cosa, Juan de la, geographer, I, 6, 53. + + Councillors, appointed for life, I, 111; + conflict with Procurators, 113. + + Creoles, origin of name, II, 204. + + Crittenden, J. J., protests against European intervention in Cuba, + III, 129. + + Crittenden, William S., with Lopez, III, 96; + captured, 101; + death, 105. + + Crombet, Flor, revolutionist, IV, 41, 42. + + Crooked Island. See <sc>Isabella</sc>. + + Crowder, Gen. Enoch H., head of Consulting Board, IV, 284. + + Cuba: Relation to America, I, 1; + Columbus's first landing, 3; + identified with Mangi or Cathay, 4; + with Cipango, 5; + earliest maps, 6; + physical history, 7, 37 et seq.; + Columbus's discovery, 11 et seq.; + named Juana, 13; + other names, 14; + Columbus's account of, 28; + geological history, 37-42; + topography, 42-51; + climate, 51-52; + first circumnavigation, 54; + colonization, 54; + Velasquez at Baracoa, 60; + commerce begun, 68; + government organized, 69; + named Ferdinandina, 73; + policy of Spain toward, 175; + slow economic progress, 215; + land legislation, 232; + Spanish discrimination against, 266; + divided into two districts, 275; + British description in 1665, 306; + various accounts, 346; + turning point in history, 363; + close of first era, 366; + British conquest, II, 78; + relinquished to Spain, 92; + great changes effected, 94; + economic condition, 98; + reoccupied by Spain, 102; + untouched by early revolutions, 165; + effect of revolution in Santo Domingo, 190; + first suggestion of annexation to United States, 257; + "Ever Faithful Isle," 268; + rise of independence, 268; + censuses, 276 et seq.; + representation in Cortes, 308; + "Soles de Bolivar," 341; + representatives rejected from Cortes, 351; + transformation of popular spirit, 383; + independence proclaimed, III, 145; + Republic organized, 157; + War of Independence, IV, 15; + Spanish elections held during war, 67; + Blanco's plan of autonomy, 93; + sovereignty surrendered by Spain, 123; + list of Spanish Governors, 123. See <sc>Republic of Cuba</sc>. + + Cuban Aborigines; + I, 8; + manners, customs and religion, 8 et seq.; + Columbus's first intercourse, 15, 24; + priest's address to Columbus, 26; + Columbus's observations of them, 29; + hostilities begun by Velasquez, 61; + subjected to Repartimiento system, 70; + practical slavery, 71; + Key Indians, 125; + Cimmarones, 126; + new laws in their favor, 129; + Rojas's endeavor to save them, 130; + final doom, 133; + efforts at reform, 153; + oppression by Chaves, 159; + Angulo's emancipation proclamation, 163. + + "Cuba-nacan," I, 5. + + "Cuba and the Cubans," quoted, II, 313. + + "Cuba y Su Gobierno," quoted, II, 354. + + Cuellar, Cristobal de, royal accountant, I, 59. + + Cushing, Caleb, Minister to Spain, III, 291. + + Custom House, first at Havana, I, 231. + + + Dady, Michael J., & Co., contract dispute, IV, 169. + + Davila, Pedrarias, I, 140. + + Davis, Jefferson, declines to join Lopez, III, 38. + + Del Casal, Julian, sketch and portrait, IV, 6. + + Del Cueta, José A., President of Supreme Court, portrait, IV, 359. + + Delgado, Moru, Liberal leader, IV, 267. + + Del Monte, Domingo, sketch, portrait, and work, II, 323. + + Del Monte, Ricardo, sketch and portrait, IV, 2. + + Demobilization of Cuban army, IV, 135. + + Desvernine, Pablo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 146. + + Diaz, Bernal, at Sancti Spiritus, I, 72; + in Mexico, 86. + + Diaz, Manuel, I, 239. + + Diaz, Manuel Luciano, Secretary of Public Works, IV, 254. + + Diaz, Modeste, III, 263. + + Divino, Sr., Secretary of Justice, IV, 297. + + Dockyard at Havana, established, II, 8. + + Dolz, Eduardo, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 96. + + Dominguez, Fermin V., Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 50. + + Dorst, J. H., mission to Pinar del Rio, IV, 107. + + "Dragado" deal, IV, 310. + + Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana, I, 243; + in Hispaniola, 246; + leaves Havana unassailed, 252; + departs for Virginia, 255. + + Duany, Joaquin Castillo, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12; + Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 50; + filibuster, 70. + + Dubois, Carlos, Assistant Secretary of Interior, IV, 50. + + Duero, Andres de, I, 93, 115. + + Dulce y Garay, Domingo, Governor, III, 190, 194; + decree of confiscation, 209; + recalled, 213. + + Dupuy de Lome, Sr., Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 40; + writes offensive letter, 98; + recalled, 98. + + Duque, Sr., Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, IV, 297. + + Durango, Bishop, I, 225. + + Dutch hostilities, I, 208, 279; + activities in West Indies, 283 et seq. + + + Earthquakes, in 1765, I, 315; + II, 114. + + Echeverria, Esteban B., Superintendent of Schools, IV, 162. + + Echeverria, José, Bishop, II, 113. + + Echeverria, José Antonio, III, 324. + + Echeverria, Juan Maria, Governor, II, 312. + + Education, backward state of, II, 244; + progress under American occupation, IV, 156; + A. E. Frye, Superintendent, 156; + reorganization of system, 162; + Harvard University's entertainment of teachers, 163; + achievements under President Menocal, 357. + + Elections: for municipal officers under American occupation, IV, 180; + law for regulation of, 180; + result, 181; + for Constitutional Convention, 186; + for general officers, 240; + result, 244; + Presidential, 1906, 265; + new law, 287; + local elections under Second Intervention, 289; + Presidential, 290; + for Congress in 1908, 303; + Presidential, 1912, 309; + Presidential, 1916, disputed, 330, result confirmed, 341. + + Enciso, Martin F. de, first Spanish writer about America, I, 54. + + Epidemics: putrid fever, 1649, I, 290; + vaccination introduced, II, 192; + small pox and yellow fever, III, 313; + at Santiago, IV, 142; + Gen. Wood applies Dr. Finlay's theory of yellow fever, 171; + success, 176; + malaria, 177. + + Escudero, Antonio, de, II, 10. + + Espada, Juan José Diaz, portrait, facing II, 272. + + Espagnola. See <sc>Hispaniola</sc>. + + Espeleta, Joaquin de, Governor, II, 362. + + Espinosa, Alonzo de Campos, Governor, I, 316. + + Espoleto, José de, Governor, II, 169. + + Estenoz, Negro insurgent, IV, 307. + + Estevez, Luis, Secretary of Justice, IV, 160; + Vice-President, 245. + + Evangelista. See <sc>Isle of Pines</sc>. + + Everett, Edward, policy toward Cuba, III, 130. + + "Ever Faithful Isle," II, 268, 304. + + Exquemeling, Alexander, author and pirate, I, 302. + + + "Family Pact," of Bourbons, effect upon Cuba, II, 42. + + Felin, Antonio, Bishop, II, 172. + + Fels, Cornelius, defeated by Spanish, I, 288. + + Ferdinand, King, policy toward Cuba, I, 56; + esteem for Velasquez, 73. + + Ferdinandina, Columbus's landing place, I, 3; + name for Cuba, 73. + + Ferrara, Orestes, Liberal leader, IV, 260; + revolutionist, 269; + deprecates factional strife, 306; + revolutionary conspirator in New York, 334; + warned by U. S. Government, I, 239. + + Ferrer, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 239. + + Figueroa, Vasco Porcallo de, I, 72; + De Soto's lieutenant, 142; + returns from Florida in disgust, 145. + + Figuerosa, Rojas de, captures Tortuga, I, 292. + + Filarmonia, riot at ball, III, 119. + + Filibustering, proclamation of United States against, III, 42; + after Ten Years' War, 311, in War of Independence, IV, 20; + expeditions intercepted, 52; + many successful expeditions, 69; + warnings, 70. + + Fine Arts, II, 240. + + Finlay, Carlos G., theory of yellow fever successfully applied + under General Wood, IV, 171; + portrait, facing, 172. + + Fish, Hamilton, U. S. Secretary of State, prevents premature + recognition of Cuban Republic, III, 203; + protests against Rodas's decree, 216; + on losses in Ten Years' War, 290; + seeks British support, 292; + states terms of proposed mediation, 293. + + Fish market at Havana, founder for pirate, II, 357. + + Fiske, John, historian, quoted, I, 270. + + Flag, Cuban, first raised, III, 31; + replaces American, IV, 249; + picture, 250; + history and significance, 250. + + Flores y Aldama, Rodrigo de, Governor, I, 301. + + Florida, attempted colonization by Ponce de Leon, I, 139; + De Soto's expedition, 145. See <sc>Menendez</sc>. + + Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, Bishop of Seville, I, 59. + + Fonts-Sterling, Ernesto, Secretary of Finance, IV, 90; + urges resistance to revolution, 270. + + Fornaris, José, III, 230. + + Forestry, attention paid by Montalvo, I, 223; + efforts to check waste, II, 166. + + Foyo, Sr., Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, IV, 297. + + France, first foe of Spanish in Cuba, I, 177; + "Family Pact," II, 42; + interest in Cuban revolution, III, 126. + + Franquinay, pirate, at Santiago, I, 310. + + French refugees, in Cuba, II, 189; + expelled, 302. + + French Revolution, effects of, II, 184. + + Freyre y Andrade, Fernando, filibuster, + IV, 70; + negotiations with Pino Guerra, 267. + + Frye, Alexis, Superintendent of Schools, IV, 156; + controversy with General Wood, 162. + + Fuerza, La: picture, facing I, 146; + building begun by De Soto, I, 147; + scene of Lady Isabel's tragic vigil, 147, 179; + planned and built by Sanchez, 194; + work by Menendez, and Ribera, 209; + slave labor sought, 211; + bad construction, 222; + Montalvo's recommendations, 223; + Luzan-Arana quarrel, 237; + practical completion, 240; + decorated by Cagigal, II, 33. + + + Galvano, Antony, historian, quoted, I, 4. + + Galvez, Bernardo, seeks Cuban aid for Pensacola, II, 146; + Governor, 168; + death, 170. + + Galvez, José Maria, head of Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95. + + Garaondo, José, I, 317. + + Garay, Francisco de, Governor of Jamaica, I, 102. + + Garcia, Calixto, portrait, facing III, 268; + President of Cuban Republic, III, 301; + joins War of Independence, IV, 69; + his notable career, 76 et seq.; + joins with Shafter at Santiago, 111; + death, 241. + + Garcia, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 269. + + Garcia, Esequiel, Secretary of Education, IV, 320. + + Garcia, Marcos, IV, 44. + + Garcia, Quintiliano, III, 329. + + Garvey, José N. P., II, 222. + + Gastaneta, Antonio, II, 9. + + Gelder, Francisco, Governor, I, 292. + + Gener y Rincon, Miguel, Secretary of Justice, IV, 161. + + Geraldini, Felipe, I, 310. + + Germany, malicious course of in 1898, IV, 104; + Cuba declares war against, 348; + property in Cuba seized, 349; + aid to Gomez, 350. + + Gibson. Hugh S., U. S. Chargé d'Affaires, assaulted, IV, 308. + + Giron. Garcia, Governor, I, 279. + + Godoy, Captain, arrested at Santiago, and put to death, I, 203. + + Godoy, Manuel, II, 172. + + Goicouria, Domingo, sketch and portrait, III, 234. + + Gold, Columbus's quest for, I, 19; + Velasquez's search, 61; + the "Spaniards' God," 62; + early mining, 81; + value of mines, 173. + + Gomez, José Antonio, II, 18. + + Gomez, José Miguel, Civil Governor of Santa Clara, IV, 179; + aspires to Presidency, 260, 264; + turns from Conservative to Liberal party, 265; + compact with Zayas, 265; + starts revolution, 269; + elected President, 290; + becomes President, 297; + Cabinet, 297; + sketch and portrait, 298; + acts of his administration, 301; + charged with corruption, 304; + conflict with Veterans' Association, 304; + quarrel with Zayas, 306; + suppresses Negro revolt, 307; + amnesty bill, 309; + National Lottery, 310; + "Dragado" deal, 310; + railroad deal, 310; + estimate of his administration, 311; + double treason in 1916, 332; + defeated and captured, 337; + his orders for devastation, 337; + aided by Germany, 350. + + Gomez, Juan Gualberto, revolutionist, IV, 30; + captured and imprisoned, 52; + insurgent, 269. + + Gomez, Maximo, III, 264; + succeeds Gen. Agramonte, 275; + makes Treaty of Zanjon with Campos, 299; + in War of Independence, IV, 15; + commander in chief, 16, 43; + portrait, facing 44; + plans great campaign of war, 53; + controversy with Lacret, 84; + opposed to American invasion, 109; + appeals to Cubans to accept American occupation, 136; + impeachment by National Assembly ignored, 137; + influence during Government of Intervention, 149; + considered by Constitutional Convention, 191; + proposed for Presidency, 240; + declines, 241. + + Gonzalez, Aurelia Castillo de, author, sketch and portrait, IV, 192. + + Gonzales, William E., U. S. Minister to Cuba, IV, 335; + watches Gomez's insurrection, 336. + + Gorgas, William C., work for sanitation, IV, 175. + + Government of Cuba: organized by Velasquez, I, 69; + developed at Santiago, 81; + radical changes made, 111; + revolution in political status of island, 138; + codification of ordinances, 207; + Ordinances of 1542, 317; + land tenure, II, 12; + reforms by Governor Guemez, 17; + reorganization after British occupation, 104; + great reforms by Torre, 132; + budget and tax reforms, 197; + authority of Captain-General, III, 11; + administrative and judicial functions, 13 et seq.; + military and naval command, 16; + attempted reforms, 63; + concessions after Ten Years' War, 310. + + Governors of Cuba, Spanish, list of, IV, 123. + + Govin, Antonio, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95; + sketch and portrait, 95. + + Grammont, buccaneer, I, 311. + + Gran Caico, I, 4. + + Grand Turk Island. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Grant, U. S., President of United States, III, 200; + inclined to recognize Cuban Republic, 202; + prevented by his Secretary of State, 203; + comments in messages, 205, 292. + + Great Britain, interest in Cuban revolution, III, 125; + protection sought by Spain, 129; + declines cooperation with United States, 294; + requires return of fugitives, 310. + + Great Exuma. See <sc>Ferdinandina</sc>. + + Great Inagua, I, 4. + + Great War, Cuba enters, IV, 348; + offers 10,000 troops, 348; + German intrigues and propaganda, 349; + attitude of Roman Catholic clergy, 349; + ships seized, 350; + cooperation with Food Commission, 351; + military activities, 352; + liberal subscriptions to loans, 352; + Red Cross work, 352; + Seņora Menocal's inspiring leadership, 353. + + Grijalva, Juan de, I, 65; + expedition to Mexico, 66; + names Mexico New Spain, 97; + unjustly recalled and discredited, 88. + + Guajaba Island, I, 18. + + Guama, Cimmarron chief, I, 127. + + Guanabacoa founded, II, 21. + + Guanahani, Columbus's landing place, I, 2. + + Guanajes Islands, source of slave trade, I, 83. + + Guantanamo, Columbus at, I, 19; + U. S. Naval Station, IV, 256. + + Guardia, Cristobal de la, Secretary of Justice, IV, 320. + + Guazo, Gregorio, de la Vega, Governor, I, 340; + stops tobacco war, 341; + warnings to Great Britain and France, 342; + military activity and efficiency, II, 5. + + Guemez y Horcasitas, Juan F., Governor, II, 17; + reforms, 17; + close of administration, 26. + + Guerra, Amador, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Guerra, Benjamin, treasurer of Junta, IV, 3. + + Guerro, Pino, starts insurrection, IV, 267, 269; + commander of Cuban army, 301; + attempt to assassinate him, 303. + + Guevara, Francisco, III, 265. + + Guiteras, Juan, physician and scientist, sketch and portrait, IV, 321. + + Guiteras, Pedro J., quoted, I, 269; + II, 6; + 42; + 207. + + Guzman, Gonzalez de, mission from Velasquez to King Charles I, I, 85; + vindicates Velasquez, 108; + Governor of Cuba, 110; + marries rich sister-in-law, 116; + litigation over estate, 117; + tremendous indictment by Vadillo, 120; + appeals to King and Council for Indies, 120; + seeks to oppress natives, 128; + second time Governor, 137; + makes more trouble, 148; + trouble with French privateers, 178. + + Guzman, Nuņez de, royal treasurer, I, 109; + death and fortune, 115. + + Guzman, Santos, spokesman of Constitutionalists, IV, 59. + + + Hammock, of Cuban origin, I, 10. + + Hanebanilla, falls of, view, facing III, 110. + + Harponville, Viscount Gustave, quoted, II, 189. + + Harvard University, entertains Cuban teachers, IV, 163. + + Hatuey, Cuban chief, leader against Spaniards, I, 62; + death, 63. + + Havana: founded by Narvaez, I, 69; + De Soto's home and capital, 144; + rise in importance, 166; + Governor's permanent residence, 180; + inadequate defences, 183; + captured by Sores, 186; + protected by Mazariegos, 194; + sea wall proposed by Osorio, 202; + fortified by Menendez, 209; + "Key of the New World," 210; + commercial metropolis of West Indies, 216; + first hospital founded, 226; + San Francisco church, picture, facing 226; + building in Carreņo's time, 231; + custom house, 231; + threatened by Drake, 243; + preparations for defence, 250; + officially called "city," 262; + coat of arms, 202; + primitive conditions, 264; + first theatrical performance, 264; + capital of western district, 275; + great fire, 277; + attacked by Pit Hein, 280; + described by John Chilton, 349; + first dockyard established, II, 8; + attacked by British under Admiral + Hosier, 9; + University founded, 11; + described by John Campbell, 14; + British expedition against in 1762, 46; + journal of siege, 54; + American troops engaged, 66; + surrender, 69; + terms, 71; + British occupation, 78; + great changes, 94; + description, 94; + view from Cabanas, facing, 96; + reoccupied by Spanish, 102; + hurricane, 115; + improvements in streets and buildings, 129; + view in Old Havana, facing 130; + street cleaning, and market, 169; + slaughter house removed, 194; + shopping, 242; + cafés, 243; + Tacon's public works, 365; + view of old Presidential Palace, facing III, 14; + view of the Prado, facing IV, 16; + besieged in War of Independence, 62; + view of bay and harbor, facing, 98; + old City Wall, picture, 122; + view of old and new buildings, facing 134; + General Ludlow's administration, 146; + Police reorganized, 150; + view of University, facing 164; + view of the new capitol, facing 204; + view of the President's home, facing 268; + view of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, facing 288; + new railroad terminal, 311. + + Hay, John, epigram on revolutions, IV, 343 + + Hayti. See <sc>Hispaniola</sc>. + + Hein, Pit, Dutch raider, I, 279. + + Henderson, John, on Lopez's expedition, III, 64. + + <i>Herald</i>, New York, on Cuban revolution, III, 89. + + Heredia, José Maria. II, 274; + exiled, 344; + life and works, III, 318; + portrait, facing 318. + + Hernani, Domingo, II, 170. + + Herrera, historian, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12; + on Hatuey, 62; + description of West Indies, 345. + + Herrera, Geronimo Bustamente de, I, 194. + + Hevea, Aurelio, Secretary of Interior, IV, 320. + + Hispaniola, Columbus at, I, 19; + revolution in, II, 173; + 186; + effect upon Cuba, 189. + + Hobson, Richmond P., exploit at Santiago, IV, 110. + + Holleben, Dr. von, German Ambassador at Washington, intrigues of, + IV, 104. + + Home Rule, proposed by Spain, IV, 6; + adopted, 8. + + Horses introduced into Cuba, I, 63. + + Hosier, Admiral, attacks Havana, I, 312; + II, 9. + + Hospital, first in Havana, I, 226; + Belen founded, 318; + San Paula and San Francisco, 195. + + "House of Fear," Governor's home, I, 156. + + Humboldt, Alexander von, on slavery, II, 206; + on census, 277; + 282; + on slave trade, 288. + + Hurricanes, II, 115, 176, 310. + + Hurtado, Lopez, royal treasurer, I, 116; + has Chaves removed, 162. + + + Ibarra, Carlos, defeats Dutch raiders, I, 288. + + Incas, I, 7. + + Independence, first conceived, II, 268; + 326; + first revolts for, 343; + sentiment fostered by slave trade, 377; + proclaimed by Aguero, III, 72; + proclaimed by Cespedes at Yara, 155; + proposed by United States to Spain, 217; + War of Independence, IV, 1; + recognized by Spain, 119. See <sc>War of Independence</sc>. + + Intellectual life of Cuba, I, 360; + lack of productiveness in Sixteenth Century, 362; + Cuban backwardness, II, 235; + first important progress, 273; + great arising and splendid achievements, III, 317. + + Insurrections. See <sc>Revolutions</sc>, and <sc>Slavery</sc>. + + Intervention, Government of: First, established, IV, 132; + organized, 145; + Cuban Cabinet, 145; + saves island from famine, 146; + works of rehabilitation and reform, 148; + marriage law, 152; + concessions forbidden, 153; + census, 154; + civil governments of provinces, 179; + municipal elections ordered, 180; + electoral law 180; + final transactions, 246; + Second Government of Intervention, 281; + C. E. Magoon, Governor, 281; + Consulting Board, 284; + elections held, 289, 290; + commission for revising laws, 294; + controversy over church property, 294. + + Intervention sought by Great Britain and France, III, 128; + by United States, IV, 106. + + Iroquois, I, 7. + + Irving, Washington, on Columbus's landing place, I, 12. + + Isabella, Columbus's landing place, I, 3. + + Isabella, Queen, portrait, I, 13. + + Isidore of Seville, quoted, I, 4. + + Islas de Arena, I, 11. + + Isle of Pines, I, 26; + recognized as part of Cuba, 224; + status under Platt Amendment, IV, 255. + + Italian settlers in Cuba, I, 169. + + Ivonnet, Negro insurgent, IV, 307. + + + Jamaica, Columbus at, I, 20. + + Japan. See <sc>Cipango</sc>. + + Jaruco, founded, II, 131. + + Jefferson, Thomas, on Cuban annexation, II, 260; + III, 132. + + Jeronimite Order, made guardian of Indians, I, 78; + becomes their oppressor, 127. + + Jesuits, controversy over, II, 86; + expulsion of, 111. + + Jordan, Thomas, joins Cuban revolution, III, 211. + + Jorrin, José Silverio, portrait, facing III, 308. + + Jovellar, Joachim, Governor, III, 273; + proclaims state of siege, 289; + resigns, 290. + + Juana, Columbus's first name for Cuba, I, 13. + + Juan Luis Keys, I, 21. + + Judiciary, reforms in, II, 110; + under Navarro, 142; + under Unzaga, 165; + under Leonard Wood, IV, 177. + + Junta, Cuban, in United States, III, 91; + New York, IV, 2; + branches elsewhere, 3; + policy in enlisting men, 19. + + Junta de Fomento, II, 178. + + Juntas of the Laborers, III, 174. + + + Keppel, Gen. See <sc>Albemarle</sc>. + + Key Indians, I, 125; + expedition against, 126. + + "Key of the New World and Bulwark of the Indies," I, 210. + + Kindelan, Sebastian de, II, 197, 315. + + + Lacoste, Perfecto, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, + IV, 160. + + Land tenure, II, 12; + absentee landlords, 214. + + Lanuza, Gonzalez, Secretary of Justice, IV, 146; + portrait, 146. + + Lares, Amador de, I, 93. + + La Salle, in Cuba, I, 73. + + Las Casas, Bartholomew, Apostle to the Indies, arrival in Cuba, I, 63; + portrait, 64; + denounces Narvaez, 66; + begins campaign against slavery, 75; + mission to Spain, 77; + before Ximenes, 77. + + Las Casas, Luis de, Governor, II, 175; + portrait, 175; + death, 182. + + Lasso de la Vega, Juan, Bishop, II, 17. + + Lawton, Gen. Henry W., leads advance against Spanish, IV, 112; + Military Governor of Oriente, 139. + + Lazear, Camp, established, IV, 172. + + Lazear, Jesse W., hero and martyr in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Ledesma, Francisco Rodriguez, Governor, I, 310. + + Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul General at Havana, IV, 72; + reports on "concentration" policy of Weyler, 86; + asks for warship to protect Americans at Havana, 97; + <i>Maine</i> sent, 98; + commands troops at Havana, 121. + + Lee, Robert Edward, declines to join Lopez, III, 39. + + Legrand, Pedro, invades Cuba, I, 302. + + Leiva, Lopez, Secretary of Government, IV, 297. + + Lemus, Jose Morales, III, 333. + + Lendian, Evelio Rodriguez, educator, sketch and portrait, IV, 162. + + Liberal Party, III, 306; + triumphant through revolution, IV, 285; + dissensions, 303; + conspiracy against election, 329. + + Liberty Loans, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 352. + + Lighthouse service, under Mario G. Menocal, IV, 168. + + Linares, Tomas de, first Rector of University of Havana, II, 11. + + Lindsay, Forbes, quoted, II, 217. + + Linschoten, Jan H. van, historian, quoted, I, 351. + + Liquor, intoxicating, prohibited in 1780, II, 150. + + Literary periodicals: <i>El Habanero</i>, III, 321; + <i>El Plantel</i>, 324; + <i>Cuban Review</i>, 325; + <i>Havana Review</i>, 329. + + Literature, II, 245; + early works, 252; + poets, 274; + great development of activity, III, 315 et seq. + + Little Inagua, I, 4. + + Llorente, Pedro, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188, 190. + + Lobera, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 182; + desperate defence against Sores, 185. + + Lolonois, pirate, I, 296. + + Long Island. See <sc>Ferdinandina</sc>. + + Lopez, Narciso, sketch and portrait, III, 23; + in Venezuela, 24; + joins the Spanish + army, 26; + marries and settles in Cuba, 30; + against the Carlists in Spain, 31; + friend of Valdez, 31; + offices and honors, 33; + plans Cuban revolution, 36; + betrayed and fugitive, 37; + consults Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, 38; + first American expedition, 39; + members of the party, 40; + activity in Southern States, 43; + expedition starts, 45; + proclamation to his men, 46; + lands at Cardenas, 49; + lack of Cuban support, 54; + reembarks, 56; + lands at Key West, 58; + arrested and tried, 60; + second expedition organized, 65; + betrayed, 67; + third expedition, 70; + final expedition organized, 91; + lands in Cuba, 98; + defeated and captured, 112; + death, 114; + results of his works, 116. + + Lorenzo, Gen., Governor at Santiago, II, 347. + + Lorraine, Sir Lambton, III, 280. + + Los Rios, J. B. A. de, I, 310. + + Lottery, National, established by José Miguel Gomez, IV, 310. + + Louisiana, Franco-Spanish contest over, II, 117; + Ulloa sent from Cuba to take possession, 118; + O'Reilly sent, 123; + Uznaga sent, 126. + + Louverture, Toussaint, II, 186. + + Luaces, Joaquin Lorenzo, sketch and portrait, III, 330. + + Ludlow, Gen. William, command and work at Havana, IV, 144. + + Lugo, Pedro Benitez de, Governor, I, 331. + + Luna y Sarmiento, Alvaro de, Governor, I, 290. + + Luz y Caballero, José de la, "Father of the Cuban Revolution," + III, 322; + great work for patriotic education, 323; + Portrait, frontispiece, Vol III. + + Luzan, Gabriel de, Governor, I, 236; + controversy over La Fuerza, 237; + feud with Quiņones, 241; + unites with Quiņones to resist Drake, 243; + energetic action, 246; + tenure of office prolonged, 250; + end of term, 260. + + + Macaca, province of, I, 20. + + Maceo, José Antonio, proclaims Provisional Government, IV, 15; + leader in War of Independence, 41; + commands Division of Oriente, 43; + defeats Campos, 46; + plans great campaign, 53; + invades Pinar del Rio, 61; + successful campaign, 73; + death, 74; + portrait, facing 74. + + Maceo, José, IV, 41; + marches through Cuba, 76. + + Machado, Eduard, treason of, III, 258. + + Machete, used in battle, IV, 57. + + Madison, James, on status of Cuba, III, 132. + + Madriaga, Juan Ignacio, II, 59. + + Magoon, Charles E., Provisional Governor, IV, 281; + his administration, 283; + promotes public works, 286; + takes census, 287; + election law, 287; + retires, 295. + + Mahy, Nicolas, Governor, II, 315. + + Mail service established, II, 107; + under American occupation, IV, 168. + + Maine sent to Havana, IV, 98; + destruction of, 98; + investigation, 100. + + Maldonado, Diego, I, 146. + + Mandeville, Sir John, I, 20. + + Mangon, identified with Mangi, I, 20. + + Manners and Customs, II, 229 et seq.; + balls, 239; + shopping, 242; + relations of black and white races, 242; + cafés, 243; + early society, 248. + + Monosca, Juan Saenz, Bishop, I, 301. + + Manrique, Diego, Governor, II, 109. + + Manzaneda y Salines, Severino de, Governor, I, 320. + + Manzanillo, Declaration of Independence issued, III, 155. + + Maraveo Ponce de Leon, Gomez de, I, 339. + + Marco Polo, I, 4, 20. + + Marcy, William L., policy toward Cuba, III, 136. + + Mar de la Nuestra Seņora, I, 18. + + Mariguana. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Marin, Sabas, succeeds Campos in command, IV, 63. + + Markham, Sir Clements, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12. + + Marmol, Donato, III, 173, 184. + + Marquez, Pedro Menendez, I, 206. + + Marriage law, reformed under American occupation, IV, 152; + controversy over, 153. + + Marti, José, portrait, frontispiece, Vol IV; + leader of War of Independence, IV, 2; + his career, 9; + in New York, 11; + organizes Junta, 11; + goes to Cuba, 15; + death, 16; + his war manifesto, 17; + fulfilment of his ideals, 355. + + Marti, José, secretary of War, portrait, IV, 360. + + Marti, the pirate, II, 357. + + Martinez Campos. See Campos. + + Martinez, Dionisio de la Vega, Governor, II, 8; + inscription on La Punta, 14. + + Martinez, Juan, I, 192. + + Martyr, Peter, I, 53. + + Maso, Bartolome, revolutionist, IV, 34; + rebukes Spotorno, 35; + President of Cuban Republic, 43; + Vice President of Council, 48; + President of Republic, 90; + candidate for Vice President, 242; + seeks Presidency, 243. + + Mason, James M., U. S. Minister to France, III, 141. + + Masse, E. M., describes slave trade, II, 202; + rural life, 216; + on Spanish policy toward Cuba, 227; + social morals, 230. + + Matanzas, founded, I, 321; + meaning of name, 321. + + Maura, Sr., proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 5. + + McCullagh, John B., reorganizes Havana Police, IV, 150. + + McKinley, William, President of United States, message of 1897 + on Cuba, IV, 87; + declines European mediation, 103; + message for war, 104. + + Maza, Enrique, assaults Hugh S. Gibson, IV, 308. + + Mazariegos, Diego de, Governor, I, 191; + a scandalous moralist, 193; + defences against privateering, 193; + takes charge of La Fuerza, 195; + controversy with Governor of Florida, 196; + replaced by Sandoval, 197. + + Medina, Fernando de, I, 111. + + Mendez-Capote, Fernando, Secretary of Sanitation, portrait, IV, 360. + + Mendieta, Carlos, candidate for Vice President, IV, 328; + rebels, 338. + + Mendive, Rafael Maria de, III, 328. + + Mendoza, Martin de, I, 204. + + Menendez, Pedro de Aviles, I, 199; + commander of Spanish fleet, 200; + clash with Osorio, 201; + Governor of Cuba, 205; + dealing with increasing enemies, 208; + fortifies Havana, 209; + recalled to Spain, 213; + conflict with Bishop Castillo, 226. + + Menocal, Aniceto G., portrait, IV, 50. + + Menocal, Mario G., Assistant Secretary of War, IV, 49; + Chief of Police at Havana, 144, 150; + in charge of Lighthouse Service, 168; + candidate for President, 290; + slandered by Liberals, 291; + elected President, 312; + biography, 312; + portrait, facing 312; + view of birthplace, 313; + Cabinet, 320; + opinion of Cuba's needs, 321; + first message, 322; + conflict with Congress, 323; + important reforms, 324; + suppresses rebellion, 327; + candidate for reelection, 328; + vigorous action against Gomez's rebellion, 335; + declines American aid, 337; + escapes assassination, 339; + reelection confirmed, 341; + clemency to traitors, 342; + message on entering Great War, 346; + fulfilment of Marti's ideals, 355; + estimate of his administration, 356; + achievements for education, 357; + health, 357; + industry and commerce, 358; + finance, 359; + "from Velasquez to Menocal," 365. + + Menocal, Seņora, leadership of Cuban womanhood in Red Cross and + other work, IV, 354; + portrait, facing 352. + + Mercedes, Maria de las, quoted, II, 174; + on slave insurrection, 368. + + Merchan, Rafael, III, 174; + patriotic works, 335. + + Merlin, Countess de. See <sc>Mercedes</sc>. + + <i>Merrimac</i>, sunk at Santiago, IV, 111. + + Mesa, Hernando de, first Bishop, I, 122. + + Mestre, José Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 326. + + Meza, Sr., Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, IV, 297. + + Mexico, discovered and explored from Cuba, I, 87; + designs upon Cuba, II, 262; + Cuban expedition against, 346; + warned off by United States, III, 134; + fall of Maximilian, 150. + + Milanes, José Jacinto, sketch, portrait and works, III, 324. + + Miles, Gen. Nelson A., prepares for invasion of Cuba, IV, 111. + + Miranda, Francisco, II, 156; + with Bolivar, 335. + + Miscegenation, II, 204. + + Molina, Francisco, I, 290. + + Monastic orders, I, 276. + + Monroe Doctrine, foreshadowed, II, 256; + promulgated, 328. + + Monroe, James, interest in Cuba, II, 257; + promulgates Doctrine, 328; + portrait, 329. + + Monserrate Gate, Havana, picture, II, 241. + + Montalvo, Gabriel, Governor, I, 215; + feud with Rojas family, 218; + investigated and retired, 219; + pleads for naval protection for Cuba, 220. + + Montalvo, Lorenzo, II, 89. + + Montalvo, Rafael, Secretary of Public Works, urges resistance + to revolutionists, IV, 270. + + Montanes, Pedro Garcia, I, 292. + + Montano See <sc>Velasquez</sc>, J. M. + + Montes, Garcia, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 254. + + Montesino, Antonio, I, 78. + + Montiel, Vasquez de, naval commander, I, 278. + + Montoro, Rafael, Representative in Cortes, III, 308; + spokesman of Autonomists, IV, 59; + in Autonomist Cabinet, 95; + candidate for Vice President, 290; + attacked by Liberals, 291; + biography, 317; + portrait, facing 320. + + Morales case, IV, 92. + + Morales. Pedro de, commands at Santiago, I, 299. + + Morals, strangely mixed with piety and vice, II, 229. + + Morell, Pedro Augustino, Bishop, II, 53; + controversy with Albemarle, 83; + exiled, 87; + death, 113. + + Moreno, Andres, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 90. + + Moret law, abolishing slavery, III, 243. + + Morgan, Henry, plans raid on Havana, I, 297; + later career, 303. + + Morro Castle, Havana, picture, facing I, 180; + site of battery, 180; + tower built by Mazariegos, 196; + fortified against Drake, 249; + planned by Antonelli, 261; + besieged by British, II, 55. + + Morro Castle, Santiago, built, I, 289; + picture, facing 298. + + Mucaras, I, 11. + + Muenster, geographer, I, 6. + + Mugeres Islands, I, 84. + + Munive, Andres de, I, 317. + + Murgina y Mena, A. M., I, 317. + + Music, early concerts at Havana, II, 239. + + + Nabia, Juan Alfonso de, I, 207. + + Nancy Globe, I. 6. + + Napoleon's designs upon Cuba, II, 203. + + Naranjo, probable landing place of Columbus, I, 12. + + Narvaez, Panfilo de, portrait, I, 63; + arrival in Cuba, 63; + campaign against natives, 65; + explores the island, 67; + errand to Spain, 77; + sent to Mexico to oppose Cortez, 98; + secures appointment of Councillors for life, 111. + + Naval stations, U. S., in Cuba, IV, 255. + + Navarrete, quoted, I, 3, 12. + + Navarro, Diego Jose, Governor, II, 141, 150. + + Navy, Spanish, in Cuban waters, III, 182, 225. + + Negroes, imported as slaves, I, 170; + treatment of, 171; + slaves and free, increasing numbers of, 229. See <sc>Slavery</sc>. + + New Orleans, anti-Spanish outbreak, III, 126. + + New Spain. See <sc>Mexico</sc>. + + Newspapers: <i>Gazeta</i>, 1780, II, 157; + <i>Papel Periodico</i>, 179; + 246; + publications in Paris, Madrid and New York, 354; + El Faro Industrial, III, 18; + Diario de la Marina, 18; + La Verdad, 18; + La Vos de Cuba, 260; + La Vos del Siglo, 232; + La Revolucion, 333; + El Siglo, 334; + El Laborante, 335. + + Norsemen, American colonists, I, 7. + + Nougaret, Jean Baptiste, quoted, II, 26. + + Nuņez, Emilio, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12; + in war, 57; + Civil Governor of Havana, 179; + head of Veterans' Association, 305; + Secretary of Agriculture, 320; + candidate for Vice President, 328; + election confirmed, 341. + + Nuņez, Enrique, Secretary of Health and Charities, IV, 320. + + + Ocampo, Sebastian de, circumnavigates Cuba, I, 54. + + O'Donnell, George Leopold, Governor, II, 365; + his wife's sordid intrigues, 365. + + Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, hostile to Spain, II, 24, 30. + + O'Hara, Theodore, with Lopez, III, 46. + + Ojeda, Alonzo de, I, 54; + introduces Christianity to Cuba, 55. + + Olid, Christopher de, sent to Mexico, I, 88. + + Olney, Richard. U. S. Secretary of State, attitude toward War + of Independence, IV, 71. + + Oquendo, Antonio de, I, 281. + + Orejon y Gaston, Francisco Davila de, Governor, I, 301, 310. + + O'Reilly, Alexandre, sent to occupy Louisiana, II, 123; + ruthless rule, 125. + + Orellano, Diego de, I, 86. + + Ornofay, province of, I, 20. + + Ortiz, Bartholomew, alcalde mayor, I, 146; + retires, 151. + + Osorio, Garcia de Sandoval, Governor, I, 197; + conflict with Menendez, 199, 201; + retired, 205; + tried, 206. + + Osorio, Sancho Pardo, I, 207. + + Ostend Manifesto, III, 142. + + Ovando, Alfonso de Caceres, I, 214; + revises law system, 233. + + Ovando, Nicolas de, I, 54. + + + Palma, Tomas Estrada, head of Cuban Junta in New York, IV, 3; + Provisional President of Cuban Republic, 15; + Delegate at Large, 43; + rejects anything short of independence, 71; + candidate for Presidency, 241; + his career, 241; + elected President, 245; + arrival in Cuba, 247; + portrait, facing 248; + receives transfer of government from General Wood, 248; + Cabinet, 254; + first message, 254; + prosperous administration, 259; + non-partisan at first, 264; + forced toward Conservative party, 264; + reelected, 266; + refuses to believe insurrection impending, 266; + refuses to submit to blackmail, 268; + betrayed by Congress, 269; + acts too late, 270; + seeks American aid, 271; + interview with W. H. Taft, 276; + resigns Presidency, 280; + estimate of character and work, 282; + death, 284. + + Palma y Romay, Ramon, III, 327. + + Parra, Antonio, scientist, II, 252. + + Parra, Maso, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Parties, political, in Cuba, IV, 59; + origin and characteristics of Conservative and Liberal, 181, 261. + + Pasalodos, Damaso, Secretary to President, IV, 297 + + Pasamonte, Miguel, intrigues against Columbus, I, 58. + + Paz, Doņa de, marries Juan de Avila, I, 154. + + Paz, Pedro de, I, 109. + + Penalosa, Diego de, Governor, II, 31. + + Penalver. See <sc>Penalosa</sc>. + + Penalver, Luis, Bishop of New Orleans, II, 179. + + "Peninsulars," III, 152. + + Pensacola, settlement of, I, 328; + seized by French, 342; + recovered by Spanish, II, 7; + defended by Galvez, 146. + + Pereda, Gaspar Luis, Governor, I, 276. + + Perez, Diego, repels privateers, I, 179. + + Perez, Perico, revolutionist, IV, 15, 30, 78. + + Perez de Zambrana, Luisa, sketch and portrait, III, 328. + + Personal liberty restricted, III, 8. + + Peru, good wishes for Cuban revolution, III, 223. + + Philip II, King, appreciation of Cuba, I, 260. + + Pieltain, Candido, Governor, III, 275. + + Pierce, Franklin, President of United States, policy toward + Cuba, III, 136. + + Pina, Severo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 48. + + Pinar del Rio, city founded, II, 131; + Maceo invades province, IV, 61; + war in, 73. + + Pineyro, Enrique, III, 333; + sketch and portrait, 334. + + Pinto, Ramon, sketch and portrait, III, 62. + + "Pirates of America," I, 296. + + Pizarro, Francisco de, I, 54, 91. + + Platt, Orville H., Senator, on relations of United States + and Cuba, IV, 198; + Amendment to Cuban Constitution, 199; + Amendment adopted, 203; + text of Amendment, 238. + + Pococke, Sir George, expedition against Havana, II, 46. + + Poey, Felipe, sketch and portrait, III, 315. + + Point Lucrecia, I, 18. + + Polavieja, Gen., Governor, III, 314. + + Police, reorganized, II, 312; + under American occupation, IV, 150; + police courts established, 171. + + Polk, James K., President of the United States, policy toward + Cuba, III, 135. + + Polo y Bernabe, Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 98. + + Ponce de Leon, in Cuba, I, 73; + death, 139. + + Ponce de Leon, of New York, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13. + + Pope, efforts to maintain peace, between United States and + Spain, IV, 104. + + Porro, Cornelio, treason of, III, 257. + + Port Banes, I, 18. + + Port Nipe, I, 18. + + Port Nuevitas, I, 3. + + Portuguese settlers, I, 168. + + Portuondo, Rafael, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, IV, 48; + filibuster, 70. + + Prado y Portocasso, Juan, Governor, II, 49; + neglect of duty, 52; + sentenced to degradation, 108. + + Praga, Francisco de, I, 282. + + Presidency, first candidates for, IV, 240; + Tomas Estrada Palma elected, 245; + José Miguel Gomez aspires to, 260; + candidates in 1906, 265; + Palma's resignation, 280; + Jose Miguel Gomez elected, 290; + fourth campaign, 312; + Mario G. Menocal elected, 312; + fifth campaign, 328; + General Menocal reelected, 341. + + Prim, Gen., Spanish revolutionist, III, 145. + + Printing, first press in Cuba, II, 245. + + Privateers, French ravage Cuba, I, 177; + Havana and Santiago attacked, 178; + Havana looted, 179; + Jacques Sores, 183; + Havana captured, 186; + Santiago looted, 193; + French raids, 220, et seq. + + Proctor, Redfield, Senator, investigates and reports on condition + of Cuba in War of Independence, IV, 87. + + Procurators, appointment of, I, 112. + + Protectorate, tripartite, refused by United States, II, 261; + III, 130, 133. + + Provincial governments organized, IV, 179, confusion in, 292. + + Public Works, promoted by General Wood, IV, 166; + by Magoon, 286. + + Puerto Grande. See <sc>Guantanamo</sc>. + + Puerto Principe, I, 18, 167. + + Punta, La, first fortification, I, 203; + strengthened against Drake, 249; + fortress planned by Antonelli, 261; + picture, IV, 33. + + Punta Lucrecia, I, 3. + + Punta Serafina, I, 22. + + + Queen's Gardens, I, 20. + + Quero, Geronimo, I, 277. + + Quesada, Gonzalo de, Secretary of Cuban Junta, IV, 3; + Minister to United States, 275. + + Quesada, Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 167; + proclamation, 169; + death, 262. + + Quezo, Juan de, I, 113. + + Quilez, J. M., Civil Governor of Pinar del Rio, IV, 179. + + Quiņones, Diego Hernandez de, commander of fortifications at + Havana, I, 240; + feud with Luzan, 241; + unites with Luzan to resist Drake, 243. + + Quiņones, Doņa Leonora de, I, 117. + + + Rabi, Jesus, revolutionist, IV, 34, 42. + + Railroads, first in Cuba, II, 343. + + Raja, Vicente, Governor, I, 337. + + Ramirez, Alejandro, sketch and portrait, II, 311. + + Ramirez, Miguel, Bishop, partisan of Guzman, I, 120; + political activities and greed, 124. + + Ramos, Gregorio, I, 274. + + Ranzel, Diego, I, 295. + + Recio, R. Lopez, Civil Governor of Camaguey, IV, 180. + + Recio, Serafin, III, 86. + + Reciprocity, secured by Roosevelt for Cuba, IV, 256. + + "Reconcentrados," mortality among, IV, 86. + + Red Cross, Cuban activities, IV, 353. + + Redroban, Pedro de, I, 201. + + Reed, Walter, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Reformists, Spanish, support Blanco's Autonomist policy, IV, 97. + + Reggio, Andreas, II, 32. + + Reno, George, in War of Independence, IV, 12; + running blockade, 21; + portrait, 21; + services in Great War, 351. + + Renteria, Pedro de, partner of Las Casas, I, 75; + opposes slavery, 76. + + Repartimiento, I, 70. + + Republic of Cuba: proclaimed and organized, III, 157; + first representative Assembly, 161; + Constitution of 1868, 164; + first House of Representatives, 176; + Judiciary, 177; + legislation, 177; + army, 178; + fails to secure recognition, 203; + Government reorganized, 275; + after Treaty of Zanjon, 301; + reorganized in War of Independence, IV, 15; + Maso chosen President, 43; + Conventions of Yara and Najasa, 47; + Constitution adopted, 47; + Government reorganized, Cisneros President, 48; + capital at Las Tunas, 56; + removes to Cubitas, 72; + exercises functions of government, 72; + reorganized in 1897, 90; + after Spanish evacuation of island, 134; + disbanded, 135; + Constitutional Convention called, 185; + Constitution completed, 192; + relations with United States, 195; + Platt Amendment, 203; + enters Great War, 346. + + Revolutions: Rise of spirit, II, 268; + in South America, 333; + "Soles de Bolivar," 341; + attempts to revolt, 344; + "Black Eagle," 346; + plans of Lopez, III, 36; + Lopez's first invasion, 49; + Aguero's insurrection, 72; + comments of New York <i>Herald</i>, 89; + Lopez's last expedition, 91; + results of his work, 116; + European interest, 125; + beginning of Ten Years' War. 155; + end of Ten Years' War, 299; + insurrection renewed, 308, 318; + War of Independence, IV, 1; + Sartorius Brothers, 4; + end of War of Independence, 116; + revolt against President Palma, 266; + ultimatum, 278; + government overthrown, 280; + Negro insurrection, 307; + conspiracy against President Menocal, 327; + great treason of José Miguel Gomez, 332; + Gomez captured, 337; + warnings from United States Government, 338; + revolutions denounced by United States, 343. + + Revolutionary party, Cuban, IV, 1, 11. + + Rey, Juan F. G., III, 40. + + Riano y Gamboa, Francisco, Governor, I, 287. + + Ribera, Diego de, I, 206; + work on La Fuerza, 209. + + Ricafort, Mariano, Governor, II, 347. + + Ricla, Conde de, Governor, II, 102; + retires, 109. + + Rio de la Luna, I, 16. + + Rio de Mares, I, 16. + + Riva-Martiz, I, 279. + + Rivera, Juan Ruiz, filibuster, IV, 70; + succeeds Maceo, 79. + + Rivera, Ruiz, Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, IV, 160. + + Roa, feud with Villalobos, I, 323. + + Rodas, Caballero de, Governor, III, 213; + emancipation decree, 242. + + Rodney, Sir George, expedition to West Indies, II, 153. + + Rodriguez, Alejandro, suppresses revolt, IV, 266. + + Rodriguez, Laureano, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95. + + Rojas, Alfonso de, I, 181. + + Rojas, Gomez de, banished, I, 193; + Governor of La Fuerza, 217; + rebuilds Santiago, 258. + + Rojas, Hernando de, expedition to Florida, I, 196. + + Rojas, Juan Bautista de, royal treasurer, I, 218. + + Rojas, Juan de, aid to Lady Isabel de Soto, I, 145; + commander at Havana, 183. + + Rojas, Manuel de, Governor, I, 105; + adopts policy of "Cuba for the Cubans," 106; + second Governorship, 121; + dealings with Indians, 126; + noble endeavors frustrated, 130; + resigns, 135; + the King's unique tribute to him, 135. + + Roldan, Francisco Dominguez, Secretary of Public Instruction, + sketch and portrait, IV, 357. + + Roldan, José Gonzalo, III, 328. + + Roloff, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 45; + Secretary of War, 48; + filibuster, 70. + + Romano Key, I, 18. + + Romay, Tomas, introduces vaccination, II, 192; + portrait, facing 192. + + Roncali, Federico, Governor, II, 366; + on Spanish interests in Cuba, 381. + + Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113; + portrait, 113; + President of United States, on relations with Cuba, 245; + estimate of General Wood's work in Cuba, 251; + fight with Congress for Cuban reciprocity, 256; + seeks to aid President Palma against revolutionists, 275; + letter to Quesada, 275. + + Root, Elihu, Secretary of War, on Cuban Constitution, IV, 194; + on Cuban relations with United States, 197; + explains Platt Amendment, 201. + + Rowan, A. S., messenger to Oriente, IV. 107. + + Rubalcava, Manuel Justo, II, 274. + + Rubens, Horatio, Counsel of Cuban Junta, IV, 3. + + Rubios, Palacios, I, 78. + + Ruiz, Joaquin, spy, IV, 91; + death, 92. See <sc>Aranguren</sc>. + + Ruiz, Juan Fernandez, filibuster, IV, 70. + + Rum Cay. See <sc>Conception</sc>. + + Rural Guards, organized by General Wood, IV, 144; + efficiency of, 301. + + Ruysch, geographer, I, 6. + + + Saavedra, Juan Esquiro, I, 278. + + Sabinal Key, I, 18. + + Saco, José Antonio, pioneer of Independence, II, 378; + portrait, facing 378; + literary and patriotic work, III, 325, 327. + + Sagasta, Praxedes, Spanish Premier, proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 6; + resigns, 36. + + Saint Augustine, expedition against, I, 332. + + Saint Mery, M. de, search for tomb of Columbus, I, 34. + + Salamanca, Juan de, Governor, I, 295; + promotes industries, 300. + + Salamanca y Negrete, Manuel, Governor, III, 314. + + Salaries, some early, I, 263. + + Salas, Indalacio, IV, 21. + + Salazar. See <sc>Someruelos</sc>. + + Salcedo, Bishop, controversy with Governor Tejada, I, 262. + + Sama Point, I, 4. + + Samana. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Sampson, William T., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110; + at Santiago, 114; + portrait, 115. + + Sanchez, Bartolome, makes plans for La + Fuerza, I, 194; + begins building, 195; + feud with Mazariegos, 197. + + Sanchez, Bernabe, II, 345. + + Sancti Spiritus, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168. + + Sandoval, Garcia Osorio, Governor, I, 197. See <sc>Osario</sc>. + + Sanitation, undertaken by Guemez, II, 18; + vaccination introduced by Dr. Romay. 192; + bad conditions, III, 313; + General Wood at Santiago, IV, 142; + achievements under President Menocal, 357. + + Sanguilly, Julio, falls in leading revolution, IV, 29, 55. + + Sanguilly, Manuel, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 190. + + San Lazaro watchtower, picture, I, 155; + fortified against Drake, 248. + + San Salvador. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Santa Clara, Conde de, Governor, II, 194, 300. + + Santa Crux del Sur, I, 20. + + Santa Cruz, Francisco, I, 111. + + Santiago de Cuba, Columbus at, I, 19; + founded by Velasquez, 68; + second capital of island, 69; + seat of gold refining, 80; + site of cathedral, 123; + condition in Angulo's time, 166; + looted by privateers, 193; + fortified by Menendez, 203; + raided and destroyed by French, 256; + rebuilt by Gomez de Rojas, 258; + capital of Eastern District, 275; + Morro Castle built, 289; + captured by British, 299; + attacked by Franquinay, 310; + attacked by Admiral Vernon, II, 29; + literary activities, 169; + great improvements made, 180; + battles near in War of Independence, IV, 112; + naval battle, 114; + General Wood's administration, 135; + great work for sanitation, 142. + + Santiago, battle of, IV, 114. + + Santiago, sunset scene, facing III, 280. + + Santillan, Diego, Governor, I, 205. + + Santo Domingo See <sc>Hispaniola</sc>. + + Sanudo, Luis, Governor, I, 336. + + Sarmiento. Diego de, Bishop, makes trouble, I, 149, 152. + + Saunders, Romulus M., sounds Spain on purchase of Cuba, III, 135. + + Sartorius, Manuel and Ricardo, revolutionists, IV, 4. + + Savine, Albert, on British designs on Cuba, II, 40. + + Schley, Winfield S., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110; + portrait, 110; + at Santiago, 114. + + Schoener's globe, I, 5. + + Schools, backward condition of, II, 174, 244, 312. See <sc>Education</sc>. + + Shafter, W. R., General, leads American army into Cuba, IV, 111. + + Shipbuilding at Havana, II, 8, 33, 113, 300. + + Sickles, Daniel E., Minister to Spain, offers mediation, III, 217. + + Silva, Manuel, Secretary of Interior, IV, 90. + + Slave Insurrection, II, 13; + III, 367, et seq. + + Slavery, begun in Repartimiento system, I, 70; + not sanctioned by King, 82; + slave trading begun, 83; + growth and regulation, 170; + oppressive policy of Spain, 266; + the "Assiento," II, 2; + great growth + of trade, 22; + gross abuses, 202; + described by Masse, 202; + census of slaves, 204; + rise of emancipation movement, 206; + rights of slaves defined by King, 210; + African trade forbidden, 285; + Negro census, 286; + early records of trade, 288; + Humboldt on, 288; + statistics of trade, 289 et seq.; + domestic relations of slaves, 292; + dangers of system denounced, 320; + official complicity in illegal trade, 366; + slave insurrection, 367; + inhuman suppression by government, 374 et seq.; + emancipation by revolution of 1868, 159; + United States urges Spain to abolish slavery, 242; + Rodas's decrees, 242; + Moret law, 243. + + Smith, Caleb. publishes book on West Indies, II, 37. + + Smuggling, II, 133. + + "Sociedad de Amigos," II, 169. + + "Sociedad Patriotica," II, 166. + + "Sociedad Patriotica y Economica," II, 178. + + Society of Progress, II, 78. + + Solano, José de, naval commander, II, 147. + + "Soles de Bolivar," II, 341; + attempts to suppress, 343. + + Solorzano, Juan del Hoya, I, 337; + II, 10. + + Someruelos, Marquis of, Governor, II, 196, 301. + + Sores, Jacques, French raider, II, 183; + attacks Havana, 184; + captures city, 186. + + Soto, Antonio de, I, 292. + + Soto, Diego de, I, 109, 217. + + Soto, Hernando de, Governor and Adelantado, I, 140; + portrait, 140; + arrival in Cuba, 141; + tour of island, 142; + makes Havana his home, 144; + chiefly interested in Florida, 144; + sails for Florida, 145; + his fate in Mississippi, 147; + trouble with Indians, 148. + + Soto, Lady Isabel de, I, 141; + her vigil at La Fuerza, 147; + death, 149. + + Soto, Luis de, I, 141. + + Soulé, Pierre, Minister to Spain, III, 137; + Indiscretions, 138; + Ostend Manifesto, 142. + + South Sea Company, II, 21, 201. + + Spain: Fiscal policy toward Cuba, I, 175; + wars with France, 177; + discriminations against Cuba, 266, 267; + protests against South Sea Company, II, 22; + course in American Revolution, 143; + war with Great Britain, 151; + attitude toward America, 159; + peace with Great Britain, 162; + restrictive laws, 224; + policy under Godoy, 265; + decline of power, 273; + seeks to pawn Cuba to Great Britain for loan, 330; + protests to United States against Lopez's expedition, III, 59; + seeks British protection, 129; + refuses to sell Cuba, 135; + revolution against Bourbon dynasty, 145 et seq.; + rejects suggestion of American mediation in Cuba, 219; + seeks American mediation, 293; + strives to placate Cuba, IV, 5; + crisis over Cuban affairs, 35; + attitude toward War of Independence, 40; + considers Autonomy, 71; + Cabinet crisis of 1897, 88; + proposes joint investigation of Maine disaster, 100; + at war with United States, 106; + makes Treaty of Paris, relinquishing Cuba, 118. + + Spanish-American War: causes of, IV, 105; + declared, 106; + blockade of Cuban coast, 110; + landing of American army in Cuba, 111; + fighting near Santiago, 112; + fort at El Caney, picture, 112; + San Juan Hill, battle, 113; + San Juan Hill, picture of monument, 114; + naval battle of Santiago, 115; + peace negotiations, 116; + "Peace Tree," picture, 116; + treaty of peace, 118. + + Spanish literature in XVI century, I, 360. + + Spotorno, Juan Bautista, seeks peace, rebuked by Maso, IV, 35. + + Steinhart, Frank, American consul, advises President Palma to + ask for American aid, IV, 271; + correspondence with State Department, 272. + + Stock raising, early attention to, I, 173, 224; + development of, 220. + + Stokes, W. E. D., aids War of Independence, IV, 14. + + Students, murder of by Volunteers, III, 260. + + Suarez y Romero, Anselmo, III, 326. + + Sugar, Industry begun under Velasquez, I, 175, 224; + growth of industry, 265; + primitive methods, II, 222; + growth, III, 3; + great development under President Menocal, IV, 358. + + "Suma de Geografia," of Enciso, I, 54. + + Sumana, Diego de, I, 111. + + + Tacon, Miguel, Governor, II, 347; + despotic fury, 348; + conflict with Lorenzo, 349; + public works, 355; + fish market, 357; + melodramatic administration of justice, 359. + + Taft, William H., Secretary of War of United States, intervenes + in revolution, IV, 272; + arrives at Havana, 275; + negotiates with President Palma and the revolutionists, 276; + portrait, 276; + conveys ultimatum of revolutionists to President Palma, 279; + accepts President Palma's resignation, 280; + pardons revolutionists, 280; + unfortunate policy, 283. + + Tainan, Antillan stock, I, 8. + + Tamayo, Diego, Secretary of State, IV, 159; + Secretary of Government, 254. + + Tamayo, Rodrigo de, I, 126. + + Tariff, after British occupation, II, 106; + reduction, 141; + oppressive duties. III, 5; + under American occupation, IV, 183. + + Taxation, revolt against, II, 197; + "reforms," 342; + oppressive burdens, III, 6; + increase in Ten Years' War, 207; + evasion of, 312; + under American intervention, IV, 151. + + Taylor, Hannis, American Minister at Madrid, IV, 33. + + Tejada, Juan de, Governor, I, 261; + great works for Cuba, 262; + resigns, 263. + + Teneza, Dr. Francisco, Protomedico, I, 336. + + Ten Years' War, III, 155 et seq.; + first battles, 184; + aid from United States, 211; + offers of American mediation, 217; + rejected, 219; + campaigns of destruction, 222; + losses reported, 290; + end in Treaty of Zanjon, 299; + losses, 304. + + Terry, Emilio, Secretary of Agriculture, IV, 254. + + Theatres, first performance in Cuba, I, 264; + first theatre built, II, 130, 236. + + Thrasher, J. S., on census, II, 283. + + Tines y Fuertes, Juan Antonio, Governor, II, 31. + + Tobacco, early use, I, 9; + culture promoted, 300; + monopoly, 334; + "Tobacco War," 338; + effects of monopoly, II, 221. + + Tobar, Nuņez, I, 141, 143. + + Tolon, Miguel de, III, 330. + + Toltecs, I, 7. + + Tomayo, Esteban, revolutionist, IV, 34. + + Torquemada, Garcia de, I, 239; + investigates Luzan, 241. + + Torre, Marquis de la, Governor, II, 127; + work for Havana, 129; + death, 133. + + Torres Ayala, Laureano de, Governor, I, 334; + reappointed, 337. + + Torres, Gaspar de, Governor, I, 234; + conflict with Rojas family, 235; + absconds, 235. + + Torres, Rodrigo de, naval commander, II, 34. + + Torriente, Cosimo de la, Secretary of Government, IV, 320. + + Toscanelli, I, 4. + + Treaty of Paris, IV, 118. + + Tres Palacios, Felipe Jose de, Bishop, II, 174. + + Tribune, New York, describes revolutionary leaders, III, 173. + + Trinidad, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168; + great fire, II, 177. + + Trocha, begun by Campos, IV, 44; + Weyler's, 73. + + Troncoso, Bernardo, Governor, II, 168. + + Turnbull, David, British consul, II, 364; + complicity in slave insurrection, 372. + + + Ubite, Juan de, Bishop, I, 123. + + Ulloa, Antonio de, sent to take possession of Louisiana, II, 118; + arbitrary conduct, 120. + + Union Constitutionalists, III, 306. + + United States, early relations with Cuba, II, 254; + first suggestion of annexation, 257; + John Quincy Adams's policy, 258; + Jefferson's policy, 260; + Clay's policy, 261; + representations to Colombia and Mexico, 262; + Buchanan's policy, 263; + Monroe Doctrine, 328; + consuls not admitted to Cuba, 330; + Van Buren's policy, 331; + growth of commerce with Cuba, III, 22; + President Taylor's proclamation against filibustering, 41; + course toward Lopez, 60; + attitude toward Cuban revolutionists, 123; + division of sentiment between North and South, 124; + policy of Edward Everett, 130; + overtures for purchase of Cuba, 135; + end of Civil War, 151; + new policy toward Cuba, 151; + recognition denied to revolution, 172; + aid and sympathy given secretly, 195; + Cuban appeals for recognition, 200; + recognition denied, 203; + protests against Rodas's decrees, 216; + offers of mediation, 217; + rejected by Spain, 219; + increasing interest and sympathy with revolutionists, 273; + warning to Spanish Government, 291; + effect of reciprocity upon Cuba, 313; + attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 27, 70; + Congress favors recognition, 70; + tender of good + offices, 71; + President Cleveland's message of 1896, 79; + appropriation for relief of victims of "concentration" policy, 86; + President McKinley's message of 1897, 87; + sensation at destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99; + declaration of war against Spain, 106; + Treaty of Paris, 118; + establishment of first Government of Intervention, 132; + relations with Republic of Cuba, 195; + protectorate to be retained, 196; + Platt Amendment, 199; + mischief-making intrigues, 200; + naval stations in Cuba, 255; + reciprocity, 256; + second Intervention, 281; + warning to José Miguel Gomez, 305; + asks settlement of claims, 308; + Chargé d'Affaires assaulted, 308; + supervision of Cuban legislation, 326; + warning to revolutionists, 339; + attitude toward Gomez revolution, 343. + + University of Havana, founded, II, 11. + + Unzaga, Luis de, Governor, II, 157. + + Urrutia, historian, quoted, I, 300. + + Urrutia, Sancho de, I, 111. + + Utrecht, Treaty of, I, 326; + begins new era, II, 1. + + Uznaga, Luis de, sent to rule Louisiana, II, 126; + reforms, 165. + + + Vaca, Cabeza de, I, 140. + + Vadillo, Juan, declines to investigate Guzman, I, 118; + temporary Governor, 119; + tremendous indictment of Guzman, 120; + retires after good work, 121; + clash with Bishop Ramirez, 124. + + Valdes, historian, quoted, II, 175. + + Valdes, Gabriel de la Conception, III, 325. + + Valdes, Jeronimo, Bishop, I, 335. + + Valdes, Pedro de, Governor, I, 202, 272; + retires, 276. + + Valdes, Geronimo, Governor, II, 364. + + Valdueza, Marquis de, I, 281. + + Valiente, José Pablo, II, 170, 180. + + Valiente, Juan Bautista, Governor of Santiago, II, 180. + + Vallizo, Diego, I, 277. + + Valmaseda, Count, Governor, proclamation against revolution, III, + 171, 270; + recalled for barbarities, 273. + + Van Buren, Martin, on United States and Cuba, II, 331. + + Vandeval, Nicolas C., I, 331, 333. + + Varela, Felix, sketch and portrait, III, 320; + works, 321. + + Varnhagen, F. A. de, quoted, I, 2. + + Varona, Bernabe de, sketch and portrait, III, 178. + + Varona, José Enrique, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 159; + Vice President, 312; + biography, 316; + portrait, facing 316. + + Varona, Pepe Jerez, chief of secret service, IV, 268. + + Vasquez, Juan, I, 330. + + Vedado, view in, IV, 176. + + Vega, Pedro Guerra de la, I, 243; + asks fugitives to aid in defence against Drake, 248. + + Velasco, Francisco de Aguero, II, 345. + + Velasco, Luis Vicente, defender of Morro against British, II, 58; + signal valor, 61; + death, 67. + + Velasquez, Antonio, errand to Spain, I, 77 + + Velasquez, Bernardino, I, 115. + + Velasquez, Diego, first Governor of Cuba, I, 59; + portrait, 59; + colonizes Cuba, 60; + hostilities with natives, 61, explores the island, 67; + marriage and bereavement, 68; + founds various towns, 68; + begins Cuban commerce, 68; + organizes government, 69; + favored by King Ferdinand, 73; + appointed Adelantado, 74; + seeks to rule Yucatan and Mexico, 85; + recalls Grijalva, 88; + quarrels with Cortez, 91; + sends Cortez to explore Mexico, 92, 94; + seeks to intercept and recall Cortez, 97; + sends Narvaez to Mexico, 98; + removed from office by Diego Columbus, 100; + restored by King, 102; + death and epitaph, 103; + posthumous arraignment by Altamarino, 107; + convicted and condemned, 108. + + Velasquez, Juan Montano, Governor, I, 293. + + Velez Garcia, Secretary of State, IV, 297. + + Velez y Herrera, Ramon, III, 324. + + Venegas, Francisco, Governor, I, 278. + + Vernon, Edward, Admiral, expedition to Darien, II 27; + Invasion of Cuba, 29. + + Viamonte, Bitrian, Governor, I, 286. + + Viana y Hinojosa, Diego de, Governor, I, 317. + + Victory loan, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 353. + + Villa Clara, founded, I, 321. + + Villafana, attempts to assassinate Cortez, I, 99. + + Villafana, Angelo de, Governor of Florida, controversy with + Mazariegos, I, 196. + + Villalba y Toledo, Diego de, Governor, I, 290. + + Villalobos, Governor, feud with Roa, I, 323. + + Villalon, José Ramon, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13; + Secretary of Public Works, 160, 330. + + Villalon Park, scene in, IV, 247. + + Villanueva, Count de, II, 342. + + Villapando, Bernardino de, Bishop, I, 225. + + Villarin, Pedro Alvarez de, Governor, I, 333. + + Villaverde, Cirillo, III, 327. + + Villaverde, Juan de, Governor of Santiago, I, 276. + + Villegas, Diaz de, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 297; + resigns, 302. + + Villuendas, Enrique, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188; + secretary, 189. + + Virginius, capture of, III, 277; + butchery of officers and crew, 278 et seq.; + British intervention, 280; + list of passengers, 281; + diplomatic negotiations over, 283. + + Vives, Francisco, Governor, II, 317; + despotism, 317; + expedition against Mexico, 346. + + Viyuri, Luis, II, 197. + + Volunteers, organized, III, 152; + murder Arango, 188; + have Dulce recalled, 213; + cause murder of Zenea, 252; + increased activities, 260; + murder of students, 261. + + + War of Independence, IV, i, 8; + circumstances of beginning, 9; + finances, 14; + Republic of Cuba proclaimed, 15; + attitude of Cuban people, 22; + actual outbreak, 29; + martial law proclaimed, 30; + Spanish forces in Cuba, 31; + arrival and policy of Martinez Campos, 38; + Gomez and Maceo begin great campaign, 53; + Spanish defeated, and reenforced, 55; + campaign of devastation, 60; + entire island involved, 61; + fall of Campos, 63; + Weyler in command, 66; + destruction by both sides, 68; + losses, 90; + entry of United States, 107; + attitude of Cubans toward American intervention, 108; + end of war, 116. + + Watling's Island. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Wax, development of Industry, II, 132. + + Webster, Daniel, negotiations with Spain, III, 126. + + Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, Governor, IV, 65; + portrait, 66; + harsh decree, 66; + conquers Pinar del Rio. 83; + "concentration" policy, 85; + recalled, 88. + + Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, at Santiago, IV, 113, 115. + + White, Col. G. W., with Lopez, III, 40. + + Whitney, Henry, messenger to Gomez, IV, 107. + + Williams, Ramon O., United States consul at Havana, IV, 32; + acts in behalf of Americans in Cuba, 72; + opposes sending <i>Maine</i> to Havana, 100. + + Wittemeyer, Major, reports on Gomez revolution to Washington + government, IV, 336; + offers President Menocal aid of United States, 337. + + Wood, General Leonard, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113; + Military Governor of Santiago, 135; + his previous career, 140; + unique responsibility and power, 141; + dealing with pestilence, 142; + organizes Rural Guards, 144; + portrait, facing 158; + Military Governor of Cuba, 158; + well received by Cubans, 158; + estimate of <i>La Lucha</i>, 158; + his Cabinet, 159; + comments on his appointments, 160; + reorganization of school system, 161; + promotes public works, 166; + Dady contract dispute, 171; + applies Finlay's yellow fever theory with great success, 171; + reform of jurisprudence, 177; + organizes Provincial governments, 179; + holds municipal elections, 180; + promulgates election law, 181; + calls Constitutional Convention, 185; + calls for general election, 240; + his comments on election, 245; + announces end of American occupation, 246; + surrenders government of Cuba to + Cubans, 249; + President Roosevelt's estimate of his work, 251; + view of one of his mountain roads, facing 358. + + Woodford, Stewart L., United States Minister to Spain, IV, 103; + presents ultimatum and departs, 106. + + + Xagua, Gulf of, I, 21. + + Ximenes, Cardinal and Regent, gives Las Casas hearing on Cuba, I, 77. + + + Yanez, Adolfo Saenz, Secretary of Agriculture and Public Works, + IV, 146. + + Yellow Fever, first invasion, II, 51; + Dr. Finlay's theory applied by General Wood, IV, 171; + disease eliminated from island, 176. + + Yero, Eduardo, Secretary of Public Instruction, IV, 254. + + Ynestrosa, Juan de, I, 207. + + Yniguez, Bernardino, I, 111. + + Yucatan, islands source of slave trade, I, 83; + explored by Cordova, 84. + + Yznaga, Jose Sanchez, III, 37. + + + Zaldo, Carlos, Secretary of State, IV, 254. + + Zambrana, Ramon, III, 328. + + Zanjon, Treaty of, III, 299. + + Zapata, Peninsula of, visited by Columbus, I, 22. + + Zarraga, Julian, filibuster, IV, 70. + + Zayas, Alfredo, secretary of Constitutional Convention, IV, 189; + compact with José Miguel Gomez, 265; + spokesman of revolutionists against President Palma, 277; + elected Vice President, 290; + becomes Vice President, 297; + sketch and portrait, 300; + quarrel with Gomez, 306; + candidate for President, 328; + hints at revolution, 330. + + Zayas, Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, I, 205; + resigns, 206. + + Zayas, Francisco, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95. + + Zayas, Juan B., killed in battle, IV, 78. + + Zayas, Lincoln de, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12; + Superintendent of Schools, 162. + + Zenea, Juan Clemente, sketch and portrait, III, 252; + murdered, 253; + his works, 332. + + Zequiera y Arango, Manuel, II, 274. + + Zipangu. See <sc>Cipanoo</sc>. + + Zuazo, Alfonso de, appointed second Governor of Cuba, I, 100; + dismissed by King, 102. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Cuba, vol. 1, by +Willis Fletcher Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 1 *** + +***** This file should be named 33847-8.txt or 33847-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/8/4/33847/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/33847-8.zip b/33847-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d016a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-8.zip diff --git a/33847-h.zip b/33847-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..31b286c --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h.zip diff --git a/33847-h/33847-h.htm b/33847-h/33847-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45d5110 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/33847-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,16362 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> + <head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Cuba v.1, by Willis Fletcher Johnson. +</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} + +.chapter {margin-left:-2em;font-variant:small-caps;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:95%;} + +tr.chap {line-height:50px;vertical-align:top;} + +.r {text-align:right;margin-right:5%;} + +.nind {text-indent:0%;} + +.red {color:#DC143C;} + +.sml {font-size:75%;font-weight:bold;} + +.sml2 {font-size:50%;} + + h1,h3 {margin-top:15%;text-align:center;clear:both;} + +.top5 {margin-top:5%;} + +.top15 {margin-top:15%;} + + hr.full {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;} + + body{margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:95%;} + + ul {list-style-type:none;text-indent:-1em;} + + img {border:none;} + +.blockquot{margin:4% 2% 4% 2%;font-size:85%;} + +.caption {font-weight:bold;font-size:60%;} + +p.caption {margin:auto 15% auto 15%;font-weight:bold;font-size:70%;text-indent:0%;} + +.caphead {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;font-size:60%;margin-top:5%;} + +.figcenter {margin:auto;text-align:center;padding:5%;} + +.figleft {float:left;clear:left;margin-left:0;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-right:1em;padding:0;text-align:center;} + +.figright {float:right;clear:right;margin-left:0;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-right:1em;padding:0;text-align:center;} + +.pagenum {font-style:normal;position:absolute;left:92%;font-size:75%;text-align:right;color:gray;background-color:#ffffff;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0em;} +</style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The History of Cuba, vol. 1, by Willis Fletcher Johnson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Cuba, vol. 1 + +Author: Willis Fletcher Johnson + +Release Date: October 8, 2010 [EBook #33847] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="note" +style="background-color:#DEE6C9;font-size:85%;"> +<tr><td>Etext transcriber's note: +<p class="nind">Some of the images may be seen at an enlarged size by clicking on them.</p> + +<p class="nind">Although several typographical +errors have been corrected, the variation in the use +of Spanish accents has not been altered (ie. both +Senor and Seņor [tilde n] appear.)</p> + +<p class="nind">The Index included at the end of this etext (which includes volumes 1 thru 4) appears +at the end of volume four of <i>The History of Cuba</i>. It +is provided here for convenience.</p></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;"><a name="COLOMBUS" id="COLOMBUS"></a> +<a href="images/ill_columbus.png"> +<img src="images/ill_columbus_th.png" width="412" height="550" alt="COLOMBUS" /> +</a></div> + +<p class="c sml">COLOMBUS</p> +<p class="caption">The picture of Columbus which +has been engraved for this work +and which here appears is that known as the +Janez portrait, which is generally +accepted in Spain as the most faithful +presentment of the features +of the great Discoverer.</p> + +<h1 class="red">THE<br /> +HISTORY OF CUBA</h1> + +<p class="c top5">BY<br /> +WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON<br /> +A.M., L.H.D.<br /> +<small>Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of<br /> +the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations"<br /> +Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign<br /> +Relations in New York University</small><br /> +<br /><br /> +<i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</i><br /><br /><br /> +V<small>OLUME</small> O<small>NE</small></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ill_front.png" width="150" height="85" alt="image +of ship-at-sea logo not available" /> +</div> + +<p class="c"><span class="smcap">NEW YORK</span><br /> +<span class="red">B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, INC.</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">156 F<span class="smcap">ifth</span> A<span class="smcap">venue</span></span><br /> +1920</p> + +<p class="c">Copyright, 1920,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> CENTURY HISTORY CO.</p> + +<p class="c"><i>All rights reserved</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Entered at Stationers Hall</span><br /> +LONDON, ENGLAND.<br /> +PRINTED IN U. S. A.</p> + +<p class="c top15">———<br /><br /> +THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA</p> + +<p class="c"><span class="sml">CONCEIVED BY</span><br /> +JOSE MARTI</p> + +<p class="c"><span class="sml">ESTABLISHED BY</span><br /> +THOMAS ESTRADA PALMA</p> + +<p class="c"><span class="sml">VINDICATED BY</span><br /> +MARIO G. MENOCAL</p> + +<p class="c">———</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents" +style="border:3px gray double;margin-top:12%"> +<tr><td><a href="#CONTENTS"><b>Contents.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS"><b>Illustrations.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#INDEX"><b>Index to Volumes 1 thru 4.</b></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3>PREFACE</h3> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_v" id="page_v">{v}</a></span></p> + +<p>It is my purpose in these volumes to write a History of Cuba. The title +may imply either the land and its natural conditions, or the people and +the nation which inhabit it. It in fact implies both, and to both I +shall address myself, though it will appropriately be with the latter +rather than with the former that the narrative will be most concerned. +For it is with Cuba as with other countries: In the last supreme +analysis the people make the history of the land. Apart from the people, +it is true, the Island of Cuba is of unusual interest. There are few +countries of similar extent comparable with it in native variety, charm +and wealth. There are few which contribute more, actually and +potentially, to the world's supplies of greatly used products. One of +the most universally used and prized vegetable products became first +known to mankind from Cuba, and there to this day is most profusely and +most perfectly grown and prepared; while another, one of the most +universally used and essential articles of food, is there produced in +its greatest abundance. There also may be found an immense number and +bewildering variety of the most serviceable articles in both the +vegetable and mineral kingdoms, in noteworthy profusion and perfection, +together with possibilities and facilities for a comparable development +of the animal kingdom.</p> + +<p>Nor is the geographical situation of the island less favorable or less +inviting than its natural resources. Lying just within the Torrid Zone, +it has a climate which combines the fecund influences of the tropics +with the agreeable moderation of the Temperate Zones. It fronts at once +upon the most frequented ocean of the globe and upon two of the greatest +and most important semi-inland seas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vi" id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span> It lies directly between the two +great continents of the Western Hemisphere, with such supremely +fortunate orientation that travel and commerce between them naturally +skirt and touch its shores rather than follow the longer and more +difficult route by land which is the sole alternative. A line drawn from +the heart of the United States to the heart of South America passes +through the heart of Cuba. A line drawn from the mouth of the +Mississippi to the mouth of the Amazon traverses Cuba almost from end to +end. Circled about the island and fronting on the narrow seas which +divide them from it are the territories of no fewer than fourteen +independent national sovereignties. It lies, moreover, directly in the +path of the world's commerce between the two great oceans, the Atlantic +and the Pacific, by the way of that gigantic artificial waterway which, +created largely because of Cuba, was the fulfilment of the world's four +centuries of effort and desire. There is scarcely a more suggestive and +romantic theme in the world's history than this: That Columbus made his +epochal adventure for the prime purpose of finding a passageway from the +Atlantic to the Pacific; or rather from Europe to Asia by way of the +Atlantic, since he assumed the Atlantic and the Pacific to be one; that, +failing to find that non-existent passageway, he found Cuba instead and +imagined that he had found therein the fulfilment of his dreams; that +four centuries later that passageway was artificially provided through +the enterprise and energy of a power which in his day had not yet come +into existence; and that this transcendent deed was accomplished largely +because of Cuba and because of the conflict through which that island +violently divorced herself from the imperial sovereignty which Columbus +had planted upon her shores.</p> + +<p>Lying thus in a peculiar sense at the commercial centre of the world, +between North America and South America, between Europe and Asia, +between all the lands of the Atlantic and all the lands of the Pacific +and subject to important approach from all directions, we must <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vii" id="page_vii">{vii}</a></span>reckon +it not mere chance but the provision of benevolent design that Cuba at +almost all parts of her peculiarly ample coastline is endowed with a +greater number of first-rate harbors than any other country of the +world. In recognition of these facts and of their gradual development +and application to the purposes and processes of civilization, is a +theme worthy to pique the interest and to absorb the attention of the +most ambitious historian, whether for the mere chronicling of conditions +and events, or for the philosophical analysis of causes and results.</p> + +<p>All these things, however, fascinating as they are and copious as is +their suggestion of interest, are after all only a minor and the less +important part of the real History of Cuba, such as I must endeavor to +write. Without the Cuban people, Cuba would have remained a negligible +factor in the equations of humanity. Without the people of the island, +"what to me were sun or clime?" The genial climate, the fecund soil, the +wealth of mines and field and forest, the capacious harbors and the +encircling seas, all would be vanity of vanities. Nor is it for nothing +that I have suggested differentiation between the Cuban People and the +Cuban Nation. Without the development of the former into the latter, all +these things could never have hoped to reach their greatest value and +utility. The Cuban People have existed for four centuries, the Cuban +Nation in its consummate sense for less than a single generation. Yet in +the latter brief span more progress has been made toward realization of +Cuba's possibilities and destinies than in all those former ages. It is +a circumstance of peculiar significance that almost the oldest of all +civilized communities in the Western Hemisphere should be the youngest +of all the nations. It will be a task of no mean magnitude, but of +unsurpassed profit and pleasure, to trace the deliberate development of +that early colony into this late nation, and to observe the causes and +forces which so long repressed and thwarted the sovereign aspirations of +the Cuban People,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii">{viii}</a></span> and also, more gratefully, the causes and forces +which inevitably, in the slow fullness of time, achieved their ultimate +fulfilment in the secure establishment of the Cuban Nation.</p> + +<p>The origin of the Cuban People presents a striking historical and +ethnological anomaly. The early settlers of the island, and therefore +the progenitors of the present Cuban people, were beyond question the +flower of the Spanish race at the very time when that race was at the +height of its marvellous puissance and efficience. The Sixteenth Century +was the Golden Age of Spain, and they were conspicuous representatives +of those who made it so who implanted the genius of their time upon the +hospitable soil of the great West Indian island. That rule has been, +indeed, common to the colonial enterprises of all lands. The best men +become the pioneers. Colonization implies adventure, and adventure +implies courage, enterprise, endurance, vision, prudence, the very +essential elements of both individual and civic greatness. Strong men, +not weaklings, are the founders of new settlements. Even in those lands +which were largely populated involuntarily, as penal settlements, the +same rule holds good; because many of the convict exiles were merely +political proscripts, who in fact were men of virtue, light and leading, +often superior to those who banished them.</p> + +<p>There is fruit for almost endless thought and speculation in the +circumstance that so many of the early Cuban settlers, as indeed of all +the Spanish explorers and conquerors of the Sixteenth Century, came from +the two Iberian Provinces of Estremadura and Seville. They were, and +are, two of the most widely contrasting provinces of Spain. The one a +rude, rugged, half sterile region of swineherds and mountaineers, +poverty-stricken and remote; the other plethoric with the wealth of +agriculture, industry and commerce, and endowed above most regions of +the world with the treasures of learning and art. Yet it was from +barren, impoverished and uncultured<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix">{ix}</a></span> Estremadura that there came Cortez, +Pizarro, Balboa, De Soto, and their compeers and followers. We might +speculate upon the questions whether great men were thus numerously +produced by nature in that region by way of compensation for the paucity +and poverty of other products; and whether it was because of their +innate genius or because of their desire to seek a better land than +their own, that they became the adventurers that they were. The other +province which most contributed to the founding of Cuba had from time +immemorial been noted for its wealth and culture. In the days of the +Cæsars it had been the favorite colonial resort of the plutocracy and +aristocracy of Rome, and it had been the birthplace of the Emperors +Hadrian, Trajan and Theodosius. Under the Catholic Kings it was the +capital and the metropolis of Spain and the chief mart of her world-wide +commerce. Indeed it would not be difficult to establish the proposition +that it was with the removal of the capital from Seville to Madrid, and +the change of national and international policy which was inseparably +associated with that removal, that the decline of Spain began.</p> + +<p>Cuba was thus in her foundation the fortunate recipient of the rugged +and masterful spirit of Estremadura, and of the elements of government +and of social grace and intellectual power which Seville could so well +and so abundantly supply; and these two contrasting yet by no means +incompatible elements became characteristic of the Cuban people; +complementarily contributing to the development of a national character +quite distinct from that of the Mother Country or that of any other of +her offshoots. For the Cuban people and their social organism, separated +far from Spain, though subject to her rule, retained largely unimpaired +their pristine vigor, and avoided sharing in the degeneracy and decline +which befell the Peninsula soon after the malign Hapsburg influence +became dominant in its affairs of state; a decline which in the +Seventeenth Century became one of the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x">{x}</a></span> distressing and pathetic +tragedies in the drama of the world.</p> + +<p>It was an interesting and a significant circumstance, too, that while +Spain was resplendent and exultant in the Golden Age of the Sixteenth +Century, Cuba remained intellectually dormant and inactive, and that +when at the end of the Eighteenth Century Spain reached her nadir of +degradation, Cuba began to rise to intellectual puissance. While Spain +was great, it was to be said of Cuba <i>stat nominis umbra</i>; but when +Spain declined, Cuba arose to take her place, insistent that the race +and its letters, at least, should not universally fall into decay.</p> + +<p class="top5">It is one of the anomalies of Cuban history that while the island was +denied the enjoyment of even those incipient and inchoate intimations of +potential nationality which were granted to other Spanish provinces, +such as Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru, it was nevertheless, +perhaps more than any other, involved from early times in the +international complications and conflicts of Spain. At least equally +with the mainland coasts Cuba's shores were ravaged by pirates and +freebooters, and were attacked or menaced by the commissioned fleets of +hostile powers. Her insular character and her geographical position +doubtless accounted for this in great degree, as did also the purblind +policy of Spain in failing to give her the care and protection which +were lavished upon other no more worthy possessions.</p> + +<p>So it came to pass that for a time Cuba was actually conquered and +seized by an alien power and was forcibly separated from Spanish +sovereignty; and that for many years thereafter she was the object of +covetous desire and indeed of almost incessant intrigue for acquisition +by two of Spain's chief rivals and adversaries. For nearly half a +century Great Britain and France were frequently, almost continuously, +each planning to annex Cuba as a colonial possession, either by conquest +in war or through barter or purchase in time of peace. It was not until +a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi">{xi}</a></span>third great power arose and asserted in unmistakable terms its +paramount interest in the island, only a little while previous to our +own time, that such designs were reluctantly forsaken.</p> + +<p>It was the interesting fortune of Cuba, therefore, not only to engage +the early and earnest diplomatic interest of the United States in her +behalf, but also to afford to that country occasion for the conception, +formulation and promulgation of perhaps the most important of all the +fundamental principles of its state policy in international affairs. We +have suggested, in anticipation of the narrative, that Cuba was largely +to be credited with the inception of the impulse for the prompt +construction of the Isthmian Canal. In a far more valid and direct sense +Cuba suggested the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine. It is true that +in relation first to Louisiana and then to Florida there had previously +been preliminary hints at and approximations to that Doctrine. But those +were territories contiguous with our own and already marked by the +United States for eventual annexation and incorporation. Cuba, on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xvi" id="page_xvi">{xvi}</a></span>contrary, was entirely detached from our domain, and while there were +then those who anticipated and desired her ultimate annexation, there +was no such confident and determined resolution to that effect that +there was in the case of the other regions named. Cuba was therefore the +first detached country, not destined for annexation, to which the United +States extended and applied the fundamental principle which was later +developed into the Monroe Doctrine. We may not doubt that the Monroe +Doctrine would have been put forward, even had it not been for Cuba. We +may not deny nor dispute that it was because of Cuba and concerning Cuba +that the first specific and indubitable intimation of that doctrine was +given.</p> + +<p>The development of American policy toward Cuba is an important and +interesting part of the history of the United States as well as of Cuba. +The progressively significant utterances of the younger Adams, of Clay +and of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii">{xii}</a></span>Forsythe, culminating years afterward in those of Cleveland and +McKinley, form one of the most consistent, logical and convincing +chapters in American diplomatic history. It is marred, we must confess, +by some adventitious excrescences, chiefly contributed by Calhoun and +Pierre Soule. Yet even these, deplorable as they ever must be regarded, +fail to destroy the symmetry of the whole. It is a chapter, indeed, +which more than any other is comprehensive and expository of the whole +spirit and trend of American international transactions.</p> + +<p>Cuba has also been intimately connected with three great issues of +American domestic politics, as well as with that supreme principle of +her foreign policy. The first of these was that of human slavery. From +the end of the second war with Great Britain to the beginning of the +Civil War that issue dominated American politics and therefore +determined largely the American attitude toward Cuba. The pro-slavery +influences, which were generally paramount at Washington, resisted all +efforts, which otherwise might have been successful, to draw Cuba into +the community of republics freed from Spanish rule in Central and South +America, because of unwillingness to have her become, like them, free +soil; and subsequently the same influences planned and plotted and +fought for Cuban annexation to the United States, either by conquest or +by purchase, in order that she might thus be added to the slave-holding +domain. On the other hand, the anti-slavery party, because of its +abhorrence of these schemes, opposed the manifestation of what would +have been a quite legitimate and benevolent interest in Cuban affairs. +For forty years Cuba was a pawn in the game between these contending +factions. Of course this issue was disposed of by the Civil War and the +consequent abolition of slavery in the United States.</p> + +<p>Another issue was that of expansion. There was from the first a +considerable party in the United States that favored the widest possible +acquisition of territory, sometimes quite regardless of the means, and +it early fixed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiii" id="page_xiii">{xiii}</a></span>upon Cuba as what Jefferson and the younger Adams had +declared it to be, the most interesting and most natural addition that +could be made to the federal system. There was also a party that was +resolutely opposed to any further extension of American territorial +sovereignty, whether by conquest or purchase. Sometimes the one and +sometimes the other of these prevailed in American politics, and not +infrequently Cuba was the chief issue between them. Ultimately it was +over Cuba that their greatest conflict was waged; resulting in a +compromise, under which the United States on the one hand renounced all +designs of annexing Cuba, and on the other hand did annex other still +more extensive territories.</p> + +<p>The third of these issues was that of the tariff. Commercial relations +between Cuba and the United States were naturally intimate and important +to both countries, and afforded scope for almost endless discussions +concerning and manipulations of tariff duties. It was in the power of +the United States to enhance or to depress the prosperity of Cuba, by +the adjustment of tariff rates. To admit Cuban sugar, not to mention +tobacco, freely or at a low duty, into the American market meant +prosperity for the island. To place a high tariff rate upon it meant +hard times if not disaster in Cuba. During the period between the Ten +Years' War and the War of Independence in Cuba, such tariff changes very +seriously affected the economic and also the political condition of +Cuba; and the final withdrawal of the reciprocity arrangement which had +opened American markets to Cuba was one of the chief provoking causes of +the final revolution in the island. That revolution would doubtless have +come, in any case, but it was measurably hastened and exacerbated by the +economic distress which was thus precipitated upon the island, and +against which it was realized there could be no assurance until Cuba was +an independent nation with full power to regulate and control her own +commerce and her own economic system. Even then, as we shall see, for a +time the island was involved in economic <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiv" id="page_xiv">{xiv}</a></span>distress because of the +unwillingness of certain sordid interests in the United States to +perform the most obvious and indisputable moral duty of that country +toward its neighbor. There are few passages which the friendly historian +must more regret to record in the story of Cuban-American relations than +that of the delay of the American Congress to enter into proper +commercial reciprocity with Cuba as soon as the independence of that +island was established.</p> + +<p class="top5">We shall see in these pages why it was necessary, from the very +beginning, for Cuba to be entirely freed and divorced from all political +connection with Spain, and why all the various proposals of autonomy +were essentially and inevitably unacceptable. Such proposals were +repeatedly made, by the Spanish government, but they were invariably +either consciously or unconsciously delusive. The story of Spain's +promises to Cuba is a story of broken promises, and of disappointed +hopes. Nor is that to be wondered at by those who take into +consideration the circumstances in which the promises were made. When +the impossible is promised, the promise is doomed to non-fulfilment. +Spain was in an impossible position. In order to pacify Cuba she had to +promise her reforms, autonomy, liberty. But in order to maintain herself +at home she had to repudiate those promises. Their fulfilment in the +West Indies would have been disastrous in the Iberian Peninsula. While +Spain was a reactionary monarchy at home, she could not practice liberal +and progressive democracy in her colonies. Even when her monarchy became +constitutional, and even during the brief periods of her republican +government, the full concession of Cuba's demands would have been +incompatible with her domestic status. There was an irreconcilable +conflict between the European system—even European republicanism—and +the American system. Spain was compelled for the sake of her Peninsular +integrity and tranquillity to adhere to the former, while Cuba would <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xv" id="page_xv">{xv}</a></span>be +and could be contented with nothing short of the latter. Such were the +terms of the problem which arose in the early part of the Nineteenth +Century. Its only possible solution was in the complete separation of +the two countries, and the complete independence of Cuba.</p> + +<p>We must not wonder, however, at the circumstance that this was not +universally recognized at first, but that year after year some of the +wisest and best of Cuban patriots strove merely for reforms in +government under continued and perpetual union with the Spanish crown, +and that they even deprecated and opposed all efforts at independence. +We must not wonder, even, that so late as the War of Independence some +of the foremost Cuban statesmen, who yielded precedence to none in +purity of purpose and in sincere devotion to what they regarded as the +best interests of the island, were willing and even proud to be known as +Autonomists and to essay the impossible task of trying to make an +Autonomist government successful. The Cubans of to-day, with vision +cleared of the red glare of war and of the mists of misapprehension, +doubtless understand what the conditions were at that time and +appreciate the motives, however mistaken they proved to me, of the +Autonomists. American readers, with less vision and comprehension of +Cuban affairs, should equally understand the matter when they are +reminded that the Cuban Autonomists were merely following the example of +some of the men whom Americans most delight to honor.</p> + +<p>For precisely the same conditions prevailed, only to a much wider +extent, in the Thirteen Colonies at the beginning of the American +Revolution, when Washington and Franklin and Jefferson and Jay were +American Autonomists, inexorably opposed to independence. Lexington, +Concord and Bunker Hill were fought not for independence but for +autonomy under the British Crown and in perpetual union with the British +Empire. When the First Continental Congress met in the spring of 1774 +there was no word, at least, of independence. On the contrary, +according to some of the very foremost members of that historic body, +the idea of independence, at least in the Middle and Southern colonies, +was "as unpopular as the Stamp Act itself." Not only did that Congress +complete its course without saying a word for independence, but it +adopted an address to the people of Great Britain declaring that the +reports which had got abroad that the Colonies wanted independence were +"mere calumnies," and that nothing was desired but equality of rights +with their fellow subjects in the British Isles. The Second Colonial +Congress met after Lexington and Concord and just before Bunker Hill. +John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were members of it. But they spoke no +word for independence. Instead, Jefferson drafted a declaration, which +Congress adopted, to the effect that the Colonies had "not raised armies +with designs of separating from Great Britain and establishing +independent states"; and in other addresses which the same Congress +adopted after the battle of Bunker Hill it was explicitly stated that +the Colonists were loyal to the British Crown, that they wished for +lasting union with Great Britain, and that they had taken up arms not to +find liberty outside of the British Empire but to vindicate and defend +liberty within that Empire. After the adjournment of that Congress in +August, 1775, less than a year before the Declaration of Independence, +so representative a man and so ardent a patriot as John Jay publicly +denounced the imputation that the Congress had "aimed at independence" +as "ungenerous and groundless," and as marked with "malice and falsity." +Not until the spring of 1776 was there any significant turning toward +independence as the inevitable resort.</p> + +<p>If I have thus dwelt at length upon well-known facts which pertain to +the history of the United States rather than to that of Cuba, it is in +order to remind American readers, on the strength of a precedent which +they, at any rate, must regard with the highest respect, how reasonable +it was for Cubans even as late as in 1897 and 1898 to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xvii" id="page_xvii">{xvii}</a></span>cling to a policy +and a hope substantially identical with those which were cherished by +the foremost representative American patriots in 1774 and 1775. We can +see now, they themselves can see now, that they were in error and that +their hopes were vain. But they were no more in error than were the +immortal American Autonomists of the beginning of the American +Revolution.</p> + +<p>Similarly it was necessary that Cuba should not only be entirely +separated from Spain but also should be made independent, and not be +annexed to the United States. On that point, too, many good men were in +error. As we shall see, the first important Cuban +revolutionist—although not himself a native Cuban—had in view not +independence but annexation to the United States, and so did many +another sterling patriot after him. Probably the general feeling was +that the one thing supremely essential was to be sundered from Spain, +and since annexation to the United States seemed to promise the +effecting of that most promptly, most easily and most surely, it was to +be accepted as the best solution of the problem. Of course, too, the +annexation sentiment in Cuba was greatly encouraged and promoted by the +advocates of annexation in the United States, who were numerous, and +aggressive, and actuated by a variety of motives.</p> + +<p>For three fundamental reasons, however, annexation would have been a +deplorable mistake, for both parties. One was, that the Cuban people at +heart wanted independence and would permanently have been satisfied with +nothing less. Every other Spanish colony in the Western Hemisphere had +attained independent sovereignty, and it would have been a reproach to +Cuba to have been satisfied with any less status than theirs. The second +reason was that Cuba and the United States were incompatible in +temperament, and could not have got on well together. That is to be said +without the slightest reflection upon either. The two countries were of +different racial stocks, different languages, different traditions, +different <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xviii" id="page_xviii">{xviii}</a></span>civic ideals. It was and is possible for them to be the best +of friends and neighbors, but that is quite different from being +yoke-fellows.</p> + +<p>The third reason was, that Cuba would not have thought of annexation +without Statehood in the Federal Union, to which the United States would +not or at any rate should not have admitted her. Nor is that any +reflection upon Cuba. The principle was established by governmental +utterances, nearly half a century before Cuban independence was +achieved, and indeed before any important efforts were made by the +United States to purchase Cuba, that outlying territories not contiguous +with the continental Union of States, were not to be considered as +fitting candidates for statehood. Had Cuba been acquired by the United +States at any time it is certain that her admission as a State would +have been vigorously opposed on that historic ground. The sequel would +have been either that Cuba would have been excluded from the Union, to +her entire and intense dissatisfaction, or the United States would have +abandoned a highly desirable policy and would have established a +precedent under which grave abuses might thereafter have occurred.</p> + +<p>The redemption of Cuba from Spanish rule was long delayed, for a number +of reasons. One was, obviously, the difficulty of achieving it alone. +The South and Central American provinces had revolted simultaneously, or +in rapid succession, so that each was of assistance to the others. But +at that time Cuba remained faithful to Spain; and when years afterward +she sought to follow the example of the others, she found that she had +to do so single-handed against the undivided might of the Peninsula. +Another very potent reason was, the strength of the pro-Spanish +sentiment and influence in the island, caused by the flocking thither of +many Spanish loyalists from the Central and South American states and +from Santo Domingo. Here, too, American readers may interpret Cuban +conditions through reference to their own history. At the close of the +American Revolution multitudes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xix" id="page_xix">{xix}</a></span> of British Loyalists left the United +States and settled in Upper Canada, with the result that that Province +of Ontario became proverbially "more British than Great Britain." We +shall see in our narrative how strong the Spanish loyalist party in Cuba +was, and to what extremes it went in its opposition to Cuban +independence. In that we may perceive simply a repetition of conditions +which prevailed at the close of the American War of Independence. It is +probable, too, that the insular position of Cuba, with her coastal +waters controlled by the Spanish fleet, and her central position, making +her an object of intense international interest and intrigue, also +contributed to the same end. Of course, too, since Cuba and Porto Rico +were her last remaining possessions in the Western World, Spain made +extraordinary efforts to retain them and to prevent the success of any +revolutionary movement.</p> + +<p>One other influence must be noted, that of the United States. If at any +time the counsels of that country had been harmonious and united, they +would have had a powerful, perhaps a preponderating, effect upon Cuban +affairs. But as we have intimated, and as we shall more fully see in our +narrative, they were strongly, often violently, divided. Some were for +intervention, some were for non-intervention; some were for making Cuba +a free country, some were for preserving it as a slaveholding land; some +were for aiding it to become independent, some were for annexing it to +the United States. There was no unity of policy, and therefore there was +no assurance as to what the United States would do in any given +emergency. Cubans did not know what they could depend upon. If they +revolted, America might help them, and she might not. There can be no +question that this uncertainty was a potent factor in restraining Cubans +from radical action, and that it materially postponed the final crisis.</p> + +<p class="top5">We shall see that more and more, however, the United <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xx" id="page_xx">{xx}</a></span>States was forced +by the logic of irresistible events into adopting a united and +consistent policy toward Cuba, and that in the ultimate crisis that +country was inextricably implicated with the Cuban cause. This was +indeed a logical development. In each successive Cuban revolution, +beginning with that of Lopez, the United States had been increasingly +interested. Commercial and social relations between the two countries +were strong and intimate. For nearly three quarters of a century the +United States had maintained a quasi-protectorate over the island in +behalf of Spain for the time being, but—though unconsciously—in behalf +of Cuba itself for the greater time to come. The welfare of the United +States had become involved in the disposition of the island in only a +less degree than that of the Cuban people.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt that the United States was of very great service +and assistance to the Cuban patriots in the War of Independence. Nobody +has testified to that fact more earnestly or more comprehensively than +the Cubans themselves. They realized it. They appreciated it. They were +and are profoundly grateful for it. Their testimony to it is ample for +all time. America is relieved of the need of vaunting herself upon it. +It would, however, be of a great error and a great injustice to assume +that the intervention of the United States in April, 1898, was +indispensable to the achievement of Cuban independence, or indeed that +it was the United States that set Cuba free from Spain. That would be as +great a perversion of the truth of history as it would be to pretend +that the United States went to war with Spain over the sinking of the +<i>Maine</i>. For the United States to have done the latter would have been +one of the monumental crimes of history; and of course it was not done. +War was inevitable before the <i>Maine</i> went to Havana Harbor, and would +have come just the same if the <i>Maine</i> had not gone thither; perhaps +sooner than it did, perhaps not so soon. So Cuban independence would +have been won by the Cubans themselves if the United States had <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxi" id="page_xxi">{xxi}</a></span>not +intervened. Possibly it would have come sooner than it did; probably it +would not have come so soon. But it would have come. Nobody who has +studied the condition of affairs as they then were in Cuba can +reasonably doubt it. Nor should recognition of that fact lessen in any +degree the propriety—indeed, the necessity—of the American +intervention or the grateful appreciation thereof which Cubans feel.</p> + +<p>To draw once more upon American history for an example which should +convincingly appeal to Americans, the case may be likened to the +intervention of France in the American Revolution. There is no American +who does not remember that performance with sincere gratitude and with +deep appreciation of the undoubtedly great aid which France rendered to +the Thirteen Colonies. But I should doubt if there is a well informed +American willing to concede that the French aid was indispensable, or +that without it Washington and Greene would have been vanquished and the +Revolution would have failed. American independence would have been +achieved without French aid, though perhaps not so promptly and at +greater cost.</p> + +<p>An immense service, also, which the United States rendered Cuba in the +War of Independence antedated the actual intervention, and consisted in +the aid in men, money and supplies which went from the United States to +Cuba. It is true that this aid was given largely by Cubans resident in +the United States, though many Americans also gave much in money, and +some were permitted by the Cubans to give themselves for service in the +army. It is also true that much of it was done in surreptitious +violation of the neutrality laws; a species of law-breaking at which +many United States officials were inclined to wink, and which by common +consent was to be regarded as culpable only when it was found out, and +then the finding out was more to be regretted than the act itself was to +be condemned! Such is the "unwritten law" of international relations in +cases in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxii" id="page_xxii">{xxii}</a></span>which the technical requirements of the law run counter to +generous and righteous human sympathies.</p> + +<p>While, therefore, we must believe that even without American +intervention in the actual war the Cubans would have won their +independence, we may doubt whether such would have been the case if the +United States had not all along been dose at hand, a resourceful and +hospitable country, in which Cuban political exiles could find secure +asylum, in which a Cuban Junta could plan revolution, in which funds to +aid the patriot cause could be raised, and which, in brief, could partly +in secret and partly in the open be used as a base of supplies and +operations. It is to such aid that Cuba owes more than she does to the +achievements of the American army and navy in 1898, admirable and useful +as they were.</p> + +<p>Comparably great, as we shall most notably see in the ensuing chapters, +were the services of the United States to Cuba after the War of +Independence. These were manifold. The first was diplomatic, in serving +as an intermediary between Cuba and Spain, in making the treaty of +peace, and in securing the Spanish withdrawal from the island. There is +no doubt that all those things were done more smoothly, more +satisfactorily and more expeditiously than they could have been had they +been left to direct settlement between Cuba and Spain. The services of +the United States during the last part of 1898 were more indispensable +than those of the spring and summer of that year. Indeed, it might +perhaps be claimed that the chief advantage in having the United States +intervene was that it enabled her to play that important part in the +making of peace and the post-bellum readjustment.</p> + +<p>The second great service rendered by the United States was the +rehabilitation of the island. This was a manifold undertaking. It +comprised rehabilitation after many years of Spanish misrule and +neglect, and rehabilitation after the ravages of three years of +peculiarly destructive war. The civic maladies to be cured were thus +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxiii" id="page_xxiii">{xxiii}</a></span>both chronic and acute. Moreover, the work was political, and sanitary, +and educational, and economic. Order was to be restored, law was to be +administered, government was to be organized, pestilence was to be +abated, schools were to be created, the whole work of civilization was +to be performed. Splendid as was the work of Sampson's fleet at +Santiago, still more beneficent was that of General Wood within the +precincts of that city and throughout the Province of Oriente. Nobly +memorable was the work of Shafter's army, but we shall read history to +little avail if we do not give higher credit to the work of the Military +Governor and his lieutenants.</p> + +<p>A third service was in acting as guide, philosopher and friend in the +great task of organizing and installing the native Cuban government +which had been promised by the United States in the act of declaring war +against Spain. That self-abnegatory pledge was a noble thing, and noble +was the faithful fulfilment of it. I have heard of an eminent and +enlightened Cuban who regarded that pledge with incredulity, saying, "It +can never be fulfilled!" and who persisted in that incredulity until +that memorable noonday when the American flag came down from the Palace +and the Morro and the flag of Cuba Libre rose in its place; and then, +with tear-suffused eyes, exclaimed, "It can't be; but it is!" Never +before in the history of the world had such a thing been done, but it +was done and it was well done.</p> + +<p>There followed a fourth service, which we may hope has now been +definitely completed, but which in the very nature of the case is a +potentially recurrent service, which may—<i>absit omen!</i>—be needed again +and again; and which the United States may be trusted to perform, if +necessary, as faithfully and generously and efficiently as it has +already performed it. For we shall see that after the Cuban government +had been established and had vindicated its existence by great good +service to the island, sordid and treacherous men unlawfully conspired +against it and sought to overthrow it by violence and crime. Their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxiv" id="page_xxiv">{xxiv}</a></span>success would have meant ruin for the island. Their partial success—for +such they had—meant immeasurable loss. But fortunately the United +States intervened as readily against Cuban crime as it had against +Spanish oppression, and the republic was saved, though "as through +fire."</p> + +<p>It is this service, following the others which I have named, which +differentiates the Cuban Republic from most of the other states which +have been formed from the Spanish Empire in America. Of the two states +which at one time planned to wrest Cuba from Spain by force and make her +a part of their community of nations, Colombia was for half a century in +a chronic condition of revolution, and Mexico through the same evil +processes has given the word Mexicanize to the political vocabulary. It +was the intention of the United States that Cuba should not fall into +that category; but it is by no means certain that she would not have +done so had it not been for the guardianship of that country.</p> + +<p class="top5">Our history will disclose more than all these things. These are the +records of achievement. But there are other records, even those of +conditions as they exist, and as they have been made to exist by virtue +of these achievements. Marvellous indeed shall we find them. The story +of Cuba's development from a neglected and oppressed colony to an +independent nation is stirring and impressive, adorned with the names +and deeds of brave men. The story of her development in civilization, +from a backward rank to the foremost, is no less impressive, and it is +adorned with the names and the labors of wise men, statesmen and +scholars, who gave of their best for the welfare of the insular republic +for which so many of their kin gave willingly their very lives.</p> + +<p>The account which we shall have of the opulent charms and resources of +Cuba may be regarded as a volume of contemporary history. It will reveal +to us some of the consequences of that narrative of the past which +forms <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxv" id="page_xxv">{xxv}</a></span>the major portion of our story. But it will be more and will do +more than that. It must serve as an intimation, a suggestion, almost +perhaps a prophecy, of what the future of the Pearl of the Antilles will +be. Grateful as is the work of recalling and rehearsing the story of the +past, from the days of Columbus and Velasquez to the present, the +historian finds it more pleasant and more welcome to dwell upon the +present scene. If these volumes, laboriously produced and with a +consciousness too often of falling short of the high merits of the +theme, shall serve their intended purpose of introducing Cuba, past and +present, more fully and most favorably to the knowledge of the world, I +shall be more than abundantly repaid. But the supreme and most enduring +satisfaction will come from some assurance that I have brought to the +appreciative attention of the world not merely the Cuba of four +centuries past, with all its legends of adventure and romance, and too +often of cruelty and crime, and with its fluctuating though still +persistent progress toward the "foremost files of time," but also and +still more the Cuba of this present moment and, we may hope, of +unmeasured future time. It is a Cuba that is beautiful for situation, +opulent in resources, entrancing in charm, illimitable in +potentialities; a land of "fair women and brave men," upon which +recollection fondly dwells; a land which justifies the latest writer +concerning it to repeat once more the estimate of the first who ever +wrote of it—"the most beautiful that the eyes of man have ever seen."</p> + +<p class="r">W<span class="smcap">illis</span> F<span class="smcap">letcher</span> J<span class="smcap">ohnson.</span><br /> +New York, U. S. A., June, 1919.<span style="margin-left: 15%;"> </span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxvi" id="page_xxvi">{xxvi}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h3> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxvii" id="page_xxvii">{xxvii}</a></span></p> + +<table summary="toc" +cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0" +style="margin-left:18%;margin-right:18%;"> + +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="chapter">Chapter I</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_1">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>"In Cuba the Annals of America Begin"—The First Landing +Place of Columbus—Theories Concerning Various Islands—His +Expectation of Reaching the Coast of Asia—Cuba Supposed to +be Cathay—The Physical History of Cuba—Character of the +Aboriginal Inhabitants—A Race of Amiable Savages Without Enduring +Monuments.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="chapter">Chapter II</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_11">11</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Discovery of Cuba on Sunday, October 28, 1492—The First +Landing Place on the Island—Named for the Heir of the Spanish +Throne—Appreciation of the Beauty and Charm of the +Island—First Contact with its Inhabitants—Exploration of the +Northern Coast—Cuba Supposed to be the Country of the Great +Khan—Further Explorations of the Coast—Departure for Hispaniola—Second +Visit to Cuba—Exploration of the Southern +Coast—Discovery of Jamaica—Navigating the Caribbean Sea—Some +Inland Excursions—Experiences with the Natives—Reaching +the Western End of the Island—Exhortation of a Native +Sage—Columbus's Final Departure from Cuba.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="chapter">Chapter III</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_28">28</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>First Impressions of Cuba—Columbus's Observations of the People +and Resources of the Island—Native Villages and Boats—Negotiations +with the Natives—First Use of Tobacco by Europeans—Columbus's +Meagre Knowledge of the Island—His +Death and Burial in Hispaniola—Removal of His Remains to +Havana—Disputes Concerning His Tomb—Final Return of His +Remains to Spain.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="chapter">Chapter IV</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_37">37</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Archeology of Cuba—The Oldest Rock Formation—Theory of +Cuban Continuity with Florida—The Eocene Age—Submersion +in the Oligocene Period—Miocene Uplift—Changes During the +Pleistocene Period—Topography of the Island—The Mountain +Ranges—The Mountains of Oriente—The Organ Mountains and +Magotes—The Valley of the Vinales—Plains and Valleys—Composition +of the Soil—The Climate of Cuba—Fortunate Situation +of the Island—The Rainfall of a Land of Sunshine.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="chapter">Chapter V</span></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxviii" id="page_xxviii">{xxviii}</a></span> </td><td align="right"><a href="#page_53">53</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Neglect of Cuba by Spanish Explorers and Conquerors—Rule of +Ovando—Ocampo Discovers Cuba to be an Island—First Attempts +at Colonization—Enciso's Story of Ojeda's Adventure—A +Test Between Christianity and Paganism—The Lust of Gold—Diego +and Bartholomew Columbus—Diego Velasquez Appointed +Governor—His First Settlement at Baracoa—The War with +Hatuey—Narvaez and His Horsemen—Las Casas the "Apostle +to the Indies"—More Trouble with the Natives—Exploration of +the Island Throughout its Length.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="chapter">Chapter VI</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_68">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Marriage and Bereavement of Velasquez—Other Settlements +Founded in Cuba—Santiago Made the First Capital—System of +Government—Apportionment of the Natives to the Settlers—Appropriation +of the Land—Evils of the Repartimiento System—The +Statesmanship of Velasquez—Enslavement of the Natives—Famous +Men in Cuba's Early History—Gold Mines and Fertile +Plantations—Beginning of the Mission of Las Casas—Death of +King Ferdinand and Accession of Charles I—Cardinal Ximenes—The +Order of St. Jerome—The Fate of the Natives.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="chapter">Chapter VII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_81">81</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Gold Mining in Cuba—Political Organization of the Island—Relations +with the Spanish Crown—Development of the Slave +Trade—Expeditions to Yucatan—Exploration of the Mexican +Coast—Failure of Grijalva's Expedition—The Expedition of +Christopher de Olid—Unmerited Fate of Grijalva, the Discoverer +and First Explorer of Mexico.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="chapter">Chapter VIII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_90">90</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Hernando Cortez Commissioned by Velasquez to Explore Mexico—Some +Romantic Adventures—Why Cortez went to Cuba—His +Relations with Velasquez—A Crisis in Spain's American +Affairs—Appointment of Velasquez as Adelantado—Departure of +Cortez—His Refusal to Return when Summoned by Velasquez—Arrival +in Mexico—Appointment of Cortez as Royal Governor +of New Spain—Preparations by Velasquez to Subdue Cortez—Disastrous +Fate of Narvaez's Expedition—Conspiracy to Assassinate +Cortez—Velasquez Removed from the Governorship of Cuba—Zuazo, +the Second Governor—Vindication of Velasquez and +Repudiation of Zuazo—Character and Work of First Cuban +Governor.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="chapter">Chapter IX</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_105">105</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Administration of Manuel de Rojas—The Rise of Cuba's Proper +Interests—Development of Resources—Appointment of Altamarino—Post +Mortem Investigation of Velasquez—Violent Opposition +to Altamarino—Removal of a Discredited Governor—Accession +of Guzman—Controversies over Local Government—Injudicious +Course of Guzman—Protest Against the Tyranny of the +Councils—"Cuba for the Cubans."<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxix" id="page_xxix">{xxix}</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="chapter">Chapter X</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_115">115</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Controversies Over the Treasurership—Appointment of Hurtado, +the Honest but Cantankerous—Fortunes of the Guzman Family—A +Marriage for Money and its Consequences—Services of Vadillo—Investigations +and Reforms—Heavy Sentences Against Guzman—An +Appeal to the Council for the Indies—Manuel de Rojas +again Governor.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="chapter">Chapter XI</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_122">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Development of the Church Establishment in Cuba—The First +Bishop—Early Conflict Between Church and State—Transfer of +the Cathedral from Baracoa to Santiago—A Bishop in Politics—The +Governor Excommunicated—Insurrections and Raids of the +Natives—Effective Work of Rojas against the Cimarrones—Disposal +of the "Tame" Indians—Further Conflicts of Church and +State—Intervention of the Crown—Practical Extermination of the +Natives—Reforms that Were not Made—Well Meant Efforts of +Rojas—Failure of Attempts to Civilize the Natives—A Good +Governor Ill Treated—His Resignation and Departure.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Guzman's Second Administration—A Masterful Politician—Decline +of Cuban Welfare—An Interregnum in the Governorship—The +Coming of De Soto—His Imposing Arrival at Santiago—Progress +Across the Island—Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa Made +De Soto's Lieutenant—Cuba a Stepping Stone to Florida—De +Soto's Removal from Santiago to Havana—Organization of the +Florida Expedition—Report of the First Scouts—Departure of +De Soto—Lady De Soto's Faithful Watch—Tragic Fate of the +Explorer—Evil Effects upon Cuba—Serious Trouble with the Indians—Intrigues +of Guzman and Bishop Sarmiento.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XIII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Governorship of Juan de Avila—Royal Order against Slavery in +the Mines—An Appeal to the Council for the Indies—Popular Revolt +Against the Council—De Avila's Marriage to a Rich Widow—Removal +to Havana—Appointment of Antonio Chaves—Scandalous +Charges Against de Avila—The Matter Carried to Spain +for Settlement—Another Bad Administration—Chaves Reprimanded +by the King—His Persistence in Slavery—Hurtado's Indictment +of Chaves—Gonzalo de Angulo Made Governor—Trial +and Punishment of Chaves—Emancipation Proclamation.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="chapter">Chapter XIV</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_165">165</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>A Bad Time in Cuban History—Santiago in 1550—Raid of a +French Privateer—The Founding and Rise of Havana—The +Founding of Puerto Principe—Baracoa, Trinidad and Other Settlements—Italians +and Other Aliens in Cuba—Efforts to Populate +the Island—Importation of Negro Slaves—Slaves Treated Humanely—Disappearance +of the Native Indians—The Early Industries +of Cuba—Discovery of the Copper Mines of El Cobre—Beginning +of the Sugar Industry—Fiscal Policy of the Spanish +Government.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="chapter">Chapter XV</span></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxx" id="page_xxx">{xxx}</a></span></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_177">177</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>A Turning Point in Cuban History—International Interest in the +Island—Raids of French Privateers—A Famous Fight in Santiago +Harbor—The Capture and Looting of Havana—First Building of +La Fuerza—Rise of Havana in Importance—The Governor's +Residence in Havana—Deposition of Angulo—Guarding Havana +Against French Attack—Inadequacy of the Defenses—Seizure of +the City by Jacques Sores—Flight of the Governor and Resolute +Defense of Lobera—Attempt to Destroy the French Conquerors—Destruction +of the City.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="chapter">Chapter XVI</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_191">191</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Administration of Mazariegos—His Disastrous Voyage—Rebuilding +of Havana—Manners and Morals of a Soldier of Fortune—Defense +of Havana by a Military Governor—Improvement of the +Fortifications—Rebuilding La Fuerza—The Founding of Morro +Castle—Complications in Florida—Osorio Appointed Governor—His +Care for the Defenses of the Island—The Campaigns of +Pedro Menendez—Conflict Between Osorio and Menendez—Attempts +at Mutiny—Disagreement over Fortifications—Illegitimate +Trade at Santiago—Menendez Appointed Governor—A Succession +of Lieutenants—Charting the Bahama Channel—Codifying +Municipal Ordinances.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XVII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_208">208</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Approach of the "Sea Beggars"—More Work on La Fuerza—Seeking +Financial Aid from Mexico—A Requisition for Slave +Labor—Investigating Public Accounts—The Downfall of Menendez—Investigation +of His Accounts—Succeeded by Montalvo—Increase +of Smuggling—General Progress of the Island—Havana +the Commercial Metropolis.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XVIII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_217">217</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Governorship of Montalvo—Rehabilitation of Santiago—Disorder +at Havana—Conflict with the Rojas Family—Charges Made +Against the Governor—The Increase of Smuggling—Ravages of +the French—Seeking Naval Defenses for Cuba—Haggling Over +the Building of La Fuerza—A Badly Built Fort—Montalvo's +Development of Insular Resources—Promotion of Sugar Growing +and General Agriculture—The Governor's Quarrel with the +Bishop.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><span class="chapter">Chapter XIX</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_228">228</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Administration of Francisco Carreņo—The First Cuban Governor +to Die in Office—A Record of Hard Work and Progress—The +Problem of Free Negroes—Features of the Slave System—Some +Literally Constructive Statesmanship—The First Custom House—Trying +to Deal with the Land Question—The Reforms Proposed +by Caceres—Development of Stock Raising—Bad Administration +of Torres.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxxi" id="page_xxxi">{xxxi}</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><span class="chapter">Chapter XX</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_236">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Administration of Gabriel de Luzan—Controversies Among Officials—The +Quarrel Between Luzan and Arana—Questions of +Official Residence—Removal of the Royal Accountant—Charges +Against the Governor—Further Efforts to Complete La Fuerza—The +Work of Quiņones—Unseemly Personal and Political Feuds—Investigation +of the Governor's Administration—Renewal of +the Quarrel with Quiņones—Governor and Captain-General +Brought into Accord Through Peril of an Attack by the British—Desperate +Preparations for Defense.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXI</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_246">246</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>War Between Spain and England—Drake's Conquest of Hispaniola—An +Attack upon Cuba Anticipated—Raising Forces for Defense—Feuds +Forgotten in the Common Emergency—Plans for the +Defense of Havana—Increase of the Garrison—Admirable Unity +of the People—Drake's Approach to Cuba—His Landing at the +Western End of the Island—Appearance of his Fleet off Havana—Departure +of Drake's Fleet without an Assault—His +Doings at St. Augustine and in the North—Reasons for Not +Attacking Havana—Disaster to Santiago—That City Destroyed +by the French—Rebuilt by an Energetic Patriot—Interest in +Copper Mining.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_260">260</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Drake's Menace a Blessing to Cuba—Spanish Interest in Cuba for +Its Own Sake—The Governorship of Tejada—The Public Works +of Antonelli—Building Roads, Dams and Aqueducts—Havana +Made a Real City—Controversy with Bishop Salcedo—Appreciation +of Tejada's Services—Accession of Barrionuevo—Progress +of Civilization in Cuba—The First Theatrical Performance.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXIII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_267">267</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Changes in European Nations—Rise of the Protectionist Policy—Retaliation +by Smugglers—Hostilities against Spain—Prevalence +of Piracy—Some Strong Governors of Cuba—Good Works of +Maldonado and Valdes—Invasions by Pirates—Division of the +Island—Interest in Religious Affairs—Successive Governors +Working at Cross Purposes—Building a Fleet—Protection of the +Port of Havana—An Attack by the Dutch—The Exploits of +Oquendo—The Slave Market in Havana—Fall of Cabrera.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxxii" id="page_xxxii">{xxxii}</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXIV</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_283">283</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>The Decline of Spain—Enterprise and Aggressions of the Dutch—The +Dutch West India' Company—Governors Who Saved Cuba +for Spain—Warring with Dutch Privateers—The Great Fight +with Pie de Palo—Fiscal Reforms in Cuba—Gamboa's Improvement +of Fortifications—Sarmiento's Organization of Cuban +Troops—Ravages of a Great Pestilence—Noble Deeds of the Religious +Orders—Public Works Planned—The Walls of Havana—Aggressions +of the British—Conquest of Jamaica—Records of +Piracy—Exploits of Lolonois—Henry Morgan—British Capture +and Plundering of Santiago—Repairing the Fortifications—A +Compact against Piracy.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXV</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_304">304</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>British Designs against Spanish Possessions—Covetous Eyes +Turned upon Cuba by British Empire-Builders—Isolation of Cuba +from Spain—France Playing False—Cuban Reprisals—Further +Attacks by Freebooters—Controversy over British Prisoners—Disastrous +Earthquakes—Ecclesiastical Troubles—Spain at the Brink +of Bankruptcy—Cordova's Administration—Revised Code of Laws +for the Indies—Civil and Ecclesiastical Controversies—Some +Ruthless Work—Founding of the City of Matanzas—Official Disputes +and Scandals.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXVI</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_325">325</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>The War of the Austrian Succession—The Treaty of Utrecht—Reign +of Philip V—Renewed Conflicts in the West Indies—Settlement +of Pensacola—Aggressions of the French—Cuban Interests +Affected by European Affairs—Increased Protection of the +Island—Two Local Governors—Attacks upon Charleston—Raids +of British Warships—Speculation in Tobacco—More Fortifications +in a Time of Peace—Churches and Convents—Sanitary +Measures—Official Quarrels—Reorganization of the Tobacco Industry—Seeking +Administrative Stability—A Tobacco Insurrection—A +Warning to the British—Fortifications of Havana.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxxiii" id="page_xxxiii">{xxxiii}</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXVII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_345">345</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Great Impetus Given to Discovery and Exploration Throughout +the World—Interesting Observations upon Cuba and the Indies—Some +Quaint Records—A Description of the Natives of Cuba—Something +About the Natural Resources of the Island from Ancient +Authorities—Spanish and Alien Descriptions of Cuba—Early +Writings About Cuba in Various Languages—Fra Vincente +Fonseca—A Dutch Description of Cuba—Attention Given to the +Wealth of Cuban Forests—Reasons Given for the Rise and Subsequent +Decline of Spanish Power—Some Superstitions and +Legends.</td></tr> + +<tr class="chap"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><span class="chapter">Chapter XXVIII</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_360">360</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Cuba Neglected During an Era of Great Achievements—The +Golden Age of Spain—Culture at Home and Conquest Abroad—A +Noteworthy Group of Spanish Historians—The University of +Santo Domingo—The First American Books—Cuba's Lack of +Participation in these Activities, and the Reasons for it—A +Turning Point in Cuban History at the End of the Sixteenth +Century—Cubans Beginning to Become Cubans and Not Spaniards—A +Significant Change in the Temper and Character of the +People of the Island.</td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxxiv" id="page_xxxiv">{xxxiv}</a></span></p> + +<table summary="illustrations" +cellspacing="2" +cellpadding="0"> +<tr class="chap"><td colspan="2" align="center">FULL PAGE PLATES:</td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td><a href="#COLOMBUS">Columbus (Janez Portrait)</a></td><td align="right"><i>Frontispiece</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td> </td><td align="right" class="sml2">FACING<br />PAGE</td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td><a href="#THE_HAVANA_CATHEDRAL">The Havana Cathedral</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td><a href="#LA_FUERZA">La Fuerza</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td><a href="#MORRO_CASTLE">Morro Castle, Havana</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td><a href="#SAN_FRANCISCO_CHURCH">San Francisco Church</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td><a href="#MORRO_CASTLE_SANTIAGO">Morro Castle, Santiago</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_298">298</a></td></tr> +<tr class="chap"><td colspan="2" align="center">TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS:</td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td> </td><td align="right" class="sml2">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Monument on Supposed First Tending Place of Columbus, Watling's Island</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Queen Isabella</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Diego Velasquez</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Baracoa, First Capital of Cuba</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Panfilo de Narvaez</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Bartholomew de las Casas</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Ponce de Leon</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Hernando Cortez</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Hernando de Soto</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_140">140</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>San Lazaro Watch Tower, Havana</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr valign="bottom"><td>Pedro Menendez de Aviles</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_199">199</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{Page 1}</a></span></p> + +<h1>THE HISTORY OF CUBA</h1> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h3> + +<p>C<span class="smcap">uba</span>; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable. The record +of each is in a peculiar sense identified with that of the other. Far +more than any other land the Queen of the Antilles is associated with +that Columbian enterprise from which the modern and practical history of +the Western Hemisphere is dated. In Cuba the annals of America begin.</p> + +<p>This island was not, it is true, the first land discovered by Columbus +after leaving Spain. It was at least the fifth visited and named by him, +and it was perhaps the tenth or twelfth which he saw and at which he +touched in passing. But in at least three major respects it had the +unquestionable primacy among all the discoveries of his first, second +and third voyages, while in his own estimation it was not surpassed in +importance by the main land of the continent which he finally reached in +his fourth and last expedition. It was the first land visited or seen by +him of the identity of which there has never been the slightest +question. It was the first considerable land discovered by him, the +first which was worth while sailing across the ocean to discover, and it +was by far the most important of all found by him in his first three +adventures. It was, also, the first and indeed the only land which +caused him to believe that the theory of his undertaking had been +vindicated and that the supreme object of his quest had been attained. +Let us, in order to appreciate the transcendent significance of his +discovery of Cuba, briefly consider these three circumstances.</p> + +<p>We must remember with respect to the first that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span> identity of +Columbus's first landing place has been much disputed, and indeed has +never been determined to universal satisfaction: We know that it was an +island of small or moderate size. Columbus himself called it in one +place "small" and in another "fairly large." It was level, low-lying, +well watered, with a large central lagoon, which may or may not have +been a permanent feature, seeing that his visit was in the rainy season, +when any depression in the land was likely to be flooded. It was +certainly one of the Bahama archipelago. But that extensive group +comprises 36 islands, 687 cays, and 2,414 rocks. Which of all these was +it upon which the Admiral landed, which was called by the natives +Guanahani, and which, with his characteristic religious fervor, Columbus +immediately renamed San Salvador, the Island of the Holy Saviour?</p> + +<p>The distinction has been claimed, by authorities worthy of respectful +consideration, for no fewer than five. Down to the middle of the +Nineteenth Century the weight of opinion and tradition favored Cat +Island, and upon most maps and charts it was designated as "Guanahani, +or San Salvador." It is by far the largest and the northernmost of the +five islands in question. Next, to the southeast, lies Watling's Island, +to which the distinction of having been the scene of Columbus's landfall +has now for half a century been most generally given, and upon maps it +is generally named San Salvador. It is the only one of the five which +stands out in the Atlantic, beyond the generally uniform line of the +Bahamas, as a sort of advance post to greet the voyager from the east. +Samana, south by east from Watling's, also called Attwood's Cay, was +selected as the true Guanahani by some officers of the United States +Coast Survey. Mariguana, further in the same direction, was proclaimed +"La Verdadera Guanahani" by F. A. de Varnhagen in a scholarly treatise +published in 1864 at Santiago de Chili. Finally, Grand Turk Island, at +the southeastern extremity of the Bahama chain, and just<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span> north of the +coast of Hayti, was designated by Navarrete, in 1825, and by various +other authorities, chiefly American, at later dates.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ill_003monument.png" width="500" height="499" alt="MONUMENT ON SUPPOSED FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS, +WATLING'S ISLAND" /> +<span class="caption">MONUMENT ON SUPPOSED FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS, +WATLING'S ISLAND</span> +</div> + +<p>The chief interest of these speculations for present consideration in +this writing is their bearing upon the subsequent course of Columbus, +the identity of the next islands which he visited, and finally the point +at which he first touched the coast of Cuba. If the original landfall +was on Cat or on Watling's Island, then the second land visited, which +Columbus called Santa Maria de la Concepcion, was probably either the +tiny island now known as Concepcion or the larger Rum Cay; the third, +called by him Ferdinandina or Fernandina, was either Great Exuma or Long +Island; the fourth, Isabella, may have been either Long Island or +Crooked Island, according to whether Fernandina was Great Exuma or Long +Island; and the coast of Cuba was reached at some point between Punta +Lucrecia and Port Nuevitas. On the other hand, if Grand Turk Island was +first reached, the second land would naturally have been, as Navarrete<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span> +held, at Gran Caico; the third at Little Inagua; the fourth at Great +Inagua; and Cuba would have been reached somewhere between Cape Maysi +and Sama Point. To me it seems decidedly the more probable that the +former course was pursued, and I have accordingly adopted the theory +that Columbus first landed in Cuba in the region between Nuevitas and +Punta Lucrecia.</p> + +<p>The second circumstance which I have mentioned scarcely requires +discussion. The first, second and third voyages of Columbus were +confined to discoveries and explorations of the West India Islands, and +of all of these, even including Hayti and Jamaica, there can be no +question of Cuba's primacy, whether in size, in wealth of resources, in +political and strategical importance, or in historical interest. It was +so recognized by Columbus himself, who indeed in one respect actually +esteemed it more highly than it deserved. For after long and careful +exploration he became convinced that it was not an island, but was the +mainland of the Asian continent—Mangi, or Cathay: that country of the +Great Khan of which Marco Polo had written and which Toscanelli had +indicated upon his map, and the visiting of which was the supreme object +of the Admiral's enterprise.</p> + +<p>To understand this aright we must remember that Columbus was not seeking +a new continent. He had no thought that one existed. He held, with +Isidore of Seville, that all the lands of the world were comprehended in +Europe, Africa and Asia, and that there was only one great ocean, the +Atlantic, which stretched unbroken save by islands from the western +shores of Europe and Africa to the eastern coast of Asia and the East +Indies. Moreover, he considerably overestimated the extent of Asia and +underestimated the circumference of the earth. Years later, long after +the circumnavigation of the globe had been effected, Antonio Galvano, +learned historian and geographer though he was, computed the equatorial +circumference of the earth at only 23,500 miles, or about 1,400 miles +too little; while the best maps of the sixteenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span> century indicated the +Asian continent as extending far into the western hemisphere, and the +Pacific Ocean as a narrow strip not nearly comparable with the Atlantic +in extent. Schoener's globe, of 1520, which is still to be seen at +Nuremberg, represents the "Terra de Cuba" as integral with the whole +North American continent, with its western coast only five degrees of +longitude or 300 miles from the shore of Zipangu or Japan, and only 30 +degrees or 1,800 miles from the mainland of Asia.</p> + +<p>Columbus therefore expected to find the coast of Asia in about the +longitude in which he actually found America. When he reached the +Bahamas he confidently assumed them to be the group of islands which +Toscanelli had indicated as lying off the coast of Cathay; and when he +learned from the natives of a much larger island lying to the south, +which they called Colba, Cuba, or Cubanacan, he believed it to be none +other than Cipango, or Zipangu, which Toscanelli had shown as by far the +largest of the East Indian islands. It has been commonly assumed, +apparently with little dispute or attempt at investigation, that Cipango +was Japan. But the distance—1,500 miles—at which it was said to lie +from the coast of China, the southerly latitude assigned to it, and the +multitude of small islands which were clustered about and near it, are +circumstances which suggest that instead of Japan the island meant may +have been Luzon, the northernmost and largest of the Philippines. +However that may be, Columbus promptly decided to steer straight for +Cipango, with the result that he reached the northern shore of the +eastern part of Cuba.</p> + +<p>The third circumstance which I have mentioned was then developed. It was +a great triumph, and a vindication of his enterprise, that he had +reached Cipango. But even that was not enough. He was in quest of the +mainland of Mangi or Cathay, the land of the Great Khan. He found in +Cuba no traces of the opulence and splendor of which Marco Polo had +written. Yet the natives frequently referred to "Cuba-nacan" as a great +place some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span>where in the interior. The phrase merely meant the central +part of the island, but the final syllable was identified by Columbus +with "Khan," and, with the wish as father of the thought, he presently +conceived the notion that it was not the island of Cipango upon which he +had landed, but the shore of Cathay itself. Further explorations, +including coasting along the northern shore to within a few miles of the +western extremity, confirmed him in this belief, which became absolute +conviction. To the end of his life, therefore, he believed that Cuba was +the eastern extremity of the Asian continent, which indeed Toscanelli +had delineated upon his map as terminating in a long, narrow cape; and +it was upon the strength of this belief and report of Columbus that +Schoener in 1520 and Muenster in 1532 identified Cuba with the whole +North American continent, while various other cartographers of that time +made it integral with Cathay itself. The maps of La Cosa and Ruysch, in +1508, hinted at this. The Nancy Globe, and a notable map in the Sloane +MSS. in the British Museum, dated 1530, do, it is true, indicate Cuba to +be an island, but they also make India Superior and Tibet contiguous +with Mexico at the northwest, with the latter country fronting directly +upon the Indian Ocean. We know, of course, that during his second +voyage, in 1494, while off the southern coast of Cuba, Columbus required +his companions to sign with him a formal declaration that they were off +the coast of Asia. Such, then, was the Admiral's estimate of Cuba, in +which there is no reason to doubt he persisted to the end of his life. +He had achieved the object of his great adventure: He had reached the +country of the Great Khan.</p> + +<p>Despite these delusions and vagaries, however, the facts remain that he +did discover and partly explore Cuba, and that it was the first land in +the Western Hemisphere of which that can confidently be said. Cuba is +therefore the starting point of the history of the Columbian discovery +and exploration and the subsequent colonization<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> and civilization of +America. With Cuba the history of the New World begins.</p> + +<p>Similarly, and with equal truth, we may say that the history of Cuba +begins with the Columbian discovery of America. That is not true of all +parts of the American continents. Some of them had already had important +histories. The northeastern coast of North America had been visited and +temporarily colonized by the Norsemen, and the northwestern coast by the +Chinese; and both of those peoples had left enduring traces of their +enterprise. The Iroquois and Algonquins had for centuries enjoyed a +degree of social, political and industrial development, the records of +which still survive. The Toltecs, the Mayas and the Incas had risen to a +height of culture not unworthy to be compared with that of Egypt, +Persia, Greece and Rome, the remains of which to this day command the +wonder and admiration of the world. But not so Cuba. Carlyle might well +have had this island in mind when he said, "Happy the people whose +annals are blank in history books."</p> + +<p>The physical history of Cuba indicates that in some remote period the +two mountainous ends of the island were two separate and distinctly +different islands, separated by a considerable stretch of sea, and that +they were afterward united by a rising of the bottom of the sea, to form +the central plain of Cuba. It is observed that the two ends are unlike +each other on geological structure and composition, in soil, and in +indigenous flora. Indeed, they have ever differed from each other +radically in their cultivated crops. At what date the union of them +occurred, and by what means it was effected, we can only guess. But it +is a reasonable assumption that the raising of the sea-floor to form the +central plain of the island was caused by one of the seismic +disturbances to which this general region of the earth's surface has +from time immemorial been subject. There are, moreover, reasons for +suspecting that this occurred at a time subsequent to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span> creation of +man, and indeed after both of the original islands had become inhabited. +That is because the two ends of the island appear, in Columbus's day, to +have been occupied by different races. Of the inhabitants of the western +end we know comparatively little, save that they were more warlike and +adventurous than those at the east, and several authorities have likened +them either to the Caribs or to the Mayas of Yucatan. That they were +Mayas seems, however, doubtful, since they left no traces of the high +degree of civilization which formerly prevailed among that distinguished +race in Yucatan.</p> + +<p>The people of the eastern end of Cuba, when the island was discovered by +Columbus, were doubtless of Antillan stock, or "Tainan" as some have +called them, with possibly a slight admixture of Carib, though not +sufficient materially to affect them in any respect. They were +physically a handsome, stalwart people, of a light reddish brown color, +somewhat lighter than the North American Indians. They wore no clothing, +with the exception of the married women, who wore breech clouts, and +confined their adornments to slight necklaces and bracelets. They lived +in neatly constructed cabins of cane or bamboo and thatch, rectangular +or circular in form and generally of two or three rooms each; equipped +with furniture of cane or of handsomely carved wood. For beds, however, +they used hammocks, of woven cotton or plaited grass; the name, hammock, +being of Antillan or Carib origin. These houses were, according to early +Spanish testimony, kept scrupulously clean and neat. They were grouped +in villages, around a central square which served as a market place and +playground.</p> + +<p>They were agriculturists, tilling the ground with considerable skill and +producing yuca, corn, beans, peanuts, squashes, peppers and various +other crops, besides fruits and tobacco. They were singularly expert +fishermen, and for the purpose of that pursuit they constructed fine +canoes, of the hollowed boles of large trees, but unlike the Caribs they +do not seem to have resorted to navigation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> for any other purpose. They +also hunted game on the land, solely for food, but their hunting was +much restricted, since there were no large animals of any kind on the +island. Their manufactures were confined to primitive cotton weaving, +wood carving, basketry, pottery—of a pretty good quality of decorated +ware—and various stoneware implements.</p> + +<p>In disposition and manners they were friendly, hospitable, courteous, +and confiding. Despite their nudity they had the unconscious modesty of +nature, and their morals were superior to those of most primitive +peoples. The tradition that venereal diseases prevailed among them and +were thus first made known to European peoples through their having been +acquired from the natives by Columbus's men, seems to be quite void of +foundation; indubitable proof exists of the prevalence of those diseases +in both Europe and Asia at an earlier date than Columbus's time. They +practised but recognized domestic, social and civic equality of the +sexes. They were almost universal tobacco smokers, and it was from them +that the use of that plant was first learned. They were pleasure loving, +much given to dancing, to games of ball, and to swimming.</p> + +<p>Their form of government was patriarchal, though there seem to have been +chiefs of some sort over whole villages or even districts. The laws +were, however, mild and humane. In religion they presented a striking +and most grateful contrast to the Toltecs, Aztecs and other peoples of +the continent, having none of the human sacrifices and atrocious +tortures that disfigured their worship. They believed in a Supreme Being +and a future and immortal life. They had a form of worship in which the +use of idols as symbols, and the smoking of tobacco, largely figured. +They had a regularly constituted priest-hood, the members of which they +credited with powers of divination and of healing. There were none of +the revolting practises and superstitions, however, which have been +common to many primitive peoples. They were not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> warlike, and had no +military organization, but they certainly were not cowards, as some of +the early Spanish conquistadors had cause to know.</p> + +<p>They had, it is obvious, nothing which could survive them as a memorial +of their existence. Their architecture, if so it may be called, was most +perishable. They had no art, save in pottery, and that was not highly +developed. They had no literature. The result was that when they +perished through unfavorable contact with a more powerful and aggressive +race they left scarcely a trace of themselves behind, save in the +records and testimony of their conquerors and destroyers. Some specimens +of their pottery have been preserved: the words "hammock" and "canoe" +come to us from them; and the use of tobacco is their universal +memorial.</p> + +<p>Such were the aborigines, if not the absolute autochthones, of Cuba. +Their only history lives in the brief and scanty records of them made by +their destroyers. They left no enduring impress upon the island, save +its name. How many they were is unknown, and estimates which are mere +guesses differ widely. In a single generation they disappeared, partly +through slaughter and partly through such diseases as small pox and +measles, which were introduced to the island—of course, not +intentionally—by the Spaniards, and which the natives were unable to +resist. The only significant history of Cuba begins, therefore, with the +landfall of Christopher Columbus upon its shores.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h3> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">unday</span>, October 28, 1492, was the natal day of Cuba; the day of its +advent into the ken of the civilized world. At the island which he +called Isabella—either Long Island or Crooked Island—Columbus had +heard of a very great land which the natives called Cuba, and which, the +wish being father to the thought, he instantly identified with Cipango. +Toward it, therefore, his course had thereafter been directed. Progress +was slow, because of contrary winds and calms, and there were numerous +small islands along the way to engage at least passing attention. +Particularly was there a group of seven or eight, lying in a row +extending north and south, which he called the Islas de Arena, and which +we may confidently identify with the Mucaras. Early on the morning of +Saturday, October 27, he had left the last of the Sandy Isles behind, +and from a point considerably to the eastward of them, probably near +what is now known as Rocky Heads, he had set his course a little west of +south for the shore of Cuba. Thus he had passed across the southeastern +end of the Great Bahama Bank, since most appropriately called the +Columbus Bank, until just at nightfall he had seen looming before him on +the southern horizon the mountainous form of a vast land. It was too +late, however, to continue the voyage that night, so he lay to, and at +earliest daybreak of Sunday morning, leaving behind him the islet +fittingly called Caya Santo Domingo, completed his course to the land +which he fondly but vainly hailed as the much-sought Cipango.</p> + +<p>The coast at the point at which he reached it seemed specially designed +by nature for his favorable and auspicious reception. There lay before +him what seemed the estuary of a large and beautiful river, free from +rocks or other impediments, and with a very gentle current.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> It had an +ample depth of water for his vessels, and was sufficiently broad, even +at a considerable distance inland, for them to beat about in. It was +encircled by lofty and picturesque hills, the aspect of which reminded +him of the "Pena de los Enamorados" near Granada, in Spain; and upon the +summit of one of them was what he described as another little hill, +shaped like a graceful mosque. Enchanted with the vision, and gratified +beyond expression at what he confidently assumed to be the reaching of +his goal and the vindication of his enterprise, he gave to the spot a +repetition of the name which he had devoutly bestowed upon his first +landfall, calling the port San Salvador.</p> + +<p>The identity of this spot has been much questioned and disputed; perhaps +even more than that of Columbus's first landing in the Bahamas; and it +is not to be regarded as entirely certain. Washington Irving pretty +confidently placed it at Caravelas Grandes, far to the west of Nuevitas +del Principe, while others insist that it was at Nuevitas itself. +Navarrete, on the other hand, with his theory that the first landfall +was at Grand Turk Island, held that Cuba was reached at Nipe Bay, east +of Holguin; while Las Casas and Herrera insisted that the port of San +Salvador was at Baracoa, near Cape Maysi, at the extreme eastern end of +the island. Midway between the extremes, that most scholarly and +judicious of geographers, Sir Clements Markham, selected the natural +harbor of Naranjo, a little to the west of Punta Lucrecia and Punta +Mulas. Other historians and geographers, after painstaking research, +declare that they do not believe the place can be determined.</p> + +<p>With this, in the ultimate analysis, I would agree. It is probably +impossible to establish indisputably the identity of the place. Yet it +does seem to me that the arguments in favor of Naranjo, as selected by +Markham, are so strong as to be all but entirely convincing, and that it +will be judicious, therefore, to assume that it was there that the +Admiral first reached the shore of Cuba. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span> glance at the map shows this +to be the region which was nearest and which he was likeliest to reach +first, coming from either Long Island or Crooked Island, eastward of the +Mucaras, on a south-southwest course, which, we are told, is what he +steered. The port of Naranjo answers to his description in depth and +breadth more nearly than any other on that part of the coast. It is the +estuary of a considerable river, as was Columbus's San Salvador, though +how large the river really was he does not appear to have undertaken to +ascertain, though he did ascend the stream some little distance on his +first day's visit. Finally, it is to be observed that Naranjo is girt +about by hills, precisely as was his San Salvador, and on the crest of +one of them there is a huge rock, jutting up like "another little hill" +and roughly resembling in shape a mosque, because of which the hill is +called "Loma del Temple." This, then, and not Nuevitas, Nipe, nor +Baracoa, I believe to have been the scene of Columbus's discovery of +Cuba.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/ill_013queenisabella.png" width="200" height="250" alt="QUEEN ISABELLA" /> +<span class="caption">QUEEN ISABELLA</span> +</div> + +<p>We have seen that Columbus at first unhesitatingly believed it to be +Cipango which he had reached. Despite that fact, and also despite the +fact that the natives called it Cuba, he insisted upon renaming it. In +accordance with his previous practice in nomenclature, it must have a +very noble and distinguished name. His first landfall he had named for +the Holy Saviour Himself; the second for the Holy Virgin; the third for +the King, and the fourth for the Queen of Leon and Castile. The next +name in order, in dignity and distinction, was that of the heir to the +dual throne, wherefore he named the land Juana. Most writers, including +Irving, have made the curious but facile mistake of saying that this +name was given "in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and +Isa<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span>bella." It was, in fact, in honor of Princess Juana, the daughter of +those sovereigns. She was that unhappy princess who because of her +insanity was called "La Loca," and who by her marriage with Philip of +Burgundy and of Hapsburg brought a new dynasty to the Spanish throne and +greatly involved the monarchy in the politics and wars of Central +Europe. Juana was mentally incompetent to succeed to the throne of +Castile which she inherited upon the death of her mother, wherefore she +was compelled to relinquish it to the regency of her father; and when he +united Castile with Aragon, and conquered and annexed Navarre and +Granada, and thus became the first King of Spain, Cuba was renamed in +his honor and known no longer as Juana but as Ferdinandina, or +Fernandina. Still later it was called San Diego, or Santiago; and again +Ave Maria Alfa y Omega. But these names were transitory. The natives +never accepted one of them, but clung to the old name of Cuba, and there +was a fine touch of poetic justice in the fact that that name survived +the extinction of the race that had cherished it. Under the ruthless +rule of the Conquistadores the aboriginal population of the island +almost entirely vanished, and with them practically all traces of their +existence save four. These were the name and use of tobacco, the name +and use of hammocks, the name and use of canoes, and the name of the +island itself.</p> + +<p>It would not have been surprising, and it would have been quite +pardonable, had Columbus seen everything in the New World through +glasses of <i>couleur de rose</i>. Naturally of a romantic and imaginative +temperament, he experienced in the realization of his long-cherished +ambition such a degree of spiritual and mental exaltation as seldom has +come to mortal man. Yet quite apart from this, the native beauty of +Cuba, as seen to our eyes to-day, abundantly justifies the rhapsodies in +which he indulged in describing it. On that first memorable Sunday he +wrote in his diary, "This is the most beautiful land ever beheld by +human eyes." From the quarter-deck of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> <i>Santa Maria</i> he gazed with +rapture upon the profuse verdure of the shore and of the hills which +rose in the back-ground, observing with admiration and surprise that the +trees grew down to the very water's edge, as did also the herbage, as he +had never seen it elsewhere. The palms and other trees were largely of +different kinds from those which he had seen in Spain, in Guinea, and +elsewhere, and they bore flowers and fruit in great profusion, while +among them were innumerable birds, beautiful to the eye and with songs +entrancing to the ear.</p> + +<p>Two canoes, containing each several natives, put out from a recess in +the harbor shore to meet the Spanish ships, but when a boat was lowered +from one of the latter, to proceed ahead and take soundings, they +incontinently fled. Columbus himself then entered a small boat and went +ashore, where he found two houses, which he assumed to belong to the +owners of the two canoes. No persons were to be found upon the premises, +and the only living things were "a kind of dog that never barks," which +we may assume to have been some small animal of the ant bear tribe, now +probably extinct or at any rate no longer domesticated. The houses were +notably neat and clean, and were evidently the abode of fishermen, since +in them were nets and cordage of palm fibre, fish-hooks of horn, and +harpoons of bone. All about the houses the herbage was as profuse, at +the end of October, as it was in Andalusia in May. Most of the herbs as +well as the trees were strange to Columbus, but he found some wild +amaranth, and much common purslane. He went some distance up the harbor, +or river as he called it, at every step or stroke of the oars seeing +something new to excite his admiration.</p> + +<p>The natives of Guanahani whom he had brought on his ship informed him +that Cuba was a very large island, which could not be circumnavigated in +twenty days; that it contained ten large rivers and that its whole +expanse was well watered. They were also understood by Columbus to say +that gold mines and pearls were to be found<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> in the island, and that +large ships came thither from the mainland domains of the Grand Khan, +ten days' sail away. The bulk of this "information" was of course quite +mistaken by Columbus, his vivid imagination and his eager desires easily +misleading him into interpreting anything which the natives might say, +largely in sign language, as meaning just what he wished to be true.</p> + +<p>The next day Columbus left San Salvador and sailed westward along the +coast. That was the direction in which, according to the natives of +Guanahani, the mainland and the capital of the King or the Grand Khan +were to be found. That, too, was the direction in which Mangi and Cathay +were to be found according to the map of Toscanelli, assuming Cuba to be +Cipango: which Columbus at this stage of his enterprise confidently +believed. Of the researches of the great voyager along the Cuban coast +we have a detailed account in his journal. Unfortunately, there is no +certain means of identifying the points at which he landed. They are +described as being so many leagues from his starting point, San +Salvador; wherefore it is obvious that all depends upon the identity of +the latter. Yet it seems to me that his account of his coastwise +explorations strongly confirms the theory that his San Salvador was Port +Naranjo and not Nuevitas. For we are told that six leagues westward he +found a cape or point of land extending toward the northwest; ten +leagues further another point, extending toward the east; one league +further a small river, which he called the Rio de la Luna; and beyond it +another much larger river, which he called the Rio de Mares. This latter +river had for its estuary a broad basin resembling a lake, and its +entrance was marked by two round mountains on the one side and a lofty +promontory on the other.</p> + +<p>Now, making reasonable allowance for lack of accuracy in measurements +and for discrepancies in descriptions, this account may readily be +applied to the coast westward from Port Naranjo to Nuevitas, while it is +altogether inapplicable to the coast westward from Nuevitas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> For a +score of leagues westward from Naranjo there are capes and mountains and +rivers, and there is more than one river with precisely such a +lagoon-like estuary as that which Columbus found at his Rio de Mares. +Indeed, Port Padre, with its extensive lagoon into which several rivers +flow, or Port Manati, with the Cramal and Yarigua rivers, might either +of them be identified, in approximate distance and in topography, with +the Rio de Mares. On the other hand, if we were to assume Nuevitas to +have been the starting point, what should we find? Either he must have +been skirting the outer side of the Sabinal and Romano keys, and Guajaba +Island, which do not at all coincide with the description given, or he +must have been navigating the great littoral lagoon between those keys +and the mainland of Cuba; in which latter case it is to be observed that +that part of the Cuban coast does not correspond with his description, +and that it is certainly extraordinary that he made no mention of his +voyage having been in what is practically an inland sea. That he could +have passed in through the Nuevitas Channel, or the Carebelas Channel, +or the Guajaba Channel, without observing and remarking upon Sabinal +Key, Guajaba Island, or Romano Key, is simply not supposable. Such a +feature of "Cipango" could not have escaped notice on his first arrival +there, though it might easily have been ignored or passed over as of no +special significance in subsequent explorations.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday of that memorable week, October 30, Columbus left the Rio de +Mares and sailed to the northwest for fifteen leagues, and there +discovered a point which he named the Cape of Palms. Beyond it was a +river, the entrance of which was said to be four days' journey from what +the natives called Cubanacan, meaning the heart of the island, the +centre of Cuba. With his characteristic habit of interpreting native +names and statements in accordance with his own desires, Columbus at +once assumed this to mean Kublai Khan, or the City of the Khan, of which +he was in quest; and accordingly he bent all his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span> energies and gave all +his attention to getting thither, disregarding the things which he +passed by on the way. It was probably at this time, therefore, that he +sailed through one of the channels among the keys, and entered the great +coastal sound which stretches from Nuevitas to Caibarien, if not indeed +to Cardenas. He reached the river on Wednesday, but found it too shallow +for his ships, and therefore, after some fruitless cruisings, returned +to the Rio de Mares.</p> + +<p>It was on November 12 that he again sailed from the Rio de Mares, and on +the next day that he sailed south-westward into a great gulf, which he +supposed to divide Cuba from another island called by the natives +"Bohio"—the word really meaning not an island at all but "home." +Thereafter for some time he was obviously cruising around Guajaba Island +and Romano Key, which, with Sabinal Key, he supposed to be the mythical +"Bohio." Some port, possibly Boca de la Yana, he called Puerto Principe, +and the water, presumably between Thiguano Island and Cocos Key, he +called the Mar de la Nuestra Senora. Rounding Guillermo Key, as we may +suppose, he swung into the Old Bahama Channel, and by wind and tide was +carried backward to Guajaba Island and perhaps to Nuevitas. Thence he +made his way westward and southward, rounding Point Sama and Point +Lucrecia, and reaching Port Nipe and Port Banes on the morning of +November 27. Those two capacious bays he did not attempt to enter. He +regarded them indeed not as bays but as straits, or arms of the sea, and +the promontory between them he supposed to be an island. At Taco he +landed for a few moments, and then pursued his way, and at nightfall +dropped anchors at what he called Puerto Santo, which we may probably +identify with the modern Baracoa. There he remained until December 4, +when he sailed to the southeast, and the following day passed out of +sight of Cape Maysi and left Cuba behind him; crossing the Windward +Passage to reach "Bohio" or "Babeque," where there were said to be +pearls and gold, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span> reaching Hayti, or Santo Domingo, which he called +Espagnola. He did not revisit Cuba during the remainder of his first +American voyage.</p> + +<p>Espagnola, Latinized by us into Hispaniola, became thereafter the chief +care of the Admiral. It was there that he planted, on his second voyage, +the first European colony in the western hemisphere. But after various +operations in Hayti, marked with both trials and triumphs, during his +second American expedition he returned to the Cuban coast for further +explorations of what he still thought to be Cipango. It was at the end +of April, 1494, that he sailed from Mole St. Nicholas, Hayti, across the +Windward Passage toward Cape Maysi, which he himself had called Cape +Alpha and Omega. Instead, however, of retracing his way to Baracoa and +along the north coast, he went to the left of Cape Maysi and began +skirting the southern coast of Cuba. This route would, according to +Toscanelli's map, take him to the southward of Mangi and Cathay, but it +would lead him to the Golden Chersonesus, around the southern shore of +Asia, and so home to Europe by circumnavigating the globe.</p> + +<p>The points visited by him on this excursion are more easily and surely +to be identified than those of his first voyage. His first landing was +at Guantanamo, which he called Puerto Grande. He found an entrance +passage, winding but deep, leading in to a spacious land-locked lagoon, +surrounded by hills covered with verdure. Here he established friendly +relations with the natives, and remained for two or three days. Thence +he sailed westward, as close to the shore as safety would permit, and +frequently entered into friendly intercourse with the natives who +thronged the strand to gaze in wonderment at his strange ships. At +Santiago de Cuba he spent a night, and during his stay he diligently +inquired of the natives for the land in which gold was to be found. They +indicated it to lie farther to the south and west, doubtless meaning +South America. Columbus thereupon set sail in that direction, partly +because gold was most desirable to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> obtain, and partly because he +assumed the land of gold to be the land of the Great Khan, which he was +still intent upon reaching. The result was his discovery of Jamaica. A +fortnight later, however, on May 18, he returned to Cuba, reaching it at +Cabo de la Cruz, or Cape Cruz. Here he found a large village, whose +chief and indeed all whose inhabitants had heard of him as one descended +from heaven. He was hospitably received, and was able to make many +inquiries about the country. He was told that Cuba was an island, but of +so vast extent that nobody had ever sailed around it. He thereupon set +out to circumnavigate it and sailed from Cape Cruz northward into the +Gulf of Guacanabo. There he found a multitude of small islands, which he +named the Queen's Gardens, and there, remembering that Marco Polo and +Sir John Mandeville had both reported the coast of Asia to be fringed +with a crowded archipelago, he was again confirmed in his belief that he +was approaching the shore either of Cathay or of the Golden Chersonesus.</p> + +<p>Navigation among these islands, however, was difficult, dangerous and +slow, particularly when tropical thunderstorms were raging, as they then +were almost daily, and it was with much relief that the expedition at +last reached the Cuban coast, probably at or near Santa Cruz del Sur. +There they were told that they were in the province of Ornofay; the +province which they had formerly visited, at Cape Cruz, was Macaca; and +to the west there lay the important province of Mangon, where they could +secure much fuller information on all subjects. They were again assured +that Cuba was an island, but so vast in extent that nobody could hope +ever to go around it. The mention of the province of Mangon again +stimulated the hopes and fancy of Columbus. He identified it with Mangi, +the southernmost and richest province of the Great Khan, and in this he +was confirmed by the fantastic statement of the natives, that the people +of Mangon had tails and wore long robes to conceal them! Columbus +recalled that Sir John Mandeville had related a similar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> story as +current among some tribes in Eastern Asia. He therefore set out with +renewed eagerness and expectation for the coast of Mangon.</p> + +<p>Emerging from the archipelago, he sailed for many miles along the +southern coast of Cuba, through an open sea, with the mountain ranges of +Santa Clara at his right hand and at his left the open expanse of the +Caribbean, its intense blue attesting its depth. After passing the Gulf +of Xagua, however, there came a sudden change. The sea became shallow, +and thickly dotted with small islands, keys, and banks, while the water +was white as milk. The voyagers had crossed the Gulf of Cazones and were +among the Juan Luis Keys, where the water is shallow and where at times +the agitation of the water by storms causes it to be whitened and +rendered opaque with the calcareous deposit with which the sea floor is +there thickly covered. This character of the bottom also made it +impossible for the vessels to find anchorage. The anchors dragged and +the water became more white and turbid. To the members of the crews +these phenomena caused great terror, which was by no means ill founded, +since there was imminent danger of the vessels being driven ashore and +wrecked. To Columbus, in his state of mental exaltation and high +expectancy, however, they were full of inspiration and encouragement to +proceed, indicating to him that he was entering strange regions where +extraordinary discoveries were to be made. For we must remember that, +far as he was in advance of his time in geographical vision, he still +thought that the earth was not globular but pear-shaped, and he expected +to find tribes of men with tails, and with only one eye and with their +heads growing beneath their shoulders!</p> + +<p>Finding anchorage at last upon the shore of a small island, he sent the +smallest of his vessels forward to explore the archipelago and also to +visit the coast of the mainland. The report which was brought back to +him was that the archipelago was as dense and as intricate as the +Gardens of the Queen which they had left behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span> them, and that the +coast of the mainland was flat, marshy, and covered with almost +impenetrable mangrove forests, far beyond which fertile uplands and +mountain ranges were to be seen, while numerous columns of smoke +ascending gave token of a considerable population. At this the entire +expedition proceeded, to retrace the course which had been pursued by +the pilot caravel, and after much difficulty and occasional groundings +of the vessels, the coast of Cuba was reached, doubtless near the +eastern extremity of the great Zapata Peninsula. The vast marshes gave +little encouragement for landing, and the expedition continued eastward +until Punta Gorda was reached, to which Columbus gave the name of Punta +Serafina.</p> + +<p>Rounding this point and heading northward, the fine expanse of Broa Bay +confronted them, with the coast of the Province of Havana far beyond, +and with another archipelago at the west. The mountains which lie between +Guines and Matanzas fringed the horizon, and toward them the Admiral +steered, presently reaching good anchorage off a most inviting coast. The +mangrove swamps of Zapata had been left behind, and here the shore was +high and dry, and covered with groves of palm and other trees. Here a +landing was made, and copious supplies of fresh water were found for the +refilling of their casks, while some of the archers strayed into the +forest in quest of game. One of the latter presently returned in haste +and fear, crying for help. He reported that he had seen in a forest +glade three men of white complexion, clad in long white tunics, leading +a company of about thirty more, armed with clubs and spears. They did +not attack him, but one of them advanced alone as if to speak with him; +whereupon he fled. At this report all his companions joined him in +hastening back to the ships for safety.</p> + +<p>When Columbus heard these things he was much pleased. He saw in them +confirmation of what he had been told about the Province of Mangon, with +its men<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> who had tails and who wore long robes to hide them. He at once +sent a strongly armed party inland to seek these men and parley with +them; directing them to go as much as forty miles inland, if necessary, +to find them, and to find the populous cities which he confidently +believed to exist in that region. These explorers readily enough +traversed the open palm forest which bordered the coast. But then they +came to extensive open upland plains or savannahs, with few trees but +with rank grass and other herbage as high as their heads and so dense as +to be almost impenetrable. No roads or paths were to be found, and it +was necessary to cut a trail through the herbage. For a mile they +struggled on, and then gave up the attempt and returned to the ships. +The next day another party was sent in another direction, with no better +results. Its members found fine open forests, abounding with grapevines +laden with fruit, and they saw flocks of cranes which they described as +twice the size of those of Europe. But they also saw on the ground the +footprints, as they supposed, of lions and of griffins, which so alarmed +them that they beat a hasty retreat.</p> + +<p>Lions, and indeed all large beasts of prey, were never known to exist in +Cuba, and the griffin was of course never anything but imaginary—unless +a tradition of some prehistoric monster, ages ago extinct. But huge +alligators or caymans abounded in Cuban waters, and the footprints which +frightened Columbus's explorers were doubtless made by them. The +observation of large cranes suggests, also, an explanation of the +panic-stricken archer's story of men clothed in white robes. A flock of +those huge birds, standing erect and in line, with their leader advanced +before them, as is their custom, in the semi-gloom of a strange forest, +might well have given him the impression of a company of white-robed +men. Of course, no men of that description were ever found in Cuba, nor +were there traces of any.</p> + +<p>It did not take Columbus long to explore Broa Bay sufficiently to +ascertain that it was not an arm of the sea,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span> but a mere coastal +indentation; whereupon he resumed his westward cruising. A little +further on, probably in the neighborhood of Batabano, he found the shore +inhabited, and though neither he nor his interpreters could understand +the language of the natives, they contrived to hold some communication +with them by means of signs. He gleaned from them in this manner the +information that far to westward, among the mountains, there was a great +king, ruling in magnificence over many provinces; that he wore long +white robes and was considered a semi-divine personage, and that he +never spoke but conveyed his decrees in signs, which nobody dared to +disobey. To what extent this was really intended by the natives, and to +what extent was the mere figment of the Admiral's lively imagination, it +is impossible to say. It is entirely conceivable, however, that the +Cubans had some knowledge of the Aztecs and Toltecs of Mexico, and the +Mayas of Yucatan, and were referring to them. Certainly they could not +have referred to anybody in Cuba. But Columbus, as ever fondly believing +whatever he wished to be true, confidently assumed that they were +telling him of the mythical Prester John, and that he was on the shores +of that potentate's domain. The mountains of which the natives spoke, he +supposed, were those of Pinar del Rio, which were already in sight on +the northwestern horizon.</p> + +<p>Concerning the extent of Cuba, and of the coast along which he was +sailing, Columbus could get little information. He was told that the +coast extended westward for at least twenty days' journey, but whether +it then ended, and how it ended, he could not learn. He therefore took +one of the natives with him as a guide, and resumed his voyage. Almost +immediately, however, he plunged into another archipelago, almost as +dense and troublesome as that through which he had passed a few days +before. Making his way through it with great difficulty, he reached the +coast of Pinar del Rio, and effected a landing amid swamps and forests, +only to find the region <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span>uninhabited, though frequent columns of smoke +rising inland indicated to him the presence of a considerable +population. For some time he made his way along that inhospitable coast, +which trended steadily toward the southwest, a direction agreeing with +his conceptions of the Asian coast as described by Marco Polo. Surely, +he thought, he was on the coast of Indo-China, headed straight for the +Golden Chersonesus. If he persisted, he would cross the Indian Ocean and +reach the Red Sea, whence he could complete his journey to Europe +overland by way of Palestine; or he could steer southward along the +African coast and around that continent, and so reach home by +circumnavigating the globe.</p> + +<p>These fancies appear to have been shared by his companions, among whom +were several accomplished navigators and geographers. The delusions were +of course largely due to the erroneous estimate of the size of the +globe, which made its circumference too little by some thousands of +miles. But his companions could not be persuaded to approve his scheme +of going on to circumnavigate the globe. The glamor of that vision did +not blind their eyes to the worn and dilapidated condition of the ships, +the lack of supplies, and the weariness of the crews. They were in no +condition, they insisted, to proceed further through unknown regions. It +was already satisfactorily demonstrated, they held, that they had +reached the Asian coast. The part of prudence was to turn back to +Isabella, if not to Spain, and refit their vessels for another and +longer voyage.</p> + +<p>These counsels finally prevailed upon Columbus himself, at the time when +his flotilla lay at anchor in the Bay of Cortez, near the western +extremity of Cuba. He was indeed so near that extremity that a day or +two more of sailing would have brought him to Cape San Antonio and would +have shown him that Cuba was an island. Or from the top of some tall +tree, or even from the mast head, he might have looked across the lakes +and lowlands of that region and seen the waters of Guadiana Bay, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> the +north side of the island. But this was not to be. Instead, he required +every member of his company, from sailing master to cabin boy, to swear +to and sign a formal declaration to the effect that the land which they +had discovered and explored was a part of the Indies and of the Asian +continent. Then, on June 13, he turned his course toward the southeast, +only to enter another archipelago, the San Felipe and Indian keys. +Beyond lay a large land, with mountains, to which he gave the name of +Evangelista. It was, of course, the Isle of Pines, which he reached a +little south of Point Barcos. Taking in a supply of water and wood, he +skirted the coast southward, with the result that he ran into the +land-locked recesses of the Bay of Sunianea. Finding no thoroughfare in +that direction, he sailed back almost to the Bay of Cortez, and then +made his way along the Cuban coast, through the archipelagoes, milky +seas and what not which had given him so much trouble on his westward +trip.</p> + +<p>It was on July 7 that the next landing in Cuba was made, at a point on +the southeastern coast of Camaguey, and at the mouth of a fine river +which Columbus called the Rio de la Missa but the identity of which is +now uncertain. It may have been the San Juan de Najasa or the Sevilla, +or one of the several streams between those two. There, in a most genial +and fruitful region, they spent some days and established friendly +relations with the chief of a considerable community. In the presence of +this chief and his retainers an altar was erected beneath a great tree, +and mass was celebrated. An aged native, apparently a priest, watched +this proceeding with much interest, and at its close approached Columbus +and addressed him, saying:</p> + +<p>"This which thou hast done is, I perceive, thy method of worshipping thy +God; which is well. I am told that thou hast come hither with a strong +force, and hast subdued many lands, filling the people with great fear. +Be not, however, vainglorious. The souls of men after these bodies are +dead have, according to our belief, one of two<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span> journeys to pursue. One +is to a place that is dismal, foul and dark, which is prepared for those +who have been cruel and unjust to their fellow men. The other is to a +place of light and joy, prepared for those who have practised peace and +justice. Therefore if thou art mortal, and must some time die, and dost +expect that all men are to be rewarded according to the deeds done in +their bodies, see that thou work justice and do no harm to those who +have done no harm to thee."</p> + +<p>In this address was revealed the most that we know of the religion of +the Cuban aborigines. Columbus listened to it with surprise and +gratification, not having supposed that any such faith or such knowledge +of the future life existed among the natives of Cuba. He responded +through his interpreter sympathetically, assuring the old man that he +had been sent forth by his sovereigns to teach the true faith and to do +good and no evil, and that all innocent and peaceable men might +confidently look to him for friendship and protection. He also had his +interpreter tell the people of the greatness, riches and splendor of +Spain; to which they listened in credulous bewilderment. Then, on July +16, he sailed away from Cuba again, amid expressions of regret by the +chief and his comrades; taking with him one of the young men whom he +afterward sent to the Spanish court. But a storm struck his feeble +vessels and nearly wrecked them. On July 18 they anchored near Cape Cruz +for repairs, and were most hospitably received by the natives. At last, +on July 22, they departed for Jamaica, whence they returned to Isabella. +Never again did Columbus visit Cuba, though he approached its southern +shore on his fourth voyage, on his way to the coast of Central America. +To the end of his life, presumably, he believed Cuba to be a part of the +Asian continent, continuous with Honduras and Veragua.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h3> + +<p>W<span class="smcap">e</span> have already quoted the enthusiastic encomium of Columbus upon Cuba +at his first sight of and landing upon its shore. His diary and his +narrative to the sovereigns of Leon and Castile on his return to Spain +abound with similar expressions, as well as with informing bits of +description of Cuba as they then found it. In the very first days of his +first visit he found villages of houses "made like booths, very large, +and looking like tents in a camp without regular streets but one here +and another there. Within they were clean and well swept, with furniture +well made. All were of palm branches, beautifully constructed. They +found many images in the shape of women, and many heads like masks, very +well carved. It was not known whether these were used as ornaments, or +were to be worshipped."</p> + +<p>The waters abounded in fish, and the people of the coast regions were +apparently nearly all fishermen. The only domestic animals were the +"dogs which never barked," and birds in cages. There were seen, however, +skulls like those of cows, on which account Columbus assumed that inland +there were herds of cattle. All night the air was vocal with the songs +of birds and the chirping of crickets and other insects, which lulled +the voyagers to rest. Along the shore and in the mouths of rivers were +found large shells, unlike any that he had known in Spain, but no pearls +were in them. The air was soft and salubrious, and the nights were +neither hot nor cold. On the other islands which he had visited the heat +was oppressive, a circumstance which he attributed to the flat and +low-lying land; while Cuba was mountainous and therefore was blessed +with cooling breezes.</p> + +<p>At some point on the northeastern coast, probably in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> the neighborhood +of Point Sama, a month after his first landing, he imagined that he had +discovered deposits of gold. It was in the bed of a river, near its +mouth, that he saw stones shining, as if with gold, and he had them +gathered, to take home to Spain and to present to the sovereigns. At the +same point some of the sailors called his attention to the pine trees on +a neighboring hill. They were "so wonderfully large that he could not +exaggerate their height and straightness, and he perceived that in them +was material for great stores of planks and masts for the largest ships +of Spain."</p> + +<p>Further on, probably in the neighborhood of Baracoa, "they came to the +largest inhabited place that they had yet seen, and a vast concourse of +people came down to the beach with loud shouts, all naked, with darts in +their hands." Columbus desired to have speech with them, and accordingly +anchored his ships and sent boats ashore, bearing gifts for the natives. +The people at first seemed inclined to resist any landing, but when the +Spaniards in the boats pressed on and began to land, without manifesting +any fear, they abandoned their hostile attitude and began to withdraw. +The Spaniards who landed called to them and strove to lure them back, +but without success. They all ran away. In consequence of this and +similar incidents, Columbus wrote:</p> + +<p>"I have not been able to see much of the natives, because they take to +flight. But now, if Our Lord pleases, I will see as much as possible, +and will proceed little by little, learning and comprehending; and I +will make some of my followers learn the language—for I have perceived +that there is only one language up to this point. After they understand +the advantages I shall labor to make all these people Christians. They +will readily become such, because they have no religion nor idolatry; +and Your Highnesses"—he was addressing the sovereigns, in his +journal—"will send orders to build a city and fortress, and to convert +these people.</p> + +<p>"It does not appear to me," he continued, "that there<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> can be a more +fertile country or a better climate under the sun, with more abundant +supplies of water. This is not like the rivers of Guinea, which are all +pestilential. I thank Our Lord that up to this time there has not been a +person of my company who has had so much as a head-ache, except one old +man who has suffered from stone all his life, and he was well again in +two days. I speak of all three vessels. If it should please God that +Your Highness should send learned men out here, they will see the truth +of all I have said."</p> + +<p>While in the neighborhood of Baracoa, at the end of November and +beginning of December, 1492, he saw a canoe made of the hole of a single +tree, 95 palms long and capable of carrying 150 persons. "Leaving the +river, they came to a cove in which there were five large canoes, so +well constructed that it was a pleasure to look at them. They were under +spreading trees, and a path led to them from a very well built +boathouse, so thatched that neither sun nor rain could do any harm. +Within it there was another canoe made out of a single tree like the +others, like a galley with 17 benches. It was a pleasant sight to look +upon such goodly work.</p> + +<p>"The Admiral ascended a mountain, and afterward found the country level +and cultivated with many things. In the middle there was a large +village, and they came upon the people suddenly, but as soon as they +were seen the men and women took to flight. The Admiral made the Indian +from on board, who was with him, give them bells, copper ornaments, and +glass beads, green and yellow, with which they were well content. He saw +that they had no gold nor any other precious thing, and that it would +suffice to leave them in peace. The whole district was well peopled.... +No arms are carried by them except wands, on the point of which a short +piece of wood is fixed, hardened by fire, and these they are very ready +to exchange.</p> + +<p>"Returning to where he had left the boats, he sent back some men up the +hill, because he fancied he had seen a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> large apiary. Before those he +had sent could return, they were joined by many Indians, and they went +to the boats, where the Admiral was waiting with all his people. One of +the natives advanced into the river near the stern of the boat and made +a long speech, which the Admiral did not understand. At intervals the +other Indians raised their hands to heaven and shouted. The Admiral +thought that the orator was assuring him that he was pleased at his +arrival. But he saw the Indian who came from the ship change the color +of his face and turn as yellow as wax, trembling much and indicating to +the Admiral by signs that he should leave the river, as they were going +to kill him. The Admiral then pointed to a cross-bow which one of his +followers had, and showed it to the Indians, making them understand that +they would all be slain, because that weapon killed people at a great +distance. He also drew a sword from its sheath and showed it to them, +telling them that it, too, would slay them. Thereupon they all took to +flight; while the Indian from the ship still trembled from cowardice, +though he was a tall, strong man."</p> + +<p>Columbus then determined to seek further acquaintance with the natives, +and accordingly had his boat rowed to a point on the shore of the river +where they were assembled in great numbers. They were naked, and +painted; some wearing tufts of feathers on their heads, and all carrying +bundles of darts. "I came to them," said Columbus, "and gave them bread, +asking for the darts, in exchange for which I gave copper ornaments, +bells and glass beads. This made them peaceable, so that they came to +the boats again and gave us what they had. The sailors had killed a +turtle, and the shell was on the boat, cut into pieces, some of which +the sailors gave them in exchange for a bundle of darts. They were like +the other people we had seen, with the same belief that we had come from +heaven." They were ready, he added, to give anything that they had in +exchange for any trifle, which they would accept without saying that it +was little, and Columbus be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span>lieved that they would thus give away gold +and spices, if they had had any. In one of the houses which he entered +"shells and other things were fastened to the ceiling." He thought that +it was a temple, and he inquired, by signs, if such was the case and if +prayers were there offered. The natives replied in the negative, and one +of them climbed up to take down the ceiling ornaments and give them to +Columbus, who accepted a few of them.</p> + +<p>It was early in November, 1492, that one of the most noteworthy +discoveries in relation to Cuba was made. At that time Columbus sent +inland from the port at the mouth of the Rio de Mares two men, Rodrigo +de Jerez and Luis de Torres, to explore the inland country and to find +if possible the high road to the capital and palace of the Great Khan. +These men did not find what they had been sent for, but something else, +which proved in after years to be of incalculable value to Cuba and to +the world. To quote Las Casas:</p> + +<p>"They met on the road many men and women, passing to their villages, the +men always with half-burned brands in their hands and certain herbs for +smoking. These herbs are dry and are placed in a dry leaf made in the +shape of the paper tubes which the boys make at Easter. Lighted at one +end, at the other the smoke is sucked or drawn in with the breath. The +effect of it is to make them sleepy and as it were intoxicated, and they +say that using it relieves the feeling of fatigue. These rolls they call +'tabacos.'" Some of Columbus's men, when it was reported to them, tried +smoking the "tabacos," and the habit soon became prevalent among the +Spanish colonists in Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>These few items, then, compose practically the sum and substance of the +knowledge which Columbus acquired of that land which was, second to only +the continent, by far the most important of all his discoveries. They +are few and meagre. It is indeed doubtful if history records an even +approximately comparable instance of the disappearance of a numerous and +capable people from a coun<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span>try of vast interest and importance, leaving +behind them so few traces of themselves and so little information +concerning them. For these things are not merely all that Columbus +learned about Cuba. They are all that his successors learned and that +the world has ever learned about Cuba as it existed prior to and at the +time of the great discovery. Tobacco, hammocks, canoes, and the name of +the island and the names of various places on it which have persisted in +spite of the repeated attempts to substitute a new nomenclature; these +are the world's memorials of pre-Columbian Cuba.</p> + +<p>The brief visits and superficial inspection which we have recorded were +not, however, destined to be the full compass of the Discoverer's +personal relationship to Cuba. While he did not again visit the island +in life, nor give to it any of the attention which ampler knowledge +would have shown him it deserved, his mortal remains were conveyed +thither, and there remained for a considerable period; though by a +strange fatality this fact, well authenticated as it is, has been +persistently and elaborately disputed, until the tomb of Columbus has in +the minds of many become almost as much a matter of speculation and +uncertainty as the place of his birth.</p> + +<p>It was on Ascension Day, May 20, 1506, that Columbus died at Valladolid, +in Spain, and there his body was laid to rest in the parish church of +Santa Maria de la Antigua, a church of the Franciscan Fathers. The date +of the first removal is unknown, and is much disputed. Some have placed +it as late as the year 1513, while others, as the result of later and +more assured research, declare it to have been within a year or two, or +at most within three years, of his death. Of the new place of sepulture, +however, there is no question. It was in a chapel of the Carthusian +monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, at Seville; where also, years +afterward, were laid the remains of his son, Diego, who died at +Montalban on February 23, 1526.</p> + +<p>But as in life, so in death Columbus must needs be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span> wanderer. In 1542 +the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of that island colony of +Hispaniola to which Columbus's chief attention had been given, demanded +to be made the repository of the body of its founder. Accordingly, +Charles I decreed the removal, and the bodies of Christopher Columbus +and his son Diego were both transferred from Seville to a double tomb in +the cathedral of Santo Domingo, hard by the fortress in which the +Discoverer had once been confined by Bobadilla as a prisoner. Thus far +the record was and is clear; and for two and a half centuries the tomb +remained inviolate. Indeed, it was so little meddled with that its +precise location became a matter of doubt, save that it was somewhere +"in the main sanctuary" of the cathedral.</p> + +<p>The first attempt to determine it was made about 1783 by the French +politician and writer, Moreau de Saint-Mery, a kinsman of the Empress +Josephine and a member of the Colonial Council of Santo Domingo. +Diligent inquiry, without actual exhumation, resulted in the information +that the remains of Christopher Columbus, enclosed first in a leaden +casket and then in a massive coffin of stone, lay underneath the Gospel +side of the sanctuary, and that those of his brother, Bartholomew +Columbus, similarly enclosed, lay underneath the Epistle side. This was +contrary, in one respect, to the understanding of years before, which +was that it was the body of Columbus's grandson Luis which lay under the +Epistle side of the sanctuary. The problem was complicated by the fact +that the cathedral had been so remodelled that the tomb of Columbus was +underneath its wall, where actual examination was difficult; and in fact +no exhumation was then attempted.</p> + +<p>In 1795, however, the island was transferred to French sovereignty, and +the Spanish governor, on relinquishing his rule, requested permission to +remove the remains of Columbus to Havana, Cuba, in order that they might +continue to rest beneath the Spanish flag. This was granted to him, and +accordingly, in January, 1796, the tomb be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span>neath the wall on the Gospel +side of the sanctuary of the cathedral of Santo Domingo was opened, and +the coffin found within was reverently removed and borne to Havana, +where it was deposited in a new tomb in the cathedral—formerly the +Church of the Jesuits—where its presence was indicated by a medallion +and inscription on the wall of the chancel. For many years that was +indubitably regarded as the tomb of the Discoverer.</p> + +<p>It was not until 1877 that doubt of this fact arose. In that year +repairs were made to the cathedral of Santo Domingo, in the course of +which the rector, the Rev. Francis Navier Billini, insisted upon +reopening the tomb underneath the Epistle side of the sanctuary, which +had of old been reputed to contain the coffin of Luis Columbus, but +which Saint-Mery had been informed contained the remains of Bartholomew +Columbus. There was discovered a leaden casket, which, like that which +had been taken to Havana, bore no inscription. But upon or close by it +there lay a sheet of lead bearing the words, "The Admiral Don Luis +Colon, Duke of Veragua and Marquis of...." The remainder was +undecipherable. The casket was therefore accepted as that of Columbus's +grandson; confirming the common belief before the time of Saint-Mery.</p> + +<p>Not content with this discovery, the enterprising rector continued his +excavations, and presently the finding of another leaden casket was +announced, which was reported to bear an inscription, much abbreviated, +which, amplified, ran thus: "Discoverer of America; First Admiral." This +created a great sensation, and stimulated Dominican pride. The rector at +once sent for the President of Santo Domingo and other dignitaries of +state and church, including various foreign diplomats and consuls, and +in their presence continued the examination of the treasure trove. Upon +opening the casket, the inner side of the lid was found also to bear an +inscription, greatly abbreviated, which was interpreted as reading: +"Illustrious and Noble Man, Don Cristoval Colon." This the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span>Dominicans +joyfully proclaimed to be proof positive that the remains of the +Discoverer were still in their possession, and that the casket which had +been taken to Havana contained the bones of some other member of the +Columbus family.</p> + +<p>From that event arose a controversy which probably will never be settled +to universal satisfaction. The Dominicans marshalled to the support of +their claims various historical and antiquarian authorities, and the +Cubans and the Spanish government secured at least an equal array in +support of their claim that the remains of Columbus had been transferred +to Havana. A strongly convincing report to the latter effect was made to +the Spanish government by Seņor Colmeiro, of the Spanish Royal Academy +of History, and his judgment was generally accepted throughout Cuba and +Spain. It was pointed out that the inscriptions contained various +anachronisms indicating that they must have been written at a much later +date than that of the death and interment of Columbus.</p> + +<p>Havana therefore continued confidently to pride itself upon being the +repository of the dust of the Great Admiral, and his tomb in the ancient +cathedral was thus recognized and revered by countless visitors. But at +last, in 1899, after the independence of Cuba from Spain had been +accomplished, a request was made by the Spanish Government for the +transfer of the casket and its precious contents back to Spain, where +historically they belonged. It was indeed pointed out that the transfer +to Havana in 1796 had been intended to be only temporary, pending a +fitting opportunity for a further removal to Spain. This request was +granted, and the dust of the Discoverer was finally reinterred in the +cathedral of Seville.</p> + +<p class="caphead"><a name="THE_HAVANA_CATHEDRAL" id="THE_HAVANA_CATHEDRAL">THE HAVANA CATHEDRAL</a></p> +<p class="caption">Originally the church of the Jesuits, this imposing edifice was built in +1656, though not completed until 1724, and took the place of the first +cathedral in 1762. Within a tomb within its walls the remains of +Columbus rested from 1796, when they were taken thither from Santo +Domingo, to 1899, when they were conveyed to Spain.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 367px;"> +<a href="images/ill_catedral.png"> +<img src="images/ill_catedral_th.png" width="367" height="550" alt="THE HAVANA CATHEDRAL" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<p>B<span class="smcap">etween</span> these first merely tentative and inconclusive visits of Columbus +to Cuba, in which so much was imagined and so little learned or done, +and the actual occupation and settlement of the island, which were +reserved for a few years later, it will be profitable to pause for a +brief space, to review what science has revealed to us of not merely the +pre-Columbian but indeed what we may term the archaic history of this +chief member of the Antillean group. It is a history written in the +rocks and soils, in the mountains and plains and rivers; in brief, the +natural history of the island.</p> + +<p>This was something at which Columbus could merely have guessed, if +indeed he had taken the trouble to think of it at all. He knew only that +it was a fair land to look upon and promised to be a pleasant land in +which to dwell; and his successors in the quest hoped to find its river +beds and its mountain rocks rich with the gold which they coveted. That +was all. It remained for the ampler knowledge and the more patient and +painstaking research of later years to analyze the structure of the +island, to discern the causes and the processes through which it had +been developed into its present beautiful and opulent condition, and to +learn that on the surface and just below the surface of its almost +infinitely variegated face there lay the potency and the promise of +wealth beyond the utmost limits of the dreams of those conquistadors of +ancient Spain who were oestrus-driven by the <i>auri sacra fames</i>.</p> + +<p>Let us consider, then, the geological history of Cuba, so far as it has +been ascertained; and the topography of the land as it has been revealed +through a far more comprehensive survey than that of the Great Admiral's +enraptured vision.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span></p> + +<p>It is, of course, impossible to know the geological history of a country +until its paleontology has been thoroughly studied and investigated. +Where formations of different geological ages are lithologically so +similar as to be often indistinguishable, the only method of +differentiating them is by their fossils. Some paleontological work has +been done in Cuba, but the specimens collected were not accompanied by +the necessary data.</p> + +<p>In the present imperfect state of our knowledge of the stratigraphy and +areal geology of the island, it would be hazardous to attempt to +indicate the times at which the various levels were developed, or to +designate the periods during which they remained above the level of the +sea. To do this would require a detailed knowledge of nearly all the +various phases of its geology.</p> + +<p>The oldest rocks in Cuba, with the possible exception of the schistose +limestones of Trinidad, are composed of granites and serpentines. The +relative age of these rocks, to the central mass of limestones in the +province of Pinar del Rio, has not been determined, but we do know that +the oldest igneous rocks were themselves folded, faulted and subjected +to other processes of metamorphism, and that subsequent to the changes +to which they were subjected, the entire region was uplifted and deeply +eroded before the cretaceous sedimentation began. No data are available +for determining the geologic period at which the pre-cretaceous erosion +began, but the region has doubtless been standing above the waters of +the ocean for a very long interval, since the amount of rock carried +away has been manifestly great.</p> + +<p>The surface upon which the cretaceous sediments were deposited, appears +to have been reduced by erosion to a very low relief, so that the land +was a featureless plain when the cretaceous subsidence began. The time +interval required for the accomplishment of this erosion must have been +very long, since when it began the region was undoubtedly mountainous.</p> + +<p>The complex character and disturbed altitude of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> pre-cretaceous +rocks, the granites, diorites and other granular rocks which appear on +the surface because of this erosion, were originally formed deep within +the crust of the earth, and therefore furnish a reason for believing +that this period of erosion was exceedingly long.</p> + +<p>It has been suggested that during the Jurassic times, the southeastern +coast of the United States was connected by a long isthmus, following +the line of the Antilles, to the northeastern coast of South America. +The data presented would seem to indicate that at least the eastern half +of Cuba stood high above the level during this period of the earth's +history, and although data concerning the western half are less +definite, it too was probably composed of high land masses.</p> + +<p>The elevation, and long period of erosion just described, were followed +by subsidence, and on the surface of these old rocks the cretaceous +formations were deposited. The lowest cretaceous rocks yet found are +composed of an arkose, derived in large part from the original igneous +mass. The main body of the strata is composed of limestones, and such +fossils as they contain belong to the genera similar to those of the +cretaceous rocks of Jamaica—Radiolites, Barrettra, Requienia, etc.</p> + +<p>During this time the whole of the Island of Cuba was probably submerged +below the level of the sea. The cretaceous rocks in Santa Clara province +occur in the bottoms of synclines, and the projected dips appear +sufficiently to carry the beds over the tops of the dividing anti-clinal +axis. It is believed, however, that the depth of the cretaceous sea over +the island was probably never very great.</p> + +<p>Owing to a lack of paleontological data, the history of the island +during the Eocene time is vague, but it is probable that a large part of +it was submerged. This is certainly true of the province of Oriente, +where Eocene fossils have been collected. During, and possibly previous +to that period, volcanic agencies were active in Oriente, since volcanic +rocks are found interbedded with sediments<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> of the Eocene age. The same +forces were probably active in other sections of the island, and the +intrusion of Diorite porphyries in Santa Clara and other provinces +probably took place during that period.</p> + +<p>A portion of the island, at least in the vicinity of Baracoa, was deeply +submerged during the lower Oligocene times, as is proved by the +occurrence of radiolarian earth beneath the upper oligocene limestones +near the above town. Radiolarian oozes are at present being formed on +the sea bottom at depths of between 2,000 and 4,000 fathoms. This, of +course, does not prove that the deposits of Baracoa were laid down at so +great a depth as present day dredging would indicate, but we can at +least feel confident that they were formed in very deep water. This does +not imply however that the whole island was sunken to the abysmal +depths.</p> + +<p>During the upper Oligocene time very nearly the whole island was +undoubtedly submerged. Previous to this volcanic agencies had been very +active throughout the larger portion of the island. Mountain building in +Oriente had begun before the deposition of upper Oligocene strata, and +the Sierra Maestra had already been elevated to a considerable height +above the sea. It is probable that the sea at this time covered the +whole of the island, with the exception of portions of Oriente province +along its north and south coast, and occasional high peaks along the +axis of the provinces further west.</p> + +<p>The Miocene period was one of general uplift. The whole of the island as +we at present know it, was above the level of the ocean's waters. There +were foldings and uplifts during this period, and volcanic elevation +along the axial line being greater than at the sides. It is probable +that the folding of the Oligocene strata noted in the vicinity of Havana +and Matanzas took place during this time. It may be inferred that the +central portion of the province of Oriente was more highly elevated than +the coastal portions, since upper Oligocene limestones occur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span> in this +section at considerably higher elevations than along either the north or +south coast.</p> + +<p>It is furthermore very probable that the terracing of the Oligocene +coral reefs, such as may be seen in the vicinity of the city of +Santiago, was taking place during that time. All the evidence goes to +show that these are wave-cut terraces. It may be added here that all of +the elevated Pleistocene coral reefs recorded are plastered on the +surface of the upper Oligocene formations, or in some instances older +geologic rocks. This applies to every later coral terrace that has been +described, beginning with Cabanas and extending entirely around the +island to the City of Santiago.</p> + +<p>The existence of marine Pliocene in Cuba has not been proved. There may +be pliocene rocks in the vicinity of Havana some 60 feet above the sea +level. If these are true Pliocene, it would indicate a subsidence during +that time of from ISO to 180 feet. The character of the fauna found in +the quarry on Calle Infanta does not indicate a greater depth than from +SO to 70 feet for the water in which the limestone was deposited.</p> + +<p>Subsequent to this deposition, there was an elevation which caused the +land to stand some forty or fifty feet higher than it does to-day. This +probably took place in early Pleistocene times, at which time the Isle +of Pines and Cuba were connected. One reason for the belief in this +elevation is the existence of an old, deep and comparatively narrow cut +in the bed of the present channel leading out of Havana harbor. There is +further evidence of a general elevation found in borings for water, +three miles southeast of the city of Santiago.</p> + +<p>At a depth of some 70 feet below the sea level, in the Rio San Juan +Valley, stream-carried pebbles were found. This would indicate that the +bottom of this valley once stood at least 70 feet or more above sea +level. Subsequent to this elevation, there was a subsidence varying from +40 to 70 feet. There were doubtless other slight<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span> oscillations during +the Pleistocene period, and these may be going on at the present time, +although we have no evidence from records of actually measured monuments +established since the Spanish occupation of the island.</p> + +<p>Paleontologic, biologic and physiographic research seems to indicate +that there has been no land connection between Cuba and North America at +any time since the beginning of the Tertiary, unless perhaps during the +Oligocene period, and it seems probable there was no connection whatever +during cretaceous times.</p> + +<p>Cuba furnishes a very interesting field, not only for geologic research, +but for a far more extended study and survey of its many important +mineral zones both for scientific and for economic reasons.</p> + +<p>Topographically the surface of Cuba may be divided into five rather +distinct zones, three of which are essentially mountainous. The first +includes the entire eastern third of the province of Oriente, together +with the greater part of its coast line, where the highest mountains of +the island are found. The second includes the greater part of the +province of Camaguey, made up of gently rolling plains broken by +occasional hills or low mountains, that along the northern coast, and +again in the southeast center of the province, rise to a height of +approximately 1,500 feet above the general level.</p> + +<p>The next is a mountainous district including the greater part of eastern +Santa Clara. The fourth comprises the western portion of this province +together with all of Matanzas and Havana. The surface of this middle +section is largely made up of rolling plains, broken here and there by +hills that rise a few hundred feet above the sea level.</p> + +<p>The fifth includes the province of Pinar del Rio, the northern half of +which is traversed from one end to the other by several more or less +parallel ranges of sierras, with mean altitudes ranging from 1,000 to +2,000 feet, leaving the southern half of the province a flat plain, +into<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span> which, along its northern edge, project spurs and foot hills of +the main range.</p> + +<p>The highest mountains of Cuba are located in the province of Oriente, +where their general elevation is somewhat higher than that of the +Allegheny or eastern ranges of the United States. The mountainous area +of this province is greater than that of the combined mountain areas of +all other parts of the island. The mountains occur in groups, composed +of different kinds of rock, and have diverse structures, more or less +connected with one another.</p> + +<p>The principal range is the Sierra Maestra, extending from Cabo Cruz to +the Bay of Guantanamo, forty miles east of Santiago. This chain is +continuous and of fairly uniform altitude, with the exception of a break +in the vicinity of Santiago where the wide basin of Santiago Bay cuts +across the main trend of the range. The highest peak of the island is +known as Turquino, located near the middle of the Sierra Maestra, and +reaching an altitude of 8,642 feet.</p> + +<p>The hills back of Santiago Bay, separating it from the Valley of the +Cauto, are similar in structure to the northern foothills of the main +sierra. In the western part of the range, the mountains rise abruptly +from the depths of the Caribbean Sea, but near the City of Santiago, and +to the eastward, they are separated from the ocean by a narrow coastal +plain, very much dissected. The streams which traverse it occupy valleys +several hundred feet in depth, while the remnants of the plateau appear +in the tops of the hills.</p> + +<p>East of Guantanamo Bay there are mountains which are structurally +distinct from the Sierra Maestra, and these continue to Cape Maysi, the +eastern terminus of Cuba. To the west they rise abruptly from the ocean +bed, but further east they are bordered by terraced foothills. Towards +the north they continue straight across the island as features of bold +relief, connecting with the rugged Cuchillas of Baracoa, and with "El +Yunque" lying to the southwest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span></p> + +<p>Extending west from this eastern mass are high plateaus and mesas that +form the northern side of the great amphitheatre which drains into +Guantanamo Bay. Much of this section, when raised from the sea, was +probably a great elevated plain, cut up and eroded through the ages +since the seismic uplift that caused its birth.</p> + +<p>The most prominent feature of the northern mountains of Oriente +Province, west of "El Yunque," is the range comprising the Sierras +Cristal and Nipe. These extend east and west, but are separated into +several distinct masses by the Rio Sagua, and the Rio Mayari, which +break through and empty into harbors on the north coast. The high +country south of these ranges has the character of a deeply dissected +plateau, the upper stratum of which is limestone.</p> + +<p>The character of the surface would indicate that nearly all the +mountains of the eastern part of Oriente have been carved through +erosion of centuries from a high plateau, the summits of which are found +in "El Yunque" near Baracoa, and other flat topped mountains within the +drainage basins of the Mayari and the Sagua rivers. The flat summits of +the Sierra Nipe are probably remnants of the same great uplift.</p> + +<p>Below this level are other benches or broad plateaus, the two most +prominent occurring respectively at 1,500 and 2,000 feet above sea +level. The highest summits rise to an altitude of 2,800 or 3,000 feet. +The 2,000 foot plateau of the Sierra Nipe alone includes an area +estimated at not less than 40 square miles. It would seem that these +elevated plateaus with their rich soils might be utilized for the +production of wheat, and some of the northern fruits that require a +cooler temperature than that found in other parts of Cuba.</p> + +<p>In the province of Oriente, the various mountain groups form two +marginal ranges, which merge in the east, and diverge toward the west. +The southern range is far more continuous, while the northern is +composed of irregular groups separated by numerous river valleys.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span> +Between these divergent ranges lies the broad undulating plain of the +famous Cauto Valley, which increases in width as it extends westward. +The northern half of this valley merges into the plains of Camaguey, +whose surface has been disturbed by volcanic uplifts only by a small +group known as the Najassa Hills, in the southeast center of the +province, and by the Sierra Cubitas Range, which parallels the coast +from the basin of Nuevitas Bay until it terminates in the isolated hill +known as Loma Cunagua.</p> + +<p>The central mountainous region of the island is located in the province +of Santa Clara, where a belt of mountains and hills following +approximately northeast and southwest lines, passes through the cities +of Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara. Four groups are found here, one of +which lies southwest of Sancti Spiritus and east of the Rio Agabama. A +second group is included between the valleys of the Agabama and the Rio +Arimao.</p> + +<p>The highest peak of Santa Clara is known as Potrerillo, located seven +miles north of Trinidad, with an altitude of 2,900 feet. A third group +lies southeast of the city of Santa Clara, and includes the Sierra del +Escambray and the Alta de Agabama. The rounded hills of this region have +an altitude of about 1,000 feet although a few of the summits are +somewhat higher.</p> + +<p>The fourth group consists of a line of hills, beginning 25 miles east of +Sagua la Grande, and extending into the province of Camaguey. The trend +of this range is transverse with the general geological structure of the +region.</p> + +<p>East of the city of Santa Clara the hills of this last group merge with +those of the central portion of the province. The summits in the +northern line reach an altitude of only a thousand feet. The principal +members are known as the Sierra Morena, west of Sagua la Grande, Lomas +de Santa Fe, near Camaguini, the Sierra de Bamburanao, near Yaguajay, +and the Lomas of the Savanas, south of the last mentioned town.</p> + +<p>In the province of Pinar del Rio, we find another system,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> or chain of +mountains, dominated by the Sierra de los Organos or Organ mountains. +These begin a little west of Guardiana Bay, with a chain of "magotes" +known as the "Pena Blanca," composed of tertiary limestone. These are +the result of a seismic upheaval running from north to south, almost at +right angles with the main axis of the chains that form the mountainous +vertebrae of the island.</p> + +<p>Between the city of Pinar del Rio and the north coast of La Esperanza, +the Organos are broken up into four or five parallel ridges, two of +which are composed of limestone, while the others are of slate, +sandstones and schists. The term "magote," in Cuba, is applied to one of +the most interesting and strikingly beautiful mountain formations in the +world. They are evidently remnants of high ranges running usually from +east to west, and have resulted from the upheaval of tertiary strata +that dates back probably to the Jurassic period.</p> + +<p>The soft white material of this limestone, through countless eons of +time, has been hammered by tropical rains that gradually washed away the +surface and carved their once ragged peaks into peculiar, round, +dome-shaped elevations that often rise perpendicularly to a height of +1,000 feet or more above the level grass plains that form their base. +Meanwhile the continual seepage of water formed great caverns within, +that sooner or later caved in and fell, hastening thus the gradual +leveling to which all mountains are doomed as long as the world is +supplied with air and water. The softening and continual crumbling away +of the rock have formed a rich soil on which grows a wonderful wealth of +tropical vegetation, unlike anything known to other sections of Cuba, or +perhaps to the world.</p> + +<p>The valley of the Vinales, lying between the city of Pinar del Rio and +the north coast, might well be called the garden of the "magotes," since +not only is it surrounded by their precipitous walls, but several of +them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> detached from the main chain, rise abruptly from the floor of the +valley, converting it into one of the most strangely beautiful spots in +the world.</p> + +<p>John D. Henderson, the naturalist, in speaking of this region, says: +"The valley of the Vinales must not be compared with the Yosemite or +Grand Caņon, or some famed Alpine passage, for it cannot display the +astounding contrast of these, or of many well-known valleys among the +higher mountains of the world. We were all of us traveled men who viewed +this panorama, but all agreed that never before had we gazed on so +charming a sight. There are recesses among the Rocky Mountains of Canada +into which one gazes with awe and bated breath, where the very silence +oppresses, and the beholder instinctively reaches out for support to +guard against slipping into the awful chasm below. But the Valley of +Vinales, on the contrary, seems to soothe and lull the senses. Like +great birds suspended in the sky, we long to soar above it, and then +alighting within some palm grove, far below, to rejoice in its +atmosphere of perfect peace."</p> + +<p>A mountain maze of high, round-topped lomas, dominates almost the entire +northern half of Pinar del Rio. It is the picturesque remnant of an +elevated plain that at some time in the geological life of the island +was raised above the surface 1,500, perhaps 2,000, feet. This, through +the erosion of thousands of centuries, has been carved into great land +surges, without any particular alignment or system.</p> + +<p>Straight up through the center of this mountainous area are projected a +series of more or less parallel limestone ridges. These, as a rule, have +an east and west axis, and attain a greater elevation than the lomas. +They are known as the Sierras de los Organos, although having many local +names at different points. Water and atmospheric agencies have carved +them into most fantastic shapes, so that they do, in places, present an +organ<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span> pipe appearance. They are almost always steep, often with +vertical walls or "paradones" that rise 1,000 feet from the floor or +base on which they rest.</p> + +<p>The northernmost range, running parallel to the Gulf Coast, is known as +the "Costanero." The highest peak of Pinar del Rio is called Guajaibon, +which rises to an altitude of 3,000 feet, with its base but very little +above the level of the sea. It is probably of Jurassic limestone and +forms the eastern outpost of the Costaneros.</p> + +<p>The southern range of the Organos begins with an interesting peak known +as the Pan de Azucar, located only a few miles east of the Pena Blanca. +From this western sentinel with many breaks extends the great southern +chain of the Organos with its various groups of "magotes," reaching +eastward throughout the entire province. At its extreme eastern terminus +we find a lower and detached ridge known as the Pan de Guanajay, which +passes for a few miles beyond the boundary line, and into the province +of Havana.</p> + +<p>Surrounding the Organos from La Esperanza west, and bordering it also on +the south for a short distance east of the city of Pinar del Rio, are +ranges of round topped lomas, composed largely of sandstone, slate and +shale. The surface of these is covered with the small pines, scrubby +palms and undergrowth found only on poor soil.</p> + +<p>From the Mulato River east, along the north coast, the character of the +lomas changes abruptly. Here we have deep rich soil covered with +splendid forests of hard woods, that reach up into the Organos some ten +miles back from the coast. Along the southern edge of the Organos, from +Herredura east, lies a charming narrow belt of rolling country covered +with a rich sandy loam that extends almost to the city of Artemisa.</p> + +<p>Extensions, or occasional outcroppings, of the Pinar del Rio mountain +system, appear in the Province of Havana, and continue on into Matanzas, +where another short coastal range appears, just west of the valley of +the Yumuri. This, as before stated, has its continuation in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span> detached +ranges that extend along the entire north coast, with but few +interruptions, until merged into the mountain maze of eastern Oriente.</p> + +<p>Outside of the mountainous district thus described, the general surface +of Cuba is a gently undulating plain, with altitudes varying from only a +few feet above the sea level to 500 or 600 feet, near El Cristo in +Oriente. In Pinar del Rio it forms a piedmont plain that entirely +surrounds the mountain range. On the south this plain has a maximum +width of about 25 miles and ascends gradually from the shores of the +Caribbean at the rate of seven or eight feet to the mile until it +reaches the edge of the foothills along the line of the automobile drive +connecting Havana with the capital of Pinar del Rio.</p> + +<p>North of the mountain range, the lowland belt is very much narrower and +in some places reaches a height of 200 feet as a rule deeply dissected, +so that in places only the level of the hill tops mark the position of +the original plain.</p> + +<p>The two piedmont plains of Pinar del Rio unite at the eastern extremity +of the Organos Mountains and extend over the greater part of the +provinces of Havana and Matanzas and the western half of Santa Clara. +The divide as a whole is near the center of this plain, although the +land has a gradual slope from near the northern margin towards the +south.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood of Havana, the elevation varies between 300 and 400 +feet, continuing eastward to Cardenas. The streams flowing north have +lowered their channels as the land rose, and the surface drained by them +has become deeply dissected, while the streams flowing toward the south +have been but little affected by the elevation and remain generally in +very narrow channels.</p> + +<p>East of Cardenas the general elevation of the plain is low, sloping +gradually both north and south from the axis of the island. Considerable +areas of this plain are found among the various mountain groups in the +eastern half of Santa Clara province, beyond which it extends<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span> over the +greater part of Camaguey and into Oriente. Here it reaches the northern +coast between isolated mountain groups, extending as far east as Nipe +Bay, and toward the south, merges into the great Cauto Valley.</p> + +<p>From Cabo Cruz the plain extends along the northern base of the Sierra +Maestra to the head of the Cauto Valley. Its elevation near Manzanillo +is about 200 feet, whence it increases to 640 feet at El Cristo. In the +central section of Oriente, the Cauto River and its tributaries have cut +channels into this plain from 50 to 200 feet in depth. In the lower part +of the valley these channels are sometimes several miles across and are +occupied by alluvial flats or river bottoms. They decrease in width +toward the east and in the upper part of the valley become narrow +gorges.</p> + +<p>A large part of this plain of Cuba, especially in the central provinces, +is underlaid by porous limestone, through which the surface waters have +found underground passages. This accounts for the fact that large areas +are occasionally devoid of flowing surface streams. The rain water sinks +into the ground as soon as it falls, and after flowing long distances +under ground, emerges into bold springs, such as those of the Almendares +that burst out of the river bank some eight miles south of the City of +Havana. Engineers of the rope and cordage plant, just north of the City +of Matanzas, while boring for water, found unexpectedly a swift, running +river, only ten feet below the surface, that has given them an +inexhaustible supply of excellent water.</p> + +<p>Most of the plains of Cuba above indicated have been formed by the +erosion of its surface, and are covered with residual soil derived from +the underlying limestones. Where they consist of red or black clays they +are, as a rule, exceedingly fertile. Certain portions of the plains, +especially those bordering on the southern side of the mountains of +Pinar del Rio, are covered with a layer of sand and gravel, washed down +from the adjoining highlands, and are, as a rule, inferior in fertility +to soils de<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span>rived from the erosion of limestone. Similar superficial +deposits are met in the vicinity of Cienfuegos, and in other sections of +the island, where the plain forms a piedmont adjacent to highlands +composed of silicious rocks.</p> + +<p>The most striking and perhaps the most important fact in regard to the +climate of Cuba is its freedom from those extremes of temperature which +are considered prejudicial to health in any country. The difference +between the mean annual temperature of winter and that of summer is only +twelve degrees, or from 76 degrees to 88 degrees. Even between the +coldest days of winter, when the mercury once went as low as 58 degrees, +and the extreme limit of summer, registered as 92 degrees, we have a +difference of only 34 degrees; and the extremes of summer are seldom +noticed, since the fresh northeast trade winds coming from the Atlantic +sweep across the island, carrying away with them the heated atmosphere +of the interior.</p> + +<p>The fact that the main axis of the island, with its seven hundred mile +stretch of territory, extends from southeast to northwest, almost at +right angles to the general direction of the wind, plays a very +important part in the equability of Cuba's climate. Then again, the +island is completely surrounded by oceans, the temperature of which +remains constant, and this plays an important part in preventing +extremes of heat or cold.</p> + +<p>Ice, of course, cannot form, and frost is found only on the tops of the +tallest mountain ranges. The few cold days during winter, when the +thermometer may drop to 60 after sundown, are the advance waves of +"Northers" that sweep down from the Dakotas, across Oklahoma and the +great plains of Texas, eventually reaching Cuba, but only after the +sting of the cold has been tempered in its passage of six hundred miles +across the Gulf of Mexico.</p> + +<p>A temperature of 60 degrees in Cuba is not agreeable to the natives, or +even to those residents who once lived in northern climes. This may be +due to the fact that life in the tropics has a tendency to thin the +blood, and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span> render it less resistant to low temperature; and also +because Cuban residences are largely of stone, brick or reinforced +concrete, with either tile or marble floors, and have no provision +whatever against cold. And, although the walls are heavy, the windows, +doors and openings are many times larger than those of residences in the +United States, hence the cold cannot readily be excluded as in other +countries. There is said to be but one fireplace on the Island of Cuba, +and that was built in the beautiful home of an American, near Guayabal, +just to remind him, he said, of the country whence he came.</p> + +<p>Again, in the matter of rainfall and its bearing on the climate of a +country, Cuba is very fortunate. The rains all come in the form of +showers during the summer months, from the middle of May until the end +of October, and serve to purify and temper the heat of summer. On the +other hand, the cooler months of winter are quite dry, and absolutely +free from the chilling rains, sleets, snows, mists and dampness, that +endanger the health, if not the life, of those less fortunate people who +dwell in latitudes close to 40 degrees.</p> + +<p>Cloudy, gloomy days are almost unknown in Cuba, and the sun can be +depended upon to shine for at least thirty days every month, and +according to the testimony of physicians nothing is better than sunshine +to eliminate the germs of contagious diseases. Hence we can truthfully +say that in the matter of climate and health, Cuba asks no favor of any +country on earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h3> + +<p>F<span class="smcap">or</span> a considerable time after the last visit of Columbus, Cuba was +strangely neglected by the enterprising explorers and conquistadors of +Spain. Hispaniola, since known as Hayti or Santo Domingo, became the +chief colony and centre of Spanish authority in the Antilles, and it for +many years far outranked Cuba in interest and importance. It does not +appear that for more than a dozen years after the last visit of Columbus +any attempt whatever was made to colonize or to explore the great +island, if indeed it was so much as voluntarily visited. Navigators +doubtless frequently passed near its shores, on their way to and from +Darien and the Venezuelan coast, and occasionally stress of weather on +the "stormy Caribbean" or actual shipwreck compelled some to land upon +it. Such involuntary landings were presumably made either in the +neighborhood of the Zapata Peninsula or, still more probably, not +exactly upon Cuba at all but upon the southern shore of the tributary +Isle of Pines. In consequence, the voyagers carried back to Hispaniola +or to Spain the not unnatural report that Cuba consisted of nothing but +swamps; a report which of course did not inspire others with zeal to +visit so unfavorable a place.</p> + +<p>For a similar space of time, too, the delusion that Cuba was a part of +the continent generally prevailed. It is true that on a map of Juan de +la Cosa's, to which the date of 1500 is attributed, Cuba is indicated to +be an island. But the date is not certain, by any means; and it is +notorious that more than one early cartographer drew upon imagination as +well as upon ascertained geographical facts. Somewhat more significant +is the fact that Peter Martyr spoke of Cuba as an island, and said that +some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> sailors pretended to have circumnavigated it. There is no proof, +however, that this was more than rumor. What seems certain is that as +late as 1508 the best authorities were ignorant whether Cuba was island +or mainland, and that not until that time was the question settled.</p> + +<p>Columbus had been succeeded in authority in Hispaniola by Francisco de +Bobadilla, and the latter in turn had in 1501 given way to Nicholas de +Ovando. It does not appear that Ovando sought to colonize Cuba. But he +did wish to determine its extent, and whether it was insular or +continental, and in a memorial to the King of Spain he broached a +proposal for at least its littoral exploration. Ferdinand gave him, +however, no encouragement. On the contrary, he forbade him to spend any +public money on so needless and useless an enterprise. Ovando then +decided to undertake the exploit at his own charge, and, according to +Las Casas, commissioned Sebastian de Ocampo to explore the coasts of the +country and, if he found it to be an island, to circumnavigate it. This +Ocampo did, returning to Hispaniola in the fall of 1508 with the report +that he had sailed completely round Cuba. On the way, he said, he had +made occasional landings, and had found the whole island to be inhabited +by a kindly and intelligent people, well disposed toward Spain.</p> + +<p>Immediately following this expedition, various efforts were made to +colonize Cuba, and to enter into relations with the natives. Conspicuous +among these efforts was one which had for its object the introduction of +Christianity into Cuba, and of which an interesting account is given by +Martin Ferdinand de Enciso in his "Suma de Geografia," the first book +ever published about America. Enciso, it will be remembered, was a +partner of Alonzo de Ojeda, that brilliant and gallant cavalier of Spain +who in 1508 was Governor of Nueva Andalusia, a region which we now know +as the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was Enciso who in 1509 went to +Uraba to the relief of Francisco Pizarro, who had been in com<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span>mand there +but who had become discouraged, had suffered heavy losses from attacks +by the natives, and who was about to abandon the place. It was on one of +Enciso's ships, too, that his friend Vasco Nuņez de Balboa, concealed in +a cask to avoid his creditors, escaped from Hispaniola and was conveyed +to Darien, thus getting his opportunity to cross the isthmus and to +discover the Pacific Ocean.</p> + +<p>Enciso relates that a Spanish vessel, cruising off the southern coast of +Cuba, somewhere near Cape de la Cruz, put ashore a young mariner who had +fallen ill, so that he might have a better chance to recover from his +illness than he would on shipboard. The identity of this young man is +not assured, though it has been strongly suggested that he was no other +than Ojeda himself. However that may be, he found himself in his +convalescence the guest of a native chieftain or Cacique who professed +Christianity. The chief had presumably been visited by Ocampo's +expedition. He had been much impressed by the prowess and culture of the +Spaniards, and had desired to become affiliated with the religion which +they professed and to which he attributed their superiority to the +natives of Cuba. Hearing from them that they had been sent thither by +the Comendador Ovando—the Governor of Hispaniola was a Comendador of +the Order of Knights of Alcantara—he chose that title for his own +baptismal name, and was thenceforth known as the Cacique Comendador.</p> + +<p>Pleased to find a Christian chief, and grateful for his own restoration +to health, Ojeda—if it was indeed he—erected in Comendador's house an +altar and placed thereon an image of the Holy Virgin, and instructed the +people to bow before it every evening and to repeat the "Ave, Maria!" +and "Salve, Regina!" This was pleasing to Comendador, but offensive to +the neighboring Caciques, who worshipped an idol which they called Cemi. +In consequence a primitive religious war arose among the natives, in +which, according to Enciso, Comendador<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> and his followers were pretty +uniformly successful. His victories were attributed to the intervention +and aid of "a beautiful woman, clad in white, and carrying a wand." +Finally a test was agreed upon which reminds us of Elijah's Battle of +the Gods on the scathed crest of Mount Carmel. A representative warrior +of each party was to be bound securely, hand and foot, and be placed in +an open field for the night, and if one of them was set free from his +bonds, that would be proof of the superiority of his God. "The God who +looses his servant's bonds, let him be the Lord!" This was done, and +guards of both parties were placed about the field, to make sure that +nobody should meddle with the experiment.</p> + +<p>At midnight, says Enciso, Cemi came to unbind his follower. But before +he could reach him or touch his bonds, the Holy Virgin appeared, clad in +white and bearing a wand. At her approach, Cemi incontinently fled. At a +touch of her wand the bonds fell from the limbs of the Christian +champion, and were added to those already on the limbs of the other man. +Despite the presence of the guards, the Caciques insisted that there had +been trickery, and demanded another trial, to which Comendador, +confident in his faith, agreed. The result was the same as before. Still +they were unconvinced, and demanded a third trial, at which they +themselves would be present as watchers and guards. This also was +granted, and once more the same miracle was wrought. At that the +Caciques all confessed their defeat and the defeat of Cemi, and declared +that the Virgin was worthy to be worshipped.</p> + +<p>This auspicious implanting of Christianity and of good relations between +the natives and the Spaniards did not, unfortunately, endure. It was +interfered with by the too common cause of trouble in those days, the +<i>auri sacra fames</i>, the accursed lust for gold. We have seen that King +Ferdinand was unwilling, in his niggardliness, for money to be spent +from his treasury for the exploration of Cuba. But after that work had +been done at Ovando's<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> personal cost, Ferdinand desired to reap the +gains, if any there were. The suggestion was revived that Cuba might be +rich in gold. The King suspected that Ovando and others were deceiving +him concerning the island, and were secretly planning to secure its +riches for themselves. These suspicions were materially increased by the +course of Diego Columbus which, while probably quite honest, was lacking +in tact and worldly wisdom. For when Diego succeeded Ovando as +Governor-General or Viceroy of the Indies, at Hispaniola, one of his +first acts was to commission his uncle, Bartholomew Columbus, to lead an +expedition for the exploration and settlement of Cuba. That was a +legitimate and indeed praiseworthy enterprise. But unfortunately Diego +did not secure in advance the King's authority for it, nor did he +acquaint the King with his intentions. His enemies, however, of whom he +had many, were quick to report the matter to the King, putting it in the +light most unfavorable to both Diego and Bartholomew; and the result was +that Ferdinand at once recalled Bartholomew Columbus to Spain, and +compelled Diego to select another head for the expedition.</p> + +<p>In 1510, then, the King directed Diego Columbus to send forth his +proposed expedition to Cuba, to make a careful examination of the +island, to ascertain the character of its resources, and above all to +determine whether it contained gold. He took pains, moreover, to impress +upon Diego and through him the actual members of the expedition, the +eminent desirability of cultivating the most friendly and confidential +relations with the natives, both as a matter of policy and for the sake +of humanity and religion. The result was the sending, early in 1511, +from Hispaniola, of an expedition in which were interested if not +actually implicated a number of the most conspicuous men in the Indies, +and which marked the actual and permanent opening of Cuba to Spanish +settlement and civilization.</p> + +<p>Diego Columbus was the son and heir of the Great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> Discoverer, who under +the terms of the royal compact of 1492 was to inherit all his father's +powers and dignities as Admiral and Viceroy of the Western Hemisphere. +For a time Ferdinand on various pretexts refused to fulfil that compact +and to recognize his rights, but appointed Ovando to rule in Hispaniola +in his stead. But after Diego's marriage to Doņa Maria de Toledo, the +daughter of the Grand Commander of Leon and the niece of the King's +favorite councillor and friend, the Duke of Alba, a combination of +personal, social and political influence prevailed for the vindication +of his claims, and he was invested with supreme authority in place of +Ovando, who was provided for elsewhere. Diego seems to have been a man +of integrity and engaging character, though perhaps more idealistic than +practical, and not always a match in policy for the scheming politicians +by whom he was surrounded.</p> + +<p>Bartholomew Columbus was the brother of Christopher, was intimately +associated with him in his great enterprises, and was named by him +Adelantado, or Lieutenant Governor, of the Indies. He too was a man of +character and fine parts, bold and enterprising, and possessed of more +practical worldly wisdom than either his brother or his nephew.</p> + +<p>These two stood alone, against a numerous company of personal and +political enemies, both in Hispaniola and in Spain. Indeed, as +Bartholomew was recalled to Spain and was kept there for some time, +Diego was left solitary to contend with or to yield to his foes. It was +therefore probably through necessity that he organized the Cuban +expedition largely with men hostile to him.</p> + +<p>Miguel Pasamonte was his chief foe. He had been the secretary of Queen +Isabella, and had filled important Ambassadorships, but was now the +royal treasurer in Hispaniola. He had been one of the bitterest enemies +of Christopher Columbus, and had transferred a full measure of hostility +to Diego; and it was he who reported to the King in its most unfavorable +light Diego's plans for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> sending Bartholomew Columbus to Cuba. In his +hostility to both Christopher and Diego Columbus he was greatly aided +and abetted by Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Bishop of Seville; who had +violently quarrelled with Christopher Columbus over the fitting out of +his second voyage and who also had transferred his hatred to the +Admiral's son.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/ill_059valasquez.png" width="200" height="244" alt="DIEGO VELASQUEZ" /> +<span class="caption">DIEGO VELASQUEZ</span> +</div> + +<p>Diego Velasquez was another of the faction hostile to the Columbuses, +though at first he had been a friend and companion of the Admiral. It is +probable that he had no personal enmity toward Diego Columbus, but +joined himself to the other faction through motives not unconnected with +personal pecuniary profit. He had gone from Spain to Hispaniola with +Christopher Columbus on his second voyage, and had ever since been one +of the most efficient administrators in that island and indeed in all +the Indies. For a time he was a military leader in campaigns against +hostile natives, and afterward he became Lieutenant Governor of the +island. He was a man of high ability, of singularly handsome person, of +engaging manners, of much popularity, and of abundant force of character +for successful leadership and command of men. He was, however, not +always scrupulous in his dealings, and it was not to his moral credit +that he became the richest man in all the Indies. He was a close friend +and partisan of Pasamonte, and associated with him in the same alliance +were the royal secretary in Hispaniola, Conchillos, and also the royal +accountant, Christopher de Cuellar, who was both the cousin and +father-in-law of Velasquez.</p> + +<p>Diego Columbus, then, either through policy or through compulsion, +appointed Velasquez to be his <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span>lieutenant in Cuba, and commissioned him +to organize and personally to lead the intended expedition to that +island. He also promised that the King would refund whatever private +expenditures Velasquez and his companions should make on account of it; +a promise which was authorized by the King, but not fulfilled save in +the indirect way of empowering the members of the expedition to recoup +themselves at the expense of the people of the island; an arrangement +decidedly at variance with Ferdinand's former solicitude for good +treatment for the natives. Further than that, Diego had little or +nothing to do with Cuba, and in a short time Velasquez was known not as +Lieutenant but as Governor, as though he were entirely independent of +the Viceroy in Hispaniola.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<a href="images/ill_060baracoa.png"> +<img src="images/ill_060baracoa_th.png" width="650" height="330" alt="BARACOA +First Capital of Cuba" /></a> +<span class="caption">BARACOA<br />First Capital of Cuba</span> +</div> + +<p>Early in 1511 Velasquez assembled a flotilla of three or four vessels on +the northwest coast of Hispaniola, at or near the place where Columbus +had landed when he discovered that island and first visited it from +Cuba. In the adjacent region he recruited a company of about three +hundred men, and with that force set out for the conquest and +colonization of Cuba. The precise date of his expedition is not to be +ascertained, but it was probably in February or at latest March of that +year. The place of his landing in Cuba, however, is known. It was at +Baracoa, where also Columbus had landed before<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> him. Following the +practice of Columbus and the other explorers he promptly gave the place +a new name of his own selection, calling it the City of Our Lady of the +Assumption. There he established his seat of government and base of +further operations, giving to the place in both civil and ecclesiastical +affairs the technical rank and dignity of a city. But, as also +frequently happened, the new name was unable to supplant the old one in +popular usage; and when, in 1514, the insular capital was transferred to +Santiago de Cuba, and in 1522 the cathedral of the diocese was similarly +transferred, the new name was permitted to lapse, and the place became +again universally known as Baracoa. Despite its vicissitudes of fortune, +therefore, and its loss of its former high estate, Baracoa is entitled +to the triple distinction of having been the site of the first permanent +European settlement in Cuba, of the first civilized government, and of +the first cathedral church.</p> + +<p>At Baracoa, immediately upon his arrival, Velasquez built a fort, the +exact site of which is now matter of conjecture, and various other +edifices. These were all constructed of wood, probably of bamboo and +thatch, and no trace of them remains to-day. Search was also promptly +made for gold, and some seems to have been found in the beds of streams, +though in no large quantities, and the attempt to operate mines was soon +abandoned. Attention was then turned to further explorations and +conquests, and to the quest for gold in other parts of the island.</p> + +<p>Still more unfortunate than the failure to find much gold, and largely +because of that fruitless quest, was the rise of bitter hostilities +between the Spaniards and the natives. This was also a sequel to and in +part a consequence of the Spanish administration in Hispaniola and +particularly of the part which Velasquez had played therein. Shortly +before coming to Cuba, Velasquez had waged several strenuous and +probably somewhat ruthless campaigns against the natives of Hispaniola, +chiefly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> in that part of the island which lay nearest to Cuba and in +which he recruited his Cuban expedition. His chief opponent there was a +native chief named Hatuey, who, finding himself unable to cope with the +Spaniards, fled to Cuba with many of his followers and settled in the +country near Baracoa. These refugees were of course quick to report to +the natives of Cuba the cause of their migration, and to portray the +conduct and character of the Spaniards, and of Velasquez personally, in +the most unfavorable light. The natural result was to predispose the +Cuban natives to regard the Spaniards with distrust and aversion. And +when Velasquez himself presently appeared among the very people who had +been thus prejudiced against him, trouble inevitably arose.</p> + +<p>The leader in the trouble was Hatuey, who had a large following both of +his own tribe from Hispaniola and also of Cubans. He had maintained a +system of spying and communication through which he kept himself +perfectly informed of the doings of Velasquez, whom he considered his +chief foe, not only politically but personally, and when he learned that +he was coming to Cuba he busied himself with preparations to resist him. +He was foremost in spreading among the Cuban natives all manner of evil +reports concerning the Spaniards, all of which, whether true or false, +found ready credence.</p> + +<p>Thus on one occasion, as related by Herrera, he gathered many of the +natives together with a promise to reveal to them the God of the +Spaniards, whom they worshipped and to whom they made human sacrifices +of Indians' lives. When they were assembled and their anticipation was +whetted, he placed before them a small basket filled with gold. "That," +said he, "is the God which the Spaniards worship, and in quest of which +they are following us hither. Let us, therefore, ourselves pay this God +reverence and implore him to bid his Spanish worshippers not to harm us +when they come hither!" The natives performed a religious dance and +other rites about the gold, until they were exhausted, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span> Hatuey +further counselled them to cast the gold into the river, where the +Spaniards could not find it; since if they found it they would continue +their search for more, even to cutting out the hearts of the people in +quest of it.</p> + +<p>Whether true or fabricated, the story indicates the attitude of Hatuey +toward the Spaniards and explains the intensity of the bitterness which +prevailed between him and Velasquez. Of course, when the Spaniards +arrived and immediately began to hunt for gold, Hatuey's words about +their God seemed to be confirmed. War began, which soon resulted in the +defeat and capture of Hatuey, who was put to death. Tradition has it +that he was burned at the stake, as was the common custom in those +times, and that just before the fire was lighted he was invited to +accept Christianity and be baptized, but refused on the ground that he +did not want to meet any Spaniards in the other world. He was succeeded +in command of the hostile natives by Caguax, who had been his comrade in +Hispaniola and who had come to Cuba with him; and the hostilities were +continued with the usual result of conflicts between a higher and a +lower civilization. In a short time the province of Maysi was conquered +and partly pacified, and that of Bayamo was invaded.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/ill_063narvaez.png" width="200" height="262" alt="PANFILO DE NARVAEZ" /> +<span class="caption">PANFILO DE NARVAEZ</span> +</div> + +<p>At this time and in these operations there appeared in Cuba two more men +of commanding importance in the early history of the island, who were +sent thither from Hispaniola to assist Velasquez soon after the defeat +and death of Hatuey. One of these was Panfilo de Narvaez, a soldier and +the leader of a company of thirty expert crossbow-men who had been +serving in Jamaica but were no longer needed by the governor of that +island, Esquivel. Narvaez was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span> native of Valladolid, Spain, near which +city Velasquez also had been born. It is possible, indeed, that the two +men were related, since there was a marked physical resemblance between +them; both being tall, handsome, and of a pronounced blond complexion. +At any rate, they had long been friends, and Velasquez was glad to make +Narvaez his chief lieutenant and right-hand man. Narvaez appears to have +been a man of high intelligence, honorable character, and much personal +charm. He was, however, too much inclined toward fighting, was sometimes +reckless in his leadership, and was no more scrupulous in his conduct +toward the natives than were many other conquerors of various lands in +those days of adventure and violence. At the head of a force of more +than a hundred and fifty men, including a score of horsemen, he led the +way in the conquest, first of Bayamo and finally of all the rest of the +island. In his campaign he enjoyed immense advantage from the awe and +terror which were caused among the natives by the appearance of the +horses, which were the first ever seen in Cuba.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/ill_064delascasas.png" width="200" height="231" alt="BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS" /> +<span class="caption">BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS</span> +</div> + +<p>The other and more famous of these two men was Bartholomew de Las Casas, +known to the world as the "Protector of the Indians" and as the "Apostle +to the Indies." As a youth he had accompanied his father on Columbus's +third voyage to America, and he had come to the Antilles a second time +and permanently with Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, in 1502. In +1510 he was ordained to be a priest, and it was in that clerical +capacity that he was sent over to Cuba to assist Velasquez in the +conquest, pacification and settlement of the island. He appears at first +to have had no important religious scruples against<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span> oppression of the +natives, but joined with Velasquez and Narvaez in their sometimes +ruthless policy. When the island was divided among the conquerors under +the system of repartimientos, or allotments of natives as practical +slaves of the Spaniards, he received and accepted without demur his +encomienda or commandery, and held it for some time in partnership with +his friend Pedro de Renteria. But a little later, realizing the +injustice and cruelties which the natives suffered under this system, he +became, as he himself described it, "converted," and thereafter was an +earnest, zealous and almost fanatical champion of their rights. He +visited Spain several times, to secure commissions of inquiry and other +measures for their relief. Also, thinking thus to redeem them from +enforced servitude, he secured royal sanction for the introduction of +Negro slavery and the importation of Negro slaves into Cuba; a policy +which he afterward deeply regretted.</p> + +<p>After a brief campaign in Bayamo, which was not particularly successful, +beyond the killing of Caguax and the final dispersion of the force which +Hatuey had organized, Narvaez formed an expedition of perhaps five +hundred men for more extended enterprises, in which he had as his +principal companions Las Casas and a young nephew of Velasquez, Juan de +Grijalva. The precise route of this expedition cannot now be stated. It +certainly, however, traversed the Bayamo region, and went as far west as +Camaguey. It also visited the neighborhood of Cape Cruz and there passed +through the town of Cueyba, as Las Casas called it, where, as hitherto +related, a Spanish mariner, presumably Ojeda, had landed and had +established a Christian shrine with a statue of the Holy Virgin. Here +and at other places amicable relations were maintained between the +Spaniards and the natives.</p> + +<p>Unhappily that was not always the rule. At the large town of Caonao, +probably near Manzanillo, a number of Spanish soldiers, as if suddenly +stricken with madness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span> began a massacre of the natives, killed a great +number, and drove the rest into flight. Narvaez does not seem to have +ordered nor to have taken part in the slaughter, but neither did he +exert himself to prevent it or to stop it. Whereupon Las Casas, +righteously wrathful, bade him to go to the Devil, and thereafter +devoted himself to ministering to the sufferers and to reassuring the +survivors.</p> + +<p>From Caonao the expedition moved westward, through the southern part of +the Province of Camaguey, where the natives were so frightened that they +fled to the little islands off the coast which Columbus had named the +Queen's Gardens. Thence it went across the island to the north coast, +and probably in the region of Sagua la Grande, in Santa Clara Province, +found some small deposits of gold. After stopping there for some time, +it continued its progress into Havana Province, where more gold was +found and where, unhappily, serious trouble with the natives was +renewed.</p> + +<p>On the way across the island Narvaez had heard of three Spaniards, a man +and two women, who had been shipwrecked on the coast and were living +with the Indians somewhere in the west. He sent word of this report back +to Velasquez, who returned him orders to search for the castaways even +in preference to gold, and who also dispatched a ship along the north +coast to meet Narvaez and his party in the region to which they were +going. In Santa Clara the two women were found, unharmed and well, and +they presently married members of the expedition. Finally, in Havana the +man also was found. He too was unharmed and well, though he had become +in speech and habits more like an Indian than a Spaniard. According to +his story, he and the two women were the sole survivors of a company of +twenty-six. They had fled from Ojeda's ill-starred settlement at Uraba, +on the Gulf of Darien, and were trying to make their way back to +Hispaniola, but had been driven out of their course around the north +coast of Cuba. Not far<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span> from Cape San Antonio they had been shipwrecked +and thence had made their way by land, along the north coast. Most of +them had been killed by natives while trying to cross an arm of the sea, +which has been assumed to have been the Bay of Matanzas, which was so +named on that account.</p> + +<p>On the Havana coast the expedition met the vessel which Velasquez had +sent. But leaving it in port there the expedition went across the island +again to Xagua, or Cienfuegos, there to meet Velasquez himself and +another expedition which he was leading, and there to spend with him the +Christmas season of 1513. At the beginning of 1514 Narvaez and a hundred +men returned to Havana and thence marched westward into Pinar del Rio, +the vessel keeping in touch with them along the coast. How far they went +in that province is not now certainly known. Some accounts have it that +they stopped at Bahia Honda and there took ship back for Baracoa, while +others insist that they got as far as Nombre de Dios. All that is +certain is that Narvaez and his comrades visited on this expedition all +parts of the island, and thus completed the nominal exploration and +occupation of Cuba in the early part of 1514.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h3> + +<p>V<span class="smcap">elasquez</span> was for a number of years the dominant figure in Cuban +history, and he much more than any other man is to be credited with the +settlement of the island and its social, political and economical +organization. He was married at Baracoa in the early part of 1513 to +Donna Maria de Cuellar, daughter of Christopher de Cuellar, the royal +treasurer in the island, but within a week was left a widower. To find +solace for his grief in action, he threw himself with extraordinary +energy into the work of exploring, pacifying and colonizing the island.</p> + +<p>After founding the town of San Salvador de Bayamo he went westward, as +already stated, to meet Narvaez and to spend Christmas at Xagua or +Cienfuegos. Less than a month later he founded La Villa de Trinidad, and +later in the year La Villa de Sancti Spiritus and, finally, Santiago de +Cuba. At all of these places excepting the last named gold was found, +though not in any large quantities. He was thus encouraged to continue +his search for that precious metal, while at the same time he was +admonished not to look too much to it for the prosperity of the Island, +but to pay attention to the development of its other resources, and +particularly its obvious agricultural potentialities.</p> + +<p>Accordingly in the spring of 1514 he sent a vessel to Hispaniola for +horses and cattle with which to stock Cuba, and for supplies of grain +and other seeds, and agricultural implements. In the cargo which it +brought back to him lay the germ of the subsequent agricultural +greatness of Cuba. At about the same time, also, he founded Cuban +commerce by the establishment of regular communication between the +island and Jamaica, Darien and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span> other Spanish settlements at the south. +In this latter enterprise the King was especially interested, and his +directions to Velasquez were that he should develop it to the largest +possible extent. He did not expect Cuba ever to rival Darien and other +regions in mineral wealth, but that island could, he thought, surpass +them in agriculture, and thus could serve as a source of supply to them, +and as a base of operations.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, in pursuance of this policy of commerce with the +countries at the south and west of the Caribbean that Santiago de Cuba +was founded as the seventh of the seven cities among which the island +was partitioned, and that it was made the insular capital. The site was, +as already stated, the only one at which gold was not found. It was +selected partly because of the secure and commodious harbor, one of the +finest anywhere on the shores of the Caribbean, and partly because its +situation on the south coast made it particularly accessible to and from +Jamaica, Darien and the other regions in which the Spanish crown was +interested. As soon as it was founded, the seat of civil, military and +ecclesiastical authority was transferred thither from Baracoa, and +Santiago de Cuba became the second capital of the island. Meantime +Narvaez, at the north, had founded Havana, which was destined to be the +third and final capital.</p> + +<p>Each city or town was made, however, a capital unto itself. The +principle of local autonomy or home rule had long been cherished by the +Spanish people in the Iberian Kingdom, and it was transplanted by them +in an increased degree to their Antillean colonies. In accord with that +principle, these first seven cities were planned and arranged with a +view to civic self-sufficiency. The plan was uniform. Each place had its +central park or plaza, upon which fronted the town hall, the parish +church and the residence of the governor or the alcalde. The plan of +government was also uniform. In each place Velasquez appointed an +Alcalde, who was not a mayor but a judge of first instance; a Deputy +Alcalde,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> and three regidores or councillors; the Alcalde and the +regidores sitting together forming the Town Council. There were also a +procurador, or public prosecutor; an alguacil, or sheriff; and one or +more escribanos, or notaries public.</p> + +<p>There was also at this time established throughout the island a social +and economic system borrowed from Hispaniola, where it had not been in +operation long enough for its evil effects to be demonstrated. Its +intention was unquestionably benevolent, and, given a sufficiently +altruistic quality of human nature, its results might have been good. +With human nature what it was, it became almost unrelievedly evil. This +was known as the system of Repartimiento, or Encomienda. First of all, +the whole territory of the island was partitioned among the seven +cities. Then in each there were appointed persons whom we might describe +as land-holders and slave-holders. The former, known as vecinos, were +the representatives of the king in ownership of the land, all of which +was regarded as the property of the crown, to be apportioned for working +to suitable loyal subjects. The latter were called encomenderos, and to +them were apportioned the native population, in tutelage and servitude.</p> + +<p>Now the fundamental evil of the system lay in the appropriation of the +land. It was all taken for the crown, and the natives who had been +occupying it were <i>ipso facto</i> transformed into squatters, or +trespassers. But as the king claimed the whole area of the island, there +was no other land for them to occupy; wherefore they must remain on the +king's land. But if they did that, they must become his serfs. They were +therefore apportioned among the land-holders; to remain in their homes +and to be educated, fed and clothed and generally cared for by the +latter; and in return to do a certain amount of useful work. Thus they +would become civilized and Christianized, and perhaps themselves fitted +to become land-holders.</p> + +<p>It was an excellent plan, in theory; and it seemed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> more likely to +succeed because the Spanish colonists manifested no such caste prejudice +against the natives as those of some other lands did. Thus it was an +unusual thing for a French settler in North America, and a still more +unusual thing for a British settler, to marry an Indian woman, and such +unions, when they did occur, were generally regarded as debasing. But +there was no such feeling among the Spanish, and intermarriages between +the races, of an entirely legal and honorable character, were not +uncommon and were not regarded with disfavor. Nevertheless, the +repartimiento system soon lapsed into utter evil, as such a relationship +between a superior and an inferior race seems certain to do. In brief, +it became slavery, pure and simple.</p> + +<p>The benevolent and statesmanlike spirit of Velasquez was shown, in +contrast to that of most other conquistadors of that time, in the +circumstance that he ordered the natives to be thus impressed into work +for a period of only a single month, to be paid for their labor at a +prescribed rate, and to be engaged as largely as possible in +agricultural pursuits. He did not prohibit the employment of them at +gold mining, but he strove earnestly to extend agricultural enterprise. +This was partly, no doubt, in pursuance of the king's order, that he +should make Cuba a source of food supplies for the supposedly less +favored regions at Darien and elsewhere, but was partly, too, because +Velasquez recognized the agricultural possibilities of Cuba and was +determined to make it self-supporting. He exercised this authority, not +merely as Governor General of the island, but also as Repartidor, or +Partitioner of the Natives, to which office he was expressly appointed +by the king, with responsibility to nobody but the king himself. He +apportioned the natives in lots of from not fewer than forty to not more +than three hundred, according to the land held by the vecino, and +ordered that they be well treated, and of course be not sold nor +transferred from one master to another.</p> + +<p>There was, unfortunately, another class of native servi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span>tors, to wit, +those taken as captives in battle in the occasional hostilities between +the two races. These were by royal decree made outright and life-long +slaves, subject to be bought and sold and even branded with their +owners' names, like cattle. The number of these being few after the +collapse of Hatuey's short-lived resistance, the practice arose of +adding to their number natives from Mexico, Darien and elsewhere, who +were seized and brought to Cuba as slaves. All this was declared to be +illegal and was ordered abolished by a royal decree which was +promulgated in Cuba in November, 1531. But long before that time the +evil system had become widespread, and had involved in absolute slavery +encomendado natives as well as the captives. The bad results of the +system were reflected upon the masters if possible more than upon the +slaves, and were felt for many years after the native population had so +nearly vanished as to be no longer a factor in Cuban affairs worthy of +consideration.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/ill_072deleon.png" width="200" height="267" alt="PONCE DE LEON" /> +<span class="caption">PONCE DE LEON</span> +</div> + +<p>Following the establishment of these political and industrial systems, +Cuban colonization made extraordinarily rapid progress. The island which +for years had been neglected and all but ignored became the chief centre +of Antillean interest. It drew from Hispaniola, Darien and other lands, +both insular and continental, many of their best colonists, including +some who afterward became famous for their achievements elsewhere. Thus, +Hernando Cortez was alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. Bernal Diaz, whose +honest soul revolted against the infamies of Pedrarias Davila at Darien, +settled for a time at Sancti Spiritus before following Cortez to Mexico. +Vasco de Figueroa was a great plantation owner at Camaguey. Las Casas +was at Trinidad until he returned to Spain to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span> begin his propaganda for +the welfare of the Indians. Ponce de Leon also spent some time in Cuba, +and so did La Salle. Velasquez himself was of course settled at Santiago +de Cuba, with Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer, and Hurtado +de Isunsolo and Amador de Lares, fiscal agents of the King. At Santiago +was established the royal assay office and refining works for the output +of the gold mines of the island.</p> + +<p>In brief, the island prospered greatly in all respects. The mines were +rich, the plantations fertile and productive, and live stock greatly +thrived. The island, according to Oviedo, became "much populated with +both Christians and Indians." It appears to have been at the instance of +Velasquez that its name was changed in 1515 from Juana to Fernandina, in +honor of the king; an incident which added to the high regard which that +monarch cherished for Velasquez, of whom he said that "no man could more +wisely administer the affairs of the island." This tribute was probably +deserved. But it cannot be said that Velasquez served his King for +naught, or that he promoted the interests of the island to the neglect +of his own, since he himself so greatly prospered that he became the +richest man in all Cuba and probably in all the Antilles, and was so +secure in his place that he could feel quite independent of even the +Admiral himself, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>A noteworthy tribute to Velasquez was paid, also, in a series of cedulas +issued by the King. The first, dated December 12, 1512, thanked him for +his pacification of Cuba and his tactful and humane treatment of the +natives. Another, on April 8, 1513, was much to the same effect, adding +the exhortation: "Because I much desire that all diligence possible be +used to convert the natives of the island, I direct that you undertake +this with all means possible. In nothing can you do me greater service." +Five days later a third cedula formally appointed Velasquez Governor of +the town and fortress of Baracoa, with a salary of 20,000 maravedis a +year. After the complete<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span> organization of the insular government and +industrial system, as already described, the King in a cedula of +February 28, 1515, commended all that had been done, adding: "The chief +recommendation I would make to you is that you have all possible care +for the conversion and good treatment of the Indians of the island, and +that you endeavor in every way to have them taught and indoctrinated in +our Holy Catholic Faith and to have them remain in it; so that we may be +without burden on our conscience regarding them and so that you may free +yourself of all the obligation which you have assumed for their +welfare."</p> + +<p>It was impossible that Velasquez should, however, escape the attacks of +envy and malice. Suggestions were made to the King that he was growing +too rich, and that he was manipulating the affairs of the island in his +own interest rather than in the interest of the royal treasury. But +these were without effect, save to confirm Velasquez in royal confidence +and favor. To the suggestion that a residencia or investigation be made +of the administration of Velasquez and his lieutenants, the King +returned an emphatic negative. In a cedula of July 7, 1515, he expressly +ordered that no residencia be taken, since he was entirely satisfied +with the administration of the island. This was of material advantage to +Velasquez, and was also a most unusual honor; the more unusual and +noteworthy when we remember that Ferdinand had developed a particularly +selfish and suspicious disposition and was little inclined to give full +confidence to any man.</p> + +<p>Nor was the royal favor short lived or confined to the reign of +Ferdinand. In November, 1518, another royal decree from Ferdinand's +successor, Charles I, appointed Velasquez Adelantado of all lands which +he personally or through his agents might discover, and endowed him with +one-fifteenth part of all the revenues which might be obtained from +them. At this time Velasquez was already busy with enterprises of +exploration, and his efforts were redoubled under this incentive. But in +so doing he suf<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span>fered the same fate that he himself had inflicted upon +Diego Columbus. For he sent Hernando Cortez, who had been alcalde of +Santiago de Cuba, upon the expedition which resulted in the conquest of +Mexico; upon achieving which transcendent exploit, Cortez repudiated him +and his authority, much as Velasquez had repudiated the authority of +Columbus in Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>The year 1515 marked a turning-point in the early history of Cuba. In +that year Las Casas began his great crusade in behalf of the natives. At +first, as we have seen, he accepted and approved the repartimiento +system, and himself with his partner and close friend Pedro de Renteria +took several hundred Indians as his wards and servants on the land which +had been allotted to him at Trinidad. But when he became "converted," as +he himself described it, he was convinced that the system, which had +degenerated into little else than slavery, was wholly evil and could be +nothing else, putting all who practised it in imminent danger of hell +fire. To this conviction he was brought through consideration of what he +had heard Dominican friars preach in Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>At this time his partner, Renteria, was absent, in Jamaica, and Las +Casas was ignorant of his views on the subject. Moreover, he realized +that the natives whom he had in his possession belonged to Renteria as +much as to him, and he could not properly do anything which would be +injurious to the interests of his partner. Accordingly he went to +Velasquez and told him that his conscience would no longer permit him to +hold slaves, and he must therefore release them; but he wished the +matter held in abeyance and confidence until the return of Renteria, in +order that the latter might protect his own interests as he saw fit. In +addition, he passionately adjured Velasquez, for the sake of his own +soul, to free all the natives and to abolish the repartimiento system. +Velasquez did not follow this advice, but he continued to hold Las Casas +in the highest esteem and to show him all possible favors.</p> + +<p>Las Casas then at once began publicly preaching<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> against the sin of +slavery, and proclaiming the right of the natives to equal freedom with +the Spaniards; a course which gave great offense to many in the island +but in which Velasquez protected him. Then he determined to hasten at +once to Spain and to lay the matter before the King, who in his various +cedulas and messages to Velasquez had expressed so much concern for the +welfare of the Indians. He accordingly wrote to Renteria, in Jamaica, +that he was called to Spain on imperatively urgent business, and that +unless he, Renteria, could return to Cuba at once, he would have to go +without seeing him first, which he would regret to do. Upon receiving +this letter, Renteria immediately hastened back to Cuba; and then was +disclosed one of the most extraordinary coincidences in history.</p> + +<p>The meeting of the two friends was in the presence of Velasquez and +others, and nothing was said by Las Casas concerning his plans, nor did +Renteria say anything about his own affairs. But as soon as they were +alone together, Renteria announced that he was planning himself to go to +Spain, and that he would therefore accompany Las Casas. He then +explained that while in Jamaica he had gone for a time into "retreat" at +a Franciscan monastery, and while thus engaged in pious meditation had +become convinced that the Indians of Cuba were being very badly treated, +and had resolved to go to Spain and there to plead their cause before +the King, especially asking for the foundation of schools and colleges +in which the Indian youth could be educated. The astonishment and +delight of Las Casas at hearing this was equalled only by the similar +feelings of Renteria when in turn Las Casas told him the purpose of his +proposed mission to Spain. Hundreds of miles apart, and entirely unknown +to each other, the two friends at precisely the same time had been +cherishing the same noble purposes. It was quickly agreed between them +that Las Casas alone should undertake the mission, that their native +wards should be surrendered at once to Velasquez, and that their land +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span> other property should be sold, if necessary, to provide Las Casas +with the money needed for his journey. In his departure from Cuba and +his journey to Spain, Las Casas was also greatly assisted by Pedro de +Cordova, the head of the Dominican Order in Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with the departure of Las Casas another and very +different mission was dispatched to the same goal. This was one +consisting of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez—not the Governor, Diego +Velasquez—bearing a petition to the King to the effect that the +repartimiento system should be transformed into one of absolute and +perpetual slavery; so that the land-owners might hold their Indians +permanently, and bequeath them to their heirs like any other property. +That this was sent simultaneously with Las Casas's going is not to be +regarded as a coincidence, however. It is altogether probable that the +action was inspired by knowledge of the purpose of Las Casas and by a +determination to forestall him or to defeat him.</p> + +<p>How Ferdinand would have decided between the two, whether the +impassioned eloquence of Las Casas or the gold which Narvaez and Antonio +Velasquez bore with their petition, would have been the more potent, +must ever remain matter of uncertainty; for he was never called upon to +make the decision. Before the issue could be put to him, on January 23, +1516, he died. In the interregnum, before the arrival of the new King, +Charles I, from Flanders, Cardinal Ximenes was Regent, and it was to him +that Las Casas addressed himself; after he had first been scornfully +received and his mission ridiculed by Bishop Fonseca, of Burgos. The +great Cardinal had long been an advocate of humane treatment of the +Indians, and was quite ready to listen to Las Casas, calling into +council for the purpose several other prelates and statesmen. Early in +the hearings, in order to make sure of his ground, Ximenes bade the +clerk to read the full text of the laws relating to the Indians, and +that functionary, being a partisan of the advocates of slavery, +purposely misread<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span> one important clause. Las Casas cried out, "That is +not the law!" Ximenes bade the clerk to read it again. He did so, with +the same perversion; and again Las Casas exclaimed, "The law says no +such thing!" Annoyed, Ximenes rebuked Las Casas and threatened him with +a penalty if he interrupted again. "Your Lordship is welcome to send my +head to the block," retorted the undaunted Las Casas, "if what the clerk +has read is in the law!" Other members of the Council thereupon snatched +the laws from the clerk's hand, and found that Las Casas was right, +whereupon the clerk wished that he had never been born, while Las Casas, +as he himself modestly records, "lost nothing of the regard which the +Cardinal had for him or of the credit which he gave to him."</p> + +<p>The result of the conferences was that Ximenes authorized Las Casas, +Palacios Rubios and Antonio Montesino to prepare the draft of a plan for +emancipating the Indians and providing for their just government and +education. When the plan was completed and adopted there was some +question as to whom it should be entrusted for execution. Ximenes +invited Las Casas to nominate a commission, but the latter declined +because his long absence from Spain had left him unfamiliar with men +there and their qualifications. The Cardinal therefore decided to select +a commission from among the monks of the Order of St. Jerome. That Order +was selected because, while the Dominicans and Franciscans were already +settled in Hispaniola and Jamaica and had committed themselves to a +certain policy toward the Indian question, the Jeronimites had not yet +gone thither and were quite without bias or predisposition.</p> + +<p>This was on July 8, 1516. The following Sunday the Cardinal and other +members of the council, and also Las Casas, went to the Jeronimite +monastery, near Madrid, to attend mass and to make a selection of three +Commissioners or judges from among the twelve who had been nominated by +the head of the Order. There Las Casas was received with much +distinction by the monks and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span> the Cardinal, to the chagrin of his +enemy the Bishop of Burgos, who was present in the congregation. After +some consideration, Ximenes then announced that Las Casas should be +provided with money and letters of credit to the General of the Order at +Seville, and should himself go thither and select the three +Commissioners. This was immediately done, and the result was the +selection of Luis de Figueroa, Prior of La Mejorada; Alonzo de Santo +Domingo, Prior of Ortega; and Bernardino Manzanedo. These three were +thereupon commissioned by Ximenes to proceed to Hispaniola, to take away +all the Indians held by members of the Council, judges and other +officers, and hold a court of impeachment upon all colonial officers, +who were charged as having "lived, like Moors, without a king." They +were then to consult with both the colonists and the chief men among the +Indians as to the condition of the Indians and the ways and means of +bettering it; so that the Indians, who had become Christians, should be +set free and enabled to govern themselves. They were to assure the +Indians it was the will of the Cardinal that they should be treated as +free men and Christians. That Ximenes was sincere in giving these orders +there can be no question. On more than one occasion he vehemently +declared that the Indians were as a matter of right and should and must +be as a matter of fact free men.</p> + +<p>But all this was too late to save the Indians. Immediately upon Las +Casas's departure from Cuba, treatment of the Indians there and +elsewhere in the Indies became more harsh and oppressive, actually +tending toward extinction of the race. Moreover, when the bearers of the +petition of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez finally got a hearing before +Ximenes, they were referred to the three Commissioners, who were about +to leave Spain for Hispaniola. They therefore went to see them, and +succeeded, apparently, to some degree in alienating them from Las Casas +and his colleagues and in prejudicing them against the Indians; to such +an extent that before their departure for Hispaniola Las Casas had begun +to doubt whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span> much real good would come from their mission. He and +the three Commissioners travelled to Hispaniola on separate ships, and +on their arrival in that island the three were more ready to confer with +others, even with his opponents, than with him.</p> + +<p>It is true that Cardinal Ximenes gave detailed and generally admirable +directions to the Jeronimite Fathers as to the course which they were to +pursue; not only toward the natives of Cuba but also toward those of the +other islands and the continent. These provided that the natives were to +be well treated. They were to be formed into autonomous communities of +their own, under their own chiefs and owning their own land and cattle. +They were to be provided with churches, schools and hospitals, and were +to be converted to Christianity and educated. They were, however, to be +required to work for a part of the time in the gold mines of the +Spaniards, for which service they would be paid a percentage of the gold +obtained. In compensation for thus being deprived of what was fast +becoming the slave labor of the native islanders, the Spanish settlers +of Cuba were permitted each to hold as outright slaves four or five +Caribs from other islands, Negroes from Africa, or, in time, Red Indians +from the North American continent. The net result was that for a time +the Cuban natives were fairly well treated, though their fate was simply +postponed for a few years. At the same time there was generally +established in Cuba, as in most other lands of the world at that time, +the hateful institution of human slavery.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h3> + +<p>G<span class="smcap">old</span> mining in Cuba appears for some time to have been profitable. There +was not the vast opulence of the precious metal which a little later was +discovered in Peru and elsewhere on the South American continent, but +there was enough greatly to encourage an influx of colonists from Spain +and also from the other Antilles. Hispaniola itself was for a time +almost depopulated. Nor did this multitude of settlers consist +exclusively of gold-seekers. There were also many agriculturists, +artificers and tradesmen, who perceived that their activities would be +needed to complement the gold-mining industry.</p> + +<p>From the same cause arose at this time an important development of the +political organization of the island. Nominally, all the provincial +capitals were of equal dignity. But the smelting works and assay office +were at Santiago, and thither, therefore, all gold miners had to repair +at intervals, to have their nuggets, dust and ore refined and its value +determined. They came in the spring, just before the beginning of the +rainy season. Naturally their coming thither attracted at the same time +tradesmen from all parts of the island, and Santiago thus became the +business and social metropolis.</p> + +<p>Moreover, each of the other provincial capitals deemed it profitable to +send to Santiago at that time an official representative of its local +government. These procuradors, as they were called, came together at +Santiago to exchange experiences and advice and to confer for the +general welfare of their respective communities. Thus early in Cuban +history were the rudiments of a representative insular legislature +established; through the influence of which the various provinces were +drawn together in sympathy and made uniform in administration, and the +foundations of Cuban nationality were laid.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span></p> + +<p>Soon, indeed, a regular organization was voluntarily formed, with the +Alcalde of Santiago as presiding officer and with rules of order and a +programme of procedure. As a result of each annual session of this +primitive insular council an address was prepared for transmission to +the King of Spain. This consisted of a report upon the condition, +progress and prospects of the island, and a request for the supplying of +its legislative, administrative or other needs. In the presentation of +this address the insular council performed a function practically +identical with that of the Spanish Cortes of that time; a body which had +no legislative or other authority, but merely the privilege of protest +and petition to the King. Usually a procurador representing the council +was despatched to Spain, to present the address in person to the King; +who was received with something of the attention and honor which were +paid to important foreign ambassadors.</p> + +<p>The first such mission from Cuba to the King was that which has already +been mentioned as consisting of Panfilo de Narvaez and Antonio +Velasquez. It went to Spain in July, 1515, and it bore not alone the +address of the council but also the king's share of the gold that had +down to that time been mined in the island. The amount of that share was +more than 12,000 "pieces of eight," which we must believe was most +welcome to the money-loving King. As that was supposed to be twenty per +cent of the whole output of gold, but was certainly not more than that +proportion, it follows that in about three years more than 60,000 pesos +of gold had been taken. It is not to be wondered at that Ferdinand +welcomed them cordially, and promptly granted many of their requests; +those which required expenditure of cash being paid for out of the +insular tribute which the envoys had brought; and that he expressed +profound satisfaction, as already mentioned, with the existing +government of the island.</p> + +<p>One of the requests which these envoys bore was not, however, granted. +That was, their request that the natives of Cuba be given to them in +perpetuity as slaves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span> In consequence of the refusal to grant this, the +Cuban gold-miners and planters suffered more and more from scarcity of +labor, and more and more engaged in slave-hunting elsewhere to supply +their needs. This pernicious traffic was resolutely opposed by Las +Casas, but not with entire success. But it brought with it in a measure +its own penalty. As a direct result of it there soon occurred an event +mischievous to Cuba, but of transcendent interest to Spain and to all +the world.</p> + +<p>The slave-hunters naturally sought new islands, which had not yet been +depopulated, and where the Jeronimite Fathers had not yet established +themselves to interfere with the trade in human flesh. Accordingly in +1516 a squadron of vessels from Cuba visited the Guanajes Islands, as +they had been called by Columbus when he discovered them, off the coast +of Yucatan. There they took many captives, loading all the vessels with +them. Leaving twenty-five men to guard their landing place on the +island, the squadron returned to Cuba with the slaves. Havana was the +port to which they were taken; a port which from that time forward +increased rapidly in importance. Before they could all be landed, the +slaves on one vessel mutinied, overpowered the crew, took possession of +the vessel, and sailed back to the Yucatan islands. There the vessel was +run ashore and wrecked, but the slaves escaped from it and, going +ashore, exterminated the Spanish garrison which had been left there. A +relief expedition was hastily sent from Havana, but it arrived too late. +It found only the wreck of the ship, and no trace of the Spanish +garrison. However, it looted the islands and was thus enabled to carry +back to Cuba some 20,000 pesos in gold.</p> + +<p>This had a revolutionary effect. Cubans who were becoming dissatisfied +with the scarcity of slave labor and with the waning production of gold +in the island, were roused by the promise of greater riches in the lands +to the westward, and began to plan further adventures in that direction. +In this movement the first important<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span> leader was Francisco Hernandez de +Cordova, a wealthy land-holder, planter and miner of Sancti Spiritus. He +with more than a hundred others equipped a squadron of three vessels, to +sail westward, not, however, for slaves but for gold. One of these +vessels appears to have belonged to Velasquez, the Governor, and in +return for the use of it he asked that the expedition should bring him +back a cargo of slaves. This Cordova indignantly refused, declaring that +the slave-trade was offensive to God and man. So, at least, says Bernal +Diaz del Castillo; though there are others who say that slave trading +was the real object of the expedition. However that may be, the +expedition set out from either Havana or Jaruco, near by, on February 8, +1517, piloted by Antonio Alaminos who, as a boy, had sailed with +Columbus on his fourth voyage on which he skirted the coast of Central +America. Columbus had believed that coast to be the Golden Chersonesus, +a land of fabulous riches, and it was with eagerness that Alaminos +guided the Cuban expedition thither.</p> + +<p>The Mugeres Islands were the first land reached after leaving Cape San +Antonio, and two days later, on March 4, 1517, they landed at Punta +Catoche—a name said to have been given to it by them because of the +words "con escotoch" which the natives uttered on greeting them upon +their landing, words meaning "welcome to our home." All thoughts of +seizing slaves were quickly abandoned when they found the natives a well +clad, armed and civilized people, living in large cities, with houses +and temples built of fine masonry, comparable with those of the cities +of Spain. Hostilities, however, speedily arose. It does not appear +whether the Spanish or the natives of Yucatan were the aggressors, but +the upshot of it was that the Spanish were ambuscaded and several of +them were badly wounded. The explorers persisted in their enterprise, +however, and made their way along the northern coast and thence +southward along the shore of the Gulf of Campeche, as far as Champoton. +Hostilities with the natives increased, and nearly a third of the party +perished from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> wounds or thirst and fever before they got back to +Havana. Moreover, one ship was lost, and the other two were in so bad +condition that they with difficulty were beached for repairs at Havana, +while the survivors marched afoot across the island to Santiago, there +to report to Velasquez the results of their expedition. It is believed +that on their way back they were driven by a "norther" far out of their +course, and touched the southern extremity of Florida, or at least some +of its islands. Cordova himself had been so badly wounded that he was +unable to go to Santiago, but made his way to his home at Sancti +Spiritus, where he soon afterward died.</p> + +<p>Immense interest was aroused in Cuba by the tales of Cordova's men, and +by the appearance of the two captive Mayas of Yucatan whom they brought +with them. The reports of large cities, built of stone dressed and +carved and laid in mortar,—reports which were, of course, entirely +true,—piqued curiosity as to the identity of the people who had built +them, and the belief became widespread that they were some of the Ten +Lost Tribes of Israel, or at least descendants of the Jews who were +driven into exile after Vespasian's conquest of Jerusalem. Velasquez +himself was foremost in interesting himself in the matter, perhaps +partly with a desire to recoup the loss of his ship; and he accordingly +sent his nephew Gonzalez de Guzman, of Santiago, as a messenger to the +King in Spain, to tell him of these discoveries and to ask that he, +Velasquez, be commissioned Adelantado of Yucatan and all other lands +which he might discover.</p> + +<p>Now we have seen how high an opinion King Ferdinand had of Velasquez; +regarding him as the best possible Governor of Cuba, whose +administration should not be subject even to the balancing and auditing +of accounts which he elsewhere required. But Ferdinand was now dead, and +the new king, Charles, knew not Velasquez, or at least not so well. +Guzman pleaded the cause as strongly as he could, and so, we may assume, +did Narvaez, who was still in Spain, though Antonio Velasquez<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span> had +returned to Cuba. The king was not, however, to be so easily persuaded. +He was not unfavorable to the ambition of Velasquez, but neither was he +unhesitatingly favorable to it. Accordingly he temporized. Instead of +giving Velasquez the appointment, he sent two agents, procuradors, to +Hispaniola, to look into the whole matter with plenary authority. These +agents, the name of one of whom marks an epoch in Cuban and in American +history, were Diego de Orellano and Hernando Cortez.</p> + +<p>Velasquez was disappointed but not deterred from prosecuting the great +enterprise which he had in mind. He would not wait for the report of the +procuradors and the action which the king might take upon it, but +hastened his preparations for another expedition to Yucatan, which he +regarded as by far the most important land of all that had thus far been +discovered by the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The leader of the +new venture was to be his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, who appears not to +have been well fitted for the task. Grijalva was commissioned in +January, 1518, and in the same month set out from Santiago de Cuba with +a flotilla of four vessels. Sailing eastward he rounded Cape Maysi and +thence proceeded north and west along the Cuban coast to what is now +Matanzas, where a stop was made for repairs and supplies. Thence he went +to Havana for further supplies and men, and tarried for some time, so +that it was not until some time in April—some say April 5, others a +much later date—that he finally set out from Cuba. He had four vessels, +carrying two hundred and fifty men, among whom were several of whom the +world was later to hear much; such as Bernal Diaz, and Pedro de +Alvarado, who was captain of one of the vessels. The chief pilot was +Antonio Alaminos, whose plan was to follow the same course that +Cordova's expedition had pursued.</p> + +<p>Upon passing Cape San Antonio, however, the little squadron fell into +the grip of a "norther" which carried it somewhat out of its course, and +on May 3 it first sighted land at Cozumel Island, of which Grijalva was +thus the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span> discoverer. Doubling back, the expedition followed the course +of its predecessor around Punta Catoche and along the Yucatan coast to +Champoton. Thence it continued westward, discovering the Tabasco and +other rivers, and the great bay near Vera Cruz which still bears the +name of Alvarado. How far up the Mexican coast it sailed is not +altogether clear, but it certainly passed Cabo Rojo, and probably +reached Tampico and the mouth of the Panuco River. Thus to two Cuban +expeditions must be credited the discovery of the vast empire thereafter +known as New Spain. De Solis and Pinzon had skirted a part of the coast +of Yucatan in 1506 but had made no landing. Indeed, Columbus himself on +his last voyage had visited some of the coastal islands, but had +apparently ignored the proximity of the mainland. Cordova was the first +to reach the actual coast of Yucatan and to explore a portion of that +country. Grijalva in turn was the first to discover and to land in +Mexico; of which country he formally claimed possession, in the name of +Velasquez, for the King of Spain, it was he, too, or some member of his +expedition, who gave to Mexico the name of New Spain.</p> + +<p>In his commission Grijalva had been directed to discover and explore new +lands, and to take possession of them for the King of Spain, but he was +forbidden to undertake colonization of them or to make any permanent +settlements. To that prohibition must be ascribed the practical failure +of his expedition. He appears to have realized the desirability of +making permanent settlements, but felt himself restrained by his orders. +His men murmured and almost mutinied because they were not permitted to +build forts, take land, and establish colonies; but Grijalva, though +firm to resist them, dared not violate the orders of his uncle. However, +at midsummer he sent Alvarado back with two ships, carrying the sick and +wounded, and also much treasure in gold which had been obtained from the +natives in barter. He likewise wrote to Velasquez, asking and indeed +urging that his commis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span>sion be so amended as to permit him to make +permanent settlements in the lands which he had discovered.</p> + +<p>It does not appear that Velasquez made a favorable response to this +request, if indeed he made any at all. He had previously manifested his +impatience to learn what Grijalva was doing and what he had found, by +sending Christopher de Olid with one vessel to offer him reenforcements +and supplies, if needed, and to get a report of his achievements. Off +the Mexican coast, however, that expedition ran into a succession of +violent storms which so discouraged and dismayed Olid that he abandoned +his errand and scuttled incontinently back to Cuba without so much as +communicating with Grijalva. The latter, accordingly, after spending the +summer and early fall in Mexico, and despairing of receiving the +increased authority which he deemed essential to the further success of +his expedition, reembarked and returned to Cuba, arriving at Matanzas +early in October.</p> + +<p>There he found Olid, who had reached that port only a few days before, +and who had not yet communicated with Velasquez the news of the failure +of his errand. Olid's report to Velasquez, which was then promptly +dispatched, contained therefore the news of Grijalva's return as well as +his own. As soon as he received this, Velasquez sent word to Grijalva to +come at once to Santiago and report to him in person, but to let his men +remain at Matanzas, or at Havana, since he wanted them to serve in +another Mexican expedition which he was already fitting out. Most of the +men were willing to do this, and were accordingly maintained there at +the cost of Velasquez, or of the Spanish Crown, until he was ready to +use them; though a certain number expressed themselves as having had +their fill of exploring and accordingly returned to their homes in +various parts of Cuba.</p> + +<p>Grijalva repaired, as summoned, to Santiago, and there met what we must +regard as an unjust and unmerited fate. Velasquez expressed entire +dissatisfaction with his conduct, particularly in not having planted +permanent set<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span>tlements in Mexico; the very thing which Grijalva had +wanted to do but was forbidden by Velasquez himself to do. This +extraordinary inconsistency on the part of Velasquez can probably be +explained on the ground that he himself had been forbidden by the +Jeronimite Fathers to plant such colonies, and did not venture to +disobey them, but had hoped that Grijalva would disobey them. He further +let his unhappy nephew know that, because of his failure to disobey +orders, he would have no further use for him. He was sending out another +expedition to Mexico, to plant permanent colonies there, but it would be +under other leadership, and Grijalva would have no part in it whatever. +As Grijalva had already alienated most of his men by refusing to break +his orders, he was thus left friendless, and he played no further part +in the history either of the Cuba which he had loyally served or of the +Mexico of which he was the discoverer and first explorer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> new Mexican expedition was entrusted by Velasquez to the leadership +of the greatest of all the Spanish conquistadors, Hernando Cortez, then +Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. This famous man was then, in 1518, only +thirty-three years of age.<span class="figleft" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/ill_090cortez.png" width="200" height="221" alt="HERNANDO CORTEZ" /> +<span class="caption">HERNANDO CORTEZ</span> +</span> + He had been born in Estremadura, had survived +a particularly weak and sickly childhood, and had studied law at the +University of Salamanca. Leaving the University, he enlisted in the +company of Nicolas de Ovando, also of Estremadura, for an expedition to +America. But on the very eve of sailing he went to bid a tender farewell +to his inamorata; while scaling the garden wall to reach her window he +fell and had part of the wall topple upon him, and in consequence was +laid abed for some time, while Ovando's expedition sailed without him. +Recovering from this mishap, he passed a year or two in obscurity and +poverty, and then secured passage, in 1504, for Hispaniola. His courage +and prowess during a storm which threatened to swamp the vessel made him +a conspicuous member of the company, and on landing at Hispaniola he was +quickly taken into the good graces and the employ of both Velasquez and +Ovando. Having overcome his early delicacy of constitution, he was now a +stalwart, handsome youth, of engaging manners, fine education and much +spirit and capacity in martial adventure; in brief, admirably fitted for +the great career which he was already unconsciously confronting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span></p> + +<p>We have seen that a mishap in a love affair determined the time and +circumstances of his leaving Spain for the New World. A sequel to that +incident again determined his course. He had enlisted in the expedition +of Diego de Nicuesa bound for Darien when from the old injury from his +garden wall disaster there developed an abscess in his right knee, which +again disabled him for a time and restrained him from going on that +voyage. Had he gone on it, perhaps he might have become the conqueror of +Peru, instead of his fellow Estremaduran, Pizarro, who was a member of +Nicuesa's company, and the discoverer of the Pacific, instead of that +other Estremaduran, Balboa, who went to Darien at a little later date. +Instead, Cortez was detailed by Diego Columbus to go to Cuba as a +secretary to Velasquez. In that capacity he acquitted himself so well +that he received an extensive grant of land, together with a large +number of natives as slaves, and for a time he settled down as a Cuban +planter.</p> + +<p>His adventurous spirit would not permit him permanently to engage in so +placid an occupation, however, and he presently became involved in some +strenuous transactions which came near to making an end of him. +Precisely what happened is uncertain. Historic accounts differ. +According to Benito Martinez, he made himself the leader of a faction +opposed to Velasquez, and undertook to go from Cuba to Hispaniola in an +open boat to carry to certain royal Judges there complaints and +accusations against the Governor. As he was setting out on this venture, +however, he was betrayed and arrested, was charged with fomenting a +revolt against Velasquez, and was condemned to be hanged. Upon the +intercession of friends, however, Velasquez commuted the sentence into +exile from Cuba, and put Cortez aboard a vessel bound for Hispaniola. +Soon after the vessel sailed Cortez contrived to slip overboard +unperceived, caught hold of a floating log, and swam back to Cuba. There +he found refuge in a church, until once more his passion for the fair +sex came near to being his undoing. For one day as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span> was slipping out +of the church to keep a love-tryst, he was seized by an alguazil named +Juan Escudero, and returned to prison. Velasquez then again ordered him +hanged, but again yielded to intercession, and gave Cortez his freedom. +Incidentally, Cortez afterward hanged Escudero, in Mexico.</p> + +<p>So runs one version of the story, told by Herrera and others. Gomara, +Barcia and others tell quite another. It is to the effect that Cortez +went to Cuba as an accountant for Miguel de Pasamonte, the royal +treasurer, though he also did much business for Velasquez and was in +charge of the assay office and the hospital at Santiago; and that the +feud between him and Velasquez arose over a love affair. Cortez had +engaged himself to marry Doņa Catalina Suarez, one of the ladies in +waiting upon Maria de Toledo, the consort of the Admiral and Viceroy, +Diego Columbus, but either delayed to fulfil the engagement or was +suspected of an intention to break it by Velasquez, who was much +interested in the lady's sister. In the course of this feud, Cortez was +arrested and was found to have on his person papers unfriendly to +Velasquez. He escaped, and took refuge in a church. But in time he +emerged from sanctuary, married Doņa Catalina, and "lived happily with +her ever after." He also became reconciled to Velasquez, so much that +the latter stood as god-father to the first-born child of Cortez.</p> + +<p>This latter story seems the more probable of the two, and more in accord +with what we know of the characters and dispositions of both Velasquez +and Cortez. Certain it is that after their disagreements and conflicts +Velasquez took Cortez back into full favor, made him Alcalde of Santiago +de Cuba, and selected him in preference to his own nephew, Grijalva, to +be the leader of what he himself considered to be the most important of +all his enterprises.</p> + +<p>In making this choice, which was of epochal importance both to himself +and to Cuba and the Spanish colonial empire, Velasquez was doubtless +largely influenced by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> arguments and persuasions of his own +secretary, Andres de Ducro, and by the royal contador in Cuba, Amador de +Lares. These two appear to have worked together, with a mutual +understanding, and also with an understanding with Cortez; so that we +might almost consider the three to have formed a conspiracy to prevail +upon the Governor. Perhaps their chief argument, or temptation, was to +promise Velasquez the royal appointment as Adelantado, not alone over +Cuba but also over all other lands which he might discover, and it was +shrewdly pointed out to him that if haste was made, he might secure that +appointment in time to claim the enormously rich land of Mexico as part +of his domain. All that would be necessary would be for him to get the +appointment before the return of Grijalva with the official report of +his discoveries. As this appointment was the dearest wish and ambition +of Velasquez's life, it is easy to understand how potent this offer was +in persuading him to make Cortez the leader of the expedition.</p> + +<p>There was on the other hand much opposition to the choice. All of the +relatives and many of the friends and counsellors of Velasquez warned +him not to trust Cortez. Las Casas joined his advice with theirs, +warning Velasquez, however, not so much against Cortez as against the +royal contador, De Lares, and anyone whom he might favor. De Lares, he +said, had lived long in Italy, a country then considered to be a very +hotbed of trickery and treachery, and was doubtless deeply imbued with +the spirit of conspiracy and intrigue, which he was quite likely to +exercise against Velasquez himself.</p> + +<p>Cortez was of course well aware of these conflicting influences, and for +some time felt much uncertainty as to which side would prove the more +powerful. He especially dreaded the return of Grijalva, fearing that +either he would regain the favor of his uncle, or would give so glowing +a report of the wealth of Mexico as to excite the cupidity of Velasquez +to a degree that would move him to go thither in person. When he learned +that Grijalva<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span> had arrived at Havana and was about to come across the +island to Santiago, he pushed preparations for his departure with +feverish haste, apparently determined to set out whether Velasquez +approved his going or not. He borrowed large sums of money, wherever he +could, for fitting out the expedition at his own expense if necessary, +and in fact he did thus provide a large share of its cost. He also +recruited a number of men upon whom he could depend to stand by him in +any emergency; even if he should have to defy the authority of Velasquez +and sail without his permission.</p> + +<p>The middle of November, 1518, was the crucial and indeed epochal time; +in which the fate of Velasquez, the fortunes of Cortez, and in a large +measure the future of the Spanish empire in America, were all decided. +Within a week, three major incidents occurred. First, on November 13, +Velasquez received his commission from the King, as Adelantado of Cuba +and all new lands which he might cause to be discovered. In getting that +for him, De Ducro and De Lares fulfilled their promise; whereupon +Velasquez in turn fulfilled his agreement, by confirming the appointment +of Cortez. Two days later, on November 15, Grijalva arrived at Santiago, +and as already stated was unfavorably received. Nevertheless, the +apprehensions of Cortez were partially fulfilled. Velasquez did not, +indeed, restore his nephew to favor, but he was so impressed by the +reports and visible and tangible tokens of the wealth of Mexico, that he +hesitated to let Cortez go. The thought occurred to him that it would be +better to go himself, or to send somebody upon whom he could more +implicitly depend.</p> + +<p>His hesitation became known to Cortez, and of course greatly disquieted +and alarmed him. But with the intrepidity and resolution which were +characteristic of him, he hastened his preparations for departure and +added to them preparations for breaking away by force if that should be +necessary. It has been said by some that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span> finally sailed secretly, by +night. Las Casas tells that story, and the American historian of Cortez, +Prescott, credits and repeats it. Others have pictured Cortez as sailing +away openly, with Velasquez falling upon his knees on the shore, +imploring him not to go. We may prudently relegate both these versions +to the realm of imagination. The far more likely story is that given by +honest Bernal Diaz. He tells us that Andres de Ducro—probably knowing +that there was danger that Velasquez would change his mind and revoke +the appointment of Cortez—urged Cortez to sail without delay; that +Cortez accordingly, the second day after Grijalva's arrival at Santiago +ordered all his men to go aboard ship and remain there; that he then +went with De Ducro and De Lares to bid Velasquez adieu; and that the +next day, November 18, after attending an early mass at the cathedral, +he went aboard and at once set sail for Mexico. That was five days after +the appointment of Velasquez as Adelantado, and three days after the +arrival of the real discoverer of Mexico, Grijalva, at Santiago.</p> + +<p>With those three incidents, as we have said, a new era began. We need +not here concern ourselves with the further doings of Cortez, excepting +in that he took from Cuba several hundred of its most venturesome and +competent men, including many of those who had been with Grijalva; and +that he promptly renounced the authority of Velasquez over the new lands +which were to be discovered. The breach between the two occurred when +Cortez, having sailed from Santiago, put into the Cuban port of Trinidad +for men and supplies. There he was intercepted by a messenger from +Velasquez, with orders to return at once to Santiago. If he would not +obey this summons, the Alcalde, Verduzo, was authorized forcibly to +deprive him of his commission and to give it instead to Vasco Portallo. +The latter was a friend of Velasquez, who had formerly been considered +by him for the leadership of the expedition, before the choice fell on +Cortez.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span> Another candidate had been Baltazar Bermudez, whom indeed +Velasquez actually selected for the place, only to have him decline it.</p> + +<p>Cortez, as might have been expected, refused to return. Instead, he +prevailed upon the Governor's own messenger to join his expedition. To +the demand of the Alcalde, that he surrender his commission, he replied +with a haughty refusal, and so strong was the force which he had with +him that Verduzo prudently refrained from any attempt to coerce him. He +then wrote a friendly letter to Velasquez, assuring him that he was +giving himself needless concern, took on additional supplies, and +resumed his voyage. He had previously helped himself freely from a royal +storehouse at Macaca, saying that he was going on the King's business +and was therefore entitled to the King's goods. Also he is said to have +stopped a merchant ship bound for Hispaniola, and to have taken such +goods from its cargo as he desired.</p> + +<p>Thus provided, he next put in at the harbor at or near Batabano which +had in 1514 been called San Cristobal de la Havana, but which by this +time was falling into some disuse and was surrendering its name to the +far more important port on the northern coast. Here another messenger +from Velasquez intercepted him, with a similar command, to which Cortez +gave a similar reply. Last of all, he touched at Guane, on what is now +appropriately known as Cortez Bay, near the western extremity of the +island; and thence, at the middle of February, 1519, left Cuba for the +island of Cozumel, thence to proceed to Vera Cruz, Mexico. The story of +his burning his ships after he had landed, in order that his men might +have no thought or hope of returning, is historic, and is true. But in +effect he did the same, at least for himself, before that time. He +departed from Cuba in circumstances which made his return to that island +impossible; at least as long as Velasquez was its governor. Then, to +seal the matter and make the breach with his former friend and patron +more absolutely irremediable, immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span> upon landing at Vera Cruz he +organized a government by appointing some of his own men to be a +municipal council. Then to that Council of his own creation he +surrendered the commission which Velasquez had bestowed upon him; and +finally, also from his own creatures, he accepted appointment as Royal +Governor of New Spain!</p> + +<p>It was of course out of the question that Velasquez would meekly +acquiesce in this flouting of his authority, and particularly in this +open attempt to deprive him of his newly-won authority as Adelantado of +Mexico. He immediately reported to the King what Cortez had done, and +protested against it as a defiance of the King's authority as well as +his own. But Cortez answered his protests and appeals to the Crown with +still more potent arguments in justification of his course. These +arguments took the form of bars and ingots of gold, which he secured in +Mexico and sent to Spain; in some cases "ballasting his ships" with the +precious metal. One of the first of these treasure ships was a +brigantine, dispatched in the midsummer of 1519 under the pilot-captain +Alaminos. As it passed Havana it was espied by Juan de Rojas, a cousin +of Velasquez, who sent word of it to Velasquez. The latter sent out +Gonzalo de Guzman to intercept and seize it, but he failed in the +errand.</p> + +<p>Finding his appeals and protests ineffective against the gold of Cortez, +Velasquez determined to use force. He was Adelantado, by royal +commission. Therefore Cortez was a rebel. He rallied his friends, in +both Cuba and Hispaniola. He used his own immense wealth freely for the +purchase and equipment of ships. He enlisted an army twice as great as +the force which had accompanied Cortez. With this expedition he purposed +to follow Cortez to Mexico, and compel his submission. Whether he would +have succeeded in this undertaking, had it not been interfered with, +must remain subject matter of speculation; for there was prompt and +effective interference. Diego Columbus, in Hispaniola, became much +concerned. He was still Admiral, and nominally, at least, superior in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span> +authority to Velasquez as well as to Cortez, and he did not wish to have +his subordinates fighting among themselves. So he sent one of the most +eminent Spanish colonial judges, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, to Cuba to +make peace. This envoy reached Santiago in January, 1520, just in time +to find that Velasquez and his expedition had already sailed for Mexico. +With the swiftest vessel he could find he set out in pursuit, and was +lucky enough to overtake them where they had stopped for supplies, in +Corrientes Bay, near the extreme western point of the island.</p> + +<p>Ayllon seems to have been vested with no actual authority over +Velasquez. He merely tried to dissuade him from executing his purpose. +He urged him to content himself with sending one or two vessels on to +Mexico, with a summons to Cortez, to return or at least to abandon his +pretensions of independence and to acknowledge the authority of +Velasquez; under penalty of being reported to the King as a contumacious +rebel. The rest of the expedition, he suggested, might be used in +explorations elsewhere. Above all, he pleaded with Velasquez not to go +to Mexico himself, but to return to Santiago, where his presence was +sorely needed. Velasquez yielded to these entreaties so far as to +abandon personal leadership of the expedition. He made Panfilo de +Narvaez leader in his stead, and then returned to Santiago. Ayllon went +along with Narvaez, to keep the peace. The result was that soon after +landing in Mexico, Narvaez was wounded and made captive by Cortez, and +practically all his men, with their stores, munitions, arms and ships, +who had been sent out to subdue Cortez, became loyal followers of that +resourceful conquistador. In fact, we may judiciously reckon that Cortez +owed his success in the conquest of Mexico to the reenforcements which +he thus received from the expedition which had been sent against him.</p> + +<p>Later, it is true, some members of Narvaez's party became a source of +serious peril to Cortez. This was at the beginning of the year 1521, +after the death of Montezuma<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span> and the <i>noche triste</i>, and at the time +when Cortez was planning to return to the city of Mexico as its +conqueror. A number of Narvaez's men entered into a conspiracy to +assassinate Cortez, and at their head was one Villafana, who had been a +very close friend and earnest partisan of Velasquez. Because of that +relationship, it was suspected by Cortez that the man had been incited +to undertake the crime by Velasquez himself. Of this there was, however, +no proof, and no attempt was made to fasten responsibility or odium upon +Velasquez; which we may be sure would have been done had any real ground +for it been discovered. By interesting coincidence, the conspiracy was +made, detected and punished at the very time when, as we shall see, +Velasquez was being removed from the Governorship of Cuba.</p> + +<p>Villafana modelled his plans upon those of the slayers of Julius Cæsar. +All the conspirators were to approach Cortez in public, and one of them +was to approach him with what should purport to be a letter from his +father, Martin Cortez, just arrived on a vessel from Spain. The moment +he took the letter and began to read it, all were to rush upon him and +stab him with their knives. Cortez detected the plot just in time. He +personally went with guards to Villafana's apartments and arrested him, +while others took the other conspirators into custody. Villafana was put +to death, and the others were imprisoned. Then Cortez, with +characteristic resourcefulness, turned the incident to account for his +own profit, by making it the pretext for continually thereafter +surrounding himself with an armed body guard of his most trusted +soldiers.</p> + +<p>Velasquez returned to Santiago to find affairs in a sad plight. Small +pox, measles and other epidemics were raging, and disastrous tropical +hurricanes had swept the island, destroying crops and buildings. A large +proportion of the most efficient men of the island had followed +Cortez—and Narvaez—to Mexico. Moreover, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola, +was threatening trouble. It must be remembered that Velasquez had +practically<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span> flouted Columbus's authority, almost as much as his own had +been flouted by Cortez. At any rate, the Admiral had a serious grievance +against him, and deemed this a fitting time for calling him to account. +Apparently he was further aggrieved because Velasquez would not more +fully accept the counsel of Ayllon. At any rate, in the middle of +January, 1521, he sent over to Cuba an envoy, to take the place of +Velasquez as Governor of Cuba and to investigate the manner in which +Velasquez had administered his affairs. This envoy was Alfonso de Zuazo, +who thus became the second Governor of Cuba.</p> + +<p>In this action Velasquez acquiesced; probably because he durst not do +otherwise. It would have been a dangerous thing in any circumstances to +defy the Admiral; and it would have been superlatively so at a time when +Cuba had just been stripped of its ships and its best fighting men. +Nevertheless, he pointed out that he himself was still commandant of the +fort at Baracoa, and was Repartidor of the natives throughout the +island. This latter was in some important respects a more influential +office than that of Governor, and it Velasquez held, not by the +Admiral's appointment but by virtue of a commission granted directly by +the King himself. He could not, therefore, be superseded or interfered +with in any way by the Admiral or any of his underlings, nor by anybody +short of the King himself. In this he was quite right, and when Zuazo, +relying upon Diego Columbus's authority, did infringe upon some of +Velasquez's functions and powers, the latter complained to the King, and +the King disavowed Zuazo, and severely reprimanded Columbus.</p> + +<p>Velasquez was not, however, yet at the end of his difficulties. The +royal vindication of his claims was gratifying, and he doubtless felt +some secret satisfaction in the humiliation of Diego Columbus. But the +son of the great Admiral was not a man to be flouted with impunity, not +even by the King of Spain. True, he acquiesced, perforce, in the royal +decree. But his resourceful mind<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span> quickly devised another line of attack +upon Velasquez. At the beginning of 1522, accompanied by two judges of +the supreme court of Hispaniola, he proceeded to Santiago de Cuba, and +there instituted a judicial investigation into the conduct of +Velasquez's administration. To this Velasquez demurred, on the grounds +already mentioned that as Repartidor he was accountable to the King +alone. Diego Columbus responded by pointing out in the commission of +Velasquez as Repartidor a provision that the judges of Hispaniola might +and indeed should give him specific advice as to the conduct of his +office; and such advice they thereupon proceeded to give, in terms +indistinguishable from commands. To this Velasquez could not demur; the +text of his commission did indeed provide for that very thing. But his +retort was prompt and effective. The commission provided for the giving +of advice, but it did not require Velasquez to accept it! As a matter of +fact, it was not accepted but ignored, and Diego Columbus and his judges +returned to Hispaniola in defeat.</p> + +<p>One more effort was made by Velasquez to vindicate his authority over +Cortez in Mexico. He went so far as to equip a third expedition of which +he personally took command, intending to invade Mexico and compel Cortez +to submit to his authority. This expedition sailed from Cuba in the fall +of 1522, but never reached the coast of Mexico. It was intercepted by a +message from the King, announcing that he had appointed Cortez to be +Governor of Mexico in entire independence of Cuba, and expressly +forbidding Velasquez to interfere with him in any way. This was +conclusive, and Velasquez returned home, abandoning all further thoughts +of Mexico.</p> + +<p>Despite his losses and the great expense to which he had gone in +fruitless Mexican ventures, he was still one of the richest men in Cuba; +especially since the death of his father-in-law, Cristobal de Cuellar, +who had left him the major part of his large fortune. As Repartidor, +also, he continued his activities in public affairs. In the sum<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span>mer of +1523 he personally directed a campaign against a revolt and depredations +of an Indian tribe inhabiting some of the small islands off the Cuban +coast. He suffered humiliation, it is true, in having at about that same +time public proclamation made in Cuba of the royal decree inhibiting him +from further designs against Cortez. But before the end of the year +atonement was made for this in another royal decree completely restoring +Velasquez to his place as Governor of Cuba.</p> + +<p>The causes which led to this extraordinary action are obscure, but it +seems probable that the King recognized the really great services and +merits of Velasquez, and it is quite possible that he had reason for +dissatisfaction with Zuazo. At any rate, at about Christmas time, 1523, +Velasquez was restored and Zuazo was summarily dismissed. No charges +were at that time preferred against Zuazo, nor was he prosecuted or +subjected to any penalties. But his commission as Governor was declared +to have been illegal and all his acts to have been therefore null and +void. Everything was therefore put back in as nearly as possible the +condition it was in when Velasquez was formerly Governor.</p> + +<p>Zuazo seems to have taken his dismissal philosophically, without demur +or resentment; wherefore we may suspect that as a lawyer he realized +that there had indeed been a fatal flaw in his commission. He remained +at Santiago for a few weeks, and then went to Mexico as the attorney and +envoy of Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, who had a +controversy with Cortez as to which of them was the rightful Governor of +Panuco. In this errand he was frustrated by shipwreck and other +vicissitudes, and it does not appear that he ever had an opportunity of +serving Garay as had been intended. In time, however, he reached Mexico, +and was regarded with much favor by Cortez, who appointed him to a +lucrative and influential office. A little later he was extradited by +the Cuban government, and was brought back to that island as a prisoner, +to undergo trial for alleged misde<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span>meanors committed when he was +Governor. This strenuous action was taken in 1525. Zuazo complained +bitterly of such harsh treatment, which probably was unwarranted. At any +rate, he was acquitted; whereupon he went to Hispaniola and spent the +remainder of his life there in prosperity.</p> + +<p>We have seen that the restoration of Velasquez to the Governorship of +Cuba came as a sort of solatium for his loss and humiliation with +respect to Mexico. But it did not altogether reconcile him to the +destruction of his hopes and ambitions. On the contrary, he conceived +the scheme of remonstrating with the King and pleading his cause in +person. Setting his affairs in order, therefore, he prepared to set sail +for Spain, and was just on the point of doing so when death supervened. +He died on June 12, 1524, and was interred, according to his wish, in +the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba.</p> + +<p>The King, who had so recently both humiliated him and honored him, was +profoundly affected by the loss of one who had added much lustre to the +crown of Spain, and wrote for his tomb an epitaph in Latin, eloquently +setting forth his merits and his services. This was not, however, +inscribed above his remains, and soon was forgotten. Instead, there was +popularly circulated and remembered an epigram upon him coined by some +adversary whose identity is unknown. This declared Velasquez to have +been "Covetous of honor, but more covetous of gain."</p> + +<p>This we must regard as unjust. Velasquez had his faults, and some of +them were grave. He was at times arbitrary and ruthless, as most +empire-builders of all lands have been. He was not always grateful to +those who served him faithfully, nor was he impartial in his dealings +with men. These faults were, however, common in those times, and they +were no more marked in Velasquez than in his contemporaries. On the +other hand he unquestionably had great virtues. He had courage, vision, +enterprise, and statesmanlike views for the develop<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span>ment of his domain. +His work in Cuba was over-shadowed by that of Cortez in Mexico and of +Pizarro in Peru, but it was in essence not less meritorious than theirs, +for which indeed it prepared and opened the way. It is one of the +tragedies of history that his very tomb should have been forgotten and +lost, and his name remembered as a name and nothing more. For in the +early history of Cuba there is no other name which stands for so much in +conquest and colonization, and in the foundation, organization and +development of the State, as that of the first Cuban Governor, Diego de +Velasquez.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h3> + +<p>V<span class="smcap">elasquez</span> had been Governor—technically Lieutenant-Governor under the +Admiral, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola—for more than thirteen years; +save for the abortive and illegal administration of Zuazo. But after him +gubernatorial terms were destined to be of much shorter duration, and +marked with many vicissitudes. His nominal successor was appointed some +time before his death. Whether in anticipation of his decease, or with +the design of ousting him, is not clear. At any rate, at the middle of +May, probably on May 20, 1524, Juan Altamarino was named by the King to +be the next governor, for a term of two years and no more. He appears +not to have been in any way identified with the island, though probably +he had been associated with Diego Columbus in Hispaniola; and at the +time of his appointment he was in peninsular Spain. He made no haste to +go to Cuba and assume his office, wherefore it was necessary, upon the +death of Velasquez a few weeks later, that some stop-gap governor should +be named. Diego Columbus, who as Admiral might have made such temporary +appointment, was also in Spain. In consequence, the Audiencia or supreme +court of Hispaniola acted in his stead, and appointed Manuel de Rojas.</p> + +<p>This forceful and patriotic man was a cousin of Velasquez, who had been +sent by the latter to Spain in July, 1521, as his advocate before the +King in the controversy with Cortez over Mexico. He had served for some +time as Alcalde of Baracoa; he was a loyal friend of Velasquez, and a +man of approved ability and integrity. He was also the first Cuban +governor of Cuba. By that I mean that he was the first to regard Cuba as +a separate entity, apart from Hispaniola and Mexico and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span> even from Spain +itself. Velasquez, vast as were his services, was never able to +dissociate the interests of Cuba from those of Spain, or even from those +of Mexico and other Spanish lands in this hemisphere, insular and +continental; and had actually compromised the welfare of Cuba in +grasping at the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Zuazo, if he is to be reckoned +in the line of governors at all, was quite alien to Cuba. But Rojas was +an insular patriot. He was of course entirely loyal to Spain. But that +fact did not restrain him from developing an intense local patriotism. +He regarded Cuba as a great enough country to command his entire +attention and devotion. His policy was, Cuba for the Cubans; and he was +the first of a line of Governors, not always unbroken, committed to that +enlightened policy.</p> + +<p>The island at this time, indeed, well merited such regard. It had been +extensively settled, and its resources were beginning to be developed. +Gold mining was profitably practised. Agriculture and cattle-raising had +made great progress. Juan Mosquera, as the envoy or representative of +the Cuban municipalities in Spain, had in February, 1523, secured from +the King the first recognition of and encouragement for the sugar +industry, which had already been established in Hispaniola, and which +far-sighted men perceived to be capable of great things in Cuba. He had +also, a year earlier, secured from the King grants of free trade between +Cuba and all other Spanish colonies around the Caribbean, insular or +continental; together with some reforms of the royalty system in gold +mining and a comprehensive and orderly scheme of taxation for the +building of roads and bridges and other necessary public works. In fact, +Cuba was beginning to "find herself" and to show herself worthy of the +affection and patriotism of her people.</p> + +<p>The administration of Rojas was for the time, however, cut short. It had +been ordered legally enough, but with the understanding that it was only +temporary, pending the coming of Altamarino. Unfortunately the +His<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span>paniola audiencia went too far. It also appointed Rojas to succeed +Velasquez as repartidor of the natives, which it had no right to do, the +power to make that appointment being reserved exclusively for the King +himself. It does not appear that he misused his power, or even indeed +that he exercised it at all as repartidor; though it is likely that his +illegal appointment to that office caused some quite unmerited prejudice +against him at Madrid. His administration of the governorship, which was +legal, was brief. Altamarino entered Santiago de Cuba on March 14, 1525, +and at once assumed office, and Rojas retired without demur and without +reproach.</p> + +<p>Altamarino had been commissioned as juez de residencia, to investigate +the administration and conduct of Velasquez. That commission came of +course from the King, but there is reason for suspecting that Diego +Columbus had something to do with it. If he did not instigate it, he +certainly heartily approved it. Now Velasquez had, at the time of +Altamarino's appointment, been living and in office. But at the time +when Altamarino actually assumed the powers and duties of the +governorship and those of the juez de residencia, Velasquez had been +dead and buried in the cathedral of Santiago for nine months. No such +trifling circumstance as that was, however, to be permitted to cause any +deviation of the course of Spanish official procedure; particularly when +the latter was urged on by personal animus. Diego Columbus had desired +and the King had commanded Velasquez to be investigated, and +investigated he must be, alive or dead. His remains were not, it is +true, to be disinterred and placed at the bar. But his name and +reputation were made the target for all manner of attack. A proclamation +was issued, inviting everybody who had anything against the former +governor to make it known, publicly, fully and fearlessly, being assured +of immunity for anything they might say.</p> + +<p>In response there was a mighty flood of insinuations, complaints, +accusations, calumnies. Nor did Altamarino<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span> content himself with this. +He ransacked the archives of Cuba for all complaints, protests and what +not that had ever been made, and if the makers of them could be found, +as most of them could, he summoned them before his tribunal and required +them to testify everything they could to the discredit of Velasquez. A +similar inquisition was conducted into the affairs of all the chief +office-holders and administrators under Velasquez. The result was what +might have been expected, seeing that there was no opportunity for +Velasquez to reply to the charges or to cross-examine the witnesses +against him, or to produce other testimony in rebuttal. The founder of +the Cuban State was charged with the acceptance of gifts, including a +horse and a mule; with having levied and collected taxes without special +authority from the King, though these were admittedly for road-building +and other useful public purposes; with having participated in gambling +games, though Rojas pointed out that his fellow gamblers were among the +foremost members of the community; with having failed to check and +punish blasphemous utterances; with having neglected to pay for some of +the supplies which were taken for his Mexican expeditions; and with +having administered justice without due regard to the letter of the +statute law, which was not strange, seeing that he was not a lawyer. In +his mortuary absence, he was found guilty, by default, and was condemned +to pay heavy fines; which were collected from his heirs.</p> + +<p>The dead lion was not, however, without his vengeance upon the jackals +that would defile his sepulchre. The inquisition went too far, and too +dearly disclosed its animus. A vigorous resentment and reaction soon +arose, widespread and formidable; among the municipal councils and among +the people. The kinsmen and friends of Velasquez were numerous, loyal to +his memory, and powerful in influence. Gonzalo de Guzman, who had been +the advocate of Velasquez at court at Madrid, not only against Cortez +but also against Diego Columbus him<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span>self, and Nuņez de Guzman, the royal +treasurer at Santiago de Cuba, were brothers-in-law of Velasquez; and +Andres Duero, Pedro de Paz, and Diego de Soto were his steadfast +friends. These were all men of wealth and influence. Like Rojas, they +were Cuban colonists, and resented meddling in Cuban affairs by one whom +they considered an outsider. They were, moreover, life members of the +Municipal Council of Santiago, by appointment of the King, and were +therefore independent of the Governor so far as their tenure of office +was concerned, and removable only by the King.</p> + +<p>They therefore arrayed themselves solidly against Altamarino, and +rallied to the opposition the councils of the other municipalities and +many of the principal men throughout the island. Altamarino replied by +trumping up charges against several of the life councillors, of having +expended public funds without authorization, and suspended them from +their functions, or attempted to do so. He certainly could not remove +them outright, and there was much question of his right to suspend them, +unless during actual trial in court. The Guzmans and their allies +retorted by obtaining from the court at Hispaniola an injunction +restraining Altamarino from attending meetings of the Council, so that +he would not know whether the suspended members continued their +functions or not. Against this the Governor furiously protested, +declaring that his predecessors had habitually attended all Council +meetings, and he issued an order forbidding the Council of Santiago to +transact any business whatever or indeed to meet officially, in his +absence. Of course this brought matters to an impasse, which could be +solved only through appeal to the King. This was made, and resulted in a +royal decision in favor of the Councils, confirming the injunction of +the Hispaniola tribunal against the Governor's intrusion into council +meetings.</p> + +<p>This, in the early autumn of 1525, was obviously the beginning of the +end for Altamarino. A little later, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span> October of that year, the +various municipal councils of the island united in sending Rodrigo Duran +to Hispaniola, to prefer to the court there charges against Altamarino +of a most serious character. They were indeed tantamount to his +impeachment and a demand for his removal from the Governorship. The +court hesitated to take action so radical, but considered the charges +sufficiently important to warrant reference to the King. The result was +that the King promptly decided against the Governor. Less than nine +months after his actual assumption of office, and little more than a +year and a half after his appointment to it, Altamarino was summarily +removed from the place to which he had been appointed for two years.</p> + +<p>Immediately after this, at the beginning of December, 1525, Altamarino's +chief antagonist, Gonzalo de Guzman, a life Councillor of Santiago, was +appointed to succeed him as Governor, and also as Repartidor of the +natives, with all the plenary authority that Velasquez had exercised. +Nor was that all. Guzman was commissioned juez de residencia, to +investigate the affairs of the deposed Altamarino as the latter had +investigated those of the deceased Velasquez. Guzman appears not +actually to have taken office until April 25, 1526, and not to have +begun his inquest into his predecessor's affairs until midsummer of that +year. But he then made up for the delay with the searching and ruthless +character of his investigation. We can scarcely doubt that he was moved +by a large degree of personal vindictiveness. Certainly he seemed to try +to be as irritating and as humiliating to Altamarino as possible; the +more so, perhaps, because he realized that there was nothing serious to +be proved, and that the chief penalty the ex-Governor would suffer would +be the heckling and denunciation which he received during the +investigation. There were charges enough against him, but not one +warranted any severe punishment. As a matter of fact, all the penalties +imposed upon him were light, and they were all promptly remitted by the +King; the royal advisers at Madrid reporting to His Maj<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span>esty that the +whole business had been nothing but a tempest in a teapot. Nevertheless, +the episode ended the career of Altamarino in Cuba. He at once departed +to Mexico, and was seen in the island no more.</p> + +<p>We may now fittingly observe a certain highly significant political +development which at this time was manifested in the island. Reference +has already been made to the rise of a feeling of local pride and +municipal independence in the various provinces into which the island +was divided, and also to the marked assertion of insular patriotism +under Rojas and his colleagues. The former movement dated from as early +as 1518, when Panfilo de Narvaez secured from the King a decree giving +to some of the members of municipal councils life terms of office. In +that year, accordingly, Gonzalo de Guzman and Diego de Sumana were +appointed by the King to be life Councillors, or Regidors, in Santiago; +Alonzo Bembrilla and Bernardino Yniguez in Trinidad; and Francisco Santa +Cruz and, as we might suppose, Panfilo de Narvaez himself in Bayamo. A +little later Diego de Caballero and Fernando de Medina were appointed in +Sancti Spiritus, and Rodrigo Canon and Sancho de Urrutia in Puerto del +Principe. In addition to these there were, of course, other Councillors +appointed by the Governor for limited terms. But the life Councillors +gave tone and direction to the municipal administrations and developed a +certain degree of local independence of the general government of the +island. In brief, there began to be promulgated at this early date the +salutary principle that the various municipalities or provinces were to +enjoy home rule in all purely local matters, while of course remaining +subject to the Governor in everything relating to the general welfare of +the island; and also that the island was to enjoy home rule in all +matters pertaining exclusively to it, while subject and loyal to the +Crown in everything affecting the general welfare and integrity of the +Spanish kingdom and its colonial empire.</p> + +<p>The motives and purpose of Narvaez in seeking this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span> permanent tenure for +municipal Councillors have been much debated. He has been charged by +some, and not unnaturally, with a selfish purpose to entrench himself +and his friends irremovably in office. On the other hand there have been +those who have credited him with a high-minded and statesmanlike design +of promoting the welfare of Cuba by securing stability of local +government under the best men. Knowing what we do of his character, it +seems reasonable to suppose that the latter motive was potent, even if +the other also had some influence. What is quite certain is, however, +that the system quickly became a formidable power in Cuban politics, +sometimes beneficent and sometimes mischievous. These permanent +Councillors were powerful in bringing to naught the brief administration +of Zuazo, and they formed, as already stated, the head and front of the +successful opposition to Altamarino. At the same time, through their +control of the election of alcaldes and other local officers they gave +to the local administrations a stability which they might not otherwise +have enjoyed.</p> + +<p>With the accession of Gonzalo de Guzman to the Governorship, however, a +strong and widespread reaction against the Councillors arose. This was +doubtless largely provoked by the injudicious action of Guzman himself. +As a life Councillor of Santiago he had been foremost in securing the +exclusion of Altamarino from sessions of the councils. But when he +himself became Governor, he retained his life Councillorship and +therefore insisted upon his right to continue attending the meetings. +Remonstrance against this was made, to the King; he having appointed +Guzman to both offices; but he declined to interfere. He did, however, +appoint additional life Councillors, enough largely to outnumber the +partisans of Guzman. He also took the very important step of authorizing +each municipality to elect from among its Councillors a Procurator, or +public advocate, corresponding in some respects to a Tribune of the +ancient Roman Republic.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span></p> + +<p>These procurators soon found their chief occupation in resisting and +protesting against those acts of the Councils which they deemed inimical +to the public welfare. The procurators of all the municipalities met +together, to compare notes and to take counsel together for the common +good, and there was an increasing inclination among them to oppose what +they regarded as the growing tyranny of the Councils. At such a meeting +of all the procurators, in March, 1528, Manuel de Rojas, procurator for +Bayamo, took the sensational action of presenting a formal popular +protest against what was described as the arrogance and oligarchical +tendencies of the Councils. This provoked an impassioned reply from Juan +de Quexo, the procurator for Havana, who denied the statements and +insinuations of the document and opposed its reception by the meeting. +But after an acrimonious controversy, Rojas won the day. The protest was +received, adopted by the convention, and forwarded to the King of Spain. +Together with it the procurators forwarded to the King some radical +recommendations for the improvement of the insular government. These +were, that the Governor should always be selected from among the bona +fide residents of the island and should be appointed for a term of three +years; that the life tenure of Councillors should be abolished; and that +all councillors, alcaldes and procurators should be elected yearly by +the people.</p> + +<p>These suggestions were not in their entirety received favorably by the +King. He refused outright to adopt those relating to the selection and +appointment of governors, and to the abolition of life councillorships. +He did, however, order that the procurators should be elected yearly by +the people, and he greatly enlarged the functions and powers of that +office. A new system of choosing alcaldes was also decreed. Instead of +their being elected yearly by the Councils, it was ordered that the +Council presided over by the alcalde should nominate two candidates, +that the Council members without the alcalde should nominate two more, +and that the Governor should<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span> name one; and that from among these five a +first and second alcalde should be chosen by lot.</p> + +<p>Thus in the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman the principle of "Cuba +for the Cubans," afterward long neglected, was pretty efficiently +established. The Governor, at that time, and all other royal officers of +the island, were Cuban colonists; and the people were invested with +power to select their own procurators or advocates, who were +irremovable, and who were competent to represent the people not only in +the Cuban courts and in those of Hispaniola, but also before the Royal +Council for the Indies at Madrid, and who were empowered to proceed +against the municipal councils, the royal officials, or even the +Governor himself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> early part of the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman was chiefly +occupied with the investigation of his predecessors' stewardships, and +with controversies with the municipal councils. There was also a +controversy with the Crown over the payment to him of a salary for his +services, which he requested of the King, and which the King ordered to +be paid to him, but which he did not receive. Then came complications +over the royal treasurership in the island. Christopher de Cuellar had +been succeeded in that office by Pedro Nuņez de Guzman. The latter died, +leaving a considerable fortune, and the colonial government at +Hispaniola immediately designated Andres Duero to succeed him +temporarily, until the King should make a permanent appointment; the +expectation apparently being that Duero would be confirmed in the +office. Unfortunately for the success of this design, however, the +temporary appointment had been made without consulting the royal +officials; who were not unnaturally piqued and offended. The result was +that a protest was made to the King, not only against the method of his +appointment but also against Duero himself. To this the King listened +sympathetically, and he presently overruled the appointment of Duero, +and in place of him named Hernando de Castro as temporary treasurer, +until such time as he could have conditions investigated and could +select some fitting man as a permanent incumbent.</p> + +<p>Oddly enough, Castro had once before supplanted Duero, as the royal +factor in Cuba. This office had first been held by Bernardino Velasquez, +upon whose death Andres Duero had been appointed to hold it temporarily, +only to be speedily replaced by Castro. The latter appears to have been +one of the most enterprising men of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span> affairs of that time, and to have +done more than most of his contemporaries for the industrial and +economic development of the island. He became engaged in commerce +between Spain and the West Indies at an early date, and paid much +attention to agriculture, which he believed would be the chief permanent +industry of Cuba. It was he who introduced the cultivation of wheat and +other staples, with a view to making the island self-supporting, and for +such activities he received the formal thanks of the King. +Unfortunately, he too somewhat compromised himself by attempting to +appropriate as his own the native Cubans who had been the serfs of +Bernardino Velasquez and whom Duero, the factor pro tempore, had seized.</p> + +<p>Soon after the replacing of Duero with Castro as treasurer pro tempore +the former died, and then the latter was in turn replaced by the +permanent appointment of Lopez Hurtado, who held the place for many +years, and who was distinguished at once for his honesty and his +irrepressible cantankerousness. He seemed to have a mania for +faultfinding; though doubtless there was much legitimate occasion for +the exercise of that faculty. To his mind, almost every other man in +Cuba was a knave, and he never wearied of reporting to the King, in +interminable written messages, his complaints and accusations. Not only +in spite of but also because of this he was a most useful public +servant.</p> + +<p>Pedro Nuņez de Guzman, who died in 1527, left, as we have seen, a +considerable fortune. Practically all of it was left to his widow, and +her the thrifty Gonzalo de Guzman presently married, and thus got +himself into one of the most serious controversies of his whole career. +A part of the fortune of Pedro consisted of about two hundred Cuban +serfs. These Gonzalo de Guzman, as Repartidor, transferred to the widow, +and then, of course, when he married her, they became his property. This +roused the animosity of the honest but cantankerous Hurtado, who thought +that the Cubans should have been given to himself, as their former +owner's official successor; ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span>cording to the example set by Hernando de +Castro, as already related. Hurtado accordingly wrote to the King a long +letter on the subject, which, though it did not cause intervention in +that special matter, attracted the King's attention to the complications +which the Guzman marriage was producing.</p> + +<p>The mother of the late Pedro Nuņez de Guzman next appeared as a party to +the controversy. This lady, Doņa Leonora de Quiņones, who had remained +in Spain, complained that a great injustice had been done to her and to +her other children by the transfer of Pedro's entire fortune to his +widow and thence to the latter's second husband, and she applied to the +Spanish courts for relief. The result was a series of lawsuits, which +scandalized the Spanish courts for a term of years. In these suits many +prominent Cubans were involved, and nearly the whole population of the +island took sides for one or the other of the parties. Street brawls +occurred over it, and the violence culminated in a physical scuffle in +the aisle of the cathedral, between Gonzalo de Guzman and the Alcalde of +Santiago, in which the latter had most of his clothes torn from his +back, and for which Guzman was required to do penance.</p> + +<p>The King had given his assent to the Guzman marriage, and was unwilling +to withdraw it, or to censure Guzman for taking and striving to retain +all of Pedro's estate. Nevertheless he remonstrated with the litigants +for the fury of their controversy, which he truly told them was not only +a disgrace to the island but was also a grave practical injury to it. +The conflict continued, however, until all the resources of the law +courts were exhausted. By that time many of the lawyers were +considerably enriched, but a still large part of the estate was +confirmed in the possession of Gonzalo de Guzman and his wife. All this +militated against the confidence with which Guzman had been regarded, +and hastened steps for the subjection of him to the fate of his +predecessors.</p> + +<p>We have seen that Guzman had been commissioned to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span> investigate the +administration of his predecessor, Altamarino, and that he had performed +that congenial task with energy and zeal. Now came his own turn to +undergo the same treatment. It was only a little more than two years +after his accession to the governorship that the King or the Crown +officials in Spain concluded that it would be well to have his affairs +looked into. For the performance of this work Juan Vadillo was selected, +in the autumn of 1528. He was a notably efficient man. He had been +employed for some time by the crown as a debt-collector in Cuba, +Hispaniola, Jamaica and Porto Rico, and had been highly successful in +that work; wherefore it was thought that he would subject Guzman's +administration to a particularly thorough examination.</p> + +<p>He declined, however, to accept the commission; for a variety of +reasons. One was, that he had thitherto taken his orders and received +his commissions directly from the King, and he considered it beneath his +dignity now to be an underling of a mere Admiral of the Indies—or of +the widow of the Admiral, since the commission for this job was to be +given by the widow of Diego Columbus. Another reason was found in the +terms on which the commission was to be granted. He was to be governor +of Cuba for thirty days. During that time he was to conduct his +investigation of Guzman's administration. Then, with the assumption that +thirty days would afford him ample time to complete the work, he was to +restore the governorship to Guzman, apparently quite irrespective of the +result of his inquest. Still another reason was, that his instructions +were not sufficiently explicit. It was not, for example, made clear +whether he was to replace Guzman as repartidor as well as in the +governorship. A final reason, perhaps not least of all, was that the +salary offered was not sufficient.</p> + +<p>While thus declining to accept the commission, Vadillo manifested his +fitness for it and his serviceable interest in Cuban affairs by pointing +out to the sovereign various grave defects in the administration of +Cuban affairs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span> particularly in that of the repartidor's functions. One +important object of the repartimiento system was to assure a suitable +distribution of native labor throughout the island. It was in fact +operating to just the contrary effect. Some parts of the island were +overcrowded, while others were almost entirely destitute of labor. These +representations had their effect at court; not, it is true, in the +ordering of correction of the evils, but in confirming the desire to +have Vadillo investigate insular affairs.</p> + +<p>After more than two years' delay, then, on February 27, 1531, another +summons was sent to Vadillo. This time it was not a request but a +peremptory order to go at once to Cuba and undertake the work. The +conditions were, however, materially changed. He was to have his +commission from the King. He was to be governor for sixty days instead +of thirty. He was to be repartidor, also, in conjunction with the Bishop +of Cuba. He was to have an adequate salary. And at the end of his +investigation of Guzman's administration he was to hand the governorship +over, not necessarily to Guzman again, but to anyone whom he might +choose, until the widow of Diego Columbus should make a permanent +appointment.</p> + +<p>On these conditions Vadillo accepted the commission and entered upon his +work with the efficiency and zeal that had marked his former +undertaking. He quickly found that there was much need for +investigation, and of thorough reforms. The whole administration had +become demoralized by the personal jealousies and local feuds which for +years had been raging. Bribery, slander, false arrest, even murder, had +been resorted to by political partisans for the accomplishment of their +ends, until something like chaos had been precipitated upon the unhappy +island. It was in November, 1531, that Vadillo arrived at Santiago de +Cuba on his formidable errand. He purposed to spend a few weeks in +preliminary surveys of the ground, announcing that his sixty days' +incumbency of the governorship would begin on January 1.</p> + +<p>On the latter date the actual house-cleaning began.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span> The tremendous +indictment which Guzman had made against Altamarino was a petty trifle +in comparison with that which Vadillo launched against Guzman. There was +scarcely any conceivable form of maladministration which was not charged +against the governor. He had, said Vadillo, interfered with freedom of +suffrage at elections. He had levied and collected taxes for which there +was no warrant in law. He had appointed and commissioned notaries, +although he had no legal power to do so. He had failed to compel married +men either to return to their wives in Spain or to send for their wives +to come to Cuba. He had permitted illicit trade in slaves. He had been +biassed and partial in his administration of justice. All these and +other accusations were made with much circumstance and with a formidable +array of corroborative testimony, against Guzman as governor. Against +him as repartidor it was charged that he had been guilty of gross and +injurious misrepresentations to the Crown and to the people; that he had +assigned natives as serfs to his relatives and friends in defiance of +law; and that he had made the distribution of native labor inequitable.</p> + +<p>All these charges were indignantly denied by Guzman, who defended +himself with much vigor and shrewdness. But Vadillo found him to be +guilty of almost every one of them, and sentenced him to pay a heavy +fine and to be removed from office, both as governor and as repartidor. +Against this judgment Guzman made appeal to the Council for the Indies, +in Spain. In order to bring all possible influence to bear upon that +body, he himself went to Spain, in August, 1532, carrying a vast mass of +documents, and accompanied by Bishop Ramirez, who was returning to Spain +to be consecrated. This ecclesiastic had been Guzman's most staunch and +zealous partisan during the investigation. He had gone so far as to +threaten with excommunication anyone who should testify against the +governor, and had actually excommunicated Vadillo. Against this act +Vadillo had protested to the King, and the King had reprimanded the +Bishop and had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span> compelled him to withdraw the writ of excommunication. +Guzman therefore took the Bishop along with him, partly so that the +latter might be formally consecrated and have his conduct if possible +vindicated, and partly to aid himself in his appeal to the Council for +the Indies.</p> + +<p>Vadillo did not trouble himself to go to Spain to counteract Guzman's +appeal. A month before the departure of Guzman and the Bishop he left +Cuba for Hispaniola, conscious of having done his duty. He had been a +fearless and thorough investigator and a just judge; and he had rendered +to Cuba and to the Spanish crown services far greater than he ever +received compensation or credit for. Indeed, he did not enjoy so much as +the gratitude of the people of Cuba, most of whom were partisans of +Guzman or of some other political leader, and had become so accustomed +to the corrupt ways which had been followed for years that they were +inclined to resent any attempt at reform.</p> + +<p>Upon the expiration of his sixty days' incumbency, Vadillo designated +Manuel de Rojas to be governor in his stead, until an appointment of +permanent character could be made by the Admiral at Hispaniola. Rojas +was reluctant to accept the place, knowing that he would find it more +arduous and even perilous than before, but he was finally prevailed upon +to do so, apparently more through a sense of public duty than for any +expectation of personal advantage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> first governorship of Gonzalo de Guzman was marked with two features +of very great importance to the young nation—for such we may properly +regard Cuba as having been at that time. One of these was the +development of the ecclesiastical establishment into a strong and +sometimes dominant force in the body politic and social; and the other +was the crisis of the protracted problem of dealing with or disposing of +the native Indians. These two matters were, as they had been from the +beginning, closely related to each other.</p> + +<p>It is a commonplace of history that there was a certain thread of +religious motive running all through the exploits of Columbus. He +emphasized the significance of his name, Christopher, Christ-Bearer, +sometimes signing himself X. Ferens. The same idea was expressed, as we +have already seen, in the names which he gave to the various lands which +he discovered. Nor were his successors in exploration and conquest +neglectful of the same spirit. Accordingly the first Spanish settlers in +Cuba took pains to plant there immediately the church of their faith, +and to seek to convert the natives to Christianity. Among the very +earliest to land upon the shores of the island were priests of the Roman +Catholic church, and the first church was built at the first point of +settlement, Baracoa.</p> + +<p>Some obscurity invests the records of the early ecclesiastical +organization, but it seems altogether probable that the first Bishop was +Hernando de Mesa, a member of the Order of St. Dominic. There is no +available record of his appointment and consecration, but he appears to +have begun his episcopal work at Baracoa in 1513 and 1514. He built the +first Cuban cathedral at Baracoa, and secured from the Spanish +government in 1515 a system of tithes for the support and propagation of +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span> church. These tithes were to be paid not in coin but in +merchandise, and they were to be collected not by the priests or other +agents of the church, but by officers of the secular government. The +latter was, moreover, to retain one-third of them for the erection of +new church buildings, a task which it took upon itself as a measure of +public works. It was not infrequently remarked that these royal +tithe-gatherers were much more diligent, prompt and efficient in +collecting the tithes from the people than in turning the proceeds over +to the church.</p> + +<p>Bishop De Mesa reigned over the diocese for about three years, and then +was succeeded by Juan de Ubite, concerning whom the records are much +more detailed and explicit. He seems to have been an aggressive and +fearless man, who did not hesitate to engage in controversy and even in +litigation with the royal government over the matter of the tithes. He +protested against the government's retaining and administering the +one-third of the tithes which was devoted to church-building, insisting +that it also should be turned over to the ecclesiastical authorities, +who were best fitted to know the needs and to direct the work of church +building. In this contention he was not successful, but he did manage to +secure the levying of tithes upon the crown estates the same as upon all +other property.</p> + +<p>One of the most important achievements of Bishop Ubite was the transfer +of the cathedral from Baracoa to Santiago. For this change he gave two +reasons. One was, that Baracoa was an unhealthful spot; in which he was +surely in error. The other was, that Santiago was a larger and more +important place, indeed, the chief city of the island; in which he was +quite correct. The transfer was authorized by the civil government in +October, 1522, and plots of land were granted to the Bishop for the +sites of the new cathedral and of the houses of the Bishop and other +clergy. These latter were the same plots which are still occupied by +ecclesiastical buildings, in the heart of the city of Santiago de Cuba.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span></p> + +<p>This change of the site of the cathedral was doubtless to the advantage +of the church. It was probably profitable, also, to the good Bishop +personally. Following it he became the proprietor of extensive lands, of +great herds of cattle, and of a number of Negro and Indian slaves. He +interested himself to good effect in seeing to it that the civil +government provided from its third of the tithes abundant funds for +church building, and thus secured the erection of two churches at +Trinidad, one at Sancti Spiritus, and one at Havana, a place even at +that early date rising rapidly in importance.</p> + +<p>Bishop Ubite reigned over the diocese until April, 1525, and then, in +circumstances which are obscure and for reasons not clearly apparent, +took the extraordinary step of resigning his see. The office remained +vacant until early in 1527, when Miguel Ramirez was appointed to it. +This third Bishop was, like each of his predecessors, a Dominican. He +was officially styled not only Bishop but also Protector of the Indians, +with the purpose of making him a sort of check upon the Repartidor. He +did not arrive at Santiago until the fall of 1528, when he promptly made +up for the delay by plunging into both industrial and political +activities. Like Bishop Ubite, he was an extensive land owner, +cattle-raiser and slaveholder.</p> + +<p>Bishop Ramirez appears to have been a great meddler into politics, +particularly as a hot partisan of Gonzalo de Guzman. He came into +conflict more than once with the royal treasurer, Hurtado, and was +denounced by that austere censor as a scandalous disturber of the peace. +This characterization was provoked by the Bishop's attitude and conduct +toward Vadillo's investigation of Guzman's administration; and it is +probably not unjust to assume that the Bishop's attitude and conduct +were due to the fact that Vadillo had seized a lot of gold which had +been mined by the husband of the Bishop's niece. Vadillo made this +seizure on two grounds: That the nephew-in-law was a mere figure-head +for the Bishop<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> himself, who had no legal right to engage in +gold-mining; and that the gold in question properly belonged to the +royal treasury and therefore should be turned over to Hurtado. At any +rate the Bishop was furious, and strove to restrain, with threats of +excommunication, witnesses from testifying against Guzman in the +inquests which Vadillo was conducting. Vadillo was not at all alarmed or +abashed by the episcopal wrath, but proceeded to look into the affairs +of the church as well as the civil government, and among other reforms +ordered the Bishop and clergy to stop charging for funeral masses higher +fees than those which were charged in Hispaniola. At this the Bishop +seems quite to have lost his head. He began a denunciatory tirade +against Vadillo in the cathedral, at which the latter contemptuously +turned his back upon the speaker and walked out of the building. Then +the Bishop excommunicated him. Vadillo made appeal to the King, and the +King, after careful consideration and investigation, compelled the +Bishop to withdraw the excommunication, and in addition gave his royal +approval to all that Vadillo had done with respect to the church.</p> + +<p>In the first clash between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, +therefore, the former were victorious. Nevertheless, the church exerted +much and steadily increasing influence, particularly in matters relating +to the Indian natives. And these matters were of much importance. +Although the repartimiento system, adopted early in the administration +of Velasquez, was designed and supposed to put all the natives under +government control, it failed to do so. Among those apportioned to the +colonists as serfs—practically slaves—dissatisfaction and resentment +widely prevailed, and insurrections sometimes occurred. But by no means +all the natives were thus apportioned. Some fled to mountain fastnesses, +and others, perhaps the majority, to the small islands or Keys off the +Cuban coast, whence they became known as Key Indians. They used these +islands, moreover, not alone as places of refuge but also as bases from +which to make depredatory raids<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span> upon the mainland of Cuba, to the great +detriment and disturbance of the Spanish settlers.</p> + +<p>So numerous, extensive and disastrous did these raids become that +Velasquez in 1523 commissioned Rodrigo de Tamayo to organize a military +and naval expedition against the Key Indians, and to kill or capture +them all. This programme was not fully carried out, but it was +sufficiently executed to abate the troubles and to secure peace on the +coasts for several years. Tamayo's commission was renewed by Altamarino, +as a matter of form, there being then no need of action; and when in the +administration of Gonzalo de Guzman there was some recrudescence of +hostilities, the royal government specially authorized the waging of a +campaign which should bring the last of the Key Indians into subjection. +The new outbreaks did not, however, prove sufficiently serious to call +for or to warrant strenuous action.</p> + +<p>The scene of trouble was, however, shifted from the coast to the +interior of the island. Several numerous companies of Indians, securely +lodged among the mountains, began hostilities, raiding the very suburbs +of Santiago itself. They were known as Cimarrons, or Wild Indians, to +distinguish them from the serfs and slaves. Their pernicious activities +began in 1529, and in the following year their operations were so +extensive and persistent as to simulate civil war. Manuel de Rojas +organized a force and led it against them with much success, and would +probably have soon made an end of the troubles had he not been +restrained by Guzman. The governor was probably jealous of the ability, +popularity and rising influence of Rojas, and was not willing that he +should gain the prestige which complete victory would confer upon him. +So he called him back in circumstances which would, he thought, +discredit Rojas and make his campaign seem a failure. Vadillo during his +brief administration sought to end the troubles by pacific and +conciliatory overtures, but failed.</p> + +<p>It was thus left for Rojas, on becoming governor in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span> succession to +Guzman, to take up again the work from which he had been recalled by his +predecessor. This he did to much effect at the end of 1532. He sent a +strong force against the mountain fastness of Guama, the foremost +chieftain of the Cimarrons, and completely defeated him, putting him to +flight and almost extirpating his band. Shortly after this victory of +Rojas's, Guama was killed by one of his own few remaining followers. +Rojas then sent his troops to disperse Cimarron bands near Bayamo, and +Baracoa, which they did with much success, so that peace and security +were pretty well restored throughout the island.</p> + +<p>This left unsettled, however, the other and in some respects more +important and more trying phase of the Indian question, namely, the +treatment and disposal of the "tame" Indians, who for years had been in +a state of practical slavery under the repartimiento system. It will be +recalled that at the beginning they were placed under the protection of +the Jeronimite Order of monks; a protection which did not effectively +protect. In fact, within a dozen years of the foundation of the system +the Jeronimites were more oppressors than protectors, and were chiefly +engaged in making what pecuniary profit they could out of their hapless +wards. On this account their nominal protectorate was formally abolished +by the crown, in 1526, and Gonzalo de Guzman was made repartidor with +powers equal to those which Velasquez had exercised. Indeed, his powers +were even more absolute than those of Velasquez, since the supreme court +of Hispaniola was deprived of jurisdiction over him in his +administration of Indian affairs. Later the Bishop, Ramirez, was made +co-repartidor with him.</p> + +<p>There then arose a protracted and bitter rivalry between the governor +and Bishop on the one side and the municipal alcaldes on the other, for +the exercise of powers of inspection of and supervision over the labor +of the natives. Both sides appointed inspectors, whose functions +clashed. Appeal was made to the crown, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span> the result that the dispute +was decided in favor of the alcaldes, who were authorized to appoint +inspectors, which the governor and Bishop were forbidden to do. As is +usual in such cases, the objects of the contention were the chief +sufferers. Indeed, so wretched became their plight that some inkling of +the truth reached the ears of the King, who thereupon commissioned a +Provincial of the Franciscan Order to go from Hispaniola to Cuba, to +investigate charges of cruelty, and to punish severely all who were +found guilty. The King also directed that he should arrange for the +liberation of the natives to the fullest extent for which they seemed to +be fitted.</p> + +<p>Learning of this before the arrival of this commissioner, Guzman and his +friends set energetically to work to defeat his mission in advance. A +vast mass of "evidence" was cooked up, pretending to demonstrate the +unfitness of the Indians for any greater measure of liberty than they +were already enjoying, which was practically none at all. It was +declared that the Indians were at that very time largely armed and +threatening the Spaniards with massacre and extermination, and that any +further privileges granted to them would certainly provoke a tragic +catastrophe. The Indians would exterminate the Spanish colonists and of +course revert to heathen idolatry, and it would be necessary to conquer +and to convert the island over again. This perjured stuff, +responsibility for which must be regarded as the worst stain upon +Gonzalo de Guzman's fame, was presented to the King in the name of the +government and people of Cuba.</p> + +<p>But King Charles was no fool. Thousands of miles away though he was, and +absorbed in important problems of other parts of his vast empire, he +took pains to find out the truth about Cuba. Learning it, he threw the +stuff which Guzman had sent him into the waste basket, gave his +Franciscan commissioner stronger orders, declared that he wanted the +Indians to be treated as free men and not as slaves, and promulgated a +set of new laws concerning them. In connection with these<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span> laws, as a +statement of the need of them, the King delivered himself of a scathing +indictment of the Cuban government and people for ill-treatment of the +natives and for causing depopulation of the island. (The original +population of the island at the time of the first Spanish settlements is +unknown, but has reasonably been estimated at several hundred thousand. +By the end of Guzman's administration the number of surviving Indians +was reckoned at not more than five thousand!)</p> + +<p>These new laws, issued in the latter part of 1526, forbade further +compulsion of the Indians as laborers in the mines. But in the course of +a few weeks some modifications of them—to the disadvantage of the +Indians—were obtained through false representations at court, with the +result that conditions became almost as bad as before. The King next +directed Sebastian Ramirez, who was Bishop of Hispaniola and president +of the supreme court, to report to him on the desirability of retaining +or abolishing the repartimiento system; and that functionary reported in +favor of retaining it. Then Miguel Ramirez was made Bishop of Cuba and +Protector of the Indians; and he, as we have seen, fell completely under +the influence of Guzman. The result was that no reforms were effected, +and the state of the Indians went from bad to worse.</p> + +<p>The King learned of this, and was profoundly dissatisfied. In the latter +part of 1529 he demanded to know why reforms had not been effected, and +especially why there had not been made the experiment of granting the +natives entire freedom. Equivocal replies were made, and it was not +until the spring of 1531 that Guzman undertook the experiment. At that +time one of the colonists, who had held some 120 slaves, died, and +Guzman directed that they be set at liberty and be given a chance to +show what they could do as farmers. Every conceivable condition was +imposed upon them which would tend to make the experiment the failure +which Guzman intended that it should be. In the midst of the +experiment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span> which was to last a year, Guzman was removed from office. +Vadillo, who succeeded him for sixty days, had no authority to do +anything in the premises, and so the completion of the ill-begun +business was left for Manuel de Rojas.</p> + +<p>Then began one of the most deplorable passages in all the early history +of Cuba, in which good intentions were frustrated, benevolent purposes +defeated, and the remnants of a race undeservedly doomed to destruction. +Manuel de Rojas should be credited with having been of all men of this +time one of the most honest and able, and most sincere in his desire to +do justice to the native Indians. He saw through the web of trickery and +malign conditions in which they had been enmeshed by those who were +predetermined that the experiment of emancipation should fail, and he +unsparingly denounced it all. The Indians who had been "selected" for +the experiment had in fact not been selected at all, but had been taken +at haphazard, without regard to their fitness; if indeed they had not +been taken largely because of their unfitness. They had, moreover, been +subjected to the instruction and direction of those who seemed more +interested in extorting profit from them than in assisting them to +independence.</p> + +<p>Rojas demanded that these abuses should be corrected, and that the +natives should have at least a fair, unhampered chance to show +themselves fit for freedom and Cuban citizenship. As a result of his own +painstaking investigation, he reported to the King that the tales of +Indian insurrections, actual or threatened, which his predecessor had +circulated, were chiefly false; obviously invented for the purpose of +discrediting the Indians. It was the old story: "Give a dog a bad name, +and hang him." The Indians were to be slandered, and represented as +incorrigible criminals, and then doomed to slavery. Moreover, in the few +cases in which revolts or attempted revolts had occurred, the blame +should rest upon the Spaniards more than upon the Indians, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> the +former had goaded the latter to desperation by inhuman cruelties, in +resisting which the Indians were manifesting not savagery but manhood.</p> + +<p>In support of this view of the situation, Rojas was able to cite many +specific and perfectly well authenticated instances of cruelty and +injustice. To correct these evils he recommended that whenever it was +proved that a mine-owner, farmer or other employer of native labor, had +deliberately treated his Indians cruelly or unjustly, the men should be +taken away from him and either set at liberty or be assigned to a more +humane employer. The danger of thus being deprived of their workmen +would, he plausibly believed, restrain employers from brutality. He also +insisted that the professional "slave catchers," who made a profitable +business of running down and returning to their employers fugitive +Indians, and who notoriously treated such captives with gross cruelty, +should be forbidden longer to ply their nefarious trade.</p> + +<p>This wise and humane policy was approved by the crown, and Rojas +sincerely and perseveringly strove to make it effective throughout the +island; devoting to it for a couple of years the greater part of his +time and attention. But unfortunately he found the people, the civil +officials, and to a large extent the clergy, arrayed against him. The +<i>auri sacra fames</i> possessed the people. Slave labor was profitable; +therefore they resented and opposed anything which would deprive them of +it. Especially did they oppose the provision that men should be deprived +of their workmen because they had treated them cruelly. Fines or other +penalties for excessive brutality might be well enough, but to take a +man's slaves away from him was, in their opinion, going too far. He was +not thus deprived of his horses and cattle. Why should he be deprived of +his Indians?</p> + +<p>Yet in the face of such opposition Rojas bravely persevered. He seems to +have been animated by two motives, both creditable and honorable. One +was that of humanity and justice. It revolted him to see his fellow<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span> +human beings treated as badly as beasts. The other was that of patriotic +policy. He believed that it was bad for Cuba, that it corrupted the +present and compromised the future, to maintain this abominable system +of human slavery. So he flung himself into the work of emancipation and +reform with all the resolution and energy of which he was capable. He +travelled over the island, personally inspecting the conditions of labor +at all points, and personally listening to all complaints, petitions, +suggestions and what not that were offered. Particularly was he +interested in the "experimental village" near Bayamo, where natives were +trying to work out their own salvation on farms of their own. He +corrected as far as possible the unfavorable conditions which had been +imposed upon them, and encouraged them to their best efforts.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the royal government had been misled into sanctioning the +imposition upon these people of burdens "almost too heavy to be borne." +Regardless of the fact that as inexpert beginners in agriculture they +were not likely in the first year or two to make large profits from +their labor, they were weighed down with far heavier taxation than that +to which Spanish colonists were subjected. They were required to pay a +large tribute in cash as "vassals." They were also required to pay large +salaries to various functionaries who were saddled upon them without +their desire or need. One was an ecclesiastic, who was charged with +protecting their spiritual welfare. Another was a layman, who was +supposed to be their political guide, philosopher and friend. These +overseers probably did them much more harm than good, though Rojas seems +to have selected for those places the best men he could find. But the +result of these impositions was that many of the Indians became +discouraged and indicated a preference for returning to serfdom or +slavery. As free men in the experimental village they had to support +themselves and in addition to pay practically all their earnings to the +tax-gatherer. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> would be better to give all their labor to an employer +who in return would at least provide them with the necessaries of +existence.</p> + +<p>On this ground many of the villagers indicated a desire to abandon the +experiment and return to the old system. It is probable that some of +them were really convinced that this would be best. They were driven to +despair by being thrown upon their own resources and then being +oppressed with unjust taxes. But there is also reason to suspect that +other influences were brought to bear upon many of them. They were +threatened with all manner of punishment and persecution if they did not +renounce the experiment and ask to be returned to slavery. Similar +tactics were certainly employed against those outside of the villages. +Wherever Rojas went on his tours of inspection and investigation, he +heard of natives who had complaints to make, or petitions to offer, or +who wished to be released from serfdom and to enter the free village. +But when he reached the spot and sought for these Indians, they had +disappeared, or had changed their minds. He had little doubt of foul +play, that they were smuggled out of sight, or were coerced into action +and speech contrary to their real desires; but he was seldom able to +prove it, so general was the conspiracy against emancipation.</p> + +<p>The result was inevitable. Rojas lost heart. It is possible that he +still clung to his beliefs, but realized that the obstacles to his +policy were too great for him to overcome. It may be, on the other hand, +that he became convinced that he had erred, that the Indians were not as +fit for freedom as he had supposed, and that their general emancipation +was impracticable. In any case, he gave up the struggle. "Before God and +his conscience," he said, he was convinced that little if any good had +come of the experiment of freedom, and that it would be best to abandon +it and to return the Indians to the control of well-disposed Spaniards; +with a proviso that any who wished for freedom and showed fitness for +it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> should be emancipated. A tone of sadness but of sincerity pervaded +the report in which he made this recommendation. The King accepted it +and approved it, doubtless with the same reluctance and regret which +Rojas must have had in making it; and that chapter of Cuban history was +ended.</p> + +<p>Not one of all the early governors of Cuba deserves more grateful memory +than Rojas. Not one of them surpassed him in ability, in statesmanship, +in executive efficiency, in breadth and penetration of vision in +discerning the needs and the possibilities of the island. Not one, +certainly, surpassed if indeed any rivalled him in integrity, +benevolence, and self-sacrificing devotion to duty. Velasquez, indeed, +occupied the governorship for a longer period, and was associated with +more striking events; naturally, being the first and the founder of the +line. But not even he had as true a public spirit or as just a +conception of the ways and means by which a substantial and prosperous +commonwealth was to be developed, as had Manuel de Rojas.</p> + +<p>Yet no other governor in those times was more shabbily and ungratefully +treated than he, both during and after his administration. A wise, just +judge, an indefatigable administrator, above all an honest man, he +devoted himself to the task of promoting the interests of the island, of +its people, with a sincerity and a whole-heartedness unfortunately +uncommon in those days or in any days. It is true that he failed to +solve the problem of saving the Indian natives, and some others which +confronted him. But that was not for lack of noble effort or high +purpose. It was because he was either honestly misled by those upon whom +it was necessary for him to rely, or because he found himself confronted +with difficulties too great for a man to overcome alone, and at the same +time abandoned if not actually betrayed and antagonized by those who +should have aided him and with whose aid he might have been triumphant.</p> + +<p>He labored at the cost of great self-sacrifice. The sal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span>ary which was +paid to him by the Crown was insufficient, and his personal fortune was +not large. He was, moreover, too busy with public affairs to engage in +gainful occupations of any kind while governor, and he was too honest to +enrich himself in any devious ways. He spent his own private means +freely for public purposes, not only in official tours of the island, +but in paying the expenses of suppressing Indian outbreaks and +apprehending criminals. The result was that he found himself becoming +impoverished. Nor did he have so much as the consolation of +appreciation. Doubtless the King did appreciate, theoretically, his +loyalty, efficiency and integrity; but he altogether neglected to +manifest his appreciation in a practical manner by giving Rojas the +encouragement and support which he deserved and which he greatly needed. +So far as the people of Cuba were concerned, they showed still less +regard for him, while the majority of their political and social leaders +were openly hostile to him. Guzman and his relatives and friends, who +were numerous and powerful, in particular neglected no opportunity to +thwart, annoy or discredit him.</p> + +<p>In these circumstances it was not to be wondered at that Rojas grew +weary of his discouraging and ungrateful task, in which he had not even +the satisfaction of feeling that he was accomplishing something, and +consequently begged to be relieved of it. He had too high a sense of +duty to abandon his place without the permission of the King, and that +for some time was withheld. But at last his increasingly importunate +appeals had their effect. In October, 1535, the King accepted his +resignation, and, it is pleasant to record, paid him a tribute which was +unique and which must have been peculiarly gratifying to Rojas. That +was, that the examination of his accounts should be of an altogether +perfunctory and formal character. There was to be no such inquest as all +other governors had been compelled to endure. There was really no need +of any, but in order to maintain the custom one must be held. But there +were no charges, no<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span> investigations, no trials. This was the more +noteworthy because of the hostility of so many of the people, and above +all of Rojas's successor.</p> + +<p>But this exemption from inquest was his sole reward. He had asked to be +relieved not merely of the governorship of Cuba but also of all public +duties, in order that he might give his undivided attention to his own +personal and private interests. But this was denied him. The King +accepted his resignation of the governorship, but refused to grant him +permission to join his brother in Peru, where he had hoped to recoup his +fortunes. Instead, he sent him to Jamaica, as a royal auditor of +accounts, an arduous and somewhat invidious duty, which Rojas accepted +doubtless with much reluctance. Still more distasteful was the task +which followed it, which was to return to Cuba to conduct a judicial +investigation into the conduct of the royal officials there, including +the governor himself, and to try those who seemed deserving of +prosecution. To some this would have been a welcome undertaking, since +it involved the prosecution for serious misdemeanors of those +politicians who had been most hostile to him and had given him the +greatest annoyance; and even bringing his arch-enemy, the governor, +Guzman, under scrutiny. But it was a repugnant task to Rojas, who had no +vindictiveness in his nature, and who wished above all to get away and +remain away from the scenes of his unsuccessful labors and agonizing +ordeals. He bore himself, however, with the same firmness, integrity and +high spirit that had marked his former services, and at the end +departed, with the royal permission, from Cuba, not to visit it again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> successor of Rojas was Gonzalo de Guzman, who thus returned for a +second term of the governorship. That adroit, masterful and often +unscrupulous politician had spent his time in Spain to good advantage. +In various ways and through various methods, not altogether dissociated +from the golden treasure which he carried thither from the mines of +Cuba, he ingratiated himself with a number of influential courtiers, and +through them with the royal court itself. Before long he was able to +secure a revision of the sentence which Vadillo had passed upon him, and +a reversal of its most harsh decrees and a mitigation of others. Thus he +was largely vindicated, and was enabled to plume himself upon having +received the royal favor. At the same time he conducted, through his +faithful retainers, a campaign of intrigue in Hispaniola, with the +result that the Admiral, or Vicereine, the widow of Diego Columbus, +appointed him back to his old place as governor of Cuba. The appointment +was not to be effective, however, until ratified by the King, and such +ratification the King for some time delayed to grant.</p> + +<p>Guzman was confident, however, of receiving the royal ratification, and +so, without waiting for it, he proceeded to Cuba as governor-elect, and +began elaborate preparations for resuming office. That was in the +midsummer of 1534, more than a year before Rojas was permitted to +retire. Indeed, we may well believe that it was the presence and conduct +of Guzman that made the island intolerable to Rojas. For Guzman +established himself in a fine house, with a retinue of servants, and +attracted to himself most of the practical politicians of Cuba, +especially those who were inclined to "welcome the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span> coming, speed the +parting, guest." They all knew that Rojas was to retire, and that Guzman +was to succeed him; wherefore they paid all possible deference to the +former and treated the latter with neglect if not with contempt.</p> + +<p>The actual change came, as we have already seen, in October, 1535. Rojas +relinquished the governorship, and Guzman resumed it; and a most +grievous decline of Cuba began. Guzman promptly set about serving his +own personal interests, rewarding his friends, and punishing all of his +opponents who were still within reach. Few of them were within reach, +however; all who could do so having fled the island, for Jamaica or +elsewhere. Cuba was thus deprived of some of its most useful citizens, +while its important public offices were filled with self-seeking +politicians.</p> + +<p>Happily, this unworthy and detrimental administration was short lived; +and it was ended through what was nothing less than a peaceful +revolution in the political status of Cuba. For some time there had been +controversy and litigation between the heirs of Columbus and the Spanish +crown, concerning the rights, powers and privileges of the former in the +West Indies. The suits came to an end in the spring of 1537, when a +settlement was effected, one of the bases of which was the complete +renunciation, by the heirs of Columbus, of all right, title or +jurisdiction of any kind whatever over the island of Cuba. That of +course completely separated Cuba from the jurisdiction of Hispaniola, +and made it directly responsible to and dependent upon Spain. It was no +longer an adjunct to Hispaniola, but a colony of Spain.</p> + +<p>Now thitherto the governor and most of the other officials in Cuba had +received their commissions from the Admiral or Vicereine in Hispaniola, +or from the Supreme Court there. Such was the case with Guzman, though +his Hispaniolan commission had received the ratification of the King. It +was therefore logically held that all com<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span>missions thus given in Cuba by +the Hispaniola government became null and void with the emancipation of +Cuba from dependence upon the other and smaller island. In consequence, +Guzman's second term in the governorship came to an end in March, 1537.</p> + +<p>An interregnum ensued. The King was contemplating further reorganization +of his American domains, and consequently forebore for some time to +appoint a successor to Guzman, or indeed to any of the important +officials whose terms of office had been involuntarily ended. There had +just been, as we have seen, widespread investigations and trials of +royal functionaries for frauds, and the King was solicitous to find +someone who was indubitably trustworthy, before making further +appointments. The result was that the affairs of the island, which had +been gravely disturbed and damaged by Guzman, went rapidly from bad to +worse, and threatened to plunge into utter chaos.</p> + +<p>Nor was the solution of this crisis for the advantage of the island. On +the contrary, it was to its still further detriment. Once before, in the +time of Velasquez, Cuba had been made to suffer greatly because of the +development of Mexico and the exodus of many enterprising Cubans to that +country. That experience was now to be repeated even more disastrously, +in the attempted development of Florida. That country had long been +known. It was placed upon the maps as early as 1502, and it was in 1513, +at the time when Velasquez was making his first settlements in Cuba, +that Juan Ponce de Leon obtained a royal charter to discover and to +settle the Island of Bimini, as it was called, on which there was +reputed to be a fountain of extraordinary curative powers, capable of +restoring to the aged all the vigor of youth. Actual colonization of +Florida was not undertaken, however, until 1521, in which enterprise +Ponce de Leon himself was wounded in a fight with Indians, and came to +Cuba to die. Again in 1527 Panfilo de Narvaez led a large ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span>pedition +from Cuba to Florida, in which he and all but four of his six hundred +men were lost in Indian fighting and in a great Gulf storm.</p> + +<p>There next came upon the scene a far more formidable personage than any +of these, or indeed than any who had visited Cuba since Columbus with +the exception of Cortez.<span class="figleft" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/ill_140desoto.png" width="210" height="231" alt="HERNANDO DE SOTO" /> +<span class="caption">HERNANDO DE SOTO</span> +</span> This was none other than Hernando de Soto. Like +many another famous Spanish conquistador, he was an impoverished +nobleman of Estremadura, who had been in youth a protégé of the infamous +Pedrarias d'Avila, the constructive murderer of Balboa and the scourge +of Darien. Through the bounty of d'Avila he had passed through a +university; he had gone to Darien with his patron in 1519; and in 1532 +he had gone with reenforcements to Pizarro in Peru. There he played a +great part, personally seizing the Inca monarch, Atahualpa, and +discovering the mountain pass which led to the treasure city of Cuzco. +Incidentally he seized for himself a vast fortune, with which he +returned to Spain, where he married the daughter of d'Avila and for a +time settled down in splendid state.</p> + +<p>When, however, Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the last +expedition of Narvaez, reached Spain with stories of the marvellous +wealth of Florida, de Soto's adventurous spirit, or his cupidity, was +again aroused. He disposed of part of his estates, purchased and armed +four ships, recruited a force of 620 foot soldiers and 120 horsemen, and +sought from the King a commission to explore, conquer and colonize +Florida. In him the King apparently saw, as he imagined, the solution of +the problem, what to do about Cuba. He accordingly joined Florida and +Cuba together, politically, making de Soto<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span> Adelantado of the former and +governor of the latter. With this commission de Soto sailed from Spain +in April, 1538, bound first for Cuba and thence for Florida. The +expedition called for a time at the Canary Islands, where its members +were richly entertained by the Governor of Gomera. There De Soto's wife, +the Lady Isabel, engaged the beautiful daughter of the Governor to +accompany her as her chief lady-in-waiting, a choice which led to some +interesting personal complications, actually affecting the progress of +the expedition.</p> + +<p>It was on June 7, 1538, that De Soto arrived at Santiago with probably +the most imposing fleet that had ever yet visited that port or the +waters of Cuba. It comprised more than a score of vessels, carrying more +than a thousand soldiers. This armada comprised the galleons <i>San +Cristobal</i>, <i>Buena Fortuna</i>, <i>Magdalena</i>, <i>Conception</i>, <i>San Juan</i>, <i>San +Antonio</i>, and <i>Santa Barbara</i>; one caravel (a three-masted vessel), two +light brigs (two masted), and about a dozen smaller craft. Juan de +Anasco was chief pilot of the expedition, and the captains were Nuņez +Tobar, Luis Morosco de Alvarado, Andres de Vasconcelas, Arias Tinoco, +Alfonso Robo de Cardenosa, Diego Garcia, and Pedro Calderon. Among the +commanders of the troops were Carlos Enriques, Micer de Espinola, +Dionisio de Paris, Rodrigo Gallego, Francisco del Poso, and Diego +Banuelos. Nor was the propagation of the True Faith neglected. It was +entrusted to a mission comprising four priests and a number of Dominican +friars, under the leadership of the friar Luis de Soto, a cousin of the +generalissimo of the expedition. Santiago was naturally selected for the +entry to Cuba seeing that it was still the official capital and that De +Soto was already commissioned Governor. There was a narrow escape from +shipwreck in entering the narrow and somewhat tortuous mouth of the +great harbor, after which the Governor was received by the municipal +functionaries with all the pomp and dignity of which the capital was +capable. Tidings of the coming of the new Gov<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span>ernor had spread +throughout the Island and people of consequence from all parts had +flocked to Santiago to welcome him, to seek to ingratiate themselves +with him and to celebrate what they fondly hoped would prove to be the +beginning of a new and splendid era in the history of Cuba. It is +recorded that the gentlemen of the town sent down to the boat landing a +fine roan horse for De Soto to ride and a richly caparisoned mule for +Doņa Isabel. He and all his company were lodged in the most luxurious +quarters the town could afford and were hospitably entertained without +cost to themselves. Santiago had at this time about eighty houses which +were described as spacious and well appointed. About half of them were +of masonry and tile and the remainder of boards and thatch. There were +also many attractive country estates surrounding the city.</p> + +<p>The day following his landing De Soto formally assumed his authority as +Governor, and Bartolome de Ortiz became Alcalde mayor of Santiago. +Scarcely had he done this, however, when news came that a French corsair +had attacked Havana, ransacked the church, and burned a number of +houses; after which he had sailed away. De Soto at once sent Mateo +Aceituna to the scene, with a company of soldiers and artisans, with +instructions to rebuild the houses and then to begin the construction of +a fort which would serve as an adequate defence for the town. Having +done this, he sent Lady Isabel, escorted by his nephew Don Carlos, to +Havana by sea, with a strong squadron, while he himself with the +remainder of his company set out on horseback for a tour of the islands. +He first went to Bayamo, and thence to Trinidad, and Puerto Principe. +From the latter place he went in a canoe to the great country estate of +Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa at Camaguey, there to get news of Lady +Isabel's arrival at Havana. Thence he proceeded to Sancti Spiritus, +which at that time was a place of only about thirty houses. Half of his +company landed there, and half went on to Trinidad, which was a still +smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span> place of not more than twenty houses, though it contained a +hospital for the poor, the only such institution on the whole Island. +Thence he proceeded to Havana without finding another town or settlement +of any kind on the entire road.</p> + +<p>During his stay in Havana De Soto deprived Nuņez Tobar of his rank as +Captain-General and gave it instead to Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, +because Tobar had made love to Doņa Isabel's lady-in-waiting, the +daughter of the Governor of Gomera, and indeed had seduced her. In +spite, or perhaps because of this punishment Tobar thereupon married the +girl and afterward joined De Soto's expedition to Florida in a +subordinate capacity.</p> + +<p>There can be no question that Hernando de Soto came to Cuba with a +prestige far surpassing that of any of his predecessors. He was in the +prime of manhood and at the height of his fame. He had been the hero of +great adventures and of marvellous achievements, and was possessed of +great wealth. He was not only governor of Cuba but also Adelantado of +Florida, which meant all the lands at the north of the Gulf, from the +Atlantic to Mexico, and thus, it was confidently assumed, Cuba would +become the chief province and Santiago the capital city, of an empire +exceeding in extent and wealth both Mexico and Peru.</p> + +<p>These brilliant anticipations were, however, doomed to speedy and most +crushing disappointment. It soon became clear that de Soto regarded Cuba +as a mere stepping stone to Florida, and that he was not merely willing +to sacrifice the island's interests to the gratification of his +continental ambitions, but had from the first been intent upon so doing. +He paid little attention to the representations which were made to him +in behalf of Cuba, or indeed to the duties of his office as governor. +Instead, all his thought seemed to be given and all his efforts +directed, to preparations for proceeding on his way to the alluring +regions beyond the Gulf. Moreover, he tempted into joining him in that +enterprise many of the richest and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span> most forceful men of Cuba. Among +these was Vasco de Figueroa, who had been a comrade of Velasquez. He had +settled in Camaguey as early as 1514, and had grown very rich. We may +say, indeed, that he was the richest and most influential man in all +that part of Cuba. He eagerly accepted an invitation to join the +expedition, as de Soto's first lieutenant, and he drew along with him +many other substantial men from Camaguey and other parts of the island.</p> + +<p>Nor was the island thus to suffer for the sake of Florida, merely as a +whole. The capital, Santiago, was specially to suffer. Its traditions +and its long-established interests were nothing to De Soto, who looked +for nothing but to promote his Florida venture. Manifestly, Santiago was +no place to serve as a base of operations to the northward, so he +presently transferred his headquarters to Havana. That city had been +founded in 1514 on the south coast, near what is now Batabano, but a few +years later had been transferred by migration of populace and name to +its present commanding site at the north. In 1537 it had been raided and +partly destroyed by fire, by buccaneers, but at the time of de Soto's +coming was rapidly being rebuilt and restored to greater importance than +before.</p> + +<p>So a few weeks after his arrival at Santiago, in the early part of +August, 1538, de Soto ruthlessly closed his mansion at Santiago and +removed his whole household to Havana. His household and his foot +soldiers were sent thither in his vessels, of which he now had five. He +himself with his horsemen travelled overland, Vasco de Figueroa acting +as guide. The beauty and riches of the island seem not greatly to have +impressed the great adventurer; certainly not enough to withhold him for +one moment from his quest. Mountain and plain were alike to him merely +the road toward Florida.</p> + +<p>It was late in December before all members of the expedition were +assembled at Havana. There it was necessary to remain a while, to refit +the vessels, gather<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span> provisions, and prepare for an adventure into an +unknown and potentially hostile wilderness. Additional ships were +sought, and more men; and recruits came flocking thither eagerly from +all parts of the island. Meanwhile, a scouting party of fifty, with one +vessel, was sent to the Florida coast, to discover a desirable spot for +the landing of the whole expedition. It returned in February, 1539, with +the report that no suitable place could be found, and with a +recommendation against undertaking the venture. This incensed de Soto, +and he made the men hasten back to Florida and not return until they had +found that which was the object of their quest. Their second expedition +lasted three months. At the end of that time they reappeared at Havana, +disembarked, fell upon their knees, and on their knees made their way +from the wharf to the church, where they offered thanks for their +deliverance. This was their fulfilment of a vow which they had made when +they were in imminent danger of death; and they would not so much as +speak to the governor or to anyone until the pious act was completed.</p> + +<p>They then reported to de Soto that amid great perils they had found a +place which would be suitable for his purpose. They had named it the Bay +of Espiritu Santo, as it is to this day called, on the West Coast of +Florida. To this place accordingly de Soto hastened, at the end of May, +1539, with nine vessels, more than 500 men beside sailors, and half as +many horses; leaving his wife at Havana as acting governor in his +absence, with Juan de Rojas as her chief assistant. Vasco de Figueroa +soon returned, disgusted with Florida, which he described as a land of +interminable swamps, but he left his son with de Soto to serve as +lieutenant in his stead. Then Gomez Arias, brother of Lady Isabel de +Soto, also returned, with glowing reports of the beauty and wealth of +Florida, and it was proclaimed throughout all Cuba that the expedition +was succeeding beyond all expectation, and that Florida was the garden +of the world. The effect was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span> to excite the Spaniards of Cuba with +eagerness to leave their homes in quest of fortunes in this new land.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when in February, 1540, Diego Maldonado came from Florida +to Havana, to obtain recruits, arms and provisions, there was no lack of +response to his call. It seemed as though almost every able-bodied man +in Cuba had caught the Florida fever, and went flocking to Maldonado's +standard. Eight great ship-loads of men, horses and provisions were +quickly obtained, and sailed away for Florida, leaving behind them three +classes of people in Cuba. There were those who lamented that there had +not been room enough on the ships to take them, too. There were those +who lamented that Cuba was thus being stripped and impoverished to +enrich another country, if not in a vain and profitless quest. There +were also those, the surviving Indian natives, who rejoiced, because the +Spaniards were all leaving Cuba, so that the natives could come to their +own again. But all three classes were mistaken in their views of the +situation.</p> + +<p>Maldonado and Gomez Arias sailed away with their eight ships, to meet de +Soto at an appointed place on the Florida coast. Months later they +returned without having met him or having been able to ascertain any +information of his whereabouts. That was in 1541. In 1542 they sailed +again to meet him at the same place; with like result. In 1543 they made +a third such venture, and explored the entire coast from the southern +extremity of Florida to Mexico. They posted messages upon trees, rocks +and headlands. They sent Indian runners inland to inquire for the +adventurers. They resorted to every effort they could devise to find +their missing chief, but all in vain.</p> + +<p>Meantime at Havana the Lady Isabel awaited his return, with unfaltering +loyalty and unshaken hope. Bartholomew Ortiz, alcalde mayor, by her +lord's appointment, relieved her of the technical duties of +gubernatorial rule; which was well, for there was much trouble +abroad<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span> in the island. It was thus left for her to watch and wait for +the coming of the ship which never came. At morning and at evening, day +after day, she paced the little pathway on the crest of a fort which her +husband had begun to build, the beginning of La Fuerza—of which we +shall hear much more. Hour by hour she gazed from that parapet +northward, not on guard for hostile sail, but to espy the first glimpse +of one returning from the Land of Flowers. There is no more touching +picture in all the early history of Cuba than that of this devoted +woman, scanning the northern horizon in vain for the appearance of one +whose restless and adventurous body was sleeping the last sleep in the +bed of the Father of Waters.</p> + +<p class="caphead"><a name="LA_FUERZA" id="LA_FUERZA">LA FUERZA</a></p> +<p class="caption">Havana's oldest and most famous fortress and the oldest inhabited +building in the Western Hemisphere. The construction of it was prolonged +through the administrations of many Governors and was for years the +chief issue of political contention in the island. It was long the +Governor's residence as well as a fortress; from it Hernando de Soto set +out for the exploration of Florida and the discovery of the Mississippi +River, and from its ramparts his wife, Doņa Isabel, long but vainly +maintained her daily vigil for his return.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<a href="images/ill_146lafuerza.png"> +<img src="images/ill_146lafuerza_th.png" width="650" height="417" alt="LA FUERZA" /> +</a></div> + +<p>News came at last, to end in grief her agonizing vigil. It was near the +end of 1543 that some three hundred weary and worn survivors of de +Soto's expedition reached Panuco, on the Mexican coast, with tidings of +their leader's death and the destruction of all the rest of the party. +They had wandered through what is now the State of Georgia northward as +far as the Tennessee Mountains, thence back to Mobile Bay, in Alabama, +thence northwest to the Mississippi, and to the Ouachita, or Washita, in +Arkansas. While thence descending the Mississippi, in June, 1542, de +Soto had died, and his body had been sunk in the great river. The +remainder of his company, led by Luis de Alvarado, had continued down +the Mississippi River to the Gulf, and thence sailed along the coast to +Panuco.</p> + +<p>Thus ended the career of one of the most famous of all the Spanish +explorers; and thus ended another brief but disastrous chapter in Cuban +history. The island had been drained of men, horses, supplies of all +kinds; for its population was still so small that the loss of a few +hundred of its best men and horses was a serious deprivation. Its own +domestic interests had been neglected. Its government had become +inefficient. The Indians, taking advantage of the weakness of the +Spaniards, had begun<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span> to cherish hopes of regaining their old freedom, +and in some places had risen forcibly to seek that end, with the effect +of enraging the Spaniards against them even to the extreme of resolving +upon either their complete enslavement or their extermination.</p> + +<p>Indeed, serious trouble arose with the Indians during de Soto's brief +stay in the island. Shortly before his arrival there had been an +outbreak of the natives at Baracoa, which resulted in the partial +destruction of that town by burning. Towns built entirely of sun-dried +thatch were easily burned. Hearing of this, de Soto in almost his first +official utterance in Cuba authorized the sending of strong expeditions +against the natives, to hunt them down and destroy them ruthlessly. The +offending Indians were all Cimarrons, or "wild" Indians who had never +been under the repartimiento system, and who expected and solicited the +"tame" Indians to rise and join them. The latter not only refused to do +this, however, but offered to go out and fight and subdue the Cimarrons, +provided they were permitted to do so without being accompanied by +Spanish troops; to which the authorities unfortunately would not agree.</p> + +<p>De Soto sent all available men out against the Indians, and suppressed +them, for the time. But as soon as he left Santiago for Havana, taking +with him all the fighting men in the eastern end of the island, the +Cimarrons sprang to arms again behind him and became more menacing than +ever. They again threatened Baracoa, and were active even in the suburbs +of Santiago itself. The departure of Vasco de Figueroa from Camaguey was +disastrous. He had been vigorous and unsparing in his suppression of +even the slightest uprising, and in his absence the Indians were freed +from the greatest restraining influence in that part of the island.</p> + +<p>The general confusion of affairs was further aggravated by the intrigues +of two marplots. One of these was Gonzalo de Guzman, who had remained in +the island after his removal from office, and who was never weary<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span> in +mischief-making. He kept himself in frequent communication with the +government in Spain, and made all sorts of complaints against de Soto +and against the Florida enterprise. Doubtless he was right in saying +that the taking of so many fighting men out of Cuba for Florida +endangered the peace and safety of the island; though we must think that +he exaggerated the condition of Cuba when he wrote to the Spanish +government that two-thirds of the island had become depopulated, and all +of the towns in the central part of it had been or were in imminent +danger of being burned.</p> + +<p>The other trouble-maker was the new Bishop, Diego Sarmiento, who had +succeeded Bishop Ramirez, deceased. He maintained a large establishment +of slaves, and continued the political policy of his predecessor. He had +arrived in Cuba almost simultaneously with de Soto, and inclined toward +the policy of the latter in respect to Florida.</p> + +<p>A strong governor might have saved even this unfortunate and unpromising +situation. But there was none. Lady Isabel died of grief a few months +after learning of her husband's fate, and for a time thereafter there +was no actual governor at all. De Soto had been empowered to appoint an +alcalde mayor to serve as his substitute while he was out of the island, +if he so desired. He did thus appoint Bartholomew Ortiz; a good enough +man but aged and infirm, and quite unable to cope with the problems +which confronted him. He found himself involved in a vigorous rivalry +between Santiago and Havana in the matter of fortifications. De Soto had +begun the construction of an earthwork fort at the entrance to Santiago. +Then when he went across to Havana he ordered the building of a strong +fort there of stone masonry. This of course aroused the jealousy of +Santiago, whose indignant citizens pointed out that their city was and +always would be the capital of the island, and was therefore at least as +well entitled to a stone fort as Havana. The sacking and burning of +Havana, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span> of Carthagena and other places on the continent, alarmed +them, lest Santiago should suffer a like fate. Their insistence was +finally rewarded in the building of a stone fort near the mouth of the +harbor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h3> + +<p>B<span class="smcap">artholomew</span> O<span class="smcap">rtiz</span> was at last, on his earnest entreaty, relieved of his +duties as alcalde mayor in the fall of 1542, and for some time the +insular government was again without a head. But in August, 1543, since +nothing had been heard from or of de Soto for three years, the crown +assumed that he was dead and that his office was vacant. It therefore +appointed Juan de Avila to be not alcalde mayor but governor; permitting +the title of Adelantado of Florida to fall into desuetude. The new +governor was a young lawyer, whose chief recommendation was that he was +a member of the de Avila family, a relative of Lady Isabel de Soto and +of her father, the formidable Pedrarias d'Avila. He seems to have been +doubtful of his own ability to administer the office successfully, and +therefore reluctant to assume its duties. However, he finally came to +Cuba, arriving at Santiago at the beginning of February, 1544, nearly +six months after his appointment. He was, of course, regularly appointed +and commissioned by the crown, with the full powers of governor, and for +those reasons he was received at Santiago with grateful rejoicings. The +people of that city and indeed of all Cuba had become tired of having an +absentee governor and an alcalde mayor in his place.</p> + +<p>Juan de Avila's first official act of importance was to make the usual +examination of his predecessor's affairs. This was a slight task, +because of the short time in which de Soto had actually administered the +governorship, and nothing wrong appears to have been found. The affairs +of all other officials were likewise in good order. He then turned his +attention to the question of the Indians; after which, the deluge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span></p> + +<p>The royal government had for the time acquiesced in the ruthless policy +of de Soto. At least it had not vetoed nor opposed it. But now it had +reconsidered the matter, and had resumed its former and better policy, +of treating the natives justly and kindly, and giving them their +freedom. Perhaps it was moved to do this partly through horror at what +Pedrarias d'Avila had done at Darien, in all but exterminating an entire +race, and was minded to make atonement by requiring the young kinsman of +that "Timour of the Indies" to do the opposite in Cuba. At any rate +orders were sent to Cuba that there should be no more enslavement of the +natives in gold mining. In fact, they were not to be employed in mining +at all. Now as mining was practically the only work in which the Indians +were engaged, the effect of that order, if enforced, would have been +very marked. It would have stopped gold mining, and would have left the +natives in idleness. In fact, it was not enforced. The governor received +it, and transmitted it to the various local officials for promulgation +and enforcement; and they ignored it. Presently the governor wanted to +know why the order had not been obeyed, and was curtly told that it +would have been disastrous to the industries and interests of the +island. This he reported to the crown, asking for further directions.</p> + +<p>The reply was a reminder that the new Bishop, Sarmiento, was Protector +of the Indians, and that the governor and he should cooperate for their +welfare and for the enforcement of the decrees in their behalf. But the +people were no readier to listen to the bishop than to the governor; +particularly since that ecclesiastic was himself a slave-holder. Indeed, +the municipal council of Santiago formally protested against his +appointment as Protector of the Indians and refused to recognize his +authority. There were some actual conflicts with force and arms between +the two factions, in which the followers of the local government appear +to have triumphed over the fewer adherents of the Bishop, and from which +no profit<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span> nor advantage of any kind accrued to the unhappy objects of +the strife.</p> + +<p>When these things were reported to the King and his advisers, there was +much indignation, and new and peremptory orders were sent to the +governor, that involuntary service by the Indians was immediately to be +abolished, and that the natives were to be free to work for whom they +pleased, or not to work at all. Moreover, they were to be treated in all +respects as well as the Spaniards themselves. This radical decree seems +to have impressed the governor and bishop as going a little too far, and +an appeal was made by common consent to the Council for the Indies, in +Spain. That body was divided in opinion, but the majority of it inclined +to a modification of the order, to which the King agreed. The governor +and the bishop were directed to act together for the welfare of the +natives, with a view to granting them ultimately entire liberty and +equal rights. There was to be no more slavery. All the Indian slaves who +had been brought to Cuba from other islands or from the mainland were to +be released and returned to their homes. To hold such slaves, or to +engage in the slave trade, was made a grave penal offense. The native +Cubans who were held under the repartimiento system were not immediately +to be released, but they were not to be transferred from one master to +another, and upon the death of their master they were not to be +bequeathed as chattels to his heirs, but were to be released. Moreover, +if any of the proprietors were proved to be cruel to their native +workmen, or neglectful of their interests, the natives were to be +released from their authority and set at liberty. In all cases, the +natives were to receive fair wages for their labor, and were not to be +compelled to do any kind of work for which they were not suited or to +which they objected. Finally, it was forbidden for the governor, the +bishop, or any other functionary of state or church to hold native Cuban +Indians in bondage, though negro slavery was apparently still +permitted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span></p> + +<p>These regulations, put forward by the King and the Council for the +Indies, were actually more far-reaching than the order of the crown +which had been disputed, though they would not take effect so abruptly. +The governor received them, and himself had them publicly proclaimed +throughout the island; with prodigious effect. The whole island rose +against them. Municipal councils and others officials, as well as +planters and gold miners, protested against them, and pleaded for at +least postponement of their enforcement until they could have an +opportunity to appeal to the crown and to the Council for the Indies +against them. To this plea for delay, De Avila acceded; to his own +subsequent undoing, as we shall presently see. His own brother, Alfonso +de Avila, turned against him, and went to Spain as the chief spokesman +of the opponents of the new rules.</p> + +<p>While the question of the Indians was thus held in suspension, De Avila +turned his attention to other matters, largely matrimonial and domestic. +On coming to Cuba, a young bachelor, he made his home in the house of +the wealthy widow of Pedro de Paz. This lady, who had otherwise been +much married, and who was by birth a member of the formidable Guzman +family, whose name she now bore, was past fifty years old, or about +twice the age of the young governor. Indeed, she had sons and daughters +of about De Avila's age. It was therefore assumed to be quite +permissible for the governor to live in her house. The arrangement +proved in the end, however, to be disastrous. It was probably the lady's +intention from the beginning to take the young man for her husband—her +fourth or fifth. At any rate, his domestic association with her, while +it could not compromise her reputation, did so compromise his that he +could get none of the eligible young women of Cuba to marry him, +although he sought the hands of several of them. So after a time, +despairing of any other bride, and doubtless much impressed by the +wealth of his mature hostess, he married her; and thereafter was her +slave.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 451px;"> +<a href="images/ill_155watchtower.png"> +<img src="images/ill_155watchtower_th.png" width="450" height="550" alt="SAN LAZARO WATCH TOWER, HAVANA +Built 1536" /></a> +<span class="caption">SAN LAZARO WATCH TOWER, HAVANA<br />Built 1536</span> +</div> + +<p>For the remainder of the ill-starred administration the lady was the +real governor. A large part of her fortune was in Indian slaves, or in +enterprises dependent upon their labor. Therefore it was she who was +foremost in opposing the enforcement of the decrees for their +emancipation. It was owing to her influence that De Avila acquiesced in +their suspension. Then, when the matter was being appealed, it was she +who constrained De Avila to leave Santiago for a tour of the island, +ostensibly for inspection, but in reality to get away from Santiago, +where the social atmosphere was not agreeable, and to settle in some +more advantageous place.</p> + +<p>That new place was found at Havana. Since the burning of it by French +buccaneers that city had been rebuilt in a much more attractive style +than Santiago, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span> society there was more hospitable to the governor's +wife. A plausible excuse for settling there was, moreover, readily +found. It was necessary, for the protection of the place against another +French attack, that the valiant governor should remain there in person. +For the furtherance of this purpose, he procured the free granting to +him of a choice tract of land, and also the free gift of materials for +building him a fine mansion. Whether the citizens of Havana gave the +materials willingly, for the sake of having the governor of the island +living among them, or under some sort of compulsion, may not certainly +be declared. Two traditions have been extant. One was, that they gave +the materials under compulsion, and that for that reason the governor's +mansion was called the "House of Fear." The other was, that they gave +them willingly, even eagerly, because of actual dread of another French +descent; thinking that if the governor himself lived there, he would +take all possible measures for the defence of the place; and that it was +for that reason that it was called the "House of Fear."</p> + +<p>After completing the house and living there for some time, however, De +Avila deemed it politic to return to Santiago. His absence from the +latter place had given rise to great dissatisfaction there and +throughout all the eastern part of the island, where of course the +majority of the population, of wealth and of political and other +influence were still to be found. Indeed, protests had been lodged with +the crown against what was described as the governor's abandonment of +the lawful seat of government of the island. Suspicions of his +unworthiness had already strongly arisen at court, and orders were sent +for the Supreme Court of Hispaniola, which still had jurisdiction in +Cuba, to investigate his conduct. The report was unfavorable, and in +consequence the crown summarily appointed Antonio Chaves to succeed him +as governor; directing Chaves to conduct a searching inquest into De +Avila's administration without regard to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span> the report already made by the +agent of the supreme court of Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>The sequel was the greatest public scandal that had thus far marred the +history of Cuba. It was at the beginning of October, 1545, that Antonio +Chaves was commissioned to be governor of Cuba, and it was at the +beginning of June in the following year that he arrived at Santiago and +entered upon the duties of his office. The first task was to investigate +his predecessor, and this he performed with a thoroughness which seemed +ferocious and which certainly suggests either some personal hatred of De +Avila or a natural desire to be cruel and ruthless. He charged De Avila +with having committed malfeasance of office for the furtherance of his +wife's interests; with having engaged in commercial and industrial +enterprises himself, to the detriment of public interests; with having +established monopolies for enriching himself or his wife; with having +both given and accepted bribes; with having intimidated local officials +and the people; and with having, largely at the instance of his wife, +neglected to enforce the order of the King for the emancipation of the +natives.</p> + +<p>It is quite probable that De Avila was guilty of most of these charges, +particularly of those in which his wife was concerned. Certain it is +that Antonio Chaves set about trying to prove them with a strenuous zeal +which had never before been displayed. One of his first acts was to +seize and search the governor's house; not merely in its public or +semi-public offices but in its most private parts. The wardrobe of the +governor's wife was ransacked, the furniture examined, the walls and +floors sounded and even broken in quest of concealed treasure. To some +of these proceedings the governor, or ex-governor, and his wife, too, +attempted to offer physical resistance, but they were overpowered and +bound while the search went on. Their servants, or slaves, were +questioned and even, it is said, threatened with torture if they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span> did +not tell all they knew. Under such compulsion they told of bars of gold +hidden underneath the floor of a country house; which were found.</p> + +<p>Chaves went so far as to order De Avila to be chained fast to a post in +the market place, where fugitive slaves had formerly been chained, and +the former governor was actually subjected to this indignity, though he +had not yet been convicted and sentenced by a court of justice. But this +was carrying prosecution too far. It was regarded as not prosecution but +persecution. There was a reaction of popular sentiment in favor of De +Avila, and he was assisted to escape from his bonds and to find +sanctuary in the Franciscan monastery. After a time he undertook to get +away, to Spain, but was quickly detected and recaptured by Chaves. After +some further controversy, Chaves discreetly agreed that De Avila might +go to Spain, to defend himself if he could before the Council for the +Indies; doubtless expecting that such defence would be in vain because +of De Avila's offences against that Council's decrees.</p> + +<p>So De Avila departed for Spain, with his advocates and his accusers on +the same ship. Most fortunately for him, his wife also went, carrying +with her an ample store of gold and gems which had escaped the search +and confiscation of Chaves. Her conduct in this emergency indicates that +she had a sincere devotion to her young husband, in addition, of course, +to a desire to protect her own material fortune. Certain it is that she +constituted herself his chief and most effective champion, freely +expending in his behalf the gold which she had taken to Spain. She +testified that all the property which he was accused of having +unlawfully acquired was in fact hers and not his, possessed by her +before she was married to him, and that if he had in any sense acquired +it, it was solely through having married her; and there was no law +against a governor's marrying a rich wife.</p> + +<p>Her argument prevailed. The litigation in Spain lasted for several +years, during part of which time De<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span> Avila was in prison. But in the end +he was released; the heavy fines which had been levied against him were +remitted; and the sentence of perpetual banishment from Cuba was +revoked. Thereupon the devoted couple returned in triumph to Cuba, with +a great retinue of servants, and reestablished themselves at Santiago. +They held aloof from political affairs, and gave their attention to an +exceedingly profitable commerce between Cuba and other West India +Islands and Spain; which happy state of affairs lasted until De Avila's +death, a dozen years later. He left behind him the reputation of being +one of the worst of Cuban governors, not so much because of any inherent +viciousness as because of his weakness of character and his complete +subservience to the often sordid and sometimes unscrupulous doings of +his wife.</p> + +<p>That there was any gain for Cuba in the substitution of Antonio Chaves +for Juan de Avila is scarcely, however, to be maintained. On the +contrary, there was probably some loss. It was a substitution of King +Stork for King Log. De Avila had been weak and passive. Chaves was +strong and aggressive; as his campaign against his predecessor +demonstrated. In point of morals there was probably little to choose +between them. So far as enforcement of the laws concerning the natives +was concerned, Chaves was worse than De Avila. For De Avila personally +wished to enforce them, but was dissuaded from so doing by the influence +of his wife and the almost unanimous demands of the officials and +people. Chaves, on the other hand, appears to have been personally +opposed to all emancipation laws, and inclined to subject the natives to +ruthless slavery. Although he had savagely attacked De Avila for +acquiescing in the suspension or postponement of the royal decrees, +Chaves himself went even further in the same direction. He declined to +enforce the laws, protested against them, and petitioned for their +repeal on the ground that they would be ruinous to the material welfare +of the island. The rule against employment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span> natives in the mines was +especially obnoxious to him, and he advised the crown that unless it +were repealed, together with all other such measures, the island would +soon be "possessed of the devil."</p> + +<p>Seeing that Chaves was now doing the very thing that he had condemned +his predecessor for doing, the King was disgusted with him, and sent him +the sharpest kind of a reprimand, reminding him of his gross +inconsistency and bidding him to enforce the law without further ado. +Chaves pretended to obey. In fact, he promptly replied that he was +obeying. But he obeyed only in pretence. He did not scruple to +declare—in Cuba—that he was opposed to giving the natives their +freedom. He did not consider them fit for it. Why? Because they were not +Christians, and if set free they would not become Christians, and +therefore would infallibly be damned eternally. Therefore to save their +souls from hell fire, their bodies must be enslaved, so that they could +find salvation through being physically compelled to conform with the +external practices of Christianity. Particularly necessary was it, he +argued, for this system of spiritual salvation through corporeal bondage +to prevail in the provinces of Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus and Puerto del +Principe, because they had no agricultural interests but were dependent +upon mining, and if they could not compel the Indians to work in the +mines, they would be ruined.</p> + +<p>This logic, more ingenious than ingenuous, did not favorably impress the +King, nor was he better pleased with Chaves's proposal that the Indians +should be made free in name only, and that while traffic in them as +chattels should be forbidden, they should in fact remain in involuntary +domestic servitude. Another sharp reprimand was accordingly sent to +Chaves, with an intimation that something worse might follow; to which +warning the governor was blind and deaf. Accordingly, the blow soon +fell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span></p> + +<p>We have hitherto heard much of Lopez Hurtado, the crabbed, surly and +cantankerous old royal treasurer, with his impregnable honesty. It was +quite impossible that he should countenance even passively such conduct +as that of Chaves. So at the end of 1548 he sent to the King an +appalling indictment of the governor, charging him with all manner of +public crimes and private vices. He declared that Chaves was enriching +himself at the expense of the people, and that he was neglecting public +business for private enterprises, that he was permitting his +subordinates to practice extortion and oppression, that he was +ill-treating and persecuting honest men, and that he was corrupting the +women of the island; all of which was probably true.</p> + +<p>The King acted promptly. Chaves had been appointed governor in October, +1545, for a term of four years, at a salary of a thousand ducats a year. +He had now, at the end of 1548, been in office three years and more; +though he claimed that his term ran for four years from June, 1546, when +he actually took office. However, there was no tenure of office law to +keep him in his place beyond the royal pleasure; certainly not to +protect him from removal for cause. So the supreme court of Hispaniola +was directed to investigate him, and Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was +appointed governor in his stead. The court of Hispaniola sent Geronimo +de Aguayo to Cuba to make a private investigation of the governor's +doings; Hurtado agreeing to pay the expenses out of his own pocket. +Aguayo came to Santiago in April, 1549, while Chaves was absent at +Havana, planning to remove the seat of government to that city. Three +months were spent in the investigation, and then Aguayo reported to the +court a docket of about three hundred charges against Chaves, some of +which were serious enough but many of which were altogether trifling. +The court decided to take no action upon them, but to hold them for the +new governor, Angulo, to use as the basis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span> of the investigation which +he, according to law and precedent, would at once make into his +predecessor's administration.</p> + +<p>Gonzalo de Angulo had been appointed at the beginning of September, +1548, but did not at once come to the West Indies. He reached Hispaniola +in the summer of 1549, shortly after Aguayo had made his report, and he +remained there for some time, considering the report and conferring with +the members of the supreme court. Finally, at the beginning of November, +he proceeded to Santiago and assumed the governorship. He entered upon +the investigation, using Aguayo's three hundred charges as the basis of +it, despite the protest of Chaves that Aguayo had been a prejudiced +investigator, moved by political and even pecuniary considerations and +intent not upon discovering the truth but merely upon defaming him +(Chaves) to the fullest possible extent.</p> + +<p>The result of the new governor's inquest was that at the beginning of +July, 1550, Chaves was arrested and sent as a prisoner to Spain, for +trial there upon a multitude of accusations. These were partly grave and +partly—mostly—frivolous. In the former category was the charge that +Chaves had refused or at least failed to enforce royal decrees for the +enfranchisement of the natives. That was a very serious matter, +apparently, and there was no question that it was true. Indeed, Chaves +admitted it. But, he said, some of these decrees had been suspended, +there had been pleas for the suspension of others, officials had failed +to proclaim some, and the Hispaniola court had interfered with others; +so that the whole business was in a hopeless tangle and he really could +not determine what he ought to do. This argument impressed the Spanish +authorities, and they consequently dismissed that and other like charges +against him.</p> + +<p>But when it came to other charges, they could not be got rid of so +easily. Thus, he had refused to pay an apothecary for a dose of +medicine. He had called Hurtado's nephew a Jew! He had called certain +citizens<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span> "conspirators" because they were forming some sort of a secret +organization. He had arrested a priest for acting disrespectfully toward +him. These were indeed serious matters; particularly when the irate +Hurtado produced voluminous affidavits, from parents, physicians, +clergy, and whom not, to prove that his nephew like himself was a good +Christian. So for these things Chaves was thrown into prison, and even, +it is said, bound with heavy fetters, until he should pay the fines +which were imposed upon him.</p> + +<p>It must be recorded in Chaves's favor that he was unable to pay these +fines. Indeed, he seems not to have had means sufficient to employ a +lawyer to defend him, wherefore he was compelled to conduct his own +case; which he was quite competent to do, being a licentiate of the bar. +There was, then, of course no thought of his being able to influence the +course of justice by the use of money, as De Avila was supposed to have +done. Whether he was actually so poor, or whether his fortune had been +so invested in Cuba that he was unable at once to realize upon it, does +not appear. In charity we may accept the former theory, as the more +creditable to him. At any rate, after two years of litigation and +imprisonment, he secured a final reduction of the fines levied against +him to a little more than 100,000 maravedi, which he was required to pay +within a year. This trifling amount he contrived to raise and so +regained his freedom; going thereafter back to Cuba to settle up his +personal affairs there, and thence to Peru, to engage no more in Cuban +politics.</p> + +<p>Apart from his prosecution of Chaves, the first act of Gonzalo de Angulo +on assuming the governorship was to attempt a radical solution of the +Indian problem. This he did by proclaiming the full and universal +emancipation of all natives, however and by whomsoever held. Seeing how +strenuously and vociferously similar action had been resisted only a few +years before, as sure to be ruinous to the island, it is worthy of +remark that this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span> provoked no remonstrances and caused no economic +disturbance. The explanation is simple. The former proposals for +emancipation included slaves who had been brought to Cuba from other +lands, while this one applied only to natives. Now the latter, through +disease, fighting, and other causes, had been steadily decreasing in +numbers, until they were now practically a negligible quantity. They +probably numbered not more than twenty-five hundred in the entire +island. It really mattered little, from an industrial point of view, +whether they were enslaved or free. They were in fact set free, in good +faith, and then practically disappeared. They did not relapse into +primitive barbarism, but they lived in squalor, most of them, and +gradually died out.</p> + +<p>Not all of them, however, suffered such a fate. Some settled on lands +near if not actually among the Spanish colonists, adopted the ways of +civilization, and prospered. They acquired freehold of land and houses, +kept herds of cattle, built ships and engaged in commerce. Some of them +intermarried with Spanish families, and the offspring of such unions +often rose to honorable rank in society and the state.</p> + +<p>The question of slavery was not by any means disposed of by this +emancipation of the native Indians. There was a much larger number of +slaves in the island who had been brought thither from other countries, +including both insular and continental Indians and African negroes. +Governor Angulo was directed to order their emancipation and +repatriation at the same time with the others. But he withheld the +decree. These foreign slaves were far more numerous than the natives and +were consequently more important to industry and commerce. They had not +been simply "assigned" to owners, like the Cuban Indians, but had been +purchased outright for cash, like any other merchandise, and were +legally as much the property of their owners as land, houses or cattle. +In view of this circumstance, Angulo declined to proclaim their +emancipation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> administration of Gonzalo Perez de Angulo marked the lowest point in +the early history of Cuba. That was not because of the character of his +administration, which was indeed better than some of its predecessors, +but because various processes militating against the progress and +prosperity of the island then reached their culmination. Foremost among +these was the migration to Florida, Mexico, Peru and other lands, which +were richer, or were reputed to be richer, than the Pearl of the +Antilles. Cuba contained no such cities and treasures as those of Mexico +and Peru; no such traditions as that of Florida's Fountain of Youth +pertained to her. The island had been explored from end to end, and its +resources were known; though by no means appreciated. The adventurers of +those days were not inclined to engage in agriculture, even in so +fertile a land as Cuba, when the gold and gems of the Incas were within +reach. With the decline and practical disappearance of the Indians, and +the increasing difficulties of the African or other slave trade, the +scarcity of labor disinclined the Spanish settlers even to raise cattle. +The middle of the sixteenth century saw, therefore, a menacing +emigration from Cuba to other lands which threatened to leave the island +uninhabited.</p> + +<p>Statistics of those days are scanty and not altogether trustworthy. It +was the custom to report merely the number of householders or +land-owners or heads of families in a place, leaving it to be estimated +how many members each family contained. An exact census of the island in +Angulo's time would astonish the reader of to-day with the meagreness of +the settlements which had been effected in the course of forty years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span></p> + +<p>Of the seven cities which Velasquez had founded—they were called +cities, and we must through courtesy retain the name—Santiago was still +the largest, and was the capital. It probably contained at the period of +which we are writing fewer than five hundred Spaniards and other +Europeans. De Avila saw only two hundred assembled to welcome him on his +arrival as Governor. The number of houses and other buildings was less +than a hundred. The first town hall and church which were built there +were structures of logs and thatch, which were burned by a fire which +destroyed most of the place in 1528. Four years later the Franciscan +monastery and other buildings shared a like fate. The Spanish government +then urged the erection of buildings of stone with tiled roofs, and a +few such were erected. At the end of Guzman's second administration +there were perhaps a dozen such, of which Guzman himself owned two. The +harbor boasted a single wharf or pier, of logs and earth, near which for +protection two small cannon were placed behind an earthwork.</p> + +<p>Such was the Cuban capital in 1550. Three years later, in 1553, a French +privateer entered the harbor, silenced the two cannon, and landed a +company of four hundred men, who outnumbered the entire population of +the place. These freebooters took possession of Santiago and lived there +at their ease, at the expense of the people, during the whole month of +July. Then, having exacted from the inhabitants a ransom of what would +be about $80,000 in modern currency, they departed, leaving the place +uninjured save for the depletion of its people's purses. Following this +visitation there was a numerous exodus of the inhabitants, to Bayamo and +other places; some leaving the island altogether.</p> + +<p>Havana was at this time the second city of the island, and was steadily +rising toward first place. It had been the last of the seven cities to +be founded by Velasquez, and was now occupying its third and final site. +It was first planted in July, 1515, near the mouth of the Guines<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> or +Mayabeque River, on the south shore of Cuba; that shore then being the +favorite part of the island for the sake of trade with Jamaica and the +South American continent. But the location was unhealthful, the swarms +of mosquitoes particularly being intolerable, and two years later the +city was transferred almost directly across the island to the north +shore. This second site was near the mouth of the Almendares River, near +the present town of Vedado, and was found to be vastly preferable to the +former one. It was impossible, however, that the superb harbor on which +the city now fronts should be neglected. It had been discovered in 1508 +by Sebastian de Ocampo, while circumnavigating the island, and had been +called Carenas. Accordingly in 1519 the young city of Havana, bearing +the Indian name of that province of the island, was transported thither.</p> + +<p>Credible tradition has it that the first meeting of the Municipal +Council was held under a huge ceiba tree, and that Mass was first +celebrated at the same sylvan spot, the site of the tree now being +marked by the building known as the Templete, in the heart of the great +city. Two fine historical paintings by the artist Escobar, representing +the two gatherings named, hang upon the walls of that building. In De +Soto's time Havana became marked as the coming capital and metropolis of +the island, partly because of its unsurpassed situation, and partly for +a reason similar to that which caused it first to be founded on the +south coast, namely, for the sake of trade with Mexico and Florida. De +Soto during his brief sojourn there began the erection of the +fortification known as La Fuerza, which has long been noted as the +oldest inhabited building in the western hemisphere which was built by +Europeans. By the time of Governor Angulo, Havana had grown into—or +been reduced to—a community of about two hundred Europeans, and perhaps +three hundred Indians and negro slaves.</p> + +<p>Santa Maria del Puerto Principe was originally founded in 1515 on the +north coast, but a dozen years<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span> later was removed inland for security +against the rovers of the sea, and became known by its present name of +Camaguey. For many years Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa was its chief man; a +man of wealth and great force of character, who lived like a prince upon +a vast estate with a great retinue of servants and slaves. All the rest +of Camaguey was tributary to him; with a total population of fewer than +five hundred souls.</p> + +<p>Baracoa, originally Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, was the first +permanent settlement in Cuba. Shut off from the rest of the island by a +mountain wall, and visited by several disastrous epidemics, it was all +but obliterated, and in the time of De Soto and Angulo contained fewer +than a dozen European families. As for Trinidad, on the south coast, it +fared even worse, for every Spanish or other European settler deserted +it, chiefly for Sancti Spiritus, leaving there only a score of Indians. +But that did not mean any great accession to Sancti Spiritus, which +place had only about two hundred Europeans, and perhaps as many more +Indians and negro slaves. Bayamo was another city which was moved inland +from its original site. It had in Angulo's time fewer than a hundred +Spaniards and perhaps twice as many Indians and negroes.</p> + +<p>Thus after forty years of settlement and colonization, all Cuba had not +more than 1,200 inhabitants of European origin, and perhaps twice that +number of Indians and negroes. The great majority of the former were, of +course, Spaniards. Even at this early date, however, there was a +sprinkling of other nationalities. Some Portuguese came hither in the +second quarter of the century, and engaged in vine growing and +agriculture. Indeed, by the middle of the century most of the profitable +and commercial agriculture of the island was in their hands. The value +of such colonists was appreciated by the Spanish, who were glad to have +others engage in the agriculture for which they themselves had little +taste or aptitude. Accordingly Portuguese settlers were encour<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span>aged to +come to Cuba, and legislation was enacted in their favor. Their +naturalization as Spanish subjects was facilitated, and free homesteads +were given to them, of choice agricultural lands.</p> + +<p>Some Italians also came to Cuba in those early years, partly as soldiers +of fortune, to enlist in the forces of the island or to seek further +adventures of exploration and conquest, and partly to become +horticulturists and agriculturists, after the manner of the Portuguese. +Even a few Arabs and Moors visited the island, and some German artisans. +French and English there were none, because of the generally prevailing +hostilities between them and Spain.</p> + +<p>The Spanish government was chiefly intent upon encouraging conquests in +the great treasure-yielding lands of Mexico and Central and South +America. Yet it was not blind to the potential value of Cuba, nor +altogether neglectful of that island's interests. Various attempts were +made to stimulate immigration and permanent settlement, and even to +prevent settlers, once there, from leaving the island. Some of these +measures were, indeed, so stringent as probably to react against their +own purpose. Thus it was required that merchants and ship-masters +sailing from Cuba for trade with other lands should give bonds for their +return, while the death penalty, with confiscation of estate, was +actually prescribed for many years for all persons leaving the island +without permission from the authorities. The effect of this +extraordinary measure was what might have been expected. Knowing that +once in Cuba it would be difficult and perhaps impossible for them to +get away again, prudent people were reluctant to go thither.</p> + +<p>Efforts were also made to stimulate increase of population. Married men +in Spain were forbidden to go to Cuba without taking their wives with +them. Bachelors and widowers in Cuba were not permitted to employ +Indians or to hold slaves, while illicit unions with native women were +discouraged under penalty. Regular mar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span>riages with native women were, +however, legitimized, and there were many such which resulted +satisfactorily. In spite of these precautions there were, of course, +some illegitimate children, and these the government took steps to +legitimize, in order that they might, in default of other heirs, inherit +their fathers' property and become substantial members of the community.</p> + +<p>The population of Cuba was materially increased in another and by no +means commendable way. This was by the importation of negro slaves from +Africa. The traffic in human beings began in the West Indies at about +the time that Velasquez began the conquest and settlement of Cuba; +perhaps a little before that time. Naturally, with the settlement of +Cuba slave traders visited that island to offer their wares. It must be +recorded to the credit of Velasquez that he at first prohibited the +entrance of negro slaves into the island, and to the end of his life +opposed it though he was forced after a while to permit it. This was +partly on the ground of morals, and partly on that of prudence. He did +not scruple to enslave to some extent the native Cubans. But that was in +order to civilize and Christianize them, and also to afford the +colonists protection from them in their wild native state. Such, at +least, was the argument with which he justified his policy. Moreover, +the Indians were already there, in the island, and had to be dealt with +in some fashion. But it was manifestly a very different thing to import +savages from some distant land for the express purpose of making slaves +of them. The other reason was his fear that if many negroes were +imported they and the Indians would so outnumber the whites as to be a +grave menace.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the slave trade was established and soon attained +considerable proportions. It became so flourishing that presently the +Spanish government forbade private parties to conduct it save under +special charter from the crown and on payment of a considerable royalty +on each negro imported. Ostensibly, this was because it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span> was feared that +too many negroes might be imported, so as to endanger the security of +the colonists, as Velasquez had suggested; but in fact it was largely +for the sake of the revenue which thus accrued to the royal treasury. +The popular sentiment in Cuba was generally in favor of slavery. It was +held that thus only could sufficient labor be secured for the +development of the resources of the island. The number of negroes never +was as great as some colonists urged that it should be, to wit, three +male and three female slaves for every white householder, but it is +probable that before the middle of the century the negro population of +the island outnumbered the European.</p> + +<p>Treatment of the slaves was on the whole humane. The negroes were +forbidden to carry weapons, or to go about in companies of more than +four. They were at times subjected to physical punishment by their +masters for misdemeanors, though generally such discipline was required +to be administered by the authorities. Miscegenation between Europeans +and negroes was prohibited under penalty, and as an additional safeguard +against it slaves were required to be imported in equal numbers of the +sexes, and all were required to be married. It may be doubted if a +similar regard for their sexual morals was ever exhibited elsewhere. +There was a provision under which it was possible for industrious and +faithful slaves to purchase their freedom, and a considerable number of +them did so; after which they became members of the community with +almost the same legal rights and privileges as the Europeans.</p> + +<p>There was, it is pleasant to record, never the prejudice against the +negro in Cuba that prevailed in the states of North America. He was a +slave, but he was a man. He was a social and political inferior, because +of his enslavement; but he was mentally and spiritually the peer of his +master. The text "Cursed be Canaan" was never thundered from Cuban +pulpits, nor was it ever held that the negro must not be educated nor +instructed in religion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span> On the contrary, it was required by law that +the slaves should have the advantages of all the services of the church +equally with their masters; and the Spanish aristocrat and his African +slaves thus knelt side by side at the same altar. This attitude of the +races toward each other had two natural results. One was, that the +slaves were generally contented and peaceful, and attempts at +insurrection among them, while not unknown, were rare. The other was, +that amalgamation of the races became frequent and was recognized as +quite legitimate. We have said that miscegenation in illegitimate +fashion, between negro slaves and Europeans, was forbidden. But there +was no ban against marriage between whites and emancipated negroes, and +such unions not infrequently occurred, with satisfactory results.</p> + +<p>The importation of negroes naturally increased with the gradual +extermination of the native Indians, and it was favored by the very men +who most strongly inveighed against the enslavement of the Indians. Even +La Casas himself, with all his fervor in behalf of the natives, +acquiesced in negro slavery; favored it, indeed, as a means of saving +the Indians from such a fate. During the second administration of +Guzman, the restrictions which had been placed upon the slave trade were +removed, and free importations, without payment of a royalty, were +thereafter permitted. Indeed, a further step than this was contemplated. +It was urged that if the King wished the Indians to be emancipated, he +should supply their places with negroes. This extraordinary argument +prevailed, and for at least one year all the King's revenues from Cuba +were ordered to be invested in negroes, who were then to be distributed +among the colonists of the island in place of the Indians who were set +free. These were not, however, to be free gifts, but were to be paid for +by the colonists in the course of a term of years. The revenues for that +year amounted to about 7,000 pesos, and it was reckoned that at the +prices then prevailing in the slave market at least 700 slaves could be +purchased.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span> But at the last moment the King, or else the Council for the +Indies, reconsidered the matter, and the slaves were never purchased. At +the same time the enfranchisement of the Indians was postponed.</p> + +<p>The early industries of Cuba were, in the order of their importance, +gold mining, stock raising, and agriculture. The last named was +practised by the Spanish settlers only to an extent sufficient to supply +their own needs for food. Stock raising, both horses and cattle, was +engaged in much more extensively, not only to supply local needs but +also to supply the needs of Spanish explorers and gold-seekers in Mexico +and Central and South America, who had no time nor opportunity in their +strenuous quest there to attend to such matters. But the first thought +of the first settlers in Cuba was for gold, and for many years the +mining of that metal was the most profitable occupation. Within the +first twenty years of Spanish settlement more than 500,000 pesos in gold +were secured. Indeed in a single year, 1531, the mines at Cuyeba +produced 50,000 pesos. There were paying mines at Savanna, at Savanna de +Guaimaro, at Puerto Principe, at Portillo, and elsewhere throughout the +central districts of the island; some of them being ore veins in the +mountains and some placers in the river beds. But in the course of +twenty-five years the mines began to fail and new ones were not +discovered, so that by De Soto's time the output of gold had become +insignificant. This was doubtless one of the strong contributing causes +of the migration of so many settlers from the island, the eagerness of +men to seek new fields in Florida, and the general decline which Cuba +then suffered.</p> + +<p>There was some compensation for the decline of gold mining in the +discovery of rich copper mines, though the full value of them was not at +first realized. It was during the first administration of Guzman that +copper was discovered at Cobre, near Santiago. (This was the place +where, as formerly related, Alonzo de Ojeda, in gratitude for his +restoration to health, presented a statue<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span> of the Holy Virgin to the +native chief, Comendador, who had been his host and nurse and who had +embraced Christianity. The statue was long famous as Our Lady of Cobre.) +There is reason for believing that the Cuban natives had formerly worked +those mines to a considerable extent, for traffic with other lands, +though they themselves apparently did not make use of the metal in their +own arts. The governor, Guzman, learning of the discovery, urged the +development of the mines as the property of the discoverers, while the +royal treasurer claimed that they should belong to the crown. A +controversy was maintained for some time, with the result that the +crown, lightly esteeming the value of the find, permitted private +exploitation of the mines on a basis of ten per cent royalty. An assayer +was sent from Spain to superintend the refining of the copper from the +ore, and suitable works were erected. But little or nothing was done for +several years. Then, after the administration of De Soto, and while the +alcalde mayor, Ortiz, was acting governor, a great demand for copper +arose, for the casting of cannon, in Spain, and interest in the mines +was revived. A German engineer made an agreement with the local +authorities to extract the copper and did so with great success. The ore +was found to be very rich in copper and also to contain so much gold and +silver that it would be worth working for those metals entirely apart +from the copper. Under this expert management the mines became highly +profitable.</p> + +<p>In the administration of Angulo the German engineer had two mines +assigned to him as his own, in return for which he instructed all +comers—chiefly slaves who were sent to him for the purpose by the +settlers—in the art of smelting and refining copper. Large quantities +of the copper were at that time sent to Spain, and the first cannon +mounted on La Fuerza, in Havana, were made of it, being cast at the +royal foundry at Seville. It is related that one of these cannon, a +small falconet, burst in the casting, and so badly injured the +superintendent of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> works that he had to be taken to a hospital, +where he expressed a bad opinion of Cuban copper. This was the origin of +the really unfounded belief which long prevailed, and which was recorded +in technological works, that Cuban copper had some peculiar quality +which rendered it difficult and even dangerous to work.</p> + +<p>The first essays toward the growing of sugar, which has become one of +the greatest industries of the island and in which Cuba surpasses any +other equal area of the earth's surface, were made as already related in +the closing years of Velasquez's administration. They did not at that +time prove important, and nothing more was done until the first +administration of Guzman. That enterprising governor, always ready to do +anything to enrich himself, asked permission to import negro slaves free +of royalty, in order to establish the sugar industry, promising under +penalty to begin the construction of a sugar mill within two years and +to complete it within four years. The crown considered that too long a +time, and refused to waive the royalty on slaves for his benefit, +whereupon he abandoned the scheme. Then Hernando de Castro made a +similar proposal, reducing the time of completion of the mill to three +years. The crown was more favorably impressed by his offer, and agreed +to it, only to have him withdraw it. Juan de Avila and his brother +Alfonso reported strongly in favor of establishing the industry in Cuba, +and asked for a loan of capital from the royal treasury to finance the +undertaking; but nothing was done. Chaves and Angulo also successively +reported that Cuba was admirably adapted to the industry, and it was +known that at that very time sugar growing was enormously successful in +Hispaniola, Porto Rico and other islands. Yet by some strange fatality +nothing practical was done, and the actual establishment of the great +industry was postponed until near the end of the century.</p> + +<p>The fiscal policy of the Spanish government was in early years not +unfavorable to Cuba. Apart from a royalty of from five to ten per cent +on precious metals<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span> mined, and on copper, and the royalty already +described on the importation of negro slaves, and a customs duty of +seven and a half per cent ad valorem on all imports, the island was free +from taxation. The royalties in question were certainly not oppressive, +and the fact that the Seville government imposed the same customs duty +on all goods imported into Spain from Cuba made the tariff seem entirely +just. Indeed, Cuba was favored above all other islands In the West +Indies for many years. Thus after the middle of the sixteenth century +one-third of what had been the import duty on goods received in Spain +from the West Indies was required to be paid in the Indies as an export +tax; but Cuba alone of all the islands was exempted from this +arrangement. It was not, indeed, until the decline of Spain herself set +in, with increasing expenses for maintaining an inefficient and often +corrupt bureaucracy, and with sorely diminishing resources and revenues, +that Cuba began to be detrimentally exploited for the sake of the Mother +Country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h3> + +<p>W<span class="smcap">e</span> have said that the administration of Angulo marked the nadir of early +Cuban history. It also marked the turning point, and the entrance of the +island into international affairs. Not yet had the great duel between +Spain and England begun; which in the next century was to have so +momentous results. France was the enemy. Francis I became King of that +country in 1515, when Velasquez was beginning the settlement of Cuba, +and Charles I (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) became King of Spain +in the following year; and in 1521, while Velasquez was still governor +of Cuba, those two monarchs began the first of their series of six wars. +Adopting the policy which was afterward pursued by England against Spain +and against France, and by France against England, France struck at +Spain in her American colonies. During the first, second and third wars, +French attention was chiefly given to conquests in North America, with +occasional raids against Spanish commerce in the Caribbean and along the +coast of Mexico. Cuba appears to have remained unscathed.</p> + +<p>With the outbreak of the fourth war in 1536, however, trouble for Cuba +began. French privateers, little better than pirates in their practices, +sometimes, swarmed the Caribbean and the Gulf, preying upon Spanish +commerce and raiding Spanish seacoast towns. The first such blow was +struck at Cuba in 1537. A fleet of five Spanish ships, richly laden, was +about to set forth from Havana for Spain, by way of the Bahama Channel. +Just as they spread their sails and weighed their anchors, a venturesome +French privateer entered the harbor's mouth. The intruder hesitated at +sight of so many vessels, whereupon three of the Spaniards, being well +armed as well as laden,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span> as most ships had to be in those troublous +days, gave chase. The Frenchman retired, fighting stubbornly, as far as +the harbor of Mariel, where he turned at bay and for three days kept up +the unequal conflict. Then, just as he seemed preparing to give up the +fight and flee, an unfavorable wind struck the Spanish ships, placing +them at such disadvantage that their captains ordered them to be +abandoned and burned. This was done, but the French boarded one before +the flames had made headway, extinguished the fire, and sailed away with +the prize. The daring Frenchman then returned to Havana, entered the +harbor with the two ships, and proclaimed to the alcaldes and citizens +that he would do the place no harm if none was done to him, but that if +any attack was made upon his ships, he would sack the town. After a +while he went out and sailed away to the west.</p> + +<p>At that same time all commerce out of and into Santiago was practically +blocked by the presence of French privateers hovering off that port. In +April, 1538, an attack was made upon Santiago, and the place was +defended in a most extraordinary fashion. A Spanish vessel tried to +leave port, met a French vessel returning from a raid on Hispaniola, and +tried to scuttle back, but was overtaken and captured at the entrance to +the harbor. Next day, having despoiled the prize, the Frenchman sailed +into the deep harbor, which never before had been thus invaded, and +menaced the town. The town had no defences whatever, and the citizens +were unarmed. Guzman, then just at the end of his administration, was +furious at his helplessness. He railed against the citizens because they +would not rush down to the wharf and repel the invader with clubs and +stones. But railing was in vain, and so there was nothing to do but to +take to flight inland, which most of the officials and citizens did, +carrying all portable treasure with them.</p> + +<p>The Frenchman then threatened to burn the town, which Guzman wished he +would do, in order to bring the King's government to its senses and +arouse it to the neces<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span>sity of defending Cuba. But there chanced to be +in the port a certain merchant of Seville, by name Diego Perez, who was +at least as daring as the Frenchman himself. He had a little merchant +sloop, not more than half the size of the Frenchman, but well armed, +with guns that would carry at least as far as the Frenchman's. He ran +his little craft into water too shallow for the bigger Frenchman, where +he would be secure against ramming or boarding, and there began +peppering the enemy with his long range guns, Perez himself aiming the +best of them. The fight lasted all day, and Perez was ready to resume it +next morning. But in the darkness of the night the Frenchman stole away +and was seen no more in Santiago harbor. Perez had three men killed, and +his vessel was badly damaged; but the Frenchman probably suffered +heavier losses, since two of his men who were killed fell overboard and +were picked up and buried by the Spaniards, and there were almost +certainly others killed. For his valor on thus saving the capital of +Cuba from destruction, Perez received from the King a coat of arms with +a device emblematic of his achievement.</p> + +<p>That same Frenchman a little later, having repaired his vessel, wreaked +his revenge upon Havana. When he entered the harbor there the people +fled and left the town for him to loot at his leisure. It is recorded +that he took even the church bells. Moreover, being a truculent +Huguenot, he took an image of Saint Peter from the church and let his +men use it as a target to pelt with oranges! This incident caused De +Soto, who arrived at Havana a little later, to hasten work on the +defences of the place. For some time there had been talk of building a +fort, but no agreement had been reached as to where it should be; +whether at the Cabana, or the Morro, or on the hill in what is now +Central Park. But the Frenchman's raid brought the controversy to an +end, and De Soto was authorized to build wherever he thought best. The +result was the building of La Fuerza. It was hastily built, and +therefore badly, so that ten years later part<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span> of it had to be torn down +and the whole remodelled into its present form.</p> + +<p>By this time it was considered certain that Havana would one day become +the capital and chief city of Cuba, wherefore it was decided to fortify +it rather than Santiago or any other port. Beside, it was the most +convenient port of call for treasure ships and others plying between +Mexico and Spain. A battery of cannon was therefore placed upon the +Morro headland, long before the building of the castle, and La Fuerza +was strongly armed. It became the custom for treasure ships to put into +Havana harbor, and if pursued to unload their treasure there, for safe +keeping on shore until the danger was past. But no further attack was +made upon Havana or any other Cuban port, and in 1544 the war was ended.</p> + +<p>The prospect of Havana's becoming the capital seemed temporarily to be +realized in 1550, when Angulo established his permanent residence +there—the first governor so to do, though some of his predecessors had +spent some time there, and De Avila had actually established a residence +there. Angulo began building a large stone church at Havana, in place of +the wooden thatched hut which had served the purpose before him; he +built an addition to the hospital, two store houses and a slaughter +house, and rebuilt the jail. He also regulated the prices of food, so as +to put a stop to the artificial raising of prices whenever ships came in +for supplies. Yet when, in obedience to the orders of the crown, in +November, 1552, he issued an emancipation proclamation in favor of the +Indians, a storm of abuse broke upon him, in Havana as well as +elsewhere. Santiago, piqued because he had spent so much time away from +that place, took the initiative in demanding a judicial investigation of +his conduct, charging him with venality and peculations. But the city +council of Havana quickly followed suit, made more than fifty specific +charges against him, and provided a ship to fetch a judge from +Hispaniola to try him.</p> + +<p class="caphead"><a name="MORRO_CASTLE" id="MORRO_CASTLE">MORRO CASTLE, HAVANA</a></p> +<p class="caption">A grim guardian, seated on the headland at one side of the entrance to +Havana's peerless harbor; founded to protect the city from the +sixteenth-century corsairs; captured in the seventeenth century by the +British and the American Colonists after the most stubborn resistance; +and in later years the prison in which many Cuban patriots were +immured.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<a href="images/ill_180morro.png"> +<img src="images/ill_180morro_th.png" width="650" height="419" alt="MORRO CASTLE, HAVANA" /> +</a></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span></p> + +<p>Curiously enough, while Santiago was hostile to him because he would not +live there, Havana was hostile because he would live there. It was +specifically complained that he persisted in living at Havana against +the will of the people of that place. They did not want him there, they +said, because they were convinced that he was there for his own profit. +So they besought the court to compel him to return to Santiago. Other +complaints were that he had imposed various new-fangled devices upon the +city, that he was a gambler, that he engaged in trade for his own +profit, that he permitted his wife to decide suits at law, and that he +had instructed one of his officers to strike with a club anyone who did +not rise to his feet when the governor entered the church.</p> + +<p>Angulo denied all the charges, and declared that they had been trumped +up against him because he had obeyed the King in emancipating the +Indians. He went to Hispaniola in person to argue his cause before the +Supreme Court, the chief counsel against him being Alfonso de Rojas. The +court decided in his favor so far as to suspend all action and let him +return to Havana, until the King could pass upon the case. No judge +would be appointed to investigate him, the court added, unless one were +sent from Spain. So the governor returned to Cuba in triumph. Landing at +Santiago, he proclaimed the freedom of all Indians there. Thence he +proceeded to Baracoa, to Bayamo, to Trinidad, and to Puerto Principe, +repeating the emancipation proclamation at each place. At the midsummer +of 1553 he reached Havana, to find that the town council had "deposed" +him, on the ground that he had been absent from his jurisdiction without +leave for more than ninety days; a decree which he ignored. Meanwhile +the crown had appointed a judge to investigate him, but the judge did +not come and the inquest was not held. Soon after his arrival at Havana, +finding that he would not give up the governorship at its word, the town +council begged the Hispaniola court to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span> have him investigated, and the +court commissioned a judge for that purpose, who declined or at least +failed to act. This was in August, 1554.</p> + +<p>Now trouble was renewed with France, the sixth war between Henry II, who +had succeeded Francis, and Charles beginning in 1552 and continuing +until 1559, Charles meanwhile abdicating in favor of Philip II in 1556. +The French navy was more potent than ever, and French privateers swarmed +the Spanish Main. Every Cuban port was warned to be on its guard against +attack, Havana most of all, since it was now the richest and was in the +most exposed situation. It was not until the fall of 1553 that the +official news of the renewal of hostilities reached Cuba, and great was +the consternation which it caused.</p> + +<p>Juan de Lobera was at that time the commander of the fortifications of +Havana, to wit, La Fuerza. He appears to have been a man of strangely +mingled temperament, at times fearful and timorous, at others resolute +and valiant. At the beginning the former characteristics prevailed. He +realized, only too truly, that the fortifications and petty garrison +would be entirely insufficient for the protection of the place against +any considerable force, such as even a single French ship might bring +against it, and he fell into something like a panic. Happily, however, +he did not desert his post, but made passionate demands upon the +governor and the town council for additional guards. Happily, too, in +the presence of menace the animosities of faction were stilled, and the +council cooperated heartily with the governor whom it had just been +trying to depose and whom only a little later it denounced to the court +as worthy of investigation and indictment.</p> + +<p>New guards were supplied. Day and night the beach was patrolled. +Watchmen were stationed on the Morro headland to espy approaching +vessels and to signal the tidings to the fort and city. At the mouth of +the Almendares River, where it was supposed that invaders were likely to +land, horsemen were stationed, to hasten back to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span> the city with news of +any such landing or of the appearance of a hostile vessel. Twelve men, +expert in arms, were held in readiness day and night to man the fort the +moment a strange vessel was reported; La Fuerza being otherwise without +a garrison—which amply justified the commander's lack of faith in its +defensive efficiency. In case of an attack, all able-bodied citizens +were to present themselves in a massed levy under command of the +governor. Every man was to be armed, at least with a sword, day and +night, and none was to absent himself from the city without the +permission of the governor. Every vessel of any kind that approached the +harbor was signalled to stop outside until it could be visited and its +identity be established; though if any refused thus to halt there was no +adequate power to compel it to do so. However, refusal to stop would of +course be regarded as proof of hostile character.</p> + +<p>With all these preparations the defensive ability of Havana was +pitifully if not ludicrously slight. Three small cannon manned by twelve +volunteers constituted the armament of a fort which might be attacked by +a ship of twenty guns and two hundred men. The "army" of the place +comprised sixteen horsemen and less than seventy footmen, scarcely any +two of them armed alike. The chief commander under the governor was Juan +de Rojas, who was the governor's bitterest political enemy, though he +had once been his close friend and deputy. He was a brother of the +former governor, Manuel de Rojas. In these circumstances the commander +of the fort awaited with unspeakable trepidation the anticipated +approach of the enemy.</p> + +<p>His fears were presently realized in the coming of perhaps the most +formidable of all the Frenchmen then scouring the seas; the famous +Jacques Sores. This daring captain was not only a Frenchman and +therefore hostile to Spaniards on racial and political grounds, but he +was also a Huguenot, like many other French seamen of that day, and +therefore hostile to them on religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span> grounds. He was supposed to be +under the patronage of the great Condé, and also at one time to have +received material aid from Queen Elizabeth of England. Indeed, he was at +this time regarded as the foremost champion of the Protestant cause at +sea. Although a privateer, he commanded not a single vessel but a +squadron of three, which he handled with the skill of a master mariner.</p> + +<p>Sores did not, however, deem it needful to bring his whole array against +Havana. A single vessel, a brigantine, would be sufficient. So it came +to pass that in the early morning of July 10, 1554, a signal came from +the watchers on the Morro headland, that a strange sail, probably +French, was approaching. A shot was fired from La Fuerza, to summon the +men of Havana to arms. Lobera led his garrison of twelve men to their +places within the fort. Angulo took command outside. For an hour or two +there was uncertainty as to the identity of the vessel, and horsemen +were dispatched to the beach to watch its movements. They presently +hastened back with the news that the brigantine had cast anchor off what +is now San Lazaro and had sent ashore two boatloads of armed men, who +were now approaching the city through the jungle. This indicated +treachery, for the jungle was impenetrable save by a certain secret path +which no strangers could know, and indeed it was presently disclosed +that the invaders were guided by two men who had formerly lived in +Havana, one of whom had been a harbor pilot.</p> + +<p>The governor unhesitatingly considered discretion to be the better part +of valor, and betook himself to instant flight, conveying his family and +such of his property as he could carry to the native village of +Guanabacoa, at the other side of the bay, where he was joined during the +day by a majority of the residents of Havana. Lobera, on the other hand, +now that he was face to face with a great crisis, forgot his fears and +acquitted himself as a man of valor. With his little garrison, half of +whom were negro slaves, and with a score of refugees, old men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span> women +and children, he shut himself within the fort, with its walls of stone +and gates of timber, and prepared to fight to the death. He had found +three more cannon and had taken them into the fort, thus totalling six, +with a good supply of ammunition and provisions. He dispatched a message +to Angulo, reproaching him for his cowardly flight and imploring him to +send all able bodied men to the aid of the garrison, for the honor of +Spain. This the governor promised to do at or before nightfall; a +promise which was not kept.</p> + +<p>The invaders were commanded by Captain Sores in person. They took +possession of the town without resistance, and then summoned the fort to +surrender; expecting to find in it much treasure from Spanish vessels +which had recently been wrecked on the Florida coast, though in fact no +such treasure was there. Lobera unhesitatingly refused to surrender, and +the fight began. The first assault upon the fort, from the landward +side, was repulsed. Then the brigantine was seen to be approaching at +the other side, accompanied by another and larger vessel of Sores's +squadron, which had just arrived; wherefore Lobera had to transfer two +of his cannon to that side of the fort to prevent a landing of more +troops. A second assault was repulsed, during which a Spanish gunner +shot down the French flag from the staff on which Sores had raised it at +the stone house of Juan de Rojas, which the French had occupied as +headquarters. A third assault, near nightfall, was also repulsed, but +the two wooden gates of La Fuerza were burned with nearly all the +contents of the tower. The little garrison and the refugees spent the +night on an open terrace, with only a little powder and shot and not a +day's food left. Hoping for help from the governor and citizens, Lobera +fired his largest gun at intervals during the night, beat the drums and +sounded bugle calls; but all in vain. "The darkness gave no token."</p> + +<p>The French demanded his surrender, promising good treatment, but +threatening a ruthless assault which would<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span> mean death if he persisted +in trying to hold his indefensible position. Lobera refused, until the +break of day. Then he saw that no help was approaching from Angulo, that +an overwhelming force of French soldiers surrounded him on all sides, +and that successful defence was impossible. His ammunition was all but +gone. The cords of the crossbows with which his men were armed were +frayed and broken. Some of his men were slain, while some of the +survivors, especially one German gunner, mutinously held converse with +the enemy. The refugees fell on their knees before him bidding him die +fighting if he would, but to let their lives be spared. In this +desperate plight Lobera yielded, offering to surrender on honorable +terms, if the lives of his men were spared and the women were protected +from dishonor. To this Sores gave his word, and the fort capitulated. +The flag of France was raised over La Fuerza, and twenty-odd Spanish +subjects were prisoners.</p> + +<p>The women and children were quickly released, but all the men were +locked up in the house of Juan de Rojas, which was the strongest stone +building in the city. About a score more were added to their number, of +Spaniards and Portuguese whom Sores had captured elsewhere.</p> + +<p>A few hours after the surrender, word was received from Angulo. He had +at last organized a force of about fifty men, chiefly Indians, and had +started to the relief of the fort when he heard of its capitulation. At +this he realized that all was lost, and retired to Guanabacoa, there to +seek negotiations with the French for the ransom of Havana. A truce was +declared, and the prisoners were released from Rojas's house on parole, +pledged not to fight, or to leave town, and to return to their prison at +nightfall. Angulo offered a ransom of three thousand ducats, declaring +that no more could be raised. The Frenchmen scorned the offer, and +demanded thirty thousand pesos—eighty thousand had been collected at +Santiago the year before—and a hundred loads of bread. An<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span>gulo +protested his inability to raise such an amount, but begged for time in +which to see what he could do.</p> + +<p>A week passed, the French occupying Havana at their ease and Angulo +scouring the surrounding country, ostensibly for ransom money but in +fact for men and arms. By the end of the week he had surreptitiously +collected a force of 335 men, of whom about thirty-five were Spaniards +and the rest negroes and Indians. They were armed chiefly with clubs and +stones. Himself and eight others were mounted on horseback. With this +motley force he hoped to surprise the French by night, and to capture +Rojas's house, where he would take Sores himself prisoner and release +the Spanish captives.</p> + +<p>The desperate plan would probably have succeeded had not some of the +Indians indiscreetly uttered their war cry as they rushed upon the +house, arousing the Frenchmen and giving them time to close and bar the +massive doors. The few Frenchmen who were sleeping outside of the house +were quickly overcome and slain, and Angulo laid siege to the house +itself, summoning Sores to surrender. The French commander was furious +at what he not unreasonably regarded as a breach of the truce. Moreover, +his brother was among those who had been killed outside the house. In a +fury he ordered that all the Spanish prisoners in the house be put to +death. This was quickly done, with the exception of Lobera, who was +confined in an upper room. Sores reserved the killing of him for +himself, and entered the room where Lobera was for that purpose. Lobera +defended himself, meanwhile protesting that he had had no part in the +treachery; and his evidently honest pleas moved a French officer to +intervene in his behalf and to disarm Sores. Then, at the direction of +Sores, Lobera showed himself at a window and addressed Angulo, +reproaching him for the breach of truce, and imploring him to withdraw. +Angulo refused, declaring that he had already recaptured the town, and +that at daylight he would complete the work by capturing the Rojas house +and its inmates.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span></p> + +<p>With the coming of daylight, however, the folly of this course became +apparent. Angulo had, indeed, a larger force than the Frenchmen still +remaining in Havana; though as the latter were far the better armed a +conflict between them would probably have been disastrous to the +Spaniards. But the two ships in the harbor were now aroused and began +firing upon the Spaniards with their artillery, while reenforcements of +men for Sores put off for shore in boats. Sores and his companions made +a fierce sally from the house. The few Spaniards made a stand, but the +negroes and most of the Indians would not oppose clubs and stones to +swords and arquebuses. They fled incontinently to the jungle, followed +by Angulo himself.</p> + +<p>His victory thus completed, Sores returned to the house where he had +left Lobera locked in a room with the dead and dying. He absolved the +commander from all responsibility for Angulo's treacherous conduct, and +complimented him upon the valor with which he had defended La Fuerza as +well as upon his good faith. He would not, however, release him without +a ransom, according to the custom of the times. In default of the +ransom, he would take him to France as a prisoner, though treated with +all consideration. Lobera was without means, but his friends with whom +he was permitted to communicate soon raised the required sum of two +thousand two hundred pesos, and he was set at liberty. He thereafter +went to Spain, carrying with him the news of what had happened to +Havana.</p> + +<p>The negotiations for the ransom of the town were less successful. Angulo +had fled far inland, and could not be reached, and the Spaniards who +remained could not offer more than a thousand pesos, a sum which Sores +scorned. In default of ransom, therefore, the place was looted and +burned. Three buildings alone remained standing: La Fuerza, the church, +and the hospital. Indeed, the interior of the church was almost entirely +destroyed. Sores and his men were fierce Huguenots, and they tore down<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span> +the images of saints and took the robes and altar vestments to make +cloaks for themselves. All the boats found in the harbor were burned. +The neighboring estates for miles around were destroyed, and some of the +negroes who offered resistance were hanged. The harbor was carefully +surveyed and sounded, to facilitate future entries. Finally, his work +being thus thoroughly done, Sores sailed away at midnight of August 5, +less than a month after his arrival.</p> + +<p>At the end of September a little French vessel, containing only a dozen +men, entered the harbor, inspected the ruins of the city, and seized a +Spanish caravel which lay there, taking it away with them to the harbor +of Mariel, where there were several French ships. Ten days later the +entire French force entered the harbor of Havana and landed many men. +They did not, however, molest the Spanish residents nor destroy the new +buildings which they were beginning to erect, but seemed to regard them +with good humored tolerance, as too insignificant to merit attention. +Indeed, there were only a few dozen of the Spanish, all told, and they +were helpless and disheartened. The Frenchmen contented themselves with +going to several of the outlying farms and taking all the hides they +could find to add to the cargo which they were already carrying. They +remained there, on amicable terms with the Spanish, for more than a +fortnight, and then sailed away.</p> + +<p>These things occurred at the time when Philip of Spain was marrying +Queen Mary of England and was taking possession of the Netherlands, and +when Spain vaunted herself as the foremost military power of the world. +It must not be wondered at that the people of Cuba, and particularly of +Havana, regarded themselves as grievously neglected by those who should +have been their protectors, and bitterly reproached not alone the +governor but even the King himself for not having afforded them more +ample protection. The explanation was, doubtless, that Spain regarded +Mexico, South Amer<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span>ica, and of course her European possessions, as of +far greater importance than the island whose gold mines were about +exhausted, which had failed to provide iron for Spanish artillery, and +which had served chiefly as a stepping stone to more valuable lands. It +was a strange irony of fate that the island which was thus slighted was +destined to be the most faithful and the longest held of all the +colonial possessions of Spain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> disastrous events which have been related in the preceding chapter +suggested to the Spaniards in Cuba and also to the government at Seville +the desirability, if not the necessity, of establishing a more militant +administration of affairs if the island was not to be the prey of all +comers and perhaps ultimately be lost to the Spanish crown. Thitherto, +with the exception of Velasquez and the possible exception of De Soto, +every governor of the island had been a civilian and a lawyer. It seemed +an experiment worth making, then, to appoint a military man to the +office, in the hope that he would be better fitted to provide for the +protection of the island against the privateers and corsairs who roved +the seas in increasing numbers and with increasing boldness. True, +immediately after the abdication of Charles I and the accession of +Philip II, in 1556, a truce was concluded between France and Spain, +which was to last five years. But few expected that it would last so +long, as indeed it did not, being broken in two years; and even while it +did last privateering was by no means abolished. In any case, be it +peace or be it war, Spain had tried to hold her western empire by virtue +of Divine Right and ecclesiastical decrees, and had failed. Now she +would try holding what was left of it with military and naval force; and +to that end would have a soldier for governor of Cuba.</p> + +<p>The man chosen was indeed an expert and competent soldier, by no means +devoid of statesmanship. Diego de Mazariegos had been one of the most +efficient lieutenants of Cortez in Mexico, and distinguished himself as +a brave and skilful fighter against the Indians. He had also given much +attention to international relations, and to the privateering which had +become such a scourge of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> seas. Indeed, it was through some of his +writings on this latter subject that the court of Seville was led to +consider him as a candidate for the Cuban governorship. Dr. Angulo had +been appointed in 1550, and five years was long enough, it was thought, +for a man to serve, unless he served better than Angulo had done in the +latter part of his term. So Mazariegos was selected to succeed him, in +March, 1555. Juan Martinez, a lawyer, was selected to go with him as +lieutenant governor. These were the last appointments made in Cuba by +King Charles before his retirement from the throne.</p> + +<p>Some time was required for preparations for the voyage and for residence +in a new land, so that Mazariegos and Martinez did not sail from Spain +until late in the summer. On the way they suffered shipwreck and +Martinez and all his family were drowned. Mazariegos escaped, but lost +everything he had with him save the clothes which he was wearing. This +disaster made it necessary still further to postpone his assumption of +the governorship, so that he did not reach Cuba until March 7, 1556. It +is noteworthy that instead of landing at Santiago, as every other +governor had done, he went straight to Havana, where Angulo awaited him, +and the very next day, March 8, he was installed as governor. In +accordance with custom he conducted an investigation of Angulo's +accounts and general administration, which was permitted to pass as a +merely formal and perfunctory performance. The passionate demands for +Angulo's indictment and punishment were by this time forgotten.</p> + +<p>Havana had been partially rebuilt since the raid of Captain Sores, and +had been completely transformed in character. It had a very much larger +population than before, and that population was restless and turbulent +to a degree. It contained adventurers from every country and of every +type; fortune hunters, fugitive criminals, gamblers, bankrupts, the +shady output of Mexico, Darien and Peru, who sought in Cuba a No Man's +Land in which they would not be troubled with law and order. In this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span> +expectation they reckoned without their host. Or perhaps they counted +upon the rough and ready soldier as likely to countenance a large degree +of laxity. If so, they were mistaken. Mazariegos had indeed the personal +morals of a soldier of fortune. Soon after the death of Angulo he took +the latter's widow for his mistress and lived with her openly, to the +great scandal of the church, until after the death of the lady's mother, +when he married her, as he said he had all along intended to do; the +delay being due to his unwillingness to have a mother-in-law. But this +was regarded by the governor as a trifling peccadillo. Upon graver +offenses, murder, robbery, brawling and what not, he frowned with the +wrath of a Precisian.</p> + +<p>Nor was he any respecter of persons. When Francisco de Angulo, the son +of the lady whom he had taken as his mistress and was soon to make his +wife, scandalized law and order with his drunkenness and brawling, he +exiled him to Mexico. For like offenses he also banished Gomez de Rojas, +the youngest brother of Juan de Rojas, one of the foremost citizens of +Havana; expressing as he did so a fervent wish that the young man might +quickly meet with an evil death. As for his own nephew, Francisco de +Mazariegos, when he became notorious for gambling, lechery and fighting, +he inflicted upon him with his own hands a physical chastisement which +was a more than nine days' example to all the other youth of the town.</p> + +<p>Santiago still being the nominal capital of the island, the new governor +thought it incumbent upon him at least to visit it. In fact, he spent +nearly the whole year 1557 there, endeavoring to provide it with means +of defence against French privateers. He stationed a captain of the army +there, with four small cannon, some muskets and pikes, and a supply of +gunpowder, urging the citizens to learn to fight so as to defend +themselves. Then, in January, 1558, he hastened back to Havana to defend +it against raiders who were said to be on their way thither. Five months +later a French privateer visited Santiago, took the place without so +much as a blow from the cap<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span>tain, considered it too small and poor to be +worth looting or burning, and sailed away again after collecting only +400 pesos ransom; probably the smallest ransom on record for a capital +city!</p> + +<p>On his return to Havana, Mazariegos showed the value of a military +governor for the protection of a city. For six weeks that summer a +French squadron of four vessels lay off Havana, without venturing to +attack the place, knowing that Mazariegos had mobilized and trained for +fighting every able-bodied man in the place, and even some robust and +athletic negro women. But the governor was not satisfied with defence +alone. He contrived to get word to some Spanish captains at Nombre de +Dios, who were going to convoy treasure ships to Spain, with the result +that they presently came up unannounced and captured the whole French +squadron. Again and again thereafter Havana was menaced, even attacked, +but invariably Mazariegos repulsed the enemy, generally with heavy loss +to the latter.</p> + +<p>He felt, however, the need of better equipment, particularly of more +cannon, and asked the crown to provide it. The crown declined or at any +rate failed to do so, whereupon he set about doing it himself, and +succeeded in getting, sometimes by rather strenuous means, a number of +cannon and a good supply of powder. But a better fort than the ruins of +La Fuerza was also needed, and to that enterprise he turned his +attention with zeal. At the beginning of his administration Geronimo +Bustamente de Herrera was commissioned by the crown to build a new fort, +but after making plans and engaging workmen he fell ill and had to +abandon the job. At the beginning of 1558, just as Mazariegos returned +thither from Santiago, Herrera was replaced by Bartolome Sanchez, a +competent engineer; who prepared new plans for the rebuilding of La +Fuerza as it stands to this day. The Viceroy of Mexico, who was much +interested in the safety of Mexican treasure ships which might put in at +Havana, contributed 12,000 pesos in gold for the beginning of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span> work. +There was much trouble in getting laborers for the work, in Spain. +Sanchez wanted at least a hundred negro slaves. The government thought +the number excessive, and gave him authorization for only thirty; +whereupon he declared that the enterprise might as well be given up. In +fact he secured in Spain only fifteen workmen, and with them he sailed +for Cuba, hoping to secure the rest there, or elsewhere in the West +Indies.</p> + +<p>The work began early in December, 1558. A stone quarry was opened near +Guanabacoa, and a kiln for making lime was built. But labor was still +lacking. Sanchez wanted two hundred, negro slaves or others, and +appealed to the people of the town to help him get them. In response +they procured for him thirty slaves—their own, whom they were willing +to turn over to him "for a consideration." Then the governor took a hand +in the game. There were forty slaves at Santiago, who had been brought +thither without the proper shipping papers, and were being held for that +reason. Mazariegos sent to Santiago, confiscated them all, and brought +them up to Havana, to work on the new fort. Some French prisoners who +had been taken in a fight off Matanzas were also set at work on it. All +tramps and vagabonds who were arrested were sent to La Fuerza or to the +quarry, and for a time, until the crown stopped it, one third of the +Indian village of Guanabacoa were kept at work on the fort.</p> + +<p>Although Sanchez was in charge of the work and was responsible for it, +Mazariegos spent much of his time there, watching it, directing it, and +chastising with tongue and sometimes even with rod all who seemed +laggards at the job. In time he succeeded Sanchez in authority. For +Sanchez incurred much enmity on the part of some influential citizens, +whose houses he took in order to make an open place about the fort. They +accused him of corruption, of making gross errors in the plans for the +fort, of fomenting discord, and of wasting money. He was too busy with +building the fort to pay much attention to these things, even when they +took the form of letters to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span> King. The outcome of it was that in the +summer of 1560 Sanchez was removed from his place, and Mazariegos was +put in charge of the completion of La Fuerza. A few months later Sanchez +reached Seville, and pleaded his case to so good effect that the crown +was convinced that injustice had been done him, and that he should not +have been discharged. However, it was not practicable to reinstate him, +though he was sent back a few years later to make an official inspection +of the completed fort.</p> + +<p>In addition to La Fuerza, Mazariegos built the first forerunner of the +Morro Castle. In 1563 he built on the Morro headland a tower of masonry +more than thirty feet high. It was intended primarily as a landmark, and +was therefore painted white in order to make it visible at the greatest +possible distance. But a watchman was generally kept in it, to espy +approaching vessels and to signal to the city news of their approach. +The tower is said to have cost only 200 pesos, and was paid for by the +city of Havana.</p> + +<p>Mazariegos presently became involved in affairs outside of Cuba. Many +men deserted at Havana from the vessels of Angelo de Villafane, governor +of Florida. Villafane complained and wanted Mazariegos to capture and +return them. Mazariegos replied that he could not do it; to which we may +doubtless add that he would not have done so if he could. He was +desirous of increasing the population of Cuba, even in that way. When +Villafane attempted to plant a Spanish colony at what is now Port Royal, +South Carolina, and failed, Mazariegos had some correspondence with the +King, and probably acquiesced in the royal opinion, that it would be +impracticable to establish a colony at that point. In 1563, however, the +King learned that the French had been quite successful in planting a +colony on that very spot where the Spaniards under Villafane had failed, +and he informed Mazariegos of the fact. The governor, acting upon his +own initiative, but shrewdly guessing what would be acceptable to the +King, sent Hernando de Rojas thither with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">{197}</a></span> frigate and twenty-five +soldiers, to see how much of a settlement the French had made, and to +destroy it if he was able to do so with that force. In the summer of +1564 Rojas returned, reporting that the settlement had been abandoned by +the French. He brought back with him one young Frenchman as a prisoner, +and also a memorial stone which the French had set up to commemorate the +founding of the place, bearing the date, 1561. Mazariegos commended +Rojas for his work, sent the memorial stone to Seville, and then began +planning to go in person or to send an expedition to search the Carolina +and other coasts in quest of new French colonies. His theory was that +the more French settlements there were, the more French vessels there +would be, and therefore the more subject Cuba would be to alien +annoyance.</p> + +<p>This, however, was not to be. The end of Mazariegos's administration was +already drawing near. He fell into some violent disputes with the +citizens of Havana, over the appointment of alcaldes, a duty which they +charged him with neglecting. He was also charged with packing the town +council with his own creatures, with tampering with the mails so as to +prevent people from writing to Spain any complaints of his +maladministration, and of other misdemeanors. Bartolome Sanchez, who had +returned from Spain and who had a bitter personal grudge against the +governor for supplanting him as builder of the fort, petitioned the King +to have a judge sent from Hispaniola to investigate him, but the King +refused. Mazariegos, learning this, and feeling unwarrantably secure in +royal favor, adopted a more arrogant attitude toward his opponents and +critics, which did him no good.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1565, Garcia Osorio de Sandoval was appointed to +succeed him as governor. Mazariegos thereupon wrote to the King, asking +that there be no unnecessary law suits brought against him, as he was +old, and ill, and poor. (He was not yet fifty years of age!) The King +granted his request, and in consequence in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">{198}</a></span>structed Osorio to make his +investigation as little annoying as possible. Osorio obeyed, and +although the report of the inquest filled three big volumes, Mazariegos +was not brought to trial on any charges and had no fines assessed +against him. He remained living at Havana for some time, and then +completed his career in the King's service as governor of Caracas, +Venezuela. His administration had been a stormy one, but on the whole +advantageous to Cuba, and had confirmed the Seville government in its +policy of appointing others than mere lawyers to the insular +governorship.</p> + +<p>Garcia Osorio de Sandoval became governor of Cuba on September 12, 1565. +As he was not a lawyer, the precedent which had been set in Mazariegos's +case was followed in his, of appointing a lieutenant governor who was a +lawyer to serve with him. His lieutenant was Luis Cabrera, who did not +reach Cuba until later in the year, having suffered shipwreck and been +obliged to put back to Spain and await the sailing of another vessel.</p> + +<p>Osorio appears to have been a soldier, though probably retired from +active service at the time of his appointment to the governorship. At +any rate he made it his first care to improve the defences of the +island. It is related that he bore with him from Spain to Havana a cargo +of arms and munitions, including four brass cannon. These he placed upon +the fortification, thus making a battery of eight pieces, and built a +substantial platform of timber for them to stand upon. La Fuerza was not +yet completed, but he took measures to expedite the work and hoped to +have it finished in a year. In order to protect the place from possible +raids by land, he closed and blocked all roads and trails leading into +it from the west excepting the one along the beach. He organized a force +of seventy men armed with arquebuses, to be quickly summoned in an +emergency, and required them and all citizens to assemble for service +whenever a strange sail was sighted. In addition, as a permanent +contribution to defence, a spacious arsenal was built near the water<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">{199}</a></span> +front, to contain the stores of ammunition and to shelter the guards and +citizens.</p> + +<p>There was thus much promise that Osorio would prove to be an energetic +and useful governor. Unfortunately, at the very beginning of his +administration he came into conflict with another and much stronger +functionary of the Spanish crown; indeed, one of the most formidable +figures of the time. This was none other than Pedro Menendez de Aviles, +whose record fills so large a place in the early annals of Florida and +the West Indies. He took to the sea in boyhood, and became one of the +most expert navigators of Spain. At the age of thirty he was captain of +his own ship, and it was one of the most active and efficient vessels +among all that guarded and convoyed the treasure ships and fleets of the +Spanish Main. At that time he warned the government of Hispaniola and +also that of Mexico of the grave danger of letting the French get any +foothold upon those shores, or even of navigating those waters. The +Bahama Channel, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea should all, he +insisted, be declared and kept closed seas, into which no vessels but +those of Spain should enter save by special license.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/ill_199aviles.png" width="200" height="255" alt="PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES." /> +<span class="caption">PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES.</span> +</div> + +<p>Menendez was, moreover, an ardent and indeed fanatical Catholic, who +deemed it a duty to extirpate "Lutheran dogs," as he termed the French +Huguenots and other Protestants; and as most of the French seamen and +foreign adventurers at that time were of the Huguenot faith, he +cherished a special animosity against them.</p> + +<p>Now, his recommendations to the governments of Hispaniola and Mexico +were transmitted to Seville and were laid before the King. Charles was +at that time weary of royal cares and was about to resign them, and he +paid<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">{200}</a></span> little or no attention to the letters of the young captain. But +when Philip II came to the throne, attention was given to them. That +painstaking monarch read them and was much struck by them, both in their +warning of military danger from the French and in their zealous +animosity against heretics. Their writer was evidently, he thought, a +man after his own heart. So he sent for Menendez, talked with him, and +commissioned him to be the guardian of the highway to the Indies, with +the title of captain-general. It was his function to guard Spanish +treasure ships all the way across the Atlantic, from Mexico to Spain, as +he had formerly guarded them in the narrow seas about the Indies. It was +thus that he was serving during a part of Mazariegos's administration in +Cuba, and in that capacity he spent much time at Havana. On one or two +occasions he took charge of the few little vessels which formed +Mazariegos's navy, and did good service with them. At this time, also, +he wrote to the King about the increasing ravages and peril of French +privateers in those waters, very much as he had written to the local +governments years before.</p> + +<p>The result was that the King in March, 1565, appointed him to be +Adelantado of Florida, and captain-general of the Spanish fleet in that +part of the world specially commissioned to guard the coasts and ports +of the Indies. That was six months before Osorio became governor of +Cuba.</p> + +<p>The commission of Menendez bade him to "guard the coasts and ports of +the Indies." Very well. Cuba was certainly one of the Indies. Therefore +he was commissioned to guard the ports and coasts of Cuba. Being +familiar with Cuba, and recognizing its very great importance, he +naturally deemed the guarding of that island as one of the very first of +his duties. Mazariegos did not demur, since he was himself soon to +retire from the governorship. But when Osorio came to Havana six months +later, and found Menendez in command of all that pertained to harbor and +coast defence, there was trouble.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">{201}</a></span> Osorio asserted his rights and +authority as governor of Cuba. Menendez replied with an assertion of his +as captain-general "to guard the coasts and ports."</p> + +<p>The first clash came because Menendez interpreted his jurisdiction as +extending to fortifications on land as well as to shipping; which we +must regard as extreme if not overstrained. He assumed direction of the +garrison of Havana, and had two hundred men sent thither from a large +detachment which was sent to Florida. As La Fuerza was not yet finished +sufficiently to accommodate them, houses were hired to receive them. +Osorio was not notified in advance that they were coming, or that they +had arrived; and after they were there they refused to regard his +authority but took orders solely from Baltazar Barreda, a captain whom +Menendez had assigned to their command. Presently Barreda took charge of +La Fuerza and began moving thither the artillery, including the four +pieces which Osorio had brought with him from Spain. Osorio +remonstrated, saying that the fort was not yet sufficiently completed +for use. Barreda defied his authority, and was sustained by Menendez, +who happened to be in Havana at the time. The governor yielded, for the +time. But as soon as Menendez was out of the city he clapped Barreda +into jail, after a violent physical struggle, and appointed Pedro de +Redroban to the command of the fort in his stead. News of this reached +Menendez and he hastened back and released Barreda. As for Redroban, he +and half a dozen of his men fled to the woods, in well-founded fear of +Menendez.</p> + +<p>Now, Redroban was one of Menendez's soldiers, just as much as Barreda, +and was probably as loyal to him as Barreda. But he had deemed it +incumbent upon himself to obey the commands of the governor of the +island. Nevertheless, Menendez charged Osorio with having incited mutiny +in the garrison, and he denounced Redroban as a deserter and traitor, +who should be captured and put to death, and his head exhibited in the +market-place with an inscription proclaiming him a traitor to the King +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">{202}</a></span> disobedient to his commander. Redroban and some of his comrades +were captured, tried, and condemned to death; but on appeal to the crown +their sentences were commuted. Menendez then ordered Barreda to set the +garrison at work digging a moat about the fort, and demanded picks and +shovels from the governor for the purpose. These Osorio refused to +supply, and Barreda thereupon secured them from the people of the town. +Still another cause of friction was found in the coming to Cuba of many +men, both civilians and runaway soldiers, from Florida. These Osorio +received and sent to the interior of Cuba to engage in agriculture. +Menendez complained that Osorio was inciting and assisting desertions +from Florida; and Osorio bitterly replied that affairs were so bad in +Florida under Menendez's rule that people had to flee from the place to +save their lives from starvation and pestilence.</p> + +<p>Whatever were the general merits of the controversy between the two men, +it was certain from the beginning that Menendez would win. He had the +higher official rank, and he enjoyed the special favor of the King. More +and more he made Havana his headquarters, preferring it to any port on +the Florida coast; to which it was, of course, naturally much superior. +More and more, too, he assumed authority in Havana, not alone in +military but even in civil affairs. More and more Osorio was ignored. +And as Menendez had the stronger force of men, and was backed by the +approval and favor of the King, it was in vain that Osorio resented the +slights which were heaped upon him.</p> + +<p>Matters reached their climax in the matter of further fortifications. +Osorio wanted to build a sea wall in front of the city, such as the +engineer Sanchez had planned years before, at the beginning of +Mazariegos's administration. Menendez curtly dismissed that scheme, and +commissioned his son-in-law, Pedro de Valdes, with some other officers +from Florida, to survey the waterfront of the city and recommend +additional fortifications. They re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">{203}</a></span>ported that it would be folly to +build a sea wall, and that all that was needed was a round tower, about +thirty-seven feet high, on the headland opposite the Morro, on which +latter an observation tower had already been erected. Valdes suggested +that the tower might be built by the garrison of La Fuerza, at no cost, +if the governor would provide the materials. This Osorio refused to do. +He had no money for such a purpose, and no authority to spend any for +it. Moreover, he condemned the plan of thus dividing the garrison, +holding that it would be far better to finish La Fuerza and concentrate +all the forces there. The outcome of it was, therefore, that the +proposed Punta Castle had to be for the time abandoned; Menendez +perforce contenting himself with some earth-works on Punta, in which he +placed a couple of cannons.</p> + +<p>At the same time other friction arose at Santiago, a place which could +not yet be altogether neglected. Menendez's attention was called to that +place by having one of his own ships chased into Santiago harbor by a +French privateer. The captain of that ship reported to him that Santiago +had a fine harbor but practically no defences. A fort had indeed been +begun on the headland at one side of the harbor entrance, but had not +been finished, and the sea wall for which the people had petitioned had +not been started. Menendez thereupon sent thither a company of fifty men +with four cannon, under command of Captain Godoy; without, of course, +consulting Osorio as governor of the island.</p> + +<p>This force remained there about three months, in the summer of 1567. It +saw nothing of French privateers, or of any menace of an attack upon the +town. But it did see a good deal of merchant ships of various nations, +French, Scottish and Portuguese, which came thither with slaves and +merchandise, but which seldom ventured in for fear of Godoy and his men. +For such trade with foreigners, and particularly with those who were or +were suspected to be heretics was strictly forbidden. Godoy and his men +were therefore most unwelcome visitors, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">{204}</a></span> the merchants and people of +Santiago, and to the lieutenant of the governor, Martin de Mendoza. It +was suspected, not without reason, that Osorio had sent word to Mendoza +to antagonize Godoy as much as possible. At any rate, one day a +particularly big French merchant vessel came into the harbor; Godoy +rallied his men to the battery near the wharf, to prevent it from +landing its cargo; and Mendoza arrested Godoy and sent him to jail, +where he kept him until the cargo had been discharged and another taken +on in its place, amid the jubilations of the people. Then Godoy was +released, with profound apologies for the error which had been committed +in arresting him!</p> + +<p>Godoy remained for some time thereafter at Santiago, though much against +his will. His superior officer commanded him to remain. But he sent an +appeal for relief to the Supreme Court of Hispaniola, with the result +that Mendoza was removed from office, in the winter of 1557-58. This was +a relief to both Mendoza and Godoy, though it did not make their +feelings less bitter. On Palm Sunday the two met at church, Mendoza +accompanied by his wife and Godoy by a friend named Cordoba. The latter +two grossly insulted both Mendoza and his wife, then ran into the church +for security from chastisement, forcibly resisted arrest, and committed +acts of sacrilege. They were finally overpowered, and on being brought +to trial before the local court were condemned, Godoy to be hanged and +his body quartered, and Cordoba to be flogged and sent to the galleys. +The sentence was executed, Godoy being hanged on a gallows at the door +of the church the sanctity of which he had violated. When Menendez heard +of this he was furious. He instituted proceedings against Mendoza and +the local alcaldes at Santiago, charging them with conspiracy to destroy +Godoy so that their illegal traffic with Frenchmen and other foreigners +would not be molested. Mendoza thought it prudent to remove to +Carthagena, in New Granada, for fear of personal violence; whence he +proceeded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">{205}</a></span> to Spain, where he was acquitted of all the charges which +Menendez had made against him.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the governorship of Osorio had ended. Early in 1567, at the +time when the controversy arose over the sea wall and the Punta +fortifications, he had realized that his usefulness as governor was +ended, and had asked the King to accept his resignation; declaring that +his presence there was no longer of value to his majesty. In August, +1567, the King appointed Diego de Santillan to be governor in his stead, +and commissioned him to investigate Osorio's stewardship, and +particularly to bring him to trial on certain charges of false arrest +and cruelty to a prisoner. But just as Santillan was about to embark for +Cuba, in October, 1567, his commission was revoked and Menendez was +appointed governor of Cuba in his stead. It has been said that this +appointment was made by the fanatical King to show his approval and +appreciation of Menendez's act on September 20, 1565, when he massacred +the French garrison of Fort Caroline, Florida, "not as Frenchmen but as +Lutherans."</p> + +<p>Menendez was not able, however, as Adelantado of Florida, to reside +permanently in Cuba, or indeed to spend much time there; wherefore it +was arranged that a lieutenant governor should be the actual +administrator in his stead. The man chosen was Francisco Zayas, a +lawyer, who had been selected by the King to be lieutenant governor with +Santillan. He reached Havana in July, 1568, and at once assumed the +office which Osorio was glad to relinquish. It cannot be said that he +was greatly welcomed by the people of Havana or of any part of Cuba, +since it was assumed that he would be a mere puppet acting for Menendez, +and it was feared that Menendez would use Cuba as a mere stepping stone +or adjunct to Florida, draining it of men and resources for the benefit +of the larger province on the continent. This apprehension, happily, was +not realized.</p> + +<p>Osorio personally had cause for fear. Zayas was commissioned to conduct +the investigation into his affairs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">{206}</a></span> and there was every reason to +suppose that Menendez would compel him to make the inquest as drastic as +possible and to impose the heaviest possible penalties for any +misdemeanors which might be proved against him. But Zayas was after all +a just and reasonable man, who was not afraid to assert his independence +of Menendez, particularly since, as he pointed out, his commission as +lieutenant governor antedated that of Menendez as governor by two +months. Moreover the people of Havana, through dislike of Menendez and +fear of his policy, gave their strongest support to Osorio, testifying +in his behalf, and at the end sending a great memorial to the King, +signed by almost every man of consequence in Havana, petitioning for the +utmost possible favor for the governor. The result was that the lightest +of sentences was passed upon Osorio, two years after his actual +retirement from office.</p> + +<p>In dealing thus with Osorio, however, Zayas sealed his own fate. Nothing +that he could do thereafter pleased Menendez, while he was called upon +by the latter to do or to sanction things which offended his sense of +right. By the beginning of May, 1569, relations between them reached the +breaking point. Menendez caused the city council to protest that Zayas +had never filed the bond which was required of a lieutenant governor, +and to characterize this as a grave offence, indicating criminal intent. +Zayas thereupon resigned his office. Suits were instituted against him +and his wife in Spain, by Menendez, and he returned to the country to +meet them. He appears to have been successful in his defence, since the +King subsequently appointed him to be a judge in the Canary Islands.</p> + +<p>Menendez appointed in place of Zayas as lieutenant governor Diego de +Cabrera, who had filled that place under Osorio. His term of service was +short, however, and no fewer than five others succeeded him, one after +another, during the administration of Menendez. They were Diego de +Ribera; Pedro Menendez Marquez, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">{207}</a></span> nephew of Menendez; Juan de +Ynestrosa; Juan Alfonso de Nabia; and Sancho Pardo Osorio.</p> + +<p>Diego de Ribera, who served for a brief space under Menendez as +lieutenant-governor, was captain of the galleons, and was presently +commissioned for an expedition to Florida. He was succeeded by Pedro +Menendez Marquez, a nephew of Menendez. He was an accomplished navigator +and on that account was directed by his uncle to sound and chart the Old +Bahama Channel, a much-frequented route of commerce and approach to Cuba +from the north and east. To this undertaking he devoted only a few +weeks, but his observations were so exact, thorough and comprehensive +that the Council for the Indies, on receiving his charts, immediately +approved them and ordered them to be regarded as the authority for +navigation of those waters.</p> + +<p>The administration of Sancho Pardo Osorio was marked with much energy in +advancing the defences of Havana and in caring for the commerce which +frequented or touched at Cuban ports. The former work proceeded slowly, +because of the necessity of depending almost exclusively upon the local +community for aid. At this time also was effected the immensely +important reform of codifying the municipal ordinances. This work was +done under a commission of the Supreme Court by Dr. Alfonso Casares, of +Havana, who on January 14, 1577, presented the results of his labors to +a council consisting of Sancho Pardo, the Alcaldes Geronimo de Rojas +Avellaneda, and Alfonso Velasquez de Cuellar, and the Regidores Diego +Lopez Duran, Juan Bautista de Rojas, Baltasar de Barreda, Antonio Recio, +and Rodrigo Carreņo. The code was unanimously approved by them, and it +remained in force and active practice until the War of Independence in +1898.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">{208}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h3> + +<p>M<span class="smcap">enendez</span> was governor of Cuba for a little more than six years, from +October 24, 1567, to December 13, 1573. Those were important years for +the world at large. They saw the Duke of Alva, as governor of the +Netherlands, establish there the Bloody Tribunal, and in return the +"Beggars of the Sea" engage in their indomitable campaigns against the +oppressor, extending even to the coasts of Cuba. Spain engaged in a +great war with the Ottoman Turks. France had the second and third civil +wars, culminating in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. Elizabeth of +England fully committed herself to the Protestant cause and was +excommunicated by the Pope. Mary of Scotland fled from her throne and +was succeeded by young James VI.</p> + +<p>Menendez, more a statesman of world-wide vision than any of his +predecessors, was not unmindful of these transactions, or of the far +greater events which they portended, and he strove after his fashion to +prepare Cuba for her part in great affairs. He realized that in the wars +of the European powers their American possessions were increasingly +likely to become implicated. Despite his utmost efforts, various other +nations sent vessels to West Indian waters, to harry the fleets of +Spain. The numbers of such intruders were increasing. His utmost efforts +had not been sufficient to drive the French away and to keep them away. +Now others than the French began to appear. The "Sea Beggars" of the +Netherlands were daring navigators and formidable fighters, and they +began to prowl around the coasts of Cuba. English captains had found +their way to the Spanish Main, and Hawkins made his way to Vera Cruz, +and Drake plundered Nombre de Dios.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">{209}</a></span></p> + +<p>Finding himself unable to protect the Spanish treasure ships and to keep +all enemies away from West Indian waters, Menendez sought at least to +make Cuba secure against invasion, or its capital—for such Havana was +about to become in name as well as in fact—secure against capture and +looting by buccaneers. To this work he gave his chief attention, and, +above all else, to the completion of La Fuerza. The rebuilding of that +fortification dragged scandalously. Sometimes it was for lack of money, +sometimes for lack of workmen. Menendez told the Council for the Indies +that in its unfinished state it was an actual menace to the town, +because a hostile force could easily land and capture it, and having +done this, they could quickly complete it and make it almost impregnable +against any attempt to drive them out. He did not explain why he could +not complete it as quickly as an invading force could, but he asked for +a force of three hundred negro slaves to work on it. With them, he said, +it would be possible to finish the fort in two years. The Council was +not favorably impressed. It could not understand how a few score +buccaneers, landing and seizing the fort, could finish it in a few days, +while it would take Menendez with three hundred slaves two years to do +the work.</p> + +<p>Diego de Ribera, as Acting Governor, also took up the matter. The fort +was already sufficiently advanced to permit him to mount eight pieces of +artillery, but he wanted twenty more. Also, he wanted a large permanent +garrison of professional soldiers. It was unsatisfactory to have to +depend upon a rallying of the citizens, because it interfered with the +occupations of the citizens, because they were not expert in arms, and +because when they were summoned not more than half their number +responded, so that the commander never knew how many he could depend +upon. There should, he urged, be a permanent garrison of two hundred +men, under the command of the governor. Of course such a garrison could +not be furnished by the town itself, because there were not in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">{210}</a></span> +Havana more than two hundred fighting men, all told. This gives, by the +way, a hint concerning the rapid growth of the place at the time of +Mazariegos. A town containing two hundred men capable of bearing arms +must have had a total population approximating two thousand.</p> + +<p>Ribera's arguments and appeals appear to have been more effective than +those of Menendez. The Council for the Indies, and the King, too, +ordered practical steps to be taken for finishing and equipping the +building which had so long been neglected. As Cuba, or perhaps +especially the port of Havana, was of no great importance to the Spanish +colonies on the mainland, for the safeguarding of their shipping, and +also as Cuba had been so drained of men and supplies in former years for +the exploitation of colonies on the main land, it was but justice as it +was a matter of practical convenience and expediency for the government +to call upon Mexico and Castilla del Oro to contribute largely to the +payment of the cost of fortifying Havana. That place was a little later +called, by royal decree, "Llave del Nuevo Mundo y Antemural de las +Indias Occidentales," or Key of the New World and Bulwark of the West +Indies. Certainly it was fitting that the New World should pay for its +key and that the Indies should pay for their bulwark.</p> + +<p>So Mexico was required to contribute four thousand ducats, and Florida +to provide fifty good men to form the garrison of La Fuerza. The cost of +maintaining the garrison was charged against Venezuela and Darien. The +providing of labor was a more difficult matter. It seemed to be settled +that negro slave labor must be employed. In order to secure it at little +cost it was proposed to give slave-traders the privilege of taking as +many slaves as they pleased to Cuba, provided that they would lend them +to the government to work on La Fuerza until its completion; after which +they might be sold or otherwise disposed of at the traders' will. The +objection to this from the traders' point of view was the length of time +that it was expected to take to finish the fort. The gov<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">{211}</a></span>ernment +estimated it at three years. Now the traders would have been willing +thus to lend their slaves for a shorter time, for six months, or for a +year. But they considered three years entirely too long. After working +for so long a time, under a rigorous taskmaster, the average slave would +be so nearly worn out that his value would be much impaired. So that +scheme failed.</p> + +<p>The next plan for getting labor for the fort was disastrous. A contract +was made with a trader to provide three hundred negro slaves, by the end +of 1572. He did deliver 191 of them in the summer of that year, and +later sent the rest but they never got further than Hispaniola. The 191 +whom he did deliver were, however, infected with small pox. A number of +them died of that plague after their arrival at Havana, and the +contagion got abroad in the city with the result that many other slaves +and a number of the Spaniards also perished from it. Still, enough of +the slaves in that plague-stricken cargo survived to cause the +authorities of Havana much embarrassment in feeding and clothing them. +Agriculture was not yet receiving the attention which it deserved, and +even a hundred or a hundred and fifty more mouths to feed overtaxed the +local resources. Requisition was therefore made upon the government of +Yucatan to send a sufficient supply of corn and meat to feed the slaves, +while the king himself undertook to clothe them. He was led to do this +in a way which strikingly indicates the limitations of Philip's mind. To +all appeals for clothing for their comfort or for decent appearance's +sake, he was deaf. But when it represented to him that they must have +clothes in order to be able to attend mass, he at once ordered them to +be clad from his royal bounty!</p> + +<p>More money was needed, and was raised in various ways. An examiner went +about the island, looking into the accounts of public officials. +Generally he found that there was something due to the state from them. +Of the money thus collected, nearly all, to the amount of nearly four +thousand pesos, was devoted to the costs of the fort.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">{212}</a></span> Other funds were +taken for the purpose, and when there was still a deficit it was +actually proposed to sell some of the slaves to pay for the maintenance +of the rest. This counsel of despair was not, however, acted upon. +Instead, Sancho Pardo Osorio when acting governor, near the end of +Menendez's administration, advanced much money from his own purse, +trusting to the government to reimburse him. Another draft of four +thousand ducats was finally obtained from Mexico, and smaller sums came +from Venezuela and Darien. Thus the enterprise dragged on, until the +summer of 1573 found the fort still far from finished, the builders of +it heavily in debt for labor, materials and maintenance, and the +garrison, workmen, and citizens of Havana all profoundly dissatisfied.</p> + +<p>Naturally, and inevitably, this state of affairs reflected upon +Menendez, and compassed his downfall. He was not merely governor of +Cuba. He was Adelantado of Florida, and he gave to Florida his first +thought and chief attention. He spent most of his time there, leaving +Cuban affairs to be administered by acting governors of his own +selection. This was altogether unsatisfactory to the people of Cuba, and +especially of Havana. They wanted their governor to live among them, +where he would be accessible, and pay much more attention to them and +their interests. So they began agitating against him, and demanded a +governor who should not be Adelantado of Florida, nor subject to that +functionary. They did more than complain. They refused supplies. They +would not send to Florida the supplies which Menendez urgently needed +for his enterprises there. When the King reprimanded them and bade them +do their duty, they replied with surprising defiance that they wanted +payment, first, for supplies long ago furnished to the Havana garrison. +They also wanted to be relieved of the burden of being compelled to +guard or to watch the coast themselves, at their own cost for arms and +ammunition. They wanted these things done for them before they would +trouble<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">{213}</a></span> themselves for the furtherance of the Adelantado's enterprises +in Florida.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the Council for the Indies, at Seville, was also unfriendly to +Menendez. Tired of the delay in building La Fuerza, it recommended to +the king his removal in favor of someone who would more vigorously +expedite that essential work. It was the bitter irony of fate that he +should thus be condemned for failing to do the very thing upon which he +had most set his heart to do. The Council also condemned him for faults +of administration which were due, it held, to his personal neglect +through absence from the island, and it therefore urged that a governor +be appointed in his place who would spend his time chiefly in Cuba and +would give to that island and its interests his first and best thoughts. +These representations were made to the King as early as the spring of +1571, and they had much weight with him.</p> + +<p>The sequel was that in 1572 Menendez was recalled to Spain, and was +commissioned for a work similar to that in which he had first won +distinction, to wit, the protection of Spanish commerce against hostile +privateers; only it was not now the commerce between Spain and Mexico +which he was to safeguard in the West Indian seas, but that between +Spain and the Netherlands, along the coast of France and in the British +Channel. In that capacity he was commander of a considerable fleet, and +the work was doubtless in itself congenial to him, and one which he was +well fitted to perform with success. But his heart was set on Florida, +with which he aspired to be identified as Cortez had been with Mexico +and Pizarro with Peru; and he bitterly lamented his being so far +separated from that country.</p> + +<p>So far as his governorship of Cuba was concerned, which is all in which +we need here be interested, he had at this time reached the beginning of +the end. The king decided to remove him from that office, though +probably not so much to get rid of him there as to be able to keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">{214}</a></span> his +valuable talents continually employed nearer home. He had decided that +Menendez was of more value to him as a captain of his fleet than as a +civil administrator. Accordingly at the beginning of 1573 Alfonso de +Caceres Ovando, a temporarily retired judge of the Supreme Court of +Hispaniola, was commissioned to make the customary investigation of +Menendez's administration. He was not, however, appointed to succeed +Menendez as governor, but the latter was left for the time in office. +This was a mark of the high favor in which Menendez was held by the +king; and another token to the same effect was the provision that +Menendez need not personally appear to answer any charges which might be +made against him, but might, if he preferred, send an attorney in his +stead. A third and perhaps still more notable indication of royal favor +was in the fact that when Menendez elected not to appear in person, and +not to send an attorney, but to ignore the whole investigation, he was +not called to task, but was permitted to go without so much as a +reprimand.</p> + +<p>The investigation did not take place until November, 1573. Though brief +it was thorough and searching. But it disclosed little that was to the +discredit of Menendez, and nothing that was really serious. He seems to +have been a somewhat gloomy and cruel fanatic, but a man of integrity +and singular loyalty to his sovereign and his faith. He was zealous and +energetic, but better fitted to command a ship or a fleet, or indeed an +army, than to govern a state. Yet in both respects he failed. His chief +concern in Cuba, as we have seen, was to promote her military defences; +but he left La Fuerza incomplete, while the inestimable economic +potentialities of the island were altogether neglected. So in Florida, +he aimed at conquest with the sword and little else; and while he +succeeded in holding the land against French assaults and intrigues, he +did not develop there a colony comparable with those which were being +developed elsewhere in the New World; and he had the mortification of +seeing, in the closing years of his life, French, Dutch and British +priva<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">{215}</a></span>teers swarming in defiance of him the seas which Spain claimed for +her exclusive own.</p> + +<p>It was just a month after the beginning of the investigation into his +affairs that Menendez was superseded in office by the appointment as +governor of Cuba of Don Gabriel Montalvo. This gentleman was a nobleman +of great distinction in Spain. He was a Knight of the Order of Saint +James, and he was also high sheriff of the Court of the Holy Inquisition +in the city of Granada. The latter office indicates him to have been a +man after the King's own heart. It remains to be added that Menendez +returned to Spain after being superseded, and died there a few months +later, at Santander; men said, of a broken heart at the enforced +abandonment of his ambitions in Florida.</p> + +<p>Little either attractive or grateful is to be found in the record of the +condition of Cuba during the administration of Menendez, or as he left +it to his successor. Rich as the island was in agricultural +possibilities—it might well have been said of Cuba as Douglas Jerrold +said of Australia, "Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a +hoe and she laughs with a harvest"—and few as were its inhabitants, it +yet produced not enough to feed those few. It produced nothing with +which to clothe them. After the decline of gold mining, the raising of +cattle became the chief industry; chiefly for their hides, which were an +important article of export. Bayamo was the centre of this industry, and +was also the centre of a thriving but illegitimate commerce.</p> + +<p>In fact the whole southeastern part of the Cuban coast was the resort of +contraband traders, who brought thither silks and linens, wines, and +sometimes cargoes of slaves, to exchange without paying tariff duties +for hides and the valuable woods with which Cuba abounded. No attempt +was made, at least with any efficiency, by the governor or the royal +officials at Havana to stop this lawless trade. Now and then, however, +the Supreme Court at Hispaniola interfered, arrested citizens of Bayamo, +Man<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">{216}</a></span>zanillo, and Santiago itself, and fined them heavily. Then the +government at Havana, which had done nothing to enforce the law, +remonstrated and protested against so much money being taken from Cuba +to Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>The island was, nevertheless, making some progress; appropriately enough +through a reversal of the conditions which had formerly involved it in +disaster. The Mexican adventure of Cortez had drawn away from Cuba men +and resources almost to the exhaustion of the island. But now that +country began sending men and means back to Cuba. Cortez had long been +dead, but under his successors the wealth of Mexico was being wondrously +developed, as was indeed that of Peru and other South American +countries. Some of the commerce between South America and Spain went by +other routes, though a considerable portion of it passed by the shores +of Cuba and utilized that island as a stopping place, to its material +benefit. But all the Mexican traffic followed the Cuban route, the most +of it passing along the north coast and making Havana a port of call or +of refuge. Florida, too, which had likewise drawn much from Cuba, was +now sending men and supplies back to the island.</p> + +<p>By 1575 Havana was the commercial metropolis of the West Indies, and it +had for some years been the practical capital of the island, though +Santiago continued nominally to enjoy that distinction until 1589. +Vessels from Vera Cruz, bearing the treasures of New Spain, and from +Nombre de Dios, laden with the wealth of Castilla del Oro and of Peru, +thronged the harbor, and contributed to the trade of the city. To meet +the requirements of the thousands of transient visitors, houses in the +city were multiplied in number, and plantations in the suburbs extended +their borders. The people began to realize how profitable a business was +to be conducted in providing supplies of food for the ships' companies. +And while the southeastern part of the island was, as we have seen, in a +backward condition, the northwestern part entered upon an era of +progress and prosperity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">{217}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h3> + +<p>D<span class="smcap">on</span> G<span class="smcap">abriel</span> M<span class="smcap">ontalvo</span> was appointed to be Governor of Cuba early in +December, 1573. As was the custom in those days, however, he delayed for +some time actual assumption of office, so that it was not until October +29, 1574, that he entered upon his duties. He was also charged with some +important duties in Florida, but they were subordinate to those in Cuba. +He made his home in the island and spent most of his time there. Indeed, +he seems to have planned to make his home at Santiago, and to restore +that place to its former prestige. On coming to Cuba he landed at +Manzanillo instead of coming to Havana, and sent Diego de Soto to be his +representative, practically deputy governor, at the latter place. From +Manzanillo he went straight to Santiago, refurbished the governor's +house and the public buildings, and began planning an elaborate system +of harbor defences worthy of the capital of the island. He was naturally +received with great joy by the people of Santiago and of the eastern end +of the island generally, who saw in him, as they thought, a promise of +restoration of that region to its former importance.</p> + +<p>From Santiago the governor set out on a tour of the eastern cities and +towns, and had got as far as Bayamo when there came a hurried and urgent +appeal for him to come to Havana. There was trouble in the city. Diego +de Soto, the deputy governor there, had made Gomez de Rojas commander of +La Fuerza—that reckless and truculent younger brother of Juan de Rojas +whom Governor Mazariegos had once exiled from the island for disorderly +if not criminal conduct. Now Gomez de Rojas was a land owner, and +therefore, under the law, ineligible thus to serve. But confiding in the +powerful influence of his family he ignored the law and held his place +in defiance<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">{218}</a></span> of all protests and demands for his retirement. The town +council demanded his retirement, and the populace of Havana raged +against him, but he shut himself up in the unfinished fort, trained his +guns against the town, and prepared to resist with force any attempt +which might be made by force to compel his resignation.</p> + +<p>Such was the emergency which sent a message post haste to the new +governor asking him to hasten to Havana. He came, and at his coming +Gomez de Rojas capitulated without a blow. Montalvo rebuked him severely +and imposed upon him a heavy fine, which was paid. But in this the +governor incurred the hostility of the Rojas family. The feud was taken +up by Juan Bautista de Rojas, who had succeeded his cousin Juan de +Ynestrosa, deceased, as royal treasurer. This official charged the +governor with conniving with smugglers and receivers of smuggled goods, +and also with those who exported goods to countries with which traffic +was prohibited, and on that account demanded for himself the right to +inspect vessels and their cargoes; a function which had been exercised +by the governor.</p> + +<p>This demand was curtly rejected by Montalvo, who appears to have been a +stickler for dignity and technical rights. Thereupon De Rojas made +appeal to the King, coupling the appeal with a detailed and bitter +arraignment of the governor and an impeachment of his integrity. This +seems to have impressed the king deeply, for he presently decided the +controversy in favor of his own treasurer. He sent word to the governor +that thereafter he should not inspect or even visit ships, but should +leave that whole business in the hands of the royal treasurer. The +advantage thus gained was mercilessly pressed by the Rojas family, with +the purpose of compelling the retirement of Montalvo. They accused him +of employing for his own private work slaves belonging to the crown and +intended for employment on La Fuerza and other public works. They +charged him specifically with having made Bartolome Morales a notary for +a considera<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">{219}</a></span>tion of five hundred ducats; a transaction the evil of which +consisted not in selling the appointment for cash, but in selling it for +so little to a favored friend when it might have been sold to someone +else for twice as much. Finally he was accused of corruption and +maladministration in connection with La Fuerza, in that he had appointed +friends to places at exorbitant salaries, and that he had ignored the +suggestions of the royal officials in completing the plans of the fort.</p> + +<p>These charges were serious, and there is reason to think that some of +them, at least, were true. The Rojas family made them and repeated them +to the king, again and again, until that monarch was constrained to +remark that the time seemed to be near at hand when an investigation +would have to be ordered, and Montalvo's administration be brought to a +close. Nevertheless the king's favorable disposition toward Montalvo was +potent, and prevailed. The governor had been appointed, as was the +custom, for the specific term of four years, reckoned from the date of +his appointment and not of his actual assumption of office, and the king +delayed calling for an investigation until the four years were so nearly +expired that they would be entirely filled out by the time the +investigation was completed and a new governor was ready to take the +place.</p> + +<p>The order for the investigation was given in February, 1577, and at the +same time, on February 13, Captain Francisco Carreņo was named to +succeed Montalvo as governor. The investigation was vigorously +prosecuted, and some of the charges against Montalvo were proved. Yet so +great was the king's personal regard for him that he was permitted to go +with a nominal fine, and was retained in the royal service in important +capacities for some years thereafter. He remained governor of Cuba until +the accession of his successor, which did not occur until June 2, 1578.</p> + +<p>The administration of Montalvo was unfavorably marked by three things. +One was, the continuance of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">{220}</a></span> contraband trade already referred to, +in both imports and exports; in which, as already related, the governor +himself was charged with participating. Montalvo at any rate gave the +appearance of striving to suppress it. He sent agents to investigate the +business, some of whom found their own relatives engaged in it and +therefore refrained from reporting upon it, and some were prevented by +the people from executing that for which they had been sent. Not merely +the people, but the local officials all along the southeastern coast did +all in their power to hamper and prevent investigation or any +interference with the contraband trade. Indeed, alcaldes and other +officials were foremost among those engaged in the unlawful commerce.</p> + +<p>The second feature of the administration was the persistent ravages of +the French. Despite the fact that they were engaged in contraband trade +with the people of Cuba, the French were at this time the most frequent +raiders of Cuban coast towns; sometimes directing their attacks against +the very towns in which they had been peacefully trading, while the +people were quite ready at any time to trade with those who just before +had visited them with fire and sword and demands for ransom. It was a +curious circumstance that by far the most efficient guardian of Cuba +against such raids was that same Gomez de Rojas who had been exiled by +Mazariegos and who had illegally assumed command of La Fuerza and had +bitterly quarreled with Montalvo. After being compelled to leave La +Fuerza he had taken to seafaring, and as commander of a Spanish vessel +he drove more than one French privateer away from the neighborhood of +Havana.</p> + +<p>Montalvo was the first to urge that Cuba be protected not alone with +land fortifications and batteries but also by naval vessels. +Particularly he wished for a powerful war-galley, which the king did not +provide him. In 1576 French raiders attacked Santiago, and were with +difficulty repulsed; upon which Montalvo sarcastically reported that if +another such attack occurred he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">{221}</a></span> himself be relieved of the +necessity of fortifying the harbor and city of Santiago, for the place +would cease to exist. A little later a daring French raid was made upon +Spanish shipping just outside the harbor of Havana. This greatly +incensed Montalvo, and caused him to renew his pleadings for a galley. +He urged that the whole Cuban coast should be patrolled by light, swift +vessels, preferably frigates, and that strong galleys should be +stationed at the chief ports. He would have had the frigates, at any +rate, built in Cuba and at least partly paid for by that island; but the +Havana municipal council protested against this, demanding that Cuba be +entirely exempted from the costs of defending her from enemies. The +result was that in the lack of means of defence Cuba suffered more and +more from the ravages of privateers and freebooters, which became more +frequent as the island increased in population and wealth and thus +became better worth raiding.</p> + +<p>The third unfavorable feature of the time was the haggling over La +Fuerza. Begun by De Soto, and later almost entirely rebuilt, that famous +fortress seemed to be under some malign spell which made it a source of +injury rather than of benefit to Havana. Year after year passed, +appropriation after appropriation was made and expended, and still it +remained unfinished. Man after man undertook the task of completing it, +only to fail and lose his personal reputation either for efficiency or +for honesty. Moreover, as the work proceeded grave faults were +developed, both in plan and in construction. The fort, which at first +had been denounced as needlessly large, was seen to be entirely too +small to shelter a garrison sufficient for the defence of Havana. The +original design had been to make it a shelter to which all the people of +the town could flee in case of attack, and it might have served this +purpose at a time when the people of Havana were numbered by scores, or +at most by a hundred or two. But with the figures extending into +thousands it became evident that La Fuerza was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">{222}</a></span> entirely inadequate to +any such purpose. Indeed, it was realized that that design was +ill-conceived, for if the place was to grow into a considerable city it +would be impracticable and undesirable to make any fortification large +enough to hold all the population.</p> + +<p>The construction was also faulty. The fort was built of stone, but there +had thoughtlessly been chosen for the purpose a stone which had the +advantages of being plentiful and so soft as to be easily worked. +Unhappily it had also the very serious disadvantages of being so soft +that it would probably soon be battered to fragments by cannon balls, +and of being so porous that water soaked into and through it as through +a sponge. During the rainy season the place was flooded, water standing +in pools on the floor, and the magazine being so wet that gunpowder +could not be kept there without spoiling; wherefore another building, of +wood, had to be provided for that purpose. The same kind of stone was +used, moreover, for the reservoir which was to provide fort and city +with water, with the result that its contents quickly leaked out. There +arose a proverbial saying in the city that the powder magazine was +always wet and the water reservoir was always dry; and it was +sarcastically proposed that the functions of the two be exchanged. The +powder would be kept dry in the reservoir, and there would always be +plenty of water in the magazine! Nor was this the only error in +construction. The whole structure was said to be dangerously weak, so +that if all its guns should be fired simultaneously, the shock might +tumble the walls into ruin. The guns were available for use in only a +narrow zone; they were of too short range to carry to the other +extremity of the harbor, and they were so placed that they could not be +depressed so as to hit vessels which had come close in toward the water +front of the city. Therefore a hostile ship with long range guns could +lie out of reach of La Fuerza and bombard the fort and city at will. Or +one could sail swiftly in, running the gantlet of the narrow<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">{223}</a></span> zone of +fire, and gain a place under the walls of the fort where it would be +quite safe for the guns of the latter while it could use its own at +short range with deadly effect. It was also complained that the parapet +was too low to afford shelter to the men serving the guns, and that the +four big wooden gates were a source of fatal weakness.</p> + +<p>It was presently perceived, too, that fortifications elsewhere than in +the heart of the city were needed for adequate defence of the place. +Especially were such works needed at the headlands commanding the +entrance to the harbor. Without them, a daring enemy might seize one of +those spots, bring up some long range guns from his ships, and have not +only Havana but La Fuerza itself at his mercy. Montalvo appears to have +recognized this need, and to have urged the construction of such forts, +especially on the Cabaņas hill, but to no avail. Instead, the royal +government proposed the construction of a strong wall around the entire +city, including the water front. It actually ordered that work to be +undertaken, the first step being to destroy a large part of the city, +including the church, to make room for the wall. Against this suicidal +policy Montalvo effectively protested, declaring that if the city were +thus demolished it would never be rebuilt, and also pointing out that +the day of walled cities was past. In the face of his representations +the wall scheme was abandoned; but his wise suggestions of forts +commanding the harbor were not acted upon until years afterward.</p> + +<p>It is to be recorded to his credit that Montalvo gave more attention +than his immediate predecessors had done to development of some of the +natural resources of the island. He interested himself in forestry, and +soon had an immense trade in timber and lumber between Cuba and Spain. +The exquisite cabinet work of the Escurial, in Spain, was made of wood +from the forests of Cuba—mahogany, ebony, ironwood, cedar, and what +not. Wood was supplied for other purposes, too, notably for +ship-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">{224}</a></span>building. It was at this time that interest arose in the great +island just off the southern coast, which at that time was so richly +clad with pine forests as to receive from Montalvo on that account its +present name of "Isle of Pines." During the administration of Menendez +the whole island was granted to Alfonso de Rojas for a cattle range, a +purpose for which it was admirably adapted, and there are legends to the +effect that the water between the Isle of Pines and Cuba was at times so +shallow as to make it possible to drive herds of cattle across from the +one land to the other. It is to be observed, in passing, that thus early +in history was the Isle of Pines recognized as an integral part of Cuba.</p> + +<p>Montalvo also did much to promote agriculture, and the raising of swine. +He endeavored to revive interest in both gold and copper mining, and +seems to have been persuaded that there were enormously rich deposits of +the former metal hidden somewhere on the island, in places known only to +the natives. He strove diligently and persistently to get from the few +surviving Indians information concerning these mines, but in vain. If +the Indians knew, they would not tell; but it seems altogether probable +that they did not know, and that no such mineral wealth existed on the +island.</p> + +<p>It was in Montalvo's time, too, that what was destined to become Cuba's +greatest industry had its permanent establishment. At various times and +places thitherto men had experimented with sugar growing and +manufacture, with varying degrees of success. But every such undertaking +had after a while been abandoned, either for lack of profit or because +of the superior attractions of something else. It was not until 1576 +that plantations were established which were never to be abandoned but +were to continue in cultivation down to this present time, and that +sugar mills of similar permanence were put into operation. The scene of +this epochal enterprise was the region around Havana, particularly +between Havana and Matanzas. There in the year named at least three +mills<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">{225}</a></span> were established, a fact indicating that a considerable area was +planted in cane. These mills were of the most primitive description, +each consisting of three wooden rollers, formed of logs of trees denuded +of the bark, mounted in a rude frame of timber, and caused to revolve by +a long pole of which one end was fastened to the end of one of the +upright rollers while to the other was hitched a mule or an ox, which +walked in a circle around the "mill." The expressed juice was caught in +trays or jars of earthenware, and then was boiled in open pans. The +sugar thus produced was not refined beyond the stage of what would now +be considered a very coarse brown sugar, but it served the uses of the +island. It does not appear that any considerable quantity was exported +until a number of years later. These primitive establishments in 1576 +were, however, the beginning of Cuba's gigantic sugar industry.</p> + +<p>One other incident of Montalvo's administration must be recalled, to +wit, his quarrel with the church, or at least with the Bishop. Diego +Sarmiento, who became Bishop in De Soto's time, had been gathered to his +fathers, and had been succeeded by Bishop Durango. The latter had in +turn died, and in 1560 had been succeeded by Bernardino de Villapando, +who spent only three years in the island and then departed for Mexico +under unpleasant charges of embezzlement of funds. The charges against +him do not appear to have been pressed, nor did they affect his standing +in the church, for he was presently transferred to the then much more +important see of Guatemala. Moreover, despite the charges made against +him, he was recognized as a most energetic and successful prelate. He +established many mission stations throughout the island, and expedited +the completion of the cathedral at Santiago.</p> + +<p>Upon his promotion to Guatemala after three years' service Bishop +Villapando was succeeded by Juan de Burgos, who continued with much +success the work of his predecessor. He secured the erection of a large +church<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">{226}</a></span> school on the site now occupied by the Hospital of San Juan de +Dios, at Havana, and there the famous missionary preachers and teachers, +Juan Roger and Francisco Villaroel, gave instruction to Indian youths in +the Christian religion and in the Spanish tongue. In connection with +this school there was built the church of San Juan de Dios, and from the +establishment thus founded by Bishop Burgos grew the first hospital in +Havana. It took originally the form of a military hospital, for the +soldiers of the Havana garrison and for soldiers in transit to or from +Florida, Mexico and other places. It is recorded that for his work +Bishop Burgos depended entirely upon the offerings of the people; +demonstrating what could be accomplished by an honest and businesslike +administrator.</p> + +<p>The next Bishop of Cuba was Pedro del Castillo, who came to the island +from the University of Salamanca. He was a most aggressive and strenuous +prelate, with policies of his own and with the courage to enforce them. +Arriving in Cuba in 1570, he glanced at Santiago when he landed there, +crossed the island to Havana, where he spent a little time, and then +proceeded to Bayamo, where he established his home, preferring that to +any other city of Cuba. He then laid claim to the island of Jamaica as a +part of his bishopric, and succeeded in carrying that point despite the +opposition of the Archbishop at Hispaniola. Then he complained that the +royal officials were not properly collecting the tithes, or at any rate +were not paying him his proper revenue; wherefore he himself began +collecting the tithes. This brought him into conflict with the crown, a +circumstance which did not alarm him nor swerve him from his course. He +made a number of appointments of the clergy under him which he deemed to +be for the good of their parishes but which made him unpopular with +them. Also he incurred much unpopularity among the people by his +insistence upon certain reforms in their morals.</p> + +<p>This strenuous policy presently led Castillo into <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">{227}</a></span>conflict with +Montalvo. The Governor thought that the Bishop ought to reside at +Santiago, where were his official residence and also the Cathedral. +Castillo refused to do so, on the nominal ground that he considered +Santiago an unhealthful spot. There is reason to suspect, however, that +he preferred Bayamo because of certain very rich legacies which had been +left years before for the erection of a masonry church and parochial +school at that place. The provisions of these wills had not been carried +out, and the strenuous Bishop set himself to the task of finding out why +the church and school had not been built, and of getting possession of +the legacies and administering them himself. In the litigation which +ensued he quarrelled with Montalvo so bitterly that he excommunicated +him; an act which the governor did not take greatly to heart. The strife +between the two accentuated, however, the antagonism between church and +state which was even at that early time beginning to prevail.</p> + +<p class="caphead"><a name="SAN_FRANCISCO_CHURCH" id="SAN_FRANCISCO_CHURCH">SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH</a></p> +<p class="caption">One of the most ancient of the many ecclesiastical edifices in Havana, +built in 1575 and rebuilt in 1731, and presenting a singularly perfect +and characteristic example of ancient Spanish architecture. In late +years it was used by the Government for a custom house, and post office. +The illustration presents it in its earlier aspect with its former +surroundings restored.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<a href="images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch.png"> +<img src="images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch_th.png" width="650" height="421" alt="SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH" /> +</a></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">{228}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h3> + +<p>I<span class="smcap">t</span> would be easy for the reflective historian to engage in many +interesting and pertinent observations concerning the time in which +Captain Francisco Carreņo became governor of Cuba. It was the year 1577. +That was the year in which the sixth religious war in France began, a +struggle which made inevitable the still greater religious wars which +followed, in which not merely two factions in France but the two great +powers of Spain and England were the chief belligerents. That was the +year, too, in which Sir Francis Drake began his voyage around the world, +which was perhaps the most momentous since that of Columbus in 1492, +since it led directly to the strife between Spain and England in +America, the English conquest of Cuba, the foundation of the English +colonies in North America, and the subsequent development of the United +States; all having the most direct and important bearing upon the +fortunes of Cuba.</p> + +<p>Albeit he was a native of that city of Cadiz in the harbor of which +Drake performed one of his most daring and most famous feats, Carreņo +probably entered upon his governorship with no premonitions of what was +in store. While Drake was furrowing the strange expanses of the South +Sea, it was French privateers that chiefly troubled the Spanish Main and +menaced the ports of Cuba. Their favorite cruising ground was in the +waters between Cuba and Jamaica, and between Cuba and Hispaniola, and +their menace to Cuba was chiefly to the ports between Cape Maysi and +Cape Cruz, and in the Gulf of Guacanabo. The chief sufferers, as also +the chief gainers from contraband trade, were Santiago, Manzanillo, and +the settlements at the mouth of the Guantanamo River. The people of +those places were never<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">{229}</a></span> sure whether an approaching French vessel was +bent on contraband trade or war and plunder; and indeed the Frenchman +himself sometimes left that question to be answered after he had landed +and viewed the place. He then decided which would be the more +profitable, to trade with the people or to plunder them. At times, too, +it must be confessed, the Spaniards were in similar uncertainty whether +to receive the French as traders or to slay them—if they could—as +enemies.</p> + +<p>Carreņo was the first governor of Cuba to die in office, his death +occurring on April 27, 1579. His administration thus lasted only two +years; but they were years filled with hard work on his part and with +much progress for the island. The sugar industry which had been founded +in the preceding administration prospered and expanded, and caused a +considerable increase in slave-holding. Negro slaves were the favorite +workmen on the plantations and at the mills, and a large number of them +was needed at each establishment. The increase in the number of slaves +caused, however, some anxiety lest there should be servile +insurrections, such as had occurred on the Isthmus of Panama, in Mexico +and elsewhere; so that in 1579 the government refused to permit any more +to be imported, even though they were wanted by the governor himself. It +is recorded that his personal request for a thousand negroes to work at +copper mining was refused by the King, or by the Council for the Indies.</p> + +<p>Anxiety was caused, also, by the increasing number of free negroes, and +of slaves who were practically free. Most of the entirely free negroes +had been slaves but had bought their freedom from their masters for +cash. This was not particularly difficult, since the market value of the +best negro slaves at that time was only from fifty to sixty pesos. Those +practically free were slaves who were permitted by their owners to live +where they pleased and work as they pleased, on condition of paying +their masters certain royalties every week or month. In <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">{230}</a></span>Carreņo's time +there were hundreds of negroes of these classes in and about Havana, and +probably still more of them in the eastern end of the island. The +anxiety concerning them arose from two causes. One was, the fear that +they might incite the slaves to insurrection, placing themselves at the +head of the movement; a fear which was not at that time realized. The +other was, the fear that they would build up objectionable communities. +Thus in Havana they occupied a quarter of the town by themselves, in +which their wooden cabins were huddled closely together; the sanitary +conditions were bad; and the danger of fire which might imperil the +whole town was obviously imminent. There was in Carreņo's time a +movement to procure their deportation to Florida or elsewhere, and to +forbid the residence of free negroes in Cuba; but it did not become +effective.</p> + +<p>It is agreeable to remember that in spite of the obviously objectionable +nature of the institution of slavery, and in spite of the fears and +anxieties which have been mentioned, negro slavery in Cuba in those +early days was not marked with the distressing features which it has +elsewhere borne. It was probably more humane than it was two and a half +centuries later in the United States. The slaves were seldom sold by one +master to another, and never in circumstances which separated husband +and wife, or parents and young children. Severe physical punishments +were prohibited. Their masters were compelled to feed them well, and to +provide them with decent and comfortable clothes. There was no personal +or social prejudice against them, but they were permitted to attend +church and to frequent all public places on equal terms with the +Spaniards. Ordinarily they were not permitted to carry weapons; but +those who occupation seemed to make it desirable for them to be armed, +such as cattle-rangers, and messengers travelling from one part of the +island to another, were permitted to bear arms just as white men would +have done. Moreover, the free negroes were called upon equally with the +whites to serve as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">{231}</a></span> sentinels on the water fronts of cities, and were of +course provided with arms. There are no authentic records of +intermarriage between Spaniards and negroes, yet neither is there any +proof that it did not occasionally occur. We have already seen that +amalgamation with the Indians was not unknown, and in other Spanish +colonies of those and later days there were some fusions with African +blood.</p> + +<p>What is chiefly to be remembered, however, is that negroes, although +enslaved, were regarded in Cuba as human beings, with immortal souls, no +less than their masters, and that they were invariably so treated. There +was no pretence that they were of an intrinsically inferior race, or +that they were suffering from the primaeval curse of Canaan or of Ham. +And when they gained their freedom and became educated, they were +treated socially and politically according to their merits, without +regard for the color of their skin.</p> + +<p>In the most literal sense, the administration of Carreņo was marked with +constructive statesmanship. As a statesman this Governor set about +enlarging and improving Havana and other cities, and providing them with +public and private buildings commensurate with the needs of an +increasing population. He laid out enough of the streets of Havana to +establish for all time the plan of that city. He encouraged the building +of houses, or at any rate discouraged the holding of town sites +unimproved, by making distributions of lots to all who wished them, on +condition that the owners would promptly build. If they did not build +within six months, their titles were forfeited. Another important reform +effected by him was the substitution of adobe or other masonry for wood +as building material. By the end of his administration fully half of the +houses in Havana had walls of masonry, and a considerable number had +also tiled roofs.</p> + +<p>It was Carreņo, too, who began the building of the first custom house in +Cuba, at Havana. The king had ordered Montalvo to undertake this +enterprise, but he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">{232}</a></span> appears to have taken no steps whatever in that +direction, not even selecting a site. Carreņo essayed the task with +characteristic energy. He selected an appropriate site, at the water +front and close to the principal wharf, where an excellent rock +foundation was to be found, and there he planned to erect a building of +solid masonry, seventy feet long and two stories high. The royal +government approved the plans, and the work was promptly entered upon.</p> + +<p>Finally, it was impossible that the new governor should not be seriously +concerned with La Fuerza. Carreņo found that long-delayed edifice +practically finished, according to the old plans; its though condition +was, as hitherto suggested, decidedly unsatisfactory. He began by +insisting upon clearing away all buildings of any kind close to the +fort. This had been ordered nearly a score of years before but had never +been done. The purpose was, of course, to strengthen the fort by leaving +no shelter near its walls which might harbor or facilitate the approach +of a hostile force. Then he insisted upon building an additional story +on La Fuerza. This he declared was necessary, for barracks for the +garrison, and for a storage place for gunpowder, the fort proper being +flooded more than half the time. Doubtless these needs were real, and +Carreņo intended to meet them with the new story. Yet it seems also to +have been his plan thus to secure for himself living quarters more +pleasant than the house which had been assigned to him for that purpose. +There was much opposition to his plans for enlarging La Fuerza, but he +persisted in them, and they were nearly completed at the time of his +death.</p> + +<p>During the administration of Governor Carreņo the question of the +distribution, proprietorship and use of land became of much social and +economic importance in Cuba. The population of the Island was still +small, and yet because of the immense size of the tracts which many +settlers had appropriated for cattle ranges nearly all the accessible +and available area had been taken up. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">{233}</a></span> eastern part of the Island +there was practically no unclaimed land left excepting that in the +mountains and some almost impenetrable swamps, and already many +controversies and not a few forcible conflicts had arisen over rival +claims. Thus far no private ownership of land was authorized outside of +building sites in the towns and cities. Cattle ranges and farms were +held under indefinite leases from the Crown, subject to forfeit if the +land were permitted to remain unoccupied and unused for the space of +three years. These grants were made by the municipal government in the +name of the Crown. At first the tracts thus taken were of unlimited +extent and indeed their boundaries were defined in only the vaguest +possible manner. The result naturally was that innumerable and +interminable conflicts arose over overlapping claims.</p> + +<p>To correct such evils and to provide for a more equitable distribution +of land in future, Alfonso Caceres, who had been sent to investigate the +administration of Governor Menendez, was charged with a complete +revision of the land system of the Island and with the prescribing of +new rules and regulations for subsequent grants and titles. In entering +upon that work he found some settlers holding enormous tracts which they +had never attempted to utilize. Of these he summarily voided the titles +and assigned the land to others. Such areas were quickly taken up by new +comers, in smaller and definitely bounded tracts, so that by the time of +Governor Carreņo practically the only unoccupied lands of considerable +extent and practical value were to be found in the extreme west end of +the Island.</p> + +<p>Around Havana and some other large municipalities there were reserved +unassigned zones of from fifteen to twenty miles in width which were +kept practically as public game preserves. No grants of cattle ranges +were made in them. But they were infested by many stray cattle and hogs +which had escaped from the ranges beyond and were there running at large +in practically a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">{234}</a></span> wild state, and these were regarded as fair game for +hunters from the cities. It was, however, insisted that anyone killing +such stray animals must bring their hides to market with the ears +attached, so as to prove that they were indeed wild strays, since then +their ears would be unbranded while all the animals on the ranges had +their ears branded with their owner's marks.</p> + +<p>The Government wisely desired to encourage agriculture, even at the +expense of stock raising, the latter occupation having been expanded +disproportionately to the former. It was accordingly provided that +grants of land for farming purposes might be made within this hunting +zone, and also that such grants might be made of land already +apportioned for cattle ranges, the owners of the ranges thus invaded +being indemnified by other grants of land elsewhere. By this means a +varied agricultural industry was gradually developed to the great +advantage of the Island, though for many years cattle raising remained +the chief industry. During Carreņo's administration more than 20,000 +hides were exported yearly, and in the great demand for leather at that +time this trade was exceedingly profitable. Of course a large amount of +meat was also produced, but the difficulty of preserving it in the warm +climate of Cuba caused much of it to go to waste, so that yearly +thousands of heads of cattle were slaughtered for their hides alone, +their carcasses being left to the dogs and buzzards.</p> + +<p>The sudden death of Carreņo caused some curious complications in the +Government of the Island. As he had been appointed for a definite term +of four years, and as that term was scarcely half expired, no successor +had yet been chosen for him. In this emergency the Supreme Court of +Hispaniola appointed a temporary governor to discharge the functions of +the office until the Crown should make a permanent appointment. The +choice of the court fell upon a lawyer, Gaspar de Torres. Even he was +not appointed until several months after the death of Carreņo, and in +fact not until after the King had se<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">{235}</a></span>lected a permanent Governor to +succeed Carreņo. However, as the permanent Governor would not take +office until the expiration of the term for which Carreņo had been +appointed it was necessary for the temporary Governor to fill the +vacancy. Torres was appointed in October, 1579, but did not actually +assume office until the first of January, 1580. Little is known of his +antecedents, but he appears to have been an unworthy member of the legal +profession. He was possessed of an itching palm. As a result his brief +administration was filled with scandals and with controversies and +conflicts, practically all arising from his pecuniary greed and from the +unscrupulous means which he employed for satisfying it.</p> + +<p>He came into conflict with the powerful and numerous Rojas family, and +particularly with the most conspicuous member, Juan Bautista Rojas, the +Royal Treasurer. This latter official declared that Torres was the worst +Governor Cuba had ever had, and that he misappropriated more funds than +all his predecessors put together. Apparently as Torres had been +appointed merely to fill out Carreņo's unexpired term, he determined to +make hay while the sun shone. He took office in January, 1580. Eight +months later a judicial investigation into his administration was +ordered, as a result of which he was very quickly convicted of +misappropriation of funds and was ordered to refund several thousand +ducats which had been improperly collected and retained by him. Instead +of refunding, however, he absconded, leaving his bondsman to make good +his liabilities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">{236}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> regularly appointed successor of Governor Carreņo was another +soldier, to wit, Captain Gabriel de Luzan. He was an army veteran who +had performed distinguished service in the Netherlands and elsewhere and +was personally known to and greatly favored by the King. He was selected +for the governorship and was informed of the appointment in the early +fall of 1579, a few weeks before the malodorous Torres was appointed by +the Court of Hispaniola. It was intended, however, that he should not +actually take office until the expiration of the full term for which +Carreņo had been appointed, and he accordingly had much time to attend +to his affairs in Spain and elsewhere before removing to Havana. His +duties were not to begin until 1581. But he removed to Cuba in the fall +of 1580 while Torres was being investigated. There came to Cuba with him +Juan Ceballos, who had been selected for Lieutenant-Governor. Both of +these officials were to receive the same salaries that their +predecessors had received, although Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, +vigorously protested that their salaries should be reduced by one-half.</p> + +<p>Governor Luzan was very soon involved in numerous controversies, largely +over questions of dignity and precedents among insular officials. +Something of the spirit of the formal Spanish Court appears to have +permeated Cuba at this time, and the insular and municipal officials +became as great sticklers for forms and ceremonies and for recognition +of their comparative ranks as any of the Grandees at Seville or Madrid. +Thus Jorge de Balza, Adjutant General of the Royal Forces in the Island, +insisted upon the privilege of wearing his sword at meetings of the +municipal council of Havana, of which he was ex officio a member, +although it was a penal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">{237}</a></span> offense for anyone else, even the Governor +himself, to wear a sword or dagger in that assembly. Another controversy +arose, as might confidently be assumed, over La Fuerza. The office of +captain or commander of that fortress paid a salary of 300 ducats, on +which account several former governors had appointed themselves to the +place and had drawn that salary for themselves. Governor Carreņo +regarded this practice as reprehensible. It was not right, he said, for +the Governor to hold another office and to draw a second salary. +Therefore, he appointed his own son, a lad just in his teens, to be +Captain of La Fuerza and to draw the salary. Whether the boy had the +spending of the money himself or dutifully handed it over to his father +is not a matter of record.</p> + +<p>Governor Luzan stopped this nonsense and put a real soldier at the head +of the Fort and then quarreled with him. This commander was Captain +Melchior Sarto de Arana, an expert soldier who had been Luzan's comrade +in arms in the wars of Spain, in the Netherlands and in Italy. He and +his family moved into that upper story of La Fuerza which Carreņo had +insisted upon building, regarding it as the most desirable place of +residence in Havana. The unhappy garrison in the lower part of the +building was subject to the dampness which there prevailed, to the great +detriment of health. Indeed conditions were so bad that their weapons +became almost ruined with rust and it was almost impossible to keep +gunpowder in condition for use. The Governor appears to have envied +Captain Arana his quarters in the Fort, but he was not able to displace +him, and so he turned his own attention to completing the Custom House +for his own use. Governor Torres had stopped all work upon this latter +building because of some uncertainty concerning the site, and had +appropriated to his own use some of the funds which had been provided +for completing it. But Luzan secured the necessary funds, hurried the +work of construction and soon moved in to the fine new quarters which +that building provided.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">{238}</a></span></p> + +<p>This gave great umbrage to the royal accountant of the Island, one Pedro +de Arana, who does not appear to have been related, unless very +remotely, to the Commander of the Fort. He declared that the Governor +had no right to live in the Custom House, that the King's money had not +been appropriated for any such purpose. It was true, he admitted, that a +part of the Custom House building had been designed for an official +residence. But it was not for the Governor, but for one of the royal +officials. Now as Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, had a fine house of his +own, the meaning of this suggestion was obvious. The royal accountant +wanted the place for himself. He indeed went so far as to order the +Governor, in the King's name, to vacate the building. But he did not +venture to move in and take possession himself, and so the Governor +presently returned and remained. In retaliation Luzan personally charged +Pedro de Arana with various illegal acts, particularly in violating the +law which forbade royal officials to encourage any trade. He declared +that Arana was the owner, or half owner, of a vessel trading between +Cuba and Yucatan, a vessel which was built to be chiefly used for +smuggling. He also said that Arana was organizing an expedition to seek +and raise sunken treasure ships along the coast and was planning to +establish cattle ranches in Bermuda. On the strength of these charges, +which were probably true, he began a searching investigation into +Arana's affairs, raided his house and ordered him to be arrested by his +namesake and confined in a cell in La Fuerza. To this, however, Captain +Melchior de Arana demurred. It was not that he did not regard the +accountant as worthy of arrest. But he held that it was beneath his +dignity to arrest a mere civilian and beneath the dignity of the Fort to +serve as a prison for him. The arrest, he said, should be made by the +sheriff, and the prisoner should be confined in the civil jail. At this +the Governor was furious and he retaliated by sending the sheriff to +arrest Captain Melchior de Arana and to con<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">{239}</a></span>fine him not in the military +fortress but in the civil jail. A little later, however, he had the +Captain transferred to a cell in La Fuerza. Then he made his +brother-in-law, Juan de Ferrer, Captain of the Fort in Melchior's place.</p> + +<p>In his strenuous dealings with the royal accountant the Governor appears +merely to have anticipated the King himself. At any rate, a very little +while after he had begun his investigation of Pedro de Arana the +instructions came to him from Madrid that he should pursue precisely +that course. This naturally encouraged him to renewed zeal in the +prosecution. And the result was that in March, 1582, he removed Arana +from the office of royal accountant and appointed Manuel Diaz +temporarily to fill his place. At this Arana made his way to Hispaniola, +there to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Governor. He did more +than appeal. He made grave charges against Luzon and got the court to +order an investigation. The court appointed as chief inquisitor into +Luzan's affairs Garcia de Torquemada, who went to Cuba in April, 1583, +taking Arana along with him. Diaz made no attempt to maintain his title +to the office, but, regarding discretion as the better part of valor, +left Havana and repaired to his plantation in the Far West. But the +Governor and also Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, who sided with him against +Arana, stood their ground.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, early in 1582, the King became dissatisfied with the +fast and loose game which was being played at Havana, and chiefly at La +Fuerza, and determined to take matters into his own hand. He did so by +appointing a Captain-General to be Commander of the Fortress, who should +be independent of the Governor of Cuba. This involved some awkward +complications. The Governor, Luzan, had been regularly commissioned as +Captain-General as well as Governor. And the King naturally hesitated +for a time over the question of appointing another man to the same +place. He would have preferred that the Governor and Captain-General +should<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">{240}</a></span> have continued to be one and the same man. But that seemed no +longer practicable, unless indeed he should dismiss Luzan altogether, +which he was not yet prepared to do. He therefore consulted with the +Council for the Indies, and in conjunction with that body finally +decided to make a new appointment. Luzan was to continue to bear the +nominal title of Captain-General, so as to give him rank comparable with +that of the military and naval commanders who might visit Havana with +the fleets of Spain. But the same title with real authority over the +fortifications and defenses of Havana, and indeed a measure of authority +over the fortifications and defenses of the entire Island, was to be +given to another man.</p> + +<p>The man selected for the new Captain-Generalship was a practical soldier +of experience named Diego Hernandez de Quiņones. He took office in July, +1582, and found La Fuerza substantially complete, save for the +construction of a moat, and containing a garrison of 120 men, the +majority of whom were always more or less sick because of the dampness +and unsanitary conditions of the place. The fortress had been completed, +however, in some respects in a highly unsatisfactory way. Thus there was +no stairway inside the building connecting the lower and upper stories. +There was a stairway on the outside of the building, constructed of wood +and it was obvious that in case of attack that stairway might easily be +destroyed by cannon shot and thus communications between the two stories +of the fortress be cut off. The moat had not yet been constructed, and +numerous wooden and even some masonry houses had been constructed close +to the fort, which might give sheltered approach to an attacking party.</p> + +<p>The King and the Council obviously apprehended some friction between the +Governor and the newly appointed Captain-General, and they therefore +prepared an elaborate code of rules and regulations intended to avert +such trouble and to conduce to harmonious co-operation between the two +officials. Thus it was provided that in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">{241}</a></span> all matters of law relating +exclusively to the soldiers, the Captain-General should have entire +jurisdiction. In all matters relating entirely to civilians, the +Governor should have jurisdiction. In cases in which both soldiers and +civilians were concerned the two officials should act together with +concurrent jurisdiction, and in case they could not agree the senior +royal official at Havana should act as umpire between them.</p> + +<p>This plan seemed fair enough and was expected to work well. But Luzan +immediately protested against the whole scheme with much vigor and even +violence of speech. In this he was heartily supported by the town +council of Havana. When his protests were ignored by the Crown, or at +least were not favorably heeded, he asked to be relieved from office as +Governor and to be assigned to duty elsewhere. This request the King +refused to grant, at the same time bidding Luzan to avoid any quarrel or +disagreement with Quiņones. In spite of this admonition within a few +weeks a bitter quarrel arose over the case of a soldier and a civilian +who had had some strife over an alleged insult offered by the soldier to +a young woman. From this there developed a bitter feud between the +Governor and the Captain-General which soon became apparently +irreconcilable. Each reviled the other, not only in his public capacity +but in relation to his private life and morals. The partisans of each +took up the strife and the entire city was soon involved in it.</p> + +<p>Such was the deplorable state of affairs, when, as already related, +Torquemada began his investigations. He found affairs in what seemed to +him as bad a state as possible. The City of Havana, and indeed the +entire Island of Cuba, were rent by faction. The Governor and the +Captain-General each had a band of armed retainers in Havana, and these +were at the point of open conflict which would amount practically to +civil war. Regarding the emergency as critical, Torquemada acted +promptly and strenuously. He ordered both the Governor and the +Captain-General under arrest, commanding Luzan<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">{242}</a></span> to remain within his own +dwelling and Quiņones to remain within La Fuerza. Then he literally read +the riot act to them both. He reproved them scathingly for their lack of +loyalty to the King in letting personal animosities and jealousies have +sway over their sense of duty. He secured from each a full statement of +his complaints and grievances against the other. Then he compelled them +to submit their cases to a tribunal consisting of himself, the Captain +of a Mexican fleet who happened to be visiting Havana, and two judges of +the Supreme Court of Hispaniola. As a result of the deliberations of +this tribunal the two men were compelled to shake hands and pledge +friendship and co-operation. They were then released from arrest and +told to attend to their respective duties without any more nonsense.</p> + +<p>This did not halt Torquemada, however, in his investigation of the +general conduct of Luzan's administration in other respects than the +quarrel with Quiņones. The charges which were made against the Governor +were of a very serious character. It was said that he had interfered +with the administration of justice by preventing people who had +grievances from communicating with the courts or with the royal +government in Spain. He had defied the authority of the Supreme Court in +Hispaniola and treated it with contempt. He had enriched himself by +taking bribes. He had encouraged desertions of soldiers from the +garrison of La Fuerza. He had interfered with the functions of the Royal +Treasurer and other officials. In view of these accusations Torquemada +ordered Luzan to relinquish the exercise of all official functions until +the truth or falsity of the charges could be determined. Then he removed +from Havana to Bayamo and summoned Luzan to follow him thither in order +that the case might be tried in a place free from the local influence of +Havana. Luzan obeyed the order but at the same time sent his sister to +Spain to intercede with the King and the Council for the Indies, and +also sent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">{243}</a></span> her husband to Hispaniola to plead his cause before the +Supreme Court.</p> + +<p>The result was that in mid August of 1584 the Supreme Court reversed +Torquemada's order and authorized Luzan to resume the full exercise of +his powers and functions as Governor. Luzan at once did so and +immediately the old quarrel with Quiņones was resumed. So furious did +their strife become that within three months the Supreme Court reversed +its own orders and restored that of Torquemada. At this Quiņones cast +off all restraint and summarily ordered Luzan to leave Havana and to go +to Santiago to protect that place against the hostile raiders who were +hourly expected to descend upon the Cuban coast. Luzan demurred, +whereupon Quiņones threatened him with arrest. Thereupon Luzan left +Havana, but instead of going to Santiago went to Guanabacoa and thence +by slow degrees to Bayamo, where he opportunely arrived, as we shall +see, at the beginning of January, 1586.</p> + +<p>In the interim the civil affairs of Havana were conducted by the Town +Council until the end of 1585, when one of Menendez's soldiers, Pedro +Guerra de la Vega, was sent by the Supreme Court of Hispaniola to serve +as Mayor. He got on well enough with Quiņones, but not with Rojas, the +Royal Treasurer, who frankly declared him unfit for office and charged +him with possessing a too itching palm. His administration of affairs +seems to have been confined to purely local matters and, as we shall +see, in a very short time, before the spring of 1586, Luzan was again +exercising his full civil authority as Governor, though still most of +the time absent from Havana. Quiņones was also in full authority as +Captain-General, and these two former enemies were acting together in +complete accord.</p> + +<p>This radical change in the aspect of affairs was due to an impending +crisis, the most serious thus far in the history of the Island. A new +enemy had arisen, far<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">{244}</a></span> more formidable than any the Island had yet +known. For years Cuba had been harried by French privateers often little +better than pirates, but now the English rovers of the sea began to +infest the Spanish Main. In 1577 Sir Francis Drake entered upon his +memorable voyage around the world, defiantly navigating that South Sea +which Spain has regarded as exclusively her own, and ravaging the +Peruvian treasure ships even more ruthlessly than the French had preyed +upon those of Mexico. Early in Luzan's administration warnings were +given that this bold adventurer was planning a descent upon the West +Indies and probably, therefore, upon Cuba.</p> + +<p>This menace naturally caused great alarm at Havana and throughout the +Island, and urgent appeals were made to the royal government and also to +the Viceroy in Mexico for aid. It was represented that galleys were +needed to patrol and to defend the coast. Artillery was needed for La +Fuerza and for other fortifications at Havana and elsewhere. A larger +garrison was also needed for La Fuerza. To these and other like appeals +the King made no satisfactory reply. He apparently had no galleys nor +men to spare for the defense of the Island. The best he would do was to +direct Luzan to utilize his own resources to the full. A military census +of the Island was to be taken, the first in its history, and all +available men including Indians and negroes, were to be mustered into +service.</p> + +<p>The result of this enrolment, which was made in the spring of 1582, was +unsatisfactory. In Havana itself only 226 men fit for service could be +found, and no other town on the Island could furnish more than a quarter +as many. They were, moreover, chiefly men unused to arms and therefore +of little prospective value against the formidable fighting men whom +Drake was reported to have in his train. As for La Fuerza, sickness and +desertion had so depleted its garrison that not a score of able-bodied +men were left. Quiņones gathered in reinforcements of 60 or 70, chiefly +young and inexperienced<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">{245}</a></span> men and thus raised the apparently effective +strength to something less than 100, when more than 200 were considered +necessary. Two small brass cannon and a supply of powder and small arms +came from Spain, and Luzan either purchased or requisitioned from a +visiting ship four more small cannon. The Governor also destroyed, by +burning, all the houses which had been built close to La Fuerza so as to +leave an open zone of considerable strength around that fortress.</p> + +<p>Despite the conflict between Luzan and Quiņones already recorded, some +substantial progress was made, especially by the latter, in +strengthening the defenses of Havana to meet the coming storm. La Fuerza +was improved in various respects, though it was impossible to get rid of +the dampness which pervaded the place. On the Punta at the entrance to +the harbor trenches were dug and a gun platform was built. The +efficiency of these was unsparingly ridiculed by the Royal Treasurer, +Rojas, and indeed Quiņones himself soon realized their unsatisfactory +character. He therefore undertook the construction of the real fort, and +by the end of 1583 had it sufficiently completed to permit the mounting +of eight pieces of artillery. He then declared that if he were properly +supplied with powder and shot he could defend Havana against all comers. +He did not wish more soldiers, and indeed he strongly protested against +the levies from Mexico for which Luzan had sent. During the spring of +1583 about 100 men did arrive from Mexico under a Captain who looked to +Luzan and not to Quiņones for orders; a circumstance which naturally +added to the confusion and conflict of authority. But after a few months +Luzan himself agreed with Quiņones in regarding the men as practically +worthless, and assented to their shipment back to Mexico.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">{246}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h3> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">uch</span>, then, was the state of affairs when in 1585 war began between +Spain and England. English adventurers infested Spanish territory on the +main land in the northern part of the vast region which the Spanish +still called Florida. They planned an English colony at the Bay of Santa +Maria and renamed that place "Roanoke" and they also renamed that part +of Florida after the Queen of England; calling it "Virginia." The news +of this invasion appears to have been known in Cuba, by the way of +Southern Florida, before it was known in Spain, and a fleet vessel was +accordingly sent from Havana to bear the tidings to the King and to ask +for further protection from Cuba.</p> + +<p>There was a period of hesitancy and uncertainty, and then the storm +broke. On January 10th, 1586, Sir Francis Drake landed in Hispaniola and +occupied the City of Santo Domingo, the nominal capital of all the +Spanish West Indies. Some of the judges of the Supreme Court at that +place escaped and fled to Cuba, where they arrived a week later with the +startling news. Luzan, as already related, was then at Bayamo, and it +was there that he received the news. He was startled and alarmed, but +appears not to have been panic stricken. Indeed he acted with coolness +and judgment and in a manner which must be regarded as going far toward +redeeming his reputation from the reproaches which he had formerly +incurred. Discreetly assuming that Drake's attack upon Cuba, whenever it +was made, would be not at Bayamo but at the Capital and metropolis +itself, his first thought was for Havana. Immediately upon receiving the +news from Santo Domingo he dispatched horsemen across country from +Bayamo to Havana to bear the tidings to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">{247}</a></span> Quiņones, bidding them also to +spread the news through all the country as they went and to command all +towns to marshal all available men and send them on to Havana for the +reinforcement of that place. As soon as possible he also sent two +vessels from Bayamo to Havana laden with men and supplies. Ignoring +their former quarrels in the face of the common danger he wrote to +Quiņones outlining his plans for a defense of the Island and urging that +an appeal should be sent to Mexico for aid, from which country it could +be procured much more quickly than from Spain. Then he hastened to +Santiago and from that port sent two vessels to Spain to tell the King +what had happened at Santo Domingo and what was being done to avert, if +possible, a like calamity at Havana.</p> + +<p>The Governor's appeals to the various municipalities were not without +effect. The people of Cuba seemed to be aroused by the imminence of +danger to a better degree of public spirit than they had ever before +manifested. Bayamo, Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, and even poor +little Trinidad, the smallest and weakest town of the Island, +contributed men and arms to their full ability, and when at the +beginning of May these levies were mustered in Havana they numbered more +than 225 efficient men, tolerably well armed. Luzan himself remained at +Bayamo, in the absence of orders or even permission to return to Havana, +professing readiness and eagerness to serve the King there or elsewhere, +wherever he could be of most use. At Havana Quiņones was in command, +loyally supported by the Town Council, the royal officials and the +entire community. Even the austere and censorious Rojas, the Royal +Treasurer, who had been the bitter critic and opponent of Quiņones, +forgot his animosity and hastened to offer his services in any capacity +in which they might be utilized. It is related that Rojas, despite his +years, his wealth and his social dignity, worked as a common laborer +with pick-axe and shovel in digging trenches and throwing up breastworks +for the fortification of the town, thus setting an example which left no +other citizen<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">{248}</a></span> any excuse for shirking duty and indeed went far toward +inspiring the whole community with patriotic fervor. A proclamation was +also issued by the Mayor, Pedro de la Vega, addressed to all citizens +who, because of debts, quarrels, crimes, or other causes, had sought +sanctuary in the church or gone into hiding in the jungle, asking them +to come forward and aid in the defense of Havana, and promising them +immunity from arrest or prosecution and a period of a fortnight's grace +in which to return to their asylums or their hiding places after the +need of their services was ended. This extraordinary call was responded +to by scores of fugitives.</p> + +<p>There was no neglect, either, in preparation for the defense of the +suburbs of Havana. Chorrera was generally regarded not only as a +possible but as a very probable landing point for the invaders, from +which a march could be made by land against Havana. It was not +practicable to fortify the place strongly enough to prevent the landing +of any considerable force, but a small camp was established there, +occupied by a company of horsemen, who were to keep watch day and night +for the approach of the enemy, and upon his first appearance were to +ride post-haste to Havana with the news. The first horseman was to set +out the moment the enemy was sighted in the distance. A second was to +follow as soon as the fleet was near enough for the number of vessels +and their approximate strength and men and guns to be determined. A +third would set out the moment the enemy's intention, either of landing +there or of proceeding on to Havana, was ascertained. A fourth would +wait until the enemy was actually landing and his numbers could be +determined, and would then hasten after the others with the news.</p> + +<p>Nearer the city there were several other possible landing places at +inlets of the coast and some of these were fortified with earth-works +and artillery. Chief among these was the inlet of San Lazaro, where in +addition to earth works an enclosed fort of timber, stone and earth<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">{249}</a></span> was +constructed with several cannons mounted on a platform. At the entrance +to the harbor of Havana itself the strongest preparations were made. At +Punta a dozen guns were in readiness to make that the chief point of +defense outside of La Fuerza itself. Much attention was given to all +roads leading into the city for several miles around; particularly +toward the west from which direction the attack was chiefly expected. +Some of the roads were blocked altogether, others were mined and +provided with pitfalls. Still others were screened and hidden with trees +and brushwood so as to serve as secret means of passage for the +Spaniards in advancing against or retreating from the enemy, and these +were so mined that after having served their purpose to the Spaniards +they could be readily destroyed. Elsewhere trees, underbrush and jungle +were cleared away so that there would be no cover nor concealment for +the invading force. Trenches and earth-works were constructed between La +Fuerza and Punta, and the former fortress was provisioned and prepared +for a siege. Special parapets of timber, stone and earth were +constructed upon the top of the fort, and numerous houses and other +buildings near it were destroyed in order that there might be no shelter +for an attacking force.</p> + +<p>Nor was the possibility of an attack from the eastward overlooked. On +the Morro headland at the important entrance a battery of three guns was +placed, well protected by breast-works of timber, stone and earth, and +the coast from Morro to Matanzas was continually patrolled by horsemen +on the lookout for the coming of strange vessels, and under orders +similar to those which had been given to the watchmen at Chorrera. As +for the harbor itself, a great chain was stretched across its entrance +buoyed with logs and fastened with a huge padlock at the foot of the +Morro headland.</p> + +<p>Finally the few swift sailing vessels which could be mustered into the +service were kept cruising off the shore to espy the approaching +squadron. They were not suffi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">{250}</a></span>ciently strong to give battle, but they +could give warning to the city. Also they could bear to Spain or to +Mexico tidings of what occurred. Thus one vessel lay in the estuary of +the Puercos River, ready to flee to Mexico, while another cruised around +Ycacos Point, to hasten to Spain to tell if Havana should fall into the +hands of the foe.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile in Havana itself all possible forces were mustered for +defense. The volunteers from the other towns were drilled into an +efficient state of discipline. Such was their zeal that they gladly +served without pay while a considerable number of them in addition +provided their own rations at their own cost. For the necessary expenses +of their maintenance Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, used what royal funds +were in hand regardless of the purpose for which they had been designed, +and when these were insufficient he collected taxes without authority, +on the principle that the safety of the city and Island was the supreme +law. At the beginning of April some welcome aid arrived from Mexico, +which even Quiņones was now glad to have. The Viceroy sent four vessels, +bearing about 300 fighting men, with six months' supplies of food and +with pay for eight months in advance. These increased the force under +Quiņones to more than 900 well-trained soldiers. During the month of +April Luzan arrived from Bayamo with nearly 100 more men, thus +increasing the garrison of Havana to about 1,000. This was a force which +the Captain-General confidently believed would be able to resist and to +repulse any force which Drake might be able to land.</p> + +<p>Luzan had meantime, in February, received from Spain orders to resume +the governorship of the Island with full power, to return to Havana, and +to consider his term of office indefinitely prolonged. He had been +appointed in 1579 for a term of four years and had assumed office in +1580, so that his original term was by this time long since expired. +Reckoning the four years from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">{251}</a></span> his actual assumption of office in the +summer of 1580 his term had ended in 1584. If his return to Havana was +not altogether agreeable to Quiņones, and it is quite probable that it +was not, at least a semblance of harmony was preserved between them, and +there was certainly efficient if not cordial co-operation. To this +auspicious state of affairs the Royal Treasurer contributed in no small +degree.</p> + +<p>In fact, in the face of the great peril which confronted it, all Cuba +arose to the occasion with a unity of public spirit never before known +in its history, and wholly admirable. All the officials, civil and +military, insular and royal, were in accord, and all classes of the +population, Spaniards, Indians and negro slaves were loyal and devoted +in their support. In these circumstances it is of fascinating interest +to speculate upon what might have happened had Drake made the expected +descent upon Havana. It is well within the limit not only of possibility +but of probability that he would have been decisively defeated. It is +even possible that in the conflict with more than a thousand well-armed, +well trained and resolute Spaniards, than whom there were then no braver +or better fighting men in all the world, he would himself have been +captured or slain. And such a disposition of Francis Drake in the summer +of 1586, only two years before the descent of the Invincible Armada upon +the shores of England, might well have changed the history of the world.</p> + +<p>But this was not to be. Some say that Drake did not intend to attack +Havana at that time, preferring to raid Carthagena, as he did. Some say +that by means of spies he ascertained the strength of Havana's defenses +and deemed it, therefore, prudent not to meddle with that place. Some +say that there was an interposition of Providence to dissuade him from +what might have been a disastrous fiasco. We have also, as we shall +presently see, the testimony of some Spanish fugitives, which is +en<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">{252}</a></span>tirely plausible, though not certainly correct. Conjecture is +inconclusive. Only the fact remains that Drake passed by and left Cuba +unassailed.</p> + +<p>From the latter part of February until the beginning of May no word of +his doings came to Havana; anxiety meanwhile prevailing and preparations +for his anticipated arrival being unabated. At last word came, most +ominous. A vessel from Spain, a heavily armed frigate, had been +searching for Drake. It had tracked him from Santo Domingo to +Carthagena, and had found him in full possession of the latter place. +There apparently, after two months' occupancy, he was preparing for some +fresh adventure. This information convinced the Cuban authorities that +the great struggle was at hand, and that the approach of the enemy would +be from the westward by way of Cape San Antonio. After despoiling +Carthagena Drake's logical course would be to raid Havana, and +preparations for defense were therefore redoubled. Nor were these +anticipations soon to be dispelled. A few weeks later, on May 27th, a +courier arrived from Cape San Antonio, the western extremity of the +Island, with the news that five days before a powerful British armada, +doubtless Drake's, had touched at that point for fresh water and other +supplies. It was no mere raiding flotilla of privateers, such as those +with which the French had long been troubling the Cuban coasts, but it +was a fleet of thirty-sail, probably with two or three thousand soldiers +aboard, and with artillery far superior both in number and range to all +the defenses of Havana. The courier could not tell what the intentions +of the fleet were or what was its destination. Possibly it was simply +seeking to anticipate and capture the treasure ships of Spain coming +from Mexico or from Darien with the silver, gold and gems of Peru and +Golden Castile. More probably it was planning the conquest of Havana, as +Santo Domingo and Carthagena had been conquered. This latter supposition +seemed to be confirmed two days<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">{253}</a></span> later, when another messenger arrived +from the west, telling that it was indeed Drake's fleet and that it had +sailed from Cape San Antonio eastward toward Havana.</p> + +<p>In a minor measure Havana and all Cuba now anticipated the feelings +which England had two years later upon the approach of the Invincible +Armada. Every man was summoned to his appointed place in the scheme of +defense and insistent vigilance was maintained night and day. For this +there was full need. Within an hour of the arrival of this second +messenger from the west a Spanish ship from Mexico came flying into the +port of Havana with half a dozen English ships in hot pursuit. She +passed Punta and gained safety before they came up, the big chain being +slackened to let her pass within and then tightened again to shut out +her pursuers. They did not, however, attempt to enter the harbor. One +came so near as to draw a few shots from the guns of the Morro Fort and +then withdrew without returning fire. But an hour later eight more +English sails appeared, making fourteen in all.</p> + +<p>Evidently the crisis was at hand. Every available man in Havana was in +his place. Every available cannon was double-shotted and trained upon +the spot at which the English vessels would first come within range. +There was, however, no panic, no confusion. All men were resolute, +confident and in high spirits. All night long sentinels watched the +English fleet expecting to see it send boat loads of men ashore; ready +to signal the news with beacon fires and torches. But all night long the +English fleet lay dark and silent in the offing.</p> + +<p>The morning of May 30 dawned. It was clear and bright, the sea was +smooth, the wind just sufficient to fill the sails. There could be no +fitter day for a landing or for an approach to the harbor to bombard the +forts and city. The sentinels on Morro counted all thirty of Drake's +vessels, drawn up in line. Now and then one swept out in pursuit of some +incautious or uninformed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">{254}</a></span> coasting vessel, but did not go far. The whole +fleet maintained order as if in preparation for some great concerted +operation.</p> + +<p>Hours passed and nothing was done. At mid-afternoon some boats were sent +toward the shore near Chorrera, and the watchers on Morro signaled to La +Fuerza that a landing was being made; only a little later to recall the +tidings as those of a false alarm. Night came on, and again under cover +of darkness it was imagined that Drake's men were seen approaching +Chorrera. Every man in Havana remained awake with arms in hand, but the +night waned and daylight showed the fleet still motionless and the shore +at Chorrera still untouched. Thus for three days and nights the tension +was maintained. The thirty English vessels lay off Havana, firing not a +shot, sending not a man ashore, and making no sign of their commander's +purpose.</p> + +<p>Then the suspense was ended, to the relief of many but to the +disappointment of some. On June 4th the English fleet spread all its +canvas and sailed away, heading north and east, and vanished forever +from the sight of the watchers at Havana. Not the Cuban capital but the +chief city of Florida was to be its prey, and presently word came back +that Drake had attacked and captured the town and fortress of St. +Augustine, which Menendez had built and in the building of which he had +drawn so sorely upon the scanty resources of Cuba. Quiņones regretted +that Havana had not been attacked, confident that the result would have +been disastrous to the assailants. He took, however, all possible +precautions against a surprise by a possible return of the English +fleet. The coast patrols to Matanzas and beyond were maintained and +vessels were sent out as scouts to follow in Drake's track and watch for +his turning.</p> + +<p>But no more was seen of Drake or heard of him until the end of June. +Then word came of his destruction of St. Augustine and of his departure +thence to the northward, on some unknown errand. It was supposed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">{255}</a></span> +he had gone straight home. In fact, he went first to Virginia to visit +the English colony at Roanoke and to take back to England its few +discouraged survivors. Thus relieved from fear of invasion Havana +rejoiced and gave a most practical turn to its thanksgiving by sending a +vessel or two richly laden with supplies to the relief of the hapless +people of St. Augustine, many of whom had been former residents of Cuba.</p> + +<p>Meantime some explanation, as we have already seen, came to Havana of +the reason for Drake's failure to take that place. Several Spaniards +whom Drake had captured at Carthagena, had contrived to make their +escape from him when he touched at Cape San Antonio, and after much +wandering found their way to Havana. They reported that on the way from +Carthagena to Cuba the English fleet had been sorely afflicted with +disease including scurvy and possibly also yellow fever, so that many +persons died and many more were incapacitated. Moreover his vessels were +crowded with captives and with plunder. In these circumstances he was +obviously in no condition to attack so strong a place as Havana, and in +a conference with his captains he practically decided to pass by that +place and to seek cooler northern latitudes where his sick men might +more speedily recover.</p> + +<p>Havana's deliverance was Santiago's disaster. The preparations for the +defense of the former city had drawn thither the fighting strength of +the entire Island. Men, munitions, even artillery, had been stripped +from all other places for Havana's sake. Even after the departure of +Drake, and after it was known that he had at least for the time +abandoned his designs against Havana, the forces were still retained at +the capital. This, of course, was known to the foes of Cuba and of +Spain, as well as to Havana itself, and there were those who were not +slow to take advantage of it. French privateers were still hostile and +were raiding Spanish ports wherever opportunity afforded, and the +stripping of Santiago for Havana's defense gave such opportunity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">{256}</a></span></p> + +<p>So at the very time when Havana learned that Drake had taken Carthagena +and was on his way to the Cuban capital, two French vessels appeared off +Santiago with hostile intent. A demand was made for food, which the town +authorities refused. Probably the demand was a mere pretext. At any rate +the refusal of it was the signal for immediate attack. From noon to +night of May 2nd the battle raged, the Spaniards, only a handful of men, +displaying invincible valor in circumstances of desperate difficulty. +The leader of the defense was a parish priest who was badly wounded by +one of his own men. One other Spaniard was killed by the explosion of a +wretched little cannon which had been pressed into service, all good +guns having been taken to Havana. But these were the only Spanish +losses. On the other hand, one of the French ships, going aground, was +almost destroyed by the Spanish fire before her consort could pull her +off. And the two riddled with shot were at last glad to make their +escape in flight, throwing overboard as they sailed away more than a +score of bodies of men killed by the Spanish musketeers. It was too much +to hope, however, that this repulse of the French would prove final. It +would almost certainly be followed with a stronger attack for vengeance, +and Santiago made what scanty preparations it could to meet the coming +storm.</p> + +<p>Gomez de Rojas, a member of the illustrious family whose members played +so great a part in early Cuban history, was at that time the deputy of +the Governor in that part of the Island, making his headquarters at +Bayamo. A few days before this attack on Santiago he and his men had +killed seven Frenchmen and captured ten more under the lead of a +notorious freebooter. The heads of the seven he displayed on pikes at +Bayamo, and on the very day when the two French vessels reached Santiago +he hanged eight of the ten prisoners. It is recorded that the trial of +these men was not yet concluded. But Rojas grimly observed that the +trial could be finished after the hanging just as well as before, as +there could be no doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">{257}</a></span> as to what the verdict and the sentence would +be. For this ruthless proceeding the Bishop, Salcedo, reprimanded and +indeed excommunicated Rojas, and there was danger that thus disastrous +dissension would arise among the Spaniards. But Rojas, who seems to have +been a diplomat as well as a soldier and administrator, contrived to +make peace with the Bishop, and all was well.</p> + +<p>Of such unity there was sore need. For a few days later a squadron of +seven French ships, carrying 800 soldiers, appeared off Santiago. To +meet them Santiago, with all possible aid from Bayamo and the country +around could number less than 100 men, some say not more than 70, +indifferently armed and with only a few pounds of gunpowder. For several +days the French vessels lay off Santiago, frequently firing upon the +town at a range at which their own cannon were effective but at which +the Spaniards, with far inferior guns and little ammunition, were quite +helpless. However, the French made no attempt at landing, a circumstance +which for a time puzzled the Spaniards. Then came the explanation. While +their fleet lay directly before Santiago the French had put 150 men +ashore at Zuragua, and these were advancing upon Santiago over land. As +soon as this was known a little force of 20 Spaniards and 10 Indians was +sent out to meet them, with only two or three rounds of ammunition to +each man. They met in unequal battle and the Spaniards lost five men. +But they killed twenty Frenchmen before they were completely exhausted +and were compelled to surrender. Another detachment of thirty Spaniards +kept up a good fight at the landing place in Santiago until their +ammunition was exhausted and then they retreated to the hills. The +French fire from the ships destroyed more than half the town, and the +troops who were then landed demolished most of the remaining buildings. +Then a hasty retreat was made, presumably through fear of the rumored +approach of the powerful Spanish fleet, which unfortunately did not +materialize.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">{258}</a></span></p> + +<p>Gomez de Rojas had been at Bayamo when this attack began. As soon as he +heard of it he hastened on horseback to Santiago, but arrived in time +only to see the last French sail vanish in the distance. Had he been +there it is not certain that he could have saved the town. Indeed it is +probable that he could not have done so. But it is certain that he saved +it after the event. So completely had Santiago been demolished by the +French that many of the people were determined not to attempt to rebuild +but to abandon the place and go elsewhere. A council of war was held on +May 25, at a country house a league inland from the ruined city, at +which all the officials and most of the citizens of Santiago were +present. Rojas was, fortunately, the presiding officer. The military +commander, Captain Camacho, told of what had happened and what the +condition of the place was. It had no military strength. There was not a +pound of powder or shot left. The few pieces of artillery which had not +been captured or destroyed were concealed in the woods, but were of +course useless without ammunition. Fewer than a score of houses were +standing. The cathedral and the monastery had been destroyed, though the +hospital and a church had received little damage. There was, he +believed, nothing left to serve as the nucleus of a rebuilt town.</p> + +<p>Much discussion followed his report. Some were resolute for rebuilding +the place, which they regarded rightly as the birthplace of the Spanish +settlement of Cuba. Others were equally bent on abandoning it altogether +and migrating to Havana or elsewhere. Opinions were so evenly divided +that it was finally agreed to suspend decision until one other leading +citizen, who was absent from the meeting, could be heard from, with the +understanding that his vote should be decisive.</p> + +<p>Then it was that Gomez de Rojas rose to the height of the occasion. He +ascertained secretly that this missing citizen was in favor of +abandoning Santiago and would so declare himself. Determined to +forestall and to pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">{259}</a></span>vent such a decision and thus to save the town, +Rojas immediately ordered the clergy to celebrate mass next morning. He +ordered the town authorities to put all the remaining buildings in order +for occupancy and to repair those which had been damaged. He ordered +every man in town to appear at the church that morning, ready for any +action which might be needed. He ordered the Town Council to meet as +usual the next day. He ordered the market to be opened at once, and +artisans to get to work and the Indians to burn the bodies of the +Frenchmen who had been killed in battle, and in brief he ordered +everybody in Santiago to get to work to rehabilitate the town. The sheer +energy of this one strong man carried the day, and Santiago arose from +its ruins larger and more important than ever before, though it was +never again to be the capital of all Cuba. Havana had already for +several years been practically, though without full authority, the +capital of the Island. The formal and authoritative change was made a +few years later, in 1589.</p> + +<p>During the administration of Governor Luzan there was some renewed +interest in copper mining in Cuba, although the wealth of the island in +that metal was not yet appreciated. In 1580 what was supposed to be an +immensely rich mine was discovered, but it proved to be a mere "pocket" +of limited extent. That disappointment, together with the cost of +transportation from the neighborhood of Santiago to Havana for shipment, +discouraged further efforts for a time. But in May, 1587, after +inspection of the Cobre mine, near Santiago, the Governor reported to +the Spanish government: "There is so much metal, and the mines are so +numerous, that they could supply the world with copper." Comparatively +little was done, however, until 1599, when effective work was begun at +El Cobre. The ore was conveyed to Havana for smelting and casting, and +on the site of the present Maestranza Building there was established a +foundry where copper was cast into both cannon and kettles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">{260}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h3> + +<p>I<span class="smcap">t</span> is an interesting circumstance that what threatened to be a great +disaster to Cuba proved in fact to be one of the greatest blessings that +the Island had enjoyed since the Spanish settlement. We have already +seen how great an alarm was caused at Havana and throughout Cuba by the +threatened attack of the British under Sir Francis Drake and how fine a +degree of public spirit and unity among all classes was thereby +inspired. The threatened attack did not occur, and it was many years +before an actual British conquest or even invasion of the Island was +effected. But the lessons learned in that period of agitation and after +were not speedily forgotten, either in Cuba or in Spain. Therefore, a +much larger degree of public spirit and of unity prevailed in the +Island, among the Government officers and among the people, while the +Spanish crown was awakened to a fuller realization than ever before of +the value of Cuba and the imperative necessity of defending the Island +if the integrity of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere was to +be maintained. It was then that Philip II began to appreciate Cuba as +the bulwark of the West Indies and of the City of Havana, its capital, +as the key to the New World. Hitherto Cuba had been nothing but a +stepping stone between Spain on the one hand and Mexico, Darien and +Florida on the other; and Havana was merely a convenient base of +operations and a port of call. But now the immense strategical +importance of Havana was realized, while the value of the Island, in its +products of copper, wood, sugar, hides and other commodities, was +appreciated.</p> + +<p>Governor Luzan administered the affairs of Cuba until the end of March, +1589. On that day he was succeeded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">{261}</a></span> by Juan de Tejada, a Field Marshal +of the Spanish Army. He was selected by the King chiefly because of his +military experience and knowledge, and he was the first of the line of +governors of Cuba to be known as Captain-General. In him were merged +both the civil and the military authority of the Island, so that there +would no longer be any such friction as had prevailed between Luzan and +Quiņones. Tejada was speedily commissioned by the King to make plans for +the fortification of Cuba and also of the other important islands of the +Spanish West Indies. He was accordingly accompanied on his coming to +Cuba by one of the most distinguished Italian engineers of that age, +Juan Bautista Antonelli. Together they surveyed the port of Havana, the +port of San Juan in Porto Rico, and that of Carthagena in Colombia and +planned powerful defenses for them all. There fortifications were in +fact constructed under the direction of Antonelli and to this day bear +impressive testimony to his skill.</p> + +<p>His first attention was paid, most properly, to Havana. Already there +had been constructed temporary fortifications at La Punta and El Morro, +and also a camp more of observation than of defense at San Lazaro Cove, +probably where the Queen's battery stood in later years. Both +Captain-General Tejada and Antonelli were quick to see the importance of +the Punta and Morro fortifications and to approve those headlands as the +sites of the most powerful fortifications of Havana. Plans were +accordingly made for extensive masonry forts at both those places, and +these were approved and very prompt execution ordered by the King. Funds +for the work were obtained from Mexico, from which source also +appropriations were received for the maintenance of La Fuerza with its +garrison of 300 men.</p> + +<p>The work of Antonelli in Cuba was by no means confined, however, to +military engineering. He laid out and constructed a number of roads, +including some which are to this day principal streets of Havana and its +suburbs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">{262}</a></span> He also constructed a dam across the Chorrera River and an +aqueduct by means of which an ample water supply was conveyed to Havana +and distributed through the city. For by this time it must be understood +Havana was rapidly growing into a populous and prosperous community and +was already the assured metropolis of the Island and indeed one of the +three or four chief centres of Spanish civilization and authority in the +western world. It was during the administration of Tejada that the +technical legal title of "City" was conferred upon Havana, and the place +received the grant of a coat-of-arms. Its escutcheon bore the emblems of +a crown, underneath it in a blue field three silver fortresses, +emblematic of La Fuerza, La Punta and El Morro, and finally a golden key +symbolic of Havana's importance as the key of the western world. The +administration of Tejada lasted a little more than five years and was +marked with almost unbroken peace, prosperity and progress. The new +fortifications of Havana were not all completed in that time, but they +were carried far toward completion and the work upon them was marked +with no such difficulties and complications as had been the bane of La +Fuerza.</p> + +<p>The one exception to the rule of peace and harmony which prevailed +during the administration of Captain-General Tejada was a controversy +with Bishop Salcedo, who was then in charge of the diocese. Because of +some differences of policy concerning the finances of the colony and the +church, Salcedo bitterly criticised Tejada and even cast unfavorable +reflections upon his integrity, which we must regard as unwarranted. To +these attacks, however, Tejada gave little or no attention, and the +peace of Cuba was therefore not materially disturbed by the incident. It +seems probable that the Bishop desired larger revenues than the +straitened condition of Cuban affairs made possible. Tejada indeed +almost exhausted the pecuniary resources of the island in the +prosecution of the much-needed works of fortification, road building, +and what not, and also drew heavily upon his own private<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">{263}</a></span> funds. He was +saved from more serious embarrassment by the arrival of a treasure fleet +from Vera Cruz, which enabled him to discharge all obligations and to +place a fund of 120,000 ducats in the insular treasury for future needs.</p> + +<p>At this period, it is interesting to recall, the salary of the Governor, +or Captain-General, was only 2,000 pesos a year, that of the Alcalde of +El Morro was 6,600 reales, that of the Alcalde of La Punta was 4,400 +reales, and that of the Sergeant-Mayor was 2,700 reales. The total +yearly budget of the island was about 100,000 pesos.</p> + +<p>It is gratifying to know that Tejada's fine services were appreciated by +the royal government. His insistent resignation was accepted in April, +1595, with sincere regret, and he was made a Knight Commander of the +Order of St. James and was placed in charge of the castle and district +of La Barlete, at Naples.</p> + +<p>Tejada's successor, the second Captain-General of Cuba, was Juan +Maldonado Barrionuevo, who took office in July, 1594. This distinguished +servant of the crown had been an equerry to the Queen of Spain and +Treasurer of the Invincible Armada which had come to grief a few years +before in the Narrow Seas. He was also a Knight of the Military Order of +St. James. Having had, while with the Armada, a taste of Drake's +quality, and learning that that formidable commander was meditating +another descent upon Cuba he gave his first and best attention to +hastening the completion of the fortifications of Havana. Drake was +indeed at that very time in Spanish-American waters planning disaster to +every seaport within reach, but disagreement between himself and other +officers of the fleet made the entire expedition a failure and led, +probably, to the death of Drake himself in 1595. Learning of Drake's +death Maldonado sent out an expedition to attack the British fleet as it +was returning from Darien and succeeded in capturing one of its vessels +and putting the others to flight near the Isle of Pines. This triumph +over the much feared British fleet caused great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">{264}</a></span> rejoicing throughout +Cuba and immensely encouraged the Government and the people in their +hope of making a successful stand against British aggressions.</p> + +<p>Despite the growth and importance of Havana it must be remembered that +at this time that city was still in a very primitive condition. The +great majority of the houses were still built of cedar or pine boards +with thatched roofs. They were so scattered, even in the heart of the +city, that it was possible to have gardens and orchards around them. +There were some houses of substantial masonry two or three stories in +height. And the rich cedar, mahogany and other woods native to Cuba made +it possible to finish and furnish them in very rich style. The houses of +the rich were lighted with lamps of bronze or other metal, generally fed +with olive oil, and those of the poor with candles made of suet. The +streets were unlighted save by an occasional lantern at the entrance to +some house. And they were so infested not only with stray dogs but with +vagabonds and ruffians that it was unsafe for citizens to go abroad +after dark without an armed guard. Social and domestic customs, which +had at first been kept after those of Spain itself, by this time began +to have an individuality suited to the circumstances and conditions of +life on the Island. It was the custom to have the chief meal of the day +at noon and a lighter supper quite late in the evening, probably between +eight and ten o'clock.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to record that during the administration of Maldonado +occurred the first theatrical performance in the history of Cuba. This +was on the night of St. John, in the year 1599, and the performance took +place in honor of the Captain-General in the great hall of the military +barracks. It is recorded that on assembling the audience was so noisy +that it was impossible to begin the performance until threats had been +made of serious physical punishment. Despite this vexatious incident the +people were so delighted with the performance that when it came to an +end they unanimously clamored for its repe<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">{265}</a></span>tition although by this time +it was one o'clock in the morning.</p> + +<p>The sugar industry was now rising to great importance, especially in the +vicinity of Havana and thence toward Matanzas. The largest of all the +sugar mills in the Island was that founded by Anton Recia at Guaicanama, +now known as Regla. In 1588 a royal decree was issued bestowing upon the +sugar mills of Cuba the same favor that was formerly granted to those of +Hispaniola, namely, the exemption of the buildings, machinery, negro +slaves and in fact all other property from seizure or attachment for +debt. The sugar plantations were somewhat hampered at this time by lack +of labor, and on that account the importation of negro slaves was +encouraged and hundreds were brought in every year.</p> + +<p>In fact, negro slavery was by this time fully established as the +principal reliance of the industries of the island. It was recognized +that Cuba was a land of inestimable wealth, particularly in agriculture. +Stock raising was the chief industry, but sugar growing was rising in +importance, while the production of honey and wax was also a widespread +and highly lucrative occupation. Of all industries sugar growing was the +most laborious and called, therefore, for the greatest number of slaves. +Each mill required from eighty to a hundred workmen.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough, while the royal government strove in some ways to +encourage and stimulate the sugar industry, it persisted in hampering +it, at any rate in Cuba, in the matter of slave labor. As far back as +1556 a decree fixed the maximum price at which slaves might be sold in +the island at one hundred ducats, or about seventy pesos. Yet at the +same time the price fixed for slaves in Venezuela was one hundred and +ten ducats, and in Mexico one hundred and twenty ducats. The result was +inevitable. Slaves were sent to Venezuela and Mexico rather than to +Cuba; or the best were sent thither and the poorest to the island. This +was only one of a number of eccentricities of government, which +suggested a persistent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">{266}</a></span> and inexplicable tendency to discriminate +against Cuba in favor of the other colonies.</p> + +<p>Against such purblind policies the ablest administrators and the most +enterprising planters and merchants struggled to little avail. It was a +splendid achievement for the engineer Antonelli in 1586 to tap the +Almendares River, west of Havana, with a system of canals and aqueducts, +and thus bring an abundant supply of fresh water into Havana. In so +doing he not merely provided the capital with one of the prime +necessities of life, but he also made Havana the centre of the sugar +industry. For it was along these artificial watercourses that the first +sugar mills were erected and operated. But this availed little while +there was persistent discrimination against Cuba to a degree that kept +the island without a tithe of the labor which was needed for the +development of its resources. We cannot, of course, approve the slave +trade, or argue that it should have been followed to a greater extent +than it was. But if it was to exist at all, and Spain was willing and +indeed determined that it should, justice and economic reason required +that it should exist as freely in Cuba as in the neighboring colonies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">{267}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> character of the European nations whose navigators and explorers had +sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and had opened to the bewildered +gaze of the Old World a vista of unlimited possibilities in the New, +underwent a great change during the seventeenth century. Acclaimed as +national achievements, adding new lustre to national glory, these +discoveries at first only stimulated patriotism and became an incentive +to national effort. But as Spain and Portugal which had given to the +world those men with the large vision and the undaunted courage, +awakened to the importance of their exploits and began to see them from +the angles of political and economic advantages, the desire to restrict +those advantages to their own use became so powerful, that consideration +for the interests of other nations was ignored. The spirit of +imperialistic expansion was roused and demanded no less than a monopoly +of the traffic and trade of the world.</p> + +<p>With this end in view the two countries adopted a protectionist policy +and imposed restrictions upon mariners and merchants of other nations +that in time became intolerable. The government of Spain forbade its +colonists in Spanish America to receive European merchandise from any +but Spanish ports, which in turn enabled Spanish exporters to demand +unreasonable prices. This was resented by many colonists, and they were +willing to deal with smugglers who sold this merchandise at a lower +price or exchanged it for the produce of the colonies, especially for +hides and sugar. The governors of Santo Domingo were among the first in +the colonies to take steps against this trade. They fitted out small +vessels, which they called Guardacostas, coastguards, and had them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">{268}</a></span> +patrol all along the coast. If they succeeded in capturing the +smugglers, they proceeded against them with little ceremony. They were +either thrown overboard or hanged.</p> + +<p>This summary process having stirred in the smugglers the spirit of +vindictiveness, they organized for concerted action, determined to +resist what they considered unwarranted severity and cruelty. They began +to group into fleets, and openly invaded the coasts, burning, +plundering, marauding and killing. They looked about for suitable places +where to establish settlements of their own that could be used as bases +of operation in the neighborhood. Hispaniola or Hayti, where the natives +had been almost exterminated and which by misgovernment was nearly +deserted, invited them. Herds of cattle and swine were running wild +about the island and offered not only valuable provisions for +themselves, but promised to become marketable commodities. Some French +smugglers settled there, killed the cattle and swine, smoked the beef +and salted the pork, and opened a remunerative trade with visiting +sailors in these commodities as also in tallow and hides. The Indians of +the island called smoked beef "boucan"; hence these traders were called +boucaniers which was anglicized into buccaneers. In a similar way the +English freebooter was by the French corrupted into flibustier and later +came back to us as filibuster. At first the term boucanier was limited +to the smugglers and traders in smoked beef living on land, while the +flibustier was applied to the smuggler and trader living on board of a +ship. But later these nice distinctions were ignored and the names +applied indiscriminately to smugglers, freebooters and pirates.</p> + +<p>Whatever term one chose to apply to them, these Brethren of the Coast +and outlaws of the oceans became almost a recognized institution of the +century when rival European powers were fighting for supremacy in the +New World and were unanimously arrayed against Spain. There were among +them recruits from almost all nations,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">{269}</a></span> classes and professions. There +were bankrupt shopkeepers, discharged soldiers, runaway convicts, +thieves and murderers, vagabonds and adventurers and many a black sheep +of good family under an assumed name. A large proportion was attracted +by the possibility of getting hold of some of the unlimited treasures of +gold and silver which the New World was said to hold. For the reports +that had been spread by the participants in the early expeditions, not +always limited to natives of Spain and Portugal, were so fairy-like that +the classic tale of the Argonauts paled into insignificance beside them. +It is reported that a noted French freebooter who had joined the pirates +as a runaway debtor, hoped in this way to secure enough to pay off his +debts. An equally large number consisted of men who in that period of +adventure were seized with an insatiable desire for roving about the +world, free from all fetters of conventional life.</p> + +<p>The attitude of England, France and Holland against Spain was so +hostile, that whenever one of these powers was at war with Spain, these +outlaws were granted the rights of belligerents. Mariner-warriors, +prepared to defend themselves and to attack by force, they became a +mercenary navy at the service of any power that happened to be at war +with Spain. At bottom of this united effort, which at the end resulted +in ruining the overseas commerce of Spain, was the opposition against +its restrictions of the navigation and commerce of other countries. +Bancroft who is referred to by Pedro J. Guiteras in his "Historia de la +isla de Cuba" says in the first volume of his "History of the United +States" (p. 163)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The moral sense of mariners revolted at the extravagance; since +forfeiture, imprisonment, and the threat of eternal woe were to +follow the attempt at the fair exchanges of trade; since the +freebooter and the pirate could not suffer more than menaced +against the merchant who should disregard the maritime monopoly, +the seas became infested by reckless buccaneers, the natural +offspring of colonial restrictions. Rich Spanish settlements in +America were pillaged; fleets attacked and captured; predatory +invasions were even made on land to intercept the loads of gold, as +they came from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">{270}</a></span> the mines, by men who might have acquired honor and +wealth in commerce, if commerce had been permitted."</p></div> + +<p>John Fiske, too, in the second volume of his "Historical Essays," dwells +upon the causes of the enormous development of piracy in the seventeenth +century. Speaking of the struggle of the Netherlands and England against +the greatest military power of the world, he said that the former had to +rely largely and the latter almost exclusively, upon naval operations, +and continued:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dutch ships on the Indian Ocean and English ships off the American +coasts effectually cut the Spaniard's sinews of war. Now in that +age ocean navigation was still in its infancy, and the work of +creating great and permanent navies was only beginning. Government +was glad to have individuals join in the work of building and +equipping ships of war, and it was accordingly natural that +individuals should expect to reimburse themselves for the heavy +risk and expense by taking a share in the spoils of victory. In +this way privateering came into existence and it played a much more +extensive part in maritime warfare than it now does. The navy was +but incompletely nationalized. Into expeditions that were strictly +military in purpose there entered some of the elements of a +commercial speculation, and as we read them with our modern ideas +we detect the smack of buccaneering."</p></div> + +<p>England in dealing leniently with these buccaneers sailing under her +flag, argued that since the gold and silver carried from America to +Spain in Spanish ships was used to defray the expenses of a war which +threatened her, English mariners were justified in capturing these +vessels and seizing such treasures. But there is little doubt that by +this interpretation the doors were opened wide to all sorts of trickery +and outrage, carried on regardless whether the countries under whose +flags both captors and captured sailed were at the time at war or at +peace. Thus the naval and commercial restrictions, which Spain imposed +upon other countries, proved at the end a boomerang, which did +irreparable loss to Spain itself.</p> + +<p>For the long war with England had greatly weakened<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">{271}</a></span> Spanish power and +when the peace of 1604 was concluded, the once so powerful country was +visibly entering upon its downward path. Philip II, called the Great, +had left a son, Philip III, who had neither the personality nor the +ability to continue his famous father's policy of imperialism. Before +long it was found that the naval power had sunk from the proud Armada +which had challenged England in the time of Queen Elizabeth to no more +than thirteen galleys. Ship-building practically ceased. To bring the +tobacco crop from Havana to Spain, French and British vessels had to be +hired. Nothing was done to keep up the military strength of the kingdom +which had once ranked as Europe's greatest military power and had as +such been feared by other nations. The army was composed either of +inexperienced youths or of nerveless old men. The magazines and arsenals +stood empty. With no ships patrolling the seas and protecting the +coasts, the predatory outlaws of the ocean, sailing under various flags, +soon recognized in the Spanish overseas possessions a territory which +upon slight effort promised to yield rich booty. Cuba, Santo Domingo, +Jamaica and other West Indian Islands were repeatedly ravaged by them. +They established settlements on St. Christopher's Island, called St. +Kitts, and on one of the Bahamas, and from these bases carried on their +destructive operations.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the great progress which navigation had made during the +previous century, news between the Eastern and the Western continent +traveled slowly. This proved a serious drawback to an efficient +management of the colonies which European powers had established in +America. It was responsible for a great deal of confusion and for the +dilatory policy which characterized the government of the Spanish West +Indies. Communication between the mother country and Cuba was so +irregular and unreliable that Philip III, the new king, was not +proclaimed in Cuba until the spring of the year 1599. Yet at no time was +the fate of the island more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">{272}</a></span> closely linked with that of Spain, whose +decline profoundly affected Cuba's political and economic conditions +during the seventeenth century.</p> + +<p>In that most critical period for Spain, when the fate of the Kingdom +passed from the hands of Philip the Great into those of his incapable +successor, Cuba had the good fortune of being under the administration +of strong and able governors. D. Juan Maldonado Barrienuevo, who entered +upon his office in the year 1596, did a great deal towards the +improvement of the capital, starting the erection of a government house +and a public prison. He recognized the great value of sugar as one of +the staple products of the island and by every measure possible +encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane. He obtained from the King +special exemptions and privileges for the builders and owners of sugar +mills. He was the first to construct that of Vicente Santa Maria in +Fuente de Chaves. Sugar was at that time sold at fabulous prices. A +cargo of sugar of inferior quality brought in Seville as much as twelve +pesos per arroba (twenty-five pounds). The importation of and traffic in +African negroes who were set to work on the sugar plantations was +inseparable from this industry which henceforth became the chief source +of Cuba's wealth. But Maldonado, too, had troubles with the pirates. As +the two galleys in the port were known to be absolutely useless, the +pirates approached almost within cannon-shot of the place.</p> + +<p>The administration of D. Pedro de Valdes, Ensign (alfevez major) of the +Order of Santiago and nephew of the famous admiral of that name, began +most auspiciously. He was appointed successor of Maldonado in 1602. A +worthy heir of his uncle's glory, he started for his post from San Lucas +with a galleon and a galizabra (vessel used in the Levantine trade) on +the seventeenth of April. On his voyage he captured an enemy vessel, +sailed bravely through a Dutch squadron and sank three of their ships in +the port of Santo Domingo. After putting to flight a horde of smugglers +that swarmed about<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">{273}</a></span> the coasts of Cuba, he cast anchor in Havana on the +nineteenth of July, 1602.</p> + +<p>Valdes immediately set out to improve the artillery of the +fortifications, and even to superintend the casting of the cannon. +Within the short space of two years he succeeded in providing the port +of Havana with eighty pieces of good quality and various calibre, most +of which had been cast in the capital itself. Frequent changes of +administration had not only hampered the initiative of minor +functionaries and opened the door to official malpractice of +miscellaneous nature, but had also perceptibly weakened authority. +Valdes was determined to re-enforce it and by his energy and rectitude +brought upon himself the hatred of those elements who had encouraged +disorder. At the end his only loyal supporter was Friar Juan Cabezas de +Altamirano, who had succeeded Salcedo in the bishopric of Santiago. But +Valdes did not mind the hostility, which was more or less openly +manifested towards his government, and continued his untiring efforts in +defense of Spanish interests and policies.</p> + +<p>The steadily increasing wealth of these colonies excited the +covetousness of the pirates and buccaneers. Realizing the necessity of +taking defensive action against them, Valdes armed a few vessels, which +under the command of his son, D. Fernando, cruised about and succeeded +in capturing several ships. In one of these encounters Valdes was +wounded, but he pursued his policy undauntedly. He was also successful +in his campaign against smuggling which had extensively developed, +especially in Bayamo, whither he sent as his deputy the licentiate +Melchior Suarez to inquire into the state of things.</p> + +<p>The depredations committed by the pirates at this time were so serious +that the safety of the inhabitants was imperilled. The population of +Santiago seems to have been especially singled out to be harassed by the +outlaws. They set fire to the cathedral and other churches of the town, +robbed them of the precious vessels and vestments and committed other +outrages. Terror-stricken,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">{274}</a></span> the inhabitants fled to neighboring towns or +hid in the country. The city faced gradual depopulation. Even the Bishop +D. Friu Juan de las Cabezas and some of the government officials +withdrew to Bayamo, which, for a time at least, offered safety.</p> + +<p>But in the year 1604 even the roads in the vicinity of Bayamo were no +longer safe for travelers. When the bishop was on a tour of visitation +in the neighborhood, in company with the canons Francisco Pueblo and +Diego Sanchez, a horde of pirates under the leadership of the notorious +Giron surprised him at the stock farm of Yara. They tied him and took +him barefoot to Mazanillo, where one of their bilanders (sloops) was +anchored. They kept him on board their vessel for the period of eighty +days, expecting the authorities of the town to present themselves and +offer an enormous sum as ransom. The name of Gregorio Ramos is inscribed +in the annals of the island as the bishop's deliverer. It was an +undertaking calling for unusual cleverness and courage and Ramos +acquitted himself most brilliantly. He bravely faced the redoubtable +Giron and rescued the bishop by paying a ransom of two hundred ducats, +one thousand skins and one hundred arrobas (twenty-five pounds of +sixteen ounces each) of jerked beef. After having brought the prelate +into security, he returned with a force of valiant men and attacked the +pirates. He succeeded in destroying the whole horde and even in killing +their leader Giron, whose head was triumphantly carried on the point of +a lance to Bayamo, where it was exhibited in the market-place.</p> + +<p>The growth of the island which then numbered from eighteen to twenty +thousand inhabitants was greatly hampered by such invasions. Santiago +offering so little safety, the bishop ventured to suggest the removal of +the cathedral to Havana; but the plan was found impracticable and never +carried out. In time, however, the prelates began to ignore the +disapproval of the government and to install themselves in Havana. Other +members of the ecclesiastical cabildo (chapter) followed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">{275}</a></span> example +and also left Santiago. Governor Valdes, in accord with the ayuntamento, +demonstrated to the king the pitiful state of the island and urged as an +indispensable necessity the stationing of a permanent fleet in Cuban +waters. Only in this way did it seem possible to check the increasing +pirate menace which was paralyzing commerce and arresting the progress +of the island.</p> + +<p>But the royal government at Madrid, weak and helpless in the hands of an +incapable sovereign, lacked stability and strength to cope with the +unrest and confusion that gradually set in. The inadequate +fortifications and insufficient garrison had left the coast of Cuba +almost without defense. Knowledge of these conditions had spread among +the corsairs prowling about and awaiting an opportunity to descend upon +the unprotected population and made them more and more audacious. Philip +III, a weak though humane ruler, had transferred the reigns of +government to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma. But procrastination seems +to have been one of the permanent features in the Spanish kingdom's +management of her American possessions, and little was done to insure +her safety.</p> + +<p>At last the king heeded the clamorous appeals of the authorities +representing his loyal but unfortunate subjects in Cuba and ordered some +timely steps to be taken. Royal letters patent of October eighth, 1607, +arrived from Madrid. In order to safeguard the interests of the +inhabitants they decreed that the island be divided into two districts, +an eastern and a western, with separate jurisdiction, and Havana and +Santiago as their respective capitals. The governor of Havana retained +the title of Captain-General of the island, but his general jurisdiction +was reduced to the territory between Cape San Antonio and eighty leagues +east of the capital. The governor of Santiago was named Capitan de +Guerra (chief military authority) with a salary of one thousand eight +hundred pesos and jurisdiction over the rest of the island including +Puerto Principe. The governor and military<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">{276}</a></span> commander were to remain in +Havana, this being the most important district. As governor of Santiago +was appointed Juan de Villaverde, a Castilian from the Morro. He was +charged with the defense of the place against pirates and other enemies +disturbing the peace of the island and impeding its economic and social +development.</p> + +<p>This division caused innumerable difficulties and conflicts of authority +and Valdes had reasons to object to it. He had established order in the +Treasury and other branches of the administration, and he feared that +the new order might bring new confusion. In the meantime his energy and +rectitude caused the plots and intrigues spun by his enemies to multiply +to such an extent that they succeeded in reaching the ear of the Spanish +Audiencia. Valdes and his deputy Suarez were indicted, but on proving +their innocence triumphed over their slanderers by being reinstated in +authority. Then the Audiencia reversed the trial by order of the Court, +and the calumniators were convicted and sentenced to various penalties. +But Valdes once more manifested his noble character by joining the +Bishop in an appeal to the King to pardon the convicted men. Soon after +he retired from his office.</p> + +<p>The court of Spain, represented by the Duke of Lerma, who towards the +end of his career succeeded in adding to this title that of a cardinal, +seemed at this period to be deeply concerned with the religious life of +Cuba. This is apparent during the governorship of Don Gaspar Luis +Pereda, Knight of the military order of Santiago, who was inaugurated on +the sixteenth of June, 1608. Don Juan de Villaverde y Oceta was +appointed to the governorship of Santiago. Monastic orders had acquired +much land on the island and established their homes. There were at that +time six convents in Cuba; three in Havana, of the order of San +Franciscus, San Domingo and San Augustin, one of mercenarios, of the +order of la Merced in Trinidad, and two others of the Franciscan order +in Santiago and Bayamo. The government of Cuba was instructed by royal +decree to inquire<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">{277}</a></span> into and superintend the establishment of the convent +of St. Augustine, then in process of erection in Havana.</p> + +<p>The excellent bishop Cabezas, who had so signally distinguished himself +during the preceding administration, was in the year 1610 promoted to +the bishopric of Guatemala. He was replaced by the Carmelite padre Don +Alfonso Enriquez de Almendariz, who immediately made efforts to have the +king remove his episcopal seat to Havana. This caused serious disputes +between the bishop and Governor Pereda, who sent the king a report +disapproving of this removal. The conflict between the two culminated in +the excommunication of Pereda by the bishop. The administration of his +successor, Don Sancho de Alquiza, former governor of Venezuela and +Guyana, was brief. He was inaugurated on the seventh of September, 1616, +and died on the sixth of June, 1619. He was much interested in the +economic development of Cuba, promoted the development of sugar +industry, encouraged the employment of negroes on the plantations. His +efforts to exploit the mineral wealth of the island were also +commendable. He placed the supervision of the copper mines under the +direction of the military government and the work proceeded most +promisingly. The copper extracted was of superior quality and two +thousand quintals of the metal were annually exported to Spain.</p> + +<p>The sudden death of Alquiza led to much agitation due to the violent +spirit of rivalry between the auditor Don Diego Vallizo and the +Castellan of the Morro, Geronimo del Quero, who aspired to the +governorship. A great calamity occurred in Havana during this interim +administration. On the twenty-second of April, 1620, a fire broke out +and assumed such disastrous proportions, that two hundred homes were +destroyed and the growth of the city was for a time seriously crippled.</p> + +<p>The dangers that beset the development of Cuba were rapidly multiplying +instead of diminishing. Frequent change of administration was not +calculated to insure<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">{278}</a></span> efficiency and stability in the management of the +island's affairs. Enterprises begun under one governor were interrupted +under the next. Sometimes the original plan was essentially changed and +entirely abandoned. A striking example of this sad state of affairs was +furnished during the third decade of the seventeenth century. Don +Francisco Venegas was inaugurated as governor on the fourteenth of +August, 1620. He had been charged with the organization of a war fleet +for the protection of the coast from invasions by pirates and +freebooters. For that purpose he had brought with him some vessels. They +came at an opportune moment for British and Dutch hookers had been +roving in West Indian waters. The vessels of the Cuban armadilla under +Vazquez de Montiel defeated these intruders at the Island of Tortuga, +captured three of them and put their crews to the sword. But joy over +this victory was offset by the epidemic of malignant fever which broke +out and raged among the population. Another great loss to Spain was +occasioned by the hurricane which in the following year sank on the +reefs of Los Martires several vessels of the fleet that had been sent by +Marquis de Cadreyta, D. Lope Diaz Armendiarez, and were returning to +Spain with great riches.</p> + +<p>Governor Venegas had in obedience to instructions from his government +armed an esquadron, for the maintenance of which he had imposed upon the +people a special tax. But on his death, on the eighteenth of April, +1624, it was found that the work on the fleet was far from complete, and +in spite of the constant menace of invasion by pirates, nothing was +heard of a resumption of the task during the governorship of his +successors. The political governor who temporarily assumed the reigns of +the administration was D. Damian Velasquez de Contreras, assisted by +Juan Esquiro Saavedra as military governor. During their interimistic +rule a prison was built and a new monastery established.</p> + +<p>The successor nominated in the place of Venegas in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">{279}</a></span> year 1624 was +the Governor of Cartagena, Don Garcia Giron, who, however, resigned on +the twentieth of July of the same year. During the interim occasioned by +his resignation the names of Esquival Aranda and de Riva-Martiz are +mentioned in connection with the management of the island's affairs. +There finally arrived from Spain D. Lorenzo de Cabrera, a native of +Ubeda, corregido of Cadiz, field-marshal and Knight of the Order of +Santiago. He was duly installed in his office on the sixteenth of +September, 1626. In the command of the Morro Esquival was replaced by +Captain Cristobal de Arranda and in the government of Santiago Rodrigo +de Velasco was succeeded by Captain D. Pedro de Fonseca.</p> + +<p>During the administration of Cabrera, Cuba was agitated by many exciting +occurrences. Cabrera and the Marquis de Cadreyta, who commanded the +fleet that had brought him to Havana, made a thorough inspection of the +fortifications in order to report on their condition and propose +improvements. Among the most urgent Cabrera considered the manufacture +of a copper chain to shut off the entrance to the two forts; he also had +an intrenchment constructed capable of sheltering two companies. The +plan to block the entrance of the port with trunks of trees in order to +prevent pirates from making an entry, seems, however, to have been +somewhat quixotic. As Spain was then at war with the United Provinces, +Cabrera provided for possible contingencies by furnishing the forts with +large stores of provisions and took other measures to prepare for +eventual attacks by the enemy.</p> + +<p>These preparations proved to be only too justified. For the Dutch had +fitted out an expedition against the Spanish possessions in America. In +June of that year there appeared a fleet of more than thirty vessels +with three thousand men, commanded by Pit Hein, one of the most famous +mariners of his time. The Dutch had several encounters with the Spanish +fleet and were compelled to retire from Havana, which they had tried to +enter. They gained some advantages over the armada com<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">{280}</a></span>manded by Don +Juan de Benavides, but in the following year the Spaniards inflicted +great losses upon the Dutch fleet commanded by Cornelius Fels, driving +him back from Havana and capturing one of his frigates.</p> + +<p>A little pamphlet published or printed by Heinrich Mellort Jano in +Amsterdam in 1628 gives the Dutch version of the expedition of Pit Hein. +It is entitled "Ausführlicher Bericht wie es der Silber Flotille +herganger wann (durch wen wie und wie viel) solcherin diesem 1628. Jahr +Erobert fort und eingebracht." Therein is related with much detail how +the West India Company, recognizing the rich booty which the capture of +Spanish ships promised, had furnished and fitted out a fleet and manned +it with a crew of brave and hearty sailors and soldiers, with the avowed +purpose of intercepting a silver-laden fleet returning from the colonies +to Spain. The Dutch set out on the twentieth of May, 1628, under the +command of General Petri Peters Heyn and Admiral Heinrich Corneli Lang.</p> + +<p>The Dutch reached San Antonio on the west end of Cuba on the fourth of +August. Their arrival became known to the Spaniards and on the +twenty-third of that month Governor Cabrera dispatched some vessels to +warn the silver fleet. General Peters Heyn sailed close up to the +fortifications of Havana and then turned three or four miles out to sea +to meet the treasure-laden ships, which his informers had reported to be +sailing in that neighborhood, but south winds drove him northeast. +Finally on the eighth of September the famous fleet hove in sight, and +the Dutch captured nine vessels, and seeing eight more, sailed briskly +out to cut them off from the port of Havana. The Spaniards arrived at +Matanzas Bay, hotly pursued by the Dutch, and immediately organized a +defensive. But they were outnumbered in the combat which ensued and laid +down their arms. The Dutch General and his staff offered thanks to the +Almighty for this great victory. The next day the ships were all secured +fast by chains, and the third day the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">{281}</a></span> booty was unloaded from the +Spanish and transferred to the Dutch ships. There were bars of silver, +crosses, chalices, other vessels and art objects fashioned out of +silver, in all weighing eighteen thousand four hundred pounds.</p> + +<p>The Dutch started on their home voyage on the seventeenth of September +and took with them four Spanish galleons, two laden with skins and two +with iron and other ore. On the twenty-sixth they reached Bermuda and +sent two couriers to Holland to report to the directors of the West +India Company. The first reached Rotterdam on the fifteenth of November +and received from the Prince of Orange as reward for the good news a +jewelled gold chain. To the story of the expedition is added a detailed +account of the goods carried by the individual ships, which shows that +they also brought dye-stuffs, oil, wine, silks, furniture and other +merchandise which with the silver, other ore and skins brought the total +value up to thirty millions, presumably of Dutch gulden.</p> + +<p>In the meantime there sailed from Cadiz an imposing squadron under the +command of the Marquis de Valdueza and carrying as second in command the +celebrated mariner D. Antonio de Oquendo. The object of the expedition +was to clear the coasts of the islands of all the pirates which had +begun to infest the Antilles. Off Nelson's Island, or Nevis, so called +by Columbus in 1493 because the cloud-veiled summit of its highest peak +reminded him of snow, they captured four Dutch corsairs in a violent +combat from which the island suffered seriously. In September the +Spanish fleet sailed for the island of San Cristobal, and obtained +possession of the fortifications of Charles and Richelieu, compelling +the French filibusters who were garrisoned there to surrender. These +brilliant exploits had within the brief space of eight weeks placed the +Spaniards in possession of two thousand three hundred prisoners, one +hundred and seventy-three pieces of artillery, seven vessels and a great +quantity of arms, powder and tobacco. Besides losing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">{282}</a></span> the islands the +pirates suffered a loss of property to the amount of fifty million +pesos. For a time the Antilles and surrounding sea enjoyed freedom from +the menace that had hung over them and disturbed their tranquillity for +so many years.</p> + +<p>But in spite of these successes Cabrera was unpopular. By permitting a +cargo of negroes to be sold in Havana he had called forth heated +discussion in official circles and among the people. Not a few voices +were heard to question his honesty. Other charges, some of a grave +nature, were raised against him and an investigation was demanded. In +response to the island's urgent request the Court of Madrid sent Don +Francisco de Praga, prosecutor of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, to +Cuba, with instructions to inquire into the state of things. The charges +being proved, Cabrera was removed from office on the seventh of October, +1630, and taken to Spain for trial. He died in Seville in a dungeon. De +Praga acted as provisional political governor, and the Alcalde of the +Morro, Cristobal de Arranda, as military governor until the successor of +Cabrera arrived from Spain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">{283}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h3> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">pain</span> was at this time gradually working her defection, political and +economic. Philip III. had died in 1621 and, as he had thrown the +responsibilities of the government upon the shoulders of the Duke of +Lerma, so his successor, Philip IV., left them to his favorite Olivares. +Olivares immediately renewed the war with the United Provinces, which +were still a thorn in the flesh of Spain, for, on being freed from the +Spanish yoke, they had plunged into feverish activity which portended +their development into a maritime and mercantile power bound in due time +to rival and surpass Spain.</p> + +<p>The Dutch were by the nature of their country obliged to seek their +means of subsistence upon the sea and in far-off regions. Their famous +son, Hugo Grotius, had been the first to proclaim the freedom of the +seas as an indispensable condition to the growth and progress of the +world's civilization. Since Lisbon had closed her ports to the +Netherlands and Spain was imposing a series of unreasonable restrictions +upon the navigators of other countries, the Dutch had for some time past +been determined to discover a passage by which their ships could +penetrate the seas of Asia. Dutch mariners who had been in the employ of +the Spaniards and Portuguese and had shared in their voyages of +discovery, had brought home tales of the strange lands and stranger +peoples, which stirred the imagination of the ambitious and capable +nation. The unknown continents and islands stimulated the scholars' +desire for investigation and research. Exaggerated reports about the +mineral wealth and other treasures of the New World had roused the +merchants' spirit of enterprise and acquisition. As visions of the +riches that awaited development in those foreign climes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">{284}</a></span> and of +territories they might once call their own, rose before the minds of +these merchant princes and lords of the sea, the thirst of conquest +quickened in this sturdy seafaring people.</p> + +<p>Step by step the Dutch followed the discoveries and explorations of the +Spaniards, and recorded and described them minutely. From the middle of +the sixteenth century on the publishing houses of Amsterdam, Leyden and +other centers of the printing trade of the country sent out books +dealing with the new continent conquered by their enemy, and especially +the West Indies. Stirred by this reading, the spirit of the people rose +and demanded a share in the lands and the wealth which their mariners +had helped to discover. There was an abundance of unemployed labor and +capital in the country. Hence the government, knowing only too well that +the future of the Dutch people lay on the seas, encouraged this spirit +and deliberated upon numerous plans of exploration and colonization.</p> + +<p>The first step towards a realization of these plans was taken when a +charter was granted to the Dutch East India Company, which gave that +organization the exclusive right to commerce beyond the Cape of Good +Hope on the one side and the Straits of Magellan on the other side. As +it recalled similarly privileged institutions in feudal times, when the +rights of the classes engaged in trade and industry had to be protected +against violation by noble lords, more properly called robber barons, +the ideal this company represented appealed to the people. Statesmen of +other countries realized its advantages and the Dutch East India Company +became the model for the great trade corporations which eventually +sprang up in France and England.</p> + +<p>But the East alone could not engage all the forces of the active little +country. The tales of the sailors and the books about the Western +Hemisphere made the people look more and more longingly towards the +continent and the islands across the Atlantic. There unlimited +oppor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">{285}</a></span>tunities beckoned; there was an outlet for their energies. But +unfortunately the Spaniards had long before this established their +claims in that continent and the men at the helm of the Dutch government +were determined to keep peace with Spain. Although Holland's great +pioneer of the "freedom of the seas," Hugo Grotius, refers in his +writings to the great plans upon which the Dutch were deliberating at +the time when Captain John Smith sailed for Virginia, no step was taken +in that direction until two years after the founding of Jamestown. The +voyage of Henry Hudson up the river that bears his name, and the +eventual establishment of the colony called Nieuw Amsterdam, did not +conflict with any Spanish interests and opened the eyes of the +enterprising people to other possibilities in the vast new continent. +Before long the ships of the little confederacy were found in many +harbors all along the Atlantic coast. They discovered some little +islands in the West Indies, which the Spaniards had not found worth +while to colonize, because their rocky structure was prohibitive to +cultivation. So they did not hesitate to anchor their ships in the +inlets of these islands and finally made them a center of contraband +traffic with the continent.</p> + +<p>The States-General of Holland still hesitated to grant a charter to the +long-projected West India Company. But they found means to open to +private enterprise almost unrestricted facilities for operation. On the +twenty-seventh of March, 1614, they enacted a measure giving private +individuals an exclusive privilege for four successive voyages to any +passage, harbor or country they should hereafter find. This gave a +powerful impetus to the enterprise of Dutch mariners and merchants, and +also to adventurers of divers nationality. Finally on the third of June, +1621, the Dutch West India Company received a charter for twenty-four +years with privilege of renewal, which gave it the right to traffic and +plant colonies on the coast of America from the Straits of Magellan to +the extreme north. The ships of the company imme<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">{286}</a></span>diately adopted the +policy of reprisals on Spanish commerce. In the expedition of Pit Hein +in 1628, which has been narrated in the previous chapter, the privateers +of the company secured booty eighty times more in value than all their +own exports for the preceding four years had amounted to. Dutch +buccaneers became as much of a menace to Cuban ports and to the ships +plying between Cuba and other countries as the French and British had +been.</p> + +<p>The sixty years of Philip IV.'s reign proved a long series of failures +for Spain. They would have resulted in serious disadvantage to the +American possessions, and especially to Cuba, had not the immediate +successors of Cabrera in the governorship of Cuba been able men who +managed the affairs of the island with sagacity and foresight. D. Juan +Bitrian de Viamonte, Caballero de Calatrave, a native of Navarre, was +appointed head of the administration and entered upon his duties on the +seventh of October, 1630. As auditor of the interior was appointed the +Licentiate Pedro so who a few months later was succeeded by D. Francisco +Rege Corbalan. One of the most famous religious institutions in the West +Indies was founded about this time. A pious woman, known as Sister +Magdalen de Jesus, opened a retreat for women devoting themselves to a +religious life; it was at first called Beaterio, but subsequently became +known far and wide as the convent of the nuns of Santa Clara.</p> + +<p>Governor Bitrian de Viamonte was neither strong of physique nor of +personality; yet he discharged the functions of his office most +successfully. During his administration was projected the construction +of two towers, one in Chorrera, the other in Cojimar. The garrison of +the place was increased and Castellane was made a respectable +stronghold. He also organized the militia, creating six companies in +Havana, two in Santiago and two in Bayamo. He had, however, serious +disagreements with the Marquis de Cadreyta, and being something of an +invalid and considered unfit to defend the island against<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">{287}</a></span> the attacks +of some powerful enemy, he was removed to the comparatively easier post +of Captain-General of Santo Domingo. His successor was the Field-marshal +D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa, a native of Burgos. He suffered shipwreck +on the coast of Mariel while on his voyage from Spain and lost +everything but his patents, but was duly inaugurated on the twenty-third +of October, 1634.</p> + +<p>The precautions taken by his successor to insure an effective defense of +the island were by no means superfluous. For as the power of Spain was +steadily declining, that of the Netherlands and of England was rising. +The establishment of the Dutch along the Hudson, their founding of Nieuw +Amsterdam and their settlements on some of the minor West Indies, had +brought the danger of Dutch invasion nearer than ever before. The +colonies founded by the British at Jamestown and Plymouth had brought +within reach the eventuality of having to guard the Spanish possessions +against the British as well. Dutch and British navigation on the +Atlantic was vastly increasing and the future foreshadowed conflicts of +the interests of Spain and Holland on the one, and Spain and England on +the other side. The Cuban authorities, wrought up and kept in a +perpetual state of tension by their experiences with the buccaneers, had +become morbidly susceptible to danger of any kind. The appearance of a +foreign ship in the neighborhood of Cuban waters sufficed to fill them +with the gravest apprehension, lest the stranger might harbor hostile +designs.</p> + +<p>These apprehensions were justified, for the Dutch soon resumed their +operations against Cuba. It was reported that Maurice of Nassau himself +had set out with a powerful squadron, though no historian has any record +of it. But in July, 1638, Cornelius Fels, who was by the Spaniards +called Pie de Palo, appeared in the Bahama Channel, and from that point +sailed for Havana at the head of a fleet of some twenty Dutch vessels +enforced by some filibusters. Pie de Palo took his post at a convenient<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">{288}</a></span> +place to intercept any message sent by Governor Riano to Mexico or Peru. +Near the coast of Cabanas the fleet of the Spaniards, commanded by D. +Carlos Ibarra and composed of seven badly armed galleons and hookers, +came across the Dutch. Ibarra formed a battle line extending his vessels +so as to flank the enemy. Pie de Palo with six of his galleons bravely +attacked the Spanish ships <i>Capitana</i> and <i>Almirante</i>, being under the +impression that they carried a great quantity of coined money and bars +of gold and silver.</p> + +<p>Relying on the experience and the valor of Ibarra and Pedro de Ursua, +who commanded the two vessels so proudly attacked by Pie de Palo, the +captains Sancho Urdambra, Jacinto Molendez, the Marquis de Cordenosa, +Pablo Contreras and Juan de Campos endeavored in the mean time to check +the other galleons of the enemy. The unequal combat between Ibarra and +Ursua and the Dutch vessels lasted eight hours and the brave Spanish +sailors issued from it as victors. Pie de Palo was seriously wounded, +more than four hundred Dutchmen were killed and three of their vessels +were destroyed. The enemy fled, pursued by Ibarra, who returned to Vera +Cruz after saving the honor of the Spanish flag and the riches the fleet +had carried. They sang a Te Deum in Mexico as thanksgiving for the +victory and King Philip IV. rewarded Ibarra and his men by rich gifts. +The success of this expedition awakened in Havana the old spirit of +adventure and military prowess. Cuba had so far been the victim of +piracy and privateering; now it decided to defend her rights by fitting +out her own privateers and sending them against the enemy. The first +encounter was with corsairs that had been lying in wait for a vessel +coming from Vera Cruz; the Cuban who distinguished himself in the +command of the expedition which frustrated the enemy's designs, was +Andres Manso de Contreras.</p> + +<p>The demand for ships suitable for undertakings of this kind was so great +that the ship-builders Carera<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">{289}</a></span> and Perez of Oporto were kept busy +building vessels for that purpose.</p> + +<p>The administration of D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa was short, but some +important measures were enacted in that period. The Exchequer Tribunal +de Corientes was established with a single auditor for the royal chests +of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida and other Spanish possessions. When it was +subsequently found that the duties were too numerous for one man, a +second official was appointed. It was then arranged that while one of +the auditors was to remain in Cuba, the other was alternately to visit +the other cajas (chests). In this way the government tried to avoid +delays and complications which had caused considerable trouble. At this +period, too, a commission of the Inquisition of Carthagena, elsewhere +generally abolished, established its residence in Havana. Ecclesiastical +life assumed greater proportions and a wider sphere of influence. +Bishops who had previously looked upon Havana as an undesirable place of +residence, no longer hesitated to accept a call to that city.</p> + +<p>Work on the fortifications of the island was actively pursued during the +administration of Gamboa. It was ordered that el Morro should have a +garrison of two hundred, and that as soon as feasible, la Punta and la +Fuerza were to be garrisoned by one hundred men each. The construction +of the fort at the entrance to the port of Santiago de Cuba was an +important improvement. It was called San Pedro de la Rocca, in honor of +the governor of that city, D. Pedro de la Rocca, although it is +generally known as the Morro. A garrison was installed, consisting of +one hundred and fifty men sent from the Peninsula, and the ammunition +destined for the defense came from New Spain. The power of the +armadilla, which had theretofore been arbitrary, was also regulated at +this time. Governor Gamboa, however, retired from office on the +fifteenth of September, 1639, when he had barely inaugurated these +improvements, and sailed for Spain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">{290}</a></span></p> + +<p>Gamboa's successor was D. Alvaro de Luna y Sarmiento, a knight of the +Order of Alcantara. During his administration, which began on the +fifteenth of September, 1639, and ended on the twenty-ninth of +September, 1647, the work of constructing defenses was eagerly pushed. +Two leagues leeward of Chorrera a fort was erected. At the mouths of the +rivers Casiguagas and Cojimar were built the two towers that had been +planned by Governor Viamonte; they were intended to protect those +advanced points of the capital. The able engineer Bautista Antonelli +superintended the construction of these works of fortification. As the +cost of these structures was defrayed by the inhabitants of the city, +the governor saw fit to entrust their defense to three companies of men +recruited from the native population. It was the first regiment of the +kind organized on the island. By January of the next year the +fortifications of the Castillo del Morro were also completed.</p> + +<p>With the insurrection of Portugal which occurred at this period the +pirates became bolder and renewed their outrages. The Dutch, too, +threatened Havana once more. A squadron commanded by Admiral Fels had +approached close to the coast, but had been driven back by a violent +hurricane. Four of the vessels had been left between Havana and Mariel. +Governor Luna sent Major Lucas de Caravajal against them; three hundred +Dutch were taken prisoners, and seventeen bronze cannon, forty-eight +iron cannons, two pedreros (swivel guns) and a great stock of arms and +ammunition were captured. The captured pieces served to reenforce the +artillery of the forts of La Punta and Morro.</p> + +<p>D. Diego de Villalba y Toledo, Knight of the Order of Alcantara, became +the successor of Governor Luna on the twenty-eighth of September, 1647. +His assistant deputy was the Licentiate Francisco de Molina. A great +calamity befell the island in the second year of his administration. A +terrible epidemic broke out in the spring of 1649; the documents and +chronicles of the period give<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">{291}</a></span> hardly any details about the origin and +the character of the disease, but it was most likely a putrid fever +imported from the Indian population of Mexico and Cartagena by barges +that had come from those places. The people who were attacked by it +succumbed within three days, and it was estimated that in the course of +five months one third of the population died.</p> + +<p>Among those who died as victims of the scourge were the deputy auditor +Molino and the three licentiates who succeeded him, Pedroso, Torar and +Olivares, an Alcalde and many other functionaries, one third of the +garrison and a great number of the passengers and crew of the fleet +which its general, D. Juan Pujedas, had held ready to station in Havana. +Governor Villalba himself was seriously ill and only saved by utmost +care. The ravages of the epidemic seriously disturbed not only the +ordinary activities of the population, but also the regular routine of +the administration.</p> + +<p>During this period of suffering and sorrow the conduct of the religious +orders of both sexes was so admirable as to deserve special mention and +warm recognition. The monks and nuns received the sick in their +monasteries and convents, tenderly cared for them and when they did not +succeed to nurse them back to health, escorted the victims to their +graves. Among those who individually distinguished themselves by this +true Christian spirit was Padre Antonio de Jesus. After the epidemic had +spent itself and Governor Villalba had recovered, he organized a company +of militia lancers under the command of Martin Calvido la Puerta, one of +the wealthiest men of Havana. Like many other governors of Cuba, +Villalba became at the end the victim of calumny and cabal. The +government of Spain relieved him from his office and the Oidor of Santo +Domingo, D. Francisco Pantoja de Ayala, was charged with an +investigation of the complaints and accusations brought against him.</p> + +<p>The victories of the Dutch fleets in India, Brazil and Peru and their +conquest of some of the West Indian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">{292}</a></span> Islands, as also England's +expansion of her dominions and the growth of her naval power were cause +for grave anxiety. Measures of defense and protection became the subject +of interminable discussions in the official circles of Madrid and +Havana. The governors sent over by the court were urged to multiply +their effort to fortify Cuba and insure safety from attacks by covetous +enemies. D. Francisco Gelder, Field-marshal and Knight of Calatravas, +succeeded Villalba and was inaugurated on the twenty-eighth of March, +1653. One of his first official acts was to sever communication with +Santiago and Bayamo, for these two towns were at that time ravaged by +the same epidemic from which Havana had suffered. His preventative +measure set an example which was soon after followed by the authorities +of Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, Baracoa and Remedios, and +the spreading of the epidemic being checked, the island soon returned to +normal conditions.</p> + +<p>Like other governors before him, Gelder showed a deplorable leniency +towards those elements of the population that carried on contraband +traffic with negroes. But he displayed great energy in the persecution +of pirates. During his administration Captain Rojas de Figuerosa +captured the island of Tortuga, which had been a formidable base of +corsair operations. The news of this exploit caused great rejoicing in +Havana and was celebrated by a Te Deum under the direction of Bishop +Torre. Gelder also devised a plan to protect Havana from invasion by +land. He proposed to open a canal from the extreme interior bay running +north and extending to the sea, which would have surrounded the town by +water and make it practically safe. But the suggestion did not seem to +meet with approval. Before any other plans could be drafted, he died of +apoplexy, on the twenty-third of June, 1654, and in the interval between +his death and the arrival of his successor from Spain, the government +was administered by the Regidor D. Ambrosio de Soto and D. Pedro Garcia +Montanes, commandant of Morro.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">{293}</a></span></p> + +<p>The newly appointed governor, Field-marshal D. Juan Montano Velasquez, +was inaugurated in June, 1655, but dying within a year, did not vitally +influence the course of affairs in the island. His plan of fortifying +Havana consisted in enclosing the city with walls from the landside, +running a rampart with ten bastions and two half-bastions. For the +execution of this plan the neighborhood of Havana offered to contribute +nine thousand peons (day-laborers) and the town corporation imposed a +tax on every pint of wine sold to assist in defraying the expenses of +the construction. The king approved heartily of these offers and ordered +that the treasury of Mexico should aid by an additional contribution of +twenty-thousand pesos. But the historian Arrato reports that the whole +scheme was soon after abandoned on account of the war in which Spain was +about to be involved.</p> + +<p>The British, their appetite for colonial possessions once being +awakened, saw in the growing weakness of Spain an opportunity to get +hold of some of her dominions. It was well known that Cromwell, although +England was then at peace with Spain, tried hard to increase and +strengthen its political and commercial power in America. The British +had already conquered the islands Barbadoes and San Cristobal, and in +the year 1655 a squadron of fifty-six vessels and a great number of +transports sailed from England, determined to wrest from Spain more of +her West Indian possessions. A force of nine thousand men was on these +vessels, many of them filibusters who had joined the British.</p> + +<p>The British command had primarily in view the conquest of Santo Domingo; +but, being repelled, it concentrated its efforts upon Jamaica. The +governor and his people stubbornly resisted the inroads of the enemy. In +the desperate struggle with a superior and well-trained force two brave +land-holders distinguished themselves by their heroism: D. Francisco +Proenza and D. Cristobal de Isasi. But their small and poorly equipped +forces were outnumbered by the numerous and well prepared<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">{294}</a></span> enemy; they +were finally obliged to retire within the fortified camp and to +surrender the place to the British invaders. Panic-stricken and +unwilling to live under the rule of the enemy, thousands of Jamaicans +left for Cuba. The population of this island having been recently +decimated by the great epidemic, the refugees were warmly welcomed. They +numbered about ten thousand and the population of Cuba increased, until +it was estimated at forty thousand. This, however, did not compensate +Cuba for the loss of Jamaica, which in time became as valuable to the +British as it became ruinous to Spanish commerce.</p> + +<p>The comparatively easy victory of the British was a heavy blow to +Spanish pride and ranks high among the great disasters that marked the +reign of Philip IV. Realizing that Cuba might at any time suffer the +same fate as Jamaica, one hundred thousand soldiers were sent over from +the Peninsula and some ammunition from Spain. The establishment of the +British in colonies so near to Cuba was a constant menace to its +security, and during his brief administration Governor Montano devoted +himself with commendable perseverance to the improvement of the defenses +of Havana, beginning with the most important and urgent work upon its +walls. But before the realization of his plans Montano was taken ill and +died during Easter week of the year 1656.</p> + +<p>The conquest of Jamaica by the British had furnished the world such +incontestable proof of Spain's military decline, that the lawless +elements roving the sea under the black flag of the pirates once more +set out upon their criminal expeditions. They extended their +depredations to the whole coast of Spanish America and menaced the life +and property of the inhabitants wherever the lack of forts or adequate +garrisons facilitated their manœuvres. As the pirates were supposed +to be either British or French, the government of Spain was suddenly +roused to action and entered complaints at the courts of France and +England. But they received little satisfaction beyond an exchange of +polite diplomatic notes, which contained<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">{295}</a></span> nothing reassuring whatsoever. +Both governments replied that the miscreants were private individuals +and criminals for whose actions their government, however seriously it +discountenanced them, was by no means responsible. Moreover, +interference was out of the question, since the offenses were committed +outside of the jurisdiction of the respective countries. Spain was thus +left to her own resources in proceeding against those disturbers of the +peace and safety of her American colonies.</p> + +<p>But these colonies were thousands of miles away and Spain, under the +weak rule of a weak sovereign, was too much absorbed by the futile +effort to stay the decline of her European power. Roussillon and Artois +had been ceded to France, the war with Portugal was dragging along +hopelessly. Although the revenues of the crown had been materially +increased under the king's favorite, Olivares, the profligate +extravagance of the court was forever draining the coffers. The colonies +had to get along as best they could and they had a troublesome time to +fight the ever growing menace of pirate invasion with little or no aid +from the mother country.</p> + +<p>The death of Governor Montano made necessary another provisional +government; it consisted of D. Diego Ranzel, as political and the +Alcalde Jose Aguirera as military governor. When the duly appointed new +governor, Captain General D. Juan de Salamanca, entered upon his office +on the fifth of March, 1658, he soon found his hands full. Some years +before, a number of Frenchmen, regardless of the Spanish claim of +priority, had settled on the island of Tortuga. They were hunters, +planters and laborers, with a fair sprinkling of adventurers. The +settlement had grown into a real colony, before the Spaniards became +aware of the fact that it constituted a grave danger. Several +expeditions were sent against them, but failed to dislodge them. +Encouraged by this triumph over the Spaniards, these intruders set about +to extend their operations to the coast contiguous to Hayti. Sometimes +these men were working by authority of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">{296}</a></span> French Company of the West +Indies, and of the governor appointed to rule over them; at other times +they undertook excursions quite independently. They fairly succeeded in +making themselves masters of Cape France. Before long they seem to have +reached some agreement with the British authorities of Jamaica, to +combine for concerted action against Spain, and they began to terrorize +the population of the Spanish possessions by sending out piratical +expeditions that kept the people on the coasts in constant fear for +their life and property.</p> + +<p>The work entitled "Pirates of America" contains a wealth of facts +concerning the corsairs sent out by these French and British settlements +and the many other buccaneers and filibusters that harassed the people +of the Spanish colonies. Among them is the story of the famous pirate +Lolonois, also known as Francisco Nau and el Olones, whose descent upon +Cuba during the administration of Governor Salamanca has all the +elements of a thrilling though gruesome melodrama. Lolonois had been in +Campeche and was supposed to have perished in one of his forays. But in +reality he had made his escape and reached Tortuga, where he was able to +arm himself anew. He reached the northern part of Cuba at a small +trading town, los Cayo, which he intended to rob of its stores of +tobacco, sugar and skins. Some fisherman recognized him and hurried to +Havana with the news that Lolonois had arrived with two boats and was +planning a raid. The governor doubted, having been assured of his death +at Campeche, but urged by the entreaties of the men, he sent against him +a vessel with ten pieces of artillery and ninety armed men. Their order +was not to return until the pirate horde was annihilated; every one of +them was to be hung, except Lolonois who was to be brought to Havana +alive.</p> + +<p>The pirates somehow were fully informed of the expedition against them +and awaited the arrival of the vessel in the Riviera estera where it was +to anchor. They terrorized some poor fisherfolk into showing them the +en<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">{297}</a></span>trance to the port, hoping there to find better boats than their own +canoes. They reached the war-ship at two o'clock in the morning and were +asked by the sentinel whence they came and whether they had seen any +pirates. They made a prisoner answer for them, that they had not seen +any, and the sentinel saw no cause for alarm. At day-break the Cubans +found out their mistake; for the pirates began to attack them from all +sides with such violence that their artillery was soon of no avail. +Sword in hand the outlaws forced the Spaniards to hide in the lower +parts of the ship. Then Lolonois ordered them to be brought on deck, one +by one, and had their heads cut off. Thus the whole force perished with +the exception of one, who was sent as courier to the governor with the +insolent message:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I shall never give quarter to a Spaniard, I cherish the firm hope +to execute on your own person what I did with those you sent with +your vessel and what you intended to do with me and my companions."</p></div> + +<p>Lolonois finally met with a tragical death in Nicaragua. But although +the lack of preparedness on the part of the Cubans and the inefficiency +of the commander and his crew make this story almost incredible, the +exploit of the British pirate Juan or Henry Morgan in Puerto del +Principe, is equally remarkable and vouched for not only in the book +mentioned above, but also by the historian Urrutia. Morgan planned an +attack upon Havana with twelve vessels, but yielding to the persuasion +of his officers who feared its forts, he contented himself with +descending upon the neighboring coast town. As the fleet approached, a +Spanish prisoner dashed into the water, swam ashore and warned the +people of the danger. They put into safety their most precious household +goods and when they gathered about the alcalde numbered about eight +hundred men. A detachment of cavalry was displayed in hope of +intimidating the approaching pirates and attacking them from the rear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">{298}</a></span> +But the enemy advanced in good order, and when the Alcalde and many of +the leaders were killed, the people fled to the mountains. Morgan's +forces entered the city, where they met with some resistance, but when +the pirates threatened to set fire to the town, the people gave up to +them. As soon as they saw themselves masters of the place, the pirates +locked the inhabitants into the churches, plundered as much as they +could find and so ill-treated their victims that many died. Then they +demanded ransom, threatening to take them to Jamaica, if it were not +paid in two weeks. Before the term expired some of the pirates captured +a negro coming towards the town with a message from the governor of +Cuba, promising the people quick help. Morgan then demanded five hundred +bulls or cows with sufficient salt to salt them to be driven to the +coast, took with him six hostages and fifty thousand pesos cash and +jewels, and left his companions attending to the shipping of the cattle.</p> + +<p>To fortify her coasts and strengthen the garrison of her forts became an +urgent need for Cuba and brooked no delay. For while the government of +Spain deliberated at leisure upon means to furnish the much-needed aid, +the enemy was alive to the opportunity which inadequate defense offered. +The invasion of Santiago de Cuba, which is the most important event of +Salamanca's governorship, was a flagrant example of what could at any +time happen at any point along the Spanish American coast. One October +day in the year 1663, a British squadron, according to some authorities +consisting of fifteen, according to others of eighteen ships of various +sizes appeared at the entrance to the port, with unmistakably hostile +intention. The commandant of the Morro immediately informed the +governor, D. Pedro Morales, of this unwelcome arrival, but the governor +did nothing except summon the troops to their respective quarters. Morro +was garrisoned by only eighty men, under an inexperienced captain; some +historians give the number as only twenty-five. It seems to have been an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299">{299}</a></span>unpardonable carelessness on the part of the governor not to have at +once dispatched an enforcement to the garrison. The inhabitants +volunteered to make a sortie to attack the enemy. But the governor did +not seem to realize the seriousness of the situation and forbade them to +take any action against them.</p> + +<p class="caphead"><a name="MORRO_CASTLE_SANTIAGO" id="MORRO_CASTLE_SANTIAGO">MORRO CASTLE, SANTIAGO</a></p> +<p class="caption">The oldest of the fortifications of the former capital of Cuba, erected +in the sixteenth century to protect the place from French and English +raiders. It occupies a commanding position on a headland overlooking the +splendid harbor and the waters which were the scene of the destruction +of the last Spanish fleet in Cuban waters.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<a href="images/ill_298morrosantiago.png"> +<img src="images/ill_298morrosantiago_th.png" width="650" height="422" alt="MORRO CASTLE, SANTIAGO" /> +</a></div> + +<p>The enemy's forces landed at a point called Aguadores, three quarters of +a league from the city. They numbered eight hundred men and encountered +no opposition whatever. But as it was then night, they decided to encamp +on the little plain of Lagunas and wait until daybreak. The officials of +the garrison, relying on their familiarity with the ground, urged the +governor to let them make a sortie with three hundred picked men and +take them by surprise. But Governor Morales still doubted that they +would have the courage to attack the city and refused the proposal of +the brave troops as he had the offer of the people. When the morning +came, his amazing credulity must have received a stunning blow. For the +enemy, fully armed, began to move towards the city. Disconcerted and +confused, Morales hastily ordered the troops out and placed himself at +their head. Without any order or strategic plan they moved towards the +heights of Santa Anna, where as sole defense he had planted a cannon and +had some trenches dug.</p> + +<p>It was an easy task to get the better of a commander of such little +foresight. Realizing the confusion of the Cuban forces the enemy +separated into two columns and proceeded to surround Morales and his +men. In the panic which broke out, the voice of Morales was heard to +order a retreat. He himself escaped into the city. The British +dispatched two hundred men to take Morro, which they found abandoned, +the garrison having fled instead of making an attempt to save the fort +and their honor. When the British commander entered Morro he was +reported to have made the remark, that he alone with his dog and his +sword could have defended the place. Morro and Santiago were captured +and the enemy unhindered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_300" id="page_300">{300}</a></span> indulged in plunder. The bells of the churches +were taken, the artillery of the fort, three vessels lying in the +harbor, and a number of negro slaves. Unable to get the furniture and +jewels which had been hidden by the residents, the enemy vented their +wrath on the Morro, which they blew up; they destroyed the cathedral and +killed a few people.</p> + +<p>For almost a month they lingered about the place and still the governor +did nothing to force them to leave. When the governor of Cuba heard of +the plight of Santiago, he immediately summoned an expeditionary corps +of five hundred men and hurried to the relief of the sorely tried town; +but when he arrived on the fifteenth of November, he learned that the +British had on that very day evacuated the town. The historian Urrutia +reports that the Audiencia of Santo Domingo entrusted the licentiate D. +Nicolas Munez with the investigation of this disgraceful defeat and +brought about the removal of Morales. By order of the king he was +replaced by the Field Marshal D. Pedro de Bayoa, who was also given two +hundred soldiers and war provisions for future eventualities of this +kind.</p> + +<p>The island had at that time a population of over three hundred thousand +inhabitants. The number of negroes had increased and furnished the labor +so much needed to work on the plantations. The cultivation of the land +was carried on with greater efficiency and began to yield rich results. +Governor Salamanca, in spite of his glorious military antecedents, +devoted himself preferably to works of peace. He succeeded in promoting +tobacco culture and was the author of the decree issued on the fifteenth +of October, 1659, which authorized the extension of the fields into the +uncultivated plains that were not used for any other purposes. He was +profoundly concerned about the morals of Cuban society and attempted to +combat the laxity and dissipation that characterized its life. But it +seems that his moralizing had no great effect upon the people that were +bent upon taking life easy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">{301}</a></span> and plunged into pleasure with greater zest +than they pursued their work.</p> + +<p>But while the population of the island enjoyed comparative security and +prosperity, that of the coast towns was steadily worried by danger of +invasion. When Governor Salamanca retired from office, the menace was +still far from removed. After a provisional government of ten months, +Don Rodrigo de Flores y Aldama, Field Marshal and Caballero de +Alcantara, entered upon his administration on the fifteenth of June, +1663. With him arrived also a new bishop, Don Juan Saenz de Manosca, a +Mexican of immaculate purity and uncompromising severity. He took charge +of the diocese on the sixth of August and continued with greater success +than Governor Salamanca in the moralization of the community. Realizing +the increasing danger of invasion Governor Aldama at once set about to +push the work on the walls of Havana. The garrison was increased by two +hundred men.</p> + +<p>But Aldama was only a year later appointed Captain-General of Yucatan, +and a new governor succeeded him, the Field Marshal Don Francisco Davila +Crejon y Gaston, who had previously been governor of Gibraltar and +Venezuela. He entered upon his office on the thirtieth of July, 1664, +and immediately set to work with great energy and perseverance to hasten +the construction of more fortifications. His predecessors had stored up +an immense amount of building material and there was no reason why the +work should not be carried on without delay. But Davila encountered +serious difficulties and obstacles because his plans were opposed by the +engineer Marcos Lucio and the viceroy la Espanola Marques de Muncere. +The resources of the exchequer were at that time so scanty that Orejon +ordered the provisory use of fagots in the construction of the +fortifications of Havana.</p> + +<p>However, El Morro of Santiago de Cuba which had been blown up by +filibusters a few years before, was rebuilt under his orders. The +batteries of La Punta, la<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">{302}</a></span> Estrella and Santa Clara were established. +The governor of Santiago and D. Pedro Bayone finished these works and +also walled up the convent of San Francisco making it equivalent to a +fort. In the year 1665 the French pirate Pedro Legrand penetrated into +Santo Espiritu with a force of filibusters. He set fire to thirty-three +houses and demanded a ransom from every inhabitant. During that and the +following year, the pirates plundered more than two hundred haciendas +(farms) carrying off cattle and furniture. They committed unspeakable +outrages, violating even the wives and daughters of the men whose homes +they destroyed or robbed.</p> + +<p>One of the most curious historical documents of this period is "De +Americansche Zee Rovers," a narrative of piratical exploits on the +coasts of Cuba and other Spanish possessions by a member of the +redoubtable fraternity, Alexander Exquemeling, a Dutch pirate, whose +talent for piracy was coupled with the gift of literary style and a +pious disposition. The book was translated into many languages and was +very popular at the time; it gives a vivid account of the life and +habits of the buccaneers and of conditions in the colonies they visited. +Exquemeling had come to Tortuga in one of the vessels of the Dutch West +India Company and, as was frequently done then, was sold into servitude +for three years. Being ill-treated by his masters, he made his escape +and joined the Brothers of the Coast. He was with Morgan at the capture +of Puerto del Principe in Cuba, at an attack upon Porto Bello on the +Isthmus of Darien and at the dastardly sack of Panama, and indulges in +no little moralizing about the monster Morgan and his associates.</p> + +<p>In the year 1670 steps were finally taken by the British and the Spanish +government to crush this outlaw power of the seas. As if in defiance of +this act the expedition against Panama was made which Exquemeling +describes with evident horror. He also reports that the new governor of +Jamaica, who had been particularly instructed to enforce the treaty +against piracy, which in the diplo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">{303}</a></span>matic documents goes under the name +"American treaty," ordered three hundred French corsairs who had been +shipwrecked on the coast of Porto Rico to be slaughtered. But he does +not forget to add that the same governor only a few years later secretly +abetted the operations of the pirates and even shared in their booty. +One ship alone carried such rich freight, that every member of the +pirate crew received four hundred pounds and the governor himself a +handsome sum of hush-money.</p> + +<p>But the grim tragicomedy of Morgan's career reached its climax when the +scoundrel, who had brought untold misery to homes in Cuba and other +Spanish colonies, suddenly turned about, became respectable, married the +daughter of one of the most prominent citizens of Jamaica, and was +appointed Judge of the admiralty court. Nor was this all: Charles II +knighted him and in 1682 the whilom buccaneer, as Sir Henry Morgan, +became Deputy Governor of Jamaica. He held the office three years, +during which he mercilessly sacrificed some of his former comrades. Then +King James II came upon the throne, and Spain having gathered sufficient +evidence to accuse "Sir Henry" of secret complicity with the pirates, he +was discharged, sent to England and spent some years in prison. The +"American Treaty," however, dealt a blow to piracy in the Western +hemisphere; and in due time relieved the inhabitants of Cuba as of other +Spanish possessions in America for the nightmare that had threatened +them for over a century.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">{304}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h3> + +<p>I<span class="smcap">n</span> spite of the "American Treaty" which had for the moment bound Great +Britain and Spain together for mutual protection against the pirates, +the designs of land-hungry British courtiers and adventurers were by no +means abandoned. Spain was not blind to the fact that she had all powers +against her, that were playing an important part in the development of +the New World. French, Dutch and British were stung with the desire to +appropriate to themselves some of its wealth. For many years the British +government had jealously watched the progress of Dutch navigation and +commerce. Its settlements in North America had whetted the appetite for +colonial expansion, which, once awakened, was bound to be satisfied by +whatever means diplomacy or strategy offered. Though England and Spain +were then nominally at peace, Cromwell was haunted by dreams of British +world power and as soon as the Revolution gave him authority to act as +Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, pursued his visions of conquest.</p> + +<p>The act of navigation which was issued in the year 1651 does not with a +word mention British monopoly of the colonies; it only established the +principle of exclusive maritime commerce by British vessels, equipped +for the most part with British citizens, and prohibited foreigners from +importing into the Commonwealth other products than those of her own +soil or those the sale of which was established in the importing +country. Cromwell's idea was without doubt to attack Dutch commerce and +build upon its ruins a national British commerce. Holland opposed in +vain the act intended to break the friendly relations between the two +nations. Parliament was concerned only about British interests and +refused to revoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_305" id="page_305">{305}</a></span> her laws to please her neighbor and ally. The war +between England and Holland became inevitable. Cromwell's squadron +triumphed and Dutch commerce had to give way to British.</p> + +<p>This lesson was not lost upon France which was also haunted by visions +of colonial empire and was therefore interested in defending the +principle of monopoly. As early as the reign of Queen Isabella, French +ambition and desire for colonial possessions had become manifest. As +British vessels began to prey upon Spanish colonies, France followed +their operations with keen interest and at opportune moments managed to +acquire a slice of territory in the New World. In the year when the +British had taken possession of Barbadoes, France took half of San +Cristobal; when the British settled on the other half of that island, +the French took possession of Martinique, Guadeloupe and other small +islands. They founded a colony in Cayenne and assisted by corsairs got a +hold on the western part of Santo Domingo.</p> + +<p>But the greed for territory once awakened, was not easily appeased, and +the courtiers of the Restoration, in need of new avenues of wealth to +carry on their wonted extravagance, were among the most rapacious +claimants of land in America. In the Spring of 1663, the province of +Carolina was established, extending from the thirty-sixth degree of +north latitude to the river San Matheo and some dissatisfied planters +from Barbadoes founded a settlement in the fall of the same year. Having +been included by the Spaniards within the limits of Florida, this +arbitrary act was bound not to pass unchallenged by Spain. In defiance +of the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine the Earl of Clarendon +obtained from the King in June, 1665, a charter granting him and his +partners all territory lying between the twenty-ninth and the +thirty-sixth degree of north latitude from the Atlantic to the Pacific.</p> + +<p>Not satisfied with these acquisitions, the British turned covetous eyes +upon Cuba. A letter written by a Major<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_306" id="page_306">{306}</a></span> Smith in the year 1665 and +published in the Universal Museum of London in the year 1762, gives an +account of the island which requires no comment. It reads:</p> + +<p>"Cuba is a very good island and in it is generally, for so large a +country, the best land I have seen in America, although I have traveled +the main continent in several places and crossed from the north to the +south seas as also the north side of Hispaniola, and most parts of +Jamaica. This great island is easily to be conquered, and would make the +best plantation, besides the prejudice it would be to the Spaniards and +the great advantage to our nation. For instance had we the port and city +of Havana, which might in all probability be reduced with two regiments +of good soldiers from Jamaica, carrying with them two or three sloops or +shallops for sending men, provided with good arms and other necessities +for an assault. The descent is to be undertaken presently after their +armada hath passed out of the Indies which is once in two years, towards +the end of the summer. There is a good landing on the west side of the +city where it lies open and you need fear no ambuscades, but not on the +east side of the harbor, for there you will be galled by the Morro until +the city be secured; but when once that is taken, you may easily reduce +the castle also and there being no danger of retaking it until the next +armada arrives, which will be almost two years, in which time you will +have planters enough from other of your islands to manure the land and +assist the soldiers in the defense of the island. This conquest being +once effected, would utterly ruin the Spaniards and for these reasons; +our ships lying both here and at Jamaica, would be at all times ready to +gather up their straggling fleet which it is difficult to keep embodied +without the help of that port of Havana, it being windward from the bay +of Mexico or Puerto Bello, without separation and on the other hand, to +pass the Gulf of Florida is impossible should they lose the Havana where +they rendezvous victual water and provide all things necessary for their +return to Spain. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_307" id="page_307">{307}</a></span> this is done, they wait for a convenient season +of weather (being much observed from the changes of the moon) in order +to pass the dangerous strait; for to say truly, the Spaniards are +neither very fit for sea nor for land service, excepting some officers +and soldiers bred in Flanders, for the latter and a few Biscaniers for +sea affairs. They are so sensible of their weakness, and jealous of +their riches in those parts that it is very difficult for any ingenious +man, once taken by them, to get his liberty, fearing he might give such +intelligence as would be the cause of their ruin, witness their +blindfolding of all strangers, when they pass their cities and castles, +for they much dread an old prophecy among them, <i>that within a short +time the English will as freely walk the streets of Havana as the +Spaniards now do</i>, which indeed had been easily performed with a third +of the army sent to Jamaica and a far greater advantage to the nation; +for I esteem that port and harbor of the Havana in the West Indies to be +as great a check upon the Spaniards as Tangier in the straits of +Gibraltar; and if we were once masters of both they would without doubt +be so straightened as absolutely to admit us a free trade into their +ports of America, where they import our commodities and sell them for +ten times more than they first cost in Spain, by reason of the great +plenty of silver, which trade would not only be of great advantage to +us, but also prevent their future enslaving our nation in chains, as +they now do; for being employed in their fortifications, they are worse +used, all things considered, than if they were taken by the Turks. I +have seen other parts of the West Indies, where the Spaniards might be +fleeced of considerable quantity of riches; as at Panama, where there +are silver bars piled up in heaps in the open street day and night, +without guard, four, five or six months together, waiting the arrival of +the armada, which when arriving in Puerto Bello, they transport it +thither with so slender a guard for so great a treasure, that it would +be easy prey for a thousand resolute men the expense of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_308" id="page_308">{308}</a></span> whose +expedition would be small in comparison to the prize. But there is no +resting or long tarrying about the business, the Spaniards being +numerous here as in all other places of the main land; a catch and away. +This island of Cuba hath adjacent to it great conveniences of salt and +fishing and in it is very great plenty of horses, meat, sheep and hogs, +both wild and tame, of a far larger and better breed than in other parts +of America. Which hath also many rich mines of copper already open and +it is the only place which supplies all the West Indies with metal for +the infinite number of ordnance they have in all their ports and +castles, both in the north and south seas; but whether it hath any mines +of silver or gold, I know not; but if there were any such they would +venture their opening a discovery fearing the invasion of that island +which is of so easy access by sea and of such great importance to their +whole interest in America; for which reason also they refuse to work any +mines in Florida that are near the north sea (although they have there +very many) but would rather employ themselves about others farther in +the country although with great labor and cost for conveyance of the +produce by land to Mexico; lastly, this island (to complete its praise) +hath very good ports and harbors of great advantage to ships for safe +passing the gulf; and should the Spaniards keep two or three frigates +always plying off there between the western end of Cuba and the Havana, +it were impossible for any ships of ours that came from Jamaica to +escape them. The scales turned would be their case to all America. +Neither wants it great sugar-works, which have both water-mill and horse +mills and very many large cocoa walks; the most and best tobacco; in +short, it produces all other commodities that any of our American +islands have knowledge of."</p> + +<p>This letter shows plainly how preoccupied was the British mind with the +acquisition of Cuba, and foreshadows the coming events, for which Cuba +in spite of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_309" id="page_309">{309}</a></span> all warning symptoms was little prepared. Clouds had +gathered about the horizon of Spain and darkened its own outlook.</p> + +<p>King Philip IV. had died on the seventeenth of September, 1665, and so +inadequate was at that time the means of communication between Spain and +her American dominions that it took seven months before news of the +event reached the people of Cuba. The heir to the Spanish throne was the +three-year-old Charles II. the queen, assisted by the junta, being named +regent. If the reign of Philip IV. had been called the most disastrous +in the history of the kingdom, that of Charles II. was hardly less so. +It was the period when Louis XIV. of France had begun to cherish a dream +of universal empire and although a brother-in-law of the Spanish +infant-king, did not hesitate to do his share in weakening the power of +Spain. In spite of the critical position of the mother-country, the +proclamation of the new king was celebrated in Havana with great pomp on +the ninth day of May in the following year. At the review held in San +Francisco square of that city appeared two companies of mounted militia, +four companies of veteran infantry and four others of free Pardos (a +mixed race of blacks and whites) and Morenos, sent by the Major Jeronimo +Luque Salazar.</p> + +<p>The perfidy of the French king contributed seriously to the insecurity +of Cuba at this period. There is little doubt that he aided and abetted +the operations of French pirates in the West Indies. The island of +Tortuga was once more in their hands. Barbadoes and Jamaica were the +haunts of great numbers of these outlaws, who kept the Spanish ships +sailing on these seas as well as Campeche, Tabasco, Honduras, Nicaragua, +New Granada, Costa Rica, Santa Catalina, la Guayra and others of the +rich Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere in a continual state of +suspense. Governor Davila succeeded in several punitive expeditions +against the pirates. The notorious Lolonois or El Olones, was executed +in Nic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_310" id="page_310">{310}</a></span>aragua and in Cuba itself more than three hundred were hanged in +the different places where they had been caught. During Davila's +administration some wealthy citizens made bequests for the public good. +The most important was that of Martin Calvo, who left an income of five +thousand pesos to be annually distributed as gifts among five poor +orphan girls. Governor Davila Orejon y Gaston was in the military +literature of his time known as the author of a work called "Escelencias +del arte militare y variones illustres." He demonstrated in that work +the importance of the port of Havana for the conservation of Spanish +dominion in Mexico and Peru. He retired from the governorship on the +sixth of May, 1670, and died in Venezuela.</p> + +<p>The immediate successor of Davila was Field Marshal D. Francisco +Rodriguez de Ledesma, Chevalier of the Order of Santiago. Determined to +curb the brazen bullying in which the buccaneers were still indulging, +he issued privateering patents to a number of valiant mariners and +merchants, who were willing to face the foreign pirates in open fight +and prevent further encroachments upon the coasts of Spanish America. +The two men who especially distinguished themselves in these expeditions +were Felipe Geraldini and Major Marcos de Alcala. Ledesma also carried +on the work of fortification. During his administration was built a +portion of the cathedral under the supervision of D. Juan Bernardo +Alonso de Los Rios; but the imposing edifice was not finished until many +years later.</p> + +<p>Governor Ledesma was not to be spared an experience with the +freebooters. In the year 1678 the governor of Guarico sent a certain +Franquinay to Santiago with the evident intention of conquering the +place. Franquinay, who was a French corsair well-known among the +Brotherhood of the Coast landed with eight hundred men at Jaragua Grande +in the eastern part of the island. There he engaged a half-witted native +by the name of Juan Perdomo to act as guide and started with his forces +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_311" id="page_311">{311}</a></span> march toward the city. It was a moonlit night and on arriving at a +point where the road branched into two, the pirate divided his forces, +each taking one of the roads. On meeting again at the place where the +two branches continued as the highroad, the idiot Perdomo began to shout +"Santiago, Spain!" The moon had set in the mean time and in the darkness +enveloping them, the pirates did not recognize their own forces and +thought this call a signal to the enemy lying in wait for them. They +began to fire upon their own forces, in the belief that they were +betrayed and surprised by the Spaniards, and killed a great number of +their own people, before they became aware of their mistake. In this way +was Franquinay's plan to take and ransack the city of Cuba frustrated by +a mentally deficient native, one who in the language of the Latin people +is called an "innocent." The corsair turned back to the shore with the +intention of re-embarking and left Perdomo behind. The half-wit, +although manacled, managed to reach Santiago and related his experience +to the great delight of the governor and the residents. This was the +last attempt of pirate forces upon the capital, the inhabitants of which +had been kept in a state of constant alarm for a century and a half. But +the smaller towns of the vicinity were for some time harassed by +Franquinay who, unable to accomplish his ambitious purpose, vented his +wrath upon their population by committing the most cruel outrages.</p> + +<p>The expedition of buccaneers under the command of M. de Grammont in +February, 1679, was another event that justified the fears of the Cubans +and their steps to insure the safeguard of their ports. M. de Grammont +landed with a force of six hundred men at Guanaja and succeeded in +capturing Puerto del Principe. But the inhabitants valiantly organized +and armed themselves to fight the invader. With a scanty reenforcement +of soldiers from the garrison they managed to defeat the enemy's horde +and pursued them as far as the port of Guanaja. There M. de Grammont, +who was wounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_312" id="page_312">{312}</a></span> in the course of the combat, retired into a trench +which was sufficiently fortified to offer some resistance. On the +twenty-fifth of the month an engagement took place, which forced the +pirates to take to their ships and hurriedly to leave for the open sea. +They had not only accomplished nothing, but suffered the loss of seventy +dead and many wounded.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the two countries being at peace, the feeling between +Great Britain and Spain was gradually becoming more and more hostile. +During the pirate raids and other expeditions of British vessels off the +Spanish-American coasts, British soldiers and sailors had been taken +prisoners and were held in what was equivalent to bondage. The British +government had repeatedly remonstrated against this procedure, but the +Cuban authorities had not forgotten Jamaica and other operations of the +British in Spanish America and were not inclined to parley. Ships had +been sent to Havana to demand the release of the men, but even then the +emissaries of the British government failed to obtain any satisfaction. +Their demands were flatly refused. Finally the Earl of Clarence, who was +then governor of Jamaica, dispatched the British ship <i>Hunter</i> under +command of Captain John Tosier to Havana. A full account of this +expedition is given in "A Letter from Captain John Tosier, Commander of +His Majesty's ship the <i>Hunter</i> at Jamaica. With a narrative of his +embassy to the governor of Havana to demand His Majesty's of Great +Britain's Subjects kept prisoners there." The letter is dated Port +Royal, Jamaica, March 28th, 1679, and was published in London in the +same year.</p> + +<p>Captain Tosier tells of previous efforts made to obtain the deliverance +of these British prisoners, saying that even messengers backed by +frigates of fifty guns had so far failed in their purpose. He sailed +from Port Royal on the twenty-fifth of January and on the eleventh of +February arrived off the coast of Havana. There he waited for two days +for more settled weather before he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_313" id="page_313">{313}</a></span> approached within two miles of Morro +castle, "top-sails a-Trip, Jack, Ancient and Pendant flying." He sent a +boat with Mr. Richard Bere, Governor Carlisle's "Gentleman of the Horse" +as messenger and interpreter, and bearer of the list of British subjects +kept prisoners in Havana. The guard of Morro castle ordered the boat +ashore, put a sergeant and soldiers on board and escorted the messenger +to Governor Ledesma. Another guard remained on the boat. Governor +Ledesma read the letter and the sailing orders and replied that the +British prisoners were pirates. According to Captain Tosier's narrative +he refused the British emissaries the customary salute and more or less +politely ordered them out of the house. They were escorted back to the +boat and "were forced to sea at seven o'clock at night."</p> + +<p>Early the next morning the answer was received by Captain Tosier. Within +three hours he sent the boat ashore once more, telling the governor of +Havana "His Majesty's Ship under my command is well Man'd, where he +might be safe and welcome if he would vouchsafe to give her his company; +and His Majesty of England never spared his powder to answer Civilities, +nor received such indignities as waiters or guards on board of any of +His Majesty's Ships of War, which will be a strange report, when His +Majesty shall come to hear of it." Captain Tosier then demanded in the +name of the King of England and "in obedience to the Catholic King" that +forthwith all subjects of his "most Excellent Majesty" detained as +prisoners in Havana be set at liberty and delivered to him to be +transported to the Territories of the King of England. If pirates they +were, they should have been sent to Old Spain to be tried. Great was the +excitement at the government house in Havana, when this message reached +there. But the Cuban authorities saw no other way out of the difficulty +but to give up the captives. Captain Tosier reports that the governor +ordered the prisoners to be called over in a back court near his house +and examined some of them, one after another, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_314" id="page_314">{314}</a></span> before he had done +said: "Though I have no order to deliver them to you and though I may be +blamed, yet take them all with you, and if there be any more, let them +come forth immediately and they shall be discharged."</p> + +<p>Captain Tosier had cause to be proud of his success, as the Spanish +authorities had never before been known to deliver any British +prisoners. The announcement that they were free was received with wild +cheers by the forty-six Englishmen who had spent from one to six years +in Cuban captivity. The following day the <i>Hunter</i> sailed and at some +distance out of Havana, Captain Tosier came across a long boat, +containing one hundred and forty-four men with their commander, Captain +John Graves who had sailed a month before for London and eight days +before meeting the <i>Hunter</i> had been cast away thirty leagues east of +Havana and expected to be utterly lost or to be made prisoners by the +Cubans.</p> + +<p>Though Governor Ledesma had in this instance yielded to the pressure +exercised by the British, he was by no means convinced of the honesty +and sincerity of the Governor of Jamaica. He had reasons to believe that +in spite of peace between the two countries the governor of Jamaica was +secretly in league with the pirates that had molested Cuba, and that +while pretending to persecute the outlaws, he had really encouraged them +in their raids upon the Spanish colonies. Governor Ledesma collected +evidence to that effect and presented it at the court of Spain. But his +appeal arrived at a time when Spain's European losses had alarmingly +decreased her prestige and when even her national wealth showed a +perceptible shrinkage. So the court at Madrid did nothing but deliberate +at length upon the ever present problem of insuring the safety of the +colonies and limited its practical assistance to the sending over of a +few ships with instructions to organize an armada which was to patrol +the coasts and force the outlaws to respect Spanish posses<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_315" id="page_315">{315}</a></span>sions. The +island itself armed a few vessels and the garrisons were slightly +increased.</p> + +<p>The great earthquake of the year 1675 added to the sufferings of the +people of Cuba and caused loss of life and property. Three years later a +violent hurricane swept over the island and worked great havoc. It not +only robbed great numbers of the inhabitants of their homes, and did +serious damage to commerce and traffic, but it also destroyed the +recently finished cathedral. Though such catastrophes were of no rare +occurrence in that climate, they invariably left the people's spirits +depressed and indirectly affected their initiative and enterprise. Thus +the copper mines were abandoned about this time, because their +production seemed out of proportion to the labor and expense of working +them. But the real reason was probably the ignorance and inefficiency of +the forces in charge of the work and the lack of energy and courage +which frequently manifested itself in the wake of great disasters.</p> + +<p>A change in the ecclesiastical affairs of Cuba caused considerable +commotion during the administration of Governor Ledesma. Bishop Saenz de +Manosca was promoted to the bishopric of Guatemala. The Trinitarian (in +Mexico a member of a society hired to carry the corpse in the funeral +procession) who had temporarily succeeded him was shortly after +appointed Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo. Thus the diocese came under the wise +spiritual guidance of the Canon of Avila, D. Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon, +who was not only a learned theologian of great reputation, but a priest +of uncompromising moral austerity. He devoted himself with great ardor +to reforming the church in the West Indies. On a single visit to Florida +he was reported to have made as many as four thousand converts. On his +return to Cuba he inaugurated a reign of unwonted severity. He had been +deeply shocked by the levity and frivolity of his diocesans; he had +learned that even ordained priests and personages in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_316" id="page_316">{316}</a></span> high official +positions were in the habit of attending public balls and masquerades, +the latter especially offering opportunity to indulge in polite +intrigues and adventures of a dubious nature. He justly opined that men +in clerical garb and those in responsible government offices lowered +their dignity and abused the trust reposed in them by participating in +such entertainments. He prohibited his diocesans under threat of +excommunication to attend such amusements and by this rigorous +restriction of the gayeties in which the people had been accustomed to +indulge, made not a few enemies. When he died on the sixteenth of March, +1676, public rumor attributed his death to poison administered by some +person in revenge for his interference with the social life of his +diocese.</p> + +<p>Spain was at this period at the lowest ebb of her power. Financially she +was on the brink of bankruptcy. Her commerce was paralyzed by stupid +laws. The scandalous conduct of her officials had sadly lowered her +prestige. Nature herself seemed to conspire against the once so powerful +empire. Storms and inundations had swept over the country and ravaged +the land, until its very soil had become unproductive. Tempests along +her shores had destroyed even the ships lying in port. The mentally and +physically feeble monarch, Charles II., was a helpless puppet in the +hands of his favorites. A believer in witchcraft, astrology and the +black arts and devoted to superstitious practices, he left the affairs +of state to his prime ministers who conducted them with varying ability.</p> + +<p>When Ledesma's governorship terminated on the thirty-first of August, +1680, there was appointed in his place D. Alonso de Campos Espinosa. But +as Valdes and other authorities on Cuban history have nothing to record +about his official career, it must have been only provisional, and was +certainly very brief. For in September of that year the Field Marshal D. +Jose Fernandez de Cordova Ponce de Leon took charge of the office. +Governor Cordova proved to be a very conscientious and energetic +functionary and distinguished himself first by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_317" id="page_317">{317}</a></span> the vigor and +perseverance with which he pushed work on the fortifications of Havana. +He also showed his ability in fighting the pirate scourge. The +filibusters had begun to organize bases of operation on the islands of +Signale and Lucayas, similar to those of Tortuga. He sent against them +an expedition headed by the captains Acosta and Urubarru, who succeeded +in destroying the outlaw colonies in the name of the king and took a +great number of prisoners. The chief event of Governor Cordova's +administration was an encounter which the coast guard Galliot of the +port Virgen del Rosario y Santa Jose had with a host of French invaders. +The governor and organized forces of patriotic citizens so ably seconded +the guard in the defense of the place that the enemy was defeated.</p> + +<p>Governor Cordova made many enemies by his vigorous persecution of the +smugglers who had greatly increased in number and by their clandestine +operations were interfering with and discrediting the legitimate trade +of the island. They had become such a power that they had the audacity +to bring denunciations and accusations against the governor before the +court, which, however, set these charges aside and approved all of +Cordova's measures directed against them. He also had grave difficulties +with the commissary of the Santo Officio, D. Jose Garaondo. They were +not yet settled, when Governor Cordova suddenly died on the second of +June, 1685. There were rumors afloat that he, too, like Bishop Calderon, +had been poisoned by his enemies. During the interim between his death +and the arrival from Spain of his successor, the affairs of the island +were administered by D. Antonio Manuel de Murgina y Meņa and Captain D. +Andres de Munive, who shared between them the political and military +authority.</p> + +<p>The newly appointed governor of Cuba was the general of artillery, D. +Diego de Viana y Hinojosa. When he arrived in Havana in November, 1687, +he brought with him the first copies of the "Codigo e Recopilacion<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_318" id="page_318">{318}</a></span> de +India," as the statutes or laws of the West Indies were called. They +were in force by royal decree, although they were in reality only a +confirmation of the famous Ordinances of 1542. They were distinguished +by a spirit of rectitude and impartiality and were particularly +commendable for their justice towards the native Indians, who were +exempted from all servitude and were accorded equal rights with the +Spaniards. Unfortunately these laws suffered from one serious defect: +they were framed so as to apply to all dominions of Spanish America and +did not take into account the indisputable fact that laws applicable to +and beneficent in Peru, might be prejudicial in Mexico and Cuba. This +did not, however, diminish in the least the ethical significance and +humanitarian value of this codex of some four hundred laws, decrees and +mandates; they gave proof of the admirable sentiment of the mother +country towards her colonies.</p> + +<p>Among the functionaries who arrived from Spain at the same time as +Governor Viana, were a new Auditor, D. Manuel de Roa, and a new bishop, +D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. This noted ecclesiastic was famous in +Spain not only for his sterling character as a man, but also for his +extraordinary gifts as an orator. On his succession to the episcopate a +spirit of altruism seemed to awaken in the population and find fruition +in various works of charity. Bishop Compostela was conspicuous in these +organizations and in every possible way encouraged his diocesans in +contributing to and actively participating in such works. He founded +many parishes and in Havana organized the seminary of San Ambrosio, the +academy for young ladies called San Francisco de Sala, and the hospital +for convalescents of Bolen. During the fifteen years of his episcopate +Bishop Compostela accomplished what none of his predecessors had +succeeded in doing. He really raised the moral standard of the diocese, +and he attained that end more by his own noble example, than by his +eloquent sermons on moral issues. He was a gentleman of distinguished +manners,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_319" id="page_319">{319}</a></span> who treated all that came in contact with him with the utmost +courtesy. He lived very modestly and was known always to travel on foot. +He devoted his income to alms freely dispensed to all the needy, and by +his numerous works of beneficence built for himself an imperishable +monument in the memory of the grateful population.</p> + +<p>Governor Viana's administration was filled with what at first appeared a +petty local squabble, but later developed into a serious conflict. +Harassed by pirates, the town of San Juan de los Remedios del Cayo had +in the year 1684 obtained permission to remove to another place, +sufficiently distant from the coast to insure the safety of the +inhabitants. The permission arrived at a time when conditions seemed to +have improved and the majority of the population was satisfied to remain +where they were. The parish priest, however, had favored and decided +upon removal to a place called Cupey, and Governor Viana approved of +this choice. When the residents began to discuss the problem of the new +location, it was found that the greater number was of the opinion that +the cattle farms known as Santa Clara offered a more convenient site, +and the governor and bishop were won over to this view and agreed. As +head of the town was appointed the Alcalde Manuel Rodriguez de Arziniega +and as its spiritual adviser was chosen the Cura Gonzales. It so +happened that neither of the two favored the place that had been +selected. The Alcalde and his adherents wanted to settle at Sabana +Largo, near the hacienda of Santa Clara. The priest preferred the place +called El Guanal, in the body of that farm. To adjust the difference the +governor and the bishop chose two men, D. Christobal de Fromesta, Cura +and Vicar of Sancti Spiritu, and the Contador D. Diego de Penalver, who +were both residents of that town. It is characteristic of the manner in +which municipal and other public business of importance was then +conducted, that the two men deliberated without result until the year +1689, when the administration of Governor Viana came to an end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_320" id="page_320">{320}</a></span></p> + +<p>Of Governor Viana's share in furthering the building of fortifications +an inscription in the ravelin of the gate of Tierra bears proof. It +reads:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Reynando La Magestad Catolica De Carlos II. Rey de Las Espanas Y +Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General De Esta Ciudad E Isla de Cuba +D. Diego Antonio De Viana Hinojosa, Caballero del Orden De +Santiago, Veinte Y Cuatro Perpetuo De La Ciudad de Granada, Y +General De La Artilleria Del Reinado de Sevilla, Se Acabo Esta +Puerta Con Su Puente Levandizo, y Su Media Luna, etc. Ano de 1688.</p> + +<p>(In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Charles II. King of Spain, +the resident governor and captain-general of this city and island +of Cuba was D. Diego Antonio de Viana Hinojosa, Cavalier of the +Order of Santiago, the twenty-fourth Perpetuo of the city of +Granada, and the General of Artillery of the ruler of Sevilla, this +gate with its drawbridge and its ravelins was finished. In the year +1688.)</p></div> + +<p>The affair of El Cayo continued to absorb the attention of the +government during the administration of D. Severino de Manzaņeda y +Salines. This new governor entered upon the functions of his office on +the thirtieth of October, 1689, and remained until the second of +October, 1695. According to the decision which the court rendered after +endless discussion the inhabitants of El Cayo were to move to Santa +Clara. From the oldest Alcaldes and Magistrates of both towns two men +were chosen with orders to superintend the removal: the Cabilde Captain +Luis Perez de Morales and Ensign Gaspar Rodriguez. They proceeded to el +Cayo and issued a proclamation which ordered the residents to move +within a fortnight. When the term expired, and the order had not been +complied with, they went to the church, accompanied by forty men armed +with machetes, lances, battle-axes and guns, and began to harangue the +people. When this had no immediate visible effect, they started to +destroy house upon house, applying either the torch or the sword. They +spared only the church and the residence of the prefect of the new town.</p> + +<p>After committing these unwarranted ruthless outrages<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_321" id="page_321">{321}</a></span> they forbade any +one under severe penalty to attempt to rebuilt his house; nor was any +one allowed to admit a homeless neighbor to his hacienda or offer him a +roof. Exposed to the inclemency of the weather, left without shelter or +provisions, the temper of the inhabitants was roused, but they were too +bewildered by the cruel injustice to see their way to demand redress of +their wrongs. A man from the pueblo San Jacinto de Royas, deeply +resenting the heinous crime, resolved not to remain passive. He made his +way to the bishop and the governor, gave them a vivid account of what +had occurred, and lodged a complaint in the name of the poor victims. +Both Bishop Compostela and Governor Manzaņedas readily yielded to his +arguments, but it does not appear from the records of the time that the +men who had so flagrantly abused their power were punished. The +governor, probably from fear of stirring up dissatisfaction with his +administration and ultimately losing his position, contented himself by +adjusting the differences between the two parties. He ordered the people +of both towns to live together until the king had handed down his +decision. When His Majesty finally approved of the action taken, the +feelings of both parties were pacified and the new town thus founded +became known as Villa Clara.</p> + +<p>During the administration of Governor Manzaņedas the city of Matanzas +was founded. According to some authorities the name is derived from the +Spanish <i>matanza</i>, which means slaughter or killing and it was supposed +to refer to the extermination of the Indians who had been the native +owners of that territory. Others derive the term from a corruption of +the word <i>martizaban</i>, which the Indians had adopted from the Castilian +when they wailed during the suffering inflicted upon them. Still others +try to establish a certain connection between that name and the +following story of Indian perfidy. It seems that some Spaniards had +engaged a number of Indians to carry them in their canoes from one end +of the bay to another. When they reached the middle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_322" id="page_322">{322}</a></span> the bay, the +Indians left the boats, and hitting the Spaniards on the head with the +oars, tried to drown them, while they took to the mountains. Seven of +the victims succeeded in escaping from death by swimming to the shore; +but there they were caught by other natives, taken to the nearest pueblo +and hanged. One of them however, managed to get away and reach another +pueblo, whose cacique gave him shelter until the arrival of a Spanish +rescuing force under Narvaez. The cacique, preceded by three hundred men +carrying gifts, went to receive the party from Havana, leading the +prisoner by the hand. In addressing Narvaez and P. Casas, who were the +leaders, he told them that he had treated the man as if he had been his +own son, that he had guarded and protected him for three years and had +refused the strenuous demand of the other caciques to deliver him to +them, knowing that they would have killed him.</p> + +<p>Whatever the origin of its name may be, Matanzas eventually lived down +its sinister significance. The bay of Matanzas with the canal opening +into it, had long been considered a point of great importance. For it +was patent that, if the British set out to capture it and succeeded in +establishing themselves there, the danger to Spanish commerce and +especially to that of Havana would be very grave. A village had existed +there from the time of the Spanish conquest; it had grown in population +and the surrounding land was well cultivated. Governor Manzaņedas +decided at once to begin to fortify the bay. He re-organized the +administration of the place and raised it to the rank of a city, which +the authorities named after San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas.</p> + +<p>The solemn ceremonies of its foundation took place on the tenth of +October, 1693, in the presence of Governor Manzaņedas and many other +prominent citizens and high officials of the island. After an +examination of the previously drafted plan a Plaza des Armas, or +military parade-ground was the first to be decided upon; then the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_323" id="page_323">{323}</a></span> +principal streets of the city were traced. Two days later an altar and a +cross were raised on the square destined for the church, and Bishop D. +Diego Evelino de Compostela blessed the spot, said mass over it and with +the aid of Governor Manzaņedas laid the first stone of the temple which +was to have for its patron saint San Carlos Borromeo. On the following +day the governor went to Punta Gorda on the north side of the bay and +selected a place for the fort which was to be built. When the structure +was completed it was in his honor given the name San Severino. The +industry of the residents, the fertility of the soil and the unusually +favorable location of the port made the small town grow within a few +years into one of the most important cities of the island. Subsequently +Matanzas developed to such size and prominence that it is to-day ranking +next to Havana both in population and in commerce.</p> + +<p>The administration of Manzaņedas was toward the end disturbed by the +scandalous dispute between the governor Villalobas and the Licentiate +Roa, Lieutenant Auditor of the Royal Audiencia (a court of appeals in +the West Indies). The affair created a great deal of sensation at the +time, because it threatened to divide the population into hostile +factions. Villalobas was charged with having allowed his adherents to +call themselves Villalobistas, in opposition to those of Lieutenant Roa, +who promptly assumed the name Roistas. Controversies and quarrels arose +and grew to such alarming proportions that civil war seemed imminent. +The two rivals fought each other mercilessly, until Roa fled to Madrid, +where he died in exile. Villalobas justly feared that the report of +these disturbances would damage his reputation at the court of Madrid +and was taken dangerously sick. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo which had +instituted an inquiry into the matter discharged Villalobas from his +office. An Oidor (hearer or judge) of the Audiencia, D. Diego Antonio +Oviedo y Banos was appointed to hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_324" id="page_324">{324}</a></span> the arguments of the case. But +Villalobas, a broken old man, was so grieved by the disgrace that he +survived the ordeal only a few days. The administration of Governor +Manzaņedas came to an end in the year 1695 when he was appointed to the +presidency of Santo Domingo.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_325" id="page_325">{325}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h3> + +<p>W<span class="smcap">ith</span> the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty +upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his +predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had +become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these +marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession +and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most +harassing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had +signed a will in favor of the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, who +succeeded him as Philip V., but the Austrian archduke Charles contested +this succession, until the death of his brother. Joseph called him to +the throne of Austria and forced him to relinquish his claim to that of +Spain. The interval, however, was spent in what is known as the War of +the Austrian Succession which was far more than a war of succession to +the Spanish throne, but one which involved a European problem.</p> + +<p>The hostility between England and France was known to be acute; the +designs of Austria upon Spain were also known to be the source of +incipient conflicts. In order to curb the insatiable ambition of Louis +XIV., England had entered into an alliance with Austria and Holland. The +unexpected ascension of the archduke Charles to the throne of Austria +suddenly changed the political aspect of the time for England. Louis +XIV. and Philip V. had agreed that in order to secure the balance of +European power the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. +Spain, however, was bound in the future to follow the trend of French +politics. It renounced her rights to the Netherlands, which were the +only barrier against invasions of France on the continent, and left<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_326" id="page_326">{326}</a></span> +England in possession of Gibraltar. As this was its most important +fortress, Gibraltar was ever to be a thorn in the flesh of Spain.</p> + +<p>The treaty of Utrecht, which was signed in the year 1713, seemed by its +reapportionment of the countries and the readjustment of the map of +Europe to have temporarily assured peace. But the price paid for this +peace by Spain was hardly to be estimated in currency. As Guiteras +justly remarks, Philip V. found Spain prostrate from the impudent +efforts of the Austrian dynasty to preserve her predominance among the +European nations. The wars waged during the reigns of his predecessors +had drained the coffers of Spain and alarmingly decreased her +population. The powerful kingdom which a century before had dared to +threaten the independence of England and had enjoyed prosperity and +opulence, had become almost tributary to France and England. The treaty +of Utrecht reduced Spain to her peninsular provinces and her overseas +colonies. Though united with them by the ties of racial origin, religion +and tradition, it was not an easy task to defend them against the +inimical designs of powers that planned to dominate the seas and usurp +the place which Spain had won for herself.</p> + +<p>Philip V. realized that the condition in which Spain had been left at +the end of the wars that preceded his reign made it incumbent upon him +to maintain peace and to further the country's recovery from a century +and a half of constant warfare. He was inspired by the example of France +under Colbert and Richelieu and his aim was by applying to Spain the +lessons France had learned during the leadership of those men, to bring +about a revival of Spain's previous greatness. He aspired to make Spain +internally stronger than she had ever been, to enable her to humble +England and to wrest from that great rival her ever increasing power in +America. His task was extremely difficult, for it really meant a +thorough reconstruction of the entire government. He found Spain in such +a state of stagnation that it required<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_327" id="page_327">{327}</a></span> extraordinary efforts to rouse +in the country only a spark of the old spirit. He was the first +sovereign since Philip II. who had a strong will and a strong +personality and made his absolute power felt in every branch of the +government. He had to create a new navy; he had to organize and train a +new army; he had to reform the legislation, the finances, even the +police of the country. So poor was Spain at that time in men of strong +character and executive power, that he was obliged to employ foreigners +in some of the most important places in the army and navy as well as in +the council chamber.</p> + +<p>Although during the latter half of his reign of forty six years his +initiative and energy were paralyzed and he lapsed into the passive +indifference which had characterized the attitude of some of his +predecessors, his innovations and reforms were the means of stimulating +inquiry into some of the evils, political and social, that Spain had +suffered from. He ushered in a new life, which slowly penetrated to +every corner of the kingdom and brought it into closer contact with the +outside world for which it had hitherto had a curious contempt. However +slow was the work of regeneration which he had inaugurated, it was sure +to benefit the next generation which could never return to the old order +of things.</p> + +<p>The influence of this new life in the mother country was, of course, +still slower in manifesting itself in her colonies. Cuba had still to +rely upon her own resources, both in inaugurating internal improvements +and in combatting external dangers. As both Great Britain and France +were eagerly pursuing their plans to extend their colonial power in +America, conflicts between these powers and the Spanish possessions in +America were inevitable. Towards the end of the seventeenth century +attempts to establish direct maritime intercourse between France and the +Mississippi, and to colonize the southwest of the continent; which was +under the patronage of Louis XIV. created no little anxiety in the old +Spanish settlements of Florida and eventually had to lead to armed +conflicts in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_328" id="page_328">{328}</a></span> which the West Indies, and especially Havana, as the +metropolis of the Spanish island colonies, became involved.</p> + +<p>As early as the year 1693 D. Andres de Pes had settled in Pensacola and +three years later three hundred Spaniards from Vera Cruz and other parts +had under the leadership of D. Andres d'Arriola taken formal possession +of the harbor. Henceforth no foreign ship could enter without being +challenged. This the valiant commander of the French expedition, +d'Iberville, the pioneer founder of Louisiana, was to experience. He had +sailed in October, 1698, with a company of Marines and some two hundred +colonists, among them women and children. At Santo Domingo he took on +board a seasoned veteran of the golden age of piracy, a man who in 1683 +had made a fortune of eight million pesos by the capture of Vera Cruz, +had been an associate of M. de Grammont, Lolonois, Morgan and other +notables of the Brotherhood of the Coast, and as such was familiar with +every spot along the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of New Spain; it was +Captain Laurent Grave or Graff, linguist, sailor and intrepid fighter. +They arrived at the island St. Rose in January, 1699, cast anchor and +applied for permission to enter the harbor of Pensacola. This being +refused they sailed westward and settled in the country west of the +Perdido River, which was later recognized by King Philip V., who was +bent upon a conciliatory policy, as the boundary between Louisiana and +Florida.</p> + +<p>From that time, however, Pensacola was to know no peace, for the French +cast ever a covetous eye upon that Spanish settlement. Nor did the +authorities of Pensacola hesitate to harass the settlers to the west, +resenting the appearance of any rival neighbor. Governor Ravolli made an +expedition in 1700 against the French who had settled on Ship Island, +but he himself was soon to experience that he was being surrounded by +neighbors determined to show their hostility towards Spain by open or +secret operations against the Spanish settlement in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_329" id="page_329">{329}</a></span> Florida. Governor +James Moore of South Carolina, which bordered on Spanish Florida, +undertook in the year 1702 an expedition against the old Spanish town of +St. Augustine, in the defense of which a Cuban force was eventually to +take part. The British succeeded in making their entry into the town and +ravaging it; but they could not reduce the fort, which the garrison +defended with desperate determination. The British sent to Jamaica for +some heavy artillery. But in the meantime the Spanish viceroy had been +informed of the attack and sent two war ships for the relief of the +town. The governor of Cuba, too, dispatched five vessels with troops of +infantry and militia, which sailed from the port of Havana under the +command of Captain D. Esteban de Beroa, a Havanese of great enterprise +and valor. When the Spanish fleet arrived near the harbor, Moore with +his South Carolinians made a hasty retreat by land, leaving behind his +vessels and stores of ammunition. The help which D. Esteban had lent the +garrison of St. Augustine in this critical moment was highly appreciated +by the King of Spain, who took notice of this valuable service in a +cedula addressed to the Captain General of the island in 1703, in which +he especially lauded the exploits of D. Esteban.</p> + +<p>The administration of D. Diego de Cordova Lazo de Vega, Knight of the +military order of Santiago and General of the Galleons, was profoundly +affected by the political unrest of Europe, due to the controversies +about the succession and by the conflicts with the French and the +British in the newly settled continent, which began to darken the future +of the Spanish possessions. Cordova had entered upon his office on the +third of October, 1695, and was reported to have bought the governorship +for fourteen thousand dollars. Some very important internal improvements +were made during his time of office. The territory from the gateway of +la Punta to la Tanaza and the hospital of San Francisco de Paula was +organized into districts. He was like some of his predecessors much<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_330" id="page_330">{330}</a></span> +concerned with the religious life of the island and encouraged the +building of churches and convents. One of the most important convents +founded at this time was the third convent of the barefoot Carmelites, +dedicated to Saint Teresa.</p> + +<p>Realizing the need of greater garrisons for the protection of the people +of Cuba from invasions, whether by foreign powers or by corsairs, the +Spanish government sent over twelve companies of militia. So impressed +was the governor with their general condition and their discipline, that +he sent the king a special message referring to them. But he was too +prudent to rest satisfied with this help from the government overseas; +he raised and organized four more companies of infantry and cavalry, +recruited from the population of Cuba itself, and this placed the island +in a better state of defense than it had ever been before. He also +granted a number of merchant mariners privateering privileges, which +enabled them to cruise about and hunt down foreign pirates and +smugglers. These men, among whom the Regidor of Trinidad, Juan Vasquez, +distinguished himself by his valor, made numerous excursions in the +neighborhood, retaliating upon the French colonies for the outrages of +French corsairs, by invading them and capturing some of their vessels, +not excepting the crew, and by carrying off their cattle. Cordova was +also instrumental in promoting the tobacco culture of the island, by +encouraging the employment of new mechanical contrivances.</p> + +<p>When on the thirtieth of November, 1700, King Charles II. expired in +Madrid, and was followed by Philip V., the first Spanish sovereign of +the house of Bourbon, the Spanish Colonies in America paid no heed to +the war of the succession which was carried on between King Philip and +the Archduke of Austria. Without hesitation they recognized the former +as their ruler and thanks to the wholesome influence exerted upon the +population by Governor Cordova and the estimable Bishop Compostela, King +Philip was formally and peace<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_331" id="page_331">{331}</a></span>fully proclaimed in Cuba. Cordova's +governorship was so highly appreciated by the royal government in Spain +that he received for his services the title of Marquis de Valdo and was +soon after promoted to the presidency of Panama. But he later returned +to Spain and died in Madrid as Counsellor of State in the year 1720.</p> + +<p>After the departure of Cordova in September, 1702, the government of the +island was for a number of years once more of a rather interimistic +nature, which greatly hampered the efforts of the government to insure +the safety of the coasts against invaders. The British, being since the +accession of Philip V. to the Spanish throne no longer the allies of +Spain as they had been during the validity of the "American Treaty," +were now her enemies, and once more began to harass the Spanish colonies +by encouraging the pirates to interfere with their traffic. The squadron +of three vessels which France sent over to patrol the ocean in the +vicinity of the Antilles, did not seem to intimidate the lawless +elements working more or less directly under orders of and agreements +with the British.</p> + +<p>The administration of Cordova's successor, D. Pedro Benitez de Lugo, +Maestro de Campo and former Counsellor to the Elector of Bavaria, began +on the twentieth of September, 1702, and ended with his death only three +months later, on the fourth of December. But in that brief period +occurred the invasion of the island of Trinidad by the British pirate +Grant, who had under him a force of three hundred men and succeeded in +thoroughly terrorizing the people.</p> + +<p>After the death of D. Benitez, the provisional government was entrusted +to two Habaneros, D. Luis Chacon, Castellan of the Morro, and D. Nicolas +Chirmo Vandeval. They seem to have governed with commendable prudence. +Determined to defend the island against the corsairs which renewed their +activity, the Cuban authorities retaliated by sending out corsairs of +their own. Thus D. Juan Baton de Chavez, governor of Santiago de<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_332" id="page_332">{332}</a></span> Cuba, +started from that city in 1704 with a force of two hundred and fifty men +and invaded the islands of New Providence and Siguatey. He destroyed +their fortifications, sacked the houses, took one hundred prisoners and +returned with twenty-two cannon and a large quantity of ammunition and +arms. The town of Santiago having generously contributed to the success +of this enterprise both with volunteers and with material resources, the +king rewarded the city with the title "muy noble y muy leal" (very noble +and very loyal). In the same year there died in Havana the venerable and +much beloved Bishop, D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. In fifteen years of +faithful service he had succeeded in stimulating the religious life of +the diocese by the building of churches, especially those in the plains, +where tobacco was raised and thousands of laborers lived with their +families, and in raising the moral standard of Cuban society.</p> + +<p>The spirit of animosity between France and England on the one hand, and +Spain and England on the other, gave birth to two schemes to attack +Charleston in the year 1706. The valiant Canadian pioneer d'Iberville +was on the way with a respectable force. He reached Santo Domingo, where +he was reenforced by Spanish troops, and set sail for the coast of South +Carolina. He was stricken with yellow fever and the undertaking had to +be abandoned. At the same time the Spanish authorities in the West +Indies, having decided upon an aggressive policy towards the British in +America, planned retaliation for some of the wrongs suffered in recent +years. The unwarranted attack of Governor James Morgan of South Carolina +upon the old Spanish town of St. Augustine, only four years before, was +not forgotten and offered a welcome pretext to launch an offensive +movement. Accordingly an expedition was fitted out in Havana, mostly of +French privateers, but also some Cuban forces and on the way was joined +by more from St. Augustine. The squadron arrived at Sullivan's Island +off Charleston on Saturday afternoon in August of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_333" id="page_333">{333}</a></span> that year. The +militia of the city was rapidly mobilized but open combat did not begin +until the following Wednesday, when the French commander demanded the +surrender of the city in the name of Louis XIV. The South Carolinians +replied by a violent attack, which drove a large number of the French +that had landed into the water. The fight was renewed when more ships of +the expedition came up, and though the attack was repulsed and there was +considerable loss of life, the Cuban force that had participated, +returned with considerable booty.</p> + +<p>The new governor who entered upon his office May 13, 1706, was Field +Marshal D. Pedro Alvarez de Villarin, a native of Asturia, gentilhombre +(a nobleman-attendant of the young princes of Spain and counsellor of +the Elector of Bavaria). But his reign was one of the shortest in Cuban +history. He died on the eighth of July, and the former provisional +governors, D. Luis Chacon and D. Nicolas Chirmo Vandeval, once more +administered their duties, political and military. British warships were +haunting the coasts of the island and kept the authorities and the +residents in a perpetual state of suspense. But the French were now the +allies of the Spaniards and their able admiral Chavagnac came to the +rescue of Cuba. The unrest due to the disputed Spanish succession +encouraged the defiant attitude of the British. In the year 1707 a +British armada appeared on the coast for the purpose of engaging in +propaganda against Philip V. and winning over the population to the +support of the Austrian Archduke's claims. They flooded the island with +grandiloquent proclamations and tried to bribe the people by making the +most alluring promises. But D. Luis Chacon was not the man to betray the +king to whom the island had sworn allegiance at his accession in 1700. +He so effectively replied with cannons that the conspirators withdrew.</p> + +<p>The next duly appointed governor of Cuba and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_334" id="page_334">{334}</a></span> thirty-second in order +was Colonel D. Laureano de Torres Ayala, a native of Havana, Knight of +the Order of Santiago and former Governor of Florida. He entered upon +his office on the eighteenth of January, 1708. His attention was at once +directed to an economic problem of great importance. The landowner Orri, +an official in the service of Spain, had conceived the project to sell +the tobacco on the island for the government. This measure was opposed +by the speculators in tobacco, who sold it without custom duties to the +Peninsula and other parts of America. But Governor Torres was so +impressed with the advantage which would accrue from the new arrangement +to the government of Spain, that he did not rest until the measure was +carried and enforced. The Exchequer of Spain was henceforth enabled to +purchase almost the entire tobacco crop and to make enormous profits +thereby, which the coffers of the kingdom, depleted by the many wars of +the past century, sorely needed. For the successful negotiation of this +matter, which created the government's tobacco monopoly, the governor +was rewarded with the title Marquis de Casa-Torres.</p> + +<p>Governor Torres like his predecessors was much concerned with the safety +of the island, and accordingly resumed work on the Havana forts. He +added to the fortifications by having the bulwark halfway between la +Punta and la Fuerza built; it was considered of great importance at that +time, but was later demolished, when Governor Don Dionisos Martinez +proceeded with the wall of la Punta in the same direction. The Marquis +de Casa-Torres had grave disputes with the Lieutenant-Auditor Don Jose +Fernandez de Cordova, which caused endless discussion, not only among +the officials of the island, but also in the population. The Court was +finally compelled to submit the controversy to the Oidor D. Pablo +Cavera, who came over from Spain to begin an investigation. Governor +Torres was temporarily suspended. But the Oidor Cavera died while the +inquiry into the dif<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_335" id="page_335">{335}</a></span>ferences between the two men was in progress. Hence +Torres and the lieutenant-auditor were obliged to sail for Spain and +explain their grievances.</p> + +<p>The administration of Governor Torres was a period of comparative peace. +The enemies of Spain that were ever waiting for an opportunity to do +something that might weaken her power in America and deprive her of some +of her American possessions had not molested Cuba and the governor was +able to devote his energies to internal improvements and even to aid the +new bishop in his many works for the welfare of the diocese. This worthy +successor of the unforgettable Bishop Compostela was D. Jeronimo Valdes, +formerly Bishop of Porto Rico, provincial of the order of St. Basil and +professor of Alcala. He had entered upon his duties on the thirteenth of +May, 1706, and at once proved that he, too, was imbued with that noble +disinterestedness which characterized his predecessor. He insisted upon +strict observance of the doctrines and customs of the church and founded +many new parishes. He enlarged the Belen convent by adding to the +building a wing which was to be used as hospital for convalescents. He +also founded the Casa de Beneficiencia, a Foundlings' Home, investing in +it eleven thousand pesos of his private fortune. Another charitable +institution which he called into being was a home for the poor that were +reduced to beggary. He also succeeded in having a building finished, +which was destined to be a hospital for lepers. In all these enterprises +for the public welfare he was seconded by the Marquis de Casa-Torres. +The island increased in population during this time and among the towns +founded was Bejucal.</p> + +<p>The year 1709 is also memorable for an important measure which was to +safeguard the public health of the island. As early as the year 1634 a +so-called Protomedicato had been created by a certain Nuņez, a graduate +of the university of Seville. It was an institution intended to check +the unlawful practice of medicine by ignorant<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_336" id="page_336">{336}</a></span> and inexperienced persons +or by downright quacks. For some years Dr. Don Francisco Teneza, +assisted by a duly appointed clerk, who performed the functions of a +notary, embodied in his person the authority of a Protomedico, examining +surgeons, druggists and barbers, who at that time were performing dental +and minor surgical operations. But not until the beginning of the +eighteenth century was the Protomedicato completely organized for +efficient work. It was a college or tribunal composed of physicians duly +licensed by royal patent, who were charged with examining and issuing +licenses to students of medicine. In this way the government hoped to +combat the evil of unlawful medical practice by unknown and incapable +individuals, which had long been a grave menace to the public health. +The king endowed the Protomedicato of Cuba with the same prerogatives +and the same jurisdiction as were enjoyed by the corresponding +institutions of Lima and Mexico.</p> + +<p>Upon the departure of the Marquis de Casa-Torres the affairs of the +island were once more in the hands of a provisional government. The +ayuntamento (municipal government) entrusted D. Luis Chacon with the +military governorship and in default of an auditor the political was +given to two alcaldes, D. Augustin de Arriola and D. Pedro Hobruitinier. +But by royal order of the year 1712 D. Luis Chacon resumed the superior +authority, both civil and military. At the end of the year, when the +re-election of the alcaldes took place, violent disputes arose, which +necessitated the intervention of Chacon and the Bishop Valdes. The court +was called to inquire into the matter and settled the quarrel which had +threatened to disturb the peace of the community.</p> + +<p>In the year 1712 the official circles of Cuba were greatly agitated by a +sensational occurrence. It was the affair between the acting governor of +Cuba, Don Luis Sanudo, and the royal Ensign, who was also Alcalde of +Bayamo. The governor had ordered the Ensign to imprison two Indian +chiefs who were accused of theft, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_337" id="page_337">{337}</a></span> the Ensign, interpreting +differently a certain royal decree and the municipal ordinances, made no +move to obey the command. Governor Sanudo accordingly betook himself to +Bayamo, and as the Ensign failed to present himself, went to his house. +There he upbraided him, and as was reported by some at the time, slapped +his face. Boiling with wrath at this insult and outrage, the Ensign +killed him on the spot. The court before which he was tried condemned +him to death and ordered his home to be razed. The office was for the +time abolished, but later re-established.</p> + +<p>The Casa-Torres affair had been in the meantime thoroughly aired before +the Court of Spain and the king had found the charges against the +Marquis unfounded. So he restored him to office on the fifth of July, +1712, and in February of the following year he re-entered upon his +duties as Captain-General of Cuba. During the three years of this his +second term, Governor Torres actively promoted the armament of corsairs +which were sent out to counteract the manœuvres of the enemy pirates +cruising along the Spanish-American coasts. Among the men entrusted with +this venturesome task one especially distinguished himself by his +prowess: Don Juan del Hoye Solorzano. He was later appointed governor of +Santiago de Cuba. About the same time Spain suffered the loss of a rich +fleet, which, sailing from Vera Cruz under command of General Ubilla, +with port at Habana, was on its way to the mother country. It was +wrecked at el Palmar de Aiz, the place where the New Canal of Bahama was +located. To the energetic efforts of the Marquis de Casa-Torres, who at +once ordered divers to go to work, was due the recovery of more than +four million pesos and some valuable merchandise.</p> + +<p>The thirty-third governor duly appointed by decree of the Spanish court, +dated December 15, 1715, was the Field-marshal Don Vicente Raja. He was +inaugurated May 26, 1716, and although in office little more than a year +succeeded in completely reorganizing the tobacco in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_338" id="page_338">{338}</a></span>dustry of the +island. He was accompanied on his arrival from Spain by a commission of +financial and industrial experts; the director of the bank of Spain, D. +Salvador Olivares, the Visitador, a judge charged with conducting +inquiries, D. Diego Daza, and the licentiate D. Pedro Morales, the chief +of the revenue department. The historian Alcazar gives a clear account +of the proceeding of this commission and the disturbances they created. +He relates that the success of the first tobacco sales in the Peninsula +had suggested the establishment of a factory in Seville. But Orri, the +great landowner and planter, knew that the three million pounds of +tobacco produced by Cuba would not suffice for consumption, and not +wanting to have recourse to the inferior leaf produced in Brazil and +Venezuela, decided to monopolize the tobacco industry of Spain. To +realize this plan he proposed to increase the production of tobacco in +Cuba by extending its cultivation over the whole island and guaranteeing +the laborers full value of their harvest, but insisting that the product +be submitted for examination to the committee presided over by Olivares.</p> + +<p>This proposition, however just it seemed, produced serious disturbances. +The commission favoring the government monopoly had ordered by decree on +April 17, 1717, that there should be established in Havana a general +agency for the purchase of tobacco with branch offices in Trinidad, +Santiago and Bayamo. This decree in reality was of great advantage to +the laborers who were thus certain of selling their crops and with +advance payments could extend and improve their sembrados (tobacco +fields). On the other hand it was opposed by the speculators, who had up +to this time lived on the fat commissions which their operations had +brought them. These men spread all sorts of rumors detrimental to the +newly appointed commission and its work among the producers of tobacco. +Deluded by this insidious propaganda, the men rebelled. Five hundred +vegueros or stewards of the tobacco fields armed themselves and captured +Jesus del<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_339" id="page_339">{339}</a></span> Monte. Even in the capital there were public demonstrations +against the commission and the municipal authorities so weakly supported +the governor in his defense of the employees of the estance (monopoly) +established by the royal government, that he resigned his office in +favor of the royal tenente Maraveo (according to the historian Valdes he +was expelled) and sailed for Spain in company of D. Olivares. The +earnest exhortations of Bishop Valdes and the archbishop of Santo +Domingo induced the rebels to cease their hostile activities and to +withdraw to their homes and temporarily quiet was restored.</p> + +<p>So much confusion had been created by frequent changes of governorship +and the interim rule of provisional authorities, that the royal +government at Madrid took steps to establish greater stability and +insure an uninterrupted function of the administrative machine of Cuba. +After the affair of Casa-Torres it became imperative to provide for the +cases of absence or suspension from office. A royal decree dated +December, 1715, ordered that in future, whenever the office of the +Governor and Captain-General should become vacant, by default, absence +or sickness, the political and military power should be held by the +Tenente-Rey (or Royal Lieutenant), or in his default by the Castellan +(warden or governor) of el Morro.</p> + +<p>Upon the return of Vicente de Raja to Spain, Lieutenant-Colonel D. Gomez +de Maraveo Ponce de Leon temporarily exercised the functions of +governorship. Cuba was at that time in a peculiar state of political and +social unrest. There were still some demonstrations of the +tobacco-planters going on in different parts of the island. Maraveo, +instead of being upheld in his authority, soon discovered that he was at +the mercy of the magistrates and some of the wealthy citizens who seemed +to back the rebellious elements. In the eastern part of the island the +miners had joined the tobacco-planters in disturbances, intended to +convey to the government their disapproval of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_340" id="page_340">{340}</a></span> its measures. It required +all the persuasive power of Bishop Valdes and other spiritual leaders of +the colony to pacify the turbulent agitation fermenting among the +people.</p> + +<p>The court of Spain realized the seriousness of the situation and was +particularly circumspect in the choice of the new governor. A man was +needed, firm of will, yet possessed of a sense of justice and of tact in +the handling of the two hostile factions. After long and serious +deliberation D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez de la Vega, a native +of Ossuna, Brigadier-General and Knight of the Order of Santiago was +selected. D. Guazo had in his previous official activities proved his +energy and bravery and soon after entering upon his office relieved the +Spanish authorities of their worries concerning the state of affairs in +Cuba. He took charge of his duties on the twenty-third of June, 1718, +and immediately called a meeting of the Ayuntamento, the bishop and +leading prelates. The men who by their participation in the recent +disturbances compromised their reputation were filled with anxious +apprehension. But the king wished to avoid internal unrest and +discontent and had recommended a policy of reconciliation.</p> + +<p>It was an auspicious beginning of D. Guazo's administration when he +announced at this meeting that the King in his clemency would forget the +past occurrences, if the mischief-makers would in future show loyal +obedience to his orders. A proclamation which Governor Guazo issued the +next day informed the people of the whole island that royal pardon had +been granted to the chiefs of the recent mutiny, and quiet and order +were soon restored. The tumultuous manifestations which a few greedy +speculators had deliberately stirred up among the people associated with +tobacco culture, ceased for the time being. He reorganized the +tobacco-factory and reinstalled the former employees. The factory +advanced funds to the vegueros, who, having no other creditors, could +now fix the price and sell the crop themselves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_341" id="page_341">{341}</a></span></p> + +<p>But in the year 1721 the vegueros once more revolted; they resented the +dictatorial manner in which the Visitador D. Manuel Leon exercised his +functions as inspector and supervisor. The Bishop and D. Jose Bayona +Chacon who filled the office of provisor (a sort of ecclesiastical +judiciary), managed by earnest exhortations and promise of watching over +their welfare to pacify the insurgents and prevent blood-shed, a service +for which Bayona was later rewarded by the rank and title of a count. +But the arguments of the two prelates had no effect upon the Visitador +who continued his unwarranted severity. The result was a revolt in 1723 +of the vegueros of San Miguel, Guanabacoa and Jesus del Monte, who +numbered five hundred men with arms and horses. They proceeded to +destroy the tobacco fields of the cultivators of Santiago and Bejucal +who had agreed to sell their tobacco at the price proposed by the +Visitador. Governor Guazo was obliged to send a company of mounted +soldiers under the command of D. Ignacio Barrutia to parley with the +rebels. But at the suggestion of submission they replied with +musket-shot and Barrutia was forced to fire upon them. Several were +killed and wounded, and twelve were taken prisoners. These unfortunates +were hanged at Jesus del Monte on that same day.</p> + +<p>As soon as this matter was disposed of, Governor Guazo directed his +attention to the military affairs of the island. Florida had at this +time been annexed to the government of Cuba and Guazo reorganized the +army of both colonies, and called into being a number of new militia +companies in different parts of the island. He replaced the old pike or +lance and the antiquated musket or blunderbus by the bayonet and rifle. +The garrison of the capital was raised to eight hundred and sixty-five +men, all properly armed and equipped. At the same time the salaries in +the army were increased. The soldiers received eleven pesos a month, the +salaries of the Teniente de Rey—the King's Lieutenant—and of the +governors of el Morro and la Punta were raised and the Captain-Gen<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_342" id="page_342">{342}</a></span>eral +was paid ten thousand pesos a year. An important measure for the +promotion of West Indian commerce was inaugurated by Patino, the +Minister of the Treasury, who, in order to increase the imports of goods +from Spain, conceded to the merchants the same rights as those given to +the merchants of Seville and Cadiz.</p> + +<p>Guazo had warned British privateers to desist from raids upon the +Spanish possessions and in the year 1719 had to address the same warning +to the French. For the rupture of diplomatic relations between France +and Spain had once more increased the insecurity of the Spanish-American +coasts. The privateers fitted out by the Cuban government and authorized +to retaliate upon the French and British vessels they would meet, were +under the command of men of tried valor, like Gonzalez, Mendreta, +Cornego and others. They succeeded in capturing a number of bilanders +(small one-mast vessels), which carried cargoes of over one hundred +thousand pesos in value. On one of these expeditions the soldiers and +sailors attempted to revolt against the customary discipline, but Count +Bayona suppressed the incipient mutiny before it had the time to +develop.</p> + +<p>As soon as war had been declared between France and Spain the promoters +of the French colonization schemes that had modestly begun to +materialize along southern coast of the American continent, embraced +this opportunity to attack the Spanish settlements in Florida. On the +fourteenth of May, 1718, Bienville, the brother and successor of the +famous d'Iberville, arrived at Pensacola and in the name of the French +king demanded the capitulation of the town. Unprepared for such an +eventuality and unable to resist superior forces, D. Juan Pedro +Metamores, the governor of Pensacola, surrendered and the garrison left +with all honors of war. They were transported in French vessels to +Havana. But already on this involuntary voyage Metamores was considering +measures of retaliation. When the French vessels <i>Toulouse</i> and +<i>Mareschal de Villars</i> reached Cuba and landed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_343" id="page_343">{343}</a></span> prisoners, they were +seized by the Governor of Havana, who on learning of the disaster at +Pensacola decided upon its recapture. A fleet consisting of one Spanish +warship, nine brigantines and the two French vessels was quickly made +ready and Metamores with his captured troops embarked for Pensacola. On +the sixth of August he entered the harbor with the French vessels flying +the French colors as decoys. The French commander refused to surrender +and a cannonade began. Then the French demanded an armistice which was +followed by the exchange of more shots and finally the garrison of one +hundred men marched out, also with honors of war, under the command of +Chateaugue. They were sent to Havana and were to be transported to +Spain, but in the meantime were imprisoned in Morro castle. Metamores +resumed his governorship of Pensacola.</p> + +<p>But in September Bienville, the brother of Chateaugue, assisted by a +French fleet under Champmeslin, with a large force of Canadians and +Indians, attacked Pensacola once more. Metamores was defeated and with +some of his Spanish troops sent to Havana to be exchanged for the French +prisoners held there since August. The remaining Spaniards were sent to +France as prisoners of war. It seems from the records of the historian +Blanchet that Governor Guazo in the following year made an attempt to +reconquer Pensacola. He sent an expedition of fourteen ships and nine +hundred men under the command of D. Esteban de Berroa, who succeeded in +taking the place. But in the further course of the engagement between +the two forces, the French regained possession and defeated the Cubans, +many of whom were made prisoners and sent to Spain.</p> + +<p>Of Governor Guazo's efforts to improve the fortifications of Havana, an +inscription on the inner side of the gate of Tierra bears witness. It +reads:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Reynando La Majesdad Catolica del Senor Felipe V. Rey de las +Espanas y Siendo Gobernador de Esta Ciudad, E Isla de Cuba El<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_344" id="page_344">{344}</a></span> +Brigadier de los Reales Exercitos D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon +Fernandez de la Vega, Caballero del Orden de Santiago. Ano De 1721.</p> + +<p>In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Philip V. King of the Spains, +and when the Governor of this town and island of Cuba was the +Brigadier of the royal armies D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez +de la Vega, Knight of the Order of Saint James. In the year 1721.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_345" id="page_345">{345}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> wonderful impetus which the discoverers and explorers of Spain gave +to the spirit of adventure by opening to the world the gates of a new +and strange world, promptly began to bear fruit among those nations who +had always been daring navigators. Young men with no ties, either of +family or profession, to hold them, were suddenly fired with the desire +to see the new continent which the genius of Columbus and his associates +had brought within their reach, and set out in quest of what promised to +be a precious new experience. Most of these men were fairly well +educated and sensed the importance of all these enterprises. They set +out as eager observers and they did not fail to record their +observations and impressions in the frank and unadorned manner of +unsophisticated onlookers. Some kept a daily record of their +experiences, others jotted down what seemed to them the most striking +incidents; still others embodied their reflections on what they had seen +and heard in letters that were sent home whenever an occasion presented +itself.</p> + +<p>Out of this great mass of personal records of travel in the New World a +number stand out as deserving of more than passing notice, and though a +careful perusal of these books shows a tendency on the part of some +authors to repeat what they had heard or read in the reports of their +predecessors, there is something worth noting in every individual +volume. Among the writers who were evidently the source from which many +authors drew to corroborate and complete their personal observations is +Tordesillas Herrera, his Spanish Majesty's Chief Chronicler, traces of +whose "Description of the West Indies," which was translated into Dutch, +English, French and other languages are found in many books. The +writings<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_346" id="page_346">{346}</a></span> of that worthy prelate and Champion of the Indians, Bartolomeo +de Las Casas, have also been drawn upon by many writers. Almost amusing +in the light of later day events, is a copiously illustrated little book +in which a pious German translator dwells with unctuous +self-righteousness on the cruelties practised by the Spaniards upon the +natives of the islands.</p> + +<p>Herrera thus relates the story of the first settlement of Cuba in the +second volume of "A Description of the West Indies," which was +translated into Dutch, English, French and other languages and appeared +in English in the year 1625:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This same year 1511, the Admiral Don James Columbus, resolved to +make settlements in Cuba, knowing it to be an island, the soil +good, populous and abounding in provisions. To this purpose he made +use of James Velasquez, being the wealthiest and best belov'd of +all the first Spanish inhabitants in Hispaniola. Besides he was a +Man of Experience, of a mild and affable Temper, tho' he knew how +to maintain his authority; of Body well-shap'd, of Complexion fair, +and very discreet. As soon as it was known in Hispaniola that James +Velasquez was going to make settlements in Cuba, Abundance of +People resolv'd to bear him Company, some because, as has been +said, he was belov'd and others because they were ruin'd and in +Debt. All these, being about three hundred Men, rendezvous'd in the +Town of Salvatiena de la Zavana to embark aboard four ships, this +Place being at the Extremity of Hispaniola. Before we proceed any +further, it is fit to observe that the Province of Guahaba lying +next to Cuba, the Distance between the two Points being but +eighteen Leagues, many Indians went over to Cuba in their Canoes +and among them pass'd over, with as many of his Men as could, a +Cazique of the said Province of Guahaba, call'd Hatuey, a brave and +discreet Man. He settled on the nearest Country known by the name +of Mazci, and possessing himself of that Part kept the People as +Subjects, but not as Slaves; for it was never found in the Indies +that any Difference was made between a free people or even their +own Children and Slaves, unless it were in New Spain, and the other +Provinces, where they us'd to sacrifice Prisoners to their Idols +which was not practis'd in these Islands. This Cazique Hatuey, +fearing that the Spaniards would at some Time pass over into Cuba, +always kept Spies to know what was doing in Hispaniola and being +inform'd of the Admiral's design, he assembled<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_347" id="page_347">{347}</a></span> his People who it +is likely were of the most martial, and putting them in Mind of +their many sufferings under the Spaniards told them: 'They did all +that for a great Lord they were very fond of, which he would show +them' and then taking some Gold out of a little Palm Tree Basket, +added 'This is the Lord whom they serve, him they follow, and as +you have already heard, they are about passing over hither, only to +seek this Lord, therefore let us make a Festival, and dance to him, +to the End that when they come, he may order them not to do us +harm.' Accordingly they all began to sing and dance till they were +quite tir'd, for it was their Custom to dance as long as they could +stand, from nightfall till break of Day, and these Dances were as +in Hispaniola, to the Musick of their Songs, and tho' fifty +thousand Men and Women were assembled, no one differ'd in the least +from the rest in the Motions of their Hands, Feet and Bodies; but +those of Cuba far exceeded the natives of Hispaniola, their Songs +being more agreeable. When they were Spent with Singing and Dancing +before the little Basket of Gold, Hatuey bid them not to Keep the +Lord of the Christians in any Place whatsoever, for if he were in +their Bowels, they would fetch him out, and therefore they should +cast him in the River under Water, where they would not find him, +and so they did."</p></div> + +<p>Following is a description of the natives of Cuba, quoted from the same +work:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The first inhabitants of this Island were the same as those of the +Lucayos, a good sort of People and well temper'd. They had Caziques +and Towns of two or three hundred houses with several Families in +each of them as was usual in Hispaniola. They had no Religion as +having no Temples or Idols or Sacrifices; but they had the +physicians or conjuring Priests as in Hispaniola, who it was +thought had Communication with the Devil and their questions +answered by him. They fasted three or four months to obtain this +Favour, eating nothing but the juice of Herbs, and when reduced to +extreme weakness they were worthy of that hellish Apparition, and +to be inform'd whether the Season of the Year would be favorable or +otherwise, what Children would be born, whether those born would +live, and such like questions. These were their Oracles, and these +Conjurers they call'd Behiques, who led the People in so many +Superstitions and Fopperies, during the Sick by blowing on them, +and such other exterior actions, mumbling some Word between their +Teeth. These People of Cuba knew that Heaven, the Earth and other +Things had been created, and said that they had much Information +concerning the Flood, and the world had been destroy'd by water +from three Persons that came<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_348" id="page_348">{348}</a></span> three several ways. Men of above +seventy years of age said that an old Man knowing the Deluge was to +come, built a great Ship and went into it with his Family and +Abundance of Animals, then he sent out a Crow which did not return, +staying to feed on the dead Bodies, and afterward return'd with a +green Branch; in the other Particulars, as far as Noah's Sons +covering him when drunk, and then they scoffing at it; adding that +the Indians descended from the latter, and therefore had no Coats +nor Cloaks; but that the Spaniards, descending from the other that +cover'd him, were therefore cloath'd and had Horses. What has been +here said, was told by an Indian of above seventy years of age to +Gabriel de Cabrera who one Day quarreling with him called him Dog, +whereupon he call'd, Why he abus'd and call'd him Dog, since they +were Brethren, as descending from the Sons of him that made the +great Ship, with all the rest that has been said before."</p></div> + +<p>Herrera's description of the island may have inspired many writers +coming after him; it had, however, the advantage of giving one of the +earliest and therefore most spontaneous impressions on record. Here is a +sample of his descriptive power:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This Island is very much wooded, for Man may travel along it +almost two hundred and thirty leagues, always under Trees of +several Sorts, and particularly sweet scented and red Cedars, as +thick as an Ox, of which they made such large Canoes that they +would contain fifty or sixty Persons, and of this Sort there were +once great numbers in Cuba. There are Storax Trees, and if a Man in +the Morning gets upon a high Place the Vapors that rise from the +Earth perfectly smell of Storax coming from the fire the Indians +make at night, and drawn up when the Sun rises. Another Sort of +Trees produce a Fruit call'd Xaguas, as big as veal kidneys, which +being beaten and laid by four or five days, tho' not gather'd ripe, +are full of Liquor like Honey, and better tasted than the sweetest +Pears. There are abundance of wild Vines that run up high, bearing +grapes, and Wine has been made of them, but somewhat aigre, and +there being an infinite Quantity of them throughout all the Island, +the Spaniards were wont to say they had seen a Vineyard that +extended two hundred and thirty Leagues. Some of the Trunks of +these Vines are as thick as a Man's Body, which proceeded from +extraordinary Moisture and Fertility of the Soil. All the Island is +very pleasant and more temperate than Hispaniola, very healthy, has +safer Harbors for many Ships than if they had been made by Art, as +is that of Santiago on the Southern Coast being in the shape of a +Cross, that of Xagua is scarce to be matched in the World, the +Ships pass into it through a narrow<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_349" id="page_349">{349}</a></span> Mouth, not above a Cross bow +Shot over and then turned into the open Part of it, which is about +ten Leagues in Compass with three little islands so posited, that +they may make fast their Ships to Stakes on them, and they will +never budge, all the Compass being shelter'd by Mountains, as if +they were in a House, and there the Indians had Pens to shut up the +Fish. On the north Side there are good Harbours, the best being +that which was call'd de Carenas, and now the Havana, so large that +few can compare to it; and twenty Leagues to the Eastward of it is +that of Matanzas, which is not very safe. About the middle of the +Island is another good Port, call'd del Principe, and almost at the +End that of Baracoa, where much good Ebony is cut; between which +there are other good anchoring places, tho' not large."</p></div> + +<p>In a volume entitled "Voyages and Travels" and edited by Raymond +Beazley, there is a record of travels in Mexico 1568-1585 by one John +Chilton, which says on the title-page: "A Notable Discourse of Master +John Chilton, touching the people, manners, mines, metals, riches, +forces and other memorable things of the West Indies seen and noted by +himself in the time of his travels continued in those parts the space of +seventeen or eighteen years." He writes of Havana:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Merchants after travelling from Nicaragua, Honduras, Porto Rico, +Santo Domingo, Jamaica and all other places in the Indies arrive +there, on their return to Spain; for that in this port they take in +victuals and water and the most part of their landing. Here they +meet from all the foresaid places, always in the beginning of May +by the King's commandment. At the entrance of this port, it is so +narrow that there can scarce come in two ships together, although +it be above six fathoms deep in the narrowest place of it.</p> + +<p>"In the north side of the coming in, there standeth a tower in +which there watcheth every day a man to descry the call of ships +which he can see on the sea; and as many as he discovereth so many +banners he setteth upon the tower, that the people of the town +(which standeth within the port about a mile from the tower) may +understand thereof.</p> + +<p>"Under this tower there lieth a sandy shore, where men may easily +go aland; and by the tower there runneth a hill along by the +water's side, which easily with small store of ordnance, subdueth +the town and port. The port within is so large that there<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_350" id="page_350">{350}</a></span> may +easily ride a thousand sail of ships, without anchor or cable; for +no wind is able to hurt them.</p> + +<p>"There inhabit within the town of Havana about three hundred +Spaniards and about sixty soldiers; which the King maintaineth +there, for the keeping of a certain castle which he hath of late +erected, which hath planted in it about twelve pieces of small +ordnance. It is compassed round with a small ditch, where through +at their pleasure, they may let in the sea.</p> + +<p>"About two leagues from Havana there lieth another town called +Guanabacoa, in which there are dwelling about one hundred Indians; +and from this place sixty Leagues there lieth another town named +Bahama, situated on the north side of the island. The chiefest city +of the island of Cuba which is above two hundred miles in length, +is also called Cuba (Santiago de Cuba); where dwelleth a Bishop and +about 200 Spaniards; which town standeth on the south side of the +island about a hundred leagues from Havana.</p> + +<p>"All the trade of this island is cattle; which they kill only for +the hides that are brought thence into Spain. For which end the +Spaniards maintain there many negroes to kill the cattle, and +foster a great number of hogs, which being killed are cut into +small pieces that dry in the sun; and so make provisions for the +ships which come for Spain."</p></div> + +<p>Many books of West Indian travel are by French writers, among them an +anonymous "Relation des voyages et des decouvertes que las Espagnols on +fait," Jean de Laët's "Histoire du Nouveau Monde," Jean Baptiste Labat's +"Nouveau Voyage aux îles de l'Amérique," Franįois Coréal's "Relation des +Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" and that interesting work entitled +"Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans les îles et Terra Firma de +l'Amérique," which does not give the name of the author, but bears on +its title-page the name of the printer, "Gervais Clouzier au Palais, ā +la seconde Boutique sur les degrés en montant pour aller ā la Ste. +Chapelle au Voyageur MDCLXXI" and is dedicated to the Duc de Luynes, a +peer of France. There is also the work of a Dutchman, Linschoten: +"Histoire de la Navigation de Jean Hugues de Linschoten," which has been +translated into English, French and other languages.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_351" id="page_351">{351}</a></span></p> + +<p>Jan Huygens van Linschoten was a born traveler. His favorite reading had +always been books of travel and as the news of the exploits of foreign +mariners in the New World came pouring into Holland, this young Dutchman +was seized with an irresistible longing to see those far-off worlds. He +frankly speaks in his book of travel of the difficulties he encountered +in trying to persuade his family to approve of his venture, and whether +they did or not, he set out for Lisbon as the place where he would be +most likely to obtain passage. He arrived there just after the death of +Alba. He found the Peninsula in great commotion which even interrupted +the regular routine of overseas traffic. But a man of daring puts his +trust in chance, and chance favored the venturesome youth by an +extraordinary opportunity.</p> + +<p>There was at that time a noble Dominican monk in Lisbon, Fra Vincente +Fonseca, scion of a distinguished family. He had been a preacher to King +Sebastian of Portugal, had done missionary work in Africa and been later +attached to the court of Madrid as confessor of Philip II. The +archbishopric of the West Indies having become vacant, Fonseca was +appointed, but he was unwilling to accept this position, dreading the +long voyage and a repetition of some unpleasant experiences which he had +had in Africa. The king, however, insisted, promised to recall him in +four or five years and held out to him the lure of rich revenues. So Fra +Fonseca finally accepted, and Jan Huygens van Linschoten succeeded in +obtaining a position in the retinue of the prelate. Linschoten's +brother, who was secretary to the king, being tired of court life, had +also asked to be sent overseas and was about to sail as scribe on board +a vessel going to the Levant. But on learning of his brother's luck, he +decided also to go to the West Indies and joined the fleet waiting to +embark in some professional capacity. There were five vessels; the +Admiral ship called <i>San Felipe</i>, the Vice-Admiral <i>San Diego</i>, the +third was <i>San Laurente</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_352" id="page_352">{352}</a></span> the fourth <i>San Francisco</i> and the fifth <i>San +Salvador</i>. The two brothers boarded the latter, and set sail on Good +Friday, the eighth of April, 1583.</p> + +<p>Jan Huygens van Linschoten has this to say of Cuba:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cuba is a very large island belonging to the Antille group, first +discovered by Christopher Colomb in 1492, and called by him Jeanne +et Ferdinande and also Alpha and Omega. It has also by others been +called Island of Santiago, after the name of the principal town, so +considered on account of the great harbor and big trade. To the +east it has the island of San Domingo, to the west Yucatan, to the +north the extremity of Florida and the Lucaya islands, to the South +the island of Jamaica. The island of Cuba is greater in length than +in width; it measures from one end to the other three hundred +leagues, from North to South seventy and in width it is only +fifteen and in some places nineteen leagues. The center of the +island is at 91 degrees longitude and twenty latitude. The island +has long been considered part of the continent on account of its +size, of which one ought not to be surprised, for the inhabitants +themselves seem not to know its limits and since the arrival of the +Spaniards they know no better, being a people, naked and simple and +contented with their government and bothering about no other. The +ground is rough and hilly. The sea makes inlets in various places; +there are small rivers, the good waters of which carry gold and +copper. The air is moderately warm, sometimes a little cold. You +find there dye-stuffs for linen and furs. The island is full of +shady woods, ponds and beautiful fresh water rivers; you also find +plenty of ponds the waters of which are naturally salt. The forests +contain wild boars. The rivers frequently yield gold.</p> + +<p>"In this island are six cities, inhabited by Spaniards, the first +and principal of which is San Jago, which is the seat of the +archbishop; but Havana is the principal mercantile center of the +island and there they build ships. Two notable things were remarked +on this island by Gonsalo Onetano. One is a valley between two +mountains, of the length of two or three Spanish leagues, where you +find boulders by nature so round that they could not be rounded +better, and in such quantity that they could serve as ballast for +several ships, that use cannon balls instead of lead or iron. The +other is a mountain, not far from the coast, from which there is a +constant flow of pitch to the coast and wherever the wind may +divert it. The residents and Spaniards use this pitch to tar their +vessels.</p> + +<p>"The inhabitants of this island are like those of the island of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_353" id="page_353">{353}</a></span> +Spain (Hispaniola) though a little different in language. Both men +and women go about naked. In their marriage a strange custom +prevails; the husband is not the first to approach his wife. If he +is a gentleman, he invites all gentlemen to precede him; if he is a +merchant, he invites the merchants, if he is a peasant, he asks the +gentlemen and the priests. The men can for the slightest cause +abandon the women; but the wives cannot desert their husband for +any reason whatsoever. The men are very inconstant and lead a bad +life. The soil produces big worms and serpents or snakes that are +not poisonous so the people eat them without danger. And these +snakes feed on certain little animals called Guabiniquinazes, of +which sometimes seven or eight are found in their stomach, although +they are as big as hares, resembling a fox, the head of a weasel, +the tail of a fox, the hair long like a deer's, color somewhat +reddish, and the flesh tender and wholesome. This island should be +well populated; but it is not so at present, unless it be by some +Spaniards, who have exterminated the greater number of natives, of +which many died of starvation."</p></div> + +<p>The Sieur Jean de Laët d'Anners, whose History of the New World bears +the imprint of Bonaventure and Elzevir, Printers of the University of +Leyden, also gives a description of Cuba as it was in the sixteenth and +beginning of the seventeenth century. He says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There are few towns in proportion to the size of the island; +Santiago ranks first, both for its age and name; it was built by +Diego Velasco. At the south coast of the island about 20 degrees +North Latitude, opposite Hispaniola, almost two miles from the sea, +in the depth of a harbor which one may well pronounce the first +among the large and safe harbors of the New World. For the ocean +enters through a narrow inlet and is received by a large bay, like +a gulf, with several little islands; it is so safe a port that one +does not need to cast anchor. This city was once well populated, +but now the population is reduced to a very small number. It has a +cathedral church and a bishop Suffragans of the archbishopric of +San Domingo and a monastery of the Minorite brothers. It is owned +by the Lieutenant-Governor of the island. The chief articles of +trade are ox-skins and sugar. Three miles from the town are rich +mines of copper, which is now extracted from high mountains, called +for that reason by the Spaniards Sierras de Cobre.</p> + +<p>"Near this town to the East about thirty miles is the town of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_354" id="page_354">{354}</a></span> +Baracoa, built by the same Velasco on the North Coast The forests +near this town yield very good ebony and according to other reports +Brazilian redwood.</p> + +<p>"The third city is San Salvador or Bayamo from the name of the +province, built by the same Velasco, thirty miles from Santiago, +which surpasses all other towns of the island by good air, fertile +soil and beautiful plains; it is in the center of the island, but +merchandise is brought from the sea by the river Caute, which is +opposite. Among the treasures of this island are certain stones of +divers size, but all perfectly round, so they could serve as cannon +balls; they are said to be so numerous on the shores of the river +bearing the name of the town, that they seem to have rained from +the sky. Oniedo says they are found in a marshy valley almost +midway between this city and Santiago.</p> + +<p>"Puerto de Principe ranks fourth; town and harbor, much esteemed by +mariners, are to the north of the island, forty leagues from +Santiago northwest. Not far are springs of bitumen, which Monardes +mentions (and which the Indians use as remedy for chills). I +believe they are the naptha of the ancients.</p> + +<p>"Santi Spiritus of forty to fifty houses is more a village than a +town and its harbor is good only for barges and sloops. But vessels +stop there on their way from Santiago, Bayamo and Puerto Principe +to Havana.</p> + +<p>"Trinite-Trinidad—once populated by Indians, now almost deserted, +has an inconvenient harbor and was the scene of some shipwrecks.</p> + +<p>"Havana receives the sea by a narrow but deep inlet, enlarging into +a wide bay, with coasts at first diverging and then meeting, +capable of holding a thousand vessels as if in a safe bosom. All +the Spanish fleets coming from the meridional continent, New Spain +and the islands, loaded with a variety of merchandise and an +abundance of gold and silver, stop there to take on water and +necessary victuals, and when a sufficient number has collected, in +September or later, they go out together or in two fleets through +the straits of Bahama towards Spain: The city has besides the +garrison (the number of which is uncertain, although the king sends +the pay for a thousand soldiers and more) three hundred Spanish +families, some Portuguese and a large number of slaves. The +governor of the island and the other royal officers reside there. +It surpasses not only the other cities of the island, but almost +all of America by the size and safety of her port, her wealth and +her commerce. The neighboring forests furnish a great abundance of +excellent woods, which they use to build their ships, which is a +very great convenience. They have also tried to work some copper +mines not far from the town; but without success, either be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_355" id="page_355">{355}</a></span>cause +the veins failed, or the laborers were too ignorant or the expense +was greater than the profit."</p></div> + +<p>Many of the writers of these books of travel dwell at length upon the +wealth of precious woods found on the island. One of them makes a list +which contains the following: l'acana, called vegetable iron, cedar, +majagna (mahogany) frijolillo, a wood with shaded veins, granadillo, a +wood light purple in color, ebony, yew and many others. Wood was so +plentiful that it was even used instead of metal in machinery. +Foreigners visiting the first sugar refinery in Cuba, which was in 1532 +founded by Brigadier Gonzales de Velosa, associated with the veedor +Cristobal de Tapia and his brother, found the machines made of hard +wood. The variety of fruits is also commented upon by the travelers that +visited Cuba in the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth +century. They mention among the fruit trees abundant in Cuba the cocoa +trees of Los Remedios, the ubiquitous banana, the orange, the West India +chestnut, the fruit-bearing palms, guesima, garoubier, yaya and others.</p> + +<p>Franįois Coréal's "Relation des Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" also +contains some interesting data and goes into the causes of the decline +of Spanish power in the West Indies. Coréal, who seems to be of Spanish +origin or at least citizenship, says among other things:</p> + +<p>"There grows in Porto Rico a guiac tree, the wood of which was +considered a sovereign remedy against small-pox. Indians sometimes told +me, were it but for that wood, one should be glad that America was +discovered. These Indians often asked me whether there are any drugs +against small pox growing in Europe; and when I told them that many +excellent antivenereal remedies came from the West Indies, they remarked +with some common sense and not without a touch of irony, that God had +much kindness for the Castellanos, having given them their gold, their +wives and even their guiac."</p> + +<p>In another part of the very readable work he says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_356" id="page_356">{356}</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is certain the Spaniards owe the rapidity of their conquest of +America to the sudden (and almost miraculous) fear with which the +Indians were seized at the approach of the new enemy. It seems that +without it we would have had much more trouble; but artillery was +unknown to these Americans, so was military discipline, which we +understood better than they, so they with extraordinary rapidity cleared +for us the roads to the South Sea and on to Chili and the Straits of +Magellan. This facility of our conquest made for carelessness, which +from that time through the luxury and idleness of our people increased, +until it became almost inconceivable. As our people rather scorned the +Indians and considered them almost a sort of intermediary creature +between man and beast, it was believed that lands so easily conquered +could not be as easily lost; and there was some reason for this belief, +for at that time Spain had no rival on the sea, there was nothing to +fear from the Indians themselves, who could not hold out against us +conquerors. Later we had even less fear, for the Spanish monarchy became +a formidable power to all Europe and when it ceased to be so, interests +and politics had so changed that one was obliged to leave us in peaceful +ownership of a possession which could have been taken from us as easily +as we had conquered it.</p> + +<p>"This is according to my opinion the main cause of the decline of +Spanish power in America. There are others which are no less real. As +soon as one has set foot in the New World, you are confronted with an +endless lot of plunderers and marauders, who call themselves soldiers, +ravage the beautiful country, pillage the treasures of the Indians, +torture the inhabitants and rob them of their property and freedom, +under a thousand pretences unworthy of Christianity and of Spanish +generosity. So that several of these nations which at the beginning +favored the Spaniards, became in time their most mortal enemies. These +plunderers, I cannot call them anything else, ruined at the outset the +authority of the King and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_357" id="page_357">{357}</a></span> their wickedness hindered all the good +that one could have expected from the friendship of native residents. +Royal authority being poorly upheld by these bad subjects of the King, +and the facile abundance which they had found, having plunged them into +all sorts of vice, their pride made them look upon the Indians as their +slaves and even as property acquired by the sword, which succeeded in +spoiling our position with the natives. It is quite certain that these +people would not wish for more than to throw off the yoke of servitude +under which they sigh to-day as did their ancestors before them."</p> + +<p>The author of the book printed by Gervais Glouzier, "Relation de ce qui +s'est passé dans les îles et la Terra Firma de l'Amérique pendant la +derničre guerre avec l'Angleterre, etc." also dwells upon the policy +pursued by certain Spanish adventurers and officials towards the natives +of the islands:</p> + +<p>"The Spaniards pretended to have recognized the natives of these islands +as being anthropophagous, and asked the king of Castile permission to +capture them, i.e., to take and make them slaves (which they did +elsewhere without permission), so they did not approach the Antilles +except armed, and in the character of enemies; and the Indians who +inhabited them prepared to make upon them the most cruel war, as soon as +they saw vessels off their coasts, be it openly or from ambush in the +woods, or by surprise attacks, when the strangers wanted to take water +or leave the vessels, which irritated these people and many a Spaniard +regretted having obliged them to go to such extremities.</p> + +<p>"Things of this kind happened in the Antilles during the fifteenth +century when the Spaniards were busy making other discoveries, wherever +gold or silver attracted them and for the conservation of which and the +exploitation of mines they could not furnish a sufficient number of men. +They had no idea of settling down to cultivate the soil of these lands, +and waiting only to procure the convenience of taking on water or +leaving their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_358" id="page_358">{358}</a></span> invalids to recuperate on St. Christopher island, they +made peace with the Indians who inhabited this island, and continued to +treat as enemies all those of other islands.</p> + +<p>"When at the end of this century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the +English and French sailed on the seas of America, the first with more +considerable forces like those conducted by Drake, Walter Raleigh, +Kenits and others, and the French with less armaments, the voyages of +the ones and the others in those little frequented climates made some +other compatriots conceive the idea of establishing themselves on +American soil and found colonies, which would furnish subsistence to a +considerable number of their nation and serve as retreat to those +vessels where they could renew their supplies. In this way in 1625 two +adventurers, the one French, named d'Enemčne 'de la maison de Duil en +Normandie,' the other also a gentleman, an Englishman named V. Varnard, +moved by the same desire landed on the same day on St. Christopher's, +which they had chosen for their purpose and from there all the French +and British settlements in the Antilles radiated."</p> + +<p>These records of visits to the West Indies by Dutch, English, French and +other travellers following in the wake of the great discoverers and +explorers, rise almost to the importance of documentary evidence, when +they attempt to deal with such questions as the attitude of the +Spaniards towards the natives of the New World. But mainly they are +narratives, setting down simply and unpretentiously the impressions made +upon European visitors by the bigness of dimensions and proportions and +the abundance of natural products of all sorts. There is a spirit of +wonderment at the riches so profusely bestowed upon this Western world; +but there is not yet a trace of the jealousy so apparent in later +writings, when commercial rivalry had divided the nations of Europe into +hostile camps and finally arrayed all of them against Spain. Though not +always written by men who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_359" id="page_359">{359}</a></span> set out in pursuit of adventure, they +convey to the reader a breath of the oldtime romance of travel in +countries the plants and animals and native residents of which are so +many objects of curious interest. But viewed as a whole, these books are +full of information, at times strangely quickened by an individual human +touch, and read at leisure in a certain order, reconstruct the panorama +of West Indian life in a period which had no parallel in the history of +the world.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_360" id="page_360">{360}</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h3> + +<p>I<span class="smcap">t</span> was the inscrutable irony of fate that Cuba should remain so +negligible a quantity during one of the most momentous and progressive +periods of human history. No other era since man began his career had +been on the whole so marked with greatness. Discovery and exploration +had doubled the known area of the globe, and the intellectual +achievements of the race had even more than kept pace with the material. +The era of which we have been writing in this volume saw the completion +of Columbus's work in his fourth voyage, the exploits of Magellan, +Balboa and Cabot, the enterprises of Cortez and Pizarro, of Cartier and +Raleigh. It saw the rise of religious liberty, and of modern philosophy +and science. It saw the art of printing, invented in the preceding +century, developed into world-wide significance.</p> + +<p>This was the era of genius. Its annals were adorned with the names of +Shakespeare and Cervantes, of Rafael and Titian and Michael Angelo, of +Holbein and Durer, of Luther and Erasmus, of Ariosto and Rabelais, of +Tyndale and Knox, of Calvin, Loyola and Xavier, of Copernicus and +Vesalius, of Montaigne and Camoens, of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, of Tasso +and Spenser, of Bacon and Jonson, of Sidney and Lope de Vega. It was a +wondrous company that passed along the world's highway while Cuba was +struggling in obscurity to lay the foundations of a future state.</p> + +<p>Nor did Spain herself lag behind her neighbor nations. The sixteenth +century saw her swift rise to the greatest estate she has ever known, +and her development of many of the greatest names in her history. She +began the century a newly-formed kingdom uncertain of herself and +timorously essaying an ambitious career; and she reached<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_361" id="page_361">{361}</a></span> its close one +of the most extensive and most powerful empires in the world. We +commonly think of her chiefly as a conquering power. But in fact that +century of her marvellous conquests of empire was also her golden age in +intellect. We may imagine that the swiftness of her rise to primacy +among the nations, and the dazzling splendor of her conquests, +stimulated and inspired the minds of her people to comparable +achievements in the intellectual world. The sixteenth century was indeed +to Spain what the Augustan Age was to Rome, and what the Elizabethan and +Victorian ages were to England, and for some of the same reasons.</p> + +<p>It was then that three great universities were founded: Salamanca, +Alcala for science, Valladolid for law; and a noteworthy school of +navigation at Seville. There flourished the philosopher Luis Vives, the +tutor of Mary Stuart. In jurisprudence there were Victoria and Vazquez, +from whom Grotius received his inspiration; and Solorzano, with his +monumental work of the Government of the Indies. The drama was adorned +by Lope de Rueda, Lope de Vega, Gabriel Tellez, and Juan del Enzina. The +greatest name of all in literature was that of Miguel Cervantes y +Saavedra. There were the poets Garcilaso de Vega, and Luis de Argote y +Gongora. There were the painters Ribera, and Domenico Theotocopuli, who +inspired Velazquez.</p> + +<p>Above all, there was one of the most remarkable groups of historians of +any land or age. Paez de Castro was more than any other man the founder +of history as a philosophical study as distinguished from mere polite +letters; the forerunner of Voltaire and Hume. There were Florian de +Ocampo, Jeronimo Zurita, Ambrosio de Morales, and the famous Jesuit +Mariana. Then there was a remarkable company of historians inspired by +the American conquests of Spain, who gave their attention to writing of +the lands thus added to her empire: Oviedo, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, Lopez +de Velasco, Las Casas, and many more. Cortez, Pizarro, Velasquez and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_362" id="page_362">{362}</a></span> +others might conquer lands for Spain. These others would see to it that +their deeds were fittingly chronicled.</p> + +<p>There was something more, still more significant. There arose +distinguished writers, producing notable works, in the countries of +Spanish America; some born there, some travelling thither from the +peninsula. It was in 1558 that the University of Santo Domingo was +founded, which for a time served all the Spanish Indies and was a great +centre of learning. How many poets and dramatists, not to mention +historians and other writers, there were in America in that century, we +are reminded in Cervantes's "Viaje de Parnaso" and Lope de Vega's +"Laurel de Apolo." These writers were chiefly in Mexico and Peru, for +obvious reasons. Those were Spain's chief colonies, and they were those +which had themselves the most noteworthy past, a past marked with a high +degree of civilization. The first book ever printed in the Western +Hemisphere was the "Breve y Compendiosa Doctrina Cristiana," published +by Juan de Zumarraga, the first Bishop of Mexico, in Mexico in 1539.</p> + +<p>It was about the middle of the century that there appeared the first +American book of real literary merit. This was "La Araucana," a Chilean +epic poem, by Alonso de Ercilla y Zuņiga. Another epic, with Hernando +Cortez for its hero, was "Cortez Valeroso," by Gabriel Lasso de la Vega, +in 1588. The next year saw Juan de Castellanos's prodigious historical +and biographical poem of 150,000 lines, "Elegias de Varones Ilustres de +Indias." Another epic of Cortez was Antonio de Saavedra Guzman's +"Peregrino Indiano," in 1599.</p> + +<p>In all these things Cuba had no part. In later centuries that island +could boast of poets and other writers worthy to rank with their best +contemporaries of other lands. But in that marvellous sixteenth century +she seems to have produced not a single name worthy of remembrance. In +the rich productivity of Spanish intellect Cuba remained unrepresented. +In Oriente, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_363" id="page_363">{363}</a></span> Camaguey and in Havana there may be found legends and +ballads of unknown but ancient origin, which are assumed to have been +composed perhaps in the days of Velasquez, and to have been passed down +orally from generation to generation. <i>Quien sabe?</i> It is quite probable +that such was their origin; but it is quite certain that their authors +are unknown.</p> + +<p>For this lack of intellectual productivity in the first century of +Cuba's history, and indeed the lack of any noteworthy achievements, the +reason is not difficult to perceive. As we observed at the beginning of +this volume, Cuba, at the advent of Europeans, was a country without a +civilization and without a past. Mexico, Yucatan and Peru had enjoyed +civilizations not unworthy of comparison with those of Europe and Asia, +the remains of which attracted thither the intellects of Spain, and +inspired them. But Cuba had nothing of the sort. Again, the vast wealth +of Mexico and Peru attracted to those countries many more explorers, +conquerors and colonists than Cuba could draw to herself. And there was +also the partiality which was shown to them by royal favor and in royal +interest. We shall have reviewed the annals of the first Cuban century +to little purpose if we do not perceive that during the greater part of +that time the "Queen of the Antilles," the "Pearl of the West Indies," +as she was even then occasionally and afterward habitually called, was +the Cinderella of the Spanish Empire; a Cinderella destined, however, +one day to meet her Fairy Prince and thus to be wakened into splendor +not surpassed by the finest of her sisters.</p> + +<p>The close of the sixteenth century marked, then, approximately a great +turning point in Cuban history. Thitherto she had been exclusively +identified with Spain. She had developed no individuality and had +exercised no influence upon other lands and their relationships, or +indeed upon the empire of which she was a part. It was left for later +years to make her an important factor in in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_364" id="page_364">{364}</a></span>ternational affairs and to +develop in her an individuality worthy of an independent sovereign among +the nations of the world.</p> + +<p>Yet in these very circumstances which we have recounted, and which upon +the face of them appeared to be and indeed were for the time so +unfavorable, there were developed the influences which unerringly led to +the subsequent greatness of the island. The earliest settlers were not +only of Spanish origin but also of Spanish sympathies. They could not be +expected to have any affection for or any pride in the land to which +they had come as to a mere "Tom Tiddler's ground," on which to pick up +silver and gold. They valued Cuba for only what they could get out of +her; many of them glad, after thus gaining wealth, to return to Spain, +or to go to Mexico, Venezuela or Peru, there the better to enjoy it and +to mingle in social pleasures which the primitive life of Cuba did not +yet afford.</p> + +<p>There were, however, some even in the first generation who were +exceptions to this rule, who loved Cuba for her own sake, who wished to +identify themselves permanently with her, and who wished to see her +developed to the greatness and the splendor for which her natural +endowments seemed to them to have designed her. In the second generation +the number of such was of course greatly multiplied, and in succeeding +generations their increase proceeded at a constantly increasing ratio. +Thus by the end of the first century of Cuban history the great majority +of residents of the island regarded themselves as Cubans rather than as +Spaniards. They were Spaniards in race and tongue, and they were ready +to stand with the peninsular kingdom and the rest of its world-circling +empire against any of other tongues and races. But while thus to the +outside world they were Spaniards, to Spain itself and to the people of +the peninsula they were Cubans; differentiated from Spain much more than +the Catalonian was from the Castilian, or the Andalusian from the +Navarrais.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_365" id="page_365">{365}</a></span></p> + +<p>This sentiment of differentiation, and of insular individuality, was +naturally strengthened by the treatment which the peninsular government +accorded to the island. The Cubans were made to feel that Spain regarded +them as apart from her, just as much as they themselves so regarded her. +They felt, too, that she was treating them with injustice and with +neglect; that instead of nourishing her young plantation and giving it +the support of her wealth and strength she was drawing upon it for her +own nourishment and support. They would have been either far more or far +less than human if they had not thus been incited to a certain degree of +resentment and to an assertion of independence.</p> + +<p>In brief, it was with the Cubans even at that early day as it was with +the British colonists in North America a century and a half later; +though indeed the Cubans determined upon separation from the mother +country at a comparatively earlier date than the people of the Thirteen +Colonies, or certainly much longer before their achievement of that +independence. We know that the British colonists were dissatisfied and +protesting for nearly a score of years before their Declaration of +Independence, but that down to within a few months of the latter +transcendent event scarcely any of them thought of separation from +England. Lexington and Concord, and even Bunker Hill, were fought not +for independence but for the securing of the same rights for the +colonists that their fellow subjects in the British Isles enjoyed. But +the Cubans resolved upon separation from Spain not only years but at +least two full generations before they were able to achieve it.</p> + +<p>This spirit belongs to a much later date in Cuban history than that of +which we are now writing, and to refer to it here is an act of +anticipation. But it is desirable to some extent to scan the end from +the beginning; to see from the outset to what end we shall come as well +as to see at the end from what beginning we have come. Moreover, it +cannot be too well remembered that even as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_366" id="page_366">{366}</a></span> soon as the latter part of +the sixteenth century the people of Cuba regarded themselves as Cubans, +and so called themselves, and had begun the cultivation of a social +order and a sentiment of patriotism quite distinct from though not yet +necessarily antagonistic to that of Spain.</p> + +<p>The transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century was marked, +then, with a significant change in the temper and character of Cuba, +especially by a great accession of the spirit of insular integrity and +independence. While Spain was great and apparently growing greater, +there was a gratifying pride in identification with her. But when her +decline began, and showed signs of being as rapid as her rise had been, +that pride waned, and there began to arise in its place a pride in Cuba, +or perhaps we might say at that early date a determination to develop in +Cuba cause for pride. From that time forward Cuba was destined to be +more American than European; and though for nearly three centuries she +might continue to be a European possession, yet her lot was decided. +Unconsciously, perhaps, but not the less surely she was drawn into the +irresistible current which was drawing all the American settlements away +from the European planters of them. It was one of the interesting +eccentricities of history that the first important land acquired by +Spain in the western hemisphere should be the last to leave her sway; +and that the first European colonists in America to have cause for +complaint against their overlords should be the longest to suffer and +the last to secure abatement of their wrongs. Such is the reflection +caused by consideration of this first era in the history of the Queen of +the Antilles.</p> + +<p class="c sml top15">THE END OF VOLUME ONE</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h3> + +<ul> +<li>Abarzuza, Sr. proposes reforms for Cuba, IV, 6.</li> + +<li>Abreu. Marta and Rosalie, patriotism of, IV, 25.</li> + +<li>Academy of Sciences, Havana, picture of, IV, 364.</li> + +<li>Adams, John Quincy, enunciates American policy toward Cuba, II, 258;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 259;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Cuban annexation, 327.</span></li> + +<li>Aglona, Prince de. Governor, II, 363.</li> + +<li>Agramonte, Aristide, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li> + +<li>Agramonte, Enrique, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12.</li> + +<li>Agramonte, Eugenio Sanchez, sketch and portrait, IV, 362.</li> + +<li>Agramonte, Francisco, IV, 41.</li> + +<li>Agramonte, Ignacio, portrait, facing. III, 258.</li> + +<li>Agriculture, early attention to, I, 173, 224;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">progress, 234;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 213;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">absentee landlords, 214;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics, 223;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">discussed in periodicals, 250;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rehabilitation of after War of Independence, IV, 147.</span></li> + +<li>Aguayo, Geronimo de, I, 161.</li> + +<li>Aguero, Joaquin de, organizes revolution, III, 72;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final defeat, 87.</span></li> + +<li>Aguiar, Luis de, II, 60.</li> + +<li>Aguiera, Jose, I, 295.</li> + +<li>Aguila, Negra, II, 346.</li> + +<li>Aguilera, Francisco V., sketch and portrait, III, 173.</li> + +<li>Aguirre, Jose Maria, filibuster, IV, 55;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 85.</span></li> + +<li>Albemarle, Earl of, expedition against Havana, II, 46;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">occupies Havana, 78;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Bishop Morell, 83.</span></li> + +<li>Alcala, Marcos, I, 310.</li> + +<li>Aldama, Miguel de, sketch and portrait, III, 204.</li> + +<li>Aleman, Manuel, French emissary, II, 305.</li> + +<li>Algonquins, I, 7.</li> + +<li>Allen, Robert, on "Importance of Havana," II, 81.</li> + +<li>Almendares River, tapped for water supply, I, 266;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view on, IV, 167.</span></li> + +<li>Almendariz, Alfonso Enrique, Bishop, I, 277.</li> + +<li>Alquiza, Sancho de, Governor, I, 277.</li> + +<li>Altamarino, Governor, I, 105;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">post mortem trial of Velasquez, 107;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by the Guzmans, 109;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, 110.</span></li> + +<li>Altamirano, Juan C., Bishop, I, 273;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seized by brigands, 274.</span></li> + +<li>Alvarado, Luis de, I, 147.</li> + +<li>Alvarado, Pedro de, in Mexico, I, 86.</li> + +<li>Amadeus, King of Spain, III, 260.</li> + +<li>America, relation of Cuba to, I, 1;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 254. See <span class="smcap">United States</span>.</span></li> + +<li>American Revolution, effect of upon Spain and her colonies, II, 138.</li> + +<li>American Treaty, between Great Britain and Spain, I, 303.</li> + +<li>Andrea, Juan de, II, 9.</li> + +<li>Angulo, Francisco de, exiled, I, 193.</li> + +<li>Angulo, Gonzales Perez de, Governor, I, 161;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">emancipation proclamation, 163;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Havana Council, 181;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">flight from Sores, 186;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of administration, 192.</span></li> + +<li>Anners, Jean de Laet de, quoted, I, 353.</li> + +<li>Annexation of Cuba to United States, first suggested, II, 257, 326;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign for, 380;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sought by United States, III, 132, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marcy's policy, 141;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ostend Manifesto, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buchanan's efforts, 143;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">not considered in War of Independence, IV, 19.</span></li> + +<li>Antonelli, Juan Bautista, engineering works in Cuba, I, 261;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates water supply for Havana, 266.</span></li> + +<li>Apezteguia. Marquis de, Autonomist leader, IV, 94.</li> + +<li>Apodaca, Juan Ruiz, Governor, II, 311.</li> + +<li>Arana, Martin de, warns Prado of British approach, II, 53.</li> + +<li>Arana, Melchior Sarto de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 237.</li> + +<li>Arana, Pedro de, royal accountant, I, 238.</li> + +<li>Aranda, Esquival, I, 279.</li> + +<li>Arango, Augustin, murder of, III, 188.</li> + +<li>Arango, Napoleon, treason of, III, 226.</li> + +<li>Arango y Pareņo, Francisco, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. II;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Society of Progress, II, 178;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leadership in Cuba, 191;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward slavery, 208;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illustrious career, 305 et seq.</span></li> + +<li>Aranguren, Nestor, revolutionist, IV, 85;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 92.</span></li> + +<li>Araoz, Juan, II, 181.</li> + +<li>Arias, A. R., Governor, III, 314.</li> + +<li>Arias, Gomez, I, 145.</li> + +<li>Arignon, Villiet, quoted, II, 26, 94.</li> + +<li>Armona, José de, II, 108.</li> + +<li>Army, Cuban, organization of, III, 178;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganized, 263;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 301.</span></li> + +<li>Army, Spanish, in Cuba, III, 181, 295.</li> + +<li>Aroztegui, Martin de, II, 20.</li> + +<li>Arrate, José Martin Felix, historian, II, 17, 179.</li> + +<li>Arredondo, Nicolas, Governor at Santiago, II, 165.</li> + +<li>Asbert, Gen. Ernesto, amnesty case, IV, 326.</li> + +<li>"Assiento" compact on slavery, II, 2.</li> + +<li>Assumption, Our Lady of the, I, 61.</li> + +<li>Astor, John Jacob, aids War of Independence, IV, 14.</li> + +<li>Asylums for Insane, II, 317.</li> + +<li>Atares fortress, picture, II, 103.</li> + +<li>Atkins, John, book on West Indies, II, 36.</li> + +<li>Atrocities, committed by Spanish, III, 250;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cespedes's protest against, 254;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Book of Blood," 284;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish confession of, 286;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war of destruction,</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">295;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyler's "concentration" policy, IV, 85.</span></li> + +<li>Attwood's Cay. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Autonomist party, III, 305;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV, 34;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Campos in War of Independence, 59;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet under Blanco, 94;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">earnest efforts for peace, 101;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">record of its government, 102.</span></li> + +<li>Avellanda, Gertrudis Gomez de, III, 331;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing, 332.</span></li> + +<li>Avila, Alfonso de, I, 154.</li> + +<li>Avila, Juan de, Governor, I, 151;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries rich widow, 154;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges against him, 157;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">convicted and imprisoned, 158.</span></li> + +<li>Avila. See <span class="smcap">Davila</span>.</li> + +<li>Aviles, Pedro Menendez de, See <span class="smcap">Menendez</span>.</li> + +<li>Ayala, Francisco P. de, I, 291.</li> + +<li>Ayilon, Lucas V. de, strives to make peace between Velasquez and Cortez, I, 98.</li> + +<li>Azcarata, José Luis, Secretary of Justice, sketch and portrait, IV, 341.</li> + +<li>Azcarate, Nicolas, sketch and portrait, III, 251, 332.</li> + +<li>Azcarraga, Gen., Spanish Premier, IV, 88.</li> + +<li class="top5">"Barbeque" sought by Columbus, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Bachiller, Antonio, sketch and portrait, III, 317.</li> + +<li>Bacon, Robert, Assistant Secretary of State of U. S., intervenes in revolution, IV, 272.</li> + +<li>Bahia Honda, selected as U. S. naval station, IV, 256.</li> + +<li>Balboa, Vasco Nuņez de, I, 55, 91.</li> + +<li>Bancroft, George, quoted, I, 269;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 1, 24, 41, 117, 120, 159.</span></li> + +<li>Banderas, Quintin, revolutionist, IV, 34;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">raid, 57;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 84.</span></li> + +<li>Baracoa, Columbus at, I, 18;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Velasquez at, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first capital of Cuba, 61, 168.</span></li> + +<li>Barreda, Baltazar, I, 201.</li> + +<li>Barreiro, Juan Bautista, Secretary of Education, IV, 160.</li> + +<li>Barrieres, Manuel Garcia, II, 165.</li> + +<li>Barrionuevo, Juan Maldonado, Governor, I, 263.</li> + +<li>Barsicourt, Juan Procopio. See <span class="smcap">Santa Clara</span>, Conde.</li> + +<li>Bayamo, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban Republic organized there, III, 157.</span></li> + +<li>Bayoa, Pedro de, I, 300.</li> + +<li>Bay of Cortez, reached by Columbus, I, 25.</li> + +<li>Bees, introduced by Bishop Morell, II, 104;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increase of industry, 132.</span></li> + +<li>"Beggars of the Sea," raid Cuban coasts, I, 208.</li> + +<li>Bells, church, controversy over, II, 82.</li> + +<li>Bembrilla, Alonzo, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Benavides, Juan de, I, 280.</li> + +<li>Berrea, Esteban S. de, II, 6.</li> + +<li>Betancourt, Pedro, Civil Governor of Matanzas, IV, 179;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyal to Palma, 271.</span></li> + +<li>Betancourt. See <span class="smcap">Cisneros</span>.</li> + +<li>"Bimini," Island of, I, 139.</li> + +<li>Bishops of Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, I, 122.</li> + +<li>"Black Eagle," II, 346.</li> + +<li><i>Black Warrior</i> affair, III, 138.</li> + +<li>Blanchet, Emilio, historian, quoted, II, 9, 15, 24;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on siege of Havana, 57, 87.</span></li> + +<li>Blanco, Ramon, Governor, IV, 88;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">undertakes reforms, 89;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans Cuban autonomy, 93;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 121.</span></li> + +<li>Blue, Victor, observations at Santiago, IV, 110.</li> + +<li>Bobadilla, F. de, I, 54.</li> + +<li>Boca de la Yana, I, 18.</li> + +<li>"Bohio" sought by Columbus, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Bolivar, Simon, II, 333;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 334;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Liberator," 334 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on Cuba, 341;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Soles de Bolivar," 341.</span></li> + +<li>Bonel, Juan Bautista, II, 133.</li> + +<li>"Book of Blood," III, 284.</li> + +<li>Bourne, Edward Gaylord, quoted, on slavery, II, 209;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Spanish in America, 226.</span></li> + +<li>Brinas, Felipe, III, 330.</li> + +<li>British policy toward Spain and Cuba, I, 270;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aggressions in West Indies, 293;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave trade, II, 2;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war of 1639, 22;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">designs upon Cuba, 41;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition against Havana, 1762, 46;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquest of Cuba, 78;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relinquishment to Spain, 92. See <span class="smcap">Great Britain</span>.</span></li> + +<li>Broa Bay, I, 22.</li> + +<li>Brooke, Gen. John R., receives Spanish surrender of Cuba, IV, 122;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation to Cuban people, 145;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retired, 157.</span></li> + +<li>Brooks, Henry, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li> + +<li>Buccaneers, origin of, I, 269.</li> + +<li>Buccarelli, Antonio Maria, Governor, II, 110;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 115.</span></li> + +<li>Buchanan, James, on U. S. relations to Cuba, II, 263;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minister to Great Britain, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">as President seeks annexation of Cuba to U. S., 143.</span></li> + +<li>Bull-fighting, II, 233.</li> + +<li>Burgos, Juan de, Bishop, I, 225.</li> + +<li>Burtnett, Spanish spy against Lopez, III, 65.</li> + +<li>Bustamente, Antonio Sanchez de, jurist, sketch and portrait, IV, 165.</li> + +<li class="top5">Caballero, José Agustin, sketch and portrait, III, 321.</li> + +<li>Caballo, Domingo, II, 173.</li> + +<li>Cabanas, defences constructed, II, 58;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laurel Ditch, view, facing, 58.</span></li> + +<li>Caballero, Diego de, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Cabezas, Bishop, I, 277.</li> + +<li>Cabrera, Diego de, I, 206.</li> + +<li>Cabrera, Luis, I, 198.</li> + +<li>Cabrera, Lorenzo de, Governor, I, 279;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, 282.</span></li> + +<li>Cabrera, Rafael, filibuster, IV, 70.</li> + +<li>Cabrera, Raimundo, conspirator in New York, IV, 334;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warned, 339.</span></li> + +<li>Cadreyta, Marquis de, I, 279.</li> + +<li>Cagigal, Juan Manuel de, Governor, II, 154;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence of Havana, 155;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed and imprisoned, 157.</span></li> + +<li>Cagigal, Juan Manuel, Governor, II, 313;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">successful administration, 315.</span></li> + +<li>Cagigal de la Vega, Francisco, defends Santiago, II, 29;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor, 32;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Viceroy of Mexico, 34.</span></li> + +<li>Caguax, Cuban chief, I, 63.</li> + +<li>Calderon, Gabriel, Bishop, I, 315.</li> + +<li>Calderon, Garcia, quoted, II, 164, 172.</li> + +<li>Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister,</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on <i>La Verdad</i>, III, 19;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on colonial status, 21;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Soulé, 140.</span></li> + +<li>Calhoun, John C., on Cuba, III, 132.</li> + +<li>Calleja y Isisi, Emilio, Governor, III, 313;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaims martial law, IV, 30;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 35.</span></li> + +<li>Camaguey. See <span class="smcap">Puerto Principe</span>, I, 168.</li> + +<li>Campbell, John, description of Havana, II, 14.</li> + +<li>Campillo, Jose de, II, 19.</li> + +<li>Campos, Martinez de, Governor, III, 296;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamations to Cuba, 297, 299;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Treaty of Zanjon and ends Ten Years War, 299;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Spanish crisis, IV, 36;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor again, 37;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishes Trocha, 44;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Maceo, 46;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conferences with party leaders, 59, 63;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, 63.</span></li> + +<li>Cancio, Leopoldo, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 161, 320.</li> + +<li>Canizares, Santiago J., Minister of Interior, IV, 48.</li> + +<li>Canning, George, policy toward Cuba, II, 257;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 258.</span></li> + +<li>Canoe, of Cuban origin, I, 10.</li> + +<li>Canon, Rodrigo, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Canovas del Castillo, Spanish Premier, IV, 36;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassinated, 88.</span></li> + +<li>Cape Cruz, Columbus at, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Cape Maysi, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Cape of Palms, I, 17.</li> + +<li>Capote, Domingo Menendez. Vice-President, IV, 90;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of State, 146;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Constitutional Convention. 189.</span></li> + +<li>Carajaval, Lucas, defies Dutch, I, 290.</li> + +<li>Cardenas, Lopez lands at, III, 49.</li> + +<li>Caribs, I, 8.</li> + +<li>Carillo, Francisco, filibuster, IV, 55.</li> + +<li>Carleton, Sir Guy, at Havana, II, 47.</li> + +<li>Carranza, Domingo Gonzales, book on West Indies, II, 37.</li> + +<li>Carrascesa, Alfonso, II, 6.</li> + +<li>Carreņo, Francisco, Governor, I, 219;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conditions at his accession, 228;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dies in office, 229;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in rebuilding Havana, 231.</span></li> + +<li>Carroll, James, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li> + +<li>Casa de Beneficienca, founded, I, 335;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 177.</span></li> + +<li>Casa de Resorgiamento, founded, II, 31.</li> + +<li>Casares, Alfonso, codifies municipal ordinances, I, 207.</li> + +<li>Castellanos, Jovellar, last Spanish Governor of Cuba, IV, 121;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders Spanish sovereignty, 123.</span></li> + +<li>Castillo, Demetrio, Civil Governor of Oriente, IV, 180.</li> + +<li>Castillo, Ignacio Maria del, Governor, III, 314.</li> + +<li>Castillo, Loinaz, revolutionist. IV, 269.</li> + +<li>Castillo, Pedro del, Bishop, I, 226.</li> + +<li>Castro, Hernando de, royal treasurer, I, 115.</li> + +<li>Cathcart Lord, expedition to West Indies, II, 28.</li> + +<li>Cathedral of Havana, picture, facing I, 36;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begun, I, 310.</span></li> + +<li>Cat Island. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Cayo, San Juan de los Remedios del, removal of, I, 319.</li> + +<li>Cazones, Gulf of, I, 21.</li> + +<li>Cemi, Cuban worship of, I, 55.</li> + +<li>Census, of Cuba, first taken, by Torre, II, 131;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Las Casas, 176;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of slaves, 205;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1775, 276;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1791, 277;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt on, 277;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1811, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1817, 281;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1827, 283;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1846, 283;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1899, IV, 154;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1907, 287.</span></li> + +<li>Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, III, 157;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Spain, 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads Cuban revolution, 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Republic, 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation, 168;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Spain, 187;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office, 275.</span></li> + +<li>Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, filibuster, IV, 55.</li> + +<li>Cespedes, Enrique, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li> + +<li>Cervera, Admiral, brings Spanish fleet to Cuba, IV, 110;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 110;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders, 114.</span></li> + +<li>Chacon, José Bayoma, II, 13.</li> + +<li>Chacon, Luis, I, 331, 333.</li> + +<li>Chalons, Sr., Secretary of Public Works, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>Chamber of Commerce founded, II, 307.</li> + +<li>Charles I, King, I, 74;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces oppression of Indians, 128.</span></li> + +<li>Chaves, Antonio, Governor, I, 157;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosecutes Avila, 157;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruthless policy toward natives, 159;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with King, 160;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissed from office, 161.</span></li> + +<li>Chaves, Juan Baton de, I, 331.</li> + +<li>Chilton, John, describes Havana, I, 349.</li> + +<li>Chinchilla, José, Governor, III, 314.</li> + +<li>Chinese, colonies in America, I, 7;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">laborers imported into Cuba, II, 295.</span></li> + +<li>Chorrera, expected to be Drake's landing place, I, 248.</li> + +<li>Chorrera River, dam built by Antonelli, I, 262.</li> + +<li>Christianity, introduced into Cuba by Ojeda, I, 55;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">urged by King Ferdinand, 73.</span></li> + +<li>Church, Roman Catholic, organized and influential in Cuba, I, 122;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cathedral removed from Baracoa to Santiago, 123;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with civil power, 227;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with British during British occupation, II, 84;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">division of island into two dioceses, 173;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 26;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over property, 294.</span></li> + +<li>Cienfuegos, José, Governor, II, 311.</li> + +<li>Cimmarones, "wild Indians," I, 126;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolt against De Soto, 148.</span></li> + +<li>Cipango, Cuba identified with, by Columbus, I, 5.</li> + +<li>Cisneros, Gaspar Betancourt, sketch and portrait, II, 379.</li> + +<li>Cisneros, Pascal Jiminez de, II, 110, 127.</li> + +<li>Cisneros, Salvador, III, 167;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 276;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Cuban Republic, 277;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Council of Ministers, IV, 48;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Constitutional Convention, 190.</span></li> + +<li>Civil Service, law, IV, 325;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">respected by President Menocal, 325.</span></li> + +<li>Clay, Henry, policy toward Cuba, II, 261.</li> + +<li>Clayton, John M., U. S. Secretary of State, issues proclamation against filibustering, III, 42.</li> + +<li>Cleaveland, Samuel, controversy over church bells, II, 83.</li> + +<li>Cleveland, Grover. President of United States, issues warning against breaches of neutrality, IV, 70;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reference to Cuba</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in message of 1896, 79;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">its significance, 80.</span></li> + +<li>Coat of Arms of Cuba, picture, IV, 251;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">significance, 251.</span></li> + +<li>Cobre, copper mines, I, 173, 259.</li> + +<li>"Cockfighting and Idleness" campaign, IV, 291.</li> + +<li>Coffee, cultivation begun, II, 33, 113.</li> + +<li>Coinage, reformed, II, 142;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics of, 158.</span></li> + +<li>Collazo, Enrique, filibuster, IV, 55.</li> + +<li>Coloma, Antonio Lopez, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li> + +<li>Colombia, designs upon Cuba, II, 262;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 134;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Cuban revolution, 223.</span></li> + +<li>Columbus, Bartholomew, recalled to Spain, I, 57.</li> + +<li>Columbus, Christopher, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. I;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">discoverer of America, I;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">i;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first landing in America, 2;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">monument on Watling's Island, picture, 3;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 11;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">question as to first landing place, 12;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first impressions of Cuba and intercourse with natives, 14;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exploration of north coast, 16;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of first visit, 18;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second visit, 19;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exploration of south coast, 21;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Bay of Cortez, 25;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns back from circumnavigation, 26;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Isle of Pines, 26;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final departure from Cuba, 27;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">diary and narrative, 28 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and burial, 33;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tomb in Havana cathedral, 34;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal to Seville, 36;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal from Santo Domingo to Havana, II, 181;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">epitaph, 182.</span></li> + +<li>Columbus, Diego, plans exploration and colonization of Cuba, I, 57;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts mediation between Velasquez and Cortez, 97;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaces Velasquez with Zuazo, 100;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuked by King, 100.</span></li> + +<li>Comendador, Cacique, I, 55.</li> + +<li>Commerce, begun by Velasquez, I, 68;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise of corporations, II, 19;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after British occupation, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Torre, 132;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduction of duties, 141;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">extension of trade, 163;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tribunal of Commerce founded, 177;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Real Compania de Havana, 199;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">restrictive measures, 200;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chamber of Commerce founded, 307;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commerce with United States, III, 2;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">during American occupation, IV, 184;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">present, 358.</span></li> + +<li>Compostela, Diego E. de, Bishop, I, 318;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 332.</span></li> + +<li>Concepcion, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.</li> + +<li>Concessions, forbidden under American occupation, IV, 153.</li> + +<li>Concha, José Gutierrez de la, Governor, III, 62, 290.</li> + +<li>Conchillos, royal secretary, I, 59.</li> + +<li>Congress, Cuban, welcomed by Gen. Wood, IV, 246;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns against Palma, 269;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendly to Gomez, 303;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostile to Menocal, 323;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protects the lottery, 324.</span></li> + +<li>Constitution: Cuban Republic of 1868, III, 157;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1895, IV, 47;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">call for Constitutional Convention, 185;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting of Convention, 187;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft completed, 192;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">salient provisions, 193;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elihu Root's comments, 194;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Convention discusses relations with United States, 197;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment, 199;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">amendment adopted, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">text of Constitution, 304 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Nation, 205;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cubans, 205;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Foreigners, 207;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Individual Rights, 208;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suffrage, 211;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suspension of Guarantees, 212;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sovereignty, 213;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislative Bodies, 214;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Senate, 214;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">House of Representatives, 216;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress, 218;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislation, 221;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Executive, 222;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President, 222;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice-President, 225;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretaries of State, 226;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judiciary, 227;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supreme Court, 227;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Administration of Justice, 228;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provincial Governments, 229;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provincial Councils, 230;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provincial Governors, 231;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Municipal Government, 233;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Municipal Councils, 233;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mayors, 235;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Treasury, 235;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendments, 236;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Transient Provisions, 237;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Appendix (Platt Amendment), 238.</span></li> + +<li>"Constitutional Army," IV, 268.</li> + +<li>Contreras, Andres Manso de, I, 288.</li> + +<li>Contreras, Damien, I, 278.</li> + +<li>Convents, founded, I, 276;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nuns of Santa Clara, 286.</span></li> + +<li>Conyedo, Juan de, Bishop, II, 35.</li> + +<li>Copper, discovered near Santiago, I, 173;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">wealth of mines, 259;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reopened, II, 13;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exports, III, 3.</span></li> + +<li>Corbalon, Francisco R., I, 286.</li> + +<li>Cordova de Vega, Diego de, Governor, I, 239.</li> + +<li>Cordova, Francisco H., expedition to Yucatan, I, 84.</li> + +<li>Cordova Ponce de Leon, José Fernandez, Governor, I, 316.</li> + +<li>Coreal, Francois, account of West Indies, quoted, I, 355.</li> + +<li>Coronado, Manuel, gift for air planes, IV, 352.</li> + +<li>Cortes, Spanish, Cuban representation in, II, 308;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">excluded, 351;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of representation, III, 3;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Ten Years' War, 307.</span></li> + +<li>Cortez, Hernando, Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, I, 72;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Mexico by King, 74;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">agent of Velasquez, 86;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career, 90;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 90;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Velasquez, 91;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, 92;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commissioned by Velasquez to explore Mexico, 92;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sails for Mexico, 94;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final breach with Velasquez, 96;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced as rebel, 97;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes murder, 99.</span></li> + +<li>Cosa, Juan de la, geographer, I, 6, 53.</li> + +<li>Councillors, appointed for life, I, 111;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Procurators, 113.</span></li> + +<li>Creoles, origin of name, II, 204.</li> + +<li>Crittenden, J. J., protests against European intervention in Cuba, III, 129.</li> + +<li>Crittenden, William S., with Lopez, III, 96;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured, 101;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 105.</span></li> + +<li>Crombet, Flor, revolutionist, IV, 41, 42.</li> + +<li>Crooked Island. See <span class="smcap">Isabella</span>.</li> + +<li>Crowder, Gen. Enoch H., head of Consulting Board, IV, 284.</li> + +<li>Cuba: Relation to America, I, 1;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's first landing, 3;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Mangi or Cathay, 4;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Cipango, 5;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">earliest maps, 6;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">physical history, 7, 37 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's discovery, 11 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">named Juana, 13;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">other names, 14;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's account of, 28;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">geological history, 37-42;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">topography, 42-51;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">climate, 51-52;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first circumnavigation, 54;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonization, 54;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Velasquez at Baracoa, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commerce begun, 68;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">government organized, 69;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">named Ferdinandina, 73;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of Spain toward, 175;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slow economic progress, 215;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">land legislation, 232;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish discrimination against, 266;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided into two districts, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British description in 1665, 306;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">various accounts, 346;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turning point in history, 363;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of first era, 366;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British conquest, II, 78;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relinquished to Spain, 92;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great changes effected, 94;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">economic condition, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reoccupied by Spain, 102;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">untouched by early revolutions, 165;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of revolution in Santo Domingo, 190;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first suggestion of annexation to United States, 257;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Ever Faithful Isle," 268;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise of independence, 268;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">censuses, 276 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">representation in Cortes, 308;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Soles de Bolivar," 341;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">representatives rejected from Cortes, 351;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">transformation of popular spirit, 383;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">independence proclaimed, III, 145;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republic organized, 157;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of Independence, IV, 15;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish elections held during war, 67;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blanco's plan of autonomy, 93;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sovereignty surrendered by Spain, 123;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of Spanish Governors, 123. See <span class="smcap">Republic of Cuba</span>.</span></li> + +<li>Cuban Aborigines;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">I, 8;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners, customs and religion, 8 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's first intercourse, 15, 24;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">priest's address to Columbus, 26;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's observations of them, 29;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostilities begun by Velasquez, 61;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">subjected to Repartimiento system, 70;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical slavery, 71;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Key Indians, 125;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cimmarones, 126;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new laws in their favor, 129;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rojas's endeavor to save them, 130;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final doom, 133;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts at reform, 153;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppression by Chaves, 159;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angulo's emancipation proclamation, 163.</span></li> + +<li>"Cuba-nacan," I, 5.</li> + +<li>"Cuba and the Cubans," quoted, II, 313.</li> + +<li>"Cuba y Su Gobierno," quoted, II, 354.</li> + +<li>Cuellar, Cristobal de, royal accountant, I, 59.</li> + +<li>Cushing, Caleb, Minister to Spain, III, 291.</li> + +<li>Custom House, first at Havana, I, 231.</li> + +<li class="top5">Dady, Michael J., & Co., contract dispute, IV, 169.</li> + +<li>Davila, Pedrarias, I, 140.</li> + +<li>Davis, Jefferson, declines to join Lopez, III, 38.</li> + +<li>Del Casal, Julian, sketch and portrait, IV, 6.</li> + +<li>Del Cueta, José A., President of Supreme Court, portrait, IV, 359.</li> + +<li>Delgado, Moru, Liberal leader, IV, 267.</li> + +<li>Del Monte, Domingo, sketch, portrait, and work, II, 323.</li> + +<li>Del Monte, Ricardo, sketch and portrait, IV, 2.</li> + +<li>Demobilization of Cuban army, IV, 135.</li> + +<li>Desvernine, Pablo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 146.</li> + +<li>Diaz, Bernal, at Sancti Spiritus, I, 72;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Mexico, 86.</span></li> + +<li>Diaz, Manuel, I, 239.</li> + +<li>Diaz, Manuel Luciano, Secretary of Public Works, IV, 254.</li> + +<li>Diaz, Modeste, III, 263.</li> + +<li>Divino, Sr., Secretary of Justice, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>Dockyard at Havana, established, II, 8.</li> + +<li>Dolz, Eduardo, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 96.</li> + +<li>Dominguez, Fermin V., Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 50.</li> + +<li>Dorst, J. H., mission to Pinar del Rio, IV, 107.</li> + +<li>"Dragado" deal, IV, 310.</li> + +<li>Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana, I, 243;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hispaniola, 246;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Havana unassailed, 252;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">departs for Virginia, 255.</span></li> + +<li>Duany, Joaquin Castillo, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 50;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">filibuster, 70.</span></li> + +<li>Dubois, Carlos, Assistant Secretary of Interior, IV, 50.</li> + +<li>Duero, Andres de, I, 93, 115.</li> + +<li>Dulce y Garay, Domingo, Governor, III, 190, 194;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">decree of confiscation, 209;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled, 213.</span></li> + +<li>Dupuy de Lome, Sr., Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 40;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes offensive letter, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled, 98.</span></li> + +<li>Duque, Sr., Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>Durango, Bishop, I, 225.</li> + +<li>Dutch hostilities, I, 208, 279;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">activities in West Indies, 283 et seq.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Earthquakes, in 1765, I, 315;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 114.</span></li> + +<li>Echeverria, Esteban B., Superintendent of Schools, IV, 162.</li> + +<li>Echeverria, José, Bishop, II, 113.</li> + +<li>Echeverria, José Antonio, III, 324.</li> + +<li>Echeverria, Juan Maria, Governor, II, 312.</li> + +<li>Education, backward state of, II, 244;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">progress under American occupation, IV, 156;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. E. Frye, Superintendent, 156;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganization of system, 162;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harvard University's entertainment of teachers, 163;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements under President Menocal, 357.</span></li> + +<li>Elections: for municipal officers under American occupation, IV, 180;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">law for regulation of, 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">result, 181;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Constitutional Convention, 186;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for general officers, 240;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">result, 244;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 1906, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new law, 287;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">local elections under Second Intervention, 289;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Congress in 1908, 303;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 1912, 309;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 1916, disputed, 330, result confirmed, 341.</span></li> + +<li>Enciso, Martin F. de, first Spanish writer about America, I, 54.</li> + +<li>Epidemics: putrid fever, 1649, I, 290;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vaccination introduced, II, 192;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">small pox and yellow fever, III, 313;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Santiago, IV, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gen. Wood applies Dr. Finlay's theory of yellow fever, 171;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">success, 176;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">malaria, 177.</span></li> + +<li>Escudero, Antonio, de, II, 10.</li> + +<li>Espada, Juan José Diaz, portrait, facing II, 272.</li> + +<li>Espagnola. See <span class="smcap">Hispaniola</span>.</li> + +<li>Espeleta, Joaquin de, Governor, II, 362.</li> + +<li>Espinosa, Alonzo de Campos, Governor, I, 316.</li> + +<li>Espoleto, José de, Governor, II, 169.</li> + +<li>Estenoz, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.</li> + +<li>Estevez, Luis, Secretary of Justice, IV, 160;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice-President, 245.</span></li> + +<li>Evangelista. See <span class="smcap">Isle of Pines</span>.</li> + +<li>Everett, Edward, policy toward Cuba, III, 130.</li> + +<li>"Ever Faithful Isle," II, 268, 304.</li> + +<li>Exquemeling, Alexander, author and pirate, I, 302.</li> + +<li class="top5">"Family Pact," of Bourbons, effect upon Cuba, II, 42.</li> + +<li>Felin, Antonio, Bishop, II, 172.</li> + +<li>Fels, Cornelius, defeated by Spanish, I, 288.</li> + +<li>Ferdinand, King, policy toward Cuba, I, 56;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">esteem for Velasquez, 73.</span></li> + +<li>Ferdinandina, Columbus's landing place, I, 3;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">name for Cuba, 73.</span></li> + +<li>Ferrara, Orestes, Liberal leader, IV, 260;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolutionist, 269;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprecates factional strife, 306;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolutionary conspirator in New York, 334;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warned by U. S. Government, I, 239.</span></li> + +<li>Ferrer, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 239.</li> + +<li>Figueroa, Vasco Porcallo de, I, 72;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Soto's lieutenant, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns from Florida in disgust, 145.</span></li> + +<li>Figuerosa, Rojas de, captures Tortuga, I, 292.</li> + +<li>Filarmonia, riot at ball, III, 119.</li> + +<li>Filibustering, proclamation of United States against, III, 42;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Ten Years' War, 311, in War of Independence, IV, 20;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expeditions intercepted, 52;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">many successful expeditions, 69;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warnings, 70.</span></li> + +<li>Fine Arts, II, 240.</li> + +<li>Finlay, Carlos G., theory of yellow fever successfully applied under General Wood, IV, 171;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing, 172.</span></li> + +<li>Fish, Hamilton, U. S. Secretary of State, prevents premature recognition of Cuban Republic, III, 203;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against Rodas's decree, 216;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on losses in Ten Years' War, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks British support, 292;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">states terms of proposed mediation, 293.</span></li> + +<li>Fish market at Havana, founder for pirate, II, 357.</li> + +<li>Fiske, John, historian, quoted, I, 270.</li> + +<li>Flag, Cuban, first raised, III, 31;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaces American, IV, 249;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, 250;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">history and significance, 250.</span></li> + +<li>Flores y Aldama, Rodrigo de, Governor, I, 301.</li> + +<li>Florida, attempted colonization by Ponce de Leon, I, 139;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Soto's expedition, 145. See <span class="smcap">Menendez</span>.</span></li> + +<li>Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, Bishop of Seville, I, 59.</li> + +<li>Fonts-Sterling, Ernesto, Secretary of Finance, IV, 90;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges resistance to revolution, 270.</span></li> + +<li>Fornaris, José, III, 230.</li> + +<li>Forestry, attention paid by Montalvo, I, 223;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to check waste, II, 166.</span></li> + +<li>Foyo, Sr., Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>France, first foe of Spanish in Cuba, I, 177;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Family Pact," II, 42;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">interest in Cuban revolution, III, 126.</span></li> + +<li>Franquinay, pirate, at Santiago, I, 310.</li> + +<li>French refugees, in Cuba, II, 189;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expelled, 302.</span></li> + +<li>French Revolution, effects of, II, 184.</li> + +<li>Freyre y Andrade, Fernando, filibuster,</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV, 70;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Pino Guerra, 267.</span></li> + +<li>Frye, Alexis, Superintendent of Schools, IV, 156;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with General Wood, 162.</span></li> + +<li>Fuerza, La: picture, facing I, 146;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">building begun by De Soto, I, 147;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">scene of Lady Isabel's tragic vigil, 147, 179;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">planned and built by Sanchez, 194;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work by Menendez, and Ribera, 209;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave labor sought, 211;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad construction, 222;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Montalvo's recommendations, 223;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Luzan-Arana quarrel, 237;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical completion, 240;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">decorated by Cagigal, II, 33.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Galvano, Antony, historian, quoted, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Galvez, Bernardo, seeks Cuban aid for Pensacola, II, 146;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor, 168;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 170.</span></li> + +<li>Galvez, José Maria, head of Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.</li> + +<li>Garaondo, José, I, 317.</li> + +<li>Garay, Francisco de, Governor of Jamaica, I, 102.</li> + +<li>Garcia, Calixto, portrait, facing III, 268;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Cuban Republic, III, 301;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins War of Independence, IV, 69;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his notable career, 76 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins with Shafter at Santiago, 111;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 241.</span></li> + +<li>Garcia, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 269.</li> + +<li>Garcia, Esequiel, Secretary of Education, IV, 320.</li> + +<li>Garcia, Marcos, IV, 44.</li> + +<li>Garcia, Quintiliano, III, 329.</li> + +<li>Garvey, José N. P., II, 222.</li> + +<li>Gastaneta, Antonio, II, 9.</li> + +<li>Gelder, Francisco, Governor, I, 292.</li> + +<li>Gener y Rincon, Miguel, Secretary of Justice, IV, 161.</li> + +<li>Geraldini, Felipe, I, 310.</li> + +<li>Germany, malicious course of in 1898, IV, 104;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuba declares war against, 348;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">property in Cuba seized, 349;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid to Gomez, 350.</span></li> + +<li>Gibson. Hugh S., U. S. Chargé d'Affaires, assaulted, IV, 308.</li> + +<li>Giron. Garcia, Governor, I, 279.</li> + +<li>Godoy, Captain, arrested at Santiago, and put to death, I, 203.</li> + +<li>Godoy, Manuel, II, 172.</li> + +<li>Goicouria, Domingo, sketch and portrait, III, 234.</li> + +<li>Gold, Columbus's quest for, I, 19;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Velasquez's search, 61;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "Spaniards' God," 62;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early mining, 81;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">value of mines, 173.</span></li> + +<li>Gomez, José Antonio, II, 18.</li> + +<li>Gomez, José Miguel, Civil Governor of Santa Clara, IV, 179;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to Presidency, 260, 264;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns from Conservative to Liberal party, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">compact with Zayas, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">starts revolution, 269;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes President, 297;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet, 297;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 298;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts of his administration, 301;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with corruption, 304;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Veterans' Association, 304;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Zayas, 306;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppresses Negro revolt, 307;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">amnesty bill, 309;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Lottery, 310;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Dragado" deal, 310;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">railroad deal, 310;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of his administration, 311;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">double treason in 1916, 332;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated and captured, 337;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his orders for devastation, 337;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aided by Germany, 350.</span></li> + +<li>Gomez, Juan Gualberto, revolutionist, IV, 30;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured and imprisoned, 52;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">insurgent, 269.</span></li> + +<li>Gomez, Maximo, III, 264;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Gen. Agramonte, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Treaty of Zanjon with Campos, 299;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in War of Independence, IV, 15;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander in chief, 16, 43;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 44;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans great campaign of war, 53;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Lacret, 84;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to American invasion, 109;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals to Cubans to accept American occupation, 136;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">impeachment by National Assembly ignored, 137;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence during Government of Intervention, 149;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">considered by Constitutional Convention, 191;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed for Presidency, 240;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines, 241.</span></li> + +<li>Gonzalez, Aurelia Castillo de, author, sketch and portrait, IV, 192.</li> + +<li>Gonzales, William E., U. S. Minister to Cuba, IV, 335;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">watches Gomez's insurrection, 336.</span></li> + +<li>Gorgas, William C., work for sanitation, IV, 175.</li> + +<li>Government of Cuba: organized by Velasquez, I, 69;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">developed at Santiago, 81;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">radical changes made, 111;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution in political status of island, 138;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">codification of ordinances, 207;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ordinances of 1542, 317;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">land tenure, II, 12;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms by Governor Guemez, 17;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganization after British occupation, 104;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great reforms by Torre, 132;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">budget and tax reforms, 197;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">authority of Captain-General, III, 11;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">administrative and judicial functions, 13 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">military and naval command, 16;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempted reforms, 63;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">concessions after Ten Years' War, 310.</span></li> + +<li>Governors of Cuba, Spanish, list of, IV, 123.</li> + +<li>Govin, Antonio, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 95.</span></li> + +<li>Grammont, buccaneer, I, 311.</li> + +<li>Gran Caico, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Grand Turk Island. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Grant, U. S., President of United States, III, 200;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inclined to recognize Cuban Republic, 202;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prevented by his Secretary of State, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments in messages, 205, 292.</span></li> + +<li>Great Britain, interest in Cuban revolution, III, 125;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protection sought by Spain, 129;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines cooperation with United States, 294;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">requires return of fugitives, 310.</span></li> + +<li>Great Exuma. See <span class="smcap">Ferdinandina</span>.</li> + +<li>Great Inagua, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Great War, Cuba enters, IV, 348;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers 10,000 troops, 348;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">German intrigues and propaganda, 349;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of Roman Catholic clergy, 349;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ships seized, 350;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cooperation with Food Commission, 351;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">military activities, 352;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">liberal subscriptions to loans, 352;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Red Cross work, 352;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seņora Menocal's inspiring leadership, 353.</span></li> + +<li>Grijalva, Juan de, I, 65;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition to Mexico, 66;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">names Mexico New Spain, 97;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unjustly recalled and discredited, 88.</span></li> + +<li>Guajaba Island, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Guama, Cimmarron chief, I, 127.</li> + +<li>Guanabacoa founded, II, 21.</li> + +<li>Guanahani, Columbus's landing place, I, 2.</li> + +<li>Guanajes Islands, source of slave trade, I, 83.</li> + +<li>Guantanamo, Columbus at, I, 19;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">U. S. Naval Station, IV, 256.</span></li> + +<li>Guardia, Cristobal de la, Secretary of Justice, IV, 320.</li> + +<li>Guazo, Gregorio, de la Vega, Governor, I, 340;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">stops tobacco war, 341;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warnings to Great Britain and France, 342;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">military activity and efficiency, II, 5.</span></li> + +<li>Guemez y Horcasitas, Juan F., Governor, II, 17;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms, 17;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of administration, 26.</span></li> + +<li>Guerra, Amador, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li> + +<li>Guerra, Benjamin, treasurer of Junta, IV, 3.</li> + +<li>Guerro, Pino, starts insurrection, IV, 267, 269;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander of Cuban army, 301;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempt to assassinate him, 303.</span></li> + +<li>Guevara, Francisco, III, 265.</li> + +<li>Guiteras, Juan, physician and scientist, sketch and portrait, IV, 321.</li> + +<li>Guiteras, Pedro J., quoted, I, 269;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 6;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">42;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">207.</span></li> + +<li>Guzman, Gonzalez de, mission from Velasquez to King Charles I, I, 85;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vindicates Velasquez, 108;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor of Cuba, 110;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries rich sister-in-law, 116;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">litigation over estate, 117;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tremendous indictment by Vadillo, 120;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals to King and Council for Indies, 120;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to oppress natives, 128;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second time Governor, 137;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes more trouble, 148;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">trouble with French privateers, 178.</span></li> + +<li>Guzman, Nuņez de, royal treasurer, I, 109;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and fortune, 115.</span></li> + +<li>Guzman, Santos, spokesman of Constitutionalists, IV, 59.</li> + +<li class="top5">Hammock, of Cuban origin, I, 10.</li> + +<li>Hanebanilla, falls of, view, facing III, 110.</li> + +<li>Harponville, Viscount Gustave, quoted, II, 189.</li> + +<li>Harvard University, entertains Cuban teachers, IV, 163.</li> + +<li>Hatuey, Cuban chief, leader against Spaniards, I, 62;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 63.</span></li> + +<li>Havana: founded by Narvaez, I, 69;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Soto's home and capital, 144;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise in importance, 166;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor's permanent residence, 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inadequate defences, 183;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured by Sores, 186;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protected by Mazariegos, 194;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sea wall proposed by Osorio, 202;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified by Menendez, 209;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Key of the New World," 210;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commercial metropolis of West Indies, 216;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first hospital founded, 226;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Francisco church, picture, facing 226;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">building in Carreņo's time, 231;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">custom house, 231;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">threatened by Drake, 243;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparations for defence, 250;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">officially called "city," 262;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">coat of arms, 202;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">primitive conditions, 264;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first theatrical performance, 264;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of western district, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great fire, 277;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Pit Hein, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by John Chilton, 349;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first dockyard established, II, 8;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by British under Admiral</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hosier, 9;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">University founded, 11;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by John Campbell, 14;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British expedition against in 1762, 46;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">journal of siege, 54;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">American troops engaged, 66;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrender, 69;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">terms, 71;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British occupation, 78;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great changes, 94;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, 94;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view from Cabanas, facing, 96;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reoccupied by Spanish, 102;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hurricane, 115;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">improvements in streets and buildings, 129;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view in Old Havana, facing 130;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">street cleaning, and market, 169;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slaughter house removed, 194;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">shopping, 242;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cafés, 243;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tacon's public works, 365;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of old Presidential Palace, facing III, 14;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the Prado, facing IV, 16;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">besieged in War of Independence, 62;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of bay and harbor, facing, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">old City Wall, picture, 122;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of old and new buildings, facing 134;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Ludlow's administration, 146;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Police reorganized, 150;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of University, facing 164;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the new capitol, facing 204;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the President's home, facing 268;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, facing 288;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new railroad terminal, 311.</span></li> + +<li>Hay, John, epigram on revolutions, IV, 343</li> + +<li>Hayti. See <span class="smcap">Hispaniola</span>.</li> + +<li>Hein, Pit, Dutch raider, I, 279.</li> + +<li>Henderson, John, on Lopez's expedition, III, 64.</li> + +<li><i>Herald</i>, New York, on Cuban revolution, III, 89.</li> + +<li>Heredia, José Maria. II, 274;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exiled, 344;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">life and works, III, 318;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 318.</span></li> + +<li>Hernani, Domingo, II, 170.</li> + +<li>Herrera, historian, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hatuey, 62;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of West Indies, 345.</span></li> + +<li>Herrera, Geronimo Bustamente de, I, 194.</li> + +<li>Hevea, Aurelio, Secretary of Interior, IV, 320.</li> + +<li>Hispaniola, Columbus at, I, 19;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution in, II, 173;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">186;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect upon Cuba, 189.</span></li> + +<li>Hobson, Richmond P., exploit at Santiago, IV, 110.</li> + +<li>Holleben, Dr. von, German Ambassador at Washington, intrigues of, IV, 104.</li> + +<li>Home Rule, proposed by Spain, IV, 6;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted, 8.</span></li> + +<li>Horses introduced into Cuba, I, 63.</li> + +<li>Hosier, Admiral, attacks Havana, I, 312;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 9.</span></li> + +<li>Hospital, first in Havana, I, 226;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belen founded, 318;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Paula and San Francisco, 195.</span></li> + +<li>"House of Fear," Governor's home, I, 156.</li> + +<li>Humboldt, Alexander von, on slavery, II, 206;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on census, 277;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">282;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on slave trade, 288.</span></li> + +<li>Hurricanes, II, 115, 176, 310.</li> + +<li>Hurtado, Lopez, royal treasurer, I, 116;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">has Chaves removed, 162.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Ibarra, Carlos, defeats Dutch raiders, I, 288.</li> + +<li>Incas, I, 7.</li> + +<li>Independence, first conceived, II, 268;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">326;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first revolts for, 343;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentiment fostered by slave trade, 377;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaimed by Aguero, III, 72;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaimed by Cespedes at Yara, 155;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed by United States to Spain, 217;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of Independence, IV, 1;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognized by Spain, 119. See <span class="smcap">War of Independence</span>.</span></li> + +<li>Intellectual life of Cuba, I, 360;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of productiveness in Sixteenth Century, 362;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban backwardness, II, 235;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first important progress, 273;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great arising and splendid achievements, III, 317.</span></li> + +<li>Insurrections. See <span class="smcap">Revolutions</span>, and <span class="smcap">Slavery</span>.</li> + +<li>Intervention, Government of: First, established, IV, 132;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organized, 145;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban Cabinet, 145;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">saves island from famine, 146;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">works of rehabilitation and reform, 148;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage law, 152;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">concessions forbidden, 153;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">census, 154;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">civil governments of provinces, 179;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">municipal elections ordered, 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">electoral law 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final transactions, 246;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Government of Intervention, 281;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. E. Magoon, Governor, 281;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Consulting Board, 284;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elections held, 289, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commission for revising laws, 294;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over church property, 294.</span></li> + +<li>Intervention sought by Great Britain and France, III, 128;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by United States, IV, 106.</span></li> + +<li>Iroquois, I, 7.</li> + +<li>Irving, Washington, on Columbus's landing place, I, 12.</li> + +<li>Isabella, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.</li> + +<li>Isabella, Queen, portrait, I, 13.</li> + +<li>Isidore of Seville, quoted, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Islas de Arena, I, 11.</li> + +<li>Isle of Pines, I, 26;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognized as part of Cuba, 224;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">status under Platt Amendment, IV, 255.</span></li> + +<li>Italian settlers in Cuba, I, 169.</li> + +<li>Ivonnet, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.</li> + +<li class="top5">Jamaica, Columbus at, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Japan. See <span class="smcap">Cipango</span>.</li> + +<li>Jaruco, founded, II, 131.</li> + +<li>Jefferson, Thomas, on Cuban annexation, II, 260;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 132.</span></li> + +<li>Jeronimite Order, made guardian of Indians, I, 78;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes their oppressor, 127.</span></li> + +<li>Jesuits, controversy over, II, 86;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expulsion of, 111.</span></li> + +<li>Jordan, Thomas, joins Cuban revolution, III, 211.</li> + +<li>Jorrin, José Silverio, portrait, facing III, 308.</li> + +<li>Jovellar, Joachim, Governor, III, 273;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaims state of siege, 289;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 290.</span></li> + +<li>Juana, Columbus's first name for Cuba, I, 13.</li> + +<li>Juan Luis Keys, I, 21.</li> + +<li>Judiciary, reforms in, II, 110;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Navarro, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Unzaga, 165;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Leonard Wood, IV, 177.</span></li> + +<li>Junta, Cuban, in United States, III, 91;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York, IV, 2;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">branches elsewhere, 3;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy in enlisting men, 19.</span></li> + +<li>Junta de Fomento, II, 178.</li> + +<li>Juntas of the Laborers, III, 174.</li> + +<li class="top5">Keppel, Gen. See <span class="smcap">Albemarle</span>.</li> + +<li>Key Indians, I, 125;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition against, 126.</span></li> + +<li>"Key of the New World and Bulwark of the Indies," I, 210.</li> + +<li>Kindelan, Sebastian de, II, 197, 315.</li> + +<li class="top5">Lacoste, Perfecto, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, IV, 160.</li> + +<li>Land tenure, II, 12;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">absentee landlords, 214.</span></li> + +<li>Lanuza, Gonzalez, Secretary of Justice, IV, 146;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 146.</span></li> + +<li>Lares, Amador de, I, 93.</li> + +<li>La Salle, in Cuba, I, 73.</li> + +<li>Las Casas, Bartholomew, Apostle to the Indies, arrival in Cuba, I, 63;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 64;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces Narvaez, 66;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins campaign against slavery, 75;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">mission to Spain, 77;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">before Ximenes, 77.</span></li> + +<li>Las Casas, Luis de, Governor, II, 175;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 175;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 182.</span></li> + +<li>Lasso de la Vega, Juan, Bishop, II, 17.</li> + +<li>Lawton, Gen. Henry W., leads advance against Spanish, IV, 112;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Military Governor of Oriente, 139.</span></li> + +<li>Lazear, Camp, established, IV, 172.</li> + +<li>Lazear, Jesse W., hero and martyr in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li> + +<li>Ledesma, Francisco Rodriguez, Governor, I, 310.</li> + +<li>Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul General at Havana, IV, 72;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports on "concentration" policy of Weyler, 86;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks for warship to protect Americans at Havana, 97;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Maine</i> sent, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands troops at Havana, 121.</span></li> + +<li>Lee, Robert Edward, declines to join Lopez, III, 39.</li> + +<li>Legrand, Pedro, invades Cuba, I, 302.</li> + +<li>Leiva, Lopez, Secretary of Government, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>Lemus, Jose Morales, III, 333.</li> + +<li>Lendian, Evelio Rodriguez, educator, sketch and portrait, IV, 162.</li> + +<li>Liberal Party, III, 306;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">triumphant through revolution, IV, 285;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissensions, 303;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conspiracy against election, 329.</span></li> + +<li>Liberty Loans, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 352.</li> + +<li>Lighthouse service, under Mario G. Menocal, IV, 168.</li> + +<li>Linares, Tomas de, first Rector of University of Havana, II, 11.</li> + +<li>Lindsay, Forbes, quoted, II, 217.</li> + +<li>Linschoten, Jan H. van, historian, quoted, I, 351.</li> + +<li>Liquor, intoxicating, prohibited in 1780, II, 150.</li> + +<li>Literary periodicals: <i>El Habanero</i>, III, 321;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>El Plantel</i>, 324;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Cuban Review</i>, 325;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Havana Review</i>, 329.</span></li> + +<li>Literature, II, 245;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early works, 252;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">poets, 274;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great development of activity, III, 315 et seq.</span></li> + +<li>Little Inagua, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Llorente, Pedro, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188, 190.</li> + +<li>Lobera, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 182;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">desperate defence against Sores, 185.</span></li> + +<li>Lolonois, pirate, I, 296.</li> + +<li>Long Island. See <span class="smcap">Ferdinandina</span>.</li> + +<li>Lopez, Narciso, sketch and portrait, III, 23;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Venezuela, 24;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins the Spanish</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">army, 26;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries and settles in Cuba, 30;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">against the Carlists in Spain, 31;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Valdez, 31;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices and honors, 33;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans Cuban revolution, 36;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed and fugitive, 37;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">consults Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, 38;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first American expedition, 39;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">members of the party, 40;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">activity in Southern States, 43;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition starts, 45;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation to his men, 46;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands at Cardenas, 49;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of Cuban support, 54;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reembarks, 56;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands at Key West, 58;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested and tried, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second expedition organized, 65;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed, 67;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">third expedition, 70;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final expedition organized, 91;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands in Cuba, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated and captured, 112;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 114;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of his works, 116.</span></li> + +<li>Lorenzo, Gen., Governor at Santiago, II, 347.</li> + +<li>Lorraine, Sir Lambton, III, 280.</li> + +<li>Los Rios, J. B. A. de, I, 310.</li> + +<li>Lottery, National, established by José Miguel Gomez, IV, 310.</li> + +<li>Louisiana, Franco-Spanish contest over, II, 117;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ulloa sent from Cuba to take possession, 118;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'Reilly sent, 123;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uznaga sent, 126.</span></li> + +<li>Louverture, Toussaint, II, 186.</li> + +<li>Luaces, Joaquin Lorenzo, sketch and portrait, III, 330.</li> + +<li>Ludlow, Gen. William, command and work at Havana, IV, 144.</li> + +<li>Lugo, Pedro Benitez de, Governor, I, 331.</li> + +<li>Luna y Sarmiento, Alvaro de, Governor, I, 290.</li> + +<li>Luz y Caballero, José de la, "Father of the Cuban Revolution," III, 322;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great work for patriotic education, 323;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portrait, frontispiece, Vol III.</span></li> + +<li>Luzan, Gabriel de, Governor, I, 236;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over La Fuerza, 237;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Quiņones, 241;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Quiņones to resist Drake, 243;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">energetic action, 246;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tenure of office prolonged, 250;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of term, 260.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Macaca, province of, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Maceo, José Antonio, proclaims Provisional Government, IV, 15;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader in War of Independence, 41;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands Division of Oriente, 43;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Campos, 46;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans great campaign, 53;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">invades Pinar del Rio, 61;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">successful campaign, 73;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 74;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 74.</span></li> + +<li>Maceo, José, IV, 41;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marches through Cuba, 76.</span></li> + +<li>Machado, Eduard, treason of, III, 258.</li> + +<li>Machete, used in battle, IV, 57.</li> + +<li>Madison, James, on status of Cuba, III, 132.</li> + +<li>Madriaga, Juan Ignacio, II, 59.</li> + +<li>Magoon, Charles E., Provisional Governor, IV, 281;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his administration, 283;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes public works, 286;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes census, 287;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">election law, 287;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 295.</span></li> + +<li>Mahy, Nicolas, Governor, II, 315.</li> + +<li>Mail service established, II, 107;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American occupation, IV, 168.</span></li> + +<li>Maine sent to Havana, IV, 98;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction of, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigation, 100.</span></li> + +<li>Maldonado, Diego, I, 146.</li> + +<li>Mandeville, Sir John, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Mangon, identified with Mangi, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Manners and Customs, II, 229 et seq.;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">balls, 239;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">shopping, 242;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of black and white races, 242;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cafés, 243;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early society, 248.</span></li> + +<li>Monosca, Juan Saenz, Bishop, I, 301.</li> + +<li>Manrique, Diego, Governor, II, 109.</li> + +<li>Manzaneda y Salines, Severino de, Governor, I, 320.</li> + +<li>Manzanillo, Declaration of Independence issued, III, 155.</li> + +<li>Maraveo Ponce de Leon, Gomez de, I, 339.</li> + +<li>Marco Polo, I, 4, 20.</li> + +<li>Marcy, William L., policy toward Cuba, III, 136.</li> + +<li>Mar de la Nuestra Seņora, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Mariguana. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Marin, Sabas, succeeds Campos in command, IV, 63.</li> + +<li>Markham, Sir Clements, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12.</li> + +<li>Marmol, Donato, III, 173, 184.</li> + +<li>Marquez, Pedro Menendez, I, 206.</li> + +<li>Marriage law, reformed under American occupation, IV, 152;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over, 153.</span></li> + +<li>Marti, José, portrait, frontispiece, Vol IV;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of War of Independence, IV, 2;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career, 9;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New York, 11;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Junta, 11;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Cuba, 15;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 16;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his war manifesto, 17;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fulfilment of his ideals, 355.</span></li> + +<li>Marti, José, secretary of War, portrait, IV, 360.</li> + +<li>Marti, the pirate, II, 357.</li> + +<li>Martinez Campos. See Campos.</li> + +<li>Martinez, Dionisio de la Vega, Governor, II, 8;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inscription on La Punta, 14.</span></li> + +<li>Martinez, Juan, I, 192.</li> + +<li>Martyr, Peter, I, 53.</li> + +<li>Maso, Bartolome, revolutionist, IV, 34;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebukes Spotorno, 35;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Cuban Republic, 43;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice President of Council, 48;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Republic, 90;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice President, 242;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks Presidency, 243.</span></li> + +<li>Mason, James M., U. S. Minister to France, III, 141.</li> + +<li>Masse, E. M., describes slave trade, II, 202;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rural life, 216;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Spanish policy toward Cuba, 227;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">social morals, 230.</span></li> + +<li>Matanzas, founded, I, 321;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, 321.</span></li> + +<li>Maura, Sr., proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 5.</li> + +<li>McCullagh, John B., reorganizes Havana Police, IV, 150.</li> + +<li>McKinley, William, President of United States, message of 1897 on Cuba, IV, 87;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines European mediation, 103;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">message for war, 104.</span></li> + +<li>Maza, Enrique, assaults Hugh S. Gibson, IV, 308.</li> + +<li>Mazariegos, Diego de, Governor, I, 191;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">a scandalous moralist, 193;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defences against privateering, 193;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes charge of La Fuerza, 195;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Governor of Florida, 196;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaced by Sandoval, 197.</span></li> + +<li>Medina, Fernando de, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Mendez-Capote, Fernando, Secretary of Sanitation, portrait, IV, 360.</li> + +<li>Mendieta, Carlos, candidate for Vice President, IV, 328;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebels, 338.</span></li> + +<li>Mendive, Rafael Maria de, III, 328.</li> + +<li>Mendoza, Martin de, I, 204.</li> + +<li>Menendez, Pedro de Aviles, I, 199;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander of Spanish fleet, 200;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">clash with Osorio, 201;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor of Cuba, 205;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dealing with increasing enemies, 208;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortifies Havana, 209;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled to Spain, 213;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Bishop Castillo, 226.</span></li> + +<li>Menocal, Aniceto G., portrait, IV, 50.</li> + +<li>Menocal, Mario G., Assistant Secretary of War, IV, 49;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chief of Police at Havana, 144, 150;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in charge of Lighthouse Service, 168;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slandered by Liberals, 291;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President, 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">biography, 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of birthplace, 313;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet, 320;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Cuba's needs, 321;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first message, 322;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Congress, 323;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">important reforms, 324;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppresses rebellion, 327;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for reelection, 328;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vigorous action against Gomez's rebellion, 335;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines American aid, 337;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes assassination, 339;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reelection confirmed, 341;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">clemency to traitors, 342;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">message on entering Great War, 346;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fulfilment of Marti's ideals, 355;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of his administration, 356;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements for education, 357;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">health, 357;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">industry and commerce, 358;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">finance, 359;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"from Velasquez to Menocal," 365.</span></li> + +<li>Menocal, Seņora, leadership of Cuban womanhood in Red Cross and other work, IV, 354;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 352.</span></li> + +<li>Mercedes, Maria de las, quoted, II, 174;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on slave insurrection, 368.</span></li> + +<li>Merchan, Rafael, III, 174;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotic works, 335.</span></li> + +<li>Merlin, Countess de. See <span class="smcap">Mercedes</span>.</li> + +<li><i>Merrimac</i>, sunk at Santiago, IV, 111.</li> + +<li>Mesa, Hernando de, first Bishop, I, 122.</li> + +<li>Mestre, José Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 326.</li> + +<li>Meza, Sr., Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>Mexico, discovered and explored from Cuba, I, 87;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">designs upon Cuba, II, 262;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban expedition against, 346;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warned off by United States, III, 134;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fall of Maximilian, 150.</span></li> + +<li>Milanes, José Jacinto, sketch, portrait and works, III, 324.</li> + +<li>Miles, Gen. Nelson A., prepares for invasion of Cuba, IV, 111.</li> + +<li>Miranda, Francisco, II, 156;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Bolivar, 335.</span></li> + +<li>Miscegenation, II, 204.</li> + +<li>Molina, Francisco, I, 290.</li> + +<li>Monastic orders, I, 276.</li> + +<li>Monroe Doctrine, foreshadowed, II, 256;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promulgated, 328.</span></li> + +<li>Monroe, James, interest in Cuba, II, 257;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promulgates Doctrine, 328;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 329.</span></li> + +<li>Monserrate Gate, Havana, picture, II, 241.</li> + +<li>Montalvo, Gabriel, Governor, I, 215;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Rojas family, 218;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigated and retired, 219;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">pleads for naval protection for Cuba, 220.</span></li> + +<li>Montalvo, Lorenzo, II, 89.</li> + +<li>Montalvo, Rafael, Secretary of Public Works, urges resistance to revolutionists, IV, 270.</li> + +<li>Montanes, Pedro Garcia, I, 292.</li> + +<li>Montano See <span class="smcap">Velasquez</span>, J. M.</li> + +<li>Montes, Garcia, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 254.</li> + +<li>Montesino, Antonio, I, 78.</li> + +<li>Montiel, Vasquez de, naval commander, I, 278.</li> + +<li>Montoro, Rafael, Representative in Cortes, III, 308;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">spokesman of Autonomists, IV, 59;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Autonomist Cabinet, 95;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice President, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Liberals, 291;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">biography, 317;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 320.</span></li> + +<li>Morales case, IV, 92.</li> + +<li>Morales. Pedro de, commands at Santiago, I, 299.</li> + +<li>Morals, strangely mixed with piety and vice, II, 229.</li> + +<li>Morell, Pedro Augustino, Bishop, II, 53;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Albemarle, 83;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exiled, 87;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 113.</span></li> + +<li>Moreno, Andres, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 90.</li> + +<li>Moret law, abolishing slavery, III, 243.</li> + +<li>Morgan, Henry, plans raid on Havana, I, 297;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">later career, 303.</span></li> + +<li>Morro Castle, Havana, picture, facing I, 180;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">site of battery, 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tower built by Mazariegos, 196;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified against Drake, 249;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">planned by Antonelli, 261;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">besieged by British, II, 55.</span></li> + +<li>Morro Castle, Santiago, built, I, 289;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, facing 298.</span></li> + +<li>Mucaras, I, 11.</li> + +<li>Muenster, geographer, I, 6.</li> + +<li>Mugeres Islands, I, 84.</li> + +<li>Munive, Andres de, I, 317.</li> + +<li>Murgina y Mena, A. M., I, 317.</li> + +<li>Music, early concerts at Havana, II, 239.</li> + +<li class="top5">Nabia, Juan Alfonso de, I, 207.</li> + +<li>Nancy Globe, I. 6.</li> + +<li>Napoleon's designs upon Cuba, II, 203.</li> + +<li>Naranjo, probable landing place of Columbus, I, 12.</li> + +<li>Narvaez, Panfilo de, portrait, I, 63;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 63;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign against natives, 65;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">explores the island, 67;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">errand to Spain, 77;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Mexico to oppose Cortez, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures appointment of Councillors for life, 111.</span></li> + +<li>Naval stations, U. S., in Cuba, IV, 255.</li> + +<li>Navarrete, quoted, I, 3, 12.</li> + +<li>Navarro, Diego Jose, Governor, II, 141, 150.</li> + +<li>Navy, Spanish, in Cuban waters, III, 182, 225.</li> + +<li>Negroes, imported as slaves, I, 170;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of, 171;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slaves and free, increasing numbers of, 229. See <span class="smcap">Slavery</span>.</span></li> + +<li>New Orleans, anti-Spanish outbreak, III, 126.</li> + +<li>New Spain. See <span class="smcap">Mexico</span>.</li> + +<li>Newspapers: <i>Gazeta</i>, 1780, II, 157;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Papel Periodico</i>, 179;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">246;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">publications in Paris, Madrid and New York, 354;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">El Faro Industrial, III, 18;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diario de la Marina, 18;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Verdad, 18;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Vos de Cuba, 260;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Vos del Siglo, 232;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Revolucion, 333;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">El Siglo, 334;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">El Laborante, 335.</span></li> + +<li>Norsemen, American colonists, I, 7.</li> + +<li>Nougaret, Jean Baptiste, quoted, II, 26.</li> + +<li>Nuņez, Emilio, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in war, 57;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Civil Governor of Havana, 179;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of Veterans' Association, 305;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of Agriculture, 320;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice President, 328;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">election confirmed, 341.</span></li> + +<li>Nuņez, Enrique, Secretary of Health and Charities, IV, 320.</li> + +<li class="top5">Ocampo, Sebastian de, circumnavigates Cuba, I, 54.</li> + +<li>O'Donnell, George Leopold, Governor, II, 365;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wife's sordid intrigues, 365.</span></li> + +<li>Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, hostile to Spain, II, 24, 30.</li> + +<li>O'Hara, Theodore, with Lopez, III, 46.</li> + +<li>Ojeda, Alonzo de, I, 54;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduces Christianity to Cuba, 55.</span></li> + +<li>Olid, Christopher de, sent to Mexico, I, 88.</li> + +<li>Olney, Richard. U. S. Secretary of State, attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 71.</li> + +<li>Oquendo, Antonio de, I, 281.</li> + +<li>Orejon y Gaston, Francisco Davila de, Governor, I, 301, 310.</li> + +<li>O'Reilly, Alexandre, sent to occupy Louisiana, II, 123;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruthless rule, 125.</span></li> + +<li>Orellano, Diego de, I, 86.</li> + +<li>Ornofay, province of, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Ortiz, Bartholomew, alcalde mayor, I, 146;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 151.</span></li> + +<li>Osorio, Garcia de Sandoval, Governor, I, 197;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Menendez, 199, 201;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retired, 205;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tried, 206.</span></li> + +<li>Osorio, Sancho Pardo, I, 207.</li> + +<li>Ostend Manifesto, III, 142.</li> + +<li>Ovando, Alfonso de Caceres, I, 214;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revises law system, 233.</span></li> + +<li>Ovando, Nicolas de, I, 54.</li> + +<li class="top5">Palma, Tomas Estrada, head of Cuban Junta in New York, IV, 3;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provisional President of Cuban Republic, 15;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Delegate at Large, 43;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects anything short of independence, 71;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Presidency, 241;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career, 241;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President, 245;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 247;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 248;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives transfer of government from General Wood, 248;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet, 254;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first message, 254;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosperous administration, 259;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-partisan at first, 264;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">forced toward Conservative party, 264;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reelected, 266;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to believe insurrection impending, 266;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to submit to blackmail, 268;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed by Congress, 269;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts too late, 270;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks American aid, 271;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with W. H. Taft, 276;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns Presidency, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of character and work, 282;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 284.</span></li> + +<li>Palma y Romay, Ramon, III, 327.</li> + +<li>Parra, Antonio, scientist, II, 252.</li> + +<li>Parra, Maso, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li> + +<li>Parties, political, in Cuba, IV, 59;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin and characteristics of Conservative and Liberal, 181, 261.</span></li> + +<li>Pasalodos, Damaso, Secretary to President, IV, 297</li> + +<li>Pasamonte, Miguel, intrigues against Columbus, I, 58.</li> + +<li>Paz, Doņa de, marries Juan de Avila, I, 154.</li> + +<li>Paz, Pedro de, I, 109.</li> + +<li>Penalosa, Diego de, Governor, II, 31.</li> + +<li>Penalver. See <span class="smcap">Penalosa</span>.</li> + +<li>Penalver, Luis, Bishop of New Orleans, II, 179.</li> + +<li>"Peninsulars," III, 152.</li> + +<li>Pensacola, settlement of, I, 328;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seized by French, 342;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recovered by Spanish, II, 7;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defended by Galvez, 146.</span></li> + +<li>Pereda, Gaspar Luis, Governor, I, 276.</li> + +<li>Perez, Diego, repels privateers, I, 179.</li> + +<li>Perez, Perico, revolutionist, IV, 15, 30, 78.</li> + +<li>Perez de Zambrana, Luisa, sketch and portrait, III, 328.</li> + +<li>Personal liberty restricted, III, 8.</li> + +<li>Peru, good wishes for Cuban revolution, III, 223.</li> + +<li>Philip II, King, appreciation of Cuba, I, 260.</li> + +<li>Pieltain, Candido, Governor, III, 275.</li> + +<li>Pierce, Franklin, President of United States, policy toward Cuba, III, 136.</li> + +<li>Pina, Severo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 48.</li> + +<li>Pinar del Rio, city founded, II, 131;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maceo invades province, IV, 61;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war in, 73.</span></li> + +<li>Pineyro, Enrique, III, 333;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 334.</span></li> + +<li>Pinto, Ramon, sketch and portrait, III, 62.</li> + +<li>"Pirates of America," I, 296.</li> + +<li>Pizarro, Francisco de, I, 54, 91.</li> + +<li>Platt, Orville H., Senator, on relations of United States and Cuba, IV, 198;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment to Cuban Constitution, 199;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment adopted, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">text of Amendment, 238.</span></li> + +<li>Pococke, Sir George, expedition against Havana, II, 46.</li> + +<li>Poey, Felipe, sketch and portrait, III, 315.</li> + +<li>Point Lucrecia, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Polavieja, Gen., Governor, III, 314.</li> + +<li>Police, reorganized, II, 312;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American occupation, IV, 150;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">police courts established, 171.</span></li> + +<li>Polk, James K., President of the United States, policy toward Cuba, III, 135.</li> + +<li>Polo y Bernabe, Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 98.</li> + +<li>Ponce de Leon, in Cuba, I, 73;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 139.</span></li> + +<li>Ponce de Leon, of New York, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13.</li> + +<li>Pope, efforts to maintain peace, between United States and Spain, IV, 104.</li> + +<li>Porro, Cornelio, treason of, III, 257.</li> + +<li>Port Banes, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Port Nipe, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Port Nuevitas, I, 3.</li> + +<li>Portuguese settlers, I, 168.</li> + +<li>Portuondo, Rafael, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, IV, 48;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">filibuster, 70.</span></li> + +<li>Prado y Portocasso, Juan, Governor, II, 49;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">neglect of duty, 52;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentenced to degradation, 108.</span></li> + +<li>Praga, Francisco de, I, 282.</li> + +<li>Presidency, first candidates for, IV, 240;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tomas Estrada Palma elected, 245;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">José Miguel Gomez aspires to, 260;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidates in 1906, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Palma's resignation, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jose Miguel Gomez elected, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fourth campaign, 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mario G. Menocal elected, 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fifth campaign, 328;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Menocal reelected, 341.</span></li> + +<li>Prim, Gen., Spanish revolutionist, III, 145.</li> + +<li>Printing, first press in Cuba, II, 245.</li> + +<li>Privateers, French ravage Cuba, I, 177;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havana and Santiago attacked, 178;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havana looted, 179;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jacques Sores, 183;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havana captured, 186;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Santiago looted, 193;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">French raids, 220, et seq.</span></li> + +<li>Proctor, Redfield, Senator, investigates and reports on condition of Cuba in War of Independence, IV, 87.</li> + +<li>Procurators, appointment of, I, 112.</li> + +<li>Protectorate, tripartite, refused by United States, II, 261;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 130, 133.</span></li> + +<li>Provincial governments organized, IV, 179, confusion in, 292.</li> + +<li>Public Works, promoted by General Wood, IV, 166;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Magoon, 286.</span></li> + +<li>Puerto Grande. See <span class="smcap">Guantanamo</span>.</li> + +<li>Puerto Principe, I, 18, 167.</li> + +<li>Punta, La, first fortification, I, 203;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">strengthened against Drake, 249;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortress planned by Antonelli, 261;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, IV, 33.</span></li> + +<li>Punta Lucrecia, I, 3.</li> + +<li>Punta Serafina, I, 22.</li> + +<li class="top5">Queen's Gardens, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Quero, Geronimo, I, 277.</li> + +<li>Quesada, Gonzalo de, Secretary of Cuban Junta, IV, 3;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minister to United States, 275.</span></li> + +<li>Quesada, Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 167;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation, 169;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 262.</span></li> + +<li>Quezo, Juan de, I, 113.</li> + +<li>Quilez, J. M., Civil Governor of Pinar del Rio, IV, 179.</li> + +<li>Quiņones, Diego Hernandez de, commander of fortifications at Havana, I, 240;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Luzan, 241;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Luzan to resist Drake, 243.</span></li> + +<li>Quiņones, Doņa Leonora de, I, 117.</li> + +<li class="top5">Rabi, Jesus, revolutionist, IV, 34, 42.</li> + +<li>Railroads, first in Cuba, II, 343.</li> + +<li>Raja, Vicente, Governor, I, 337.</li> + +<li>Ramirez, Alejandro, sketch and portrait, II, 311.</li> + +<li>Ramirez, Miguel, Bishop, partisan of Guzman, I, 120;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">political activities and greed, 124.</span></li> + +<li>Ramos, Gregorio, I, 274.</li> + +<li>Ranzel, Diego, I, 295.</li> + +<li>Recio, R. Lopez, Civil Governor of Camaguey, IV, 180.</li> + +<li>Recio, Serafin, III, 86.</li> + +<li>Reciprocity, secured by Roosevelt for Cuba, IV, 256.</li> + +<li>"Reconcentrados," mortality among, IV, 86.</li> + +<li>Red Cross, Cuban activities, IV, 353.</li> + +<li>Redroban, Pedro de, I, 201.</li> + +<li>Reed, Walter, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li> + +<li>Reformists, Spanish, support Blanco's Autonomist policy, IV, 97.</li> + +<li>Reggio, Andreas, II, 32.</li> + +<li>Reno, George, in War of Independence, IV, 12;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">running blockade, 21;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 21;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">services in Great War, 351.</span></li> + +<li>Renteria, Pedro de, partner of Las Casas, I, 75;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes slavery, 76.</span></li> + +<li>Repartimiento, I, 70.</li> + +<li>Republic of Cuba: proclaimed and organized, III, 157;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first representative Assembly, 161;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution of 1868, 164;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first House of Representatives, 176;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judiciary, 177;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">legislation, 177;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">army, 178;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to secure recognition, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Government reorganized, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Treaty of Zanjon, 301;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganized in War of Independence, IV, 15;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maso chosen President, 43;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conventions of Yara and Najasa, 47;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution adopted, 47;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Government reorganized, Cisneros President, 48;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital at Las Tunas, 56;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removes to Cubitas, 72;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercises functions of government, 72;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganized in 1897, 90;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Spanish evacuation of island, 134;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">disbanded, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitutional Convention called, 185;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution completed, 192;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with United States, 195;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt Amendment, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Great War, 346.</span></li> + +<li>Revolutions: Rise of spirit, II, 268;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in South America, 333;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Soles de Bolivar," 341;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to revolt, 344;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Black Eagle," 346;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans of Lopez, III, 36;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lopez's first invasion, 49;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aguero's insurrection, 72;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments of New York <i>Herald</i>, 89;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lopez's last expedition, 91;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of his work, 116;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">European interest, 125;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of Ten Years' War. 155;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of Ten Years' War, 299;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">insurrection renewed, 308, 318;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of Independence, IV, 1;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sartorius Brothers, 4;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of War of Independence, 116;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolt against President Palma, 266;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ultimatum, 278;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">government overthrown, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Negro insurrection, 307;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conspiracy against President Menocal, 327;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great treason of José Miguel Gomez, 332;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gomez captured, 337;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warnings from United States Government, 338;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolutions denounced by United States, 343.</span></li> + +<li>Revolutionary party, Cuban, IV, 1, 11.</li> + +<li>Rey, Juan F. G., III, 40.</li> + +<li>Riano y Gamboa, Francisco, Governor, I, 287.</li> + +<li>Ribera, Diego de, I, 206;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work on La Fuerza, 209.</span></li> + +<li>Ricafort, Mariano, Governor, II, 347.</li> + +<li>Ricla, Conde de, Governor, II, 102;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 109.</span></li> + +<li>Rio de la Luna, I, 16.</li> + +<li>Rio de Mares, I, 16.</li> + +<li>Riva-Martiz, I, 279.</li> + +<li>Rivera, Juan Ruiz, filibuster, IV, 70;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Maceo, 79.</span></li> + +<li>Rivera, Ruiz, Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, IV, 160.</li> + +<li>Roa, feud with Villalobos, I, 323.</li> + +<li>Rodas, Caballero de, Governor, III, 213;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">emancipation decree, 242.</span></li> + +<li>Rodney, Sir George, expedition to West Indies, II, 153.</li> + +<li>Rodriguez, Alejandro, suppresses revolt, IV, 266.</li> + +<li>Rodriguez, Laureano, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.</li> + +<li>Rojas, Alfonso de, I, 181.</li> + +<li>Rojas, Gomez de, banished, I, 193;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor of La Fuerza, 217;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilds Santiago, 258.</span></li> + +<li>Rojas, Hernando de, expedition to Florida, I, 196.</li> + +<li>Rojas, Juan Bautista de, royal treasurer, I, 218.</li> + +<li>Rojas, Juan de, aid to Lady Isabel de Soto, I, 145;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander at Havana, 183.</span></li> + +<li>Rojas, Manuel de, Governor, I, 105;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopts policy of "Cuba for the Cubans," 106;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second Governorship, 121;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dealings with Indians, 126;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">noble endeavors frustrated, 130;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the King's unique tribute to him, 135.</span></li> + +<li>Roldan, Francisco Dominguez, Secretary of Public Instruction, sketch and portrait, IV, 357.</li> + +<li>Roldan, José Gonzalo, III, 328.</li> + +<li>Roloff, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 45;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of War, 48;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">filibuster, 70.</span></li> + +<li>Romano Key, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Romay, Tomas, introduces vaccination, II, 192;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 192.</span></li> + +<li>Roncali, Federico, Governor, II, 366;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Spanish interests in Cuba, 381.</span></li> + +<li>Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 113;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of United States, on relations with Cuba, 245;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of General Wood's work in Cuba, 251;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fight with Congress for Cuban reciprocity, 256;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to aid President Palma against revolutionists, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Quesada, 275.</span></li> + +<li>Root, Elihu, Secretary of War, on Cuban Constitution, IV, 194;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Cuban relations with United States, 197;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">explains Platt Amendment, 201.</span></li> + +<li>Rowan, A. S., messenger to Oriente, IV. 107.</li> + +<li>Rubalcava, Manuel Justo, II, 274.</li> + +<li>Rubens, Horatio, Counsel of Cuban Junta, IV, 3.</li> + +<li>Rubios, Palacios, I, 78.</li> + +<li>Ruiz, Joaquin, spy, IV, 91;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 92. See <span class="smcap">Aranguren</span>.</span></li> + +<li>Ruiz, Juan Fernandez, filibuster, IV, 70.</li> + +<li>Rum Cay. See <span class="smcap">Conception</span>.</li> + +<li>Rural Guards, organized by General Wood, IV, 144;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">efficiency of, 301.</span></li> + +<li>Ruysch, geographer, I, 6.</li> + +<li class="top5">Saavedra, Juan Esquiro, I, 278.</li> + +<li>Sabinal Key, I, 18.</li> + +<li>Saco, José Antonio, pioneer of Independence, II, 378;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 378;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary and patriotic work, III, 325, 327.</span></li> + +<li>Sagasta, Praxedes, Spanish Premier, proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 6;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 36.</span></li> + +<li>Saint Augustine, expedition against, I, 332.</li> + +<li>Saint Mery, M. de, search for tomb of Columbus, I, 34.</li> + +<li>Salamanca, Juan de, Governor, I, 295;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes industries, 300.</span></li> + +<li>Salamanca y Negrete, Manuel, Governor, III, 314.</li> + +<li>Salaries, some early, I, 263.</li> + +<li>Salas, Indalacio, IV, 21.</li> + +<li>Salazar. See <span class="smcap">Someruelos</span>.</li> + +<li>Salcedo, Bishop, controversy with Governor Tejada, I, 262.</li> + +<li>Sama Point, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Samana. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Sampson, William T., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Santiago, 114;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 115.</span></li> + +<li>Sanchez, Bartolome, makes plans for La</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fuerza, I, 194;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins building, 195;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Mazariegos, 197.</span></li> + +<li>Sanchez, Bernabe, II, 345.</li> + +<li>Sancti Spiritus, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168.</li> + +<li>Sandoval, Garcia Osorio, Governor, I, 197. See <span class="smcap">Osario</span>.</li> + +<li>Sanitation, undertaken by Guemez, II, 18;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vaccination introduced by Dr. Romay. 192;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad conditions, III, 313;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Wood at Santiago, IV, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements under President Menocal, 357.</span></li> + +<li>Sanguilly, Julio, falls in leading revolution, IV, 29, 55.</li> + +<li>Sanguilly, Manuel, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 190.</li> + +<li>San Lazaro watchtower, picture, I, 155;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified against Drake, 248.</span></li> + +<li>San Salvador. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Santa Clara, Conde de, Governor, II, 194, 300.</li> + +<li>Santa Crux del Sur, I, 20.</li> + +<li>Santa Cruz, Francisco, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Santiago de Cuba, Columbus at, I, 19;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded by Velasquez, 68;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second capital of island, 69;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seat of gold refining, 80;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">site of cathedral, 123;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">condition in Angulo's time, 166;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">looted by privateers, 193;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified by Menendez, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">raided and destroyed by French, 256;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilt by Gomez de Rojas, 258;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Eastern District, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morro Castle built, 289;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured by British, 299;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Franquinay, 310;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Admiral Vernon, II, 29;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary activities, 169;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great improvements made, 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">battles near in War of Independence, IV, 112;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval battle, 114;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Wood's administration, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great work for sanitation, 142.</span></li> + +<li>Santiago, battle of, IV, 114.</li> + +<li>Santiago, sunset scene, facing III, 280.</li> + +<li>Santillan, Diego, Governor, I, 205.</li> + +<li>Santo Domingo See <span class="smcap">Hispaniola</span>.</li> + +<li>Sanudo, Luis, Governor, I, 336.</li> + +<li>Sarmiento. Diego de, Bishop, makes trouble, I, 149, 152.</li> + +<li>Saunders, Romulus M., sounds Spain on purchase of Cuba, III, 135.</li> + +<li>Sartorius, Manuel and Ricardo, revolutionists, IV, 4.</li> + +<li>Savine, Albert, on British designs on Cuba, II, 40.</li> + +<li>Schley, Winfield S., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 110;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Santiago, 114.</span></li> + +<li>Schoener's globe, I, 5.</li> + +<li>Schools, backward condition of, II, 174, 244, 312. See <span class="smcap">Education</span>.</li> + +<li>Shafter, W. R., General, leads American army into Cuba, IV, 111.</li> + +<li>Shipbuilding at Havana, II, 8, 33, 113, 300.</li> + +<li>Sickles, Daniel E., Minister to Spain, offers mediation, III, 217.</li> + +<li>Silva, Manuel, Secretary of Interior, IV, 90.</li> + +<li>Slave Insurrection, II, 13;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 367, et seq.</span></li> + +<li>Slavery, begun in Repartimiento system, I, 70;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">not sanctioned by King, 82;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave trading begun, 83;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth and regulation, 170;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppressive policy of Spain, 266;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "Assiento," II, 2;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great growth</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of trade, 22;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">gross abuses, 202;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by Masse, 202;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">census of slaves, 204;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise of emancipation movement, 206;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights of slaves defined by King, 210;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">African trade forbidden, 285;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Negro census, 286;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early records of trade, 288;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt on, 288;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics of trade, 289 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic relations of slaves, 292;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dangers of system denounced, 320;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">official complicity in illegal trade, 366;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave insurrection, 367;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inhuman suppression by government, 374 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">emancipation by revolution of 1868, 159;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States urges Spain to abolish slavery, 242;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rodas's decrees, 242;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moret law, 243.</span></li> + +<li>Smith, Caleb. publishes book on West Indies, II, 37.</li> + +<li>Smuggling, II, 133.</li> + +<li>"Sociedad de Amigos," II, 169.</li> + +<li>"Sociedad Patriotica," II, 166.</li> + +<li>"Sociedad Patriotica y Economica," II, 178.</li> + +<li>Society of Progress, II, 78.</li> + +<li>Solano, José de, naval commander, II, 147.</li> + +<li>"Soles de Bolivar," II, 341;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to suppress, 343.</span></li> + +<li>Solorzano, Juan del Hoya, I, 337;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 10.</span></li> + +<li>Someruelos, Marquis of, Governor, II, 196, 301.</li> + +<li>Sores, Jacques, French raider, II, 183;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Havana, 184;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captures city, 186.</span></li> + +<li>Soto, Antonio de, I, 292.</li> + +<li>Soto, Diego de, I, 109, 217.</li> + +<li>Soto, Hernando de, Governor and Adelantado, I, 140;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 140;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 141;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour of island, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Havana his home, 144;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">chiefly interested in Florida, 144;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sails for Florida, 145;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fate in Mississippi, 147;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">trouble with Indians, 148.</span></li> + +<li>Soto, Lady Isabel de, I, 141;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">her vigil at La Fuerza, 147;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 149.</span></li> + +<li>Soto, Luis de, I, 141.</li> + +<li>Soulé, Pierre, Minister to Spain, III, 137;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Indiscretions, 138;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ostend Manifesto, 142.</span></li> + +<li>South Sea Company, II, 21, 201.</li> + +<li>Spain: Fiscal policy toward Cuba, I, 175;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">wars with France, 177;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">discriminations against Cuba, 266, 267;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against South Sea Company, II, 22;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">course in American Revolution, 143;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war with Great Britain, 151;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward America, 159;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">peace with Great Britain, 162;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">restrictive laws, 224;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy under Godoy, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline of power, 273;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to pawn Cuba to Great Britain for loan, 330;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests to United States against Lopez's expedition, III, 59;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks British protection, 129;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to sell Cuba, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution against Bourbon dynasty, 145 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects suggestion of American mediation in Cuba, 219;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks American mediation, 293;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">strives to placate Cuba, IV, 5;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">crisis over Cuban affairs, 35;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward War of Independence, 40;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">considers Autonomy, 71;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet crisis of 1897, 88;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes joint investigation of Maine disaster, 100;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at war with United States, 106;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Treaty of Paris, relinquishing Cuba, 118.</span></li> + +<li>Spanish-American War: causes of, IV, 105;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declared, 106;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">blockade of Cuban coast, 110;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">landing of American army in Cuba, 111;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting near Santiago, 112;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fort at El Caney, picture, 112;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Juan Hill, battle, 113;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Juan Hill, picture of monument, 114;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval battle of Santiago, 115;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">peace negotiations, 116;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Peace Tree," picture, 116;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty of peace, 118.</span></li> + +<li>Spanish literature in XVI century, I, 360.</li> + +<li>Spotorno, Juan Bautista, seeks peace, rebuked by Maso, IV, 35.</li> + +<li>Steinhart, Frank, American consul, advises President Palma to ask for American aid, IV, 271;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">correspondence with State Department, 272.</span></li> + +<li>Stock raising, early attention to, I, 173, 224;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of, 220.</span></li> + +<li>Stokes, W. E. D., aids War of Independence, IV, 14.</li> + +<li>Students, murder of by Volunteers, III, 260.</li> + +<li>Suarez y Romero, Anselmo, III, 326.</li> + +<li>Sugar, Industry begun under Velasquez, I, 175, 224;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of industry, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">primitive methods, II, 222;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth, III, 3;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great development under President Menocal, IV, 358.</span></li> + +<li>"Suma de Geografia," of Enciso, I, 54.</li> + +<li>Sumana, Diego de, I, 111.</li> + +<li class="top5">Tacon, Miguel, Governor, II, 347;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">despotic fury, 348;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Lorenzo, 349;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">public works, 355;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fish market, 357;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">melodramatic administration of justice, 359.</span></li> + +<li>Taft, William H., Secretary of War of United States, intervenes in revolution, IV, 272;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at Havana, 275;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiates with President Palma and the revolutionists, 276;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 276;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conveys ultimatum of revolutionists to President Palma, 279;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts President Palma's resignation, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">pardons revolutionists, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfortunate policy, 283.</span></li> + +<li>Tainan, Antillan stock, I, 8.</li> + +<li>Tamayo, Diego, Secretary of State, IV, 159;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of Government, 254.</span></li> + +<li>Tamayo, Rodrigo de, I, 126.</li> + +<li>Tariff, after British occupation, II, 106;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduction, 141;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppressive duties. III, 5;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American occupation, IV, 183.</span></li> + +<li>Taxation, revolt against, II, 197;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"reforms," 342;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppressive burdens, III, 6;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increase in Ten Years' War, 207;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">evasion of, 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American intervention, IV, 151.</span></li> + +<li>Taylor, Hannis, American Minister at Madrid, IV, 33.</li> + +<li>Tejada, Juan de, Governor, I, 261;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great works for Cuba, 262;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 263.</span></li> + +<li>Teneza, Dr. Francisco, Protomedico, I, 336.</li> + +<li>Ten Years' War, III, 155 et seq.;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first battles, 184;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid from United States, 211;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of American mediation, 217;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected, 219;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaigns of destruction, 222;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses reported, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end in Treaty of Zanjon, 299;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses, 304.</span></li> + +<li>Terry, Emilio, Secretary of Agriculture, IV, 254.</li> + +<li>Theatres, first performance in Cuba, I, 264;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first theatre built, II, 130, 236.</span></li> + +<li>Thrasher, J. S., on census, II, 283.</li> + +<li>Tines y Fuertes, Juan Antonio, Governor, II, 31.</li> + +<li>Tobacco, early use, I, 9;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">culture promoted, 300;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">monopoly, 334;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Tobacco War," 338;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of monopoly, II, 221.</span></li> + +<li>Tobar, Nuņez, I, 141, 143.</li> + +<li>Tolon, Miguel de, III, 330.</li> + +<li>Toltecs, I, 7.</li> + +<li>Tomayo, Esteban, revolutionist, IV, 34.</li> + +<li>Torquemada, Garcia de, I, 239;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigates Luzan, 241.</span></li> + +<li>Torre, Marquis de la, Governor, II, 127;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work for Havana, 129;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 133.</span></li> + +<li>Torres Ayala, Laureano de, Governor, I, 334;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reappointed, 337.</span></li> + +<li>Torres, Gaspar de, Governor, I, 234;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Rojas family, 235;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">absconds, 235.</span></li> + +<li>Torres, Rodrigo de, naval commander, II, 34.</li> + +<li>Torriente, Cosimo de la, Secretary of Government, IV, 320.</li> + +<li>Toscanelli, I, 4.</li> + +<li>Treaty of Paris, IV, 118.</li> + +<li>Tres Palacios, Felipe Jose de, Bishop, II, 174.</li> + +<li>Tribune, New York, describes revolutionary leaders, III, 173.</li> + +<li>Trinidad, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great fire, II, 177.</span></li> + +<li>Trocha, begun by Campos, IV, 44;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyler's, 73.</span></li> + +<li>Troncoso, Bernardo, Governor, II, 168.</li> + +<li>Turnbull, David, British consul, II, 364;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">complicity in slave insurrection, 372.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Ubite, Juan de, Bishop, I, 123.</li> + +<li>Ulloa, Antonio de, sent to take possession of Louisiana, II, 118;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arbitrary conduct, 120.</span></li> + +<li>Union Constitutionalists, III, 306.</li> + +<li>United States, early relations with Cuba, II, 254;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first suggestion of annexation, 257;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Quincy Adams's policy, 258;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson's policy, 260;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clay's policy, 261;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">representations to Colombia and Mexico, 262;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buchanan's policy, 263;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monroe Doctrine, 328;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">consuls not admitted to Cuba, 330;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren's policy, 331;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of commerce with Cuba, III, 22;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Taylor's proclamation against filibustering, 41;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">course toward Lopez, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Cuban revolutionists, 123;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">division of sentiment between North and South, 124;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of Edward Everett, 130;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">overtures for purchase of Cuba, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of Civil War, 151;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new policy toward Cuba, 151;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognition denied to revolution, 172;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid and sympathy given secretly, 195;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban appeals for recognition, 200;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognition denied, 203;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against Rodas's decrees, 216;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of mediation, 217;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by Spain, 219;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increasing interest and sympathy with revolutionists, 273;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to Spanish Government, 291;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of reciprocity upon Cuba, 313;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 27, 70;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress favors recognition, 70;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tender of good</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices, 71;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Cleveland's message of 1896, 79;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appropriation for relief of victims of "concentration" policy, 86;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President McKinley's message of 1897, 87;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sensation at destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declaration of war against Spain, 106;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Treaty of Paris, 118;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishment of first Government of Intervention, 132;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Republic of Cuba, 195;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protectorate to be retained, 196;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt Amendment, 199;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">mischief-making intrigues, 200;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval stations in Cuba, 255;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reciprocity, 256;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second Intervention, 281;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to José Miguel Gomez, 305;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks settlement of claims, 308;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chargé d'Affaires assaulted, 308;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">supervision of Cuban legislation, 326;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to revolutionists, 339;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Gomez revolution, 343.</span></li> + +<li>University of Havana, founded, II, 11.</li> + +<li>Unzaga, Luis de, Governor, II, 157.</li> + +<li>Urrutia, historian, quoted, I, 300.</li> + +<li>Urrutia, Sancho de, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Utrecht, Treaty of, I, 326;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins new era, II, 1.</span></li> + +<li>Uznaga, Luis de, sent to rule Louisiana, II, 126;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms, 165.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Vaca, Cabeza de, I, 140.</li> + +<li>Vadillo, Juan, declines to investigate Guzman, I, 118;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">temporary Governor, 119;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tremendous indictment of Guzman, 120;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires after good work, 121;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">clash with Bishop Ramirez, 124.</span></li> + +<li>Valdes, historian, quoted, II, 175.</li> + +<li>Valdes, Gabriel de la Conception, III, 325.</li> + +<li>Valdes, Jeronimo, Bishop, I, 335.</li> + +<li>Valdes, Pedro de, Governor, I, 202, 272;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 276.</span></li> + +<li>Valdes, Geronimo, Governor, II, 364.</li> + +<li>Valdueza, Marquis de, I, 281.</li> + +<li>Valiente, José Pablo, II, 170, 180.</li> + +<li>Valiente, Juan Bautista, Governor of Santiago, II, 180.</li> + +<li>Vallizo, Diego, I, 277.</li> + +<li>Valmaseda, Count, Governor, proclamation against revolution, III, 171, 270;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled for barbarities, 273.</span></li> + +<li>Van Buren, Martin, on United States and Cuba, II, 331.</li> + +<li>Vandeval, Nicolas C., I, 331, 333.</li> + +<li>Varela, Felix, sketch and portrait, III, 320;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">works, 321.</span></li> + +<li>Varnhagen, F. A. de, quoted, I, 2.</li> + +<li>Varona, Bernabe de, sketch and portrait, III, 178.</li> + +<li>Varona, José Enrique, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 159;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice President, 312;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">biography, 316;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 316.</span></li> + +<li>Varona, Pepe Jerez, chief of secret service, IV, 268.</li> + +<li>Vasquez, Juan, I, 330.</li> + +<li>Vedado, view in, IV, 176.</li> + +<li>Vega, Pedro Guerra de la, I, 243;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks fugitives to aid in defence against Drake, 248.</span></li> + +<li>Velasco, Francisco de Aguero, II, 345.</li> + +<li>Velasco, Luis Vicente, defender of Morro against British, II, 58;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">signal valor, 61;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 67.</span></li> + +<li>Velasquez, Antonio, errand to Spain, I, 77</li> + +<li>Velasquez, Bernardino, I, 115.</li> + +<li>Velasquez, Diego, first Governor of Cuba, I, 59;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 59;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonizes Cuba, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostilities with natives, 61, explores the island, 67;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage and bereavement, 68;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds various towns, 68;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins Cuban commerce, 68;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes government, 69;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">favored by King Ferdinand, 73;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Adelantado, 74;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to rule Yucatan and Mexico, 85;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalls Grijalva, 88;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Cortez, 91;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends Cortez to explore Mexico, 92, 94;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to intercept and recall Cortez, 97;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends Narvaez to Mexico, 98;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office by Diego Columbus, 100;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">restored by King, 102;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and epitaph, 103;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">posthumous arraignment by Altamarino, 107;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">convicted and condemned, 108.</span></li> + +<li>Velasquez, Juan Montano, Governor, I, 293.</li> + +<li>Velez Garcia, Secretary of State, IV, 297.</li> + +<li>Velez y Herrera, Ramon, III, 324.</li> + +<li>Venegas, Francisco, Governor, I, 278.</li> + +<li>Vernon, Edward, Admiral, expedition to Darien, II 27;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Invasion of Cuba, 29.</span></li> + +<li>Viamonte, Bitrian, Governor, I, 286.</li> + +<li>Viana y Hinojosa, Diego de, Governor, I, 317.</li> + +<li>Victory loan, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 353.</li> + +<li>Villa Clara, founded, I, 321.</li> + +<li>Villafana, attempts to assassinate Cortez, I, 99.</li> + +<li>Villafana, Angelo de, Governor of Florida, controversy with Mazariegos, I, 196.</li> + +<li>Villalba y Toledo, Diego de, Governor, I, 290.</li> + +<li>Villalobos, Governor, feud with Roa, I, 323.</li> + +<li>Villalon, José Ramon, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of Public Works, 160, 330.</span></li> + +<li>Villalon Park, scene in, IV, 247.</li> + +<li>Villanueva, Count de, II, 342.</li> + +<li>Villapando, Bernardino de, Bishop, I, 225.</li> + +<li>Villarin, Pedro Alvarez de, Governor, I, 333.</li> + +<li>Villaverde, Cirillo, III, 327.</li> + +<li>Villaverde, Juan de, Governor of Santiago, I, 276.</li> + +<li>Villegas, Diaz de, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 297;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 302.</span></li> + +<li>Villuendas, Enrique, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">secretary, 189.</span></li> + +<li>Virginius, capture of, III, 277;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">butchery of officers and crew, 278 et seq.;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British intervention, 280;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of passengers, 281;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">diplomatic negotiations over, 283.</span></li> + +<li>Vives, Francisco, Governor, II, 317;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">despotism, 317;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition against Mexico, 346.</span></li> + +<li>Viyuri, Luis, II, 197.</li> + +<li>Volunteers, organized, III, 152;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">murder Arango, 188;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">have Dulce recalled, 213;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause murder of Zenea, 252;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increased activities, 260;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">murder of students, 261.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">War of Independence, IV, i, 8;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">circumstances of beginning, 9;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">finances, 14;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republic of Cuba proclaimed, 15;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of Cuban people, 22;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">actual outbreak, 29;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">martial law proclaimed, 30;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish forces in Cuba, 31;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival and policy of Martinez Campos, 38;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gomez and Maceo begin great campaign, 53;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish defeated, and reenforced, 55;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign of devastation, 60;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">entire island involved, 61;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fall of Campos, 63;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyler in command, 66;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction by both sides, 68;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses, 90;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">entry of United States, 107;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of Cubans toward American intervention, 108;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of war, 116.</span></li> + +<li>Watling's Island. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li> + +<li>Wax, development of Industry, II, 132.</li> + +<li>Webster, Daniel, negotiations with Spain, III, 126.</li> + +<li>Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, Governor, IV, 65;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 66;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">harsh decree, 66;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Pinar del Rio. 83;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"concentration" policy, 85;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled, 88.</span></li> + +<li>Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, at Santiago, IV, 113, 115.</li> + +<li>White, Col. G. W., with Lopez, III, 40.</li> + +<li>Whitney, Henry, messenger to Gomez, IV, 107.</li> + +<li>Williams, Ramon O., United States consul at Havana, IV, 32;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts in behalf of Americans in Cuba, 72;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes sending <i>Maine</i> to Havana, 100.</span></li> + +<li>Wittemeyer, Major, reports on Gomez revolution to Washington government, IV, 336;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers President Menocal aid of United States, 337.</span></li> + +<li>Wood, General Leonard, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Military Governor of Santiago, 135;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his previous career, 140;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unique responsibility and power, 141;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dealing with pestilence, 142;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Rural Guards, 144;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Military Governor of Cuba, 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">well received by Cubans, 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of <i>La Lucha</i>, 158;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his Cabinet, 159;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments on his appointments, 160;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganization of school system, 161;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes public works, 166;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dady contract dispute, 171;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">applies Finlay's yellow fever theory with great success, 171;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reform of jurisprudence, 177;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Provincial governments, 179;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds municipal elections, 180;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promulgates election law, 181;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Constitutional Convention, 185;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls for general election, 240;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his comments on election, 245;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">announces end of American occupation, 246;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders government of Cuba to</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cubans, 249;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Roosevelt's estimate of his work, 251;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of one of his mountain roads, facing 358.</span></li> + +<li>Woodford, Stewart L., United States Minister to Spain, IV, 103;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents ultimatum and departs, 106.</span></li> + +<li class="top5">Xagua, Gulf of, I, 21.</li> + +<li>Ximenes, Cardinal and Regent, gives Las Casas hearing on Cuba, I, 77.</li> + +<li class="top5">Yanez, Adolfo Saenz, Secretary of Agriculture and Public Works, IV, 146.</li> + +<li>Yellow Fever, first invasion, II, 51;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. Finlay's theory applied by General Wood, IV, 171;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">disease eliminated from island, 176.</span></li> + +<li>Yero, Eduardo, Secretary of Public Instruction, IV, 254.</li> + +<li>Ynestrosa, Juan de, I, 207.</li> + +<li>Yniguez, Bernardino, I, 111.</li> + +<li>Yucatan, islands source of slave trade, I, 83;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">explored by Cordova, 84.</span></li> + +<li>Yznaga, Jose Sanchez, III, 37.</li> + +<li class="top5">Zaldo, Carlos, Secretary of State, IV, 254.</li> + +<li>Zambrana, Ramon, III, 328.</li> + +<li>Zanjon, Treaty of, III, 299.</li> + +<li>Zapata, Peninsula of, visited by Columbus, I, 22.</li> + +<li>Zarraga, Julian, filibuster, IV, 70.</li> + +<li>Zayas, Alfredo, secretary of Constitutional Convention, IV, 189;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">compact with José Miguel Gomez, 265;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">spokesman of revolutionists against President Palma, 277;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected Vice President, 290;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes Vice President, 297;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 300;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Gomez, 306;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President, 328;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hints at revolution, 330.</span></li> + +<li>Zayas, Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, I, 205;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 206.</span></li> + +<li>Zayas, Francisco, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.</li> + +<li>Zayas, Juan B., killed in battle, IV, 78.</li> + +<li>Zayas, Lincoln de, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Superintendent of Schools, 162.</span></li> + +<li>Zenea, Juan Clemente, sketch and portrait, III, 252;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">murdered, 253;</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his works, 332.</span></li> + +<li>Zequiera y Arango, Manuel, II, 274.</li> + +<li>Zipangu. See <span class="smcap">Cipanoo</span>.</li> + +<li>Zuazo, Alfonso de, appointed second Governor of Cuba, I, 100;</li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissed by King, 102.</span></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Cuba, vol. 1, by +Willis Fletcher Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 1 *** + +***** This file should be named 33847-h.htm or 33847-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/8/4/33847/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> + +</html> diff --git a/33847-h/images/cover.jpg b/33847-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9194d42 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_003monument.png b/33847-h/images/ill_003monument.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f55a9ed --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_003monument.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_013queenisabella.png b/33847-h/images/ill_013queenisabella.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1b2985 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_013queenisabella.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_059valasquez.png b/33847-h/images/ill_059valasquez.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fafbb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_059valasquez.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_060baracoa.png b/33847-h/images/ill_060baracoa.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a23a09 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_060baracoa.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_060baracoa_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_060baracoa_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..62d919b --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_060baracoa_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_063narvaez.png b/33847-h/images/ill_063narvaez.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..853d555 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_063narvaez.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_064delascasas.png b/33847-h/images/ill_064delascasas.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6e6269 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_064delascasas.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_072deleon.png b/33847-h/images/ill_072deleon.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7477f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_072deleon.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_090cortez.png b/33847-h/images/ill_090cortez.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67babc0 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_090cortez.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_140desoto.png b/33847-h/images/ill_140desoto.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a53786 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_140desoto.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_146lafuerza.png b/33847-h/images/ill_146lafuerza.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3ce60a --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_146lafuerza.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_146lafuerza_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_146lafuerza_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..146c9da --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_146lafuerza_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_155watchtower.png b/33847-h/images/ill_155watchtower.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee4f04c --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_155watchtower.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_155watchtower_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_155watchtower_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7cc5af --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_155watchtower_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_180morro.png b/33847-h/images/ill_180morro.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bff09e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_180morro.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_180morro_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_180morro_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bcb5139 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_180morro_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_199aviles.png b/33847-h/images/ill_199aviles.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd9ff97 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_199aviles.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch.png b/33847-h/images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed3bd09 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..046eebe --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_226sanfranciscochurch_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_298morrosantiago.png b/33847-h/images/ill_298morrosantiago.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cf99e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_298morrosantiago.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_298morrosantiago_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_298morrosantiago_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..371965b --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_298morrosantiago_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_catedral.png b/33847-h/images/ill_catedral.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d84d1de --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_catedral.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_catedral_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_catedral_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f84bad --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_catedral_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_columbus.png b/33847-h/images/ill_columbus.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2800e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_columbus.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_columbus_th.png b/33847-h/images/ill_columbus_th.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bacff88 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_columbus_th.png diff --git a/33847-h/images/ill_front.png b/33847-h/images/ill_front.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5401ba5 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847-h/images/ill_front.png diff --git a/33847.txt b/33847.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8617ea1 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16358 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The History of Cuba, vol. 1, by Willis Fletcher Johnson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Cuba, vol. 1 + +Author: Willis Fletcher Johnson + +Release Date: October 8, 2010 [EBook #33847] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Etext transcriber's note: + +Although several typographical errors have been corrected, the variation +in the use of Spanish accents has not been altered (ie. both Senor and +Senor [tilde n] appear (though this will not be noticeable in the ASCII +version).) + +The INDEX included at the end of this etext (which includes volumes 1 +thru 4) appears at the end of volume four of _The History of Cuba_. It is +provided here for convenience. + + + + +THE +HISTORY OF CUBA + +BY +WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON + +A.M., L.H.D. + +Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of +the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations" +Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign +Relations in New York University + +_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ + +VOLUME ONE + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, INC. +156 FIFTH AVENUE +1920 + +Copyright, 1920, + +BY CENTURY HISTORY CO. + +_All rights reserved_ + +ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL + +LONDON, ENGLAND. + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +TO + +THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA + +CONCEIVED BY +JOSE MARTI + +ESTABLISHED BY +THOMAS ESTRADA PALMA + +VINDICATED BY +MARIO G. MENOCAL + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is my purpose in these volumes to write a History of Cuba. The title +may imply either the land and its natural conditions, or the people and +the nation which inhabit it. It in fact implies both, and to both I +shall address myself, though it will appropriately be with the latter +rather than with the former that the narrative will be most concerned. +For it is with Cuba as with other countries: In the last supreme +analysis the people make the history of the land. Apart from the people, +it is true, the Island of Cuba is of unusual interest. There are few +countries of similar extent comparable with it in native variety, charm +and wealth. There are few which contribute more, actually and +potentially, to the world's supplies of greatly used products. One of +the most universally used and prized vegetable products became first +known to mankind from Cuba, and there to this day is most profusely and +most perfectly grown and prepared; while another, one of the most +universally used and essential articles of food, is there produced in +its greatest abundance. There also may be found an immense number and +bewildering variety of the most serviceable articles in both the +vegetable and mineral kingdoms, in noteworthy profusion and perfection, +together with possibilities and facilities for a comparable development +of the animal kingdom. + +Nor is the geographical situation of the island less favorable or less +inviting than its natural resources. Lying just within the Torrid Zone, +it has a climate which combines the fecund influences of the tropics +with the agreeable moderation of the Temperate Zones. It fronts at once +upon the most frequented ocean of the globe and upon two of the greatest +and most important semi-inland seas. It lies directly between the two +great continents of the Western Hemisphere, with such supremely +fortunate orientation that travel and commerce between them naturally +skirt and touch its shores rather than follow the longer and more +difficult route by land which is the sole alternative. A line drawn from +the heart of the United States to the heart of South America passes +through the heart of Cuba. A line drawn from the mouth of the +Mississippi to the mouth of the Amazon traverses Cuba almost from end to +end. Circled about the island and fronting on the narrow seas which +divide them from it are the territories of no fewer than fourteen +independent national sovereignties. It lies, moreover, directly in the +path of the world's commerce between the two great oceans, the Atlantic +and the Pacific, by the way of that gigantic artificial waterway which, +created largely because of Cuba, was the fulfilment of the world's four +centuries of effort and desire. There is scarcely a more suggestive and +romantic theme in the world's history than this: That Columbus made his +epochal adventure for the prime purpose of finding a passageway from the +Atlantic to the Pacific; or rather from Europe to Asia by way of the +Atlantic, since he assumed the Atlantic and the Pacific to be one; that, +failing to find that non-existent passageway, he found Cuba instead and +imagined that he had found therein the fulfilment of his dreams; that +four centuries later that passageway was artificially provided through +the enterprise and energy of a power which in his day had not yet come +into existence; and that this transcendent deed was accomplished largely +because of Cuba and because of the conflict through which that island +violently divorced herself from the imperial sovereignty which Columbus +had planted upon her shores. + +Lying thus in a peculiar sense at the commercial centre of the world, +between North America and South America, between Europe and Asia, +between all the lands of the Atlantic and all the lands of the Pacific +and subject to important approach from all directions, we must reckon +it not mere chance but the provision of benevolent design that Cuba at +almost all parts of her peculiarly ample coastline is endowed with a +greater number of first-rate harbors than any other country of the +world. In recognition of these facts and of their gradual development +and application to the purposes and processes of civilization, is a +theme worthy to pique the interest and to absorb the attention of the +most ambitious historian, whether for the mere chronicling of conditions +and events, or for the philosophical analysis of causes and results. + +All these things, however, fascinating as they are and copious as is +their suggestion of interest, are after all only a minor and the less +important part of the real History of Cuba, such as I must endeavor to +write. Without the Cuban people, Cuba would have remained a negligible +factor in the equations of humanity. Without the people of the island, +"what to me were sun or clime?" The genial climate, the fecund soil, the +wealth of mines and field and forest, the capacious harbors and the +encircling seas, all would be vanity of vanities. Nor is it for nothing +that I have suggested differentiation between the Cuban People and the +Cuban Nation. Without the development of the former into the latter, all +these things could never have hoped to reach their greatest value and +utility. The Cuban People have existed for four centuries, the Cuban +Nation in its consummate sense for less than a single generation. Yet in +the latter brief span more progress has been made toward realization of +Cuba's possibilities and destinies than in all those former ages. It is +a circumstance of peculiar significance that almost the oldest of all +civilized communities in the Western Hemisphere should be the youngest +of all the nations. It will be a task of no mean magnitude, but of +unsurpassed profit and pleasure, to trace the deliberate development of +that early colony into this late nation, and to observe the causes and +forces which so long repressed and thwarted the sovereign aspirations of +the Cuban People, and also, more gratefully, the causes and forces +which inevitably, in the slow fullness of time, achieved their ultimate +fulfilment in the secure establishment of the Cuban Nation. + +The origin of the Cuban People presents a striking historical and +ethnological anomaly. The early settlers of the island, and therefore +the progenitors of the present Cuban people, were beyond question the +flower of the Spanish race at the very time when that race was at the +height of its marvellous puissance and efficience. The Sixteenth Century +was the Golden Age of Spain, and they were conspicuous representatives +of those who made it so who implanted the genius of their time upon the +hospitable soil of the great West Indian island. That rule has been, +indeed, common to the colonial enterprises of all lands. The best men +become the pioneers. Colonization implies adventure, and adventure +implies courage, enterprise, endurance, vision, prudence, the very +essential elements of both individual and civic greatness. Strong men, +not weaklings, are the founders of new settlements. Even in those lands +which were largely populated involuntarily, as penal settlements, the +same rule holds good; because many of the convict exiles were merely +political proscripts, who in fact were men of virtue, light and leading, +often superior to those who banished them. + +There is fruit for almost endless thought and speculation in the +circumstance that so many of the early Cuban settlers, as indeed of all +the Spanish explorers and conquerors of the Sixteenth Century, came from +the two Iberian Provinces of Estremadura and Seville. They were, and +are, two of the most widely contrasting provinces of Spain. The one a +rude, rugged, half sterile region of swineherds and mountaineers, +poverty-stricken and remote; the other plethoric with the wealth of +agriculture, industry and commerce, and endowed above most regions of +the world with the treasures of learning and art. Yet it was from +barren, impoverished and uncultured Estremadura that there came Cortez, +Pizarro, Balboa, De Soto, and their compeers and followers. We might +speculate upon the questions whether great men were thus numerously +produced by nature in that region by way of compensation for the paucity +and poverty of other products; and whether it was because of their +innate genius or because of their desire to seek a better land than +their own, that they became the adventurers that they were. The other +province which most contributed to the founding of Cuba had from time +immemorial been noted for its wealth and culture. In the days of the +Caesars it had been the favorite colonial resort of the plutocracy and +aristocracy of Rome, and it had been the birthplace of the Emperors +Hadrian, Trajan and Theodosius. Under the Catholic Kings it was the +capital and the metropolis of Spain and the chief mart of her world-wide +commerce. Indeed it would not be difficult to establish the proposition +that it was with the removal of the capital from Seville to Madrid, and +the change of national and international policy which was inseparably +associated with that removal, that the decline of Spain began. + +Cuba was thus in her foundation the fortunate recipient of the rugged +and masterful spirit of Estremadura, and of the elements of government +and of social grace and intellectual power which Seville could so well +and so abundantly supply; and these two contrasting yet by no means +incompatible elements became characteristic of the Cuban people; +complementarily contributing to the development of a national character +quite distinct from that of the Mother Country or that of any other of +her offshoots. For the Cuban people and their social organism, separated +far from Spain, though subject to her rule, retained largely unimpaired +their pristine vigor, and avoided sharing in the degeneracy and decline +which befell the Peninsula soon after the malign Hapsburg influence +became dominant in its affairs of state; a decline which in the +Seventeenth Century became one of the most distressing and pathetic +tragedies in the drama of the world. + +It was an interesting and a significant circumstance, too, that while +Spain was resplendent and exultant in the Golden Age of the Sixteenth +Century, Cuba remained intellectually dormant and inactive, and that +when at the end of the Eighteenth Century Spain reached her nadir of +degradation, Cuba began to rise to intellectual puissance. While Spain +was great, it was to be said of Cuba _stat nominis umbra_; but when +Spain declined, Cuba arose to take her place, insistent that the race +and its letters, at least, should not universally fall into decay. + + * * * * * + +It is one of the anomalies of Cuban history that while the island was +denied the enjoyment of even those incipient and inchoate intimations of +potential nationality which were granted to other Spanish provinces, +such as Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru, it was nevertheless, +perhaps more than any other, involved from early times in the +international complications and conflicts of Spain. At least equally +with the mainland coasts Cuba's shores were ravaged by pirates and +freebooters, and were attacked or menaced by the commissioned fleets of +hostile powers. Her insular character and her geographical position +doubtless accounted for this in great degree, as did also the purblind +policy of Spain in failing to give her the care and protection which +were lavished upon other no more worthy possessions. + +So it came to pass that for a time Cuba was actually conquered and +seized by an alien power and was forcibly separated from Spanish +sovereignty; and that for many years thereafter she was the object of +covetous desire and indeed of almost incessant intrigue for acquisition +by two of Spain's chief rivals and adversaries. For nearly half a +century Great Britain and France were frequently, almost continuously, +each planning to annex Cuba as a colonial possession, either by conquest +in war or through barter or purchase in time of peace. It was not until +a third great power arose and asserted in unmistakable terms its +paramount interest in the island, only a little while previous to our +own time, that such designs were reluctantly forsaken. + +It was the interesting fortune of Cuba, therefore, not only to engage +the early and earnest diplomatic interest of the United States in her +behalf, but also to afford to that country occasion for the conception, +formulation and promulgation of perhaps the most important of all the +fundamental principles of its state policy in international affairs. We +have suggested, in anticipation of the narrative, that Cuba was largely +to be credited with the inception of the impulse for the prompt +construction of the Isthmian Canal. In a far more valid and direct sense +Cuba suggested the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine. It is true that +in relation first to Louisiana and then to Florida there had previously +been preliminary hints at and approximations to that Doctrine. But those +were territories contiguous with our own and already marked by the +United States for eventual annexation and incorporation. Cuba, on the +contrary, was entirely detached from our domain, and while there were +then those who anticipated and desired her ultimate annexation, there +was no such confident and determined resolution to that effect that +there was in the case of the other regions named. Cuba was therefore the +first detached country, not destined for annexation, to which the United +States extended and applied the fundamental principle which was later +developed into the Monroe Doctrine. We may not doubt that the Monroe +Doctrine would have been put forward, even had it not been for Cuba. We +may not deny nor dispute that it was because of Cuba and concerning Cuba +that the first specific and indubitable intimation of that doctrine was +given. + +The development of American policy toward Cuba is an important and +interesting part of the history of the United States as well as of Cuba. +The progressively significant utterances of the younger Adams, of Clay +and of Forsythe, culminating years afterward in those of Cleveland and +McKinley, form one of the most consistent, logical and convincing +chapters in American diplomatic history. It is marred, we must confess, +by some adventitious excrescences, chiefly contributed by Calhoun and +Pierre Soule. Yet even these, deplorable as they ever must be regarded, +fail to destroy the symmetry of the whole. It is a chapter, indeed, +which more than any other is comprehensive and expository of the whole +spirit and trend of American international transactions. + +Cuba has also been intimately connected with three great issues of +American domestic politics, as well as with that supreme principle of +her foreign policy. The first of these was that of human slavery. From +the end of the second war with Great Britain to the beginning of the +Civil War that issue dominated American politics and therefore +determined largely the American attitude toward Cuba. The pro-slavery +influences, which were generally paramount at Washington, resisted all +efforts, which otherwise might have been successful, to draw Cuba into +the community of republics freed from Spanish rule in Central and South +America, because of unwillingness to have her become, like them, free +soil; and subsequently the same influences planned and plotted and +fought for Cuban annexation to the United States, either by conquest or +by purchase, in order that she might thus be added to the slave-holding +domain. On the other hand, the anti-slavery party, because of its +abhorrence of these schemes, opposed the manifestation of what would +have been a quite legitimate and benevolent interest in Cuban affairs. +For forty years Cuba was a pawn in the game between these contending +factions. Of course this issue was disposed of by the Civil War and the +consequent abolition of slavery in the United States. + +Another issue was that of expansion. There was from the first a +considerable party in the United States that favored the widest possible +acquisition of territory, sometimes quite regardless of the means, and +it early fixed upon Cuba as what Jefferson and the younger Adams had +declared it to be, the most interesting and most natural addition that +could be made to the federal system. There was also a party that was +resolutely opposed to any further extension of American territorial +sovereignty, whether by conquest or purchase. Sometimes the one and +sometimes the other of these prevailed in American politics, and not +infrequently Cuba was the chief issue between them. Ultimately it was +over Cuba that their greatest conflict was waged; resulting in a +compromise, under which the United States on the one hand renounced all +designs of annexing Cuba, and on the other hand did annex other still +more extensive territories. + +The third of these issues was that of the tariff. Commercial relations +between Cuba and the United States were naturally intimate and important +to both countries, and afforded scope for almost endless discussions +concerning and manipulations of tariff duties. It was in the power of +the United States to enhance or to depress the prosperity of Cuba, by +the adjustment of tariff rates. To admit Cuban sugar, not to mention +tobacco, freely or at a low duty, into the American market meant +prosperity for the island. To place a high tariff rate upon it meant +hard times if not disaster in Cuba. During the period between the Ten +Years' War and the War of Independence in Cuba, such tariff changes very +seriously affected the economic and also the political condition of +Cuba; and the final withdrawal of the reciprocity arrangement which had +opened American markets to Cuba was one of the chief provoking causes of +the final revolution in the island. That revolution would doubtless have +come, in any case, but it was measurably hastened and exacerbated by the +economic distress which was thus precipitated upon the island, and +against which it was realized there could be no assurance until Cuba was +an independent nation with full power to regulate and control her own +commerce and her own economic system. Even then, as we shall see, for a +time the island was involved in economic distress because of the +unwillingness of certain sordid interests in the United States to +perform the most obvious and indisputable moral duty of that country +toward its neighbor. There are few passages which the friendly historian +must more regret to record in the story of Cuban-American relations than +that of the delay of the American Congress to enter into proper +commercial reciprocity with Cuba as soon as the independence of that +island was established. + + * * * * * + +We shall see in these pages why it was necessary, from the very +beginning, for Cuba to be entirely freed and divorced from all political +connection with Spain, and why all the various proposals of autonomy +were essentially and inevitably unacceptable. Such proposals were +repeatedly made, by the Spanish government, but they were invariably +either consciously or unconsciously delusive. The story of Spain's +promises to Cuba is a story of broken promises, and of disappointed +hopes. Nor is that to be wondered at by those who take into +consideration the circumstances in which the promises were made. When +the impossible is promised, the promise is doomed to non-fulfilment. +Spain was in an impossible position. In order to pacify Cuba she had to +promise her reforms, autonomy, liberty. But in order to maintain herself +at home she had to repudiate those promises. Their fulfilment in the +West Indies would have been disastrous in the Iberian Peninsula. While +Spain was a reactionary monarchy at home, she could not practice liberal +and progressive democracy in her colonies. Even when her monarchy became +constitutional, and even during the brief periods of her republican +government, the full concession of Cuba's demands would have been +incompatible with her domestic status. There was an irreconcilable +conflict between the European system--even European republicanism--and +the American system. Spain was compelled for the sake of her Peninsular +integrity and tranquillity to adhere to the former, while Cuba would be +and could be contented with nothing short of the latter. Such were the +terms of the problem which arose in the early part of the Nineteenth +Century. Its only possible solution was in the complete separation of +the two countries, and the complete independence of Cuba. + +We must not wonder, however, at the circumstance that this was not +universally recognized at first, but that year after year some of the +wisest and best of Cuban patriots strove merely for reforms in +government under continued and perpetual union with the Spanish crown, +and that they even deprecated and opposed all efforts at independence. +We must not wonder, even, that so late as the War of Independence some +of the foremost Cuban statesmen, who yielded precedence to none in +purity of purpose and in sincere devotion to what they regarded as the +best interests of the island, were willing and even proud to be known as +Autonomists and to essay the impossible task of trying to make an +Autonomist government successful. The Cubans of to-day, with vision +cleared of the red glare of war and of the mists of misapprehension, +doubtless understand what the conditions were at that time and +appreciate the motives, however mistaken they proved to me, of the +Autonomists. American readers, with less vision and comprehension of +Cuban affairs, should equally understand the matter when they are +reminded that the Cuban Autonomists were merely following the example of +some of the men whom Americans most delight to honor. + +For precisely the same conditions prevailed, only to a much wider +extent, in the Thirteen Colonies at the beginning of the American +Revolution, when Washington and Franklin and Jefferson and Jay were +American Autonomists, inexorably opposed to independence. Lexington, +Concord and Bunker Hill were fought not for independence but for +autonomy under the British Crown and in perpetual union with the British +Empire. When the First Continental Congress met in the spring of 1774 +there was no word, at least, of independence. On the contrary, +according to some of the very foremost members of that historic body, +the idea of independence, at least in the Middle and Southern colonies, +was "as unpopular as the Stamp Act itself." Not only did that Congress +complete its course without saying a word for independence, but it +adopted an address to the people of Great Britain declaring that the +reports which had got abroad that the Colonies wanted independence were +"mere calumnies," and that nothing was desired but equality of rights +with their fellow subjects in the British Isles. The Second Colonial +Congress met after Lexington and Concord and just before Bunker Hill. +John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were members of it. But they spoke no +word for independence. Instead, Jefferson drafted a declaration, which +Congress adopted, to the effect that the Colonies had "not raised armies +with designs of separating from Great Britain and establishing +independent states"; and in other addresses which the same Congress +adopted after the battle of Bunker Hill it was explicitly stated that +the Colonists were loyal to the British Crown, that they wished for +lasting union with Great Britain, and that they had taken up arms not to +find liberty outside of the British Empire but to vindicate and defend +liberty within that Empire. After the adjournment of that Congress in +August, 1775, less than a year before the Declaration of Independence, +so representative a man and so ardent a patriot as John Jay publicly +denounced the imputation that the Congress had "aimed at independence" +as "ungenerous and groundless," and as marked with "malice and falsity." +Not until the spring of 1776 was there any significant turning toward +independence as the inevitable resort. + +If I have thus dwelt at length upon well-known facts which pertain to +the history of the United States rather than to that of Cuba, it is in +order to remind American readers, on the strength of a precedent which +they, at any rate, must regard with the highest respect, how reasonable +it was for Cubans even as late as in 1897 and 1898 to cling to a policy +and a hope substantially identical with those which were cherished by +the foremost representative American patriots in 1774 and 1775. We can +see now, they themselves can see now, that they were in error and that +their hopes were vain. But they were no more in error than were the +immortal American Autonomists of the beginning of the American +Revolution. + +Similarly it was necessary that Cuba should not only be entirely +separated from Spain but also should be made independent, and not be +annexed to the United States. On that point, too, many good men were in +error. As we shall see, the first important Cuban +revolutionist--although not himself a native Cuban--had in view not +independence but annexation to the United States, and so did many +another sterling patriot after him. Probably the general feeling was +that the one thing supremely essential was to be sundered from Spain, +and since annexation to the United States seemed to promise the +effecting of that most promptly, most easily and most surely, it was to +be accepted as the best solution of the problem. Of course, too, the +annexation sentiment in Cuba was greatly encouraged and promoted by the +advocates of annexation in the United States, who were numerous, and +aggressive, and actuated by a variety of motives. + +For three fundamental reasons, however, annexation would have been a +deplorable mistake, for both parties. One was, that the Cuban people at +heart wanted independence and would permanently have been satisfied with +nothing less. Every other Spanish colony in the Western Hemisphere had +attained independent sovereignty, and it would have been a reproach to +Cuba to have been satisfied with any less status than theirs. The second +reason was that Cuba and the United States were incompatible in +temperament, and could not have got on well together. That is to be said +without the slightest reflection upon either. The two countries were of +different racial stocks, different languages, different traditions, +different civic ideals. It was and is possible for them to be the best +of friends and neighbors, but that is quite different from being +yoke-fellows. + +The third reason was, that Cuba would not have thought of annexation +without Statehood in the Federal Union, to which the United States would +not or at any rate should not have admitted her. Nor is that any +reflection upon Cuba. The principle was established by governmental +utterances, nearly half a century before Cuban independence was +achieved, and indeed before any important efforts were made by the +United States to purchase Cuba, that outlying territories not contiguous +with the continental Union of States, were not to be considered as +fitting candidates for statehood. Had Cuba been acquired by the United +States at any time it is certain that her admission as a State would +have been vigorously opposed on that historic ground. The sequel would +have been either that Cuba would have been excluded from the Union, to +her entire and intense dissatisfaction, or the United States would have +abandoned a highly desirable policy and would have established a +precedent under which grave abuses might thereafter have occurred. + +The redemption of Cuba from Spanish rule was long delayed, for a number +of reasons. One was, obviously, the difficulty of achieving it alone. +The South and Central American provinces had revolted simultaneously, or +in rapid succession, so that each was of assistance to the others. But +at that time Cuba remained faithful to Spain; and when years afterward +she sought to follow the example of the others, she found that she had +to do so single-handed against the undivided might of the Peninsula. +Another very potent reason was, the strength of the pro-Spanish +sentiment and influence in the island, caused by the flocking thither of +many Spanish loyalists from the Central and South American states and +from Santo Domingo. Here, too, American readers may interpret Cuban +conditions through reference to their own history. At the close of the +American Revolution multitudes of British Loyalists left the United +States and settled in Upper Canada, with the result that that Province +of Ontario became proverbially "more British than Great Britain." We +shall see in our narrative how strong the Spanish loyalist party in Cuba +was, and to what extremes it went in its opposition to Cuban +independence. In that we may perceive simply a repetition of conditions +which prevailed at the close of the American War of Independence. It is +probable, too, that the insular position of Cuba, with her coastal +waters controlled by the Spanish fleet, and her central position, making +her an object of intense international interest and intrigue, also +contributed to the same end. Of course, too, since Cuba and Porto Rico +were her last remaining possessions in the Western World, Spain made +extraordinary efforts to retain them and to prevent the success of any +revolutionary movement. + +One other influence must be noted, that of the United States. If at any +time the counsels of that country had been harmonious and united, they +would have had a powerful, perhaps a preponderating, effect upon Cuban +affairs. But as we have intimated, and as we shall more fully see in our +narrative, they were strongly, often violently, divided. Some were for +intervention, some were for non-intervention; some were for making Cuba +a free country, some were for preserving it as a slaveholding land; some +were for aiding it to become independent, some were for annexing it to +the United States. There was no unity of policy, and therefore there was +no assurance as to what the United States would do in any given +emergency. Cubans did not know what they could depend upon. If they +revolted, America might help them, and she might not. There can be no +question that this uncertainty was a potent factor in restraining Cubans +from radical action, and that it materially postponed the final crisis. + + * * * * * + +We shall see that more and more, however, the United States was forced +by the logic of irresistible events into adopting a united and +consistent policy toward Cuba, and that in the ultimate crisis that +country was inextricably implicated with the Cuban cause. This was +indeed a logical development. In each successive Cuban revolution, +beginning with that of Lopez, the United States had been increasingly +interested. Commercial and social relations between the two countries +were strong and intimate. For nearly three quarters of a century the +United States had maintained a quasi-protectorate over the island in +behalf of Spain for the time being, but--though unconsciously--in behalf +of Cuba itself for the greater time to come. The welfare of the United +States had become involved in the disposition of the island in only a +less degree than that of the Cuban people. + +There can be no doubt that the United States was of very great service +and assistance to the Cuban patriots in the War of Independence. Nobody +has testified to that fact more earnestly or more comprehensively than +the Cubans themselves. They realized it. They appreciated it. They were +and are profoundly grateful for it. Their testimony to it is ample for +all time. America is relieved of the need of vaunting herself upon it. +It would, however, be of a great error and a great injustice to assume +that the intervention of the United States in April, 1898, was +indispensable to the achievement of Cuban independence, or indeed that +it was the United States that set Cuba free from Spain. That would be as +great a perversion of the truth of history as it would be to pretend +that the United States went to war with Spain over the sinking of the +_Maine_. For the United States to have done the latter would have been +one of the monumental crimes of history; and of course it was not done. +War was inevitable before the _Maine_ went to Havana Harbor, and would +have come just the same if the _Maine_ had not gone thither; perhaps +sooner than it did, perhaps not so soon. So Cuban independence would +have been won by the Cubans themselves if the United States had not +intervened. Possibly it would have come sooner than it did; probably it +would not have come so soon. But it would have come. Nobody who has +studied the condition of affairs as they then were in Cuba can +reasonably doubt it. Nor should recognition of that fact lessen in any +degree the propriety--indeed, the necessity--of the American +intervention or the grateful appreciation thereof which Cubans feel. + +To draw once more upon American history for an example which should +convincingly appeal to Americans, the case may be likened to the +intervention of France in the American Revolution. There is no American +who does not remember that performance with sincere gratitude and with +deep appreciation of the undoubtedly great aid which France rendered to +the Thirteen Colonies. But I should doubt if there is a well informed +American willing to concede that the French aid was indispensable, or +that without it Washington and Greene would have been vanquished and the +Revolution would have failed. American independence would have been +achieved without French aid, though perhaps not so promptly and at +greater cost. + +An immense service, also, which the United States rendered Cuba in the +War of Independence antedated the actual intervention, and consisted in +the aid in men, money and supplies which went from the United States to +Cuba. It is true that this aid was given largely by Cubans resident in +the United States, though many Americans also gave much in money, and +some were permitted by the Cubans to give themselves for service in the +army. It is also true that much of it was done in surreptitious +violation of the neutrality laws; a species of law-breaking at which +many United States officials were inclined to wink, and which by common +consent was to be regarded as culpable only when it was found out, and +then the finding out was more to be regretted than the act itself was to +be condemned! Such is the "unwritten law" of international relations in +cases in which the technical requirements of the law run counter to +generous and righteous human sympathies. + +While, therefore, we must believe that even without American +intervention in the actual war the Cubans would have won their +independence, we may doubt whether such would have been the case if the +United States had not all along been dose at hand, a resourceful and +hospitable country, in which Cuban political exiles could find secure +asylum, in which a Cuban Junta could plan revolution, in which funds to +aid the patriot cause could be raised, and which, in brief, could partly +in secret and partly in the open be used as a base of supplies and +operations. It is to such aid that Cuba owes more than she does to the +achievements of the American army and navy in 1898, admirable and useful +as they were. + +Comparably great, as we shall most notably see in the ensuing chapters, +were the services of the United States to Cuba after the War of +Independence. These were manifold. The first was diplomatic, in serving +as an intermediary between Cuba and Spain, in making the treaty of +peace, and in securing the Spanish withdrawal from the island. There is +no doubt that all those things were done more smoothly, more +satisfactorily and more expeditiously than they could have been had they +been left to direct settlement between Cuba and Spain. The services of +the United States during the last part of 1898 were more indispensable +than those of the spring and summer of that year. Indeed, it might +perhaps be claimed that the chief advantage in having the United States +intervene was that it enabled her to play that important part in the +making of peace and the post-bellum readjustment. + +The second great service rendered by the United States was the +rehabilitation of the island. This was a manifold undertaking. It +comprised rehabilitation after many years of Spanish misrule and +neglect, and rehabilitation after the ravages of three years of +peculiarly destructive war. The civic maladies to be cured were thus +both chronic and acute. Moreover, the work was political, and sanitary, +and educational, and economic. Order was to be restored, law was to be +administered, government was to be organized, pestilence was to be +abated, schools were to be created, the whole work of civilization was +to be performed. Splendid as was the work of Sampson's fleet at +Santiago, still more beneficent was that of General Wood within the +precincts of that city and throughout the Province of Oriente. Nobly +memorable was the work of Shafter's army, but we shall read history to +little avail if we do not give higher credit to the work of the Military +Governor and his lieutenants. + +A third service was in acting as guide, philosopher and friend in the +great task of organizing and installing the native Cuban government +which had been promised by the United States in the act of declaring war +against Spain. That self-abnegatory pledge was a noble thing, and noble +was the faithful fulfilment of it. I have heard of an eminent and +enlightened Cuban who regarded that pledge with incredulity, saying, "It +can never be fulfilled!" and who persisted in that incredulity until +that memorable noonday when the American flag came down from the Palace +and the Morro and the flag of Cuba Libre rose in its place; and then, +with tear-suffused eyes, exclaimed, "It can't be; but it is!" Never +before in the history of the world had such a thing been done, but it +was done and it was well done. + +There followed a fourth service, which we may hope has now been +definitely completed, but which in the very nature of the case is a +potentially recurrent service, which may--_absit omen!_--be needed again +and again; and which the United States may be trusted to perform, if +necessary, as faithfully and generously and efficiently as it has +already performed it. For we shall see that after the Cuban government +had been established and had vindicated its existence by great good +service to the island, sordid and treacherous men unlawfully conspired +against it and sought to overthrow it by violence and crime. Their +success would have meant ruin for the island. Their partial success--for +such they had--meant immeasurable loss. But fortunately the United +States intervened as readily against Cuban crime as it had against +Spanish oppression, and the republic was saved, though "as through +fire." + +It is this service, following the others which I have named, which +differentiates the Cuban Republic from most of the other states which +have been formed from the Spanish Empire in America. Of the two states +which at one time planned to wrest Cuba from Spain by force and make her +a part of their community of nations, Colombia was for half a century in +a chronic condition of revolution, and Mexico through the same evil +processes has given the word Mexicanize to the political vocabulary. It +was the intention of the United States that Cuba should not fall into +that category; but it is by no means certain that she would not have +done so had it not been for the guardianship of that country. + + * * * * * + +Our history will disclose more than all these things. These are the +records of achievement. But there are other records, even those of +conditions as they exist, and as they have been made to exist by virtue +of these achievements. Marvellous indeed shall we find them. The story +of Cuba's development from a neglected and oppressed colony to an +independent nation is stirring and impressive, adorned with the names +and deeds of brave men. The story of her development in civilization, +from a backward rank to the foremost, is no less impressive, and it is +adorned with the names and the labors of wise men, statesmen and +scholars, who gave of their best for the welfare of the insular republic +for which so many of their kin gave willingly their very lives. + +The account which we shall have of the opulent charms and resources of +Cuba may be regarded as a volume of contemporary history. It will reveal +to us some of the consequences of that narrative of the past which +forms the major portion of our story. But it will be more and will do +more than that. It must serve as an intimation, a suggestion, almost +perhaps a prophecy, of what the future of the Pearl of the Antilles will +be. Grateful as is the work of recalling and rehearsing the story of the +past, from the days of Columbus and Velasquez to the present, the +historian finds it more pleasant and more welcome to dwell upon the +present scene. If these volumes, laboriously produced and with a +consciousness too often of falling short of the high merits of the +theme, shall serve their intended purpose of introducing Cuba, past and +present, more fully and most favorably to the knowledge of the world, I +shall be more than abundantly repaid. But the supreme and most enduring +satisfaction will come from some assurance that I have brought to the +appreciative attention of the world not merely the Cuba of four +centuries past, with all its legends of adventure and romance, and too +often of cruelty and crime, and with its fluctuating though still +persistent progress toward the "foremost files of time," but also and +still more the Cuba of this present moment and, we may hope, of +unmeasured future time. It is a Cuba that is beautiful for situation, +opulent in resources, entrancing in charm, illimitable in +potentialities; a land of "fair women and brave men," upon which +recollection fondly dwells; a land which justifies the latest writer +concerning it to repeat once more the estimate of the first who ever +wrote of it--"the most beautiful that the eyes of man have ever seen." + + WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON. + New York, U. S. A., June, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I 1 + +"In Cuba the Annals of America Begin"--The First Landing Place of +Columbus--Theories Concerning Various Islands--His Expectation of +Reaching the Coast of Asia--Cuba Supposed to be Cathay--The Physical +History of Cuba--Character of the Aboriginal Inhabitants--A Race of +Amiable Savages Without Enduring Monuments. + +CHAPTER II 11 + +Discovery of Cuba on Sunday, October 28, 1492--The First Landing Place +on the Island--Named for the Heir of the Spanish Throne--Appreciation of +the Beauty and Charm of the Island--First Contact with its +Inhabitants--Exploration of the Northern Coast--Cuba Supposed to be the +Country of the Great Khan--Further Explorations of the Coast--Departure +for Hispaniola--Second Visit to Cuba--Exploration of the Southern +Coast--Discovery of Jamaica--Navigating the Caribbean Sea--Some Inland +Excursions--Experiences with the Natives--Reaching the Western End of +the Island--Exhortation of a Native Sage--Columbus's Final Departure +from Cuba. + +CHAPTER III 28 + +First Impressions of Cuba--Columbus's Observations of the People and +Resources of the Island--Native Villages and Boats--Negotiations with +the Natives--First Use of Tobacco by Europeans--Columbus's Meagre +Knowledge of the Island--His Death and Burial in Hispaniola--Removal of +His Remains to Havana--Disputes Concerning His Tomb--Final Return of His +Remains to Spain. + +CHAPTER IV 37 + +Archeology of Cuba--The Oldest Rock Formation--Theory of Cuban +Continuity with Florida--The Eocene Age--Submersion in the Oligocene +Period--Miocene Uplift--Changes During the Pleistocene +Period--Topography of the Island--The Mountain Ranges--The Mountains of +Oriente--The Organ Mountains and Magotes--The Valley of the +Vinales--Plains and Valleys--Composition of the Soil--The Climate of +Cuba--Fortunate Situation of the Island--The Rainfall of a Land of +Sunshine. + +CHAPTER V 53 + +Neglect of Cuba by Spanish Explorers and Conquerors--Rule of +Ovando--Ocampo Discovers Cuba to be an Island--First Attempts at +Colonization--Enciso's Story of Ojeda's Adventure--A Test Between +Christianity and Paganism--The Lust of Gold--Diego and Bartholomew +Columbus--Diego Velasquez Appointed Governor--His First Settlement at +Baracoa--The War with Hatuey--Narvaez and His Horsemen--Las Casas the +"Apostle to the Indies"--More Trouble with the Natives--Exploration of +the Island Throughout its Length. + +CHAPTER VI 68 + +Marriage and Bereavement of Velasquez--Other Settlements Founded in +Cuba--Santiago Made the First Capital--System of +Government--Apportionment of the Natives to the Settlers--Appropriation +of the Land--Evils of the Repartimiento System--The Statesmanship of +Velasquez--Enslavement of the Natives--Famous Men in Cuba's Early +History--Gold Mines and Fertile Plantations--Beginning of the Mission of +Las Casas--Death of King Ferdinand and Accession of Charles I--Cardinal +Ximenes--The Order of St. Jerome--The Fate of the Natives. + +CHAPTER VII 81 + +Gold Mining in Cuba--Political Organization of the Island--Relations +with the Spanish Crown--Development of the Slave Trade--Expeditions to +Yucatan--Exploration of the Mexican Coast--Failure of Grijalva's +Expedition--The Expedition of Christopher de Olid--Unmerited Fate of +Grijalva, the Discoverer and First Explorer of Mexico. + +CHAPTER VIII 90 + +Hernando Cortez Commissioned by Velasquez to Explore Mexico--Some +Romantic Adventures--Why Cortez went to Cuba--His Relations with +Velasquez--A Crisis in Spain's American Affairs--Appointment of +Velasquez as Adelantado--Departure of Cortez--His Refusal to Return when +Summoned by Velasquez--Arrival in Mexico--Appointment of Cortez as Royal +Governor of New Spain--Preparations by Velasquez to Subdue +Cortez--Disastrous Fate of Narvaez's Expedition--Conspiracy to +Assassinate Cortez--Velasquez Removed from the Governorship of +Cuba--Zuazo, the Second Governor--Vindication of Velasquez and +Repudiation of Zuazo--Character and Work of First Cuban Governor. + +CHAPTER IX 105 + +Administration of Manuel de Rojas--The Rise of Cuba's Proper +Interests--Development of Resources--Appointment of Altamarino--Post +Mortem Investigation of Velasquez--Violent Opposition to +Altamarino--Removal of a Discredited Governor--Accession of +Guzman--Controversies over Local Government--Injudicious Course of +Guzman--Protest Against the Tyranny of the Councils--"Cuba for the +Cubans." + +CHAPTER X 115 + +Controversies Over the Treasurership--Appointment of Hurtado, the Honest +but Cantankerous--Fortunes of the Guzman Family--A Marriage for Money +and its Consequences--Services of Vadillo--Investigations and +Reforms--Heavy Sentences Against Guzman--An Appeal to the Council for +the Indies--Manuel de Rojas again Governor. + +CHAPTER XI 122 + +Development of the Church Establishment in Cuba--The First Bishop--Early +Conflict Between Church and State--Transfer of the Cathedral from +Baracoa to Santiago--A Bishop in Politics--The Governor +Excommunicated--Insurrections and Raids of the Natives--Effective Work +of Rojas against the Cimarrones--Disposal of the "Tame" Indians--Further +Conflicts of Church and State--Intervention of the Crown--Practical +Extermination of the Natives--Reforms that Were not Made--Well Meant +Efforts of Rojas--Failure of Attempts to Civilize the Natives--A Good +Governor Ill Treated--His Resignation and Departure. + +CHAPTER XII 137 + +Guzman's Second Administration--A Masterful Politician--Decline of Cuban +Welfare--An Interregnum in the Governorship--The Coming of De Soto--His +Imposing Arrival at Santiago--Progress Across the Island--Vasco Porcallo +de Figueroa Made De Soto's Lieutenant--Cuba a Stepping Stone to +Florida--De Soto's Removal from Santiago to Havana--Organization of the +Florida Expedition--Report of the First Scouts--Departure of De +Soto--Lady De Soto's Faithful Watch--Tragic Fate of the Explorer--Evil +Effects upon Cuba--Serious Trouble with the Indians--Intrigues of Guzman +and Bishop Sarmiento. + +CHAPTER XIII 151 + +Governorship of Juan de Avila--Royal Order against Slavery in the +Mines--An Appeal to the Council for the Indies--Popular Revolt Against +the Council--De Avila's Marriage to a Rich Widow--Removal to +Havana--Appointment of Antonio Chaves--Scandalous Charges Against de +Avila--The Matter Carried to Spain for Settlement--Another Bad +Administration--Chaves Reprimanded by the King--His Persistence in +Slavery--Hurtado's Indictment of Chaves--Gonzalo de Angulo Made +Governor--Trial and Punishment of Chaves--Emancipation Proclamation. + +CHAPTER XIV 165 + +A Bad Time in Cuban History--Santiago in 1550--Raid of a French +Privateer--The Founding and Rise of Havana--The Founding of Puerto +Principe--Baracoa, Trinidad and Other Settlements--Italians and Other +Aliens in Cuba--Efforts to Populate the Island--Importation of Negro +Slaves--Slaves Treated Humanely--Disappearance of the Native +Indians--The Early Industries of Cuba--Discovery of the Copper Mines of +El Cobre--Beginning of the Sugar Industry--Fiscal Policy of the Spanish +Government. + +CHAPTER XV 177 + +A Turning Point in Cuban History--International Interest in the +Island--Raids of French Privateers--A Famous Fight in Santiago +Harbor--The Capture and Looting of Havana--First Building of La +Fuerza--Rise of Havana in Importance--The Governor's Residence in +Havana--Deposition of Angulo--Guarding Havana Against French +Attack--Inadequacy of the Defenses--Seizure of the City by Jacques +Sores--Flight of the Governor and Resolute Defense of Lobera--Attempt to +Destroy the French Conquerors--Destruction of the City. + +CHAPTER XVI 191 + +Administration of Mazariegos--His Disastrous Voyage--Rebuilding of +Havana--Manners and Morals of a Soldier of Fortune--Defense of Havana by +a Military Governor--Improvement of the Fortifications--Rebuilding La +Fuerza--The Founding of Morro Castle--Complications in Florida--Osorio +Appointed Governor--His Care for the Defenses of the Island--The +Campaigns of Pedro Menendez--Conflict Between Osorio and +Menendez--Attempts at Mutiny--Disagreement over +Fortifications--Illegitimate Trade at Santiago--Menendez Appointed +Governor--A Succession of Lieutenants--Charting the Bahama +Channel--Codifying Municipal Ordinances. + +CHAPTER XVII 208 + +Approach of the "Sea Beggars"--More Work on La Fuerza--Seeking Financial +Aid from Mexico--A Requisition for Slave Labor--Investigating Public +Accounts--The Downfall of Menendez--Investigation of His +Accounts--Succeeded by Montalvo--Increase of Smuggling--General Progress +of the Island--Havana the Commercial Metropolis. + +CHAPTER XVIII 217 + +Governorship of Montalvo--Rehabilitation of Santiago--Disorder at +Havana--Conflict with the Rojas Family--Charges Made Against the +Governor--The Increase of Smuggling--Ravages of the French--Seeking +Naval Defenses for Cuba--Haggling Over the Building of La Fuerza--A +Badly Built Fort--Montalvo's Development of Insular Resources--Promotion +of Sugar Growing and General Agriculture--The Governor's Quarrel with +the Bishop. + +CHAPTER XIX 228 + +Administration of Francisco Carreno--The First Cuban Governor to Die in +Office--A Record of Hard Work and Progress--The Problem of Free +Negroes--Features of the Slave System--Some Literally Constructive +Statesmanship--The First Custom House--Trying to Deal with the Land +Question--The Reforms Proposed by Caceres--Development of Stock +Raising--Bad Administration of Torres. + +CHAPTER XX 236 + +Administration of Gabriel de Luzan--Controversies Among Officials--The +Quarrel Between Luzan and Arana--Questions of Official +Residence--Removal of the Royal Accountant--Charges Against the +Governor--Further Efforts to Complete La Fuerza--The Work of +Quinones--Unseemly Personal and Political Feuds--Investigation of the +Governor's Administration--Renewal of the Quarrel with +Quinones--Governor and Captain-General Brought into Accord Through Peril +of an Attack by the British--Desperate Preparations for Defense. + +CHAPTER XXI 246 + +War Between Spain and England--Drake's Conquest of Hispaniola--An Attack +upon Cuba Anticipated--Raising Forces for Defense--Feuds Forgotten in +the Common Emergency--Plans for the Defense of Havana--Increase of the +Garrison--Admirable Unity of the People--Drake's Approach to Cuba--His +Landing at the Western End of the Island--Appearance of his Fleet off +Havana--Departure of Drake's Fleet without an Assault--His Doings at St. +Augustine and in the North--Reasons for Not Attacking Havana--Disaster +to Santiago--That City Destroyed by the French--Rebuilt by an Energetic +Patriot--Interest in Copper Mining. + +CHAPTER XXII 260 + +Drake's Menace a Blessing to Cuba--Spanish Interest in Cuba for Its Own +Sake--The Governorship of Tejada--The Public Works of +Antonelli--Building Roads, Dams and Aqueducts--Havana Made a Real +City--Controversy with Bishop Salcedo--Appreciation of Tejada's +Services--Accession of Barrionuevo--Progress of Civilization in +Cuba--The First Theatrical Performance. + +CHAPTER XXIII 267 + +Changes in European Nations--Rise of the Protectionist +Policy--Retaliation by Smugglers--Hostilities against Spain--Prevalence +of Piracy--Some Strong Governors of Cuba--Good Works of Maldonado and +Valdes--Invasions by Pirates--Division of the Island--Interest in +Religious Affairs--Successive Governors Working at Cross +Purposes--Building a Fleet--Protection of the Port of Havana--An Attack +by the Dutch--The Exploits of Oquendo--The Slave Market in Havana--Fall +of Cabrera. + +CHAPTER XXIV 283 + +The Decline of Spain--Enterprise and Aggressions of the Dutch--The Dutch +West India' Company--Governors Who Saved Cuba for Spain--Warring with +Dutch Privateers--The Great Fight with Pie de Palo--Fiscal Reforms in +Cuba--Gamboa's Improvement of Fortifications--Sarmiento's Organization +of Cuban Troops--Ravages of a Great Pestilence--Noble Deeds of the +Religious Orders--Public Works Planned--The Walls of Havana--Aggressions +of the British--Conquest of Jamaica--Records of Piracy--Exploits of +Lolonois--Henry Morgan--British Capture and Plundering of +Santiago--Repairing the Fortifications--A Compact against Piracy. + +CHAPTER XXV 304 + +British Designs against Spanish Possessions--Covetous Eyes Turned upon +Cuba by British Empire-Builders--Isolation of Cuba from Spain--France +Playing False--Cuban Reprisals--Further Attacks by +Freebooters--Controversy over British Prisoners--Disastrous +Earthquakes--Ecclesiastical Troubles--Spain at the Brink of +Bankruptcy--Cordova's Administration--Revised Code of Laws for the +Indies--Civil and Ecclesiastical Controversies--Some Ruthless +Work--Founding of the City of Matanzas--Official Disputes and Scandals. + +CHAPTER XXVI 325 + +The War of the Austrian Succession--The Treaty of Utrecht--Reign of +Philip V--Renewed Conflicts in the West Indies--Settlement of +Pensacola--Aggressions of the French--Cuban Interests Affected by +European Affairs--Increased Protection of the Island--Two Local +Governors--Attacks upon Charleston--Raids of British +Warships--Speculation in Tobacco--More Fortifications in a Time of +Peace--Churches and Convents--Sanitary Measures--Official +Quarrels--Reorganization of the Tobacco Industry--Seeking Administrative +Stability--A Tobacco Insurrection--A Warning to the +British--Fortifications of Havana. + +CHAPTER XXVII 345 + +Great Impetus Given to Discovery and Exploration Throughout the +World--Interesting Observations upon Cuba and the Indies--Some Quaint +Records--A Description of the Natives of Cuba--Something About the +Natural Resources of the Island from Ancient Authorities--Spanish and +Alien Descriptions of Cuba--Early Writings About Cuba in Various +Languages--Fra Vincente Fonseca--A Dutch Description of Cuba--Attention +Given to the Wealth of Cuban Forests--Reasons Given for the Rise and +Subsequent Decline of Spanish Power--Some Superstitions and Legends. + +CHAPTER XXVIII 360 + +Cuba Neglected During an Era of Great Achievements--The Golden Age of +Spain--Culture at Home and Conquest Abroad--A Noteworthy Group of +Spanish Historians--The University of Santo Domingo--The First American +Books--Cuba's Lack of Participation in these Activities, and the Reasons +for it--A Turning Point in Cuban History at the End of the Sixteenth +Century--Cubans Beginning to Become Cubans and Not Spaniards--A +Significant Change in the Temper and Character of the People of the +Island. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FULL PAGE PLATES: + +Columbus (Janez Portrait) _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE +The Havana Cathedral 36 + +La Fuerza 146 + +Morro Castle, Havana 180 + +San Francisco Church 226 + +Morro Castle, Santiago 298 + + +TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS: + + PAGE + +Monument on Supposed First Tending Place of Columbus, +Watling's Island 3 + +Queen Isabella 13 + +Diego Velasquez 59 + +Baracoa, First Capital of Cuba 60 + +Panfilo de Narvaez 63 + +Bartholomew de las Casas 64 + +Ponce de Leon 72 + +Hernando Cortez 90 + +Hernando de Soto 140 + +San Lazaro Watch Tower, Havana 155 + +Pedro Menendez de Aviles 199 + + + + +THE HISTORY OF CUBA + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +CUBA; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable. The record +of each is in a peculiar sense identified with that of the other. Far +more than any other land the Queen of the Antilles is associated with +that Columbian enterprise from which the modern and practical history of +the Western Hemisphere is dated. In Cuba the annals of America begin. + +This island was not, it is true, the first land discovered by Columbus +after leaving Spain. It was at least the fifth visited and named by him, +and it was perhaps the tenth or twelfth which he saw and at which he +touched in passing. But in at least three major respects it had the +unquestionable primacy among all the discoveries of his first, second +and third voyages, while in his own estimation it was not surpassed in +importance by the main land of the continent which he finally reached in +his fourth and last expedition. It was the first land visited or seen by +him of the identity of which there has never been the slightest +question. It was the first considerable land discovered by him, the +first which was worth while sailing across the ocean to discover, and it +was by far the most important of all found by him in his first three +adventures. It was, also, the first and indeed the only land which +caused him to believe that the theory of his undertaking had been +vindicated and that the supreme object of his quest had been attained. +Let us, in order to appreciate the transcendent significance of his +discovery of Cuba, briefly consider these three circumstances. + +We must remember with respect to the first that the identity of +Columbus's first landing place has been much disputed, and indeed has +never been determined to universal satisfaction: We know that it was an +island of small or moderate size. Columbus himself called it in one +place "small" and in another "fairly large." It was level, low-lying, +well watered, with a large central lagoon, which may or may not have +been a permanent feature, seeing that his visit was in the rainy season, +when any depression in the land was likely to be flooded. It was +certainly one of the Bahama archipelago. But that extensive group +comprises 36 islands, 687 cays, and 2,414 rocks. Which of all these was +it upon which the Admiral landed, which was called by the natives +Guanahani, and which, with his characteristic religious fervor, Columbus +immediately renamed San Salvador, the Island of the Holy Saviour? + +The distinction has been claimed, by authorities worthy of respectful +consideration, for no fewer than five. Down to the middle of the +Nineteenth Century the weight of opinion and tradition favored Cat +Island, and upon most maps and charts it was designated as "Guanahani, +or San Salvador." It is by far the largest and the northernmost of the +five islands in question. Next, to the southeast, lies Watling's Island, +to which the distinction of having been the scene of Columbus's landfall +has now for half a century been most generally given, and upon maps it +is generally named San Salvador. It is the only one of the five which +stands out in the Atlantic, beyond the generally uniform line of the +Bahamas, as a sort of advance post to greet the voyager from the east. +Samana, south by east from Watling's, also called Attwood's Cay, was +selected as the true Guanahani by some officers of the United States +Coast Survey. Mariguana, further in the same direction, was proclaimed +"La Verdadera Guanahani" by F. A. de Varnhagen in a scholarly treatise +published in 1864 at Santiago de Chili. Finally, Grand Turk Island, at +the southeastern extremity of the Bahama chain, and just north of the +coast of Hayti, was designated by Navarrete, in 1825, and by various +other authorities, chiefly American, at later dates. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT ON SUPPOSED FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS, +WATLING'S ISLAND] + +The chief interest of these speculations for present consideration in +this writing is their bearing upon the subsequent course of Columbus, +the identity of the next islands which he visited, and finally the point +at which he first touched the coast of Cuba. If the original landfall +was on Cat or on Watling's Island, then the second land visited, which +Columbus called Santa Maria de la Concepcion, was probably either the +tiny island now known as Concepcion or the larger Rum Cay; the third, +called by him Ferdinandina or Fernandina, was either Great Exuma or Long +Island; the fourth, Isabella, may have been either Long Island or +Crooked Island, according to whether Fernandina was Great Exuma or Long +Island; and the coast of Cuba was reached at some point between Punta +Lucrecia and Port Nuevitas. On the other hand, if Grand Turk Island was +first reached, the second land would naturally have been, as Navarrete +held, at Gran Caico; the third at Little Inagua; the fourth at Great +Inagua; and Cuba would have been reached somewhere between Cape Maysi +and Sama Point. To me it seems decidedly the more probable that the +former course was pursued, and I have accordingly adopted the theory +that Columbus first landed in Cuba in the region between Nuevitas and +Punta Lucrecia. + +The second circumstance which I have mentioned scarcely requires +discussion. The first, second and third voyages of Columbus were +confined to discoveries and explorations of the West India Islands, and +of all of these, even including Hayti and Jamaica, there can be no +question of Cuba's primacy, whether in size, in wealth of resources, in +political and strategical importance, or in historical interest. It was +so recognized by Columbus himself, who indeed in one respect actually +esteemed it more highly than it deserved. For after long and careful +exploration he became convinced that it was not an island, but was the +mainland of the Asian continent--Mangi, or Cathay: that country of the +Great Khan of which Marco Polo had written and which Toscanelli had +indicated upon his map, and the visiting of which was the supreme object +of the Admiral's enterprise. + +To understand this aright we must remember that Columbus was not seeking +a new continent. He had no thought that one existed. He held, with +Isidore of Seville, that all the lands of the world were comprehended in +Europe, Africa and Asia, and that there was only one great ocean, the +Atlantic, which stretched unbroken save by islands from the western +shores of Europe and Africa to the eastern coast of Asia and the East +Indies. Moreover, he considerably overestimated the extent of Asia and +underestimated the circumference of the earth. Years later, long after +the circumnavigation of the globe had been effected, Antonio Galvano, +learned historian and geographer though he was, computed the equatorial +circumference of the earth at only 23,500 miles, or about 1,400 miles +too little; while the best maps of the sixteenth century indicated the +Asian continent as extending far into the western hemisphere, and the +Pacific Ocean as a narrow strip not nearly comparable with the Atlantic +in extent. Schoener's globe, of 1520, which is still to be seen at +Nuremberg, represents the "Terra de Cuba" as integral with the whole +North American continent, with its western coast only five degrees of +longitude or 300 miles from the shore of Zipangu or Japan, and only 30 +degrees or 1,800 miles from the mainland of Asia. + +Columbus therefore expected to find the coast of Asia in about the +longitude in which he actually found America. When he reached the +Bahamas he confidently assumed them to be the group of islands which +Toscanelli had indicated as lying off the coast of Cathay; and when he +learned from the natives of a much larger island lying to the south, +which they called Colba, Cuba, or Cubanacan, he believed it to be none +other than Cipango, or Zipangu, which Toscanelli had shown as by far the +largest of the East Indian islands. It has been commonly assumed, +apparently with little dispute or attempt at investigation, that Cipango +was Japan. But the distance--1,500 miles--at which it was said to lie +from the coast of China, the southerly latitude assigned to it, and the +multitude of small islands which were clustered about and near it, are +circumstances which suggest that instead of Japan the island meant may +have been Luzon, the northernmost and largest of the Philippines. +However that may be, Columbus promptly decided to steer straight for +Cipango, with the result that he reached the northern shore of the +eastern part of Cuba. + +The third circumstance which I have mentioned was then developed. It was +a great triumph, and a vindication of his enterprise, that he had +reached Cipango. But even that was not enough. He was in quest of the +mainland of Mangi or Cathay, the land of the Great Khan. He found in +Cuba no traces of the opulence and splendor of which Marco Polo had +written. Yet the natives frequently referred to "Cuba-nacan" as a great +place somewhere in the interior. The phrase merely meant the central +part of the island, but the final syllable was identified by Columbus +with "Khan," and, with the wish as father of the thought, he presently +conceived the notion that it was not the island of Cipango upon which he +had landed, but the shore of Cathay itself. Further explorations, +including coasting along the northern shore to within a few miles of the +western extremity, confirmed him in this belief, which became absolute +conviction. To the end of his life, therefore, he believed that Cuba was +the eastern extremity of the Asian continent, which indeed Toscanelli +had delineated upon his map as terminating in a long, narrow cape; and +it was upon the strength of this belief and report of Columbus that +Schoener in 1520 and Muenster in 1532 identified Cuba with the whole +North American continent, while various other cartographers of that time +made it integral with Cathay itself. The maps of La Cosa and Ruysch, in +1508, hinted at this. The Nancy Globe, and a notable map in the Sloane +MSS. in the British Museum, dated 1530, do, it is true, indicate Cuba to +be an island, but they also make India Superior and Tibet contiguous +with Mexico at the northwest, with the latter country fronting directly +upon the Indian Ocean. We know, of course, that during his second +voyage, in 1494, while off the southern coast of Cuba, Columbus required +his companions to sign with him a formal declaration that they were off +the coast of Asia. Such, then, was the Admiral's estimate of Cuba, in +which there is no reason to doubt he persisted to the end of his life. +He had achieved the object of his great adventure: He had reached the +country of the Great Khan. + +Despite these delusions and vagaries, however, the facts remain that he +did discover and partly explore Cuba, and that it was the first land in +the Western Hemisphere of which that can confidently be said. Cuba is +therefore the starting point of the history of the Columbian discovery +and exploration and the subsequent colonization and civilization of +America. With Cuba the history of the New World begins. + +Similarly, and with equal truth, we may say that the history of Cuba +begins with the Columbian discovery of America. That is not true of all +parts of the American continents. Some of them had already had important +histories. The northeastern coast of North America had been visited and +temporarily colonized by the Norsemen, and the northwestern coast by the +Chinese; and both of those peoples had left enduring traces of their +enterprise. The Iroquois and Algonquins had for centuries enjoyed a +degree of social, political and industrial development, the records of +which still survive. The Toltecs, the Mayas and the Incas had risen to a +height of culture not unworthy to be compared with that of Egypt, +Persia, Greece and Rome, the remains of which to this day command the +wonder and admiration of the world. But not so Cuba. Carlyle might well +have had this island in mind when he said, "Happy the people whose +annals are blank in history books." + +The physical history of Cuba indicates that in some remote period the +two mountainous ends of the island were two separate and distinctly +different islands, separated by a considerable stretch of sea, and that +they were afterward united by a rising of the bottom of the sea, to form +the central plain of Cuba. It is observed that the two ends are unlike +each other on geological structure and composition, in soil, and in +indigenous flora. Indeed, they have ever differed from each other +radically in their cultivated crops. At what date the union of them +occurred, and by what means it was effected, we can only guess. But it +is a reasonable assumption that the raising of the sea-floor to form the +central plain of the island was caused by one of the seismic +disturbances to which this general region of the earth's surface has +from time immemorial been subject. There are, moreover, reasons for +suspecting that this occurred at a time subsequent to the creation of +man, and indeed after both of the original islands had become inhabited. +That is because the two ends of the island appear, in Columbus's day, to +have been occupied by different races. Of the inhabitants of the western +end we know comparatively little, save that they were more warlike and +adventurous than those at the east, and several authorities have likened +them either to the Caribs or to the Mayas of Yucatan. That they were +Mayas seems, however, doubtful, since they left no traces of the high +degree of civilization which formerly prevailed among that distinguished +race in Yucatan. + +The people of the eastern end of Cuba, when the island was discovered by +Columbus, were doubtless of Antillan stock, or "Tainan" as some have +called them, with possibly a slight admixture of Carib, though not +sufficient materially to affect them in any respect. They were +physically a handsome, stalwart people, of a light reddish brown color, +somewhat lighter than the North American Indians. They wore no clothing, +with the exception of the married women, who wore breech clouts, and +confined their adornments to slight necklaces and bracelets. They lived +in neatly constructed cabins of cane or bamboo and thatch, rectangular +or circular in form and generally of two or three rooms each; equipped +with furniture of cane or of handsomely carved wood. For beds, however, +they used hammocks, of woven cotton or plaited grass; the name, hammock, +being of Antillan or Carib origin. These houses were, according to early +Spanish testimony, kept scrupulously clean and neat. They were grouped +in villages, around a central square which served as a market place and +playground. + +They were agriculturists, tilling the ground with considerable skill and +producing yuca, corn, beans, peanuts, squashes, peppers and various +other crops, besides fruits and tobacco. They were singularly expert +fishermen, and for the purpose of that pursuit they constructed fine +canoes, of the hollowed boles of large trees, but unlike the Caribs they +do not seem to have resorted to navigation for any other purpose. They +also hunted game on the land, solely for food, but their hunting was +much restricted, since there were no large animals of any kind on the +island. Their manufactures were confined to primitive cotton weaving, +wood carving, basketry, pottery--of a pretty good quality of decorated +ware--and various stoneware implements. + +In disposition and manners they were friendly, hospitable, courteous, +and confiding. Despite their nudity they had the unconscious modesty of +nature, and their morals were superior to those of most primitive +peoples. The tradition that venereal diseases prevailed among them and +were thus first made known to European peoples through their having been +acquired from the natives by Columbus's men, seems to be quite void of +foundation; indubitable proof exists of the prevalence of those diseases +in both Europe and Asia at an earlier date than Columbus's time. They +practised but recognized domestic, social and civic equality of the +sexes. They were almost universal tobacco smokers, and it was from them +that the use of that plant was first learned. They were pleasure loving, +much given to dancing, to games of ball, and to swimming. + +Their form of government was patriarchal, though there seem to have been +chiefs of some sort over whole villages or even districts. The laws +were, however, mild and humane. In religion they presented a striking +and most grateful contrast to the Toltecs, Aztecs and other peoples of +the continent, having none of the human sacrifices and atrocious +tortures that disfigured their worship. They believed in a Supreme Being +and a future and immortal life. They had a form of worship in which the +use of idols as symbols, and the smoking of tobacco, largely figured. +They had a regularly constituted priest-hood, the members of which they +credited with powers of divination and of healing. There were none of +the revolting practises and superstitions, however, which have been +common to many primitive peoples. They were not warlike, and had no +military organization, but they certainly were not cowards, as some of +the early Spanish conquistadors had cause to know. + +They had, it is obvious, nothing which could survive them as a memorial +of their existence. Their architecture, if so it may be called, was most +perishable. They had no art, save in pottery, and that was not highly +developed. They had no literature. The result was that when they +perished through unfavorable contact with a more powerful and aggressive +race they left scarcely a trace of themselves behind, save in the +records and testimony of their conquerors and destroyers. Some specimens +of their pottery have been preserved: the words "hammock" and "canoe" +come to us from them; and the use of tobacco is their universal +memorial. + +Such were the aborigines, if not the absolute autochthones, of Cuba. +Their only history lives in the brief and scanty records of them made by +their destroyers. They left no enduring impress upon the island, save +its name. How many they were is unknown, and estimates which are mere +guesses differ widely. In a single generation they disappeared, partly +through slaughter and partly through such diseases as small pox and +measles, which were introduced to the island--of course, not +intentionally--by the Spaniards, and which the natives were unable to +resist. The only significant history of Cuba begins, therefore, with the +landfall of Christopher Columbus upon its shores. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Sunday, October 28, 1492, was the natal day of Cuba; the day of its +advent into the ken of the civilized world. At the island which he +called Isabella--either Long Island or Crooked Island--Columbus had +heard of a very great land which the natives called Cuba, and which, the +wish being father to the thought, he instantly identified with Cipango. +Toward it, therefore, his course had thereafter been directed. Progress +was slow, because of contrary winds and calms, and there were numerous +small islands along the way to engage at least passing attention. +Particularly was there a group of seven or eight, lying in a row +extending north and south, which he called the Islas de Arena, and which +we may confidently identify with the Mucaras. Early on the morning of +Saturday, October 27, he had left the last of the Sandy Isles behind, +and from a point considerably to the eastward of them, probably near +what is now known as Rocky Heads, he had set his course a little west of +south for the shore of Cuba. Thus he had passed across the southeastern +end of the Great Bahama Bank, since most appropriately called the +Columbus Bank, until just at nightfall he had seen looming before him on +the southern horizon the mountainous form of a vast land. It was too +late, however, to continue the voyage that night, so he lay to, and at +earliest daybreak of Sunday morning, leaving behind him the islet +fittingly called Caya Santo Domingo, completed his course to the land +which he fondly but vainly hailed as the much-sought Cipango. + +The coast at the point at which he reached it seemed specially designed +by nature for his favorable and auspicious reception. There lay before +him what seemed the estuary of a large and beautiful river, free from +rocks or other impediments, and with a very gentle current. It had an +ample depth of water for his vessels, and was sufficiently broad, even +at a considerable distance inland, for them to beat about in. It was +encircled by lofty and picturesque hills, the aspect of which reminded +him of the "Pena de los Enamorados" near Granada, in Spain; and upon the +summit of one of them was what he described as another little hill, +shaped like a graceful mosque. Enchanted with the vision, and gratified +beyond expression at what he confidently assumed to be the reaching of +his goal and the vindication of his enterprise, he gave to the spot a +repetition of the name which he had devoutly bestowed upon his first +landfall, calling the port San Salvador. + +The identity of this spot has been much questioned and disputed; perhaps +even more than that of Columbus's first landing in the Bahamas; and it +is not to be regarded as entirely certain. Washington Irving pretty +confidently placed it at Caravelas Grandes, far to the west of Nuevitas +del Principe, while others insist that it was at Nuevitas itself. +Navarrete, on the other hand, with his theory that the first landfall +was at Grand Turk Island, held that Cuba was reached at Nipe Bay, east +of Holguin; while Las Casas and Herrera insisted that the port of San +Salvador was at Baracoa, near Cape Maysi, at the extreme eastern end of +the island. Midway between the extremes, that most scholarly and +judicious of geographers, Sir Clements Markham, selected the natural +harbor of Naranjo, a little to the west of Punta Lucrecia and Punta +Mulas. Other historians and geographers, after painstaking research, +declare that they do not believe the place can be determined. + +With this, in the ultimate analysis, I would agree. It is probably +impossible to establish indisputably the identity of the place. Yet it +does seem to me that the arguments in favor of Naranjo, as selected by +Markham, are so strong as to be all but entirely convincing, and that it +will be judicious, therefore, to assume that it was there that the +Admiral first reached the shore of Cuba. A glance at the map shows this +to be the region which was nearest and which he was likeliest to reach +first, coming from either Long Island or Crooked Island, eastward of the +Mucaras, on a south-southwest course, which, we are told, is what he +steered. The port of Naranjo answers to his description in depth and +breadth more nearly than any other on that part of the coast. It is the +estuary of a considerable river, as was Columbus's San Salvador, though +how large the river really was he does not appear to have undertaken to +ascertain, though he did ascend the stream some little distance on his +first day's visit. Finally, it is to be observed that Naranjo is girt +about by hills, precisely as was his San Salvador, and on the crest of +one of them there is a huge rock, jutting up like "another little hill" +and roughly resembling in shape a mosque, because of which the hill is +called "Loma del Temple." This, then, and not Nuevitas, Nipe, nor +Baracoa, I believe to have been the scene of Columbus's discovery of +Cuba. + +[Illustration: QUEEN ISABELLA] + +We have seen that Columbus at first unhesitatingly believed it to be +Cipango which he had reached. Despite that fact, and also despite the +fact that the natives called it Cuba, he insisted upon renaming it. In +accordance with his previous practice in nomenclature, it must have a +very noble and distinguished name. His first landfall he had named for +the Holy Saviour Himself; the second for the Holy Virgin; the third for +the King, and the fourth for the Queen of Leon and Castile. The next +name in order, in dignity and distinction, was that of the heir to the +dual throne, wherefore he named the land Juana. Most writers, including +Irving, have made the curious but facile mistake of saying that this +name was given "in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and +Isabella." It was, in fact, in honor of Princess Juana, the daughter of +those sovereigns. She was that unhappy princess who because of her +insanity was called "La Loca," and who by her marriage with Philip of +Burgundy and of Hapsburg brought a new dynasty to the Spanish throne and +greatly involved the monarchy in the politics and wars of Central +Europe. Juana was mentally incompetent to succeed to the throne of +Castile which she inherited upon the death of her mother, wherefore she +was compelled to relinquish it to the regency of her father; and when he +united Castile with Aragon, and conquered and annexed Navarre and +Granada, and thus became the first King of Spain, Cuba was renamed in +his honor and known no longer as Juana but as Ferdinandina, or +Fernandina. Still later it was called San Diego, or Santiago; and again +Ave Maria Alfa y Omega. But these names were transitory. The natives +never accepted one of them, but clung to the old name of Cuba, and there +was a fine touch of poetic justice in the fact that that name survived +the extinction of the race that had cherished it. Under the ruthless +rule of the Conquistadores the aboriginal population of the island +almost entirely vanished, and with them practically all traces of their +existence save four. These were the name and use of tobacco, the name +and use of hammocks, the name and use of canoes, and the name of the +island itself. + +It would not have been surprising, and it would have been quite +pardonable, had Columbus seen everything in the New World through +glasses of _couleur de rose_. Naturally of a romantic and imaginative +temperament, he experienced in the realization of his long-cherished +ambition such a degree of spiritual and mental exaltation as seldom has +come to mortal man. Yet quite apart from this, the native beauty of +Cuba, as seen to our eyes to-day, abundantly justifies the rhapsodies in +which he indulged in describing it. On that first memorable Sunday he +wrote in his diary, "This is the most beautiful land ever beheld by +human eyes." From the quarter-deck of the _Santa Maria_ he gazed with +rapture upon the profuse verdure of the shore and of the hills which +rose in the back-ground, observing with admiration and surprise that the +trees grew down to the very water's edge, as did also the herbage, as he +had never seen it elsewhere. The palms and other trees were largely of +different kinds from those which he had seen in Spain, in Guinea, and +elsewhere, and they bore flowers and fruit in great profusion, while +among them were innumerable birds, beautiful to the eye and with songs +entrancing to the ear. + +Two canoes, containing each several natives, put out from a recess in +the harbor shore to meet the Spanish ships, but when a boat was lowered +from one of the latter, to proceed ahead and take soundings, they +incontinently fled. Columbus himself then entered a small boat and went +ashore, where he found two houses, which he assumed to belong to the +owners of the two canoes. No persons were to be found upon the premises, +and the only living things were "a kind of dog that never barks," which +we may assume to have been some small animal of the ant bear tribe, now +probably extinct or at any rate no longer domesticated. The houses were +notably neat and clean, and were evidently the abode of fishermen, since +in them were nets and cordage of palm fibre, fish-hooks of horn, and +harpoons of bone. All about the houses the herbage was as profuse, at +the end of October, as it was in Andalusia in May. Most of the herbs as +well as the trees were strange to Columbus, but he found some wild +amaranth, and much common purslane. He went some distance up the harbor, +or river as he called it, at every step or stroke of the oars seeing +something new to excite his admiration. + +The natives of Guanahani whom he had brought on his ship informed him +that Cuba was a very large island, which could not be circumnavigated in +twenty days; that it contained ten large rivers and that its whole +expanse was well watered. They were also understood by Columbus to say +that gold mines and pearls were to be found in the island, and that +large ships came thither from the mainland domains of the Grand Khan, +ten days' sail away. The bulk of this "information" was of course quite +mistaken by Columbus, his vivid imagination and his eager desires easily +misleading him into interpreting anything which the natives might say, +largely in sign language, as meaning just what he wished to be true. + +The next day Columbus left San Salvador and sailed westward along the +coast. That was the direction in which, according to the natives of +Guanahani, the mainland and the capital of the King or the Grand Khan +were to be found. That, too, was the direction in which Mangi and Cathay +were to be found according to the map of Toscanelli, assuming Cuba to be +Cipango: which Columbus at this stage of his enterprise confidently +believed. Of the researches of the great voyager along the Cuban coast +we have a detailed account in his journal. Unfortunately, there is no +certain means of identifying the points at which he landed. They are +described as being so many leagues from his starting point, San +Salvador; wherefore it is obvious that all depends upon the identity of +the latter. Yet it seems to me that his account of his coastwise +explorations strongly confirms the theory that his San Salvador was Port +Naranjo and not Nuevitas. For we are told that six leagues westward he +found a cape or point of land extending toward the northwest; ten +leagues further another point, extending toward the east; one league +further a small river, which he called the Rio de la Luna; and beyond it +another much larger river, which he called the Rio de Mares. This latter +river had for its estuary a broad basin resembling a lake, and its +entrance was marked by two round mountains on the one side and a lofty +promontory on the other. + +Now, making reasonable allowance for lack of accuracy in measurements +and for discrepancies in descriptions, this account may readily be +applied to the coast westward from Port Naranjo to Nuevitas, while it is +altogether inapplicable to the coast westward from Nuevitas. For a +score of leagues westward from Naranjo there are capes and mountains and +rivers, and there is more than one river with precisely such a +lagoon-like estuary as that which Columbus found at his Rio de Mares. +Indeed, Port Padre, with its extensive lagoon into which several rivers +flow, or Port Manati, with the Cramal and Yarigua rivers, might either +of them be identified, in approximate distance and in topography, with +the Rio de Mares. On the other hand, if we were to assume Nuevitas to +have been the starting point, what should we find? Either he must have +been skirting the outer side of the Sabinal and Romano keys, and Guajaba +Island, which do not at all coincide with the description given, or he +must have been navigating the great littoral lagoon between those keys +and the mainland of Cuba; in which latter case it is to be observed that +that part of the Cuban coast does not correspond with his description, +and that it is certainly extraordinary that he made no mention of his +voyage having been in what is practically an inland sea. That he could +have passed in through the Nuevitas Channel, or the Carebelas Channel, +or the Guajaba Channel, without observing and remarking upon Sabinal +Key, Guajaba Island, or Romano Key, is simply not supposable. Such a +feature of "Cipango" could not have escaped notice on his first arrival +there, though it might easily have been ignored or passed over as of no +special significance in subsequent explorations. + +On Tuesday of that memorable week, October 30, Columbus left the Rio de +Mares and sailed to the northwest for fifteen leagues, and there +discovered a point which he named the Cape of Palms. Beyond it was a +river, the entrance of which was said to be four days' journey from what +the natives called Cubanacan, meaning the heart of the island, the +centre of Cuba. With his characteristic habit of interpreting native +names and statements in accordance with his own desires, Columbus at +once assumed this to mean Kublai Khan, or the City of the Khan, of which +he was in quest; and accordingly he bent all his energies and gave all +his attention to getting thither, disregarding the things which he +passed by on the way. It was probably at this time, therefore, that he +sailed through one of the channels among the keys, and entered the great +coastal sound which stretches from Nuevitas to Caibarien, if not indeed +to Cardenas. He reached the river on Wednesday, but found it too shallow +for his ships, and therefore, after some fruitless cruisings, returned +to the Rio de Mares. + +It was on November 12 that he again sailed from the Rio de Mares, and on +the next day that he sailed south-westward into a great gulf, which he +supposed to divide Cuba from another island called by the natives +"Bohio"--the word really meaning not an island at all but "home." +Thereafter for some time he was obviously cruising around Guajaba Island +and Romano Key, which, with Sabinal Key, he supposed to be the mythical +"Bohio." Some port, possibly Boca de la Yana, he called Puerto Principe, +and the water, presumably between Thiguano Island and Cocos Key, he +called the Mar de la Nuestra Senora. Rounding Guillermo Key, as we may +suppose, he swung into the Old Bahama Channel, and by wind and tide was +carried backward to Guajaba Island and perhaps to Nuevitas. Thence he +made his way westward and southward, rounding Point Sama and Point +Lucrecia, and reaching Port Nipe and Port Banes on the morning of +November 27. Those two capacious bays he did not attempt to enter. He +regarded them indeed not as bays but as straits, or arms of the sea, and +the promontory between them he supposed to be an island. At Taco he +landed for a few moments, and then pursued his way, and at nightfall +dropped anchors at what he called Puerto Santo, which we may probably +identify with the modern Baracoa. There he remained until December 4, +when he sailed to the southeast, and the following day passed out of +sight of Cape Maysi and left Cuba behind him; crossing the Windward +Passage to reach "Bohio" or "Babeque," where there were said to be +pearls and gold, and reaching Hayti, or Santo Domingo, which he called +Espagnola. He did not revisit Cuba during the remainder of his first +American voyage. + +Espagnola, Latinized by us into Hispaniola, became thereafter the chief +care of the Admiral. It was there that he planted, on his second voyage, +the first European colony in the western hemisphere. But after various +operations in Hayti, marked with both trials and triumphs, during his +second American expedition he returned to the Cuban coast for further +explorations of what he still thought to be Cipango. It was at the end +of April, 1494, that he sailed from Mole St. Nicholas, Hayti, across the +Windward Passage toward Cape Maysi, which he himself had called Cape +Alpha and Omega. Instead, however, of retracing his way to Baracoa and +along the north coast, he went to the left of Cape Maysi and began +skirting the southern coast of Cuba. This route would, according to +Toscanelli's map, take him to the southward of Mangi and Cathay, but it +would lead him to the Golden Chersonesus, around the southern shore of +Asia, and so home to Europe by circumnavigating the globe. + +The points visited by him on this excursion are more easily and surely +to be identified than those of his first voyage. His first landing was +at Guantanamo, which he called Puerto Grande. He found an entrance +passage, winding but deep, leading in to a spacious land-locked lagoon, +surrounded by hills covered with verdure. Here he established friendly +relations with the natives, and remained for two or three days. Thence +he sailed westward, as close to the shore as safety would permit, and +frequently entered into friendly intercourse with the natives who +thronged the strand to gaze in wonderment at his strange ships. At +Santiago de Cuba he spent a night, and during his stay he diligently +inquired of the natives for the land in which gold was to be found. They +indicated it to lie farther to the south and west, doubtless meaning +South America. Columbus thereupon set sail in that direction, partly +because gold was most desirable to obtain, and partly because he +assumed the land of gold to be the land of the Great Khan, which he was +still intent upon reaching. The result was his discovery of Jamaica. A +fortnight later, however, on May 18, he returned to Cuba, reaching it at +Cabo de la Cruz, or Cape Cruz. Here he found a large village, whose +chief and indeed all whose inhabitants had heard of him as one descended +from heaven. He was hospitably received, and was able to make many +inquiries about the country. He was told that Cuba was an island, but of +so vast extent that nobody had ever sailed around it. He thereupon set +out to circumnavigate it and sailed from Cape Cruz northward into the +Gulf of Guacanabo. There he found a multitude of small islands, which he +named the Queen's Gardens, and there, remembering that Marco Polo and +Sir John Mandeville had both reported the coast of Asia to be fringed +with a crowded archipelago, he was again confirmed in his belief that he +was approaching the shore either of Cathay or of the Golden Chersonesus. + +Navigation among these islands, however, was difficult, dangerous and +slow, particularly when tropical thunderstorms were raging, as they then +were almost daily, and it was with much relief that the expedition at +last reached the Cuban coast, probably at or near Santa Cruz del Sur. +There they were told that they were in the province of Ornofay; the +province which they had formerly visited, at Cape Cruz, was Macaca; and +to the west there lay the important province of Mangon, where they could +secure much fuller information on all subjects. They were again assured +that Cuba was an island, but so vast in extent that nobody could hope +ever to go around it. The mention of the province of Mangon again +stimulated the hopes and fancy of Columbus. He identified it with Mangi, +the southernmost and richest province of the Great Khan, and in this he +was confirmed by the fantastic statement of the natives, that the people +of Mangon had tails and wore long robes to conceal them! Columbus +recalled that Sir John Mandeville had related a similar story as +current among some tribes in Eastern Asia. He therefore set out with +renewed eagerness and expectation for the coast of Mangon. + +Emerging from the archipelago, he sailed for many miles along the +southern coast of Cuba, through an open sea, with the mountain ranges of +Santa Clara at his right hand and at his left the open expanse of the +Caribbean, its intense blue attesting its depth. After passing the Gulf +of Xagua, however, there came a sudden change. The sea became shallow, +and thickly dotted with small islands, keys, and banks, while the water +was white as milk. The voyagers had crossed the Gulf of Cazones and were +among the Juan Luis Keys, where the water is shallow and where at times +the agitation of the water by storms causes it to be whitened and +rendered opaque with the calcareous deposit with which the sea floor is +there thickly covered. This character of the bottom also made it +impossible for the vessels to find anchorage. The anchors dragged and +the water became more white and turbid. To the members of the crews +these phenomena caused great terror, which was by no means ill founded, +since there was imminent danger of the vessels being driven ashore and +wrecked. To Columbus, in his state of mental exaltation and high +expectancy, however, they were full of inspiration and encouragement to +proceed, indicating to him that he was entering strange regions where +extraordinary discoveries were to be made. For we must remember that, +far as he was in advance of his time in geographical vision, he still +thought that the earth was not globular but pear-shaped, and he expected +to find tribes of men with tails, and with only one eye and with their +heads growing beneath their shoulders! + +Finding anchorage at last upon the shore of a small island, he sent the +smallest of his vessels forward to explore the archipelago and also to +visit the coast of the mainland. The report which was brought back to +him was that the archipelago was as dense and as intricate as the +Gardens of the Queen which they had left behind them, and that the +coast of the mainland was flat, marshy, and covered with almost +impenetrable mangrove forests, far beyond which fertile uplands and +mountain ranges were to be seen, while numerous columns of smoke +ascending gave token of a considerable population. At this the entire +expedition proceeded, to retrace the course which had been pursued by +the pilot caravel, and after much difficulty and occasional groundings +of the vessels, the coast of Cuba was reached, doubtless near the +eastern extremity of the great Zapata Peninsula. The vast marshes gave +little encouragement for landing, and the expedition continued eastward +until Punta Gorda was reached, to which Columbus gave the name of Punta +Serafina. + +Rounding this point and heading northward, the fine expanse of Broa Bay +confronted them, with the coast of the Province of Havana far beyond, +and with another archipelago at the west. The mountains which lie between +Guines and Matanzas fringed the horizon, and toward them the Admiral +steered, presently reaching good anchorage off a most inviting coast. The +mangrove swamps of Zapata had been left behind, and here the shore was +high and dry, and covered with groves of palm and other trees. Here a +landing was made, and copious supplies of fresh water were found for the +refilling of their casks, while some of the archers strayed into the +forest in quest of game. One of the latter presently returned in haste +and fear, crying for help. He reported that he had seen in a forest +glade three men of white complexion, clad in long white tunics, leading +a company of about thirty more, armed with clubs and spears. They did +not attack him, but one of them advanced alone as if to speak with him; +whereupon he fled. At this report all his companions joined him in +hastening back to the ships for safety. + +When Columbus heard these things he was much pleased. He saw in them +confirmation of what he had been told about the Province of Mangon, with +its men who had tails and who wore long robes to hide them. He at once +sent a strongly armed party inland to seek these men and parley with +them; directing them to go as much as forty miles inland, if necessary, +to find them, and to find the populous cities which he confidently +believed to exist in that region. These explorers readily enough +traversed the open palm forest which bordered the coast. But then they +came to extensive open upland plains or savannahs, with few trees but +with rank grass and other herbage as high as their heads and so dense as +to be almost impenetrable. No roads or paths were to be found, and it +was necessary to cut a trail through the herbage. For a mile they +struggled on, and then gave up the attempt and returned to the ships. +The next day another party was sent in another direction, with no better +results. Its members found fine open forests, abounding with grapevines +laden with fruit, and they saw flocks of cranes which they described as +twice the size of those of Europe. But they also saw on the ground the +footprints, as they supposed, of lions and of griffins, which so alarmed +them that they beat a hasty retreat. + +Lions, and indeed all large beasts of prey, were never known to exist in +Cuba, and the griffin was of course never anything but imaginary--unless +a tradition of some prehistoric monster, ages ago extinct. But huge +alligators or caymans abounded in Cuban waters, and the footprints which +frightened Columbus's explorers were doubtless made by them. The +observation of large cranes suggests, also, an explanation of the +panic-stricken archer's story of men clothed in white robes. A flock of +those huge birds, standing erect and in line, with their leader advanced +before them, as is their custom, in the semi-gloom of a strange forest, +might well have given him the impression of a company of white-robed +men. Of course, no men of that description were ever found in Cuba, nor +were there traces of any. + +It did not take Columbus long to explore Broa Bay sufficiently to +ascertain that it was not an arm of the sea, but a mere coastal +indentation; whereupon he resumed his westward cruising. A little +further on, probably in the neighborhood of Batabano, he found the shore +inhabited, and though neither he nor his interpreters could understand +the language of the natives, they contrived to hold some communication +with them by means of signs. He gleaned from them in this manner the +information that far to westward, among the mountains, there was a great +king, ruling in magnificence over many provinces; that he wore long +white robes and was considered a semi-divine personage, and that he +never spoke but conveyed his decrees in signs, which nobody dared to +disobey. To what extent this was really intended by the natives, and to +what extent was the mere figment of the Admiral's lively imagination, it +is impossible to say. It is entirely conceivable, however, that the +Cubans had some knowledge of the Aztecs and Toltecs of Mexico, and the +Mayas of Yucatan, and were referring to them. Certainly they could not +have referred to anybody in Cuba. But Columbus, as ever fondly believing +whatever he wished to be true, confidently assumed that they were +telling him of the mythical Prester John, and that he was on the shores +of that potentate's domain. The mountains of which the natives spoke, he +supposed, were those of Pinar del Rio, which were already in sight on +the northwestern horizon. + +Concerning the extent of Cuba, and of the coast along which he was +sailing, Columbus could get little information. He was told that the +coast extended westward for at least twenty days' journey, but whether +it then ended, and how it ended, he could not learn. He therefore took +one of the natives with him as a guide, and resumed his voyage. Almost +immediately, however, he plunged into another archipelago, almost as +dense and troublesome as that through which he had passed a few days +before. Making his way through it with great difficulty, he reached the +coast of Pinar del Rio, and effected a landing amid swamps and forests, +only to find the region uninhabited, though frequent columns of smoke +rising inland indicated to him the presence of a considerable +population. For some time he made his way along that inhospitable coast, +which trended steadily toward the southwest, a direction agreeing with +his conceptions of the Asian coast as described by Marco Polo. Surely, +he thought, he was on the coast of Indo-China, headed straight for the +Golden Chersonesus. If he persisted, he would cross the Indian Ocean and +reach the Red Sea, whence he could complete his journey to Europe +overland by way of Palestine; or he could steer southward along the +African coast and around that continent, and so reach home by +circumnavigating the globe. + +These fancies appear to have been shared by his companions, among whom +were several accomplished navigators and geographers. The delusions were +of course largely due to the erroneous estimate of the size of the +globe, which made its circumference too little by some thousands of +miles. But his companions could not be persuaded to approve his scheme +of going on to circumnavigate the globe. The glamor of that vision did +not blind their eyes to the worn and dilapidated condition of the ships, +the lack of supplies, and the weariness of the crews. They were in no +condition, they insisted, to proceed further through unknown regions. It +was already satisfactorily demonstrated, they held, that they had +reached the Asian coast. The part of prudence was to turn back to +Isabella, if not to Spain, and refit their vessels for another and +longer voyage. + +These counsels finally prevailed upon Columbus himself, at the time when +his flotilla lay at anchor in the Bay of Cortez, near the western +extremity of Cuba. He was indeed so near that extremity that a day or +two more of sailing would have brought him to Cape San Antonio and would +have shown him that Cuba was an island. Or from the top of some tall +tree, or even from the mast head, he might have looked across the lakes +and lowlands of that region and seen the waters of Guadiana Bay, on the +north side of the island. But this was not to be. Instead, he required +every member of his company, from sailing master to cabin boy, to swear +to and sign a formal declaration to the effect that the land which they +had discovered and explored was a part of the Indies and of the Asian +continent. Then, on June 13, he turned his course toward the southeast, +only to enter another archipelago, the San Felipe and Indian keys. +Beyond lay a large land, with mountains, to which he gave the name of +Evangelista. It was, of course, the Isle of Pines, which he reached a +little south of Point Barcos. Taking in a supply of water and wood, he +skirted the coast southward, with the result that he ran into the +land-locked recesses of the Bay of Sunianea. Finding no thoroughfare in +that direction, he sailed back almost to the Bay of Cortez, and then +made his way along the Cuban coast, through the archipelagoes, milky +seas and what not which had given him so much trouble on his westward +trip. + +It was on July 7 that the next landing in Cuba was made, at a point on +the southeastern coast of Camaguey, and at the mouth of a fine river +which Columbus called the Rio de la Missa but the identity of which is +now uncertain. It may have been the San Juan de Najasa or the Sevilla, +or one of the several streams between those two. There, in a most genial +and fruitful region, they spent some days and established friendly +relations with the chief of a considerable community. In the presence of +this chief and his retainers an altar was erected beneath a great tree, +and mass was celebrated. An aged native, apparently a priest, watched +this proceeding with much interest, and at its close approached Columbus +and addressed him, saying: + +"This which thou hast done is, I perceive, thy method of worshipping thy +God; which is well. I am told that thou hast come hither with a strong +force, and hast subdued many lands, filling the people with great fear. +Be not, however, vainglorious. The souls of men after these bodies are +dead have, according to our belief, one of two journeys to pursue. One +is to a place that is dismal, foul and dark, which is prepared for those +who have been cruel and unjust to their fellow men. The other is to a +place of light and joy, prepared for those who have practised peace and +justice. Therefore if thou art mortal, and must some time die, and dost +expect that all men are to be rewarded according to the deeds done in +their bodies, see that thou work justice and do no harm to those who +have done no harm to thee." + +In this address was revealed the most that we know of the religion of +the Cuban aborigines. Columbus listened to it with surprise and +gratification, not having supposed that any such faith or such knowledge +of the future life existed among the natives of Cuba. He responded +through his interpreter sympathetically, assuring the old man that he +had been sent forth by his sovereigns to teach the true faith and to do +good and no evil, and that all innocent and peaceable men might +confidently look to him for friendship and protection. He also had his +interpreter tell the people of the greatness, riches and splendor of +Spain; to which they listened in credulous bewilderment. Then, on July +16, he sailed away from Cuba again, amid expressions of regret by the +chief and his comrades; taking with him one of the young men whom he +afterward sent to the Spanish court. But a storm struck his feeble +vessels and nearly wrecked them. On July 18 they anchored near Cape Cruz +for repairs, and were most hospitably received by the natives. At last, +on July 22, they departed for Jamaica, whence they returned to Isabella. +Never again did Columbus visit Cuba, though he approached its southern +shore on his fourth voyage, on his way to the coast of Central America. +To the end of his life, presumably, he believed Cuba to be a part of the +Asian continent, continuous with Honduras and Veragua. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +We have already quoted the enthusiastic encomium of Columbus upon Cuba +at his first sight of and landing upon its shore. His diary and his +narrative to the sovereigns of Leon and Castile on his return to Spain +abound with similar expressions, as well as with informing bits of +description of Cuba as they then found it. In the very first days of his +first visit he found villages of houses "made like booths, very large, +and looking like tents in a camp without regular streets but one here +and another there. Within they were clean and well swept, with furniture +well made. All were of palm branches, beautifully constructed. They +found many images in the shape of women, and many heads like masks, very +well carved. It was not known whether these were used as ornaments, or +were to be worshipped." + +The waters abounded in fish, and the people of the coast regions were +apparently nearly all fishermen. The only domestic animals were the +"dogs which never barked," and birds in cages. There were seen, however, +skulls like those of cows, on which account Columbus assumed that inland +there were herds of cattle. All night the air was vocal with the songs +of birds and the chirping of crickets and other insects, which lulled +the voyagers to rest. Along the shore and in the mouths of rivers were +found large shells, unlike any that he had known in Spain, but no pearls +were in them. The air was soft and salubrious, and the nights were +neither hot nor cold. On the other islands which he had visited the heat +was oppressive, a circumstance which he attributed to the flat and +low-lying land; while Cuba was mountainous and therefore was blessed +with cooling breezes. + +At some point on the northeastern coast, probably in the neighborhood +of Point Sama, a month after his first landing, he imagined that he had +discovered deposits of gold. It was in the bed of a river, near its +mouth, that he saw stones shining, as if with gold, and he had them +gathered, to take home to Spain and to present to the sovereigns. At the +same point some of the sailors called his attention to the pine trees on +a neighboring hill. They were "so wonderfully large that he could not +exaggerate their height and straightness, and he perceived that in them +was material for great stores of planks and masts for the largest ships +of Spain." + +Further on, probably in the neighborhood of Baracoa, "they came to the +largest inhabited place that they had yet seen, and a vast concourse of +people came down to the beach with loud shouts, all naked, with darts in +their hands." Columbus desired to have speech with them, and accordingly +anchored his ships and sent boats ashore, bearing gifts for the natives. +The people at first seemed inclined to resist any landing, but when the +Spaniards in the boats pressed on and began to land, without manifesting +any fear, they abandoned their hostile attitude and began to withdraw. +The Spaniards who landed called to them and strove to lure them back, +but without success. They all ran away. In consequence of this and +similar incidents, Columbus wrote: + +"I have not been able to see much of the natives, because they take to +flight. But now, if Our Lord pleases, I will see as much as possible, +and will proceed little by little, learning and comprehending; and I +will make some of my followers learn the language--for I have perceived +that there is only one language up to this point. After they understand +the advantages I shall labor to make all these people Christians. They +will readily become such, because they have no religion nor idolatry; +and Your Highnesses"--he was addressing the sovereigns, in his +journal--"will send orders to build a city and fortress, and to convert +these people. + +"It does not appear to me," he continued, "that there can be a more +fertile country or a better climate under the sun, with more abundant +supplies of water. This is not like the rivers of Guinea, which are all +pestilential. I thank Our Lord that up to this time there has not been a +person of my company who has had so much as a head-ache, except one old +man who has suffered from stone all his life, and he was well again in +two days. I speak of all three vessels. If it should please God that +Your Highness should send learned men out here, they will see the truth +of all I have said." + +While in the neighborhood of Baracoa, at the end of November and +beginning of December, 1492, he saw a canoe made of the hole of a single +tree, 95 palms long and capable of carrying 150 persons. "Leaving the +river, they came to a cove in which there were five large canoes, so +well constructed that it was a pleasure to look at them. They were under +spreading trees, and a path led to them from a very well built +boathouse, so thatched that neither sun nor rain could do any harm. +Within it there was another canoe made out of a single tree like the +others, like a galley with 17 benches. It was a pleasant sight to look +upon such goodly work. + +"The Admiral ascended a mountain, and afterward found the country level +and cultivated with many things. In the middle there was a large +village, and they came upon the people suddenly, but as soon as they +were seen the men and women took to flight. The Admiral made the Indian +from on board, who was with him, give them bells, copper ornaments, and +glass beads, green and yellow, with which they were well content. He saw +that they had no gold nor any other precious thing, and that it would +suffice to leave them in peace. The whole district was well peopled.... +No arms are carried by them except wands, on the point of which a short +piece of wood is fixed, hardened by fire, and these they are very ready +to exchange. + +"Returning to where he had left the boats, he sent back some men up the +hill, because he fancied he had seen a large apiary. Before those he +had sent could return, they were joined by many Indians, and they went +to the boats, where the Admiral was waiting with all his people. One of +the natives advanced into the river near the stern of the boat and made +a long speech, which the Admiral did not understand. At intervals the +other Indians raised their hands to heaven and shouted. The Admiral +thought that the orator was assuring him that he was pleased at his +arrival. But he saw the Indian who came from the ship change the color +of his face and turn as yellow as wax, trembling much and indicating to +the Admiral by signs that he should leave the river, as they were going +to kill him. The Admiral then pointed to a cross-bow which one of his +followers had, and showed it to the Indians, making them understand that +they would all be slain, because that weapon killed people at a great +distance. He also drew a sword from its sheath and showed it to them, +telling them that it, too, would slay them. Thereupon they all took to +flight; while the Indian from the ship still trembled from cowardice, +though he was a tall, strong man." + +Columbus then determined to seek further acquaintance with the natives, +and accordingly had his boat rowed to a point on the shore of the river +where they were assembled in great numbers. They were naked, and +painted; some wearing tufts of feathers on their heads, and all carrying +bundles of darts. "I came to them," said Columbus, "and gave them bread, +asking for the darts, in exchange for which I gave copper ornaments, +bells and glass beads. This made them peaceable, so that they came to +the boats again and gave us what they had. The sailors had killed a +turtle, and the shell was on the boat, cut into pieces, some of which +the sailors gave them in exchange for a bundle of darts. They were like +the other people we had seen, with the same belief that we had come from +heaven." They were ready, he added, to give anything that they had in +exchange for any trifle, which they would accept without saying that it +was little, and Columbus believed that they would thus give away gold +and spices, if they had had any. In one of the houses which he entered +"shells and other things were fastened to the ceiling." He thought that +it was a temple, and he inquired, by signs, if such was the case and if +prayers were there offered. The natives replied in the negative, and one +of them climbed up to take down the ceiling ornaments and give them to +Columbus, who accepted a few of them. + +It was early in November, 1492, that one of the most noteworthy +discoveries in relation to Cuba was made. At that time Columbus sent +inland from the port at the mouth of the Rio de Mares two men, Rodrigo +de Jerez and Luis de Torres, to explore the inland country and to find +if possible the high road to the capital and palace of the Great Khan. +These men did not find what they had been sent for, but something else, +which proved in after years to be of incalculable value to Cuba and to +the world. To quote Las Casas: + +"They met on the road many men and women, passing to their villages, the +men always with half-burned brands in their hands and certain herbs for +smoking. These herbs are dry and are placed in a dry leaf made in the +shape of the paper tubes which the boys make at Easter. Lighted at one +end, at the other the smoke is sucked or drawn in with the breath. The +effect of it is to make them sleepy and as it were intoxicated, and they +say that using it relieves the feeling of fatigue. These rolls they call +'tabacos.'" Some of Columbus's men, when it was reported to them, tried +smoking the "tabacos," and the habit soon became prevalent among the +Spanish colonists in Hispaniola. + +These few items, then, compose practically the sum and substance of the +knowledge which Columbus acquired of that land which was, second to only +the continent, by far the most important of all his discoveries. They +are few and meagre. It is indeed doubtful if history records an even +approximately comparable instance of the disappearance of a numerous and +capable people from a country of vast interest and importance, leaving +behind them so few traces of themselves and so little information +concerning them. For these things are not merely all that Columbus +learned about Cuba. They are all that his successors learned and that +the world has ever learned about Cuba as it existed prior to and at the +time of the great discovery. Tobacco, hammocks, canoes, and the name of +the island and the names of various places on it which have persisted in +spite of the repeated attempts to substitute a new nomenclature; these +are the world's memorials of pre-Columbian Cuba. + +The brief visits and superficial inspection which we have recorded were +not, however, destined to be the full compass of the Discoverer's +personal relationship to Cuba. While he did not again visit the island +in life, nor give to it any of the attention which ampler knowledge +would have shown him it deserved, his mortal remains were conveyed +thither, and there remained for a considerable period; though by a +strange fatality this fact, well authenticated as it is, has been +persistently and elaborately disputed, until the tomb of Columbus has in +the minds of many become almost as much a matter of speculation and +uncertainty as the place of his birth. + +It was on Ascension Day, May 20, 1506, that Columbus died at Valladolid, +in Spain, and there his body was laid to rest in the parish church of +Santa Maria de la Antigua, a church of the Franciscan Fathers. The date +of the first removal is unknown, and is much disputed. Some have placed +it as late as the year 1513, while others, as the result of later and +more assured research, declare it to have been within a year or two, or +at most within three years, of his death. Of the new place of sepulture, +however, there is no question. It was in a chapel of the Carthusian +monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, at Seville; where also, years +afterward, were laid the remains of his son, Diego, who died at +Montalban on February 23, 1526. + +But as in life, so in death Columbus must needs be a wanderer. In 1542 +the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of that island colony of +Hispaniola to which Columbus's chief attention had been given, demanded +to be made the repository of the body of its founder. Accordingly, +Charles I decreed the removal, and the bodies of Christopher Columbus +and his son Diego were both transferred from Seville to a double tomb in +the cathedral of Santo Domingo, hard by the fortress in which the +Discoverer had once been confined by Bobadilla as a prisoner. Thus far +the record was and is clear; and for two and a half centuries the tomb +remained inviolate. Indeed, it was so little meddled with that its +precise location became a matter of doubt, save that it was somewhere +"in the main sanctuary" of the cathedral. + +The first attempt to determine it was made about 1783 by the French +politician and writer, Moreau de Saint-Mery, a kinsman of the Empress +Josephine and a member of the Colonial Council of Santo Domingo. +Diligent inquiry, without actual exhumation, resulted in the information +that the remains of Christopher Columbus, enclosed first in a leaden +casket and then in a massive coffin of stone, lay underneath the Gospel +side of the sanctuary, and that those of his brother, Bartholomew +Columbus, similarly enclosed, lay underneath the Epistle side. This was +contrary, in one respect, to the understanding of years before, which +was that it was the body of Columbus's grandson Luis which lay under the +Epistle side of the sanctuary. The problem was complicated by the fact +that the cathedral had been so remodelled that the tomb of Columbus was +underneath its wall, where actual examination was difficult; and in fact +no exhumation was then attempted. + +In 1795, however, the island was transferred to French sovereignty, and +the Spanish governor, on relinquishing his rule, requested permission to +remove the remains of Columbus to Havana, Cuba, in order that they might +continue to rest beneath the Spanish flag. This was granted to him, and +accordingly, in January, 1796, the tomb beneath the wall on the Gospel +side of the sanctuary of the cathedral of Santo Domingo was opened, and +the coffin found within was reverently removed and borne to Havana, +where it was deposited in a new tomb in the cathedral--formerly the +Church of the Jesuits--where its presence was indicated by a medallion +and inscription on the wall of the chancel. For many years that was +indubitably regarded as the tomb of the Discoverer. + +It was not until 1877 that doubt of this fact arose. In that year +repairs were made to the cathedral of Santo Domingo, in the course of +which the rector, the Rev. Francis Navier Billini, insisted upon +reopening the tomb underneath the Epistle side of the sanctuary, which +had of old been reputed to contain the coffin of Luis Columbus, but +which Saint-Mery had been informed contained the remains of Bartholomew +Columbus. There was discovered a leaden casket, which, like that which +had been taken to Havana, bore no inscription. But upon or close by it +there lay a sheet of lead bearing the words, "The Admiral Don Luis +Colon, Duke of Veragua and Marquis of...." The remainder was +undecipherable. The casket was therefore accepted as that of Columbus's +grandson; confirming the common belief before the time of Saint-Mery. + +Not content with this discovery, the enterprising rector continued his +excavations, and presently the finding of another leaden casket was +announced, which was reported to bear an inscription, much abbreviated, +which, amplified, ran thus: "Discoverer of America; First Admiral." This +created a great sensation, and stimulated Dominican pride. The rector at +once sent for the President of Santo Domingo and other dignitaries of +state and church, including various foreign diplomats and consuls, and +in their presence continued the examination of the treasure trove. Upon +opening the casket, the inner side of the lid was found also to bear an +inscription, greatly abbreviated, which was interpreted as reading: +"Illustrious and Noble Man, Don Cristoval Colon." This the Dominicans +joyfully proclaimed to be proof positive that the remains of the +Discoverer were still in their possession, and that the casket which had +been taken to Havana contained the bones of some other member of the +Columbus family. + +From that event arose a controversy which probably will never be settled +to universal satisfaction. The Dominicans marshalled to the support of +their claims various historical and antiquarian authorities, and the +Cubans and the Spanish government secured at least an equal array in +support of their claim that the remains of Columbus had been transferred +to Havana. A strongly convincing report to the latter effect was made to +the Spanish government by Senor Colmeiro, of the Spanish Royal Academy +of History, and his judgment was generally accepted throughout Cuba and +Spain. It was pointed out that the inscriptions contained various +anachronisms indicating that they must have been written at a much later +date than that of the death and interment of Columbus. + +Havana therefore continued confidently to pride itself upon being the +repository of the dust of the Great Admiral, and his tomb in the ancient +cathedral was thus recognized and revered by countless visitors. But at +last, in 1899, after the independence of Cuba from Spain had been +accomplished, a request was made by the Spanish Government for the +transfer of the casket and its precious contents back to Spain, where +historically they belonged. It was indeed pointed out that the transfer +to Havana in 1796 had been intended to be only temporary, pending a +fitting opportunity for a further removal to Spain. This request was +granted, and the dust of the Discoverer was finally reinterred in the +cathedral of Seville. + +[Illustration: THE HAVANA CATHEDRAL + +Originally the church of the Jesuits, this imposing edifice was built in +1656, though not completed until 1724, and took the place of the first +cathedral in 1762. Within a tomb within its walls the remains of +Columbus rested from 1796, when they were taken thither from Santo +Domingo, to 1899, when they were conveyed to Spain.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Between these first merely tentative and inconclusive visits of Columbus +to Cuba, in which so much was imagined and so little learned or done, +and the actual occupation and settlement of the island, which were +reserved for a few years later, it will be profitable to pause for a +brief space, to review what science has revealed to us of not merely the +pre-Columbian but indeed what we may term the archaic history of this +chief member of the Antillean group. It is a history written in the +rocks and soils, in the mountains and plains and rivers; in brief, the +natural history of the island. + +This was something at which Columbus could merely have guessed, if +indeed he had taken the trouble to think of it at all. He knew only that +it was a fair land to look upon and promised to be a pleasant land in +which to dwell; and his successors in the quest hoped to find its river +beds and its mountain rocks rich with the gold which they coveted. That +was all. It remained for the ampler knowledge and the more patient and +painstaking research of later years to analyze the structure of the +island, to discern the causes and the processes through which it had +been developed into its present beautiful and opulent condition, and to +learn that on the surface and just below the surface of its almost +infinitely variegated face there lay the potency and the promise of +wealth beyond the utmost limits of the dreams of those conquistadors of +ancient Spain who were oestrus-driven by the _auri sacra fames_. + +Let us consider, then, the geological history of Cuba, so far as it has +been ascertained; and the topography of the land as it has been revealed +through a far more comprehensive survey than that of the Great Admiral's +enraptured vision. + +It is, of course, impossible to know the geological history of a country +until its paleontology has been thoroughly studied and investigated. +Where formations of different geological ages are lithologically so +similar as to be often indistinguishable, the only method of +differentiating them is by their fossils. Some paleontological work has +been done in Cuba, but the specimens collected were not accompanied by +the necessary data. + +In the present imperfect state of our knowledge of the stratigraphy and +areal geology of the island, it would be hazardous to attempt to +indicate the times at which the various levels were developed, or to +designate the periods during which they remained above the level of the +sea. To do this would require a detailed knowledge of nearly all the +various phases of its geology. + +The oldest rocks in Cuba, with the possible exception of the schistose +limestones of Trinidad, are composed of granites and serpentines. The +relative age of these rocks, to the central mass of limestones in the +province of Pinar del Rio, has not been determined, but we do know that +the oldest igneous rocks were themselves folded, faulted and subjected +to other processes of metamorphism, and that subsequent to the changes +to which they were subjected, the entire region was uplifted and deeply +eroded before the cretaceous sedimentation began. No data are available +for determining the geologic period at which the pre-cretaceous erosion +began, but the region has doubtless been standing above the waters of +the ocean for a very long interval, since the amount of rock carried +away has been manifestly great. + +The surface upon which the cretaceous sediments were deposited, appears +to have been reduced by erosion to a very low relief, so that the land +was a featureless plain when the cretaceous subsidence began. The time +interval required for the accomplishment of this erosion must have been +very long, since when it began the region was undoubtedly mountainous. + +The complex character and disturbed altitude of the pre-cretaceous +rocks, the granites, diorites and other granular rocks which appear on +the surface because of this erosion, were originally formed deep within +the crust of the earth, and therefore furnish a reason for believing +that this period of erosion was exceedingly long. + +It has been suggested that during the Jurassic times, the southeastern +coast of the United States was connected by a long isthmus, following +the line of the Antilles, to the northeastern coast of South America. +The data presented would seem to indicate that at least the eastern half +of Cuba stood high above the level during this period of the earth's +history, and although data concerning the western half are less +definite, it too was probably composed of high land masses. + +The elevation, and long period of erosion just described, were followed +by subsidence, and on the surface of these old rocks the cretaceous +formations were deposited. The lowest cretaceous rocks yet found are +composed of an arkose, derived in large part from the original igneous +mass. The main body of the strata is composed of limestones, and such +fossils as they contain belong to the genera similar to those of the +cretaceous rocks of Jamaica--Radiolites, Barrettra, Requienia, etc. + +During this time the whole of the Island of Cuba was probably submerged +below the level of the sea. The cretaceous rocks in Santa Clara province +occur in the bottoms of synclines, and the projected dips appear +sufficiently to carry the beds over the tops of the dividing anti-clinal +axis. It is believed, however, that the depth of the cretaceous sea over +the island was probably never very great. + +Owing to a lack of paleontological data, the history of the island +during the Eocene time is vague, but it is probable that a large part of +it was submerged. This is certainly true of the province of Oriente, +where Eocene fossils have been collected. During, and possibly previous +to that period, volcanic agencies were active in Oriente, since volcanic +rocks are found interbedded with sediments of the Eocene age. The same +forces were probably active in other sections of the island, and the +intrusion of Diorite porphyries in Santa Clara and other provinces +probably took place during that period. + +A portion of the island, at least in the vicinity of Baracoa, was deeply +submerged during the lower Oligocene times, as is proved by the +occurrence of radiolarian earth beneath the upper oligocene limestones +near the above town. Radiolarian oozes are at present being formed on +the sea bottom at depths of between 2,000 and 4,000 fathoms. This, of +course, does not prove that the deposits of Baracoa were laid down at so +great a depth as present day dredging would indicate, but we can at +least feel confident that they were formed in very deep water. This does +not imply however that the whole island was sunken to the abysmal +depths. + +During the upper Oligocene time very nearly the whole island was +undoubtedly submerged. Previous to this volcanic agencies had been very +active throughout the larger portion of the island. Mountain building in +Oriente had begun before the deposition of upper Oligocene strata, and +the Sierra Maestra had already been elevated to a considerable height +above the sea. It is probable that the sea at this time covered the +whole of the island, with the exception of portions of Oriente province +along its north and south coast, and occasional high peaks along the +axis of the provinces further west. + +The Miocene period was one of general uplift. The whole of the island as +we at present know it, was above the level of the ocean's waters. There +were foldings and uplifts during this period, and volcanic elevation +along the axial line being greater than at the sides. It is probable +that the folding of the Oligocene strata noted in the vicinity of Havana +and Matanzas took place during this time. It may be inferred that the +central portion of the province of Oriente was more highly elevated than +the coastal portions, since upper Oligocene limestones occur in this +section at considerably higher elevations than along either the north or +south coast. + +It is furthermore very probable that the terracing of the Oligocene +coral reefs, such as may be seen in the vicinity of the city of +Santiago, was taking place during that time. All the evidence goes to +show that these are wave-cut terraces. It may be added here that all of +the elevated Pleistocene coral reefs recorded are plastered on the +surface of the upper Oligocene formations, or in some instances older +geologic rocks. This applies to every later coral terrace that has been +described, beginning with Cabanas and extending entirely around the +island to the City of Santiago. + +The existence of marine Pliocene in Cuba has not been proved. There may +be pliocene rocks in the vicinity of Havana some 60 feet above the sea +level. If these are true Pliocene, it would indicate a subsidence during +that time of from ISO to 180 feet. The character of the fauna found in +the quarry on Calle Infanta does not indicate a greater depth than from +SO to 70 feet for the water in which the limestone was deposited. + +Subsequent to this deposition, there was an elevation which caused the +land to stand some forty or fifty feet higher than it does to-day. This +probably took place in early Pleistocene times, at which time the Isle +of Pines and Cuba were connected. One reason for the belief in this +elevation is the existence of an old, deep and comparatively narrow cut +in the bed of the present channel leading out of Havana harbor. There is +further evidence of a general elevation found in borings for water, +three miles southeast of the city of Santiago. + +At a depth of some 70 feet below the sea level, in the Rio San Juan +Valley, stream-carried pebbles were found. This would indicate that the +bottom of this valley once stood at least 70 feet or more above sea +level. Subsequent to this elevation, there was a subsidence varying from +40 to 70 feet. There were doubtless other slight oscillations during +the Pleistocene period, and these may be going on at the present time, +although we have no evidence from records of actually measured monuments +established since the Spanish occupation of the island. + +Paleontologic, biologic and physiographic research seems to indicate +that there has been no land connection between Cuba and North America at +any time since the beginning of the Tertiary, unless perhaps during the +Oligocene period, and it seems probable there was no connection whatever +during cretaceous times. + +Cuba furnishes a very interesting field, not only for geologic research, +but for a far more extended study and survey of its many important +mineral zones both for scientific and for economic reasons. + +Topographically the surface of Cuba may be divided into five rather +distinct zones, three of which are essentially mountainous. The first +includes the entire eastern third of the province of Oriente, together +with the greater part of its coast line, where the highest mountains of +the island are found. The second includes the greater part of the +province of Camaguey, made up of gently rolling plains broken by +occasional hills or low mountains, that along the northern coast, and +again in the southeast center of the province, rise to a height of +approximately 1,500 feet above the general level. + +The next is a mountainous district including the greater part of eastern +Santa Clara. The fourth comprises the western portion of this province +together with all of Matanzas and Havana. The surface of this middle +section is largely made up of rolling plains, broken here and there by +hills that rise a few hundred feet above the sea level. + +The fifth includes the province of Pinar del Rio, the northern half of +which is traversed from one end to the other by several more or less +parallel ranges of sierras, with mean altitudes ranging from 1,000 to +2,000 feet, leaving the southern half of the province a flat plain, +into which, along its northern edge, project spurs and foot hills of +the main range. + +The highest mountains of Cuba are located in the province of Oriente, +where their general elevation is somewhat higher than that of the +Allegheny or eastern ranges of the United States. The mountainous area +of this province is greater than that of the combined mountain areas of +all other parts of the island. The mountains occur in groups, composed +of different kinds of rock, and have diverse structures, more or less +connected with one another. + +The principal range is the Sierra Maestra, extending from Cabo Cruz to +the Bay of Guantanamo, forty miles east of Santiago. This chain is +continuous and of fairly uniform altitude, with the exception of a break +in the vicinity of Santiago where the wide basin of Santiago Bay cuts +across the main trend of the range. The highest peak of the island is +known as Turquino, located near the middle of the Sierra Maestra, and +reaching an altitude of 8,642 feet. + +The hills back of Santiago Bay, separating it from the Valley of the +Cauto, are similar in structure to the northern foothills of the main +sierra. In the western part of the range, the mountains rise abruptly +from the depths of the Caribbean Sea, but near the City of Santiago, and +to the eastward, they are separated from the ocean by a narrow coastal +plain, very much dissected. The streams which traverse it occupy valleys +several hundred feet in depth, while the remnants of the plateau appear +in the tops of the hills. + +East of Guantanamo Bay there are mountains which are structurally +distinct from the Sierra Maestra, and these continue to Cape Maysi, the +eastern terminus of Cuba. To the west they rise abruptly from the ocean +bed, but further east they are bordered by terraced foothills. Towards +the north they continue straight across the island as features of bold +relief, connecting with the rugged Cuchillas of Baracoa, and with "El +Yunque" lying to the southwest. + +Extending west from this eastern mass are high plateaus and mesas that +form the northern side of the great amphitheatre which drains into +Guantanamo Bay. Much of this section, when raised from the sea, was +probably a great elevated plain, cut up and eroded through the ages +since the seismic uplift that caused its birth. + +The most prominent feature of the northern mountains of Oriente +Province, west of "El Yunque," is the range comprising the Sierras +Cristal and Nipe. These extend east and west, but are separated into +several distinct masses by the Rio Sagua, and the Rio Mayari, which +break through and empty into harbors on the north coast. The high +country south of these ranges has the character of a deeply dissected +plateau, the upper stratum of which is limestone. + +The character of the surface would indicate that nearly all the +mountains of the eastern part of Oriente have been carved through +erosion of centuries from a high plateau, the summits of which are found +in "El Yunque" near Baracoa, and other flat topped mountains within the +drainage basins of the Mayari and the Sagua rivers. The flat summits of +the Sierra Nipe are probably remnants of the same great uplift. + +Below this level are other benches or broad plateaus, the two most +prominent occurring respectively at 1,500 and 2,000 feet above sea +level. The highest summits rise to an altitude of 2,800 or 3,000 feet. +The 2,000 foot plateau of the Sierra Nipe alone includes an area +estimated at not less than 40 square miles. It would seem that these +elevated plateaus with their rich soils might be utilized for the +production of wheat, and some of the northern fruits that require a +cooler temperature than that found in other parts of Cuba. + +In the province of Oriente, the various mountain groups form two +marginal ranges, which merge in the east, and diverge toward the west. +The southern range is far more continuous, while the northern is +composed of irregular groups separated by numerous river valleys. +Between these divergent ranges lies the broad undulating plain of the +famous Cauto Valley, which increases in width as it extends westward. +The northern half of this valley merges into the plains of Camaguey, +whose surface has been disturbed by volcanic uplifts only by a small +group known as the Najassa Hills, in the southeast center of the +province, and by the Sierra Cubitas Range, which parallels the coast +from the basin of Nuevitas Bay until it terminates in the isolated hill +known as Loma Cunagua. + +The central mountainous region of the island is located in the province +of Santa Clara, where a belt of mountains and hills following +approximately northeast and southwest lines, passes through the cities +of Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara. Four groups are found here, one of +which lies southwest of Sancti Spiritus and east of the Rio Agabama. A +second group is included between the valleys of the Agabama and the Rio +Arimao. + +The highest peak of Santa Clara is known as Potrerillo, located seven +miles north of Trinidad, with an altitude of 2,900 feet. A third group +lies southeast of the city of Santa Clara, and includes the Sierra del +Escambray and the Alta de Agabama. The rounded hills of this region have +an altitude of about 1,000 feet although a few of the summits are +somewhat higher. + +The fourth group consists of a line of hills, beginning 25 miles east of +Sagua la Grande, and extending into the province of Camaguey. The trend +of this range is transverse with the general geological structure of the +region. + +East of the city of Santa Clara the hills of this last group merge with +those of the central portion of the province. The summits in the +northern line reach an altitude of only a thousand feet. The principal +members are known as the Sierra Morena, west of Sagua la Grande, Lomas +de Santa Fe, near Camaguini, the Sierra de Bamburanao, near Yaguajay, +and the Lomas of the Savanas, south of the last mentioned town. + +In the province of Pinar del Rio, we find another system, or chain of +mountains, dominated by the Sierra de los Organos or Organ mountains. +These begin a little west of Guardiana Bay, with a chain of "magotes" +known as the "Pena Blanca," composed of tertiary limestone. These are +the result of a seismic upheaval running from north to south, almost at +right angles with the main axis of the chains that form the mountainous +vertebrae of the island. + +Between the city of Pinar del Rio and the north coast of La Esperanza, +the Organos are broken up into four or five parallel ridges, two of +which are composed of limestone, while the others are of slate, +sandstones and schists. The term "magote," in Cuba, is applied to one of +the most interesting and strikingly beautiful mountain formations in the +world. They are evidently remnants of high ranges running usually from +east to west, and have resulted from the upheaval of tertiary strata +that dates back probably to the Jurassic period. + +The soft white material of this limestone, through countless eons of +time, has been hammered by tropical rains that gradually washed away the +surface and carved their once ragged peaks into peculiar, round, +dome-shaped elevations that often rise perpendicularly to a height of +1,000 feet or more above the level grass plains that form their base. +Meanwhile the continual seepage of water formed great caverns within, +that sooner or later caved in and fell, hastening thus the gradual +leveling to which all mountains are doomed as long as the world is +supplied with air and water. The softening and continual crumbling away +of the rock have formed a rich soil on which grows a wonderful wealth of +tropical vegetation, unlike anything known to other sections of Cuba, or +perhaps to the world. + +The valley of the Vinales, lying between the city of Pinar del Rio and +the north coast, might well be called the garden of the "magotes," since +not only is it surrounded by their precipitous walls, but several of +them, detached from the main chain, rise abruptly from the floor of the +valley, converting it into one of the most strangely beautiful spots in +the world. + +John D. Henderson, the naturalist, in speaking of this region, says: +"The valley of the Vinales must not be compared with the Yosemite or +Grand Canyon, or some famed Alpine passage, for it cannot display the +astounding contrast of these, or of many well-known valleys among the +higher mountains of the world. We were all of us traveled men who viewed +this panorama, but all agreed that never before had we gazed on so +charming a sight. There are recesses among the Rocky Mountains of Canada +into which one gazes with awe and bated breath, where the very silence +oppresses, and the beholder instinctively reaches out for support to +guard against slipping into the awful chasm below. But the Valley of +Vinales, on the contrary, seems to soothe and lull the senses. Like +great birds suspended in the sky, we long to soar above it, and then +alighting within some palm grove, far below, to rejoice in its +atmosphere of perfect peace." + +A mountain maze of high, round-topped lomas, dominates almost the entire +northern half of Pinar del Rio. It is the picturesque remnant of an +elevated plain that at some time in the geological life of the island +was raised above the surface 1,500, perhaps 2,000, feet. This, through +the erosion of thousands of centuries, has been carved into great land +surges, without any particular alignment or system. + +Straight up through the center of this mountainous area are projected a +series of more or less parallel limestone ridges. These, as a rule, have +an east and west axis, and attain a greater elevation than the lomas. +They are known as the Sierras de los Organos, although having many local +names at different points. Water and atmospheric agencies have carved +them into most fantastic shapes, so that they do, in places, present an +organ pipe appearance. They are almost always steep, often with +vertical walls or "paradones" that rise 1,000 feet from the floor or +base on which they rest. + +The northernmost range, running parallel to the Gulf Coast, is known as +the "Costanero." The highest peak of Pinar del Rio is called Guajaibon, +which rises to an altitude of 3,000 feet, with its base but very little +above the level of the sea. It is probably of Jurassic limestone and +forms the eastern outpost of the Costaneros. + +The southern range of the Organos begins with an interesting peak known +as the Pan de Azucar, located only a few miles east of the Pena Blanca. +From this western sentinel with many breaks extends the great southern +chain of the Organos with its various groups of "magotes," reaching +eastward throughout the entire province. At its extreme eastern terminus +we find a lower and detached ridge known as the Pan de Guanajay, which +passes for a few miles beyond the boundary line, and into the province +of Havana. + +Surrounding the Organos from La Esperanza west, and bordering it also on +the south for a short distance east of the city of Pinar del Rio, are +ranges of round topped lomas, composed largely of sandstone, slate and +shale. The surface of these is covered with the small pines, scrubby +palms and undergrowth found only on poor soil. + +From the Mulato River east, along the north coast, the character of the +lomas changes abruptly. Here we have deep rich soil covered with +splendid forests of hard woods, that reach up into the Organos some ten +miles back from the coast. Along the southern edge of the Organos, from +Herredura east, lies a charming narrow belt of rolling country covered +with a rich sandy loam that extends almost to the city of Artemisa. + +Extensions, or occasional outcroppings, of the Pinar del Rio mountain +system, appear in the Province of Havana, and continue on into Matanzas, +where another short coastal range appears, just west of the valley of +the Yumuri. This, as before stated, has its continuation in detached +ranges that extend along the entire north coast, with but few +interruptions, until merged into the mountain maze of eastern Oriente. + +Outside of the mountainous district thus described, the general surface +of Cuba is a gently undulating plain, with altitudes varying from only a +few feet above the sea level to 500 or 600 feet, near El Cristo in +Oriente. In Pinar del Rio it forms a piedmont plain that entirely +surrounds the mountain range. On the south this plain has a maximum +width of about 25 miles and ascends gradually from the shores of the +Caribbean at the rate of seven or eight feet to the mile until it +reaches the edge of the foothills along the line of the automobile drive +connecting Havana with the capital of Pinar del Rio. + +North of the mountain range, the lowland belt is very much narrower and +in some places reaches a height of 200 feet as a rule deeply dissected, +so that in places only the level of the hill tops mark the position of +the original plain. + +The two piedmont plains of Pinar del Rio unite at the eastern extremity +of the Organos Mountains and extend over the greater part of the +provinces of Havana and Matanzas and the western half of Santa Clara. +The divide as a whole is near the center of this plain, although the +land has a gradual slope from near the northern margin towards the +south. + +In the neighborhood of Havana, the elevation varies between 300 and 400 +feet, continuing eastward to Cardenas. The streams flowing north have +lowered their channels as the land rose, and the surface drained by them +has become deeply dissected, while the streams flowing toward the south +have been but little affected by the elevation and remain generally in +very narrow channels. + +East of Cardenas the general elevation of the plain is low, sloping +gradually both north and south from the axis of the island. Considerable +areas of this plain are found among the various mountain groups in the +eastern half of Santa Clara province, beyond which it extends over the +greater part of Camaguey and into Oriente. Here it reaches the northern +coast between isolated mountain groups, extending as far east as Nipe +Bay, and toward the south, merges into the great Cauto Valley. + +From Cabo Cruz the plain extends along the northern base of the Sierra +Maestra to the head of the Cauto Valley. Its elevation near Manzanillo +is about 200 feet, whence it increases to 640 feet at El Cristo. In the +central section of Oriente, the Cauto River and its tributaries have cut +channels into this plain from 50 to 200 feet in depth. In the lower part +of the valley these channels are sometimes several miles across and are +occupied by alluvial flats or river bottoms. They decrease in width +toward the east and in the upper part of the valley become narrow +gorges. + +A large part of this plain of Cuba, especially in the central provinces, +is underlaid by porous limestone, through which the surface waters have +found underground passages. This accounts for the fact that large areas +are occasionally devoid of flowing surface streams. The rain water sinks +into the ground as soon as it falls, and after flowing long distances +under ground, emerges into bold springs, such as those of the Almendares +that burst out of the river bank some eight miles south of the City of +Havana. Engineers of the rope and cordage plant, just north of the City +of Matanzas, while boring for water, found unexpectedly a swift, running +river, only ten feet below the surface, that has given them an +inexhaustible supply of excellent water. + +Most of the plains of Cuba above indicated have been formed by the +erosion of its surface, and are covered with residual soil derived from +the underlying limestones. Where they consist of red or black clays they +are, as a rule, exceedingly fertile. Certain portions of the plains, +especially those bordering on the southern side of the mountains of +Pinar del Rio, are covered with a layer of sand and gravel, washed down +from the adjoining highlands, and are, as a rule, inferior in fertility +to soils derived from the erosion of limestone. Similar superficial +deposits are met in the vicinity of Cienfuegos, and in other sections of +the island, where the plain forms a piedmont adjacent to highlands +composed of silicious rocks. + +The most striking and perhaps the most important fact in regard to the +climate of Cuba is its freedom from those extremes of temperature which +are considered prejudicial to health in any country. The difference +between the mean annual temperature of winter and that of summer is only +twelve degrees, or from 76 degrees to 88 degrees. Even between the +coldest days of winter, when the mercury once went as low as 58 degrees, +and the extreme limit of summer, registered as 92 degrees, we have a +difference of only 34 degrees; and the extremes of summer are seldom +noticed, since the fresh northeast trade winds coming from the Atlantic +sweep across the island, carrying away with them the heated atmosphere +of the interior. + +The fact that the main axis of the island, with its seven hundred mile +stretch of territory, extends from southeast to northwest, almost at +right angles to the general direction of the wind, plays a very +important part in the equability of Cuba's climate. Then again, the +island is completely surrounded by oceans, the temperature of which +remains constant, and this plays an important part in preventing +extremes of heat or cold. + +Ice, of course, cannot form, and frost is found only on the tops of the +tallest mountain ranges. The few cold days during winter, when the +thermometer may drop to 60 after sundown, are the advance waves of +"Northers" that sweep down from the Dakotas, across Oklahoma and the +great plains of Texas, eventually reaching Cuba, but only after the +sting of the cold has been tempered in its passage of six hundred miles +across the Gulf of Mexico. + +A temperature of 60 degrees in Cuba is not agreeable to the natives, or +even to those residents who once lived in northern climes. This may be +due to the fact that life in the tropics has a tendency to thin the +blood, and to render it less resistant to low temperature; and also +because Cuban residences are largely of stone, brick or reinforced +concrete, with either tile or marble floors, and have no provision +whatever against cold. And, although the walls are heavy, the windows, +doors and openings are many times larger than those of residences in the +United States, hence the cold cannot readily be excluded as in other +countries. There is said to be but one fireplace on the Island of Cuba, +and that was built in the beautiful home of an American, near Guayabal, +just to remind him, he said, of the country whence he came. + +Again, in the matter of rainfall and its bearing on the climate of a +country, Cuba is very fortunate. The rains all come in the form of +showers during the summer months, from the middle of May until the end +of October, and serve to purify and temper the heat of summer. On the +other hand, the cooler months of winter are quite dry, and absolutely +free from the chilling rains, sleets, snows, mists and dampness, that +endanger the health, if not the life, of those less fortunate people who +dwell in latitudes close to 40 degrees. + +Cloudy, gloomy days are almost unknown in Cuba, and the sun can be +depended upon to shine for at least thirty days every month, and +according to the testimony of physicians nothing is better than sunshine +to eliminate the germs of contagious diseases. Hence we can truthfully +say that in the matter of climate and health, Cuba asks no favor of any +country on earth. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +For a considerable time after the last visit of Columbus, Cuba was +strangely neglected by the enterprising explorers and conquistadors of +Spain. Hispaniola, since known as Hayti or Santo Domingo, became the +chief colony and centre of Spanish authority in the Antilles, and it for +many years far outranked Cuba in interest and importance. It does not +appear that for more than a dozen years after the last visit of Columbus +any attempt whatever was made to colonize or to explore the great +island, if indeed it was so much as voluntarily visited. Navigators +doubtless frequently passed near its shores, on their way to and from +Darien and the Venezuelan coast, and occasionally stress of weather on +the "stormy Caribbean" or actual shipwreck compelled some to land upon +it. Such involuntary landings were presumably made either in the +neighborhood of the Zapata Peninsula or, still more probably, not +exactly upon Cuba at all but upon the southern shore of the tributary +Isle of Pines. In consequence, the voyagers carried back to Hispaniola +or to Spain the not unnatural report that Cuba consisted of nothing but +swamps; a report which of course did not inspire others with zeal to +visit so unfavorable a place. + +For a similar space of time, too, the delusion that Cuba was a part of +the continent generally prevailed. It is true that on a map of Juan de +la Cosa's, to which the date of 1500 is attributed, Cuba is indicated to +be an island. But the date is not certain, by any means; and it is +notorious that more than one early cartographer drew upon imagination as +well as upon ascertained geographical facts. Somewhat more significant +is the fact that Peter Martyr spoke of Cuba as an island, and said that +some sailors pretended to have circumnavigated it. There is no proof, +however, that this was more than rumor. What seems certain is that as +late as 1508 the best authorities were ignorant whether Cuba was island +or mainland, and that not until that time was the question settled. + +Columbus had been succeeded in authority in Hispaniola by Francisco de +Bobadilla, and the latter in turn had in 1501 given way to Nicholas de +Ovando. It does not appear that Ovando sought to colonize Cuba. But he +did wish to determine its extent, and whether it was insular or +continental, and in a memorial to the King of Spain he broached a +proposal for at least its littoral exploration. Ferdinand gave him, +however, no encouragement. On the contrary, he forbade him to spend any +public money on so needless and useless an enterprise. Ovando then +decided to undertake the exploit at his own charge, and, according to +Las Casas, commissioned Sebastian de Ocampo to explore the coasts of the +country and, if he found it to be an island, to circumnavigate it. This +Ocampo did, returning to Hispaniola in the fall of 1508 with the report +that he had sailed completely round Cuba. On the way, he said, he had +made occasional landings, and had found the whole island to be inhabited +by a kindly and intelligent people, well disposed toward Spain. + +Immediately following this expedition, various efforts were made to +colonize Cuba, and to enter into relations with the natives. Conspicuous +among these efforts was one which had for its object the introduction of +Christianity into Cuba, and of which an interesting account is given by +Martin Ferdinand de Enciso in his "Suma de Geografia," the first book +ever published about America. Enciso, it will be remembered, was a +partner of Alonzo de Ojeda, that brilliant and gallant cavalier of Spain +who in 1508 was Governor of Nueva Andalusia, a region which we now know +as the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was Enciso who in 1509 went to +Uraba to the relief of Francisco Pizarro, who had been in command there +but who had become discouraged, had suffered heavy losses from attacks +by the natives, and who was about to abandon the place. It was on one of +Enciso's ships, too, that his friend Vasco Nunez de Balboa, concealed in +a cask to avoid his creditors, escaped from Hispaniola and was conveyed +to Darien, thus getting his opportunity to cross the isthmus and to +discover the Pacific Ocean. + +Enciso relates that a Spanish vessel, cruising off the southern coast of +Cuba, somewhere near Cape de la Cruz, put ashore a young mariner who had +fallen ill, so that he might have a better chance to recover from his +illness than he would on shipboard. The identity of this young man is +not assured, though it has been strongly suggested that he was no other +than Ojeda himself. However that may be, he found himself in his +convalescence the guest of a native chieftain or Cacique who professed +Christianity. The chief had presumably been visited by Ocampo's +expedition. He had been much impressed by the prowess and culture of the +Spaniards, and had desired to become affiliated with the religion which +they professed and to which he attributed their superiority to the +natives of Cuba. Hearing from them that they had been sent thither by +the Comendador Ovando--the Governor of Hispaniola was a Comendador of +the Order of Knights of Alcantara--he chose that title for his own +baptismal name, and was thenceforth known as the Cacique Comendador. + +Pleased to find a Christian chief, and grateful for his own restoration +to health, Ojeda--if it was indeed he--erected in Comendador's house an +altar and placed thereon an image of the Holy Virgin, and instructed the +people to bow before it every evening and to repeat the "Ave, Maria!" +and "Salve, Regina!" This was pleasing to Comendador, but offensive to +the neighboring Caciques, who worshipped an idol which they called Cemi. +In consequence a primitive religious war arose among the natives, in +which, according to Enciso, Comendador and his followers were pretty +uniformly successful. His victories were attributed to the intervention +and aid of "a beautiful woman, clad in white, and carrying a wand." +Finally a test was agreed upon which reminds us of Elijah's Battle of +the Gods on the scathed crest of Mount Carmel. A representative warrior +of each party was to be bound securely, hand and foot, and be placed in +an open field for the night, and if one of them was set free from his +bonds, that would be proof of the superiority of his God. "The God who +looses his servant's bonds, let him be the Lord!" This was done, and +guards of both parties were placed about the field, to make sure that +nobody should meddle with the experiment. + +At midnight, says Enciso, Cemi came to unbind his follower. But before +he could reach him or touch his bonds, the Holy Virgin appeared, clad in +white and bearing a wand. At her approach, Cemi incontinently fled. At a +touch of her wand the bonds fell from the limbs of the Christian +champion, and were added to those already on the limbs of the other man. +Despite the presence of the guards, the Caciques insisted that there had +been trickery, and demanded another trial, to which Comendador, +confident in his faith, agreed. The result was the same as before. Still +they were unconvinced, and demanded a third trial, at which they +themselves would be present as watchers and guards. This also was +granted, and once more the same miracle was wrought. At that the +Caciques all confessed their defeat and the defeat of Cemi, and declared +that the Virgin was worthy to be worshipped. + +This auspicious implanting of Christianity and of good relations between +the natives and the Spaniards did not, unfortunately, endure. It was +interfered with by the too common cause of trouble in those days, the +_auri sacra fames_, the accursed lust for gold. We have seen that King +Ferdinand was unwilling, in his niggardliness, for money to be spent +from his treasury for the exploration of Cuba. But after that work had +been done at Ovando's personal cost, Ferdinand desired to reap the +gains, if any there were. The suggestion was revived that Cuba might be +rich in gold. The King suspected that Ovando and others were deceiving +him concerning the island, and were secretly planning to secure its +riches for themselves. These suspicions were materially increased by the +course of Diego Columbus which, while probably quite honest, was lacking +in tact and worldly wisdom. For when Diego succeeded Ovando as +Governor-General or Viceroy of the Indies, at Hispaniola, one of his +first acts was to commission his uncle, Bartholomew Columbus, to lead an +expedition for the exploration and settlement of Cuba. That was a +legitimate and indeed praiseworthy enterprise. But unfortunately Diego +did not secure in advance the King's authority for it, nor did he +acquaint the King with his intentions. His enemies, however, of whom he +had many, were quick to report the matter to the King, putting it in the +light most unfavorable to both Diego and Bartholomew; and the result was +that Ferdinand at once recalled Bartholomew Columbus to Spain, and +compelled Diego to select another head for the expedition. + +In 1510, then, the King directed Diego Columbus to send forth his +proposed expedition to Cuba, to make a careful examination of the +island, to ascertain the character of its resources, and above all to +determine whether it contained gold. He took pains, moreover, to impress +upon Diego and through him the actual members of the expedition, the +eminent desirability of cultivating the most friendly and confidential +relations with the natives, both as a matter of policy and for the sake +of humanity and religion. The result was the sending, early in 1511, +from Hispaniola, of an expedition in which were interested if not +actually implicated a number of the most conspicuous men in the Indies, +and which marked the actual and permanent opening of Cuba to Spanish +settlement and civilization. + +Diego Columbus was the son and heir of the Great Discoverer, who under +the terms of the royal compact of 1492 was to inherit all his father's +powers and dignities as Admiral and Viceroy of the Western Hemisphere. +For a time Ferdinand on various pretexts refused to fulfil that compact +and to recognize his rights, but appointed Ovando to rule in Hispaniola +in his stead. But after Diego's marriage to Dona Maria de Toledo, the +daughter of the Grand Commander of Leon and the niece of the King's +favorite councillor and friend, the Duke of Alba, a combination of +personal, social and political influence prevailed for the vindication +of his claims, and he was invested with supreme authority in place of +Ovando, who was provided for elsewhere. Diego seems to have been a man +of integrity and engaging character, though perhaps more idealistic than +practical, and not always a match in policy for the scheming politicians +by whom he was surrounded. + +Bartholomew Columbus was the brother of Christopher, was intimately +associated with him in his great enterprises, and was named by him +Adelantado, or Lieutenant Governor, of the Indies. He too was a man of +character and fine parts, bold and enterprising, and possessed of more +practical worldly wisdom than either his brother or his nephew. + +These two stood alone, against a numerous company of personal and +political enemies, both in Hispaniola and in Spain. Indeed, as +Bartholomew was recalled to Spain and was kept there for some time, +Diego was left solitary to contend with or to yield to his foes. It was +therefore probably through necessity that he organized the Cuban +expedition largely with men hostile to him. + +Miguel Pasamonte was his chief foe. He had been the secretary of Queen +Isabella, and had filled important Ambassadorships, but was now the +royal treasurer in Hispaniola. He had been one of the bitterest enemies +of Christopher Columbus, and had transferred a full measure of hostility +to Diego; and it was he who reported to the King in its most unfavorable +light Diego's plans for sending Bartholomew Columbus to Cuba. In his +hostility to both Christopher and Diego Columbus he was greatly aided +and abetted by Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Bishop of Seville; who had +violently quarrelled with Christopher Columbus over the fitting out of +his second voyage and who also had transferred his hatred to the +Admiral's son. + +[Illustration: DIEGO VELASQUEZ] + +Diego Velasquez was another of the faction hostile to the Columbuses, +though at first he had been a friend and companion of the Admiral. It is +probable that he had no personal enmity toward Diego Columbus, but +joined himself to the other faction through motives not unconnected with +personal pecuniary profit. He had gone from Spain to Hispaniola with +Christopher Columbus on his second voyage, and had ever since been one +of the most efficient administrators in that island and indeed in all +the Indies. For a time he was a military leader in campaigns against +hostile natives, and afterward he became Lieutenant Governor of the +island. He was a man of high ability, of singularly handsome person, of +engaging manners, of much popularity, and of abundant force of character +for successful leadership and command of men. He was, however, not +always scrupulous in his dealings, and it was not to his moral credit +that he became the richest man in all the Indies. He was a close friend +and partisan of Pasamonte, and associated with him in the same alliance +were the royal secretary in Hispaniola, Conchillos, and also the royal +accountant, Christopher de Cuellar, who was both the cousin and +father-in-law of Velasquez. + +Diego Columbus, then, either through policy or through compulsion, +appointed Velasquez to be his lieutenant in Cuba, and commissioned him +to organize and personally to lead the intended expedition to that +island. He also promised that the King would refund whatever private +expenditures Velasquez and his companions should make on account of it; +a promise which was authorized by the King, but not fulfilled save in +the indirect way of empowering the members of the expedition to recoup +themselves at the expense of the people of the island; an arrangement +decidedly at variance with Ferdinand's former solicitude for good +treatment for the natives. Further than that, Diego had little or +nothing to do with Cuba, and in a short time Velasquez was known not as +Lieutenant but as Governor, as though he were entirely independent of +the Viceroy in Hispaniola. + +[Illustration: BARACOA + +First Capital of Cuba] + +Early in 1511 Velasquez assembled a flotilla of three or four vessels on +the northwest coast of Hispaniola, at or near the place where Columbus +had landed when he discovered that island and first visited it from +Cuba. In the adjacent region he recruited a company of about three +hundred men, and with that force set out for the conquest and +colonization of Cuba. The precise date of his expedition is not to be +ascertained, but it was probably in February or at latest March of that +year. The place of his landing in Cuba, however, is known. It was at +Baracoa, where also Columbus had landed before him. Following the +practice of Columbus and the other explorers he promptly gave the place +a new name of his own selection, calling it the City of Our Lady of the +Assumption. There he established his seat of government and base of +further operations, giving to the place in both civil and ecclesiastical +affairs the technical rank and dignity of a city. But, as also +frequently happened, the new name was unable to supplant the old one in +popular usage; and when, in 1514, the insular capital was transferred to +Santiago de Cuba, and in 1522 the cathedral of the diocese was similarly +transferred, the new name was permitted to lapse, and the place became +again universally known as Baracoa. Despite its vicissitudes of fortune, +therefore, and its loss of its former high estate, Baracoa is entitled +to the triple distinction of having been the site of the first permanent +European settlement in Cuba, of the first civilized government, and of +the first cathedral church. + +At Baracoa, immediately upon his arrival, Velasquez built a fort, the +exact site of which is now matter of conjecture, and various other +edifices. These were all constructed of wood, probably of bamboo and +thatch, and no trace of them remains to-day. Search was also promptly +made for gold, and some seems to have been found in the beds of streams, +though in no large quantities, and the attempt to operate mines was soon +abandoned. Attention was then turned to further explorations and +conquests, and to the quest for gold in other parts of the island. + +Still more unfortunate than the failure to find much gold, and largely +because of that fruitless quest, was the rise of bitter hostilities +between the Spaniards and the natives. This was also a sequel to and in +part a consequence of the Spanish administration in Hispaniola and +particularly of the part which Velasquez had played therein. Shortly +before coming to Cuba, Velasquez had waged several strenuous and +probably somewhat ruthless campaigns against the natives of Hispaniola, +chiefly in that part of the island which lay nearest to Cuba and in +which he recruited his Cuban expedition. His chief opponent there was a +native chief named Hatuey, who, finding himself unable to cope with the +Spaniards, fled to Cuba with many of his followers and settled in the +country near Baracoa. These refugees were of course quick to report to +the natives of Cuba the cause of their migration, and to portray the +conduct and character of the Spaniards, and of Velasquez personally, in +the most unfavorable light. The natural result was to predispose the +Cuban natives to regard the Spaniards with distrust and aversion. And +when Velasquez himself presently appeared among the very people who had +been thus prejudiced against him, trouble inevitably arose. + +The leader in the trouble was Hatuey, who had a large following both of +his own tribe from Hispaniola and also of Cubans. He had maintained a +system of spying and communication through which he kept himself +perfectly informed of the doings of Velasquez, whom he considered his +chief foe, not only politically but personally, and when he learned that +he was coming to Cuba he busied himself with preparations to resist him. +He was foremost in spreading among the Cuban natives all manner of evil +reports concerning the Spaniards, all of which, whether true or false, +found ready credence. + +Thus on one occasion, as related by Herrera, he gathered many of the +natives together with a promise to reveal to them the God of the +Spaniards, whom they worshipped and to whom they made human sacrifices +of Indians' lives. When they were assembled and their anticipation was +whetted, he placed before them a small basket filled with gold. "That," +said he, "is the God which the Spaniards worship, and in quest of which +they are following us hither. Let us, therefore, ourselves pay this God +reverence and implore him to bid his Spanish worshippers not to harm us +when they come hither!" The natives performed a religious dance and +other rites about the gold, until they were exhausted, and then Hatuey +further counselled them to cast the gold into the river, where the +Spaniards could not find it; since if they found it they would continue +their search for more, even to cutting out the hearts of the people in +quest of it. + +Whether true or fabricated, the story indicates the attitude of Hatuey +toward the Spaniards and explains the intensity of the bitterness which +prevailed between him and Velasquez. Of course, when the Spaniards +arrived and immediately began to hunt for gold, Hatuey's words about +their God seemed to be confirmed. War began, which soon resulted in the +defeat and capture of Hatuey, who was put to death. Tradition has it +that he was burned at the stake, as was the common custom in those +times, and that just before the fire was lighted he was invited to +accept Christianity and be baptized, but refused on the ground that he +did not want to meet any Spaniards in the other world. He was succeeded +in command of the hostile natives by Caguax, who had been his comrade in +Hispaniola and who had come to Cuba with him; and the hostilities were +continued with the usual result of conflicts between a higher and a +lower civilization. In a short time the province of Maysi was conquered +and partly pacified, and that of Bayamo was invaded. + +[Illustration: PANFILO DE NARVAEZ] + +At this time and in these operations there appeared in Cuba two more men +of commanding importance in the early history of the island, who were +sent thither from Hispaniola to assist Velasquez soon after the defeat +and death of Hatuey. One of these was Panfilo de Narvaez, a soldier and +the leader of a company of thirty expert crossbow-men who had been +serving in Jamaica but were no longer needed by the governor of that +island, Esquivel. Narvaez was a native of Valladolid, Spain, near which +city Velasquez also had been born. It is possible, indeed, that the two +men were related, since there was a marked physical resemblance between +them; both being tall, handsome, and of a pronounced blond complexion. +At any rate, they had long been friends, and Velasquez was glad to make +Narvaez his chief lieutenant and right-hand man. Narvaez appears to have +been a man of high intelligence, honorable character, and much personal +charm. He was, however, too much inclined toward fighting, was sometimes +reckless in his leadership, and was no more scrupulous in his conduct +toward the natives than were many other conquerors of various lands in +those days of adventure and violence. At the head of a force of more +than a hundred and fifty men, including a score of horsemen, he led the +way in the conquest, first of Bayamo and finally of all the rest of the +island. In his campaign he enjoyed immense advantage from the awe and +terror which were caused among the natives by the appearance of the +horses, which were the first ever seen in Cuba. + +[Illustration: BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS] + +The other and more famous of these two men was Bartholomew de Las Casas, +known to the world as the "Protector of the Indians" and as the "Apostle +to the Indies." As a youth he had accompanied his father on Columbus's +third voyage to America, and he had come to the Antilles a second time +and permanently with Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, in 1502. In +1510 he was ordained to be a priest, and it was in that clerical +capacity that he was sent over to Cuba to assist Velasquez in the +conquest, pacification and settlement of the island. He appears at first +to have had no important religious scruples against oppression of the +natives, but joined with Velasquez and Narvaez in their sometimes +ruthless policy. When the island was divided among the conquerors under +the system of repartimientos, or allotments of natives as practical +slaves of the Spaniards, he received and accepted without demur his +encomienda or commandery, and held it for some time in partnership with +his friend Pedro de Renteria. But a little later, realizing the +injustice and cruelties which the natives suffered under this system, he +became, as he himself described it, "converted," and thereafter was an +earnest, zealous and almost fanatical champion of their rights. He +visited Spain several times, to secure commissions of inquiry and other +measures for their relief. Also, thinking thus to redeem them from +enforced servitude, he secured royal sanction for the introduction of +Negro slavery and the importation of Negro slaves into Cuba; a policy +which he afterward deeply regretted. + +After a brief campaign in Bayamo, which was not particularly successful, +beyond the killing of Caguax and the final dispersion of the force which +Hatuey had organized, Narvaez formed an expedition of perhaps five +hundred men for more extended enterprises, in which he had as his +principal companions Las Casas and a young nephew of Velasquez, Juan de +Grijalva. The precise route of this expedition cannot now be stated. It +certainly, however, traversed the Bayamo region, and went as far west as +Camaguey. It also visited the neighborhood of Cape Cruz and there passed +through the town of Cueyba, as Las Casas called it, where, as hitherto +related, a Spanish mariner, presumably Ojeda, had landed and had +established a Christian shrine with a statue of the Holy Virgin. Here +and at other places amicable relations were maintained between the +Spaniards and the natives. + +Unhappily that was not always the rule. At the large town of Caonao, +probably near Manzanillo, a number of Spanish soldiers, as if suddenly +stricken with madness, began a massacre of the natives, killed a great +number, and drove the rest into flight. Narvaez does not seem to have +ordered nor to have taken part in the slaughter, but neither did he +exert himself to prevent it or to stop it. Whereupon Las Casas, +righteously wrathful, bade him to go to the Devil, and thereafter +devoted himself to ministering to the sufferers and to reassuring the +survivors. + +From Caonao the expedition moved westward, through the southern part of +the Province of Camaguey, where the natives were so frightened that they +fled to the little islands off the coast which Columbus had named the +Queen's Gardens. Thence it went across the island to the north coast, +and probably in the region of Sagua la Grande, in Santa Clara Province, +found some small deposits of gold. After stopping there for some time, +it continued its progress into Havana Province, where more gold was +found and where, unhappily, serious trouble with the natives was +renewed. + +On the way across the island Narvaez had heard of three Spaniards, a man +and two women, who had been shipwrecked on the coast and were living +with the Indians somewhere in the west. He sent word of this report back +to Velasquez, who returned him orders to search for the castaways even +in preference to gold, and who also dispatched a ship along the north +coast to meet Narvaez and his party in the region to which they were +going. In Santa Clara the two women were found, unharmed and well, and +they presently married members of the expedition. Finally, in Havana the +man also was found. He too was unharmed and well, though he had become +in speech and habits more like an Indian than a Spaniard. According to +his story, he and the two women were the sole survivors of a company of +twenty-six. They had fled from Ojeda's ill-starred settlement at Uraba, +on the Gulf of Darien, and were trying to make their way back to +Hispaniola, but had been driven out of their course around the north +coast of Cuba. Not far from Cape San Antonio they had been shipwrecked +and thence had made their way by land, along the north coast. Most of +them had been killed by natives while trying to cross an arm of the sea, +which has been assumed to have been the Bay of Matanzas, which was so +named on that account. + +On the Havana coast the expedition met the vessel which Velasquez had +sent. But leaving it in port there the expedition went across the island +again to Xagua, or Cienfuegos, there to meet Velasquez himself and +another expedition which he was leading, and there to spend with him the +Christmas season of 1513. At the beginning of 1514 Narvaez and a hundred +men returned to Havana and thence marched westward into Pinar del Rio, +the vessel keeping in touch with them along the coast. How far they went +in that province is not now certainly known. Some accounts have it that +they stopped at Bahia Honda and there took ship back for Baracoa, while +others insist that they got as far as Nombre de Dios. All that is +certain is that Narvaez and his comrades visited on this expedition all +parts of the island, and thus completed the nominal exploration and +occupation of Cuba in the early part of 1514. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Velasquez was for a number of years the dominant figure in Cuban +history, and he much more than any other man is to be credited with the +settlement of the island and its social, political and economical +organization. He was married at Baracoa in the early part of 1513 to +Donna Maria de Cuellar, daughter of Christopher de Cuellar, the royal +treasurer in the island, but within a week was left a widower. To find +solace for his grief in action, he threw himself with extraordinary +energy into the work of exploring, pacifying and colonizing the island. + +After founding the town of San Salvador de Bayamo he went westward, as +already stated, to meet Narvaez and to spend Christmas at Xagua or +Cienfuegos. Less than a month later he founded La Villa de Trinidad, and +later in the year La Villa de Sancti Spiritus and, finally, Santiago de +Cuba. At all of these places excepting the last named gold was found, +though not in any large quantities. He was thus encouraged to continue +his search for that precious metal, while at the same time he was +admonished not to look too much to it for the prosperity of the Island, +but to pay attention to the development of its other resources, and +particularly its obvious agricultural potentialities. + +Accordingly in the spring of 1514 he sent a vessel to Hispaniola for +horses and cattle with which to stock Cuba, and for supplies of grain +and other seeds, and agricultural implements. In the cargo which it +brought back to him lay the germ of the subsequent agricultural +greatness of Cuba. At about the same time, also, he founded Cuban +commerce by the establishment of regular communication between the +island and Jamaica, Darien and other Spanish settlements at the south. +In this latter enterprise the King was especially interested, and his +directions to Velasquez were that he should develop it to the largest +possible extent. He did not expect Cuba ever to rival Darien and other +regions in mineral wealth, but that island could, he thought, surpass +them in agriculture, and thus could serve as a source of supply to them, +and as a base of operations. + +It was, indeed, in pursuance of this policy of commerce with the +countries at the south and west of the Caribbean that Santiago de Cuba +was founded as the seventh of the seven cities among which the island +was partitioned, and that it was made the insular capital. The site was, +as already stated, the only one at which gold was not found. It was +selected partly because of the secure and commodious harbor, one of the +finest anywhere on the shores of the Caribbean, and partly because its +situation on the south coast made it particularly accessible to and from +Jamaica, Darien and the other regions in which the Spanish crown was +interested. As soon as it was founded, the seat of civil, military and +ecclesiastical authority was transferred thither from Baracoa, and +Santiago de Cuba became the second capital of the island. Meantime +Narvaez, at the north, had founded Havana, which was destined to be the +third and final capital. + +Each city or town was made, however, a capital unto itself. The +principle of local autonomy or home rule had long been cherished by the +Spanish people in the Iberian Kingdom, and it was transplanted by them +in an increased degree to their Antillean colonies. In accord with that +principle, these first seven cities were planned and arranged with a +view to civic self-sufficiency. The plan was uniform. Each place had its +central park or plaza, upon which fronted the town hall, the parish +church and the residence of the governor or the alcalde. The plan of +government was also uniform. In each place Velasquez appointed an +Alcalde, who was not a mayor but a judge of first instance; a Deputy +Alcalde, and three regidores or councillors; the Alcalde and the +regidores sitting together forming the Town Council. There were also a +procurador, or public prosecutor; an alguacil, or sheriff; and one or +more escribanos, or notaries public. + +There was also at this time established throughout the island a social +and economic system borrowed from Hispaniola, where it had not been in +operation long enough for its evil effects to be demonstrated. Its +intention was unquestionably benevolent, and, given a sufficiently +altruistic quality of human nature, its results might have been good. +With human nature what it was, it became almost unrelievedly evil. This +was known as the system of Repartimiento, or Encomienda. First of all, +the whole territory of the island was partitioned among the seven +cities. Then in each there were appointed persons whom we might describe +as land-holders and slave-holders. The former, known as vecinos, were +the representatives of the king in ownership of the land, all of which +was regarded as the property of the crown, to be apportioned for working +to suitable loyal subjects. The latter were called encomenderos, and to +them were apportioned the native population, in tutelage and servitude. + +Now the fundamental evil of the system lay in the appropriation of the +land. It was all taken for the crown, and the natives who had been +occupying it were _ipso facto_ transformed into squatters, or +trespassers. But as the king claimed the whole area of the island, there +was no other land for them to occupy; wherefore they must remain on the +king's land. But if they did that, they must become his serfs. They were +therefore apportioned among the land-holders; to remain in their homes +and to be educated, fed and clothed and generally cared for by the +latter; and in return to do a certain amount of useful work. Thus they +would become civilized and Christianized, and perhaps themselves fitted +to become land-holders. + +It was an excellent plan, in theory; and it seemed the more likely to +succeed because the Spanish colonists manifested no such caste prejudice +against the natives as those of some other lands did. Thus it was an +unusual thing for a French settler in North America, and a still more +unusual thing for a British settler, to marry an Indian woman, and such +unions, when they did occur, were generally regarded as debasing. But +there was no such feeling among the Spanish, and intermarriages between +the races, of an entirely legal and honorable character, were not +uncommon and were not regarded with disfavor. Nevertheless, the +repartimiento system soon lapsed into utter evil, as such a relationship +between a superior and an inferior race seems certain to do. In brief, +it became slavery, pure and simple. + +The benevolent and statesmanlike spirit of Velasquez was shown, in +contrast to that of most other conquistadors of that time, in the +circumstance that he ordered the natives to be thus impressed into work +for a period of only a single month, to be paid for their labor at a +prescribed rate, and to be engaged as largely as possible in +agricultural pursuits. He did not prohibit the employment of them at +gold mining, but he strove earnestly to extend agricultural enterprise. +This was partly, no doubt, in pursuance of the king's order, that he +should make Cuba a source of food supplies for the supposedly less +favored regions at Darien and elsewhere, but was partly, too, because +Velasquez recognized the agricultural possibilities of Cuba and was +determined to make it self-supporting. He exercised this authority, not +merely as Governor General of the island, but also as Repartidor, or +Partitioner of the Natives, to which office he was expressly appointed +by the king, with responsibility to nobody but the king himself. He +apportioned the natives in lots of from not fewer than forty to not more +than three hundred, according to the land held by the vecino, and +ordered that they be well treated, and of course be not sold nor +transferred from one master to another. + +There was, unfortunately, another class of native servitors, to wit, +those taken as captives in battle in the occasional hostilities between +the two races. These were by royal decree made outright and life-long +slaves, subject to be bought and sold and even branded with their +owners' names, like cattle. The number of these being few after the +collapse of Hatuey's short-lived resistance, the practice arose of +adding to their number natives from Mexico, Darien and elsewhere, who +were seized and brought to Cuba as slaves. All this was declared to be +illegal and was ordered abolished by a royal decree which was +promulgated in Cuba in November, 1531. But long before that time the +evil system had become widespread, and had involved in absolute slavery +encomendado natives as well as the captives. The bad results of the +system were reflected upon the masters if possible more than upon the +slaves, and were felt for many years after the native population had so +nearly vanished as to be no longer a factor in Cuban affairs worthy of +consideration. + +[Illustration: PONCE DE LEON] + +Following the establishment of these political and industrial systems, +Cuban colonization made extraordinarily rapid progress. The island which +for years had been neglected and all but ignored became the chief centre +of Antillean interest. It drew from Hispaniola, Darien and other lands, +both insular and continental, many of their best colonists, including +some who afterward became famous for their achievements elsewhere. Thus, +Hernando Cortez was alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. Bernal Diaz, whose +honest soul revolted against the infamies of Pedrarias Davila at Darien, +settled for a time at Sancti Spiritus before following Cortez to Mexico. +Vasco de Figueroa was a great plantation owner at Camaguey. Las Casas +was at Trinidad until he returned to Spain to begin his propaganda for +the welfare of the Indians. Ponce de Leon also spent some time in Cuba, +and so did La Salle. Velasquez himself was of course settled at Santiago +de Cuba, with Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer, and Hurtado +de Isunsolo and Amador de Lares, fiscal agents of the King. At Santiago +was established the royal assay office and refining works for the output +of the gold mines of the island. + +In brief, the island prospered greatly in all respects. The mines were +rich, the plantations fertile and productive, and live stock greatly +thrived. The island, according to Oviedo, became "much populated with +both Christians and Indians." It appears to have been at the instance of +Velasquez that its name was changed in 1515 from Juana to Fernandina, in +honor of the king; an incident which added to the high regard which that +monarch cherished for Velasquez, of whom he said that "no man could more +wisely administer the affairs of the island." This tribute was probably +deserved. But it cannot be said that Velasquez served his King for +naught, or that he promoted the interests of the island to the neglect +of his own, since he himself so greatly prospered that he became the +richest man in all Cuba and probably in all the Antilles, and was so +secure in his place that he could feel quite independent of even the +Admiral himself, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola. + +A noteworthy tribute to Velasquez was paid, also, in a series of cedulas +issued by the King. The first, dated December 12, 1512, thanked him for +his pacification of Cuba and his tactful and humane treatment of the +natives. Another, on April 8, 1513, was much to the same effect, adding +the exhortation: "Because I much desire that all diligence possible be +used to convert the natives of the island, I direct that you undertake +this with all means possible. In nothing can you do me greater service." +Five days later a third cedula formally appointed Velasquez Governor of +the town and fortress of Baracoa, with a salary of 20,000 maravedis a +year. After the complete organization of the insular government and +industrial system, as already described, the King in a cedula of +February 28, 1515, commended all that had been done, adding: "The chief +recommendation I would make to you is that you have all possible care +for the conversion and good treatment of the Indians of the island, and +that you endeavor in every way to have them taught and indoctrinated in +our Holy Catholic Faith and to have them remain in it; so that we may be +without burden on our conscience regarding them and so that you may free +yourself of all the obligation which you have assumed for their +welfare." + +It was impossible that Velasquez should, however, escape the attacks of +envy and malice. Suggestions were made to the King that he was growing +too rich, and that he was manipulating the affairs of the island in his +own interest rather than in the interest of the royal treasury. But +these were without effect, save to confirm Velasquez in royal confidence +and favor. To the suggestion that a residencia or investigation be made +of the administration of Velasquez and his lieutenants, the King +returned an emphatic negative. In a cedula of July 7, 1515, he expressly +ordered that no residencia be taken, since he was entirely satisfied +with the administration of the island. This was of material advantage to +Velasquez, and was also a most unusual honor; the more unusual and +noteworthy when we remember that Ferdinand had developed a particularly +selfish and suspicious disposition and was little inclined to give full +confidence to any man. + +Nor was the royal favor short lived or confined to the reign of +Ferdinand. In November, 1518, another royal decree from Ferdinand's +successor, Charles I, appointed Velasquez Adelantado of all lands which +he personally or through his agents might discover, and endowed him with +one-fifteenth part of all the revenues which might be obtained from +them. At this time Velasquez was already busy with enterprises of +exploration, and his efforts were redoubled under this incentive. But in +so doing he suffered the same fate that he himself had inflicted upon +Diego Columbus. For he sent Hernando Cortez, who had been alcalde of +Santiago de Cuba, upon the expedition which resulted in the conquest of +Mexico; upon achieving which transcendent exploit, Cortez repudiated him +and his authority, much as Velasquez had repudiated the authority of +Columbus in Hispaniola. + +The year 1515 marked a turning-point in the early history of Cuba. In +that year Las Casas began his great crusade in behalf of the natives. At +first, as we have seen, he accepted and approved the repartimiento +system, and himself with his partner and close friend Pedro de Renteria +took several hundred Indians as his wards and servants on the land which +had been allotted to him at Trinidad. But when he became "converted," as +he himself described it, he was convinced that the system, which had +degenerated into little else than slavery, was wholly evil and could be +nothing else, putting all who practised it in imminent danger of hell +fire. To this conviction he was brought through consideration of what he +had heard Dominican friars preach in Hispaniola. + +At this time his partner, Renteria, was absent, in Jamaica, and Las +Casas was ignorant of his views on the subject. Moreover, he realized +that the natives whom he had in his possession belonged to Renteria as +much as to him, and he could not properly do anything which would be +injurious to the interests of his partner. Accordingly he went to +Velasquez and told him that his conscience would no longer permit him to +hold slaves, and he must therefore release them; but he wished the +matter held in abeyance and confidence until the return of Renteria, in +order that the latter might protect his own interests as he saw fit. In +addition, he passionately adjured Velasquez, for the sake of his own +soul, to free all the natives and to abolish the repartimiento system. +Velasquez did not follow this advice, but he continued to hold Las Casas +in the highest esteem and to show him all possible favors. + +Las Casas then at once began publicly preaching against the sin of +slavery, and proclaiming the right of the natives to equal freedom with +the Spaniards; a course which gave great offense to many in the island +but in which Velasquez protected him. Then he determined to hasten at +once to Spain and to lay the matter before the King, who in his various +cedulas and messages to Velasquez had expressed so much concern for the +welfare of the Indians. He accordingly wrote to Renteria, in Jamaica, +that he was called to Spain on imperatively urgent business, and that +unless he, Renteria, could return to Cuba at once, he would have to go +without seeing him first, which he would regret to do. Upon receiving +this letter, Renteria immediately hastened back to Cuba; and then was +disclosed one of the most extraordinary coincidences in history. + +The meeting of the two friends was in the presence of Velasquez and +others, and nothing was said by Las Casas concerning his plans, nor did +Renteria say anything about his own affairs. But as soon as they were +alone together, Renteria announced that he was planning himself to go to +Spain, and that he would therefore accompany Las Casas. He then +explained that while in Jamaica he had gone for a time into "retreat" at +a Franciscan monastery, and while thus engaged in pious meditation had +become convinced that the Indians of Cuba were being very badly treated, +and had resolved to go to Spain and there to plead their cause before +the King, especially asking for the foundation of schools and colleges +in which the Indian youth could be educated. The astonishment and +delight of Las Casas at hearing this was equalled only by the similar +feelings of Renteria when in turn Las Casas told him the purpose of his +proposed mission to Spain. Hundreds of miles apart, and entirely unknown +to each other, the two friends at precisely the same time had been +cherishing the same noble purposes. It was quickly agreed between them +that Las Casas alone should undertake the mission, that their native +wards should be surrendered at once to Velasquez, and that their land +and other property should be sold, if necessary, to provide Las Casas +with the money needed for his journey. In his departure from Cuba and +his journey to Spain, Las Casas was also greatly assisted by Pedro de +Cordova, the head of the Dominican Order in Hispaniola. + +Simultaneously with the departure of Las Casas another and very +different mission was dispatched to the same goal. This was one +consisting of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez--not the Governor, Diego +Velasquez--bearing a petition to the King to the effect that the +repartimiento system should be transformed into one of absolute and +perpetual slavery; so that the land-owners might hold their Indians +permanently, and bequeath them to their heirs like any other property. +That this was sent simultaneously with Las Casas's going is not to be +regarded as a coincidence, however. It is altogether probable that the +action was inspired by knowledge of the purpose of Las Casas and by a +determination to forestall him or to defeat him. + +How Ferdinand would have decided between the two, whether the +impassioned eloquence of Las Casas or the gold which Narvaez and Antonio +Velasquez bore with their petition, would have been the more potent, +must ever remain matter of uncertainty; for he was never called upon to +make the decision. Before the issue could be put to him, on January 23, +1516, he died. In the interregnum, before the arrival of the new King, +Charles I, from Flanders, Cardinal Ximenes was Regent, and it was to him +that Las Casas addressed himself; after he had first been scornfully +received and his mission ridiculed by Bishop Fonseca, of Burgos. The +great Cardinal had long been an advocate of humane treatment of the +Indians, and was quite ready to listen to Las Casas, calling into +council for the purpose several other prelates and statesmen. Early in +the hearings, in order to make sure of his ground, Ximenes bade the +clerk to read the full text of the laws relating to the Indians, and +that functionary, being a partisan of the advocates of slavery, +purposely misread one important clause. Las Casas cried out, "That is +not the law!" Ximenes bade the clerk to read it again. He did so, with +the same perversion; and again Las Casas exclaimed, "The law says no +such thing!" Annoyed, Ximenes rebuked Las Casas and threatened him with +a penalty if he interrupted again. "Your Lordship is welcome to send my +head to the block," retorted the undaunted Las Casas, "if what the clerk +has read is in the law!" Other members of the Council thereupon snatched +the laws from the clerk's hand, and found that Las Casas was right, +whereupon the clerk wished that he had never been born, while Las Casas, +as he himself modestly records, "lost nothing of the regard which the +Cardinal had for him or of the credit which he gave to him." + +The result of the conferences was that Ximenes authorized Las Casas, +Palacios Rubios and Antonio Montesino to prepare the draft of a plan for +emancipating the Indians and providing for their just government and +education. When the plan was completed and adopted there was some +question as to whom it should be entrusted for execution. Ximenes +invited Las Casas to nominate a commission, but the latter declined +because his long absence from Spain had left him unfamiliar with men +there and their qualifications. The Cardinal therefore decided to select +a commission from among the monks of the Order of St. Jerome. That Order +was selected because, while the Dominicans and Franciscans were already +settled in Hispaniola and Jamaica and had committed themselves to a +certain policy toward the Indian question, the Jeronimites had not yet +gone thither and were quite without bias or predisposition. + +This was on July 8, 1516. The following Sunday the Cardinal and other +members of the council, and also Las Casas, went to the Jeronimite +monastery, near Madrid, to attend mass and to make a selection of three +Commissioners or judges from among the twelve who had been nominated by +the head of the Order. There Las Casas was received with much +distinction by the monks and by the Cardinal, to the chagrin of his +enemy the Bishop of Burgos, who was present in the congregation. After +some consideration, Ximenes then announced that Las Casas should be +provided with money and letters of credit to the General of the Order at +Seville, and should himself go thither and select the three +Commissioners. This was immediately done, and the result was the +selection of Luis de Figueroa, Prior of La Mejorada; Alonzo de Santo +Domingo, Prior of Ortega; and Bernardino Manzanedo. These three were +thereupon commissioned by Ximenes to proceed to Hispaniola, to take away +all the Indians held by members of the Council, judges and other +officers, and hold a court of impeachment upon all colonial officers, +who were charged as having "lived, like Moors, without a king." They +were then to consult with both the colonists and the chief men among the +Indians as to the condition of the Indians and the ways and means of +bettering it; so that the Indians, who had become Christians, should be +set free and enabled to govern themselves. They were to assure the +Indians it was the will of the Cardinal that they should be treated as +free men and Christians. That Ximenes was sincere in giving these orders +there can be no question. On more than one occasion he vehemently +declared that the Indians were as a matter of right and should and must +be as a matter of fact free men. + +But all this was too late to save the Indians. Immediately upon Las +Casas's departure from Cuba, treatment of the Indians there and +elsewhere in the Indies became more harsh and oppressive, actually +tending toward extinction of the race. Moreover, when the bearers of the +petition of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez finally got a hearing before +Ximenes, they were referred to the three Commissioners, who were about +to leave Spain for Hispaniola. They therefore went to see them, and +succeeded, apparently, to some degree in alienating them from Las Casas +and his colleagues and in prejudicing them against the Indians; to such +an extent that before their departure for Hispaniola Las Casas had begun +to doubt whether much real good would come from their mission. He and +the three Commissioners travelled to Hispaniola on separate ships, and +on their arrival in that island the three were more ready to confer with +others, even with his opponents, than with him. + +It is true that Cardinal Ximenes gave detailed and generally admirable +directions to the Jeronimite Fathers as to the course which they were to +pursue; not only toward the natives of Cuba but also toward those of the +other islands and the continent. These provided that the natives were to +be well treated. They were to be formed into autonomous communities of +their own, under their own chiefs and owning their own land and cattle. +They were to be provided with churches, schools and hospitals, and were +to be converted to Christianity and educated. They were, however, to be +required to work for a part of the time in the gold mines of the +Spaniards, for which service they would be paid a percentage of the gold +obtained. In compensation for thus being deprived of what was fast +becoming the slave labor of the native islanders, the Spanish settlers +of Cuba were permitted each to hold as outright slaves four or five +Caribs from other islands, Negroes from Africa, or, in time, Red Indians +from the North American continent. The net result was that for a time +the Cuban natives were fairly well treated, though their fate was simply +postponed for a few years. At the same time there was generally +established in Cuba, as in most other lands of the world at that time, +the hateful institution of human slavery. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Gold mining in Cuba appears for some time to have been profitable. There +was not the vast opulence of the precious metal which a little later was +discovered in Peru and elsewhere on the South American continent, but +there was enough greatly to encourage an influx of colonists from Spain +and also from the other Antilles. Hispaniola itself was for a time +almost depopulated. Nor did this multitude of settlers consist +exclusively of gold-seekers. There were also many agriculturists, +artificers and tradesmen, who perceived that their activities would be +needed to complement the gold-mining industry. + +From the same cause arose at this time an important development of the +political organization of the island. Nominally, all the provincial +capitals were of equal dignity. But the smelting works and assay office +were at Santiago, and thither, therefore, all gold miners had to repair +at intervals, to have their nuggets, dust and ore refined and its value +determined. They came in the spring, just before the beginning of the +rainy season. Naturally their coming thither attracted at the same time +tradesmen from all parts of the island, and Santiago thus became the +business and social metropolis. + +Moreover, each of the other provincial capitals deemed it profitable to +send to Santiago at that time an official representative of its local +government. These procuradors, as they were called, came together at +Santiago to exchange experiences and advice and to confer for the +general welfare of their respective communities. Thus early in Cuban +history were the rudiments of a representative insular legislature +established; through the influence of which the various provinces were +drawn together in sympathy and made uniform in administration, and the +foundations of Cuban nationality were laid. + +Soon, indeed, a regular organization was voluntarily formed, with the +Alcalde of Santiago as presiding officer and with rules of order and a +programme of procedure. As a result of each annual session of this +primitive insular council an address was prepared for transmission to +the King of Spain. This consisted of a report upon the condition, +progress and prospects of the island, and a request for the supplying of +its legislative, administrative or other needs. In the presentation of +this address the insular council performed a function practically +identical with that of the Spanish Cortes of that time; a body which had +no legislative or other authority, but merely the privilege of protest +and petition to the King. Usually a procurador representing the council +was despatched to Spain, to present the address in person to the King; +who was received with something of the attention and honor which were +paid to important foreign ambassadors. + +The first such mission from Cuba to the King was that which has already +been mentioned as consisting of Panfilo de Narvaez and Antonio +Velasquez. It went to Spain in July, 1515, and it bore not alone the +address of the council but also the king's share of the gold that had +down to that time been mined in the island. The amount of that share was +more than 12,000 "pieces of eight," which we must believe was most +welcome to the money-loving King. As that was supposed to be twenty per +cent of the whole output of gold, but was certainly not more than that +proportion, it follows that in about three years more than 60,000 pesos +of gold had been taken. It is not to be wondered at that Ferdinand +welcomed them cordially, and promptly granted many of their requests; +those which required expenditure of cash being paid for out of the +insular tribute which the envoys had brought; and that he expressed +profound satisfaction, as already mentioned, with the existing +government of the island. + +One of the requests which these envoys bore was not, however, granted. +That was, their request that the natives of Cuba be given to them in +perpetuity as slaves. In consequence of the refusal to grant this, the +Cuban gold-miners and planters suffered more and more from scarcity of +labor, and more and more engaged in slave-hunting elsewhere to supply +their needs. This pernicious traffic was resolutely opposed by Las +Casas, but not with entire success. But it brought with it in a measure +its own penalty. As a direct result of it there soon occurred an event +mischievous to Cuba, but of transcendent interest to Spain and to all +the world. + +The slave-hunters naturally sought new islands, which had not yet been +depopulated, and where the Jeronimite Fathers had not yet established +themselves to interfere with the trade in human flesh. Accordingly in +1516 a squadron of vessels from Cuba visited the Guanajes Islands, as +they had been called by Columbus when he discovered them, off the coast +of Yucatan. There they took many captives, loading all the vessels with +them. Leaving twenty-five men to guard their landing place on the +island, the squadron returned to Cuba with the slaves. Havana was the +port to which they were taken; a port which from that time forward +increased rapidly in importance. Before they could all be landed, the +slaves on one vessel mutinied, overpowered the crew, took possession of +the vessel, and sailed back to the Yucatan islands. There the vessel was +run ashore and wrecked, but the slaves escaped from it and, going +ashore, exterminated the Spanish garrison which had been left there. A +relief expedition was hastily sent from Havana, but it arrived too late. +It found only the wreck of the ship, and no trace of the Spanish +garrison. However, it looted the islands and was thus enabled to carry +back to Cuba some 20,000 pesos in gold. + +This had a revolutionary effect. Cubans who were becoming dissatisfied +with the scarcity of slave labor and with the waning production of gold +in the island, were roused by the promise of greater riches in the lands +to the westward, and began to plan further adventures in that direction. +In this movement the first important leader was Francisco Hernandez de +Cordova, a wealthy land-holder, planter and miner of Sancti Spiritus. He +with more than a hundred others equipped a squadron of three vessels, to +sail westward, not, however, for slaves but for gold. One of these +vessels appears to have belonged to Velasquez, the Governor, and in +return for the use of it he asked that the expedition should bring him +back a cargo of slaves. This Cordova indignantly refused, declaring that +the slave-trade was offensive to God and man. So, at least, says Bernal +Diaz del Castillo; though there are others who say that slave trading +was the real object of the expedition. However that may be, the +expedition set out from either Havana or Jaruco, near by, on February 8, +1517, piloted by Antonio Alaminos who, as a boy, had sailed with +Columbus on his fourth voyage on which he skirted the coast of Central +America. Columbus had believed that coast to be the Golden Chersonesus, +a land of fabulous riches, and it was with eagerness that Alaminos +guided the Cuban expedition thither. + +The Mugeres Islands were the first land reached after leaving Cape San +Antonio, and two days later, on March 4, 1517, they landed at Punta +Catoche--a name said to have been given to it by them because of the +words "con escotoch" which the natives uttered on greeting them upon +their landing, words meaning "welcome to our home." All thoughts of +seizing slaves were quickly abandoned when they found the natives a well +clad, armed and civilized people, living in large cities, with houses +and temples built of fine masonry, comparable with those of the cities +of Spain. Hostilities, however, speedily arose. It does not appear +whether the Spanish or the natives of Yucatan were the aggressors, but +the upshot of it was that the Spanish were ambuscaded and several of +them were badly wounded. The explorers persisted in their enterprise, +however, and made their way along the northern coast and thence +southward along the shore of the Gulf of Campeche, as far as Champoton. +Hostilities with the natives increased, and nearly a third of the party +perished from wounds or thirst and fever before they got back to +Havana. Moreover, one ship was lost, and the other two were in so bad +condition that they with difficulty were beached for repairs at Havana, +while the survivors marched afoot across the island to Santiago, there +to report to Velasquez the results of their expedition. It is believed +that on their way back they were driven by a "norther" far out of their +course, and touched the southern extremity of Florida, or at least some +of its islands. Cordova himself had been so badly wounded that he was +unable to go to Santiago, but made his way to his home at Sancti +Spiritus, where he soon afterward died. + +Immense interest was aroused in Cuba by the tales of Cordova's men, and +by the appearance of the two captive Mayas of Yucatan whom they brought +with them. The reports of large cities, built of stone dressed and +carved and laid in mortar,--reports which were, of course, entirely +true,--piqued curiosity as to the identity of the people who had built +them, and the belief became widespread that they were some of the Ten +Lost Tribes of Israel, or at least descendants of the Jews who were +driven into exile after Vespasian's conquest of Jerusalem. Velasquez +himself was foremost in interesting himself in the matter, perhaps +partly with a desire to recoup the loss of his ship; and he accordingly +sent his nephew Gonzalez de Guzman, of Santiago, as a messenger to the +King in Spain, to tell him of these discoveries and to ask that he, +Velasquez, be commissioned Adelantado of Yucatan and all other lands +which he might discover. + +Now we have seen how high an opinion King Ferdinand had of Velasquez; +regarding him as the best possible Governor of Cuba, whose +administration should not be subject even to the balancing and auditing +of accounts which he elsewhere required. But Ferdinand was now dead, and +the new king, Charles, knew not Velasquez, or at least not so well. +Guzman pleaded the cause as strongly as he could, and so, we may assume, +did Narvaez, who was still in Spain, though Antonio Velasquez had +returned to Cuba. The king was not, however, to be so easily persuaded. +He was not unfavorable to the ambition of Velasquez, but neither was he +unhesitatingly favorable to it. Accordingly he temporized. Instead of +giving Velasquez the appointment, he sent two agents, procuradors, to +Hispaniola, to look into the whole matter with plenary authority. These +agents, the name of one of whom marks an epoch in Cuban and in American +history, were Diego de Orellano and Hernando Cortez. + +Velasquez was disappointed but not deterred from prosecuting the great +enterprise which he had in mind. He would not wait for the report of the +procuradors and the action which the king might take upon it, but +hastened his preparations for another expedition to Yucatan, which he +regarded as by far the most important land of all that had thus far been +discovered by the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The leader of the +new venture was to be his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, who appears not to +have been well fitted for the task. Grijalva was commissioned in +January, 1518, and in the same month set out from Santiago de Cuba with +a flotilla of four vessels. Sailing eastward he rounded Cape Maysi and +thence proceeded north and west along the Cuban coast to what is now +Matanzas, where a stop was made for repairs and supplies. Thence he went +to Havana for further supplies and men, and tarried for some time, so +that it was not until some time in April--some say April 5, others a +much later date--that he finally set out from Cuba. He had four vessels, +carrying two hundred and fifty men, among whom were several of whom the +world was later to hear much; such as Bernal Diaz, and Pedro de +Alvarado, who was captain of one of the vessels. The chief pilot was +Antonio Alaminos, whose plan was to follow the same course that +Cordova's expedition had pursued. + +Upon passing Cape San Antonio, however, the little squadron fell into +the grip of a "norther" which carried it somewhat out of its course, and +on May 3 it first sighted land at Cozumel Island, of which Grijalva was +thus the discoverer. Doubling back, the expedition followed the course +of its predecessor around Punta Catoche and along the Yucatan coast to +Champoton. Thence it continued westward, discovering the Tabasco and +other rivers, and the great bay near Vera Cruz which still bears the +name of Alvarado. How far up the Mexican coast it sailed is not +altogether clear, but it certainly passed Cabo Rojo, and probably +reached Tampico and the mouth of the Panuco River. Thus to two Cuban +expeditions must be credited the discovery of the vast empire thereafter +known as New Spain. De Solis and Pinzon had skirted a part of the coast +of Yucatan in 1506 but had made no landing. Indeed, Columbus himself on +his last voyage had visited some of the coastal islands, but had +apparently ignored the proximity of the mainland. Cordova was the first +to reach the actual coast of Yucatan and to explore a portion of that +country. Grijalva in turn was the first to discover and to land in +Mexico; of which country he formally claimed possession, in the name of +Velasquez, for the King of Spain, it was he, too, or some member of his +expedition, who gave to Mexico the name of New Spain. + +In his commission Grijalva had been directed to discover and explore new +lands, and to take possession of them for the King of Spain, but he was +forbidden to undertake colonization of them or to make any permanent +settlements. To that prohibition must be ascribed the practical failure +of his expedition. He appears to have realized the desirability of +making permanent settlements, but felt himself restrained by his orders. +His men murmured and almost mutinied because they were not permitted to +build forts, take land, and establish colonies; but Grijalva, though +firm to resist them, dared not violate the orders of his uncle. However, +at midsummer he sent Alvarado back with two ships, carrying the sick and +wounded, and also much treasure in gold which had been obtained from the +natives in barter. He likewise wrote to Velasquez, asking and indeed +urging that his commission be so amended as to permit him to make +permanent settlements in the lands which he had discovered. + +It does not appear that Velasquez made a favorable response to this +request, if indeed he made any at all. He had previously manifested his +impatience to learn what Grijalva was doing and what he had found, by +sending Christopher de Olid with one vessel to offer him reenforcements +and supplies, if needed, and to get a report of his achievements. Off +the Mexican coast, however, that expedition ran into a succession of +violent storms which so discouraged and dismayed Olid that he abandoned +his errand and scuttled incontinently back to Cuba without so much as +communicating with Grijalva. The latter, accordingly, after spending the +summer and early fall in Mexico, and despairing of receiving the +increased authority which he deemed essential to the further success of +his expedition, reembarked and returned to Cuba, arriving at Matanzas +early in October. + +There he found Olid, who had reached that port only a few days before, +and who had not yet communicated with Velasquez the news of the failure +of his errand. Olid's report to Velasquez, which was then promptly +dispatched, contained therefore the news of Grijalva's return as well as +his own. As soon as he received this, Velasquez sent word to Grijalva to +come at once to Santiago and report to him in person, but to let his men +remain at Matanzas, or at Havana, since he wanted them to serve in +another Mexican expedition which he was already fitting out. Most of the +men were willing to do this, and were accordingly maintained there at +the cost of Velasquez, or of the Spanish Crown, until he was ready to +use them; though a certain number expressed themselves as having had +their fill of exploring and accordingly returned to their homes in +various parts of Cuba. + +Grijalva repaired, as summoned, to Santiago, and there met what we must +regard as an unjust and unmerited fate. Velasquez expressed entire +dissatisfaction with his conduct, particularly in not having planted +permanent settlements in Mexico; the very thing which Grijalva had +wanted to do but was forbidden by Velasquez himself to do. This +extraordinary inconsistency on the part of Velasquez can probably be +explained on the ground that he himself had been forbidden by the +Jeronimite Fathers to plant such colonies, and did not venture to +disobey them, but had hoped that Grijalva would disobey them. He further +let his unhappy nephew know that, because of his failure to disobey +orders, he would have no further use for him. He was sending out another +expedition to Mexico, to plant permanent colonies there, but it would be +under other leadership, and Grijalva would have no part in it whatever. +As Grijalva had already alienated most of his men by refusing to break +his orders, he was thus left friendless, and he played no further part +in the history either of the Cuba which he had loyally served or of the +Mexico of which he was the discoverer and first explorer. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +[Illustration: HERNANDO CORTEZ] + +The new Mexican expedition was entrusted by Velasquez to the leadership +of the greatest of all the Spanish conquistadors, Hernando Cortez, then +Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. This famous man was then, in 1518, only +thirty-three years of age. He had been born in Estremadura, had survived +a particularly weak and sickly childhood, and had studied law at the +University of Salamanca. Leaving the University, he enlisted in the +company of Nicolas de Ovando, also of Estremadura, for an expedition to +America. But on the very eve of sailing he went to bid a tender farewell +to his inamorata; while scaling the garden wall to reach her window he +fell and had part of the wall topple upon him, and in consequence was +laid abed for some time, while Ovando's expedition sailed without him. +Recovering from this mishap, he passed a year or two in obscurity and +poverty, and then secured passage, in 1504, for Hispaniola. His courage +and prowess during a storm which threatened to swamp the vessel made him +a conspicuous member of the company, and on landing at Hispaniola he was +quickly taken into the good graces and the employ of both Velasquez and +Ovando. Having overcome his early delicacy of constitution, he was now a +stalwart, handsome youth, of engaging manners, fine education and much +spirit and capacity in martial adventure; in brief, admirably fitted for +the great career which he was already unconsciously confronting. + +We have seen that a mishap in a love affair determined the time and +circumstances of his leaving Spain for the New World. A sequel to that +incident again determined his course. He had enlisted in the expedition +of Diego de Nicuesa bound for Darien when from the old injury from his +garden wall disaster there developed an abscess in his right knee, which +again disabled him for a time and restrained him from going on that +voyage. Had he gone on it, perhaps he might have become the conqueror of +Peru, instead of his fellow Estremaduran, Pizarro, who was a member of +Nicuesa's company, and the discoverer of the Pacific, instead of that +other Estremaduran, Balboa, who went to Darien at a little later date. +Instead, Cortez was detailed by Diego Columbus to go to Cuba as a +secretary to Velasquez. In that capacity he acquitted himself so well +that he received an extensive grant of land, together with a large +number of natives as slaves, and for a time he settled down as a Cuban +planter. + +His adventurous spirit would not permit him permanently to engage in so +placid an occupation, however, and he presently became involved in some +strenuous transactions which came near to making an end of him. +Precisely what happened is uncertain. Historic accounts differ. +According to Benito Martinez, he made himself the leader of a faction +opposed to Velasquez, and undertook to go from Cuba to Hispaniola in an +open boat to carry to certain royal Judges there complaints and +accusations against the Governor. As he was setting out on this venture, +however, he was betrayed and arrested, was charged with fomenting a +revolt against Velasquez, and was condemned to be hanged. Upon the +intercession of friends, however, Velasquez commuted the sentence into +exile from Cuba, and put Cortez aboard a vessel bound for Hispaniola. +Soon after the vessel sailed Cortez contrived to slip overboard +unperceived, caught hold of a floating log, and swam back to Cuba. There +he found refuge in a church, until once more his passion for the fair +sex came near to being his undoing. For one day as he was slipping out +of the church to keep a love-tryst, he was seized by an alguazil named +Juan Escudero, and returned to prison. Velasquez then again ordered him +hanged, but again yielded to intercession, and gave Cortez his freedom. +Incidentally, Cortez afterward hanged Escudero, in Mexico. + +So runs one version of the story, told by Herrera and others. Gomara, +Barcia and others tell quite another. It is to the effect that Cortez +went to Cuba as an accountant for Miguel de Pasamonte, the royal +treasurer, though he also did much business for Velasquez and was in +charge of the assay office and the hospital at Santiago; and that the +feud between him and Velasquez arose over a love affair. Cortez had +engaged himself to marry Dona Catalina Suarez, one of the ladies in +waiting upon Maria de Toledo, the consort of the Admiral and Viceroy, +Diego Columbus, but either delayed to fulfil the engagement or was +suspected of an intention to break it by Velasquez, who was much +interested in the lady's sister. In the course of this feud, Cortez was +arrested and was found to have on his person papers unfriendly to +Velasquez. He escaped, and took refuge in a church. But in time he +emerged from sanctuary, married Dona Catalina, and "lived happily with +her ever after." He also became reconciled to Velasquez, so much that +the latter stood as god-father to the first-born child of Cortez. + +This latter story seems the more probable of the two, and more in accord +with what we know of the characters and dispositions of both Velasquez +and Cortez. Certain it is that after their disagreements and conflicts +Velasquez took Cortez back into full favor, made him Alcalde of Santiago +de Cuba, and selected him in preference to his own nephew, Grijalva, to +be the leader of what he himself considered to be the most important of +all his enterprises. + +In making this choice, which was of epochal importance both to himself +and to Cuba and the Spanish colonial empire, Velasquez was doubtless +largely influenced by the arguments and persuasions of his own +secretary, Andres de Ducro, and by the royal contador in Cuba, Amador de +Lares. These two appear to have worked together, with a mutual +understanding, and also with an understanding with Cortez; so that we +might almost consider the three to have formed a conspiracy to prevail +upon the Governor. Perhaps their chief argument, or temptation, was to +promise Velasquez the royal appointment as Adelantado, not alone over +Cuba but also over all other lands which he might discover, and it was +shrewdly pointed out to him that if haste was made, he might secure that +appointment in time to claim the enormously rich land of Mexico as part +of his domain. All that would be necessary would be for him to get the +appointment before the return of Grijalva with the official report of +his discoveries. As this appointment was the dearest wish and ambition +of Velasquez's life, it is easy to understand how potent this offer was +in persuading him to make Cortez the leader of the expedition. + +There was on the other hand much opposition to the choice. All of the +relatives and many of the friends and counsellors of Velasquez warned +him not to trust Cortez. Las Casas joined his advice with theirs, +warning Velasquez, however, not so much against Cortez as against the +royal contador, De Lares, and anyone whom he might favor. De Lares, he +said, had lived long in Italy, a country then considered to be a very +hotbed of trickery and treachery, and was doubtless deeply imbued with +the spirit of conspiracy and intrigue, which he was quite likely to +exercise against Velasquez himself. + +Cortez was of course well aware of these conflicting influences, and for +some time felt much uncertainty as to which side would prove the more +powerful. He especially dreaded the return of Grijalva, fearing that +either he would regain the favor of his uncle, or would give so glowing +a report of the wealth of Mexico as to excite the cupidity of Velasquez +to a degree that would move him to go thither in person. When he learned +that Grijalva had arrived at Havana and was about to come across the +island to Santiago, he pushed preparations for his departure with +feverish haste, apparently determined to set out whether Velasquez +approved his going or not. He borrowed large sums of money, wherever he +could, for fitting out the expedition at his own expense if necessary, +and in fact he did thus provide a large share of its cost. He also +recruited a number of men upon whom he could depend to stand by him in +any emergency; even if he should have to defy the authority of Velasquez +and sail without his permission. + +The middle of November, 1518, was the crucial and indeed epochal time; +in which the fate of Velasquez, the fortunes of Cortez, and in a large +measure the future of the Spanish empire in America, were all decided. +Within a week, three major incidents occurred. First, on November 13, +Velasquez received his commission from the King, as Adelantado of Cuba +and all new lands which he might cause to be discovered. In getting that +for him, De Ducro and De Lares fulfilled their promise; whereupon +Velasquez in turn fulfilled his agreement, by confirming the appointment +of Cortez. Two days later, on November 15, Grijalva arrived at Santiago, +and as already stated was unfavorably received. Nevertheless, the +apprehensions of Cortez were partially fulfilled. Velasquez did not, +indeed, restore his nephew to favor, but he was so impressed by the +reports and visible and tangible tokens of the wealth of Mexico, that he +hesitated to let Cortez go. The thought occurred to him that it would be +better to go himself, or to send somebody upon whom he could more +implicitly depend. + +His hesitation became known to Cortez, and of course greatly disquieted +and alarmed him. But with the intrepidity and resolution which were +characteristic of him, he hastened his preparations for departure and +added to them preparations for breaking away by force if that should be +necessary. It has been said by some that he finally sailed secretly, by +night. Las Casas tells that story, and the American historian of Cortez, +Prescott, credits and repeats it. Others have pictured Cortez as sailing +away openly, with Velasquez falling upon his knees on the shore, +imploring him not to go. We may prudently relegate both these versions +to the realm of imagination. The far more likely story is that given by +honest Bernal Diaz. He tells us that Andres de Ducro--probably knowing +that there was danger that Velasquez would change his mind and revoke +the appointment of Cortez--urged Cortez to sail without delay; that +Cortez accordingly, the second day after Grijalva's arrival at Santiago +ordered all his men to go aboard ship and remain there; that he then +went with De Ducro and De Lares to bid Velasquez adieu; and that the +next day, November 18, after attending an early mass at the cathedral, +he went aboard and at once set sail for Mexico. That was five days after +the appointment of Velasquez as Adelantado, and three days after the +arrival of the real discoverer of Mexico, Grijalva, at Santiago. + +With those three incidents, as we have said, a new era began. We need +not here concern ourselves with the further doings of Cortez, excepting +in that he took from Cuba several hundred of its most venturesome and +competent men, including many of those who had been with Grijalva; and +that he promptly renounced the authority of Velasquez over the new lands +which were to be discovered. The breach between the two occurred when +Cortez, having sailed from Santiago, put into the Cuban port of Trinidad +for men and supplies. There he was intercepted by a messenger from +Velasquez, with orders to return at once to Santiago. If he would not +obey this summons, the Alcalde, Verduzo, was authorized forcibly to +deprive him of his commission and to give it instead to Vasco Portallo. +The latter was a friend of Velasquez, who had formerly been considered +by him for the leadership of the expedition, before the choice fell on +Cortez. Another candidate had been Baltazar Bermudez, whom indeed +Velasquez actually selected for the place, only to have him decline it. + +Cortez, as might have been expected, refused to return. Instead, he +prevailed upon the Governor's own messenger to join his expedition. To +the demand of the Alcalde, that he surrender his commission, he replied +with a haughty refusal, and so strong was the force which he had with +him that Verduzo prudently refrained from any attempt to coerce him. He +then wrote a friendly letter to Velasquez, assuring him that he was +giving himself needless concern, took on additional supplies, and +resumed his voyage. He had previously helped himself freely from a royal +storehouse at Macaca, saying that he was going on the King's business +and was therefore entitled to the King's goods. Also he is said to have +stopped a merchant ship bound for Hispaniola, and to have taken such +goods from its cargo as he desired. + +Thus provided, he next put in at the harbor at or near Batabano which +had in 1514 been called San Cristobal de la Havana, but which by this +time was falling into some disuse and was surrendering its name to the +far more important port on the northern coast. Here another messenger +from Velasquez intercepted him, with a similar command, to which Cortez +gave a similar reply. Last of all, he touched at Guane, on what is now +appropriately known as Cortez Bay, near the western extremity of the +island; and thence, at the middle of February, 1519, left Cuba for the +island of Cozumel, thence to proceed to Vera Cruz, Mexico. The story of +his burning his ships after he had landed, in order that his men might +have no thought or hope of returning, is historic, and is true. But in +effect he did the same, at least for himself, before that time. He +departed from Cuba in circumstances which made his return to that island +impossible; at least as long as Velasquez was its governor. Then, to +seal the matter and make the breach with his former friend and patron +more absolutely irremediable, immediately upon landing at Vera Cruz he +organized a government by appointing some of his own men to be a +municipal council. Then to that Council of his own creation he +surrendered the commission which Velasquez had bestowed upon him; and +finally, also from his own creatures, he accepted appointment as Royal +Governor of New Spain! + +It was of course out of the question that Velasquez would meekly +acquiesce in this flouting of his authority, and particularly in this +open attempt to deprive him of his newly-won authority as Adelantado of +Mexico. He immediately reported to the King what Cortez had done, and +protested against it as a defiance of the King's authority as well as +his own. But Cortez answered his protests and appeals to the Crown with +still more potent arguments in justification of his course. These +arguments took the form of bars and ingots of gold, which he secured in +Mexico and sent to Spain; in some cases "ballasting his ships" with the +precious metal. One of the first of these treasure ships was a +brigantine, dispatched in the midsummer of 1519 under the pilot-captain +Alaminos. As it passed Havana it was espied by Juan de Rojas, a cousin +of Velasquez, who sent word of it to Velasquez. The latter sent out +Gonzalo de Guzman to intercept and seize it, but he failed in the +errand. + +Finding his appeals and protests ineffective against the gold of Cortez, +Velasquez determined to use force. He was Adelantado, by royal +commission. Therefore Cortez was a rebel. He rallied his friends, in +both Cuba and Hispaniola. He used his own immense wealth freely for the +purchase and equipment of ships. He enlisted an army twice as great as +the force which had accompanied Cortez. With this expedition he purposed +to follow Cortez to Mexico, and compel his submission. Whether he would +have succeeded in this undertaking, had it not been interfered with, +must remain subject matter of speculation; for there was prompt and +effective interference. Diego Columbus, in Hispaniola, became much +concerned. He was still Admiral, and nominally, at least, superior in +authority to Velasquez as well as to Cortez, and he did not wish to have +his subordinates fighting among themselves. So he sent one of the most +eminent Spanish colonial judges, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, to Cuba to +make peace. This envoy reached Santiago in January, 1520, just in time +to find that Velasquez and his expedition had already sailed for Mexico. +With the swiftest vessel he could find he set out in pursuit, and was +lucky enough to overtake them where they had stopped for supplies, in +Corrientes Bay, near the extreme western point of the island. + +Ayllon seems to have been vested with no actual authority over +Velasquez. He merely tried to dissuade him from executing his purpose. +He urged him to content himself with sending one or two vessels on to +Mexico, with a summons to Cortez, to return or at least to abandon his +pretensions of independence and to acknowledge the authority of +Velasquez; under penalty of being reported to the King as a contumacious +rebel. The rest of the expedition, he suggested, might be used in +explorations elsewhere. Above all, he pleaded with Velasquez not to go +to Mexico himself, but to return to Santiago, where his presence was +sorely needed. Velasquez yielded to these entreaties so far as to +abandon personal leadership of the expedition. He made Panfilo de +Narvaez leader in his stead, and then returned to Santiago. Ayllon went +along with Narvaez, to keep the peace. The result was that soon after +landing in Mexico, Narvaez was wounded and made captive by Cortez, and +practically all his men, with their stores, munitions, arms and ships, +who had been sent out to subdue Cortez, became loyal followers of that +resourceful conquistador. In fact, we may judiciously reckon that Cortez +owed his success in the conquest of Mexico to the reenforcements which +he thus received from the expedition which had been sent against him. + +Later, it is true, some members of Narvaez's party became a source of +serious peril to Cortez. This was at the beginning of the year 1521, +after the death of Montezuma and the _noche triste_, and at the time +when Cortez was planning to return to the city of Mexico as its +conqueror. A number of Narvaez's men entered into a conspiracy to +assassinate Cortez, and at their head was one Villafana, who had been a +very close friend and earnest partisan of Velasquez. Because of that +relationship, it was suspected by Cortez that the man had been incited +to undertake the crime by Velasquez himself. Of this there was, however, +no proof, and no attempt was made to fasten responsibility or odium upon +Velasquez; which we may be sure would have been done had any real ground +for it been discovered. By interesting coincidence, the conspiracy was +made, detected and punished at the very time when, as we shall see, +Velasquez was being removed from the Governorship of Cuba. + +Villafana modelled his plans upon those of the slayers of Julius Caesar. +All the conspirators were to approach Cortez in public, and one of them +was to approach him with what should purport to be a letter from his +father, Martin Cortez, just arrived on a vessel from Spain. The moment +he took the letter and began to read it, all were to rush upon him and +stab him with their knives. Cortez detected the plot just in time. He +personally went with guards to Villafana's apartments and arrested him, +while others took the other conspirators into custody. Villafana was put +to death, and the others were imprisoned. Then Cortez, with +characteristic resourcefulness, turned the incident to account for his +own profit, by making it the pretext for continually thereafter +surrounding himself with an armed body guard of his most trusted +soldiers. + +Velasquez returned to Santiago to find affairs in a sad plight. Small +pox, measles and other epidemics were raging, and disastrous tropical +hurricanes had swept the island, destroying crops and buildings. A large +proportion of the most efficient men of the island had followed +Cortez--and Narvaez--to Mexico. Moreover, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola, +was threatening trouble. It must be remembered that Velasquez had +practically flouted Columbus's authority, almost as much as his own had +been flouted by Cortez. At any rate, the Admiral had a serious grievance +against him, and deemed this a fitting time for calling him to account. +Apparently he was further aggrieved because Velasquez would not more +fully accept the counsel of Ayllon. At any rate, in the middle of +January, 1521, he sent over to Cuba an envoy, to take the place of +Velasquez as Governor of Cuba and to investigate the manner in which +Velasquez had administered his affairs. This envoy was Alfonso de Zuazo, +who thus became the second Governor of Cuba. + +In this action Velasquez acquiesced; probably because he durst not do +otherwise. It would have been a dangerous thing in any circumstances to +defy the Admiral; and it would have been superlatively so at a time when +Cuba had just been stripped of its ships and its best fighting men. +Nevertheless, he pointed out that he himself was still commandant of the +fort at Baracoa, and was Repartidor of the natives throughout the +island. This latter was in some important respects a more influential +office than that of Governor, and it Velasquez held, not by the +Admiral's appointment but by virtue of a commission granted directly by +the King himself. He could not, therefore, be superseded or interfered +with in any way by the Admiral or any of his underlings, nor by anybody +short of the King himself. In this he was quite right, and when Zuazo, +relying upon Diego Columbus's authority, did infringe upon some of +Velasquez's functions and powers, the latter complained to the King, and +the King disavowed Zuazo, and severely reprimanded Columbus. + +Velasquez was not, however, yet at the end of his difficulties. The +royal vindication of his claims was gratifying, and he doubtless felt +some secret satisfaction in the humiliation of Diego Columbus. But the +son of the great Admiral was not a man to be flouted with impunity, not +even by the King of Spain. True, he acquiesced, perforce, in the royal +decree. But his resourceful mind quickly devised another line of attack +upon Velasquez. At the beginning of 1522, accompanied by two judges of +the supreme court of Hispaniola, he proceeded to Santiago de Cuba, and +there instituted a judicial investigation into the conduct of +Velasquez's administration. To this Velasquez demurred, on the grounds +already mentioned that as Repartidor he was accountable to the King +alone. Diego Columbus responded by pointing out in the commission of +Velasquez as Repartidor a provision that the judges of Hispaniola might +and indeed should give him specific advice as to the conduct of his +office; and such advice they thereupon proceeded to give, in terms +indistinguishable from commands. To this Velasquez could not demur; the +text of his commission did indeed provide for that very thing. But his +retort was prompt and effective. The commission provided for the giving +of advice, but it did not require Velasquez to accept it! As a matter of +fact, it was not accepted but ignored, and Diego Columbus and his judges +returned to Hispaniola in defeat. + +One more effort was made by Velasquez to vindicate his authority over +Cortez in Mexico. He went so far as to equip a third expedition of which +he personally took command, intending to invade Mexico and compel Cortez +to submit to his authority. This expedition sailed from Cuba in the fall +of 1522, but never reached the coast of Mexico. It was intercepted by a +message from the King, announcing that he had appointed Cortez to be +Governor of Mexico in entire independence of Cuba, and expressly +forbidding Velasquez to interfere with him in any way. This was +conclusive, and Velasquez returned home, abandoning all further thoughts +of Mexico. + +Despite his losses and the great expense to which he had gone in +fruitless Mexican ventures, he was still one of the richest men in Cuba; +especially since the death of his father-in-law, Cristobal de Cuellar, +who had left him the major part of his large fortune. As Repartidor, +also, he continued his activities in public affairs. In the summer of +1523 he personally directed a campaign against a revolt and depredations +of an Indian tribe inhabiting some of the small islands off the Cuban +coast. He suffered humiliation, it is true, in having at about that same +time public proclamation made in Cuba of the royal decree inhibiting him +from further designs against Cortez. But before the end of the year +atonement was made for this in another royal decree completely restoring +Velasquez to his place as Governor of Cuba. + +The causes which led to this extraordinary action are obscure, but it +seems probable that the King recognized the really great services and +merits of Velasquez, and it is quite possible that he had reason for +dissatisfaction with Zuazo. At any rate, at about Christmas time, 1523, +Velasquez was restored and Zuazo was summarily dismissed. No charges +were at that time preferred against Zuazo, nor was he prosecuted or +subjected to any penalties. But his commission as Governor was declared +to have been illegal and all his acts to have been therefore null and +void. Everything was therefore put back in as nearly as possible the +condition it was in when Velasquez was formerly Governor. + +Zuazo seems to have taken his dismissal philosophically, without demur +or resentment; wherefore we may suspect that as a lawyer he realized +that there had indeed been a fatal flaw in his commission. He remained +at Santiago for a few weeks, and then went to Mexico as the attorney and +envoy of Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, who had a +controversy with Cortez as to which of them was the rightful Governor of +Panuco. In this errand he was frustrated by shipwreck and other +vicissitudes, and it does not appear that he ever had an opportunity of +serving Garay as had been intended. In time, however, he reached Mexico, +and was regarded with much favor by Cortez, who appointed him to a +lucrative and influential office. A little later he was extradited by +the Cuban government, and was brought back to that island as a prisoner, +to undergo trial for alleged misdemeanors committed when he was +Governor. This strenuous action was taken in 1525. Zuazo complained +bitterly of such harsh treatment, which probably was unwarranted. At any +rate, he was acquitted; whereupon he went to Hispaniola and spent the +remainder of his life there in prosperity. + +We have seen that the restoration of Velasquez to the Governorship of +Cuba came as a sort of solatium for his loss and humiliation with +respect to Mexico. But it did not altogether reconcile him to the +destruction of his hopes and ambitions. On the contrary, he conceived +the scheme of remonstrating with the King and pleading his cause in +person. Setting his affairs in order, therefore, he prepared to set sail +for Spain, and was just on the point of doing so when death supervened. +He died on June 12, 1524, and was interred, according to his wish, in +the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. + +The King, who had so recently both humiliated him and honored him, was +profoundly affected by the loss of one who had added much lustre to the +crown of Spain, and wrote for his tomb an epitaph in Latin, eloquently +setting forth his merits and his services. This was not, however, +inscribed above his remains, and soon was forgotten. Instead, there was +popularly circulated and remembered an epigram upon him coined by some +adversary whose identity is unknown. This declared Velasquez to have +been "Covetous of honor, but more covetous of gain." + +This we must regard as unjust. Velasquez had his faults, and some of +them were grave. He was at times arbitrary and ruthless, as most +empire-builders of all lands have been. He was not always grateful to +those who served him faithfully, nor was he impartial in his dealings +with men. These faults were, however, common in those times, and they +were no more marked in Velasquez than in his contemporaries. On the +other hand he unquestionably had great virtues. He had courage, vision, +enterprise, and statesmanlike views for the development of his domain. +His work in Cuba was over-shadowed by that of Cortez in Mexico and of +Pizarro in Peru, but it was in essence not less meritorious than theirs, +for which indeed it prepared and opened the way. It is one of the +tragedies of history that his very tomb should have been forgotten and +lost, and his name remembered as a name and nothing more. For in the +early history of Cuba there is no other name which stands for so much in +conquest and colonization, and in the foundation, organization and +development of the State, as that of the first Cuban Governor, Diego de +Velasquez. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Velasquez had been Governor--technically Lieutenant-Governor under the +Admiral, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola--for more than thirteen years; +save for the abortive and illegal administration of Zuazo. But after him +gubernatorial terms were destined to be of much shorter duration, and +marked with many vicissitudes. His nominal successor was appointed some +time before his death. Whether in anticipation of his decease, or with +the design of ousting him, is not clear. At any rate, at the middle of +May, probably on May 20, 1524, Juan Altamarino was named by the King to +be the next governor, for a term of two years and no more. He appears +not to have been in any way identified with the island, though probably +he had been associated with Diego Columbus in Hispaniola; and at the +time of his appointment he was in peninsular Spain. He made no haste to +go to Cuba and assume his office, wherefore it was necessary, upon the +death of Velasquez a few weeks later, that some stop-gap governor should +be named. Diego Columbus, who as Admiral might have made such temporary +appointment, was also in Spain. In consequence, the Audiencia or supreme +court of Hispaniola acted in his stead, and appointed Manuel de Rojas. + +This forceful and patriotic man was a cousin of Velasquez, who had been +sent by the latter to Spain in July, 1521, as his advocate before the +King in the controversy with Cortez over Mexico. He had served for some +time as Alcalde of Baracoa; he was a loyal friend of Velasquez, and a +man of approved ability and integrity. He was also the first Cuban +governor of Cuba. By that I mean that he was the first to regard Cuba as +a separate entity, apart from Hispaniola and Mexico and even from Spain +itself. Velasquez, vast as were his services, was never able to +dissociate the interests of Cuba from those of Spain, or even from those +of Mexico and other Spanish lands in this hemisphere, insular and +continental; and had actually compromised the welfare of Cuba in +grasping at the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Zuazo, if he is to be reckoned +in the line of governors at all, was quite alien to Cuba. But Rojas was +an insular patriot. He was of course entirely loyal to Spain. But that +fact did not restrain him from developing an intense local patriotism. +He regarded Cuba as a great enough country to command his entire +attention and devotion. His policy was, Cuba for the Cubans; and he was +the first of a line of Governors, not always unbroken, committed to that +enlightened policy. + +The island at this time, indeed, well merited such regard. It had been +extensively settled, and its resources were beginning to be developed. +Gold mining was profitably practised. Agriculture and cattle-raising had +made great progress. Juan Mosquera, as the envoy or representative of +the Cuban municipalities in Spain, had in February, 1523, secured from +the King the first recognition of and encouragement for the sugar +industry, which had already been established in Hispaniola, and which +far-sighted men perceived to be capable of great things in Cuba. He had +also, a year earlier, secured from the King grants of free trade between +Cuba and all other Spanish colonies around the Caribbean, insular or +continental; together with some reforms of the royalty system in gold +mining and a comprehensive and orderly scheme of taxation for the +building of roads and bridges and other necessary public works. In fact, +Cuba was beginning to "find herself" and to show herself worthy of the +affection and patriotism of her people. + +The administration of Rojas was for the time, however, cut short. It had +been ordered legally enough, but with the understanding that it was only +temporary, pending the coming of Altamarino. Unfortunately the +Hispaniola audiencia went too far. It also appointed Rojas to succeed +Velasquez as repartidor of the natives, which it had no right to do, the +power to make that appointment being reserved exclusively for the King +himself. It does not appear that he misused his power, or even indeed +that he exercised it at all as repartidor; though it is likely that his +illegal appointment to that office caused some quite unmerited prejudice +against him at Madrid. His administration of the governorship, which was +legal, was brief. Altamarino entered Santiago de Cuba on March 14, 1525, +and at once assumed office, and Rojas retired without demur and without +reproach. + +Altamarino had been commissioned as juez de residencia, to investigate +the administration and conduct of Velasquez. That commission came of +course from the King, but there is reason for suspecting that Diego +Columbus had something to do with it. If he did not instigate it, he +certainly heartily approved it. Now Velasquez had, at the time of +Altamarino's appointment, been living and in office. But at the time +when Altamarino actually assumed the powers and duties of the +governorship and those of the juez de residencia, Velasquez had been +dead and buried in the cathedral of Santiago for nine months. No such +trifling circumstance as that was, however, to be permitted to cause any +deviation of the course of Spanish official procedure; particularly when +the latter was urged on by personal animus. Diego Columbus had desired +and the King had commanded Velasquez to be investigated, and +investigated he must be, alive or dead. His remains were not, it is +true, to be disinterred and placed at the bar. But his name and +reputation were made the target for all manner of attack. A proclamation +was issued, inviting everybody who had anything against the former +governor to make it known, publicly, fully and fearlessly, being assured +of immunity for anything they might say. + +In response there was a mighty flood of insinuations, complaints, +accusations, calumnies. Nor did Altamarino content himself with this. +He ransacked the archives of Cuba for all complaints, protests and what +not that had ever been made, and if the makers of them could be found, +as most of them could, he summoned them before his tribunal and required +them to testify everything they could to the discredit of Velasquez. A +similar inquisition was conducted into the affairs of all the chief +office-holders and administrators under Velasquez. The result was what +might have been expected, seeing that there was no opportunity for +Velasquez to reply to the charges or to cross-examine the witnesses +against him, or to produce other testimony in rebuttal. The founder of +the Cuban State was charged with the acceptance of gifts, including a +horse and a mule; with having levied and collected taxes without special +authority from the King, though these were admittedly for road-building +and other useful public purposes; with having participated in gambling +games, though Rojas pointed out that his fellow gamblers were among the +foremost members of the community; with having failed to check and +punish blasphemous utterances; with having neglected to pay for some of +the supplies which were taken for his Mexican expeditions; and with +having administered justice without due regard to the letter of the +statute law, which was not strange, seeing that he was not a lawyer. In +his mortuary absence, he was found guilty, by default, and was condemned +to pay heavy fines; which were collected from his heirs. + +The dead lion was not, however, without his vengeance upon the jackals +that would defile his sepulchre. The inquisition went too far, and too +dearly disclosed its animus. A vigorous resentment and reaction soon +arose, widespread and formidable; among the municipal councils and among +the people. The kinsmen and friends of Velasquez were numerous, loyal to +his memory, and powerful in influence. Gonzalo de Guzman, who had been +the advocate of Velasquez at court at Madrid, not only against Cortez +but also against Diego Columbus himself, and Nunez de Guzman, the royal +treasurer at Santiago de Cuba, were brothers-in-law of Velasquez; and +Andres Duero, Pedro de Paz, and Diego de Soto were his steadfast +friends. These were all men of wealth and influence. Like Rojas, they +were Cuban colonists, and resented meddling in Cuban affairs by one whom +they considered an outsider. They were, moreover, life members of the +Municipal Council of Santiago, by appointment of the King, and were +therefore independent of the Governor so far as their tenure of office +was concerned, and removable only by the King. + +They therefore arrayed themselves solidly against Altamarino, and +rallied to the opposition the councils of the other municipalities and +many of the principal men throughout the island. Altamarino replied by +trumping up charges against several of the life councillors, of having +expended public funds without authorization, and suspended them from +their functions, or attempted to do so. He certainly could not remove +them outright, and there was much question of his right to suspend them, +unless during actual trial in court. The Guzmans and their allies +retorted by obtaining from the court at Hispaniola an injunction +restraining Altamarino from attending meetings of the Council, so that +he would not know whether the suspended members continued their +functions or not. Against this the Governor furiously protested, +declaring that his predecessors had habitually attended all Council +meetings, and he issued an order forbidding the Council of Santiago to +transact any business whatever or indeed to meet officially, in his +absence. Of course this brought matters to an impasse, which could be +solved only through appeal to the King. This was made, and resulted in a +royal decision in favor of the Councils, confirming the injunction of +the Hispaniola tribunal against the Governor's intrusion into council +meetings. + +This, in the early autumn of 1525, was obviously the beginning of the +end for Altamarino. A little later, in October of that year, the +various municipal councils of the island united in sending Rodrigo Duran +to Hispaniola, to prefer to the court there charges against Altamarino +of a most serious character. They were indeed tantamount to his +impeachment and a demand for his removal from the Governorship. The +court hesitated to take action so radical, but considered the charges +sufficiently important to warrant reference to the King. The result was +that the King promptly decided against the Governor. Less than nine +months after his actual assumption of office, and little more than a +year and a half after his appointment to it, Altamarino was summarily +removed from the place to which he had been appointed for two years. + +Immediately after this, at the beginning of December, 1525, Altamarino's +chief antagonist, Gonzalo de Guzman, a life Councillor of Santiago, was +appointed to succeed him as Governor, and also as Repartidor of the +natives, with all the plenary authority that Velasquez had exercised. +Nor was that all. Guzman was commissioned juez de residencia, to +investigate the affairs of the deposed Altamarino as the latter had +investigated those of the deceased Velasquez. Guzman appears not +actually to have taken office until April 25, 1526, and not to have +begun his inquest into his predecessor's affairs until midsummer of that +year. But he then made up for the delay with the searching and ruthless +character of his investigation. We can scarcely doubt that he was moved +by a large degree of personal vindictiveness. Certainly he seemed to try +to be as irritating and as humiliating to Altamarino as possible; the +more so, perhaps, because he realized that there was nothing serious to +be proved, and that the chief penalty the ex-Governor would suffer would +be the heckling and denunciation which he received during the +investigation. There were charges enough against him, but not one +warranted any severe punishment. As a matter of fact, all the penalties +imposed upon him were light, and they were all promptly remitted by the +King; the royal advisers at Madrid reporting to His Majesty that the +whole business had been nothing but a tempest in a teapot. Nevertheless, +the episode ended the career of Altamarino in Cuba. He at once departed +to Mexico, and was seen in the island no more. + +We may now fittingly observe a certain highly significant political +development which at this time was manifested in the island. Reference +has already been made to the rise of a feeling of local pride and +municipal independence in the various provinces into which the island +was divided, and also to the marked assertion of insular patriotism +under Rojas and his colleagues. The former movement dated from as early +as 1518, when Panfilo de Narvaez secured from the King a decree giving +to some of the members of municipal councils life terms of office. In +that year, accordingly, Gonzalo de Guzman and Diego de Sumana were +appointed by the King to be life Councillors, or Regidors, in Santiago; +Alonzo Bembrilla and Bernardino Yniguez in Trinidad; and Francisco Santa +Cruz and, as we might suppose, Panfilo de Narvaez himself in Bayamo. A +little later Diego de Caballero and Fernando de Medina were appointed in +Sancti Spiritus, and Rodrigo Canon and Sancho de Urrutia in Puerto del +Principe. In addition to these there were, of course, other Councillors +appointed by the Governor for limited terms. But the life Councillors +gave tone and direction to the municipal administrations and developed a +certain degree of local independence of the general government of the +island. In brief, there began to be promulgated at this early date the +salutary principle that the various municipalities or provinces were to +enjoy home rule in all purely local matters, while of course remaining +subject to the Governor in everything relating to the general welfare of +the island; and also that the island was to enjoy home rule in all +matters pertaining exclusively to it, while subject and loyal to the +Crown in everything affecting the general welfare and integrity of the +Spanish kingdom and its colonial empire. + +The motives and purpose of Narvaez in seeking this permanent tenure for +municipal Councillors have been much debated. He has been charged by +some, and not unnaturally, with a selfish purpose to entrench himself +and his friends irremovably in office. On the other hand there have been +those who have credited him with a high-minded and statesmanlike design +of promoting the welfare of Cuba by securing stability of local +government under the best men. Knowing what we do of his character, it +seems reasonable to suppose that the latter motive was potent, even if +the other also had some influence. What is quite certain is, however, +that the system quickly became a formidable power in Cuban politics, +sometimes beneficent and sometimes mischievous. These permanent +Councillors were powerful in bringing to naught the brief administration +of Zuazo, and they formed, as already stated, the head and front of the +successful opposition to Altamarino. At the same time, through their +control of the election of alcaldes and other local officers they gave +to the local administrations a stability which they might not otherwise +have enjoyed. + +With the accession of Gonzalo de Guzman to the Governorship, however, a +strong and widespread reaction against the Councillors arose. This was +doubtless largely provoked by the injudicious action of Guzman himself. +As a life Councillor of Santiago he had been foremost in securing the +exclusion of Altamarino from sessions of the councils. But when he +himself became Governor, he retained his life Councillorship and +therefore insisted upon his right to continue attending the meetings. +Remonstrance against this was made, to the King; he having appointed +Guzman to both offices; but he declined to interfere. He did, however, +appoint additional life Councillors, enough largely to outnumber the +partisans of Guzman. He also took the very important step of authorizing +each municipality to elect from among its Councillors a Procurator, or +public advocate, corresponding in some respects to a Tribune of the +ancient Roman Republic. + +These procurators soon found their chief occupation in resisting and +protesting against those acts of the Councils which they deemed inimical +to the public welfare. The procurators of all the municipalities met +together, to compare notes and to take counsel together for the common +good, and there was an increasing inclination among them to oppose what +they regarded as the growing tyranny of the Councils. At such a meeting +of all the procurators, in March, 1528, Manuel de Rojas, procurator for +Bayamo, took the sensational action of presenting a formal popular +protest against what was described as the arrogance and oligarchical +tendencies of the Councils. This provoked an impassioned reply from Juan +de Quexo, the procurator for Havana, who denied the statements and +insinuations of the document and opposed its reception by the meeting. +But after an acrimonious controversy, Rojas won the day. The protest was +received, adopted by the convention, and forwarded to the King of Spain. +Together with it the procurators forwarded to the King some radical +recommendations for the improvement of the insular government. These +were, that the Governor should always be selected from among the bona +fide residents of the island and should be appointed for a term of three +years; that the life tenure of Councillors should be abolished; and that +all councillors, alcaldes and procurators should be elected yearly by +the people. + +These suggestions were not in their entirety received favorably by the +King. He refused outright to adopt those relating to the selection and +appointment of governors, and to the abolition of life councillorships. +He did, however, order that the procurators should be elected yearly by +the people, and he greatly enlarged the functions and powers of that +office. A new system of choosing alcaldes was also decreed. Instead of +their being elected yearly by the Councils, it was ordered that the +Council presided over by the alcalde should nominate two candidates, +that the Council members without the alcalde should nominate two more, +and that the Governor should name one; and that from among these five a +first and second alcalde should be chosen by lot. + +Thus in the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman the principle of "Cuba +for the Cubans," afterward long neglected, was pretty efficiently +established. The Governor, at that time, and all other royal officers of +the island, were Cuban colonists; and the people were invested with +power to select their own procurators or advocates, who were +irremovable, and who were competent to represent the people not only in +the Cuban courts and in those of Hispaniola, but also before the Royal +Council for the Indies at Madrid, and who were empowered to proceed +against the municipal councils, the royal officials, or even the +Governor himself. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +The early part of the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman was chiefly +occupied with the investigation of his predecessors' stewardships, and +with controversies with the municipal councils. There was also a +controversy with the Crown over the payment to him of a salary for his +services, which he requested of the King, and which the King ordered to +be paid to him, but which he did not receive. Then came complications +over the royal treasurership in the island. Christopher de Cuellar had +been succeeded in that office by Pedro Nunez de Guzman. The latter died, +leaving a considerable fortune, and the colonial government at +Hispaniola immediately designated Andres Duero to succeed him +temporarily, until the King should make a permanent appointment; the +expectation apparently being that Duero would be confirmed in the +office. Unfortunately for the success of this design, however, the +temporary appointment had been made without consulting the royal +officials; who were not unnaturally piqued and offended. The result was +that a protest was made to the King, not only against the method of his +appointment but also against Duero himself. To this the King listened +sympathetically, and he presently overruled the appointment of Duero, +and in place of him named Hernando de Castro as temporary treasurer, +until such time as he could have conditions investigated and could +select some fitting man as a permanent incumbent. + +Oddly enough, Castro had once before supplanted Duero, as the royal +factor in Cuba. This office had first been held by Bernardino Velasquez, +upon whose death Andres Duero had been appointed to hold it temporarily, +only to be speedily replaced by Castro. The latter appears to have been +one of the most enterprising men of affairs of that time, and to have +done more than most of his contemporaries for the industrial and +economic development of the island. He became engaged in commerce +between Spain and the West Indies at an early date, and paid much +attention to agriculture, which he believed would be the chief permanent +industry of Cuba. It was he who introduced the cultivation of wheat and +other staples, with a view to making the island self-supporting, and for +such activities he received the formal thanks of the King. +Unfortunately, he too somewhat compromised himself by attempting to +appropriate as his own the native Cubans who had been the serfs of +Bernardino Velasquez and whom Duero, the factor pro tempore, had seized. + +Soon after the replacing of Duero with Castro as treasurer pro tempore +the former died, and then the latter was in turn replaced by the +permanent appointment of Lopez Hurtado, who held the place for many +years, and who was distinguished at once for his honesty and his +irrepressible cantankerousness. He seemed to have a mania for +faultfinding; though doubtless there was much legitimate occasion for +the exercise of that faculty. To his mind, almost every other man in +Cuba was a knave, and he never wearied of reporting to the King, in +interminable written messages, his complaints and accusations. Not only +in spite of but also because of this he was a most useful public +servant. + +Pedro Nunez de Guzman, who died in 1527, left, as we have seen, a +considerable fortune. Practically all of it was left to his widow, and +her the thrifty Gonzalo de Guzman presently married, and thus got +himself into one of the most serious controversies of his whole career. +A part of the fortune of Pedro consisted of about two hundred Cuban +serfs. These Gonzalo de Guzman, as Repartidor, transferred to the widow, +and then, of course, when he married her, they became his property. This +roused the animosity of the honest but cantankerous Hurtado, who thought +that the Cubans should have been given to himself, as their former +owner's official successor; according to the example set by Hernando de +Castro, as already related. Hurtado accordingly wrote to the King a long +letter on the subject, which, though it did not cause intervention in +that special matter, attracted the King's attention to the complications +which the Guzman marriage was producing. + +The mother of the late Pedro Nunez de Guzman next appeared as a party to +the controversy. This lady, Dona Leonora de Quinones, who had remained +in Spain, complained that a great injustice had been done to her and to +her other children by the transfer of Pedro's entire fortune to his +widow and thence to the latter's second husband, and she applied to the +Spanish courts for relief. The result was a series of lawsuits, which +scandalized the Spanish courts for a term of years. In these suits many +prominent Cubans were involved, and nearly the whole population of the +island took sides for one or the other of the parties. Street brawls +occurred over it, and the violence culminated in a physical scuffle in +the aisle of the cathedral, between Gonzalo de Guzman and the Alcalde of +Santiago, in which the latter had most of his clothes torn from his +back, and for which Guzman was required to do penance. + +The King had given his assent to the Guzman marriage, and was unwilling +to withdraw it, or to censure Guzman for taking and striving to retain +all of Pedro's estate. Nevertheless he remonstrated with the litigants +for the fury of their controversy, which he truly told them was not only +a disgrace to the island but was also a grave practical injury to it. +The conflict continued, however, until all the resources of the law +courts were exhausted. By that time many of the lawyers were +considerably enriched, but a still large part of the estate was +confirmed in the possession of Gonzalo de Guzman and his wife. All this +militated against the confidence with which Guzman had been regarded, +and hastened steps for the subjection of him to the fate of his +predecessors. + +We have seen that Guzman had been commissioned to investigate the +administration of his predecessor, Altamarino, and that he had performed +that congenial task with energy and zeal. Now came his own turn to +undergo the same treatment. It was only a little more than two years +after his accession to the governorship that the King or the Crown +officials in Spain concluded that it would be well to have his affairs +looked into. For the performance of this work Juan Vadillo was selected, +in the autumn of 1528. He was a notably efficient man. He had been +employed for some time by the crown as a debt-collector in Cuba, +Hispaniola, Jamaica and Porto Rico, and had been highly successful in +that work; wherefore it was thought that he would subject Guzman's +administration to a particularly thorough examination. + +He declined, however, to accept the commission; for a variety of +reasons. One was, that he had thitherto taken his orders and received +his commissions directly from the King, and he considered it beneath his +dignity now to be an underling of a mere Admiral of the Indies--or of +the widow of the Admiral, since the commission for this job was to be +given by the widow of Diego Columbus. Another reason was found in the +terms on which the commission was to be granted. He was to be governor +of Cuba for thirty days. During that time he was to conduct his +investigation of Guzman's administration. Then, with the assumption that +thirty days would afford him ample time to complete the work, he was to +restore the governorship to Guzman, apparently quite irrespective of the +result of his inquest. Still another reason was, that his instructions +were not sufficiently explicit. It was not, for example, made clear +whether he was to replace Guzman as repartidor as well as in the +governorship. A final reason, perhaps not least of all, was that the +salary offered was not sufficient. + +While thus declining to accept the commission, Vadillo manifested his +fitness for it and his serviceable interest in Cuban affairs by pointing +out to the sovereign various grave defects in the administration of +Cuban affairs, particularly in that of the repartidor's functions. One +important object of the repartimiento system was to assure a suitable +distribution of native labor throughout the island. It was in fact +operating to just the contrary effect. Some parts of the island were +overcrowded, while others were almost entirely destitute of labor. These +representations had their effect at court; not, it is true, in the +ordering of correction of the evils, but in confirming the desire to +have Vadillo investigate insular affairs. + +After more than two years' delay, then, on February 27, 1531, another +summons was sent to Vadillo. This time it was not a request but a +peremptory order to go at once to Cuba and undertake the work. The +conditions were, however, materially changed. He was to have his +commission from the King. He was to be governor for sixty days instead +of thirty. He was to be repartidor, also, in conjunction with the Bishop +of Cuba. He was to have an adequate salary. And at the end of his +investigation of Guzman's administration he was to hand the governorship +over, not necessarily to Guzman again, but to anyone whom he might +choose, until the widow of Diego Columbus should make a permanent +appointment. + +On these conditions Vadillo accepted the commission and entered upon his +work with the efficiency and zeal that had marked his former +undertaking. He quickly found that there was much need for +investigation, and of thorough reforms. The whole administration had +become demoralized by the personal jealousies and local feuds which for +years had been raging. Bribery, slander, false arrest, even murder, had +been resorted to by political partisans for the accomplishment of their +ends, until something like chaos had been precipitated upon the unhappy +island. It was in November, 1531, that Vadillo arrived at Santiago de +Cuba on his formidable errand. He purposed to spend a few weeks in +preliminary surveys of the ground, announcing that his sixty days' +incumbency of the governorship would begin on January 1. + +On the latter date the actual house-cleaning began. The tremendous +indictment which Guzman had made against Altamarino was a petty trifle +in comparison with that which Vadillo launched against Guzman. There was +scarcely any conceivable form of maladministration which was not charged +against the governor. He had, said Vadillo, interfered with freedom of +suffrage at elections. He had levied and collected taxes for which there +was no warrant in law. He had appointed and commissioned notaries, +although he had no legal power to do so. He had failed to compel married +men either to return to their wives in Spain or to send for their wives +to come to Cuba. He had permitted illicit trade in slaves. He had been +biassed and partial in his administration of justice. All these and +other accusations were made with much circumstance and with a formidable +array of corroborative testimony, against Guzman as governor. Against +him as repartidor it was charged that he had been guilty of gross and +injurious misrepresentations to the Crown and to the people; that he had +assigned natives as serfs to his relatives and friends in defiance of +law; and that he had made the distribution of native labor inequitable. + +All these charges were indignantly denied by Guzman, who defended +himself with much vigor and shrewdness. But Vadillo found him to be +guilty of almost every one of them, and sentenced him to pay a heavy +fine and to be removed from office, both as governor and as repartidor. +Against this judgment Guzman made appeal to the Council for the Indies, +in Spain. In order to bring all possible influence to bear upon that +body, he himself went to Spain, in August, 1532, carrying a vast mass of +documents, and accompanied by Bishop Ramirez, who was returning to Spain +to be consecrated. This ecclesiastic had been Guzman's most staunch and +zealous partisan during the investigation. He had gone so far as to +threaten with excommunication anyone who should testify against the +governor, and had actually excommunicated Vadillo. Against this act +Vadillo had protested to the King, and the King had reprimanded the +Bishop and had compelled him to withdraw the writ of excommunication. +Guzman therefore took the Bishop along with him, partly so that the +latter might be formally consecrated and have his conduct if possible +vindicated, and partly to aid himself in his appeal to the Council for +the Indies. + +Vadillo did not trouble himself to go to Spain to counteract Guzman's +appeal. A month before the departure of Guzman and the Bishop he left +Cuba for Hispaniola, conscious of having done his duty. He had been a +fearless and thorough investigator and a just judge; and he had rendered +to Cuba and to the Spanish crown services far greater than he ever +received compensation or credit for. Indeed, he did not enjoy so much as +the gratitude of the people of Cuba, most of whom were partisans of +Guzman or of some other political leader, and had become so accustomed +to the corrupt ways which had been followed for years that they were +inclined to resent any attempt at reform. + +Upon the expiration of his sixty days' incumbency, Vadillo designated +Manuel de Rojas to be governor in his stead, until an appointment of +permanent character could be made by the Admiral at Hispaniola. Rojas +was reluctant to accept the place, knowing that he would find it more +arduous and even perilous than before, but he was finally prevailed upon +to do so, apparently more through a sense of public duty than for any +expectation of personal advantage. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +The first governorship of Gonzalo de Guzman was marked with two features +of very great importance to the young nation--for such we may properly +regard Cuba as having been at that time. One of these was the +development of the ecclesiastical establishment into a strong and +sometimes dominant force in the body politic and social; and the other +was the crisis of the protracted problem of dealing with or disposing of +the native Indians. These two matters were, as they had been from the +beginning, closely related to each other. + +It is a commonplace of history that there was a certain thread of +religious motive running all through the exploits of Columbus. He +emphasized the significance of his name, Christopher, Christ-Bearer, +sometimes signing himself X. Ferens. The same idea was expressed, as we +have already seen, in the names which he gave to the various lands which +he discovered. Nor were his successors in exploration and conquest +neglectful of the same spirit. Accordingly the first Spanish settlers in +Cuba took pains to plant there immediately the church of their faith, +and to seek to convert the natives to Christianity. Among the very +earliest to land upon the shores of the island were priests of the Roman +Catholic church, and the first church was built at the first point of +settlement, Baracoa. + +Some obscurity invests the records of the early ecclesiastical +organization, but it seems altogether probable that the first Bishop was +Hernando de Mesa, a member of the Order of St. Dominic. There is no +available record of his appointment and consecration, but he appears to +have begun his episcopal work at Baracoa in 1513 and 1514. He built the +first Cuban cathedral at Baracoa, and secured from the Spanish +government in 1515 a system of tithes for the support and propagation of +the church. These tithes were to be paid not in coin but in +merchandise, and they were to be collected not by the priests or other +agents of the church, but by officers of the secular government. The +latter was, moreover, to retain one-third of them for the erection of +new church buildings, a task which it took upon itself as a measure of +public works. It was not infrequently remarked that these royal +tithe-gatherers were much more diligent, prompt and efficient in +collecting the tithes from the people than in turning the proceeds over +to the church. + +Bishop De Mesa reigned over the diocese for about three years, and then +was succeeded by Juan de Ubite, concerning whom the records are much +more detailed and explicit. He seems to have been an aggressive and +fearless man, who did not hesitate to engage in controversy and even in +litigation with the royal government over the matter of the tithes. He +protested against the government's retaining and administering the +one-third of the tithes which was devoted to church-building, insisting +that it also should be turned over to the ecclesiastical authorities, +who were best fitted to know the needs and to direct the work of church +building. In this contention he was not successful, but he did manage to +secure the levying of tithes upon the crown estates the same as upon all +other property. + +One of the most important achievements of Bishop Ubite was the transfer +of the cathedral from Baracoa to Santiago. For this change he gave two +reasons. One was, that Baracoa was an unhealthful spot; in which he was +surely in error. The other was, that Santiago was a larger and more +important place, indeed, the chief city of the island; in which he was +quite correct. The transfer was authorized by the civil government in +October, 1522, and plots of land were granted to the Bishop for the +sites of the new cathedral and of the houses of the Bishop and other +clergy. These latter were the same plots which are still occupied by +ecclesiastical buildings, in the heart of the city of Santiago de Cuba. + +This change of the site of the cathedral was doubtless to the advantage +of the church. It was probably profitable, also, to the good Bishop +personally. Following it he became the proprietor of extensive lands, of +great herds of cattle, and of a number of Negro and Indian slaves. He +interested himself to good effect in seeing to it that the civil +government provided from its third of the tithes abundant funds for +church building, and thus secured the erection of two churches at +Trinidad, one at Sancti Spiritus, and one at Havana, a place even at +that early date rising rapidly in importance. + +Bishop Ubite reigned over the diocese until April, 1525, and then, in +circumstances which are obscure and for reasons not clearly apparent, +took the extraordinary step of resigning his see. The office remained +vacant until early in 1527, when Miguel Ramirez was appointed to it. +This third Bishop was, like each of his predecessors, a Dominican. He +was officially styled not only Bishop but also Protector of the Indians, +with the purpose of making him a sort of check upon the Repartidor. He +did not arrive at Santiago until the fall of 1528, when he promptly made +up for the delay by plunging into both industrial and political +activities. Like Bishop Ubite, he was an extensive land owner, +cattle-raiser and slaveholder. + +Bishop Ramirez appears to have been a great meddler into politics, +particularly as a hot partisan of Gonzalo de Guzman. He came into +conflict more than once with the royal treasurer, Hurtado, and was +denounced by that austere censor as a scandalous disturber of the peace. +This characterization was provoked by the Bishop's attitude and conduct +toward Vadillo's investigation of Guzman's administration; and it is +probably not unjust to assume that the Bishop's attitude and conduct +were due to the fact that Vadillo had seized a lot of gold which had +been mined by the husband of the Bishop's niece. Vadillo made this +seizure on two grounds: That the nephew-in-law was a mere figure-head +for the Bishop himself, who had no legal right to engage in +gold-mining; and that the gold in question properly belonged to the +royal treasury and therefore should be turned over to Hurtado. At any +rate the Bishop was furious, and strove to restrain, with threats of +excommunication, witnesses from testifying against Guzman in the +inquests which Vadillo was conducting. Vadillo was not at all alarmed or +abashed by the episcopal wrath, but proceeded to look into the affairs +of the church as well as the civil government, and among other reforms +ordered the Bishop and clergy to stop charging for funeral masses higher +fees than those which were charged in Hispaniola. At this the Bishop +seems quite to have lost his head. He began a denunciatory tirade +against Vadillo in the cathedral, at which the latter contemptuously +turned his back upon the speaker and walked out of the building. Then +the Bishop excommunicated him. Vadillo made appeal to the King, and the +King, after careful consideration and investigation, compelled the +Bishop to withdraw the excommunication, and in addition gave his royal +approval to all that Vadillo had done with respect to the church. + +In the first clash between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, +therefore, the former were victorious. Nevertheless, the church exerted +much and steadily increasing influence, particularly in matters relating +to the Indian natives. And these matters were of much importance. +Although the repartimiento system, adopted early in the administration +of Velasquez, was designed and supposed to put all the natives under +government control, it failed to do so. Among those apportioned to the +colonists as serfs--practically slaves--dissatisfaction and resentment +widely prevailed, and insurrections sometimes occurred. But by no means +all the natives were thus apportioned. Some fled to mountain fastnesses, +and others, perhaps the majority, to the small islands or Keys off the +Cuban coast, whence they became known as Key Indians. They used these +islands, moreover, not alone as places of refuge but also as bases from +which to make depredatory raids upon the mainland of Cuba, to the great +detriment and disturbance of the Spanish settlers. + +So numerous, extensive and disastrous did these raids become that +Velasquez in 1523 commissioned Rodrigo de Tamayo to organize a military +and naval expedition against the Key Indians, and to kill or capture +them all. This programme was not fully carried out, but it was +sufficiently executed to abate the troubles and to secure peace on the +coasts for several years. Tamayo's commission was renewed by Altamarino, +as a matter of form, there being then no need of action; and when in the +administration of Gonzalo de Guzman there was some recrudescence of +hostilities, the royal government specially authorized the waging of a +campaign which should bring the last of the Key Indians into subjection. +The new outbreaks did not, however, prove sufficiently serious to call +for or to warrant strenuous action. + +The scene of trouble was, however, shifted from the coast to the +interior of the island. Several numerous companies of Indians, securely +lodged among the mountains, began hostilities, raiding the very suburbs +of Santiago itself. They were known as Cimarrons, or Wild Indians, to +distinguish them from the serfs and slaves. Their pernicious activities +began in 1529, and in the following year their operations were so +extensive and persistent as to simulate civil war. Manuel de Rojas +organized a force and led it against them with much success, and would +probably have soon made an end of the troubles had he not been +restrained by Guzman. The governor was probably jealous of the ability, +popularity and rising influence of Rojas, and was not willing that he +should gain the prestige which complete victory would confer upon him. +So he called him back in circumstances which would, he thought, +discredit Rojas and make his campaign seem a failure. Vadillo during his +brief administration sought to end the troubles by pacific and +conciliatory overtures, but failed. + +It was thus left for Rojas, on becoming governor in succession to +Guzman, to take up again the work from which he had been recalled by his +predecessor. This he did to much effect at the end of 1532. He sent a +strong force against the mountain fastness of Guama, the foremost +chieftain of the Cimarrons, and completely defeated him, putting him to +flight and almost extirpating his band. Shortly after this victory of +Rojas's, Guama was killed by one of his own few remaining followers. +Rojas then sent his troops to disperse Cimarron bands near Bayamo, and +Baracoa, which they did with much success, so that peace and security +were pretty well restored throughout the island. + +This left unsettled, however, the other and in some respects more +important and more trying phase of the Indian question, namely, the +treatment and disposal of the "tame" Indians, who for years had been in +a state of practical slavery under the repartimiento system. It will be +recalled that at the beginning they were placed under the protection of +the Jeronimite Order of monks; a protection which did not effectively +protect. In fact, within a dozen years of the foundation of the system +the Jeronimites were more oppressors than protectors, and were chiefly +engaged in making what pecuniary profit they could out of their hapless +wards. On this account their nominal protectorate was formally abolished +by the crown, in 1526, and Gonzalo de Guzman was made repartidor with +powers equal to those which Velasquez had exercised. Indeed, his powers +were even more absolute than those of Velasquez, since the supreme court +of Hispaniola was deprived of jurisdiction over him in his +administration of Indian affairs. Later the Bishop, Ramirez, was made +co-repartidor with him. + +There then arose a protracted and bitter rivalry between the governor +and Bishop on the one side and the municipal alcaldes on the other, for +the exercise of powers of inspection of and supervision over the labor +of the natives. Both sides appointed inspectors, whose functions +clashed. Appeal was made to the crown, with the result that the dispute +was decided in favor of the alcaldes, who were authorized to appoint +inspectors, which the governor and Bishop were forbidden to do. As is +usual in such cases, the objects of the contention were the chief +sufferers. Indeed, so wretched became their plight that some inkling of +the truth reached the ears of the King, who thereupon commissioned a +Provincial of the Franciscan Order to go from Hispaniola to Cuba, to +investigate charges of cruelty, and to punish severely all who were +found guilty. The King also directed that he should arrange for the +liberation of the natives to the fullest extent for which they seemed to +be fitted. + +Learning of this before the arrival of this commissioner, Guzman and his +friends set energetically to work to defeat his mission in advance. A +vast mass of "evidence" was cooked up, pretending to demonstrate the +unfitness of the Indians for any greater measure of liberty than they +were already enjoying, which was practically none at all. It was +declared that the Indians were at that very time largely armed and +threatening the Spaniards with massacre and extermination, and that any +further privileges granted to them would certainly provoke a tragic +catastrophe. The Indians would exterminate the Spanish colonists and of +course revert to heathen idolatry, and it would be necessary to conquer +and to convert the island over again. This perjured stuff, +responsibility for which must be regarded as the worst stain upon +Gonzalo de Guzman's fame, was presented to the King in the name of the +government and people of Cuba. + +But King Charles was no fool. Thousands of miles away though he was, and +absorbed in important problems of other parts of his vast empire, he +took pains to find out the truth about Cuba. Learning it, he threw the +stuff which Guzman had sent him into the waste basket, gave his +Franciscan commissioner stronger orders, declared that he wanted the +Indians to be treated as free men and not as slaves, and promulgated a +set of new laws concerning them. In connection with these laws, as a +statement of the need of them, the King delivered himself of a scathing +indictment of the Cuban government and people for ill-treatment of the +natives and for causing depopulation of the island. (The original +population of the island at the time of the first Spanish settlements is +unknown, but has reasonably been estimated at several hundred thousand. +By the end of Guzman's administration the number of surviving Indians +was reckoned at not more than five thousand!) + +These new laws, issued in the latter part of 1526, forbade further +compulsion of the Indians as laborers in the mines. But in the course of +a few weeks some modifications of them--to the disadvantage of the +Indians--were obtained through false representations at court, with the +result that conditions became almost as bad as before. The King next +directed Sebastian Ramirez, who was Bishop of Hispaniola and president +of the supreme court, to report to him on the desirability of retaining +or abolishing the repartimiento system; and that functionary reported in +favor of retaining it. Then Miguel Ramirez was made Bishop of Cuba and +Protector of the Indians; and he, as we have seen, fell completely under +the influence of Guzman. The result was that no reforms were effected, +and the state of the Indians went from bad to worse. + +The King learned of this, and was profoundly dissatisfied. In the latter +part of 1529 he demanded to know why reforms had not been effected, and +especially why there had not been made the experiment of granting the +natives entire freedom. Equivocal replies were made, and it was not +until the spring of 1531 that Guzman undertook the experiment. At that +time one of the colonists, who had held some 120 slaves, died, and +Guzman directed that they be set at liberty and be given a chance to +show what they could do as farmers. Every conceivable condition was +imposed upon them which would tend to make the experiment the failure +which Guzman intended that it should be. In the midst of the +experiment, which was to last a year, Guzman was removed from office. +Vadillo, who succeeded him for sixty days, had no authority to do +anything in the premises, and so the completion of the ill-begun +business was left for Manuel de Rojas. + +Then began one of the most deplorable passages in all the early history +of Cuba, in which good intentions were frustrated, benevolent purposes +defeated, and the remnants of a race undeservedly doomed to destruction. +Manuel de Rojas should be credited with having been of all men of this +time one of the most honest and able, and most sincere in his desire to +do justice to the native Indians. He saw through the web of trickery and +malign conditions in which they had been enmeshed by those who were +predetermined that the experiment of emancipation should fail, and he +unsparingly denounced it all. The Indians who had been "selected" for +the experiment had in fact not been selected at all, but had been taken +at haphazard, without regard to their fitness; if indeed they had not +been taken largely because of their unfitness. They had, moreover, been +subjected to the instruction and direction of those who seemed more +interested in extorting profit from them than in assisting them to +independence. + +Rojas demanded that these abuses should be corrected, and that the +natives should have at least a fair, unhampered chance to show +themselves fit for freedom and Cuban citizenship. As a result of his own +painstaking investigation, he reported to the King that the tales of +Indian insurrections, actual or threatened, which his predecessor had +circulated, were chiefly false; obviously invented for the purpose of +discrediting the Indians. It was the old story: "Give a dog a bad name, +and hang him." The Indians were to be slandered, and represented as +incorrigible criminals, and then doomed to slavery. Moreover, in the few +cases in which revolts or attempted revolts had occurred, the blame +should rest upon the Spaniards more than upon the Indians, for the +former had goaded the latter to desperation by inhuman cruelties, in +resisting which the Indians were manifesting not savagery but manhood. + +In support of this view of the situation, Rojas was able to cite many +specific and perfectly well authenticated instances of cruelty and +injustice. To correct these evils he recommended that whenever it was +proved that a mine-owner, farmer or other employer of native labor, had +deliberately treated his Indians cruelly or unjustly, the men should be +taken away from him and either set at liberty or be assigned to a more +humane employer. The danger of thus being deprived of their workmen +would, he plausibly believed, restrain employers from brutality. He also +insisted that the professional "slave catchers," who made a profitable +business of running down and returning to their employers fugitive +Indians, and who notoriously treated such captives with gross cruelty, +should be forbidden longer to ply their nefarious trade. + +This wise and humane policy was approved by the crown, and Rojas +sincerely and perseveringly strove to make it effective throughout the +island; devoting to it for a couple of years the greater part of his +time and attention. But unfortunately he found the people, the civil +officials, and to a large extent the clergy, arrayed against him. The +_auri sacra fames_ possessed the people. Slave labor was profitable; +therefore they resented and opposed anything which would deprive them of +it. Especially did they oppose the provision that men should be deprived +of their workmen because they had treated them cruelly. Fines or other +penalties for excessive brutality might be well enough, but to take a +man's slaves away from him was, in their opinion, going too far. He was +not thus deprived of his horses and cattle. Why should he be deprived of +his Indians? + +Yet in the face of such opposition Rojas bravely persevered. He seems to +have been animated by two motives, both creditable and honorable. One +was that of humanity and justice. It revolted him to see his fellow +human beings treated as badly as beasts. The other was that of patriotic +policy. He believed that it was bad for Cuba, that it corrupted the +present and compromised the future, to maintain this abominable system +of human slavery. So he flung himself into the work of emancipation and +reform with all the resolution and energy of which he was capable. He +travelled over the island, personally inspecting the conditions of labor +at all points, and personally listening to all complaints, petitions, +suggestions and what not that were offered. Particularly was he +interested in the "experimental village" near Bayamo, where natives were +trying to work out their own salvation on farms of their own. He +corrected as far as possible the unfavorable conditions which had been +imposed upon them, and encouraged them to their best efforts. + +Unfortunately the royal government had been misled into sanctioning the +imposition upon these people of burdens "almost too heavy to be borne." +Regardless of the fact that as inexpert beginners in agriculture they +were not likely in the first year or two to make large profits from +their labor, they were weighed down with far heavier taxation than that +to which Spanish colonists were subjected. They were required to pay a +large tribute in cash as "vassals." They were also required to pay large +salaries to various functionaries who were saddled upon them without +their desire or need. One was an ecclesiastic, who was charged with +protecting their spiritual welfare. Another was a layman, who was +supposed to be their political guide, philosopher and friend. These +overseers probably did them much more harm than good, though Rojas seems +to have selected for those places the best men he could find. But the +result of these impositions was that many of the Indians became +discouraged and indicated a preference for returning to serfdom or +slavery. As free men in the experimental village they had to support +themselves and in addition to pay practically all their earnings to the +tax-gatherer. It would be better to give all their labor to an employer +who in return would at least provide them with the necessaries of +existence. + +On this ground many of the villagers indicated a desire to abandon the +experiment and return to the old system. It is probable that some of +them were really convinced that this would be best. They were driven to +despair by being thrown upon their own resources and then being +oppressed with unjust taxes. But there is also reason to suspect that +other influences were brought to bear upon many of them. They were +threatened with all manner of punishment and persecution if they did not +renounce the experiment and ask to be returned to slavery. Similar +tactics were certainly employed against those outside of the villages. +Wherever Rojas went on his tours of inspection and investigation, he +heard of natives who had complaints to make, or petitions to offer, or +who wished to be released from serfdom and to enter the free village. +But when he reached the spot and sought for these Indians, they had +disappeared, or had changed their minds. He had little doubt of foul +play, that they were smuggled out of sight, or were coerced into action +and speech contrary to their real desires; but he was seldom able to +prove it, so general was the conspiracy against emancipation. + +The result was inevitable. Rojas lost heart. It is possible that he +still clung to his beliefs, but realized that the obstacles to his +policy were too great for him to overcome. It may be, on the other hand, +that he became convinced that he had erred, that the Indians were not as +fit for freedom as he had supposed, and that their general emancipation +was impracticable. In any case, he gave up the struggle. "Before God and +his conscience," he said, he was convinced that little if any good had +come of the experiment of freedom, and that it would be best to abandon +it and to return the Indians to the control of well-disposed Spaniards; +with a proviso that any who wished for freedom and showed fitness for +it should be emancipated. A tone of sadness but of sincerity pervaded +the report in which he made this recommendation. The King accepted it +and approved it, doubtless with the same reluctance and regret which +Rojas must have had in making it; and that chapter of Cuban history was +ended. + +Not one of all the early governors of Cuba deserves more grateful memory +than Rojas. Not one of them surpassed him in ability, in statesmanship, +in executive efficiency, in breadth and penetration of vision in +discerning the needs and the possibilities of the island. Not one, +certainly, surpassed if indeed any rivalled him in integrity, +benevolence, and self-sacrificing devotion to duty. Velasquez, indeed, +occupied the governorship for a longer period, and was associated with +more striking events; naturally, being the first and the founder of the +line. But not even he had as true a public spirit or as just a +conception of the ways and means by which a substantial and prosperous +commonwealth was to be developed, as had Manuel de Rojas. + +Yet no other governor in those times was more shabbily and ungratefully +treated than he, both during and after his administration. A wise, just +judge, an indefatigable administrator, above all an honest man, he +devoted himself to the task of promoting the interests of the island, of +its people, with a sincerity and a whole-heartedness unfortunately +uncommon in those days or in any days. It is true that he failed to +solve the problem of saving the Indian natives, and some others which +confronted him. But that was not for lack of noble effort or high +purpose. It was because he was either honestly misled by those upon whom +it was necessary for him to rely, or because he found himself confronted +with difficulties too great for a man to overcome alone, and at the same +time abandoned if not actually betrayed and antagonized by those who +should have aided him and with whose aid he might have been triumphant. + +He labored at the cost of great self-sacrifice. The salary which was +paid to him by the Crown was insufficient, and his personal fortune was +not large. He was, moreover, too busy with public affairs to engage in +gainful occupations of any kind while governor, and he was too honest to +enrich himself in any devious ways. He spent his own private means +freely for public purposes, not only in official tours of the island, +but in paying the expenses of suppressing Indian outbreaks and +apprehending criminals. The result was that he found himself becoming +impoverished. Nor did he have so much as the consolation of +appreciation. Doubtless the King did appreciate, theoretically, his +loyalty, efficiency and integrity; but he altogether neglected to +manifest his appreciation in a practical manner by giving Rojas the +encouragement and support which he deserved and which he greatly needed. +So far as the people of Cuba were concerned, they showed still less +regard for him, while the majority of their political and social leaders +were openly hostile to him. Guzman and his relatives and friends, who +were numerous and powerful, in particular neglected no opportunity to +thwart, annoy or discredit him. + +In these circumstances it was not to be wondered at that Rojas grew +weary of his discouraging and ungrateful task, in which he had not even +the satisfaction of feeling that he was accomplishing something, and +consequently begged to be relieved of it. He had too high a sense of +duty to abandon his place without the permission of the King, and that +for some time was withheld. But at last his increasingly importunate +appeals had their effect. In October, 1535, the King accepted his +resignation, and, it is pleasant to record, paid him a tribute which was +unique and which must have been peculiarly gratifying to Rojas. That +was, that the examination of his accounts should be of an altogether +perfunctory and formal character. There was to be no such inquest as all +other governors had been compelled to endure. There was really no need +of any, but in order to maintain the custom one must be held. But there +were no charges, no investigations, no trials. This was the more +noteworthy because of the hostility of so many of the people, and above +all of Rojas's successor. + +But this exemption from inquest was his sole reward. He had asked to be +relieved not merely of the governorship of Cuba but also of all public +duties, in order that he might give his undivided attention to his own +personal and private interests. But this was denied him. The King +accepted his resignation of the governorship, but refused to grant him +permission to join his brother in Peru, where he had hoped to recoup his +fortunes. Instead, he sent him to Jamaica, as a royal auditor of +accounts, an arduous and somewhat invidious duty, which Rojas accepted +doubtless with much reluctance. Still more distasteful was the task +which followed it, which was to return to Cuba to conduct a judicial +investigation into the conduct of the royal officials there, including +the governor himself, and to try those who seemed deserving of +prosecution. To some this would have been a welcome undertaking, since +it involved the prosecution for serious misdemeanors of those +politicians who had been most hostile to him and had given him the +greatest annoyance; and even bringing his arch-enemy, the governor, +Guzman, under scrutiny. But it was a repugnant task to Rojas, who had no +vindictiveness in his nature, and who wished above all to get away and +remain away from the scenes of his unsuccessful labors and agonizing +ordeals. He bore himself, however, with the same firmness, integrity and +high spirit that had marked his former services, and at the end +departed, with the royal permission, from Cuba, not to visit it again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The successor of Rojas was Gonzalo de Guzman, who thus returned for a +second term of the governorship. That adroit, masterful and often +unscrupulous politician had spent his time in Spain to good advantage. +In various ways and through various methods, not altogether dissociated +from the golden treasure which he carried thither from the mines of +Cuba, he ingratiated himself with a number of influential courtiers, and +through them with the royal court itself. Before long he was able to +secure a revision of the sentence which Vadillo had passed upon him, and +a reversal of its most harsh decrees and a mitigation of others. Thus he +was largely vindicated, and was enabled to plume himself upon having +received the royal favor. At the same time he conducted, through his +faithful retainers, a campaign of intrigue in Hispaniola, with the +result that the Admiral, or Vicereine, the widow of Diego Columbus, +appointed him back to his old place as governor of Cuba. The appointment +was not to be effective, however, until ratified by the King, and such +ratification the King for some time delayed to grant. + +Guzman was confident, however, of receiving the royal ratification, and +so, without waiting for it, he proceeded to Cuba as governor-elect, and +began elaborate preparations for resuming office. That was in the +midsummer of 1534, more than a year before Rojas was permitted to +retire. Indeed, we may well believe that it was the presence and conduct +of Guzman that made the island intolerable to Rojas. For Guzman +established himself in a fine house, with a retinue of servants, and +attracted to himself most of the practical politicians of Cuba, +especially those who were inclined to "welcome the coming, speed the +parting, guest." They all knew that Rojas was to retire, and that Guzman +was to succeed him; wherefore they paid all possible deference to the +former and treated the latter with neglect if not with contempt. + +The actual change came, as we have already seen, in October, 1535. Rojas +relinquished the governorship, and Guzman resumed it; and a most +grievous decline of Cuba began. Guzman promptly set about serving his +own personal interests, rewarding his friends, and punishing all of his +opponents who were still within reach. Few of them were within reach, +however; all who could do so having fled the island, for Jamaica or +elsewhere. Cuba was thus deprived of some of its most useful citizens, +while its important public offices were filled with self-seeking +politicians. + +Happily, this unworthy and detrimental administration was short lived; +and it was ended through what was nothing less than a peaceful +revolution in the political status of Cuba. For some time there had been +controversy and litigation between the heirs of Columbus and the Spanish +crown, concerning the rights, powers and privileges of the former in the +West Indies. The suits came to an end in the spring of 1537, when a +settlement was effected, one of the bases of which was the complete +renunciation, by the heirs of Columbus, of all right, title or +jurisdiction of any kind whatever over the island of Cuba. That of +course completely separated Cuba from the jurisdiction of Hispaniola, +and made it directly responsible to and dependent upon Spain. It was no +longer an adjunct to Hispaniola, but a colony of Spain. + +Now thitherto the governor and most of the other officials in Cuba had +received their commissions from the Admiral or Vicereine in Hispaniola, +or from the Supreme Court there. Such was the case with Guzman, though +his Hispaniolan commission had received the ratification of the King. It +was therefore logically held that all commissions thus given in Cuba by +the Hispaniola government became null and void with the emancipation of +Cuba from dependence upon the other and smaller island. In consequence, +Guzman's second term in the governorship came to an end in March, 1537. + +An interregnum ensued. The King was contemplating further reorganization +of his American domains, and consequently forebore for some time to +appoint a successor to Guzman, or indeed to any of the important +officials whose terms of office had been involuntarily ended. There had +just been, as we have seen, widespread investigations and trials of +royal functionaries for frauds, and the King was solicitous to find +someone who was indubitably trustworthy, before making further +appointments. The result was that the affairs of the island, which had +been gravely disturbed and damaged by Guzman, went rapidly from bad to +worse, and threatened to plunge into utter chaos. + +Nor was the solution of this crisis for the advantage of the island. On +the contrary, it was to its still further detriment. Once before, in the +time of Velasquez, Cuba had been made to suffer greatly because of the +development of Mexico and the exodus of many enterprising Cubans to that +country. That experience was now to be repeated even more disastrously, +in the attempted development of Florida. That country had long been +known. It was placed upon the maps as early as 1502, and it was in 1513, +at the time when Velasquez was making his first settlements in Cuba, +that Juan Ponce de Leon obtained a royal charter to discover and to +settle the Island of Bimini, as it was called, on which there was +reputed to be a fountain of extraordinary curative powers, capable of +restoring to the aged all the vigor of youth. Actual colonization of +Florida was not undertaken, however, until 1521, in which enterprise +Ponce de Leon himself was wounded in a fight with Indians, and came to +Cuba to die. Again in 1527 Panfilo de Narvaez led a large expedition +from Cuba to Florida, in which he and all but four of his six hundred +men were lost in Indian fighting and in a great Gulf storm. + +[Illustration: HERNANDO DE SOTO] + +There next came upon the scene a far more formidable personage than any +of these, or indeed than any who had visited Cuba since Columbus with +the exception of Cortez. This was none other than Hernando de Soto. Like +many another famous Spanish conquistador, he was an impoverished +nobleman of Estremadura, who had been in youth a protege of the infamous +Pedrarias d'Avila, the constructive murderer of Balboa and the scourge +of Darien. Through the bounty of d'Avila he had passed through a +university; he had gone to Darien with his patron in 1519; and in 1532 +he had gone with reenforcements to Pizarro in Peru. There he played a +great part, personally seizing the Inca monarch, Atahualpa, and +discovering the mountain pass which led to the treasure city of Cuzco. +Incidentally he seized for himself a vast fortune, with which he +returned to Spain, where he married the daughter of d'Avila and for a +time settled down in splendid state. + +When, however, Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the last +expedition of Narvaez, reached Spain with stories of the marvellous +wealth of Florida, de Soto's adventurous spirit, or his cupidity, was +again aroused. He disposed of part of his estates, purchased and armed +four ships, recruited a force of 620 foot soldiers and 120 horsemen, and +sought from the King a commission to explore, conquer and colonize +Florida. In him the King apparently saw, as he imagined, the solution of +the problem, what to do about Cuba. He accordingly joined Florida and +Cuba together, politically, making de Soto Adelantado of the former and +governor of the latter. With this commission de Soto sailed from Spain +in April, 1538, bound first for Cuba and thence for Florida. The +expedition called for a time at the Canary Islands, where its members +were richly entertained by the Governor of Gomera. There De Soto's wife, +the Lady Isabel, engaged the beautiful daughter of the Governor to +accompany her as her chief lady-in-waiting, a choice which led to some +interesting personal complications, actually affecting the progress of +the expedition. + +It was on June 7, 1538, that De Soto arrived at Santiago with probably +the most imposing fleet that had ever yet visited that port or the +waters of Cuba. It comprised more than a score of vessels, carrying more +than a thousand soldiers. This armada comprised the galleons _San +Cristobal_, _Buena Fortuna_, _Magdalena_, _Conception_, _San Juan_, _San +Antonio_, and _Santa Barbara_; one caravel (a three-masted vessel), two +light brigs (two masted), and about a dozen smaller craft. Juan de +Anasco was chief pilot of the expedition, and the captains were Nunez +Tobar, Luis Morosco de Alvarado, Andres de Vasconcelas, Arias Tinoco, +Alfonso Robo de Cardenosa, Diego Garcia, and Pedro Calderon. Among the +commanders of the troops were Carlos Enriques, Micer de Espinola, +Dionisio de Paris, Rodrigo Gallego, Francisco del Poso, and Diego +Banuelos. Nor was the propagation of the True Faith neglected. It was +entrusted to a mission comprising four priests and a number of Dominican +friars, under the leadership of the friar Luis de Soto, a cousin of the +generalissimo of the expedition. Santiago was naturally selected for the +entry to Cuba seeing that it was still the official capital and that De +Soto was already commissioned Governor. There was a narrow escape from +shipwreck in entering the narrow and somewhat tortuous mouth of the +great harbor, after which the Governor was received by the municipal +functionaries with all the pomp and dignity of which the capital was +capable. Tidings of the coming of the new Governor had spread +throughout the Island and people of consequence from all parts had +flocked to Santiago to welcome him, to seek to ingratiate themselves +with him and to celebrate what they fondly hoped would prove to be the +beginning of a new and splendid era in the history of Cuba. It is +recorded that the gentlemen of the town sent down to the boat landing a +fine roan horse for De Soto to ride and a richly caparisoned mule for +Dona Isabel. He and all his company were lodged in the most luxurious +quarters the town could afford and were hospitably entertained without +cost to themselves. Santiago had at this time about eighty houses which +were described as spacious and well appointed. About half of them were +of masonry and tile and the remainder of boards and thatch. There were +also many attractive country estates surrounding the city. + +The day following his landing De Soto formally assumed his authority as +Governor, and Bartolome de Ortiz became Alcalde mayor of Santiago. +Scarcely had he done this, however, when news came that a French corsair +had attacked Havana, ransacked the church, and burned a number of +houses; after which he had sailed away. De Soto at once sent Mateo +Aceituna to the scene, with a company of soldiers and artisans, with +instructions to rebuild the houses and then to begin the construction of +a fort which would serve as an adequate defence for the town. Having +done this, he sent Lady Isabel, escorted by his nephew Don Carlos, to +Havana by sea, with a strong squadron, while he himself with the +remainder of his company set out on horseback for a tour of the islands. +He first went to Bayamo, and thence to Trinidad, and Puerto Principe. +From the latter place he went in a canoe to the great country estate of +Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa at Camaguey, there to get news of Lady +Isabel's arrival at Havana. Thence he proceeded to Sancti Spiritus, +which at that time was a place of only about thirty houses. Half of his +company landed there, and half went on to Trinidad, which was a still +smaller place of not more than twenty houses, though it contained a +hospital for the poor, the only such institution on the whole Island. +Thence he proceeded to Havana without finding another town or settlement +of any kind on the entire road. + +During his stay in Havana De Soto deprived Nunez Tobar of his rank as +Captain-General and gave it instead to Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, +because Tobar had made love to Dona Isabel's lady-in-waiting, the +daughter of the Governor of Gomera, and indeed had seduced her. In +spite, or perhaps because of this punishment Tobar thereupon married the +girl and afterward joined De Soto's expedition to Florida in a +subordinate capacity. + +There can be no question that Hernando de Soto came to Cuba with a +prestige far surpassing that of any of his predecessors. He was in the +prime of manhood and at the height of his fame. He had been the hero of +great adventures and of marvellous achievements, and was possessed of +great wealth. He was not only governor of Cuba but also Adelantado of +Florida, which meant all the lands at the north of the Gulf, from the +Atlantic to Mexico, and thus, it was confidently assumed, Cuba would +become the chief province and Santiago the capital city, of an empire +exceeding in extent and wealth both Mexico and Peru. + +These brilliant anticipations were, however, doomed to speedy and most +crushing disappointment. It soon became clear that de Soto regarded Cuba +as a mere stepping stone to Florida, and that he was not merely willing +to sacrifice the island's interests to the gratification of his +continental ambitions, but had from the first been intent upon so doing. +He paid little attention to the representations which were made to him +in behalf of Cuba, or indeed to the duties of his office as governor. +Instead, all his thought seemed to be given and all his efforts +directed, to preparations for proceeding on his way to the alluring +regions beyond the Gulf. Moreover, he tempted into joining him in that +enterprise many of the richest and most forceful men of Cuba. Among +these was Vasco de Figueroa, who had been a comrade of Velasquez. He had +settled in Camaguey as early as 1514, and had grown very rich. We may +say, indeed, that he was the richest and most influential man in all +that part of Cuba. He eagerly accepted an invitation to join the +expedition, as de Soto's first lieutenant, and he drew along with him +many other substantial men from Camaguey and other parts of the island. + +Nor was the island thus to suffer for the sake of Florida, merely as a +whole. The capital, Santiago, was specially to suffer. Its traditions +and its long-established interests were nothing to De Soto, who looked +for nothing but to promote his Florida venture. Manifestly, Santiago was +no place to serve as a base of operations to the northward, so he +presently transferred his headquarters to Havana. That city had been +founded in 1514 on the south coast, near what is now Batabano, but a few +years later had been transferred by migration of populace and name to +its present commanding site at the north. In 1537 it had been raided and +partly destroyed by fire, by buccaneers, but at the time of de Soto's +coming was rapidly being rebuilt and restored to greater importance than +before. + +So a few weeks after his arrival at Santiago, in the early part of +August, 1538, de Soto ruthlessly closed his mansion at Santiago and +removed his whole household to Havana. His household and his foot +soldiers were sent thither in his vessels, of which he now had five. He +himself with his horsemen travelled overland, Vasco de Figueroa acting +as guide. The beauty and riches of the island seem not greatly to have +impressed the great adventurer; certainly not enough to withhold him for +one moment from his quest. Mountain and plain were alike to him merely +the road toward Florida. + +It was late in December before all members of the expedition were +assembled at Havana. There it was necessary to remain a while, to refit +the vessels, gather provisions, and prepare for an adventure into an +unknown and potentially hostile wilderness. Additional ships were +sought, and more men; and recruits came flocking thither eagerly from +all parts of the island. Meanwhile, a scouting party of fifty, with one +vessel, was sent to the Florida coast, to discover a desirable spot for +the landing of the whole expedition. It returned in February, 1539, with +the report that no suitable place could be found, and with a +recommendation against undertaking the venture. This incensed de Soto, +and he made the men hasten back to Florida and not return until they had +found that which was the object of their quest. Their second expedition +lasted three months. At the end of that time they reappeared at Havana, +disembarked, fell upon their knees, and on their knees made their way +from the wharf to the church, where they offered thanks for their +deliverance. This was their fulfilment of a vow which they had made when +they were in imminent danger of death; and they would not so much as +speak to the governor or to anyone until the pious act was completed. + +They then reported to de Soto that amid great perils they had found a +place which would be suitable for his purpose. They had named it the Bay +of Espiritu Santo, as it is to this day called, on the West Coast of +Florida. To this place accordingly de Soto hastened, at the end of May, +1539, with nine vessels, more than 500 men beside sailors, and half as +many horses; leaving his wife at Havana as acting governor in his +absence, with Juan de Rojas as her chief assistant. Vasco de Figueroa +soon returned, disgusted with Florida, which he described as a land of +interminable swamps, but he left his son with de Soto to serve as +lieutenant in his stead. Then Gomez Arias, brother of Lady Isabel de +Soto, also returned, with glowing reports of the beauty and wealth of +Florida, and it was proclaimed throughout all Cuba that the expedition +was succeeding beyond all expectation, and that Florida was the garden +of the world. The effect was to excite the Spaniards of Cuba with +eagerness to leave their homes in quest of fortunes in this new land. + +Accordingly, when in February, 1540, Diego Maldonado came from Florida +to Havana, to obtain recruits, arms and provisions, there was no lack of +response to his call. It seemed as though almost every able-bodied man +in Cuba had caught the Florida fever, and went flocking to Maldonado's +standard. Eight great ship-loads of men, horses and provisions were +quickly obtained, and sailed away for Florida, leaving behind them three +classes of people in Cuba. There were those who lamented that there had +not been room enough on the ships to take them, too. There were those +who lamented that Cuba was thus being stripped and impoverished to +enrich another country, if not in a vain and profitless quest. There +were also those, the surviving Indian natives, who rejoiced, because the +Spaniards were all leaving Cuba, so that the natives could come to their +own again. But all three classes were mistaken in their views of the +situation. + +Maldonado and Gomez Arias sailed away with their eight ships, to meet de +Soto at an appointed place on the Florida coast. Months later they +returned without having met him or having been able to ascertain any +information of his whereabouts. That was in 1541. In 1542 they sailed +again to meet him at the same place; with like result. In 1543 they made +a third such venture, and explored the entire coast from the southern +extremity of Florida to Mexico. They posted messages upon trees, rocks +and headlands. They sent Indian runners inland to inquire for the +adventurers. They resorted to every effort they could devise to find +their missing chief, but all in vain. + +Meantime at Havana the Lady Isabel awaited his return, with unfaltering +loyalty and unshaken hope. Bartholomew Ortiz, alcalde mayor, by her +lord's appointment, relieved her of the technical duties of +gubernatorial rule; which was well, for there was much trouble +abroad in the island. It was thus left for her to watch and wait for +the coming of the ship which never came. At morning and at evening, day +after day, she paced the little pathway on the crest of a fort which her +husband had begun to build, the beginning of La Fuerza--of which we +shall hear much more. Hour by hour she gazed from that parapet +northward, not on guard for hostile sail, but to espy the first glimpse +of one returning from the Land of Flowers. There is no more touching +picture in all the early history of Cuba than that of this devoted +woman, scanning the northern horizon in vain for the appearance of one +whose restless and adventurous body was sleeping the last sleep in the +bed of the Father of Waters. + +[Illustration: LA FUERZA + +Havana's oldest and most famous fortress and the oldest inhabited +building in the Western Hemisphere. The construction of it was prolonged +through the administrations of many Governors and was for years the +chief issue of political contention in the island. It was long the +Governor's residence as well as a fortress; from it Hernando de Soto set +out for the exploration of Florida and the discovery of the Mississippi +River, and from its ramparts his wife, Dona Isabel, long but vainly +maintained her daily vigil for his return.] + +News came at last, to end in grief her agonizing vigil. It was near the +end of 1543 that some three hundred weary and worn survivors of de +Soto's expedition reached Panuco, on the Mexican coast, with tidings of +their leader's death and the destruction of all the rest of the party. +They had wandered through what is now the State of Georgia northward as +far as the Tennessee Mountains, thence back to Mobile Bay, in Alabama, +thence northwest to the Mississippi, and to the Ouachita, or Washita, in +Arkansas. While thence descending the Mississippi, in June, 1542, de +Soto had died, and his body had been sunk in the great river. The +remainder of his company, led by Luis de Alvarado, had continued down +the Mississippi River to the Gulf, and thence sailed along the coast to +Panuco. + +Thus ended the career of one of the most famous of all the Spanish +explorers; and thus ended another brief but disastrous chapter in Cuban +history. The island had been drained of men, horses, supplies of all +kinds; for its population was still so small that the loss of a few +hundred of its best men and horses was a serious deprivation. Its own +domestic interests had been neglected. Its government had become +inefficient. The Indians, taking advantage of the weakness of the +Spaniards, had begun to cherish hopes of regaining their old freedom, +and in some places had risen forcibly to seek that end, with the effect +of enraging the Spaniards against them even to the extreme of resolving +upon either their complete enslavement or their extermination. + +Indeed, serious trouble arose with the Indians during de Soto's brief +stay in the island. Shortly before his arrival there had been an +outbreak of the natives at Baracoa, which resulted in the partial +destruction of that town by burning. Towns built entirely of sun-dried +thatch were easily burned. Hearing of this, de Soto in almost his first +official utterance in Cuba authorized the sending of strong expeditions +against the natives, to hunt them down and destroy them ruthlessly. The +offending Indians were all Cimarrons, or "wild" Indians who had never +been under the repartimiento system, and who expected and solicited the +"tame" Indians to rise and join them. The latter not only refused to do +this, however, but offered to go out and fight and subdue the Cimarrons, +provided they were permitted to do so without being accompanied by +Spanish troops; to which the authorities unfortunately would not agree. + +De Soto sent all available men out against the Indians, and suppressed +them, for the time. But as soon as he left Santiago for Havana, taking +with him all the fighting men in the eastern end of the island, the +Cimarrons sprang to arms again behind him and became more menacing than +ever. They again threatened Baracoa, and were active even in the suburbs +of Santiago itself. The departure of Vasco de Figueroa from Camaguey was +disastrous. He had been vigorous and unsparing in his suppression of +even the slightest uprising, and in his absence the Indians were freed +from the greatest restraining influence in that part of the island. + +The general confusion of affairs was further aggravated by the intrigues +of two marplots. One of these was Gonzalo de Guzman, who had remained in +the island after his removal from office, and who was never weary in +mischief-making. He kept himself in frequent communication with the +government in Spain, and made all sorts of complaints against de Soto +and against the Florida enterprise. Doubtless he was right in saying +that the taking of so many fighting men out of Cuba for Florida +endangered the peace and safety of the island; though we must think that +he exaggerated the condition of Cuba when he wrote to the Spanish +government that two-thirds of the island had become depopulated, and all +of the towns in the central part of it had been or were in imminent +danger of being burned. + +The other trouble-maker was the new Bishop, Diego Sarmiento, who had +succeeded Bishop Ramirez, deceased. He maintained a large establishment +of slaves, and continued the political policy of his predecessor. He had +arrived in Cuba almost simultaneously with de Soto, and inclined toward +the policy of the latter in respect to Florida. + +A strong governor might have saved even this unfortunate and unpromising +situation. But there was none. Lady Isabel died of grief a few months +after learning of her husband's fate, and for a time thereafter there +was no actual governor at all. De Soto had been empowered to appoint an +alcalde mayor to serve as his substitute while he was out of the island, +if he so desired. He did thus appoint Bartholomew Ortiz; a good enough +man but aged and infirm, and quite unable to cope with the problems +which confronted him. He found himself involved in a vigorous rivalry +between Santiago and Havana in the matter of fortifications. De Soto had +begun the construction of an earthwork fort at the entrance to Santiago. +Then when he went across to Havana he ordered the building of a strong +fort there of stone masonry. This of course aroused the jealousy of +Santiago, whose indignant citizens pointed out that their city was and +always would be the capital of the island, and was therefore at least as +well entitled to a stone fort as Havana. The sacking and burning of +Havana, and of Carthagena and other places on the continent, alarmed +them, lest Santiago should suffer a like fate. Their insistence was +finally rewarded in the building of a stone fort near the mouth of the +harbor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Bartholomew Ortiz was at last, on his earnest entreaty, relieved of his +duties as alcalde mayor in the fall of 1542, and for some time the +insular government was again without a head. But in August, 1543, since +nothing had been heard from or of de Soto for three years, the crown +assumed that he was dead and that his office was vacant. It therefore +appointed Juan de Avila to be not alcalde mayor but governor; permitting +the title of Adelantado of Florida to fall into desuetude. The new +governor was a young lawyer, whose chief recommendation was that he was +a member of the de Avila family, a relative of Lady Isabel de Soto and +of her father, the formidable Pedrarias d'Avila. He seems to have been +doubtful of his own ability to administer the office successfully, and +therefore reluctant to assume its duties. However, he finally came to +Cuba, arriving at Santiago at the beginning of February, 1544, nearly +six months after his appointment. He was, of course, regularly appointed +and commissioned by the crown, with the full powers of governor, and for +those reasons he was received at Santiago with grateful rejoicings. The +people of that city and indeed of all Cuba had become tired of having an +absentee governor and an alcalde mayor in his place. + +Juan de Avila's first official act of importance was to make the usual +examination of his predecessor's affairs. This was a slight task, +because of the short time in which de Soto had actually administered the +governorship, and nothing wrong appears to have been found. The affairs +of all other officials were likewise in good order. He then turned his +attention to the question of the Indians; after which, the deluge. + +The royal government had for the time acquiesced in the ruthless policy +of de Soto. At least it had not vetoed nor opposed it. But now it had +reconsidered the matter, and had resumed its former and better policy, +of treating the natives justly and kindly, and giving them their +freedom. Perhaps it was moved to do this partly through horror at what +Pedrarias d'Avila had done at Darien, in all but exterminating an entire +race, and was minded to make atonement by requiring the young kinsman of +that "Timour of the Indies" to do the opposite in Cuba. At any rate +orders were sent to Cuba that there should be no more enslavement of the +natives in gold mining. In fact, they were not to be employed in mining +at all. Now as mining was practically the only work in which the Indians +were engaged, the effect of that order, if enforced, would have been +very marked. It would have stopped gold mining, and would have left the +natives in idleness. In fact, it was not enforced. The governor received +it, and transmitted it to the various local officials for promulgation +and enforcement; and they ignored it. Presently the governor wanted to +know why the order had not been obeyed, and was curtly told that it +would have been disastrous to the industries and interests of the +island. This he reported to the crown, asking for further directions. + +The reply was a reminder that the new Bishop, Sarmiento, was Protector +of the Indians, and that the governor and he should cooperate for their +welfare and for the enforcement of the decrees in their behalf. But the +people were no readier to listen to the bishop than to the governor; +particularly since that ecclesiastic was himself a slave-holder. Indeed, +the municipal council of Santiago formally protested against his +appointment as Protector of the Indians and refused to recognize his +authority. There were some actual conflicts with force and arms between +the two factions, in which the followers of the local government appear +to have triumphed over the fewer adherents of the Bishop, and from which +no profit nor advantage of any kind accrued to the unhappy objects of +the strife. + +When these things were reported to the King and his advisers, there was +much indignation, and new and peremptory orders were sent to the +governor, that involuntary service by the Indians was immediately to be +abolished, and that the natives were to be free to work for whom they +pleased, or not to work at all. Moreover, they were to be treated in all +respects as well as the Spaniards themselves. This radical decree seems +to have impressed the governor and bishop as going a little too far, and +an appeal was made by common consent to the Council for the Indies, in +Spain. That body was divided in opinion, but the majority of it inclined +to a modification of the order, to which the King agreed. The governor +and the bishop were directed to act together for the welfare of the +natives, with a view to granting them ultimately entire liberty and +equal rights. There was to be no more slavery. All the Indian slaves who +had been brought to Cuba from other islands or from the mainland were to +be released and returned to their homes. To hold such slaves, or to +engage in the slave trade, was made a grave penal offense. The native +Cubans who were held under the repartimiento system were not immediately +to be released, but they were not to be transferred from one master to +another, and upon the death of their master they were not to be +bequeathed as chattels to his heirs, but were to be released. Moreover, +if any of the proprietors were proved to be cruel to their native +workmen, or neglectful of their interests, the natives were to be +released from their authority and set at liberty. In all cases, the +natives were to receive fair wages for their labor, and were not to be +compelled to do any kind of work for which they were not suited or to +which they objected. Finally, it was forbidden for the governor, the +bishop, or any other functionary of state or church to hold native Cuban +Indians in bondage, though negro slavery was apparently still +permitted. + +These regulations, put forward by the King and the Council for the +Indies, were actually more far-reaching than the order of the crown +which had been disputed, though they would not take effect so abruptly. +The governor received them, and himself had them publicly proclaimed +throughout the island; with prodigious effect. The whole island rose +against them. Municipal councils and others officials, as well as +planters and gold miners, protested against them, and pleaded for at +least postponement of their enforcement until they could have an +opportunity to appeal to the crown and to the Council for the Indies +against them. To this plea for delay, De Avila acceded; to his own +subsequent undoing, as we shall presently see. His own brother, Alfonso +de Avila, turned against him, and went to Spain as the chief spokesman +of the opponents of the new rules. + +While the question of the Indians was thus held in suspension, De Avila +turned his attention to other matters, largely matrimonial and domestic. +On coming to Cuba, a young bachelor, he made his home in the house of +the wealthy widow of Pedro de Paz. This lady, who had otherwise been +much married, and who was by birth a member of the formidable Guzman +family, whose name she now bore, was past fifty years old, or about +twice the age of the young governor. Indeed, she had sons and daughters +of about De Avila's age. It was therefore assumed to be quite +permissible for the governor to live in her house. The arrangement +proved in the end, however, to be disastrous. It was probably the lady's +intention from the beginning to take the young man for her husband--her +fourth or fifth. At any rate, his domestic association with her, while +it could not compromise her reputation, did so compromise his that he +could get none of the eligible young women of Cuba to marry him, +although he sought the hands of several of them. So after a time, +despairing of any other bride, and doubtless much impressed by the +wealth of his mature hostess, he married her; and thereafter was her +slave. + +[Illustration: SAN LAZARO WATCH TOWER, HAVANA + +Built 1536] + +For the remainder of the ill-starred administration the lady was the +real governor. A large part of her fortune was in Indian slaves, or in +enterprises dependent upon their labor. Therefore it was she who was +foremost in opposing the enforcement of the decrees for their +emancipation. It was owing to her influence that De Avila acquiesced in +their suspension. Then, when the matter was being appealed, it was she +who constrained De Avila to leave Santiago for a tour of the island, +ostensibly for inspection, but in reality to get away from Santiago, +where the social atmosphere was not agreeable, and to settle in some +more advantageous place. + +That new place was found at Havana. Since the burning of it by French +buccaneers that city had been rebuilt in a much more attractive style +than Santiago, and society there was more hospitable to the governor's +wife. A plausible excuse for settling there was, moreover, readily +found. It was necessary, for the protection of the place against another +French attack, that the valiant governor should remain there in person. +For the furtherance of this purpose, he procured the free granting to +him of a choice tract of land, and also the free gift of materials for +building him a fine mansion. Whether the citizens of Havana gave the +materials willingly, for the sake of having the governor of the island +living among them, or under some sort of compulsion, may not certainly +be declared. Two traditions have been extant. One was, that they gave +the materials under compulsion, and that for that reason the governor's +mansion was called the "House of Fear." The other was, that they gave +them willingly, even eagerly, because of actual dread of another French +descent; thinking that if the governor himself lived there, he would +take all possible measures for the defence of the place; and that it was +for that reason that it was called the "House of Fear." + +After completing the house and living there for some time, however, De +Avila deemed it politic to return to Santiago. His absence from the +latter place had given rise to great dissatisfaction there and +throughout all the eastern part of the island, where of course the +majority of the population, of wealth and of political and other +influence were still to be found. Indeed, protests had been lodged with +the crown against what was described as the governor's abandonment of +the lawful seat of government of the island. Suspicions of his +unworthiness had already strongly arisen at court, and orders were sent +for the Supreme Court of Hispaniola, which still had jurisdiction in +Cuba, to investigate his conduct. The report was unfavorable, and in +consequence the crown summarily appointed Antonio Chaves to succeed him +as governor; directing Chaves to conduct a searching inquest into De +Avila's administration without regard to the report already made by the +agent of the supreme court of Hispaniola. + +The sequel was the greatest public scandal that had thus far marred the +history of Cuba. It was at the beginning of October, 1545, that Antonio +Chaves was commissioned to be governor of Cuba, and it was at the +beginning of June in the following year that he arrived at Santiago and +entered upon the duties of his office. The first task was to investigate +his predecessor, and this he performed with a thoroughness which seemed +ferocious and which certainly suggests either some personal hatred of De +Avila or a natural desire to be cruel and ruthless. He charged De Avila +with having committed malfeasance of office for the furtherance of his +wife's interests; with having engaged in commercial and industrial +enterprises himself, to the detriment of public interests; with having +established monopolies for enriching himself or his wife; with having +both given and accepted bribes; with having intimidated local officials +and the people; and with having, largely at the instance of his wife, +neglected to enforce the order of the King for the emancipation of the +natives. + +It is quite probable that De Avila was guilty of most of these charges, +particularly of those in which his wife was concerned. Certain it is +that Antonio Chaves set about trying to prove them with a strenuous zeal +which had never before been displayed. One of his first acts was to +seize and search the governor's house; not merely in its public or +semi-public offices but in its most private parts. The wardrobe of the +governor's wife was ransacked, the furniture examined, the walls and +floors sounded and even broken in quest of concealed treasure. To some +of these proceedings the governor, or ex-governor, and his wife, too, +attempted to offer physical resistance, but they were overpowered and +bound while the search went on. Their servants, or slaves, were +questioned and even, it is said, threatened with torture if they did +not tell all they knew. Under such compulsion they told of bars of gold +hidden underneath the floor of a country house; which were found. + +Chaves went so far as to order De Avila to be chained fast to a post in +the market place, where fugitive slaves had formerly been chained, and +the former governor was actually subjected to this indignity, though he +had not yet been convicted and sentenced by a court of justice. But this +was carrying prosecution too far. It was regarded as not prosecution but +persecution. There was a reaction of popular sentiment in favor of De +Avila, and he was assisted to escape from his bonds and to find +sanctuary in the Franciscan monastery. After a time he undertook to get +away, to Spain, but was quickly detected and recaptured by Chaves. After +some further controversy, Chaves discreetly agreed that De Avila might +go to Spain, to defend himself if he could before the Council for the +Indies; doubtless expecting that such defence would be in vain because +of De Avila's offences against that Council's decrees. + +So De Avila departed for Spain, with his advocates and his accusers on +the same ship. Most fortunately for him, his wife also went, carrying +with her an ample store of gold and gems which had escaped the search +and confiscation of Chaves. Her conduct in this emergency indicates that +she had a sincere devotion to her young husband, in addition, of course, +to a desire to protect her own material fortune. Certain it is that she +constituted herself his chief and most effective champion, freely +expending in his behalf the gold which she had taken to Spain. She +testified that all the property which he was accused of having +unlawfully acquired was in fact hers and not his, possessed by her +before she was married to him, and that if he had in any sense acquired +it, it was solely through having married her; and there was no law +against a governor's marrying a rich wife. + +Her argument prevailed. The litigation in Spain lasted for several +years, during part of which time De Avila was in prison. But in the end +he was released; the heavy fines which had been levied against him were +remitted; and the sentence of perpetual banishment from Cuba was +revoked. Thereupon the devoted couple returned in triumph to Cuba, with +a great retinue of servants, and reestablished themselves at Santiago. +They held aloof from political affairs, and gave their attention to an +exceedingly profitable commerce between Cuba and other West India +Islands and Spain; which happy state of affairs lasted until De Avila's +death, a dozen years later. He left behind him the reputation of being +one of the worst of Cuban governors, not so much because of any inherent +viciousness as because of his weakness of character and his complete +subservience to the often sordid and sometimes unscrupulous doings of +his wife. + +That there was any gain for Cuba in the substitution of Antonio Chaves +for Juan de Avila is scarcely, however, to be maintained. On the +contrary, there was probably some loss. It was a substitution of King +Stork for King Log. De Avila had been weak and passive. Chaves was +strong and aggressive; as his campaign against his predecessor +demonstrated. In point of morals there was probably little to choose +between them. So far as enforcement of the laws concerning the natives +was concerned, Chaves was worse than De Avila. For De Avila personally +wished to enforce them, but was dissuaded from so doing by the influence +of his wife and the almost unanimous demands of the officials and +people. Chaves, on the other hand, appears to have been personally +opposed to all emancipation laws, and inclined to subject the natives to +ruthless slavery. Although he had savagely attacked De Avila for +acquiescing in the suspension or postponement of the royal decrees, +Chaves himself went even further in the same direction. He declined to +enforce the laws, protested against them, and petitioned for their +repeal on the ground that they would be ruinous to the material welfare +of the island. The rule against employment of natives in the mines was +especially obnoxious to him, and he advised the crown that unless it +were repealed, together with all other such measures, the island would +soon be "possessed of the devil." + +Seeing that Chaves was now doing the very thing that he had condemned +his predecessor for doing, the King was disgusted with him, and sent him +the sharpest kind of a reprimand, reminding him of his gross +inconsistency and bidding him to enforce the law without further ado. +Chaves pretended to obey. In fact, he promptly replied that he was +obeying. But he obeyed only in pretence. He did not scruple to +declare--in Cuba--that he was opposed to giving the natives their +freedom. He did not consider them fit for it. Why? Because they were not +Christians, and if set free they would not become Christians, and +therefore would infallibly be damned eternally. Therefore to save their +souls from hell fire, their bodies must be enslaved, so that they could +find salvation through being physically compelled to conform with the +external practices of Christianity. Particularly necessary was it, he +argued, for this system of spiritual salvation through corporeal bondage +to prevail in the provinces of Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus and Puerto del +Principe, because they had no agricultural interests but were dependent +upon mining, and if they could not compel the Indians to work in the +mines, they would be ruined. + +This logic, more ingenious than ingenuous, did not favorably impress the +King, nor was he better pleased with Chaves's proposal that the Indians +should be made free in name only, and that while traffic in them as +chattels should be forbidden, they should in fact remain in involuntary +domestic servitude. Another sharp reprimand was accordingly sent to +Chaves, with an intimation that something worse might follow; to which +warning the governor was blind and deaf. Accordingly, the blow soon +fell. + +We have hitherto heard much of Lopez Hurtado, the crabbed, surly and +cantankerous old royal treasurer, with his impregnable honesty. It was +quite impossible that he should countenance even passively such conduct +as that of Chaves. So at the end of 1548 he sent to the King an +appalling indictment of the governor, charging him with all manner of +public crimes and private vices. He declared that Chaves was enriching +himself at the expense of the people, and that he was neglecting public +business for private enterprises, that he was permitting his +subordinates to practice extortion and oppression, that he was +ill-treating and persecuting honest men, and that he was corrupting the +women of the island; all of which was probably true. + +The King acted promptly. Chaves had been appointed governor in October, +1545, for a term of four years, at a salary of a thousand ducats a year. +He had now, at the end of 1548, been in office three years and more; +though he claimed that his term ran for four years from June, 1546, when +he actually took office. However, there was no tenure of office law to +keep him in his place beyond the royal pleasure; certainly not to +protect him from removal for cause. So the supreme court of Hispaniola +was directed to investigate him, and Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was +appointed governor in his stead. The court of Hispaniola sent Geronimo +de Aguayo to Cuba to make a private investigation of the governor's +doings; Hurtado agreeing to pay the expenses out of his own pocket. +Aguayo came to Santiago in April, 1549, while Chaves was absent at +Havana, planning to remove the seat of government to that city. Three +months were spent in the investigation, and then Aguayo reported to the +court a docket of about three hundred charges against Chaves, some of +which were serious enough but many of which were altogether trifling. +The court decided to take no action upon them, but to hold them for the +new governor, Angulo, to use as the basis of the investigation which +he, according to law and precedent, would at once make into his +predecessor's administration. + +Gonzalo de Angulo had been appointed at the beginning of September, +1548, but did not at once come to the West Indies. He reached Hispaniola +in the summer of 1549, shortly after Aguayo had made his report, and he +remained there for some time, considering the report and conferring with +the members of the supreme court. Finally, at the beginning of November, +he proceeded to Santiago and assumed the governorship. He entered upon +the investigation, using Aguayo's three hundred charges as the basis of +it, despite the protest of Chaves that Aguayo had been a prejudiced +investigator, moved by political and even pecuniary considerations and +intent not upon discovering the truth but merely upon defaming him +(Chaves) to the fullest possible extent. + +The result of the new governor's inquest was that at the beginning of +July, 1550, Chaves was arrested and sent as a prisoner to Spain, for +trial there upon a multitude of accusations. These were partly grave and +partly--mostly--frivolous. In the former category was the charge that +Chaves had refused or at least failed to enforce royal decrees for the +enfranchisement of the natives. That was a very serious matter, +apparently, and there was no question that it was true. Indeed, Chaves +admitted it. But, he said, some of these decrees had been suspended, +there had been pleas for the suspension of others, officials had failed +to proclaim some, and the Hispaniola court had interfered with others; +so that the whole business was in a hopeless tangle and he really could +not determine what he ought to do. This argument impressed the Spanish +authorities, and they consequently dismissed that and other like charges +against him. + +But when it came to other charges, they could not be got rid of so +easily. Thus, he had refused to pay an apothecary for a dose of +medicine. He had called Hurtado's nephew a Jew! He had called certain +citizens "conspirators" because they were forming some sort of a secret +organization. He had arrested a priest for acting disrespectfully toward +him. These were indeed serious matters; particularly when the irate +Hurtado produced voluminous affidavits, from parents, physicians, +clergy, and whom not, to prove that his nephew like himself was a good +Christian. So for these things Chaves was thrown into prison, and even, +it is said, bound with heavy fetters, until he should pay the fines +which were imposed upon him. + +It must be recorded in Chaves's favor that he was unable to pay these +fines. Indeed, he seems not to have had means sufficient to employ a +lawyer to defend him, wherefore he was compelled to conduct his own +case; which he was quite competent to do, being a licentiate of the bar. +There was, then, of course no thought of his being able to influence the +course of justice by the use of money, as De Avila was supposed to have +done. Whether he was actually so poor, or whether his fortune had been +so invested in Cuba that he was unable at once to realize upon it, does +not appear. In charity we may accept the former theory, as the more +creditable to him. At any rate, after two years of litigation and +imprisonment, he secured a final reduction of the fines levied against +him to a little more than 100,000 maravedi, which he was required to pay +within a year. This trifling amount he contrived to raise and so +regained his freedom; going thereafter back to Cuba to settle up his +personal affairs there, and thence to Peru, to engage no more in Cuban +politics. + +Apart from his prosecution of Chaves, the first act of Gonzalo de Angulo +on assuming the governorship was to attempt a radical solution of the +Indian problem. This he did by proclaiming the full and universal +emancipation of all natives, however and by whomsoever held. Seeing how +strenuously and vociferously similar action had been resisted only a few +years before, as sure to be ruinous to the island, it is worthy of +remark that this provoked no remonstrances and caused no economic +disturbance. The explanation is simple. The former proposals for +emancipation included slaves who had been brought to Cuba from other +lands, while this one applied only to natives. Now the latter, through +disease, fighting, and other causes, had been steadily decreasing in +numbers, until they were now practically a negligible quantity. They +probably numbered not more than twenty-five hundred in the entire +island. It really mattered little, from an industrial point of view, +whether they were enslaved or free. They were in fact set free, in good +faith, and then practically disappeared. They did not relapse into +primitive barbarism, but they lived in squalor, most of them, and +gradually died out. + +Not all of them, however, suffered such a fate. Some settled on lands +near if not actually among the Spanish colonists, adopted the ways of +civilization, and prospered. They acquired freehold of land and houses, +kept herds of cattle, built ships and engaged in commerce. Some of them +intermarried with Spanish families, and the offspring of such unions +often rose to honorable rank in society and the state. + +The question of slavery was not by any means disposed of by this +emancipation of the native Indians. There was a much larger number of +slaves in the island who had been brought thither from other countries, +including both insular and continental Indians and African negroes. +Governor Angulo was directed to order their emancipation and +repatriation at the same time with the others. But he withheld the +decree. These foreign slaves were far more numerous than the natives and +were consequently more important to industry and commerce. They had not +been simply "assigned" to owners, like the Cuban Indians, but had been +purchased outright for cash, like any other merchandise, and were +legally as much the property of their owners as land, houses or cattle. +In view of this circumstance, Angulo declined to proclaim their +emancipation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The administration of Gonzalo Perez de Angulo marked the lowest point in +the early history of Cuba. That was not because of the character of his +administration, which was indeed better than some of its predecessors, +but because various processes militating against the progress and +prosperity of the island then reached their culmination. Foremost among +these was the migration to Florida, Mexico, Peru and other lands, which +were richer, or were reputed to be richer, than the Pearl of the +Antilles. Cuba contained no such cities and treasures as those of Mexico +and Peru; no such traditions as that of Florida's Fountain of Youth +pertained to her. The island had been explored from end to end, and its +resources were known; though by no means appreciated. The adventurers of +those days were not inclined to engage in agriculture, even in so +fertile a land as Cuba, when the gold and gems of the Incas were within +reach. With the decline and practical disappearance of the Indians, and +the increasing difficulties of the African or other slave trade, the +scarcity of labor disinclined the Spanish settlers even to raise cattle. +The middle of the sixteenth century saw, therefore, a menacing +emigration from Cuba to other lands which threatened to leave the island +uninhabited. + +Statistics of those days are scanty and not altogether trustworthy. It +was the custom to report merely the number of householders or +land-owners or heads of families in a place, leaving it to be estimated +how many members each family contained. An exact census of the island in +Angulo's time would astonish the reader of to-day with the meagreness of +the settlements which had been effected in the course of forty years. + +Of the seven cities which Velasquez had founded--they were called +cities, and we must through courtesy retain the name--Santiago was still +the largest, and was the capital. It probably contained at the period of +which we are writing fewer than five hundred Spaniards and other +Europeans. De Avila saw only two hundred assembled to welcome him on his +arrival as Governor. The number of houses and other buildings was less +than a hundred. The first town hall and church which were built there +were structures of logs and thatch, which were burned by a fire which +destroyed most of the place in 1528. Four years later the Franciscan +monastery and other buildings shared a like fate. The Spanish government +then urged the erection of buildings of stone with tiled roofs, and a +few such were erected. At the end of Guzman's second administration +there were perhaps a dozen such, of which Guzman himself owned two. The +harbor boasted a single wharf or pier, of logs and earth, near which for +protection two small cannon were placed behind an earthwork. + +Such was the Cuban capital in 1550. Three years later, in 1553, a French +privateer entered the harbor, silenced the two cannon, and landed a +company of four hundred men, who outnumbered the entire population of +the place. These freebooters took possession of Santiago and lived there +at their ease, at the expense of the people, during the whole month of +July. Then, having exacted from the inhabitants a ransom of what would +be about $80,000 in modern currency, they departed, leaving the place +uninjured save for the depletion of its people's purses. Following this +visitation there was a numerous exodus of the inhabitants, to Bayamo and +other places; some leaving the island altogether. + +Havana was at this time the second city of the island, and was steadily +rising toward first place. It had been the last of the seven cities to +be founded by Velasquez, and was now occupying its third and final site. +It was first planted in July, 1515, near the mouth of the Guines or +Mayabeque River, on the south shore of Cuba; that shore then being the +favorite part of the island for the sake of trade with Jamaica and the +South American continent. But the location was unhealthful, the swarms +of mosquitoes particularly being intolerable, and two years later the +city was transferred almost directly across the island to the north +shore. This second site was near the mouth of the Almendares River, near +the present town of Vedado, and was found to be vastly preferable to the +former one. It was impossible, however, that the superb harbor on which +the city now fronts should be neglected. It had been discovered in 1508 +by Sebastian de Ocampo, while circumnavigating the island, and had been +called Carenas. Accordingly in 1519 the young city of Havana, bearing +the Indian name of that province of the island, was transported thither. + +Credible tradition has it that the first meeting of the Municipal +Council was held under a huge ceiba tree, and that Mass was first +celebrated at the same sylvan spot, the site of the tree now being +marked by the building known as the Templete, in the heart of the great +city. Two fine historical paintings by the artist Escobar, representing +the two gatherings named, hang upon the walls of that building. In De +Soto's time Havana became marked as the coming capital and metropolis of +the island, partly because of its unsurpassed situation, and partly for +a reason similar to that which caused it first to be founded on the +south coast, namely, for the sake of trade with Mexico and Florida. De +Soto during his brief sojourn there began the erection of the +fortification known as La Fuerza, which has long been noted as the +oldest inhabited building in the western hemisphere which was built by +Europeans. By the time of Governor Angulo, Havana had grown into--or +been reduced to--a community of about two hundred Europeans, and perhaps +three hundred Indians and negro slaves. + +Santa Maria del Puerto Principe was originally founded in 1515 on the +north coast, but a dozen years later was removed inland for security +against the rovers of the sea, and became known by its present name of +Camaguey. For many years Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa was its chief man; a +man of wealth and great force of character, who lived like a prince upon +a vast estate with a great retinue of servants and slaves. All the rest +of Camaguey was tributary to him; with a total population of fewer than +five hundred souls. + +Baracoa, originally Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, was the first +permanent settlement in Cuba. Shut off from the rest of the island by a +mountain wall, and visited by several disastrous epidemics, it was all +but obliterated, and in the time of De Soto and Angulo contained fewer +than a dozen European families. As for Trinidad, on the south coast, it +fared even worse, for every Spanish or other European settler deserted +it, chiefly for Sancti Spiritus, leaving there only a score of Indians. +But that did not mean any great accession to Sancti Spiritus, which +place had only about two hundred Europeans, and perhaps as many more +Indians and negro slaves. Bayamo was another city which was moved inland +from its original site. It had in Angulo's time fewer than a hundred +Spaniards and perhaps twice as many Indians and negroes. + +Thus after forty years of settlement and colonization, all Cuba had not +more than 1,200 inhabitants of European origin, and perhaps twice that +number of Indians and negroes. The great majority of the former were, of +course, Spaniards. Even at this early date, however, there was a +sprinkling of other nationalities. Some Portuguese came hither in the +second quarter of the century, and engaged in vine growing and +agriculture. Indeed, by the middle of the century most of the profitable +and commercial agriculture of the island was in their hands. The value +of such colonists was appreciated by the Spanish, who were glad to have +others engage in the agriculture for which they themselves had little +taste or aptitude. Accordingly Portuguese settlers were encouraged to +come to Cuba, and legislation was enacted in their favor. Their +naturalization as Spanish subjects was facilitated, and free homesteads +were given to them, of choice agricultural lands. + +Some Italians also came to Cuba in those early years, partly as soldiers +of fortune, to enlist in the forces of the island or to seek further +adventures of exploration and conquest, and partly to become +horticulturists and agriculturists, after the manner of the Portuguese. +Even a few Arabs and Moors visited the island, and some German artisans. +French and English there were none, because of the generally prevailing +hostilities between them and Spain. + +The Spanish government was chiefly intent upon encouraging conquests in +the great treasure-yielding lands of Mexico and Central and South +America. Yet it was not blind to the potential value of Cuba, nor +altogether neglectful of that island's interests. Various attempts were +made to stimulate immigration and permanent settlement, and even to +prevent settlers, once there, from leaving the island. Some of these +measures were, indeed, so stringent as probably to react against their +own purpose. Thus it was required that merchants and ship-masters +sailing from Cuba for trade with other lands should give bonds for their +return, while the death penalty, with confiscation of estate, was +actually prescribed for many years for all persons leaving the island +without permission from the authorities. The effect of this +extraordinary measure was what might have been expected. Knowing that +once in Cuba it would be difficult and perhaps impossible for them to +get away again, prudent people were reluctant to go thither. + +Efforts were also made to stimulate increase of population. Married men +in Spain were forbidden to go to Cuba without taking their wives with +them. Bachelors and widowers in Cuba were not permitted to employ +Indians or to hold slaves, while illicit unions with native women were +discouraged under penalty. Regular marriages with native women were, +however, legitimized, and there were many such which resulted +satisfactorily. In spite of these precautions there were, of course, +some illegitimate children, and these the government took steps to +legitimize, in order that they might, in default of other heirs, inherit +their fathers' property and become substantial members of the community. + +The population of Cuba was materially increased in another and by no +means commendable way. This was by the importation of negro slaves from +Africa. The traffic in human beings began in the West Indies at about +the time that Velasquez began the conquest and settlement of Cuba; +perhaps a little before that time. Naturally, with the settlement of +Cuba slave traders visited that island to offer their wares. It must be +recorded to the credit of Velasquez that he at first prohibited the +entrance of negro slaves into the island, and to the end of his life +opposed it though he was forced after a while to permit it. This was +partly on the ground of morals, and partly on that of prudence. He did +not scruple to enslave to some extent the native Cubans. But that was in +order to civilize and Christianize them, and also to afford the +colonists protection from them in their wild native state. Such, at +least, was the argument with which he justified his policy. Moreover, +the Indians were already there, in the island, and had to be dealt with +in some fashion. But it was manifestly a very different thing to import +savages from some distant land for the express purpose of making slaves +of them. The other reason was his fear that if many negroes were +imported they and the Indians would so outnumber the whites as to be a +grave menace. + +Nevertheless the slave trade was established and soon attained +considerable proportions. It became so flourishing that presently the +Spanish government forbade private parties to conduct it save under +special charter from the crown and on payment of a considerable royalty +on each negro imported. Ostensibly, this was because it was feared that +too many negroes might be imported, so as to endanger the security of +the colonists, as Velasquez had suggested; but in fact it was largely +for the sake of the revenue which thus accrued to the royal treasury. +The popular sentiment in Cuba was generally in favor of slavery. It was +held that thus only could sufficient labor be secured for the +development of the resources of the island. The number of negroes never +was as great as some colonists urged that it should be, to wit, three +male and three female slaves for every white householder, but it is +probable that before the middle of the century the negro population of +the island outnumbered the European. + +Treatment of the slaves was on the whole humane. The negroes were +forbidden to carry weapons, or to go about in companies of more than +four. They were at times subjected to physical punishment by their +masters for misdemeanors, though generally such discipline was required +to be administered by the authorities. Miscegenation between Europeans +and negroes was prohibited under penalty, and as an additional safeguard +against it slaves were required to be imported in equal numbers of the +sexes, and all were required to be married. It may be doubted if a +similar regard for their sexual morals was ever exhibited elsewhere. +There was a provision under which it was possible for industrious and +faithful slaves to purchase their freedom, and a considerable number of +them did so; after which they became members of the community with +almost the same legal rights and privileges as the Europeans. + +There was, it is pleasant to record, never the prejudice against the +negro in Cuba that prevailed in the states of North America. He was a +slave, but he was a man. He was a social and political inferior, because +of his enslavement; but he was mentally and spiritually the peer of his +master. The text "Cursed be Canaan" was never thundered from Cuban +pulpits, nor was it ever held that the negro must not be educated nor +instructed in religion. On the contrary, it was required by law that +the slaves should have the advantages of all the services of the church +equally with their masters; and the Spanish aristocrat and his African +slaves thus knelt side by side at the same altar. This attitude of the +races toward each other had two natural results. One was, that the +slaves were generally contented and peaceful, and attempts at +insurrection among them, while not unknown, were rare. The other was, +that amalgamation of the races became frequent and was recognized as +quite legitimate. We have said that miscegenation in illegitimate +fashion, between negro slaves and Europeans, was forbidden. But there +was no ban against marriage between whites and emancipated negroes, and +such unions not infrequently occurred, with satisfactory results. + +The importation of negroes naturally increased with the gradual +extermination of the native Indians, and it was favored by the very men +who most strongly inveighed against the enslavement of the Indians. Even +La Casas himself, with all his fervor in behalf of the natives, +acquiesced in negro slavery; favored it, indeed, as a means of saving +the Indians from such a fate. During the second administration of +Guzman, the restrictions which had been placed upon the slave trade were +removed, and free importations, without payment of a royalty, were +thereafter permitted. Indeed, a further step than this was contemplated. +It was urged that if the King wished the Indians to be emancipated, he +should supply their places with negroes. This extraordinary argument +prevailed, and for at least one year all the King's revenues from Cuba +were ordered to be invested in negroes, who were then to be distributed +among the colonists of the island in place of the Indians who were set +free. These were not, however, to be free gifts, but were to be paid for +by the colonists in the course of a term of years. The revenues for that +year amounted to about 7,000 pesos, and it was reckoned that at the +prices then prevailing in the slave market at least 700 slaves could be +purchased. But at the last moment the King, or else the Council for the +Indies, reconsidered the matter, and the slaves were never purchased. At +the same time the enfranchisement of the Indians was postponed. + +The early industries of Cuba were, in the order of their importance, +gold mining, stock raising, and agriculture. The last named was +practised by the Spanish settlers only to an extent sufficient to supply +their own needs for food. Stock raising, both horses and cattle, was +engaged in much more extensively, not only to supply local needs but +also to supply the needs of Spanish explorers and gold-seekers in Mexico +and Central and South America, who had no time nor opportunity in their +strenuous quest there to attend to such matters. But the first thought +of the first settlers in Cuba was for gold, and for many years the +mining of that metal was the most profitable occupation. Within the +first twenty years of Spanish settlement more than 500,000 pesos in gold +were secured. Indeed in a single year, 1531, the mines at Cuyeba +produced 50,000 pesos. There were paying mines at Savanna, at Savanna de +Guaimaro, at Puerto Principe, at Portillo, and elsewhere throughout the +central districts of the island; some of them being ore veins in the +mountains and some placers in the river beds. But in the course of +twenty-five years the mines began to fail and new ones were not +discovered, so that by De Soto's time the output of gold had become +insignificant. This was doubtless one of the strong contributing causes +of the migration of so many settlers from the island, the eagerness of +men to seek new fields in Florida, and the general decline which Cuba +then suffered. + +There was some compensation for the decline of gold mining in the +discovery of rich copper mines, though the full value of them was not at +first realized. It was during the first administration of Guzman that +copper was discovered at Cobre, near Santiago. (This was the place +where, as formerly related, Alonzo de Ojeda, in gratitude for his +restoration to health, presented a statue of the Holy Virgin to the +native chief, Comendador, who had been his host and nurse and who had +embraced Christianity. The statue was long famous as Our Lady of Cobre.) +There is reason for believing that the Cuban natives had formerly worked +those mines to a considerable extent, for traffic with other lands, +though they themselves apparently did not make use of the metal in their +own arts. The governor, Guzman, learning of the discovery, urged the +development of the mines as the property of the discoverers, while the +royal treasurer claimed that they should belong to the crown. A +controversy was maintained for some time, with the result that the +crown, lightly esteeming the value of the find, permitted private +exploitation of the mines on a basis of ten per cent royalty. An assayer +was sent from Spain to superintend the refining of the copper from the +ore, and suitable works were erected. But little or nothing was done for +several years. Then, after the administration of De Soto, and while the +alcalde mayor, Ortiz, was acting governor, a great demand for copper +arose, for the casting of cannon, in Spain, and interest in the mines +was revived. A German engineer made an agreement with the local +authorities to extract the copper and did so with great success. The ore +was found to be very rich in copper and also to contain so much gold and +silver that it would be worth working for those metals entirely apart +from the copper. Under this expert management the mines became highly +profitable. + +In the administration of Angulo the German engineer had two mines +assigned to him as his own, in return for which he instructed all +comers--chiefly slaves who were sent to him for the purpose by the +settlers--in the art of smelting and refining copper. Large quantities +of the copper were at that time sent to Spain, and the first cannon +mounted on La Fuerza, in Havana, were made of it, being cast at the +royal foundry at Seville. It is related that one of these cannon, a +small falconet, burst in the casting, and so badly injured the +superintendent of the works that he had to be taken to a hospital, +where he expressed a bad opinion of Cuban copper. This was the origin of +the really unfounded belief which long prevailed, and which was recorded +in technological works, that Cuban copper had some peculiar quality +which rendered it difficult and even dangerous to work. + +The first essays toward the growing of sugar, which has become one of +the greatest industries of the island and in which Cuba surpasses any +other equal area of the earth's surface, were made as already related in +the closing years of Velasquez's administration. They did not at that +time prove important, and nothing more was done until the first +administration of Guzman. That enterprising governor, always ready to do +anything to enrich himself, asked permission to import negro slaves free +of royalty, in order to establish the sugar industry, promising under +penalty to begin the construction of a sugar mill within two years and +to complete it within four years. The crown considered that too long a +time, and refused to waive the royalty on slaves for his benefit, +whereupon he abandoned the scheme. Then Hernando de Castro made a +similar proposal, reducing the time of completion of the mill to three +years. The crown was more favorably impressed by his offer, and agreed +to it, only to have him withdraw it. Juan de Avila and his brother +Alfonso reported strongly in favor of establishing the industry in Cuba, +and asked for a loan of capital from the royal treasury to finance the +undertaking; but nothing was done. Chaves and Angulo also successively +reported that Cuba was admirably adapted to the industry, and it was +known that at that very time sugar growing was enormously successful in +Hispaniola, Porto Rico and other islands. Yet by some strange fatality +nothing practical was done, and the actual establishment of the great +industry was postponed until near the end of the century. + +The fiscal policy of the Spanish government was in early years not +unfavorable to Cuba. Apart from a royalty of from five to ten per cent +on precious metals mined, and on copper, and the royalty already +described on the importation of negro slaves, and a customs duty of +seven and a half per cent ad valorem on all imports, the island was free +from taxation. The royalties in question were certainly not oppressive, +and the fact that the Seville government imposed the same customs duty +on all goods imported into Spain from Cuba made the tariff seem entirely +just. Indeed, Cuba was favored above all other islands In the West +Indies for many years. Thus after the middle of the sixteenth century +one-third of what had been the import duty on goods received in Spain +from the West Indies was required to be paid in the Indies as an export +tax; but Cuba alone of all the islands was exempted from this +arrangement. It was not, indeed, until the decline of Spain herself set +in, with increasing expenses for maintaining an inefficient and often +corrupt bureaucracy, and with sorely diminishing resources and revenues, +that Cuba began to be detrimentally exploited for the sake of the Mother +Country. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +We have said that the administration of Angulo marked the nadir of early +Cuban history. It also marked the turning point, and the entrance of the +island into international affairs. Not yet had the great duel between +Spain and England begun; which in the next century was to have so +momentous results. France was the enemy. Francis I became King of that +country in 1515, when Velasquez was beginning the settlement of Cuba, +and Charles I (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) became King of Spain +in the following year; and in 1521, while Velasquez was still governor +of Cuba, those two monarchs began the first of their series of six wars. +Adopting the policy which was afterward pursued by England against Spain +and against France, and by France against England, France struck at +Spain in her American colonies. During the first, second and third wars, +French attention was chiefly given to conquests in North America, with +occasional raids against Spanish commerce in the Caribbean and along the +coast of Mexico. Cuba appears to have remained unscathed. + +With the outbreak of the fourth war in 1536, however, trouble for Cuba +began. French privateers, little better than pirates in their practices, +sometimes, swarmed the Caribbean and the Gulf, preying upon Spanish +commerce and raiding Spanish seacoast towns. The first such blow was +struck at Cuba in 1537. A fleet of five Spanish ships, richly laden, was +about to set forth from Havana for Spain, by way of the Bahama Channel. +Just as they spread their sails and weighed their anchors, a venturesome +French privateer entered the harbor's mouth. The intruder hesitated at +sight of so many vessels, whereupon three of the Spaniards, being well +armed as well as laden, as most ships had to be in those troublous +days, gave chase. The Frenchman retired, fighting stubbornly, as far as +the harbor of Mariel, where he turned at bay and for three days kept up +the unequal conflict. Then, just as he seemed preparing to give up the +fight and flee, an unfavorable wind struck the Spanish ships, placing +them at such disadvantage that their captains ordered them to be +abandoned and burned. This was done, but the French boarded one before +the flames had made headway, extinguished the fire, and sailed away with +the prize. The daring Frenchman then returned to Havana, entered the +harbor with the two ships, and proclaimed to the alcaldes and citizens +that he would do the place no harm if none was done to him, but that if +any attack was made upon his ships, he would sack the town. After a +while he went out and sailed away to the west. + +At that same time all commerce out of and into Santiago was practically +blocked by the presence of French privateers hovering off that port. In +April, 1538, an attack was made upon Santiago, and the place was +defended in a most extraordinary fashion. A Spanish vessel tried to +leave port, met a French vessel returning from a raid on Hispaniola, and +tried to scuttle back, but was overtaken and captured at the entrance to +the harbor. Next day, having despoiled the prize, the Frenchman sailed +into the deep harbor, which never before had been thus invaded, and +menaced the town. The town had no defences whatever, and the citizens +were unarmed. Guzman, then just at the end of his administration, was +furious at his helplessness. He railed against the citizens because they +would not rush down to the wharf and repel the invader with clubs and +stones. But railing was in vain, and so there was nothing to do but to +take to flight inland, which most of the officials and citizens did, +carrying all portable treasure with them. + +The Frenchman then threatened to burn the town, which Guzman wished he +would do, in order to bring the King's government to its senses and +arouse it to the necessity of defending Cuba. But there chanced to be +in the port a certain merchant of Seville, by name Diego Perez, who was +at least as daring as the Frenchman himself. He had a little merchant +sloop, not more than half the size of the Frenchman, but well armed, +with guns that would carry at least as far as the Frenchman's. He ran +his little craft into water too shallow for the bigger Frenchman, where +he would be secure against ramming or boarding, and there began +peppering the enemy with his long range guns, Perez himself aiming the +best of them. The fight lasted all day, and Perez was ready to resume it +next morning. But in the darkness of the night the Frenchman stole away +and was seen no more in Santiago harbor. Perez had three men killed, and +his vessel was badly damaged; but the Frenchman probably suffered +heavier losses, since two of his men who were killed fell overboard and +were picked up and buried by the Spaniards, and there were almost +certainly others killed. For his valor on thus saving the capital of +Cuba from destruction, Perez received from the King a coat of arms with +a device emblematic of his achievement. + +That same Frenchman a little later, having repaired his vessel, wreaked +his revenge upon Havana. When he entered the harbor there the people +fled and left the town for him to loot at his leisure. It is recorded +that he took even the church bells. Moreover, being a truculent +Huguenot, he took an image of Saint Peter from the church and let his +men use it as a target to pelt with oranges! This incident caused De +Soto, who arrived at Havana a little later, to hasten work on the +defences of the place. For some time there had been talk of building a +fort, but no agreement had been reached as to where it should be; +whether at the Cabana, or the Morro, or on the hill in what is now +Central Park. But the Frenchman's raid brought the controversy to an +end, and De Soto was authorized to build wherever he thought best. The +result was the building of La Fuerza. It was hastily built, and +therefore badly, so that ten years later part of it had to be torn down +and the whole remodelled into its present form. + +By this time it was considered certain that Havana would one day become +the capital and chief city of Cuba, wherefore it was decided to fortify +it rather than Santiago or any other port. Beside, it was the most +convenient port of call for treasure ships and others plying between +Mexico and Spain. A battery of cannon was therefore placed upon the +Morro headland, long before the building of the castle, and La Fuerza +was strongly armed. It became the custom for treasure ships to put into +Havana harbor, and if pursued to unload their treasure there, for safe +keeping on shore until the danger was past. But no further attack was +made upon Havana or any other Cuban port, and in 1544 the war was ended. + +The prospect of Havana's becoming the capital seemed temporarily to be +realized in 1550, when Angulo established his permanent residence +there--the first governor so to do, though some of his predecessors had +spent some time there, and De Avila had actually established a residence +there. Angulo began building a large stone church at Havana, in place of +the wooden thatched hut which had served the purpose before him; he +built an addition to the hospital, two store houses and a slaughter +house, and rebuilt the jail. He also regulated the prices of food, so as +to put a stop to the artificial raising of prices whenever ships came in +for supplies. Yet when, in obedience to the orders of the crown, in +November, 1552, he issued an emancipation proclamation in favor of the +Indians, a storm of abuse broke upon him, in Havana as well as +elsewhere. Santiago, piqued because he had spent so much time away from +that place, took the initiative in demanding a judicial investigation of +his conduct, charging him with venality and peculations. But the city +council of Havana quickly followed suit, made more than fifty specific +charges against him, and provided a ship to fetch a judge from +Hispaniola to try him. + +[Illustration: MORRO CASTLE, HAVANA + +A grim guardian, seated on the headland at one side of the entrance to +Havana's peerless harbor; founded to protect the city from the +sixteenth-century corsairs; captured in the seventeenth century by the +British and the American Colonists after the most stubborn resistance; +and in later years the prison in which many Cuban patriots were +immured.] + +Curiously enough, while Santiago was hostile to him because he would not +live there, Havana was hostile because he would live there. It was +specifically complained that he persisted in living at Havana against +the will of the people of that place. They did not want him there, they +said, because they were convinced that he was there for his own profit. +So they besought the court to compel him to return to Santiago. Other +complaints were that he had imposed various new-fangled devices upon the +city, that he was a gambler, that he engaged in trade for his own +profit, that he permitted his wife to decide suits at law, and that he +had instructed one of his officers to strike with a club anyone who did +not rise to his feet when the governor entered the church. + +Angulo denied all the charges, and declared that they had been trumped +up against him because he had obeyed the King in emancipating the +Indians. He went to Hispaniola in person to argue his cause before the +Supreme Court, the chief counsel against him being Alfonso de Rojas. The +court decided in his favor so far as to suspend all action and let him +return to Havana, until the King could pass upon the case. No judge +would be appointed to investigate him, the court added, unless one were +sent from Spain. So the governor returned to Cuba in triumph. Landing at +Santiago, he proclaimed the freedom of all Indians there. Thence he +proceeded to Baracoa, to Bayamo, to Trinidad, and to Puerto Principe, +repeating the emancipation proclamation at each place. At the midsummer +of 1553 he reached Havana, to find that the town council had "deposed" +him, on the ground that he had been absent from his jurisdiction without +leave for more than ninety days; a decree which he ignored. Meanwhile +the crown had appointed a judge to investigate him, but the judge did +not come and the inquest was not held. Soon after his arrival at Havana, +finding that he would not give up the governorship at its word, the town +council begged the Hispaniola court to have him investigated, and the +court commissioned a judge for that purpose, who declined or at least +failed to act. This was in August, 1554. + +Now trouble was renewed with France, the sixth war between Henry II, who +had succeeded Francis, and Charles beginning in 1552 and continuing +until 1559, Charles meanwhile abdicating in favor of Philip II in 1556. +The French navy was more potent than ever, and French privateers swarmed +the Spanish Main. Every Cuban port was warned to be on its guard against +attack, Havana most of all, since it was now the richest and was in the +most exposed situation. It was not until the fall of 1553 that the +official news of the renewal of hostilities reached Cuba, and great was +the consternation which it caused. + +Juan de Lobera was at that time the commander of the fortifications of +Havana, to wit, La Fuerza. He appears to have been a man of strangely +mingled temperament, at times fearful and timorous, at others resolute +and valiant. At the beginning the former characteristics prevailed. He +realized, only too truly, that the fortifications and petty garrison +would be entirely insufficient for the protection of the place against +any considerable force, such as even a single French ship might bring +against it, and he fell into something like a panic. Happily, however, +he did not desert his post, but made passionate demands upon the +governor and the town council for additional guards. Happily, too, in +the presence of menace the animosities of faction were stilled, and the +council cooperated heartily with the governor whom it had just been +trying to depose and whom only a little later it denounced to the court +as worthy of investigation and indictment. + +New guards were supplied. Day and night the beach was patrolled. +Watchmen were stationed on the Morro headland to espy approaching +vessels and to signal the tidings to the fort and city. At the mouth of +the Almendares River, where it was supposed that invaders were likely to +land, horsemen were stationed, to hasten back to the city with news of +any such landing or of the appearance of a hostile vessel. Twelve men, +expert in arms, were held in readiness day and night to man the fort the +moment a strange vessel was reported; La Fuerza being otherwise without +a garrison--which amply justified the commander's lack of faith in its +defensive efficiency. In case of an attack, all able-bodied citizens +were to present themselves in a massed levy under command of the +governor. Every man was to be armed, at least with a sword, day and +night, and none was to absent himself from the city without the +permission of the governor. Every vessel of any kind that approached the +harbor was signalled to stop outside until it could be visited and its +identity be established; though if any refused thus to halt there was no +adequate power to compel it to do so. However, refusal to stop would of +course be regarded as proof of hostile character. + +With all these preparations the defensive ability of Havana was +pitifully if not ludicrously slight. Three small cannon manned by twelve +volunteers constituted the armament of a fort which might be attacked by +a ship of twenty guns and two hundred men. The "army" of the place +comprised sixteen horsemen and less than seventy footmen, scarcely any +two of them armed alike. The chief commander under the governor was Juan +de Rojas, who was the governor's bitterest political enemy, though he +had once been his close friend and deputy. He was a brother of the +former governor, Manuel de Rojas. In these circumstances the commander +of the fort awaited with unspeakable trepidation the anticipated +approach of the enemy. + +His fears were presently realized in the coming of perhaps the most +formidable of all the Frenchmen then scouring the seas; the famous +Jacques Sores. This daring captain was not only a Frenchman and +therefore hostile to Spaniards on racial and political grounds, but he +was also a Huguenot, like many other French seamen of that day, and +therefore hostile to them on religious grounds. He was supposed to be +under the patronage of the great Conde, and also at one time to have +received material aid from Queen Elizabeth of England. Indeed, he was at +this time regarded as the foremost champion of the Protestant cause at +sea. Although a privateer, he commanded not a single vessel but a +squadron of three, which he handled with the skill of a master mariner. + +Sores did not, however, deem it needful to bring his whole array against +Havana. A single vessel, a brigantine, would be sufficient. So it came +to pass that in the early morning of July 10, 1554, a signal came from +the watchers on the Morro headland, that a strange sail, probably +French, was approaching. A shot was fired from La Fuerza, to summon the +men of Havana to arms. Lobera led his garrison of twelve men to their +places within the fort. Angulo took command outside. For an hour or two +there was uncertainty as to the identity of the vessel, and horsemen +were dispatched to the beach to watch its movements. They presently +hastened back with the news that the brigantine had cast anchor off what +is now San Lazaro and had sent ashore two boatloads of armed men, who +were now approaching the city through the jungle. This indicated +treachery, for the jungle was impenetrable save by a certain secret path +which no strangers could know, and indeed it was presently disclosed +that the invaders were guided by two men who had formerly lived in +Havana, one of whom had been a harbor pilot. + +The governor unhesitatingly considered discretion to be the better part +of valor, and betook himself to instant flight, conveying his family and +such of his property as he could carry to the native village of +Guanabacoa, at the other side of the bay, where he was joined during the +day by a majority of the residents of Havana. Lobera, on the other hand, +now that he was face to face with a great crisis, forgot his fears and +acquitted himself as a man of valor. With his little garrison, half of +whom were negro slaves, and with a score of refugees, old men, women +and children, he shut himself within the fort, with its walls of stone +and gates of timber, and prepared to fight to the death. He had found +three more cannon and had taken them into the fort, thus totalling six, +with a good supply of ammunition and provisions. He dispatched a message +to Angulo, reproaching him for his cowardly flight and imploring him to +send all able bodied men to the aid of the garrison, for the honor of +Spain. This the governor promised to do at or before nightfall; a +promise which was not kept. + +The invaders were commanded by Captain Sores in person. They took +possession of the town without resistance, and then summoned the fort to +surrender; expecting to find in it much treasure from Spanish vessels +which had recently been wrecked on the Florida coast, though in fact no +such treasure was there. Lobera unhesitatingly refused to surrender, and +the fight began. The first assault upon the fort, from the landward +side, was repulsed. Then the brigantine was seen to be approaching at +the other side, accompanied by another and larger vessel of Sores's +squadron, which had just arrived; wherefore Lobera had to transfer two +of his cannon to that side of the fort to prevent a landing of more +troops. A second assault was repulsed, during which a Spanish gunner +shot down the French flag from the staff on which Sores had raised it at +the stone house of Juan de Rojas, which the French had occupied as +headquarters. A third assault, near nightfall, was also repulsed, but +the two wooden gates of La Fuerza were burned with nearly all the +contents of the tower. The little garrison and the refugees spent the +night on an open terrace, with only a little powder and shot and not a +day's food left. Hoping for help from the governor and citizens, Lobera +fired his largest gun at intervals during the night, beat the drums and +sounded bugle calls; but all in vain. "The darkness gave no token." + +The French demanded his surrender, promising good treatment, but +threatening a ruthless assault which would mean death if he persisted +in trying to hold his indefensible position. Lobera refused, until the +break of day. Then he saw that no help was approaching from Angulo, that +an overwhelming force of French soldiers surrounded him on all sides, +and that successful defence was impossible. His ammunition was all but +gone. The cords of the crossbows with which his men were armed were +frayed and broken. Some of his men were slain, while some of the +survivors, especially one German gunner, mutinously held converse with +the enemy. The refugees fell on their knees before him bidding him die +fighting if he would, but to let their lives be spared. In this +desperate plight Lobera yielded, offering to surrender on honorable +terms, if the lives of his men were spared and the women were protected +from dishonor. To this Sores gave his word, and the fort capitulated. +The flag of France was raised over La Fuerza, and twenty-odd Spanish +subjects were prisoners. + +The women and children were quickly released, but all the men were +locked up in the house of Juan de Rojas, which was the strongest stone +building in the city. About a score more were added to their number, of +Spaniards and Portuguese whom Sores had captured elsewhere. + +A few hours after the surrender, word was received from Angulo. He had +at last organized a force of about fifty men, chiefly Indians, and had +started to the relief of the fort when he heard of its capitulation. At +this he realized that all was lost, and retired to Guanabacoa, there to +seek negotiations with the French for the ransom of Havana. A truce was +declared, and the prisoners were released from Rojas's house on parole, +pledged not to fight, or to leave town, and to return to their prison at +nightfall. Angulo offered a ransom of three thousand ducats, declaring +that no more could be raised. The Frenchmen scorned the offer, and +demanded thirty thousand pesos--eighty thousand had been collected at +Santiago the year before--and a hundred loads of bread. Angulo +protested his inability to raise such an amount, but begged for time in +which to see what he could do. + +A week passed, the French occupying Havana at their ease and Angulo +scouring the surrounding country, ostensibly for ransom money but in +fact for men and arms. By the end of the week he had surreptitiously +collected a force of 335 men, of whom about thirty-five were Spaniards +and the rest negroes and Indians. They were armed chiefly with clubs and +stones. Himself and eight others were mounted on horseback. With this +motley force he hoped to surprise the French by night, and to capture +Rojas's house, where he would take Sores himself prisoner and release +the Spanish captives. + +The desperate plan would probably have succeeded had not some of the +Indians indiscreetly uttered their war cry as they rushed upon the +house, arousing the Frenchmen and giving them time to close and bar the +massive doors. The few Frenchmen who were sleeping outside of the house +were quickly overcome and slain, and Angulo laid siege to the house +itself, summoning Sores to surrender. The French commander was furious +at what he not unreasonably regarded as a breach of the truce. Moreover, +his brother was among those who had been killed outside the house. In a +fury he ordered that all the Spanish prisoners in the house be put to +death. This was quickly done, with the exception of Lobera, who was +confined in an upper room. Sores reserved the killing of him for +himself, and entered the room where Lobera was for that purpose. Lobera +defended himself, meanwhile protesting that he had had no part in the +treachery; and his evidently honest pleas moved a French officer to +intervene in his behalf and to disarm Sores. Then, at the direction of +Sores, Lobera showed himself at a window and addressed Angulo, +reproaching him for the breach of truce, and imploring him to withdraw. +Angulo refused, declaring that he had already recaptured the town, and +that at daylight he would complete the work by capturing the Rojas house +and its inmates. + +With the coming of daylight, however, the folly of this course became +apparent. Angulo had, indeed, a larger force than the Frenchmen still +remaining in Havana; though as the latter were far the better armed a +conflict between them would probably have been disastrous to the +Spaniards. But the two ships in the harbor were now aroused and began +firing upon the Spaniards with their artillery, while reenforcements of +men for Sores put off for shore in boats. Sores and his companions made +a fierce sally from the house. The few Spaniards made a stand, but the +negroes and most of the Indians would not oppose clubs and stones to +swords and arquebuses. They fled incontinently to the jungle, followed +by Angulo himself. + +His victory thus completed, Sores returned to the house where he had +left Lobera locked in a room with the dead and dying. He absolved the +commander from all responsibility for Angulo's treacherous conduct, and +complimented him upon the valor with which he had defended La Fuerza as +well as upon his good faith. He would not, however, release him without +a ransom, according to the custom of the times. In default of the +ransom, he would take him to France as a prisoner, though treated with +all consideration. Lobera was without means, but his friends with whom +he was permitted to communicate soon raised the required sum of two +thousand two hundred pesos, and he was set at liberty. He thereafter +went to Spain, carrying with him the news of what had happened to +Havana. + +The negotiations for the ransom of the town were less successful. Angulo +had fled far inland, and could not be reached, and the Spaniards who +remained could not offer more than a thousand pesos, a sum which Sores +scorned. In default of ransom, therefore, the place was looted and +burned. Three buildings alone remained standing: La Fuerza, the church, +and the hospital. Indeed, the interior of the church was almost entirely +destroyed. Sores and his men were fierce Huguenots, and they tore down +the images of saints and took the robes and altar vestments to make +cloaks for themselves. All the boats found in the harbor were burned. +The neighboring estates for miles around were destroyed, and some of the +negroes who offered resistance were hanged. The harbor was carefully +surveyed and sounded, to facilitate future entries. Finally, his work +being thus thoroughly done, Sores sailed away at midnight of August 5, +less than a month after his arrival. + +At the end of September a little French vessel, containing only a dozen +men, entered the harbor, inspected the ruins of the city, and seized a +Spanish caravel which lay there, taking it away with them to the harbor +of Mariel, where there were several French ships. Ten days later the +entire French force entered the harbor of Havana and landed many men. +They did not, however, molest the Spanish residents nor destroy the new +buildings which they were beginning to erect, but seemed to regard them +with good humored tolerance, as too insignificant to merit attention. +Indeed, there were only a few dozen of the Spanish, all told, and they +were helpless and disheartened. The Frenchmen contented themselves with +going to several of the outlying farms and taking all the hides they +could find to add to the cargo which they were already carrying. They +remained there, on amicable terms with the Spanish, for more than a +fortnight, and then sailed away. + +These things occurred at the time when Philip of Spain was marrying +Queen Mary of England and was taking possession of the Netherlands, and +when Spain vaunted herself as the foremost military power of the world. +It must not be wondered at that the people of Cuba, and particularly of +Havana, regarded themselves as grievously neglected by those who should +have been their protectors, and bitterly reproached not alone the +governor but even the King himself for not having afforded them more +ample protection. The explanation was, doubtless, that Spain regarded +Mexico, South America, and of course her European possessions, as of +far greater importance than the island whose gold mines were about +exhausted, which had failed to provide iron for Spanish artillery, and +which had served chiefly as a stepping stone to more valuable lands. It +was a strange irony of fate that the island which was thus slighted was +destined to be the most faithful and the longest held of all the +colonial possessions of Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +The disastrous events which have been related in the preceding chapter +suggested to the Spaniards in Cuba and also to the government at Seville +the desirability, if not the necessity, of establishing a more militant +administration of affairs if the island was not to be the prey of all +comers and perhaps ultimately be lost to the Spanish crown. Thitherto, +with the exception of Velasquez and the possible exception of De Soto, +every governor of the island had been a civilian and a lawyer. It seemed +an experiment worth making, then, to appoint a military man to the +office, in the hope that he would be better fitted to provide for the +protection of the island against the privateers and corsairs who roved +the seas in increasing numbers and with increasing boldness. True, +immediately after the abdication of Charles I and the accession of +Philip II, in 1556, a truce was concluded between France and Spain, +which was to last five years. But few expected that it would last so +long, as indeed it did not, being broken in two years; and even while it +did last privateering was by no means abolished. In any case, be it +peace or be it war, Spain had tried to hold her western empire by virtue +of Divine Right and ecclesiastical decrees, and had failed. Now she +would try holding what was left of it with military and naval force; and +to that end would have a soldier for governor of Cuba. + +The man chosen was indeed an expert and competent soldier, by no means +devoid of statesmanship. Diego de Mazariegos had been one of the most +efficient lieutenants of Cortez in Mexico, and distinguished himself as +a brave and skilful fighter against the Indians. He had also given much +attention to international relations, and to the privateering which had +become such a scourge of the seas. Indeed, it was through some of his +writings on this latter subject that the court of Seville was led to +consider him as a candidate for the Cuban governorship. Dr. Angulo had +been appointed in 1550, and five years was long enough, it was thought, +for a man to serve, unless he served better than Angulo had done in the +latter part of his term. So Mazariegos was selected to succeed him, in +March, 1555. Juan Martinez, a lawyer, was selected to go with him as +lieutenant governor. These were the last appointments made in Cuba by +King Charles before his retirement from the throne. + +Some time was required for preparations for the voyage and for residence +in a new land, so that Mazariegos and Martinez did not sail from Spain +until late in the summer. On the way they suffered shipwreck and +Martinez and all his family were drowned. Mazariegos escaped, but lost +everything he had with him save the clothes which he was wearing. This +disaster made it necessary still further to postpone his assumption of +the governorship, so that he did not reach Cuba until March 7, 1556. It +is noteworthy that instead of landing at Santiago, as every other +governor had done, he went straight to Havana, where Angulo awaited him, +and the very next day, March 8, he was installed as governor. In +accordance with custom he conducted an investigation of Angulo's +accounts and general administration, which was permitted to pass as a +merely formal and perfunctory performance. The passionate demands for +Angulo's indictment and punishment were by this time forgotten. + +Havana had been partially rebuilt since the raid of Captain Sores, and +had been completely transformed in character. It had a very much larger +population than before, and that population was restless and turbulent +to a degree. It contained adventurers from every country and of every +type; fortune hunters, fugitive criminals, gamblers, bankrupts, the +shady output of Mexico, Darien and Peru, who sought in Cuba a No Man's +Land in which they would not be troubled with law and order. In this +expectation they reckoned without their host. Or perhaps they counted +upon the rough and ready soldier as likely to countenance a large degree +of laxity. If so, they were mistaken. Mazariegos had indeed the personal +morals of a soldier of fortune. Soon after the death of Angulo he took +the latter's widow for his mistress and lived with her openly, to the +great scandal of the church, until after the death of the lady's mother, +when he married her, as he said he had all along intended to do; the +delay being due to his unwillingness to have a mother-in-law. But this +was regarded by the governor as a trifling peccadillo. Upon graver +offenses, murder, robbery, brawling and what not, he frowned with the +wrath of a Precisian. + +Nor was he any respecter of persons. When Francisco de Angulo, the son +of the lady whom he had taken as his mistress and was soon to make his +wife, scandalized law and order with his drunkenness and brawling, he +exiled him to Mexico. For like offenses he also banished Gomez de Rojas, +the youngest brother of Juan de Rojas, one of the foremost citizens of +Havana; expressing as he did so a fervent wish that the young man might +quickly meet with an evil death. As for his own nephew, Francisco de +Mazariegos, when he became notorious for gambling, lechery and fighting, +he inflicted upon him with his own hands a physical chastisement which +was a more than nine days' example to all the other youth of the town. + +Santiago still being the nominal capital of the island, the new governor +thought it incumbent upon him at least to visit it. In fact, he spent +nearly the whole year 1557 there, endeavoring to provide it with means +of defence against French privateers. He stationed a captain of the army +there, with four small cannon, some muskets and pikes, and a supply of +gunpowder, urging the citizens to learn to fight so as to defend +themselves. Then, in January, 1558, he hastened back to Havana to defend +it against raiders who were said to be on their way thither. Five months +later a French privateer visited Santiago, took the place without so +much as a blow from the captain, considered it too small and poor to be +worth looting or burning, and sailed away again after collecting only +400 pesos ransom; probably the smallest ransom on record for a capital +city! + +On his return to Havana, Mazariegos showed the value of a military +governor for the protection of a city. For six weeks that summer a +French squadron of four vessels lay off Havana, without venturing to +attack the place, knowing that Mazariegos had mobilized and trained for +fighting every able-bodied man in the place, and even some robust and +athletic negro women. But the governor was not satisfied with defence +alone. He contrived to get word to some Spanish captains at Nombre de +Dios, who were going to convoy treasure ships to Spain, with the result +that they presently came up unannounced and captured the whole French +squadron. Again and again thereafter Havana was menaced, even attacked, +but invariably Mazariegos repulsed the enemy, generally with heavy loss +to the latter. + +He felt, however, the need of better equipment, particularly of more +cannon, and asked the crown to provide it. The crown declined or at any +rate failed to do so, whereupon he set about doing it himself, and +succeeded in getting, sometimes by rather strenuous means, a number of +cannon and a good supply of powder. But a better fort than the ruins of +La Fuerza was also needed, and to that enterprise he turned his +attention with zeal. At the beginning of his administration Geronimo +Bustamente de Herrera was commissioned by the crown to build a new fort, +but after making plans and engaging workmen he fell ill and had to +abandon the job. At the beginning of 1558, just as Mazariegos returned +thither from Santiago, Herrera was replaced by Bartolome Sanchez, a +competent engineer; who prepared new plans for the rebuilding of La +Fuerza as it stands to this day. The Viceroy of Mexico, who was much +interested in the safety of Mexican treasure ships which might put in at +Havana, contributed 12,000 pesos in gold for the beginning of the work. +There was much trouble in getting laborers for the work, in Spain. +Sanchez wanted at least a hundred negro slaves. The government thought +the number excessive, and gave him authorization for only thirty; +whereupon he declared that the enterprise might as well be given up. In +fact he secured in Spain only fifteen workmen, and with them he sailed +for Cuba, hoping to secure the rest there, or elsewhere in the West +Indies. + +The work began early in December, 1558. A stone quarry was opened near +Guanabacoa, and a kiln for making lime was built. But labor was still +lacking. Sanchez wanted two hundred, negro slaves or others, and +appealed to the people of the town to help him get them. In response +they procured for him thirty slaves--their own, whom they were willing +to turn over to him "for a consideration." Then the governor took a hand +in the game. There were forty slaves at Santiago, who had been brought +thither without the proper shipping papers, and were being held for that +reason. Mazariegos sent to Santiago, confiscated them all, and brought +them up to Havana, to work on the new fort. Some French prisoners who +had been taken in a fight off Matanzas were also set at work on it. All +tramps and vagabonds who were arrested were sent to La Fuerza or to the +quarry, and for a time, until the crown stopped it, one third of the +Indian village of Guanabacoa were kept at work on the fort. + +Although Sanchez was in charge of the work and was responsible for it, +Mazariegos spent much of his time there, watching it, directing it, and +chastising with tongue and sometimes even with rod all who seemed +laggards at the job. In time he succeeded Sanchez in authority. For +Sanchez incurred much enmity on the part of some influential citizens, +whose houses he took in order to make an open place about the fort. They +accused him of corruption, of making gross errors in the plans for the +fort, of fomenting discord, and of wasting money. He was too busy with +building the fort to pay much attention to these things, even when they +took the form of letters to the King. The outcome of it was that in the +summer of 1560 Sanchez was removed from his place, and Mazariegos was +put in charge of the completion of La Fuerza. A few months later Sanchez +reached Seville, and pleaded his case to so good effect that the crown +was convinced that injustice had been done him, and that he should not +have been discharged. However, it was not practicable to reinstate him, +though he was sent back a few years later to make an official inspection +of the completed fort. + +In addition to La Fuerza, Mazariegos built the first forerunner of the +Morro Castle. In 1563 he built on the Morro headland a tower of masonry +more than thirty feet high. It was intended primarily as a landmark, and +was therefore painted white in order to make it visible at the greatest +possible distance. But a watchman was generally kept in it, to espy +approaching vessels and to signal to the city news of their approach. +The tower is said to have cost only 200 pesos, and was paid for by the +city of Havana. + +Mazariegos presently became involved in affairs outside of Cuba. Many +men deserted at Havana from the vessels of Angelo de Villafane, governor +of Florida. Villafane complained and wanted Mazariegos to capture and +return them. Mazariegos replied that he could not do it; to which we may +doubtless add that he would not have done so if he could. He was +desirous of increasing the population of Cuba, even in that way. When +Villafane attempted to plant a Spanish colony at what is now Port Royal, +South Carolina, and failed, Mazariegos had some correspondence with the +King, and probably acquiesced in the royal opinion, that it would be +impracticable to establish a colony at that point. In 1563, however, the +King learned that the French had been quite successful in planting a +colony on that very spot where the Spaniards under Villafane had failed, +and he informed Mazariegos of the fact. The governor, acting upon his +own initiative, but shrewdly guessing what would be acceptable to the +King, sent Hernando de Rojas thither with a frigate and twenty-five +soldiers, to see how much of a settlement the French had made, and to +destroy it if he was able to do so with that force. In the summer of +1564 Rojas returned, reporting that the settlement had been abandoned by +the French. He brought back with him one young Frenchman as a prisoner, +and also a memorial stone which the French had set up to commemorate the +founding of the place, bearing the date, 1561. Mazariegos commended +Rojas for his work, sent the memorial stone to Seville, and then began +planning to go in person or to send an expedition to search the Carolina +and other coasts in quest of new French colonies. His theory was that +the more French settlements there were, the more French vessels there +would be, and therefore the more subject Cuba would be to alien +annoyance. + +This, however, was not to be. The end of Mazariegos's administration was +already drawing near. He fell into some violent disputes with the +citizens of Havana, over the appointment of alcaldes, a duty which they +charged him with neglecting. He was also charged with packing the town +council with his own creatures, with tampering with the mails so as to +prevent people from writing to Spain any complaints of his +maladministration, and of other misdemeanors. Bartolome Sanchez, who had +returned from Spain and who had a bitter personal grudge against the +governor for supplanting him as builder of the fort, petitioned the King +to have a judge sent from Hispaniola to investigate him, but the King +refused. Mazariegos, learning this, and feeling unwarrantably secure in +royal favor, adopted a more arrogant attitude toward his opponents and +critics, which did him no good. + +In the spring of 1565, Garcia Osorio de Sandoval was appointed to +succeed him as governor. Mazariegos thereupon wrote to the King, asking +that there be no unnecessary law suits brought against him, as he was +old, and ill, and poor. (He was not yet fifty years of age!) The King +granted his request, and in consequence instructed Osorio to make his +investigation as little annoying as possible. Osorio obeyed, and +although the report of the inquest filled three big volumes, Mazariegos +was not brought to trial on any charges and had no fines assessed +against him. He remained living at Havana for some time, and then +completed his career in the King's service as governor of Caracas, +Venezuela. His administration had been a stormy one, but on the whole +advantageous to Cuba, and had confirmed the Seville government in its +policy of appointing others than mere lawyers to the insular +governorship. + +Garcia Osorio de Sandoval became governor of Cuba on September 12, 1565. +As he was not a lawyer, the precedent which had been set in Mazariegos's +case was followed in his, of appointing a lieutenant governor who was a +lawyer to serve with him. His lieutenant was Luis Cabrera, who did not +reach Cuba until later in the year, having suffered shipwreck and been +obliged to put back to Spain and await the sailing of another vessel. + +Osorio appears to have been a soldier, though probably retired from +active service at the time of his appointment to the governorship. At +any rate he made it his first care to improve the defences of the +island. It is related that he bore with him from Spain to Havana a cargo +of arms and munitions, including four brass cannon. These he placed upon +the fortification, thus making a battery of eight pieces, and built a +substantial platform of timber for them to stand upon. La Fuerza was not +yet completed, but he took measures to expedite the work and hoped to +have it finished in a year. In order to protect the place from possible +raids by land, he closed and blocked all roads and trails leading into +it from the west excepting the one along the beach. He organized a force +of seventy men armed with arquebuses, to be quickly summoned in an +emergency, and required them and all citizens to assemble for service +whenever a strange sail was sighted. In addition, as a permanent +contribution to defence, a spacious arsenal was built near the water +front, to contain the stores of ammunition and to shelter the guards and +citizens. + +There was thus much promise that Osorio would prove to be an energetic +and useful governor. Unfortunately, at the very beginning of his +administration he came into conflict with another and much stronger +functionary of the Spanish crown; indeed, one of the most formidable +figures of the time. This was none other than Pedro Menendez de Aviles, +whose record fills so large a place in the early annals of Florida and +the West Indies. He took to the sea in boyhood, and became one of the +most expert navigators of Spain. At the age of thirty he was captain of +his own ship, and it was one of the most active and efficient vessels +among all that guarded and convoyed the treasure ships and fleets of the +Spanish Main. At that time he warned the government of Hispaniola and +also that of Mexico of the grave danger of letting the French get any +foothold upon those shores, or even of navigating those waters. The +Bahama Channel, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea should all, he +insisted, be declared and kept closed seas, into which no vessels but +those of Spain should enter save by special license. + +[Illustration: PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES.] + +Menendez was, moreover, an ardent and indeed fanatical Catholic, who +deemed it a duty to extirpate "Lutheran dogs," as he termed the French +Huguenots and other Protestants; and as most of the French seamen and +foreign adventurers at that time were of the Huguenot faith, he +cherished a special animosity against them. + +Now, his recommendations to the governments of Hispaniola and Mexico +were transmitted to Seville and were laid before the King. Charles was +at that time weary of royal cares and was about to resign them, and he +paid little or no attention to the letters of the young captain. But +when Philip II came to the throne, attention was given to them. That +painstaking monarch read them and was much struck by them, both in their +warning of military danger from the French and in their zealous +animosity against heretics. Their writer was evidently, he thought, a +man after his own heart. So he sent for Menendez, talked with him, and +commissioned him to be the guardian of the highway to the Indies, with +the title of captain-general. It was his function to guard Spanish +treasure ships all the way across the Atlantic, from Mexico to Spain, as +he had formerly guarded them in the narrow seas about the Indies. It was +thus that he was serving during a part of Mazariegos's administration in +Cuba, and in that capacity he spent much time at Havana. On one or two +occasions he took charge of the few little vessels which formed +Mazariegos's navy, and did good service with them. At this time, also, +he wrote to the King about the increasing ravages and peril of French +privateers in those waters, very much as he had written to the local +governments years before. + +The result was that the King in March, 1565, appointed him to be +Adelantado of Florida, and captain-general of the Spanish fleet in that +part of the world specially commissioned to guard the coasts and ports +of the Indies. That was six months before Osorio became governor of +Cuba. + +The commission of Menendez bade him to "guard the coasts and ports of +the Indies." Very well. Cuba was certainly one of the Indies. Therefore +he was commissioned to guard the ports and coasts of Cuba. Being +familiar with Cuba, and recognizing its very great importance, he +naturally deemed the guarding of that island as one of the very first of +his duties. Mazariegos did not demur, since he was himself soon to +retire from the governorship. But when Osorio came to Havana six months +later, and found Menendez in command of all that pertained to harbor and +coast defence, there was trouble. Osorio asserted his rights and +authority as governor of Cuba. Menendez replied with an assertion of his +as captain-general "to guard the coasts and ports." + +The first clash came because Menendez interpreted his jurisdiction as +extending to fortifications on land as well as to shipping; which we +must regard as extreme if not overstrained. He assumed direction of the +garrison of Havana, and had two hundred men sent thither from a large +detachment which was sent to Florida. As La Fuerza was not yet finished +sufficiently to accommodate them, houses were hired to receive them. +Osorio was not notified in advance that they were coming, or that they +had arrived; and after they were there they refused to regard his +authority but took orders solely from Baltazar Barreda, a captain whom +Menendez had assigned to their command. Presently Barreda took charge of +La Fuerza and began moving thither the artillery, including the four +pieces which Osorio had brought with him from Spain. Osorio +remonstrated, saying that the fort was not yet sufficiently completed +for use. Barreda defied his authority, and was sustained by Menendez, +who happened to be in Havana at the time. The governor yielded, for the +time. But as soon as Menendez was out of the city he clapped Barreda +into jail, after a violent physical struggle, and appointed Pedro de +Redroban to the command of the fort in his stead. News of this reached +Menendez and he hastened back and released Barreda. As for Redroban, he +and half a dozen of his men fled to the woods, in well-founded fear of +Menendez. + +Now, Redroban was one of Menendez's soldiers, just as much as Barreda, +and was probably as loyal to him as Barreda. But he had deemed it +incumbent upon himself to obey the commands of the governor of the +island. Nevertheless, Menendez charged Osorio with having incited mutiny +in the garrison, and he denounced Redroban as a deserter and traitor, +who should be captured and put to death, and his head exhibited in the +market-place with an inscription proclaiming him a traitor to the King +and disobedient to his commander. Redroban and some of his comrades +were captured, tried, and condemned to death; but on appeal to the crown +their sentences were commuted. Menendez then ordered Barreda to set the +garrison at work digging a moat about the fort, and demanded picks and +shovels from the governor for the purpose. These Osorio refused to +supply, and Barreda thereupon secured them from the people of the town. +Still another cause of friction was found in the coming to Cuba of many +men, both civilians and runaway soldiers, from Florida. These Osorio +received and sent to the interior of Cuba to engage in agriculture. +Menendez complained that Osorio was inciting and assisting desertions +from Florida; and Osorio bitterly replied that affairs were so bad in +Florida under Menendez's rule that people had to flee from the place to +save their lives from starvation and pestilence. + +Whatever were the general merits of the controversy between the two men, +it was certain from the beginning that Menendez would win. He had the +higher official rank, and he enjoyed the special favor of the King. More +and more he made Havana his headquarters, preferring it to any port on +the Florida coast; to which it was, of course, naturally much superior. +More and more, too, he assumed authority in Havana, not alone in +military but even in civil affairs. More and more Osorio was ignored. +And as Menendez had the stronger force of men, and was backed by the +approval and favor of the King, it was in vain that Osorio resented the +slights which were heaped upon him. + +Matters reached their climax in the matter of further fortifications. +Osorio wanted to build a sea wall in front of the city, such as the +engineer Sanchez had planned years before, at the beginning of +Mazariegos's administration. Menendez curtly dismissed that scheme, and +commissioned his son-in-law, Pedro de Valdes, with some other officers +from Florida, to survey the waterfront of the city and recommend +additional fortifications. They reported that it would be folly to +build a sea wall, and that all that was needed was a round tower, about +thirty-seven feet high, on the headland opposite the Morro, on which +latter an observation tower had already been erected. Valdes suggested +that the tower might be built by the garrison of La Fuerza, at no cost, +if the governor would provide the materials. This Osorio refused to do. +He had no money for such a purpose, and no authority to spend any for +it. Moreover, he condemned the plan of thus dividing the garrison, +holding that it would be far better to finish La Fuerza and concentrate +all the forces there. The outcome of it was, therefore, that the +proposed Punta Castle had to be for the time abandoned; Menendez +perforce contenting himself with some earth-works on Punta, in which he +placed a couple of cannons. + +At the same time other friction arose at Santiago, a place which could +not yet be altogether neglected. Menendez's attention was called to that +place by having one of his own ships chased into Santiago harbor by a +French privateer. The captain of that ship reported to him that Santiago +had a fine harbor but practically no defences. A fort had indeed been +begun on the headland at one side of the harbor entrance, but had not +been finished, and the sea wall for which the people had petitioned had +not been started. Menendez thereupon sent thither a company of fifty men +with four cannon, under command of Captain Godoy; without, of course, +consulting Osorio as governor of the island. + +This force remained there about three months, in the summer of 1567. It +saw nothing of French privateers, or of any menace of an attack upon the +town. But it did see a good deal of merchant ships of various nations, +French, Scottish and Portuguese, which came thither with slaves and +merchandise, but which seldom ventured in for fear of Godoy and his men. +For such trade with foreigners, and particularly with those who were or +were suspected to be heretics was strictly forbidden. Godoy and his men +were therefore most unwelcome visitors, to the merchants and people of +Santiago, and to the lieutenant of the governor, Martin de Mendoza. It +was suspected, not without reason, that Osorio had sent word to Mendoza +to antagonize Godoy as much as possible. At any rate, one day a +particularly big French merchant vessel came into the harbor; Godoy +rallied his men to the battery near the wharf, to prevent it from +landing its cargo; and Mendoza arrested Godoy and sent him to jail, +where he kept him until the cargo had been discharged and another taken +on in its place, amid the jubilations of the people. Then Godoy was +released, with profound apologies for the error which had been committed +in arresting him! + +Godoy remained for some time thereafter at Santiago, though much against +his will. His superior officer commanded him to remain. But he sent an +appeal for relief to the Supreme Court of Hispaniola, with the result +that Mendoza was removed from office, in the winter of 1557-58. This was +a relief to both Mendoza and Godoy, though it did not make their +feelings less bitter. On Palm Sunday the two met at church, Mendoza +accompanied by his wife and Godoy by a friend named Cordoba. The latter +two grossly insulted both Mendoza and his wife, then ran into the church +for security from chastisement, forcibly resisted arrest, and committed +acts of sacrilege. They were finally overpowered, and on being brought +to trial before the local court were condemned, Godoy to be hanged and +his body quartered, and Cordoba to be flogged and sent to the galleys. +The sentence was executed, Godoy being hanged on a gallows at the door +of the church the sanctity of which he had violated. When Menendez heard +of this he was furious. He instituted proceedings against Mendoza and +the local alcaldes at Santiago, charging them with conspiracy to destroy +Godoy so that their illegal traffic with Frenchmen and other foreigners +would not be molested. Mendoza thought it prudent to remove to +Carthagena, in New Granada, for fear of personal violence; whence he +proceeded to Spain, where he was acquitted of all the charges which +Menendez had made against him. + +Meantime, the governorship of Osorio had ended. Early in 1567, at the +time when the controversy arose over the sea wall and the Punta +fortifications, he had realized that his usefulness as governor was +ended, and had asked the King to accept his resignation; declaring that +his presence there was no longer of value to his majesty. In August, +1567, the King appointed Diego de Santillan to be governor in his stead, +and commissioned him to investigate Osorio's stewardship, and +particularly to bring him to trial on certain charges of false arrest +and cruelty to a prisoner. But just as Santillan was about to embark for +Cuba, in October, 1567, his commission was revoked and Menendez was +appointed governor of Cuba in his stead. It has been said that this +appointment was made by the fanatical King to show his approval and +appreciation of Menendez's act on September 20, 1565, when he massacred +the French garrison of Fort Caroline, Florida, "not as Frenchmen but as +Lutherans." + +Menendez was not able, however, as Adelantado of Florida, to reside +permanently in Cuba, or indeed to spend much time there; wherefore it +was arranged that a lieutenant governor should be the actual +administrator in his stead. The man chosen was Francisco Zayas, a +lawyer, who had been selected by the King to be lieutenant governor with +Santillan. He reached Havana in July, 1568, and at once assumed the +office which Osorio was glad to relinquish. It cannot be said that he +was greatly welcomed by the people of Havana or of any part of Cuba, +since it was assumed that he would be a mere puppet acting for Menendez, +and it was feared that Menendez would use Cuba as a mere stepping stone +or adjunct to Florida, draining it of men and resources for the benefit +of the larger province on the continent. This apprehension, happily, was +not realized. + +Osorio personally had cause for fear. Zayas was commissioned to conduct +the investigation into his affairs, and there was every reason to +suppose that Menendez would compel him to make the inquest as drastic as +possible and to impose the heaviest possible penalties for any +misdemeanors which might be proved against him. But Zayas was after all +a just and reasonable man, who was not afraid to assert his independence +of Menendez, particularly since, as he pointed out, his commission as +lieutenant governor antedated that of Menendez as governor by two +months. Moreover the people of Havana, through dislike of Menendez and +fear of his policy, gave their strongest support to Osorio, testifying +in his behalf, and at the end sending a great memorial to the King, +signed by almost every man of consequence in Havana, petitioning for the +utmost possible favor for the governor. The result was that the lightest +of sentences was passed upon Osorio, two years after his actual +retirement from office. + +In dealing thus with Osorio, however, Zayas sealed his own fate. Nothing +that he could do thereafter pleased Menendez, while he was called upon +by the latter to do or to sanction things which offended his sense of +right. By the beginning of May, 1569, relations between them reached the +breaking point. Menendez caused the city council to protest that Zayas +had never filed the bond which was required of a lieutenant governor, +and to characterize this as a grave offence, indicating criminal intent. +Zayas thereupon resigned his office. Suits were instituted against him +and his wife in Spain, by Menendez, and he returned to the country to +meet them. He appears to have been successful in his defence, since the +King subsequently appointed him to be a judge in the Canary Islands. + +Menendez appointed in place of Zayas as lieutenant governor Diego de +Cabrera, who had filled that place under Osorio. His term of service was +short, however, and no fewer than five others succeeded him, one after +another, during the administration of Menendez. They were Diego de +Ribera; Pedro Menendez Marquez, a nephew of Menendez; Juan de +Ynestrosa; Juan Alfonso de Nabia; and Sancho Pardo Osorio. + +Diego de Ribera, who served for a brief space under Menendez as +lieutenant-governor, was captain of the galleons, and was presently +commissioned for an expedition to Florida. He was succeeded by Pedro +Menendez Marquez, a nephew of Menendez. He was an accomplished navigator +and on that account was directed by his uncle to sound and chart the Old +Bahama Channel, a much-frequented route of commerce and approach to Cuba +from the north and east. To this undertaking he devoted only a few +weeks, but his observations were so exact, thorough and comprehensive +that the Council for the Indies, on receiving his charts, immediately +approved them and ordered them to be regarded as the authority for +navigation of those waters. + +The administration of Sancho Pardo Osorio was marked with much energy in +advancing the defences of Havana and in caring for the commerce which +frequented or touched at Cuban ports. The former work proceeded slowly, +because of the necessity of depending almost exclusively upon the local +community for aid. At this time also was effected the immensely +important reform of codifying the municipal ordinances. This work was +done under a commission of the Supreme Court by Dr. Alfonso Casares, of +Havana, who on January 14, 1577, presented the results of his labors to +a council consisting of Sancho Pardo, the Alcaldes Geronimo de Rojas +Avellaneda, and Alfonso Velasquez de Cuellar, and the Regidores Diego +Lopez Duran, Juan Bautista de Rojas, Baltasar de Barreda, Antonio Recio, +and Rodrigo Carreno. The code was unanimously approved by them, and it +remained in force and active practice until the War of Independence in +1898. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Menendez was governor of Cuba for a little more than six years, from +October 24, 1567, to December 13, 1573. Those were important years for +the world at large. They saw the Duke of Alva, as governor of the +Netherlands, establish there the Bloody Tribunal, and in return the +"Beggars of the Sea" engage in their indomitable campaigns against the +oppressor, extending even to the coasts of Cuba. Spain engaged in a +great war with the Ottoman Turks. France had the second and third civil +wars, culminating in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. Elizabeth of +England fully committed herself to the Protestant cause and was +excommunicated by the Pope. Mary of Scotland fled from her throne and +was succeeded by young James VI. + +Menendez, more a statesman of world-wide vision than any of his +predecessors, was not unmindful of these transactions, or of the far +greater events which they portended, and he strove after his fashion to +prepare Cuba for her part in great affairs. He realized that in the wars +of the European powers their American possessions were increasingly +likely to become implicated. Despite his utmost efforts, various other +nations sent vessels to West Indian waters, to harry the fleets of +Spain. The numbers of such intruders were increasing. His utmost efforts +had not been sufficient to drive the French away and to keep them away. +Now others than the French began to appear. The "Sea Beggars" of the +Netherlands were daring navigators and formidable fighters, and they +began to prowl around the coasts of Cuba. English captains had found +their way to the Spanish Main, and Hawkins made his way to Vera Cruz, +and Drake plundered Nombre de Dios. + +Finding himself unable to protect the Spanish treasure ships and to keep +all enemies away from West Indian waters, Menendez sought at least to +make Cuba secure against invasion, or its capital--for such Havana was +about to become in name as well as in fact--secure against capture and +looting by buccaneers. To this work he gave his chief attention, and, +above all else, to the completion of La Fuerza. The rebuilding of that +fortification dragged scandalously. Sometimes it was for lack of money, +sometimes for lack of workmen. Menendez told the Council for the Indies +that in its unfinished state it was an actual menace to the town, +because a hostile force could easily land and capture it, and having +done this, they could quickly complete it and make it almost impregnable +against any attempt to drive them out. He did not explain why he could +not complete it as quickly as an invading force could, but he asked for +a force of three hundred negro slaves to work on it. With them, he said, +it would be possible to finish the fort in two years. The Council was +not favorably impressed. It could not understand how a few score +buccaneers, landing and seizing the fort, could finish it in a few days, +while it would take Menendez with three hundred slaves two years to do +the work. + +Diego de Ribera, as Acting Governor, also took up the matter. The fort +was already sufficiently advanced to permit him to mount eight pieces of +artillery, but he wanted twenty more. Also, he wanted a large permanent +garrison of professional soldiers. It was unsatisfactory to have to +depend upon a rallying of the citizens, because it interfered with the +occupations of the citizens, because they were not expert in arms, and +because when they were summoned not more than half their number +responded, so that the commander never knew how many he could depend +upon. There should, he urged, be a permanent garrison of two hundred +men, under the command of the governor. Of course such a garrison could +not be furnished by the town itself, because there were not in all +Havana more than two hundred fighting men, all told. This gives, by the +way, a hint concerning the rapid growth of the place at the time of +Mazariegos. A town containing two hundred men capable of bearing arms +must have had a total population approximating two thousand. + +Ribera's arguments and appeals appear to have been more effective than +those of Menendez. The Council for the Indies, and the King, too, +ordered practical steps to be taken for finishing and equipping the +building which had so long been neglected. As Cuba, or perhaps +especially the port of Havana, was of no great importance to the Spanish +colonies on the mainland, for the safeguarding of their shipping, and +also as Cuba had been so drained of men and supplies in former years for +the exploitation of colonies on the main land, it was but justice as it +was a matter of practical convenience and expediency for the government +to call upon Mexico and Castilla del Oro to contribute largely to the +payment of the cost of fortifying Havana. That place was a little later +called, by royal decree, "Llave del Nuevo Mundo y Antemural de las +Indias Occidentales," or Key of the New World and Bulwark of the West +Indies. Certainly it was fitting that the New World should pay for its +key and that the Indies should pay for their bulwark. + +So Mexico was required to contribute four thousand ducats, and Florida +to provide fifty good men to form the garrison of La Fuerza. The cost of +maintaining the garrison was charged against Venezuela and Darien. The +providing of labor was a more difficult matter. It seemed to be settled +that negro slave labor must be employed. In order to secure it at little +cost it was proposed to give slave-traders the privilege of taking as +many slaves as they pleased to Cuba, provided that they would lend them +to the government to work on La Fuerza until its completion; after which +they might be sold or otherwise disposed of at the traders' will. The +objection to this from the traders' point of view was the length of time +that it was expected to take to finish the fort. The government +estimated it at three years. Now the traders would have been willing +thus to lend their slaves for a shorter time, for six months, or for a +year. But they considered three years entirely too long. After working +for so long a time, under a rigorous taskmaster, the average slave would +be so nearly worn out that his value would be much impaired. So that +scheme failed. + +The next plan for getting labor for the fort was disastrous. A contract +was made with a trader to provide three hundred negro slaves, by the end +of 1572. He did deliver 191 of them in the summer of that year, and +later sent the rest but they never got further than Hispaniola. The 191 +whom he did deliver were, however, infected with small pox. A number of +them died of that plague after their arrival at Havana, and the +contagion got abroad in the city with the result that many other slaves +and a number of the Spaniards also perished from it. Still, enough of +the slaves in that plague-stricken cargo survived to cause the +authorities of Havana much embarrassment in feeding and clothing them. +Agriculture was not yet receiving the attention which it deserved, and +even a hundred or a hundred and fifty more mouths to feed overtaxed the +local resources. Requisition was therefore made upon the government of +Yucatan to send a sufficient supply of corn and meat to feed the slaves, +while the king himself undertook to clothe them. He was led to do this +in a way which strikingly indicates the limitations of Philip's mind. To +all appeals for clothing for their comfort or for decent appearance's +sake, he was deaf. But when it represented to him that they must have +clothes in order to be able to attend mass, he at once ordered them to +be clad from his royal bounty! + +More money was needed, and was raised in various ways. An examiner went +about the island, looking into the accounts of public officials. +Generally he found that there was something due to the state from them. +Of the money thus collected, nearly all, to the amount of nearly four +thousand pesos, was devoted to the costs of the fort. Other funds were +taken for the purpose, and when there was still a deficit it was +actually proposed to sell some of the slaves to pay for the maintenance +of the rest. This counsel of despair was not, however, acted upon. +Instead, Sancho Pardo Osorio when acting governor, near the end of +Menendez's administration, advanced much money from his own purse, +trusting to the government to reimburse him. Another draft of four +thousand ducats was finally obtained from Mexico, and smaller sums came +from Venezuela and Darien. Thus the enterprise dragged on, until the +summer of 1573 found the fort still far from finished, the builders of +it heavily in debt for labor, materials and maintenance, and the +garrison, workmen, and citizens of Havana all profoundly dissatisfied. + +Naturally, and inevitably, this state of affairs reflected upon +Menendez, and compassed his downfall. He was not merely governor of +Cuba. He was Adelantado of Florida, and he gave to Florida his first +thought and chief attention. He spent most of his time there, leaving +Cuban affairs to be administered by acting governors of his own +selection. This was altogether unsatisfactory to the people of Cuba, and +especially of Havana. They wanted their governor to live among them, +where he would be accessible, and pay much more attention to them and +their interests. So they began agitating against him, and demanded a +governor who should not be Adelantado of Florida, nor subject to that +functionary. They did more than complain. They refused supplies. They +would not send to Florida the supplies which Menendez urgently needed +for his enterprises there. When the King reprimanded them and bade them +do their duty, they replied with surprising defiance that they wanted +payment, first, for supplies long ago furnished to the Havana garrison. +They also wanted to be relieved of the burden of being compelled to +guard or to watch the coast themselves, at their own cost for arms and +ammunition. They wanted these things done for them before they would +trouble themselves for the furtherance of the Adelantado's enterprises +in Florida. + +Meantime, the Council for the Indies, at Seville, was also unfriendly to +Menendez. Tired of the delay in building La Fuerza, it recommended to +the king his removal in favor of someone who would more vigorously +expedite that essential work. It was the bitter irony of fate that he +should thus be condemned for failing to do the very thing upon which he +had most set his heart to do. The Council also condemned him for faults +of administration which were due, it held, to his personal neglect +through absence from the island, and it therefore urged that a governor +be appointed in his place who would spend his time chiefly in Cuba and +would give to that island and its interests his first and best thoughts. +These representations were made to the King as early as the spring of +1571, and they had much weight with him. + +The sequel was that in 1572 Menendez was recalled to Spain, and was +commissioned for a work similar to that in which he had first won +distinction, to wit, the protection of Spanish commerce against hostile +privateers; only it was not now the commerce between Spain and Mexico +which he was to safeguard in the West Indian seas, but that between +Spain and the Netherlands, along the coast of France and in the British +Channel. In that capacity he was commander of a considerable fleet, and +the work was doubtless in itself congenial to him, and one which he was +well fitted to perform with success. But his heart was set on Florida, +with which he aspired to be identified as Cortez had been with Mexico +and Pizarro with Peru; and he bitterly lamented his being so far +separated from that country. + +So far as his governorship of Cuba was concerned, which is all in which +we need here be interested, he had at this time reached the beginning of +the end. The king decided to remove him from that office, though +probably not so much to get rid of him there as to be able to keep his +valuable talents continually employed nearer home. He had decided that +Menendez was of more value to him as a captain of his fleet than as a +civil administrator. Accordingly at the beginning of 1573 Alfonso de +Caceres Ovando, a temporarily retired judge of the Supreme Court of +Hispaniola, was commissioned to make the customary investigation of +Menendez's administration. He was not, however, appointed to succeed +Menendez as governor, but the latter was left for the time in office. +This was a mark of the high favor in which Menendez was held by the +king; and another token to the same effect was the provision that +Menendez need not personally appear to answer any charges which might be +made against him, but might, if he preferred, send an attorney in his +stead. A third and perhaps still more notable indication of royal favor +was in the fact that when Menendez elected not to appear in person, and +not to send an attorney, but to ignore the whole investigation, he was +not called to task, but was permitted to go without so much as a +reprimand. + +The investigation did not take place until November, 1573. Though brief +it was thorough and searching. But it disclosed little that was to the +discredit of Menendez, and nothing that was really serious. He seems to +have been a somewhat gloomy and cruel fanatic, but a man of integrity +and singular loyalty to his sovereign and his faith. He was zealous and +energetic, but better fitted to command a ship or a fleet, or indeed an +army, than to govern a state. Yet in both respects he failed. His chief +concern in Cuba, as we have seen, was to promote her military defences; +but he left La Fuerza incomplete, while the inestimable economic +potentialities of the island were altogether neglected. So in Florida, +he aimed at conquest with the sword and little else; and while he +succeeded in holding the land against French assaults and intrigues, he +did not develop there a colony comparable with those which were being +developed elsewhere in the New World; and he had the mortification of +seeing, in the closing years of his life, French, Dutch and British +privateers swarming in defiance of him the seas which Spain claimed for +her exclusive own. + +It was just a month after the beginning of the investigation into his +affairs that Menendez was superseded in office by the appointment as +governor of Cuba of Don Gabriel Montalvo. This gentleman was a nobleman +of great distinction in Spain. He was a Knight of the Order of Saint +James, and he was also high sheriff of the Court of the Holy Inquisition +in the city of Granada. The latter office indicates him to have been a +man after the King's own heart. It remains to be added that Menendez +returned to Spain after being superseded, and died there a few months +later, at Santander; men said, of a broken heart at the enforced +abandonment of his ambitions in Florida. + +Little either attractive or grateful is to be found in the record of the +condition of Cuba during the administration of Menendez, or as he left +it to his successor. Rich as the island was in agricultural +possibilities--it might well have been said of Cuba as Douglas Jerrold +said of Australia, "Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a +hoe and she laughs with a harvest"--and few as were its inhabitants, it +yet produced not enough to feed those few. It produced nothing with +which to clothe them. After the decline of gold mining, the raising of +cattle became the chief industry; chiefly for their hides, which were an +important article of export. Bayamo was the centre of this industry, and +was also the centre of a thriving but illegitimate commerce. + +In fact the whole southeastern part of the Cuban coast was the resort of +contraband traders, who brought thither silks and linens, wines, and +sometimes cargoes of slaves, to exchange without paying tariff duties +for hides and the valuable woods with which Cuba abounded. No attempt +was made, at least with any efficiency, by the governor or the royal +officials at Havana to stop this lawless trade. Now and then, however, +the Supreme Court at Hispaniola interfered, arrested citizens of Bayamo, +Manzanillo, and Santiago itself, and fined them heavily. Then the +government at Havana, which had done nothing to enforce the law, +remonstrated and protested against so much money being taken from Cuba +to Hispaniola. + +The island was, nevertheless, making some progress; appropriately enough +through a reversal of the conditions which had formerly involved it in +disaster. The Mexican adventure of Cortez had drawn away from Cuba men +and resources almost to the exhaustion of the island. But now that +country began sending men and means back to Cuba. Cortez had long been +dead, but under his successors the wealth of Mexico was being wondrously +developed, as was indeed that of Peru and other South American +countries. Some of the commerce between South America and Spain went by +other routes, though a considerable portion of it passed by the shores +of Cuba and utilized that island as a stopping place, to its material +benefit. But all the Mexican traffic followed the Cuban route, the most +of it passing along the north coast and making Havana a port of call or +of refuge. Florida, too, which had likewise drawn much from Cuba, was +now sending men and supplies back to the island. + +By 1575 Havana was the commercial metropolis of the West Indies, and it +had for some years been the practical capital of the island, though +Santiago continued nominally to enjoy that distinction until 1589. +Vessels from Vera Cruz, bearing the treasures of New Spain, and from +Nombre de Dios, laden with the wealth of Castilla del Oro and of Peru, +thronged the harbor, and contributed to the trade of the city. To meet +the requirements of the thousands of transient visitors, houses in the +city were multiplied in number, and plantations in the suburbs extended +their borders. The people began to realize how profitable a business was +to be conducted in providing supplies of food for the ships' companies. +And while the southeastern part of the island was, as we have seen, in a +backward condition, the northwestern part entered upon an era of +progress and prosperity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Don Gabriel Montalvo was appointed to be Governor of Cuba early in +December, 1573. As was the custom in those days, however, he delayed for +some time actual assumption of office, so that it was not until October +29, 1574, that he entered upon his duties. He was also charged with some +important duties in Florida, but they were subordinate to those in Cuba. +He made his home in the island and spent most of his time there. Indeed, +he seems to have planned to make his home at Santiago, and to restore +that place to its former prestige. On coming to Cuba he landed at +Manzanillo instead of coming to Havana, and sent Diego de Soto to be his +representative, practically deputy governor, at the latter place. From +Manzanillo he went straight to Santiago, refurbished the governor's +house and the public buildings, and began planning an elaborate system +of harbor defences worthy of the capital of the island. He was naturally +received with great joy by the people of Santiago and of the eastern end +of the island generally, who saw in him, as they thought, a promise of +restoration of that region to its former importance. + +From Santiago the governor set out on a tour of the eastern cities and +towns, and had got as far as Bayamo when there came a hurried and urgent +appeal for him to come to Havana. There was trouble in the city. Diego +de Soto, the deputy governor there, had made Gomez de Rojas commander of +La Fuerza--that reckless and truculent younger brother of Juan de Rojas +whom Governor Mazariegos had once exiled from the island for disorderly +if not criminal conduct. Now Gomez de Rojas was a land owner, and +therefore, under the law, ineligible thus to serve. But confiding in the +powerful influence of his family he ignored the law and held his place +in defiance of all protests and demands for his retirement. The town +council demanded his retirement, and the populace of Havana raged +against him, but he shut himself up in the unfinished fort, trained his +guns against the town, and prepared to resist with force any attempt +which might be made by force to compel his resignation. + +Such was the emergency which sent a message post haste to the new +governor asking him to hasten to Havana. He came, and at his coming +Gomez de Rojas capitulated without a blow. Montalvo rebuked him severely +and imposed upon him a heavy fine, which was paid. But in this the +governor incurred the hostility of the Rojas family. The feud was taken +up by Juan Bautista de Rojas, who had succeeded his cousin Juan de +Ynestrosa, deceased, as royal treasurer. This official charged the +governor with conniving with smugglers and receivers of smuggled goods, +and also with those who exported goods to countries with which traffic +was prohibited, and on that account demanded for himself the right to +inspect vessels and their cargoes; a function which had been exercised +by the governor. + +This demand was curtly rejected by Montalvo, who appears to have been a +stickler for dignity and technical rights. Thereupon De Rojas made +appeal to the King, coupling the appeal with a detailed and bitter +arraignment of the governor and an impeachment of his integrity. This +seems to have impressed the king deeply, for he presently decided the +controversy in favor of his own treasurer. He sent word to the governor +that thereafter he should not inspect or even visit ships, but should +leave that whole business in the hands of the royal treasurer. The +advantage thus gained was mercilessly pressed by the Rojas family, with +the purpose of compelling the retirement of Montalvo. They accused him +of employing for his own private work slaves belonging to the crown and +intended for employment on La Fuerza and other public works. They +charged him specifically with having made Bartolome Morales a notary for +a consideration of five hundred ducats; a transaction the evil of which +consisted not in selling the appointment for cash, but in selling it for +so little to a favored friend when it might have been sold to someone +else for twice as much. Finally he was accused of corruption and +maladministration in connection with La Fuerza, in that he had appointed +friends to places at exorbitant salaries, and that he had ignored the +suggestions of the royal officials in completing the plans of the fort. + +These charges were serious, and there is reason to think that some of +them, at least, were true. The Rojas family made them and repeated them +to the king, again and again, until that monarch was constrained to +remark that the time seemed to be near at hand when an investigation +would have to be ordered, and Montalvo's administration be brought to a +close. Nevertheless the king's favorable disposition toward Montalvo was +potent, and prevailed. The governor had been appointed, as was the +custom, for the specific term of four years, reckoned from the date of +his appointment and not of his actual assumption of office, and the king +delayed calling for an investigation until the four years were so nearly +expired that they would be entirely filled out by the time the +investigation was completed and a new governor was ready to take the +place. + +The order for the investigation was given in February, 1577, and at the +same time, on February 13, Captain Francisco Carreno was named to +succeed Montalvo as governor. The investigation was vigorously +prosecuted, and some of the charges against Montalvo were proved. Yet so +great was the king's personal regard for him that he was permitted to go +with a nominal fine, and was retained in the royal service in important +capacities for some years thereafter. He remained governor of Cuba until +the accession of his successor, which did not occur until June 2, 1578. + +The administration of Montalvo was unfavorably marked by three things. +One was, the continuance of the contraband trade already referred to, +in both imports and exports; in which, as already related, the governor +himself was charged with participating. Montalvo at any rate gave the +appearance of striving to suppress it. He sent agents to investigate the +business, some of whom found their own relatives engaged in it and +therefore refrained from reporting upon it, and some were prevented by +the people from executing that for which they had been sent. Not merely +the people, but the local officials all along the southeastern coast did +all in their power to hamper and prevent investigation or any +interference with the contraband trade. Indeed, alcaldes and other +officials were foremost among those engaged in the unlawful commerce. + +The second feature of the administration was the persistent ravages of +the French. Despite the fact that they were engaged in contraband trade +with the people of Cuba, the French were at this time the most frequent +raiders of Cuban coast towns; sometimes directing their attacks against +the very towns in which they had been peacefully trading, while the +people were quite ready at any time to trade with those who just before +had visited them with fire and sword and demands for ransom. It was a +curious circumstance that by far the most efficient guardian of Cuba +against such raids was that same Gomez de Rojas who had been exiled by +Mazariegos and who had illegally assumed command of La Fuerza and had +bitterly quarreled with Montalvo. After being compelled to leave La +Fuerza he had taken to seafaring, and as commander of a Spanish vessel +he drove more than one French privateer away from the neighborhood of +Havana. + +Montalvo was the first to urge that Cuba be protected not alone with +land fortifications and batteries but also by naval vessels. +Particularly he wished for a powerful war-galley, which the king did not +provide him. In 1576 French raiders attacked Santiago, and were with +difficulty repulsed; upon which Montalvo sarcastically reported that if +another such attack occurred he would himself be relieved of the +necessity of fortifying the harbor and city of Santiago, for the place +would cease to exist. A little later a daring French raid was made upon +Spanish shipping just outside the harbor of Havana. This greatly +incensed Montalvo, and caused him to renew his pleadings for a galley. +He urged that the whole Cuban coast should be patrolled by light, swift +vessels, preferably frigates, and that strong galleys should be +stationed at the chief ports. He would have had the frigates, at any +rate, built in Cuba and at least partly paid for by that island; but the +Havana municipal council protested against this, demanding that Cuba be +entirely exempted from the costs of defending her from enemies. The +result was that in the lack of means of defence Cuba suffered more and +more from the ravages of privateers and freebooters, which became more +frequent as the island increased in population and wealth and thus +became better worth raiding. + +The third unfavorable feature of the time was the haggling over La +Fuerza. Begun by De Soto, and later almost entirely rebuilt, that famous +fortress seemed to be under some malign spell which made it a source of +injury rather than of benefit to Havana. Year after year passed, +appropriation after appropriation was made and expended, and still it +remained unfinished. Man after man undertook the task of completing it, +only to fail and lose his personal reputation either for efficiency or +for honesty. Moreover, as the work proceeded grave faults were +developed, both in plan and in construction. The fort, which at first +had been denounced as needlessly large, was seen to be entirely too +small to shelter a garrison sufficient for the defence of Havana. The +original design had been to make it a shelter to which all the people of +the town could flee in case of attack, and it might have served this +purpose at a time when the people of Havana were numbered by scores, or +at most by a hundred or two. But with the figures extending into +thousands it became evident that La Fuerza was entirely inadequate to +any such purpose. Indeed, it was realized that that design was +ill-conceived, for if the place was to grow into a considerable city it +would be impracticable and undesirable to make any fortification large +enough to hold all the population. + +The construction was also faulty. The fort was built of stone, but there +had thoughtlessly been chosen for the purpose a stone which had the +advantages of being plentiful and so soft as to be easily worked. +Unhappily it had also the very serious disadvantages of being so soft +that it would probably soon be battered to fragments by cannon balls, +and of being so porous that water soaked into and through it as through +a sponge. During the rainy season the place was flooded, water standing +in pools on the floor, and the magazine being so wet that gunpowder +could not be kept there without spoiling; wherefore another building, of +wood, had to be provided for that purpose. The same kind of stone was +used, moreover, for the reservoir which was to provide fort and city +with water, with the result that its contents quickly leaked out. There +arose a proverbial saying in the city that the powder magazine was +always wet and the water reservoir was always dry; and it was +sarcastically proposed that the functions of the two be exchanged. The +powder would be kept dry in the reservoir, and there would always be +plenty of water in the magazine! Nor was this the only error in +construction. The whole structure was said to be dangerously weak, so +that if all its guns should be fired simultaneously, the shock might +tumble the walls into ruin. The guns were available for use in only a +narrow zone; they were of too short range to carry to the other +extremity of the harbor, and they were so placed that they could not be +depressed so as to hit vessels which had come close in toward the water +front of the city. Therefore a hostile ship with long range guns could +lie out of reach of La Fuerza and bombard the fort and city at will. Or +one could sail swiftly in, running the gantlet of the narrow zone of +fire, and gain a place under the walls of the fort where it would be +quite safe for the guns of the latter while it could use its own at +short range with deadly effect. It was also complained that the parapet +was too low to afford shelter to the men serving the guns, and that the +four big wooden gates were a source of fatal weakness. + +It was presently perceived, too, that fortifications elsewhere than in +the heart of the city were needed for adequate defence of the place. +Especially were such works needed at the headlands commanding the +entrance to the harbor. Without them, a daring enemy might seize one of +those spots, bring up some long range guns from his ships, and have not +only Havana but La Fuerza itself at his mercy. Montalvo appears to have +recognized this need, and to have urged the construction of such forts, +especially on the Cabanas hill, but to no avail. Instead, the royal +government proposed the construction of a strong wall around the entire +city, including the water front. It actually ordered that work to be +undertaken, the first step being to destroy a large part of the city, +including the church, to make room for the wall. Against this suicidal +policy Montalvo effectively protested, declaring that if the city were +thus demolished it would never be rebuilt, and also pointing out that +the day of walled cities was past. In the face of his representations +the wall scheme was abandoned; but his wise suggestions of forts +commanding the harbor were not acted upon until years afterward. + +It is to be recorded to his credit that Montalvo gave more attention +than his immediate predecessors had done to development of some of the +natural resources of the island. He interested himself in forestry, and +soon had an immense trade in timber and lumber between Cuba and Spain. +The exquisite cabinet work of the Escurial, in Spain, was made of wood +from the forests of Cuba--mahogany, ebony, ironwood, cedar, and what +not. Wood was supplied for other purposes, too, notably for +ship-building. It was at this time that interest arose in the great +island just off the southern coast, which at that time was so richly +clad with pine forests as to receive from Montalvo on that account its +present name of "Isle of Pines." During the administration of Menendez +the whole island was granted to Alfonso de Rojas for a cattle range, a +purpose for which it was admirably adapted, and there are legends to the +effect that the water between the Isle of Pines and Cuba was at times so +shallow as to make it possible to drive herds of cattle across from the +one land to the other. It is to be observed, in passing, that thus early +in history was the Isle of Pines recognized as an integral part of Cuba. + +Montalvo also did much to promote agriculture, and the raising of swine. +He endeavored to revive interest in both gold and copper mining, and +seems to have been persuaded that there were enormously rich deposits of +the former metal hidden somewhere on the island, in places known only to +the natives. He strove diligently and persistently to get from the few +surviving Indians information concerning these mines, but in vain. If +the Indians knew, they would not tell; but it seems altogether probable +that they did not know, and that no such mineral wealth existed on the +island. + +It was in Montalvo's time, too, that what was destined to become Cuba's +greatest industry had its permanent establishment. At various times and +places thitherto men had experimented with sugar growing and +manufacture, with varying degrees of success. But every such undertaking +had after a while been abandoned, either for lack of profit or because +of the superior attractions of something else. It was not until 1576 +that plantations were established which were never to be abandoned but +were to continue in cultivation down to this present time, and that +sugar mills of similar permanence were put into operation. The scene of +this epochal enterprise was the region around Havana, particularly +between Havana and Matanzas. There in the year named at least three +mills were established, a fact indicating that a considerable area was +planted in cane. These mills were of the most primitive description, +each consisting of three wooden rollers, formed of logs of trees denuded +of the bark, mounted in a rude frame of timber, and caused to revolve by +a long pole of which one end was fastened to the end of one of the +upright rollers while to the other was hitched a mule or an ox, which +walked in a circle around the "mill." The expressed juice was caught in +trays or jars of earthenware, and then was boiled in open pans. The +sugar thus produced was not refined beyond the stage of what would now +be considered a very coarse brown sugar, but it served the uses of the +island. It does not appear that any considerable quantity was exported +until a number of years later. These primitive establishments in 1576 +were, however, the beginning of Cuba's gigantic sugar industry. + +One other incident of Montalvo's administration must be recalled, to +wit, his quarrel with the church, or at least with the Bishop. Diego +Sarmiento, who became Bishop in De Soto's time, had been gathered to his +fathers, and had been succeeded by Bishop Durango. The latter had in +turn died, and in 1560 had been succeeded by Bernardino de Villapando, +who spent only three years in the island and then departed for Mexico +under unpleasant charges of embezzlement of funds. The charges against +him do not appear to have been pressed, nor did they affect his standing +in the church, for he was presently transferred to the then much more +important see of Guatemala. Moreover, despite the charges made against +him, he was recognized as a most energetic and successful prelate. He +established many mission stations throughout the island, and expedited +the completion of the cathedral at Santiago. + +Upon his promotion to Guatemala after three years' service Bishop +Villapando was succeeded by Juan de Burgos, who continued with much +success the work of his predecessor. He secured the erection of a large +church school on the site now occupied by the Hospital of San Juan de +Dios, at Havana, and there the famous missionary preachers and teachers, +Juan Roger and Francisco Villaroel, gave instruction to Indian youths in +the Christian religion and in the Spanish tongue. In connection with +this school there was built the church of San Juan de Dios, and from the +establishment thus founded by Bishop Burgos grew the first hospital in +Havana. It took originally the form of a military hospital, for the +soldiers of the Havana garrison and for soldiers in transit to or from +Florida, Mexico and other places. It is recorded that for his work +Bishop Burgos depended entirely upon the offerings of the people; +demonstrating what could be accomplished by an honest and businesslike +administrator. + +The next Bishop of Cuba was Pedro del Castillo, who came to the island +from the University of Salamanca. He was a most aggressive and strenuous +prelate, with policies of his own and with the courage to enforce them. +Arriving in Cuba in 1570, he glanced at Santiago when he landed there, +crossed the island to Havana, where he spent a little time, and then +proceeded to Bayamo, where he established his home, preferring that to +any other city of Cuba. He then laid claim to the island of Jamaica as a +part of his bishopric, and succeeded in carrying that point despite the +opposition of the Archbishop at Hispaniola. Then he complained that the +royal officials were not properly collecting the tithes, or at any rate +were not paying him his proper revenue; wherefore he himself began +collecting the tithes. This brought him into conflict with the crown, a +circumstance which did not alarm him nor swerve him from his course. He +made a number of appointments of the clergy under him which he deemed to +be for the good of their parishes but which made him unpopular with +them. Also he incurred much unpopularity among the people by his +insistence upon certain reforms in their morals. + +This strenuous policy presently led Castillo into conflict with +Montalvo. The Governor thought that the Bishop ought to reside at +Santiago, where were his official residence and also the Cathedral. +Castillo refused to do so, on the nominal ground that he considered +Santiago an unhealthful spot. There is reason to suspect, however, that +he preferred Bayamo because of certain very rich legacies which had been +left years before for the erection of a masonry church and parochial +school at that place. The provisions of these wills had not been carried +out, and the strenuous Bishop set himself to the task of finding out why +the church and school had not been built, and of getting possession of +the legacies and administering them himself. In the litigation which +ensued he quarrelled with Montalvo so bitterly that he excommunicated +him; an act which the governor did not take greatly to heart. The strife +between the two accentuated, however, the antagonism between church and +state which was even at that early time beginning to prevail. + +[Illustration: SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH + +One of the most ancient of the many ecclesiastical edifices in Havana, +built in 1575 and rebuilt in 1731, and presenting a singularly perfect +and characteristic example of ancient Spanish architecture. In late +years it was used by the Government for a custom house, and post office. +The illustration presents it in its earlier aspect with its former +surroundings restored.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +It would be easy for the reflective historian to engage in many +interesting and pertinent observations concerning the time in which +Captain Francisco Carreno became governor of Cuba. It was the year 1577. +That was the year in which the sixth religious war in France began, a +struggle which made inevitable the still greater religious wars which +followed, in which not merely two factions in France but the two great +powers of Spain and England were the chief belligerents. That was the +year, too, in which Sir Francis Drake began his voyage around the world, +which was perhaps the most momentous since that of Columbus in 1492, +since it led directly to the strife between Spain and England in +America, the English conquest of Cuba, the foundation of the English +colonies in North America, and the subsequent development of the United +States; all having the most direct and important bearing upon the +fortunes of Cuba. + +Albeit he was a native of that city of Cadiz in the harbor of which +Drake performed one of his most daring and most famous feats, Carreno +probably entered upon his governorship with no premonitions of what was +in store. While Drake was furrowing the strange expanses of the South +Sea, it was French privateers that chiefly troubled the Spanish Main and +menaced the ports of Cuba. Their favorite cruising ground was in the +waters between Cuba and Jamaica, and between Cuba and Hispaniola, and +their menace to Cuba was chiefly to the ports between Cape Maysi and +Cape Cruz, and in the Gulf of Guacanabo. The chief sufferers, as also +the chief gainers from contraband trade, were Santiago, Manzanillo, and +the settlements at the mouth of the Guantanamo River. The people of +those places were never sure whether an approaching French vessel was +bent on contraband trade or war and plunder; and indeed the Frenchman +himself sometimes left that question to be answered after he had landed +and viewed the place. He then decided which would be the more +profitable, to trade with the people or to plunder them. At times, too, +it must be confessed, the Spaniards were in similar uncertainty whether +to receive the French as traders or to slay them--if they could--as +enemies. + +Carreno was the first governor of Cuba to die in office, his death +occurring on April 27, 1579. His administration thus lasted only two +years; but they were years filled with hard work on his part and with +much progress for the island. The sugar industry which had been founded +in the preceding administration prospered and expanded, and caused a +considerable increase in slave-holding. Negro slaves were the favorite +workmen on the plantations and at the mills, and a large number of them +was needed at each establishment. The increase in the number of slaves +caused, however, some anxiety lest there should be servile +insurrections, such as had occurred on the Isthmus of Panama, in Mexico +and elsewhere; so that in 1579 the government refused to permit any more +to be imported, even though they were wanted by the governor himself. It +is recorded that his personal request for a thousand negroes to work at +copper mining was refused by the King, or by the Council for the Indies. + +Anxiety was caused, also, by the increasing number of free negroes, and +of slaves who were practically free. Most of the entirely free negroes +had been slaves but had bought their freedom from their masters for +cash. This was not particularly difficult, since the market value of the +best negro slaves at that time was only from fifty to sixty pesos. Those +practically free were slaves who were permitted by their owners to live +where they pleased and work as they pleased, on condition of paying +their masters certain royalties every week or month. In Carreno's time +there were hundreds of negroes of these classes in and about Havana, and +probably still more of them in the eastern end of the island. The +anxiety concerning them arose from two causes. One was, the fear that +they might incite the slaves to insurrection, placing themselves at the +head of the movement; a fear which was not at that time realized. The +other was, the fear that they would build up objectionable communities. +Thus in Havana they occupied a quarter of the town by themselves, in +which their wooden cabins were huddled closely together; the sanitary +conditions were bad; and the danger of fire which might imperil the +whole town was obviously imminent. There was in Carreno's time a +movement to procure their deportation to Florida or elsewhere, and to +forbid the residence of free negroes in Cuba; but it did not become +effective. + +It is agreeable to remember that in spite of the obviously objectionable +nature of the institution of slavery, and in spite of the fears and +anxieties which have been mentioned, negro slavery in Cuba in those +early days was not marked with the distressing features which it has +elsewhere borne. It was probably more humane than it was two and a half +centuries later in the United States. The slaves were seldom sold by one +master to another, and never in circumstances which separated husband +and wife, or parents and young children. Severe physical punishments +were prohibited. Their masters were compelled to feed them well, and to +provide them with decent and comfortable clothes. There was no personal +or social prejudice against them, but they were permitted to attend +church and to frequent all public places on equal terms with the +Spaniards. Ordinarily they were not permitted to carry weapons; but +those who occupation seemed to make it desirable for them to be armed, +such as cattle-rangers, and messengers travelling from one part of the +island to another, were permitted to bear arms just as white men would +have done. Moreover, the free negroes were called upon equally with the +whites to serve as sentinels on the water fronts of cities, and were of +course provided with arms. There are no authentic records of +intermarriage between Spaniards and negroes, yet neither is there any +proof that it did not occasionally occur. We have already seen that +amalgamation with the Indians was not unknown, and in other Spanish +colonies of those and later days there were some fusions with African +blood. + +What is chiefly to be remembered, however, is that negroes, although +enslaved, were regarded in Cuba as human beings, with immortal souls, no +less than their masters, and that they were invariably so treated. There +was no pretence that they were of an intrinsically inferior race, or +that they were suffering from the primaeval curse of Canaan or of Ham. +And when they gained their freedom and became educated, they were +treated socially and politically according to their merits, without +regard for the color of their skin. + +In the most literal sense, the administration of Carreno was marked with +constructive statesmanship. As a statesman this Governor set about +enlarging and improving Havana and other cities, and providing them with +public and private buildings commensurate with the needs of an +increasing population. He laid out enough of the streets of Havana to +establish for all time the plan of that city. He encouraged the building +of houses, or at any rate discouraged the holding of town sites +unimproved, by making distributions of lots to all who wished them, on +condition that the owners would promptly build. If they did not build +within six months, their titles were forfeited. Another important reform +effected by him was the substitution of adobe or other masonry for wood +as building material. By the end of his administration fully half of the +houses in Havana had walls of masonry, and a considerable number had +also tiled roofs. + +It was Carreno, too, who began the building of the first custom house in +Cuba, at Havana. The king had ordered Montalvo to undertake this +enterprise, but he appears to have taken no steps whatever in that +direction, not even selecting a site. Carreno essayed the task with +characteristic energy. He selected an appropriate site, at the water +front and close to the principal wharf, where an excellent rock +foundation was to be found, and there he planned to erect a building of +solid masonry, seventy feet long and two stories high. The royal +government approved the plans, and the work was promptly entered upon. + +Finally, it was impossible that the new governor should not be seriously +concerned with La Fuerza. Carreno found that long-delayed edifice +practically finished, according to the old plans; its though condition +was, as hitherto suggested, decidedly unsatisfactory. He began by +insisting upon clearing away all buildings of any kind close to the +fort. This had been ordered nearly a score of years before but had never +been done. The purpose was, of course, to strengthen the fort by leaving +no shelter near its walls which might harbor or facilitate the approach +of a hostile force. Then he insisted upon building an additional story +on La Fuerza. This he declared was necessary, for barracks for the +garrison, and for a storage place for gunpowder, the fort proper being +flooded more than half the time. Doubtless these needs were real, and +Carreno intended to meet them with the new story. Yet it seems also to +have been his plan thus to secure for himself living quarters more +pleasant than the house which had been assigned to him for that purpose. +There was much opposition to his plans for enlarging La Fuerza, but he +persisted in them, and they were nearly completed at the time of his +death. + +During the administration of Governor Carreno the question of the +distribution, proprietorship and use of land became of much social and +economic importance in Cuba. The population of the Island was still +small, and yet because of the immense size of the tracts which many +settlers had appropriated for cattle ranges nearly all the accessible +and available area had been taken up. In the eastern part of the Island +there was practically no unclaimed land left excepting that in the +mountains and some almost impenetrable swamps, and already many +controversies and not a few forcible conflicts had arisen over rival +claims. Thus far no private ownership of land was authorized outside of +building sites in the towns and cities. Cattle ranges and farms were +held under indefinite leases from the Crown, subject to forfeit if the +land were permitted to remain unoccupied and unused for the space of +three years. These grants were made by the municipal government in the +name of the Crown. At first the tracts thus taken were of unlimited +extent and indeed their boundaries were defined in only the vaguest +possible manner. The result naturally was that innumerable and +interminable conflicts arose over overlapping claims. + +To correct such evils and to provide for a more equitable distribution +of land in future, Alfonso Caceres, who had been sent to investigate the +administration of Governor Menendez, was charged with a complete +revision of the land system of the Island and with the prescribing of +new rules and regulations for subsequent grants and titles. In entering +upon that work he found some settlers holding enormous tracts which they +had never attempted to utilize. Of these he summarily voided the titles +and assigned the land to others. Such areas were quickly taken up by new +comers, in smaller and definitely bounded tracts, so that by the time of +Governor Carreno practically the only unoccupied lands of considerable +extent and practical value were to be found in the extreme west end of +the Island. + +Around Havana and some other large municipalities there were reserved +unassigned zones of from fifteen to twenty miles in width which were +kept practically as public game preserves. No grants of cattle ranges +were made in them. But they were infested by many stray cattle and hogs +which had escaped from the ranges beyond and were there running at large +in practically a wild state, and these were regarded as fair game for +hunters from the cities. It was, however, insisted that anyone killing +such stray animals must bring their hides to market with the ears +attached, so as to prove that they were indeed wild strays, since then +their ears would be unbranded while all the animals on the ranges had +their ears branded with their owner's marks. + +The Government wisely desired to encourage agriculture, even at the +expense of stock raising, the latter occupation having been expanded +disproportionately to the former. It was accordingly provided that +grants of land for farming purposes might be made within this hunting +zone, and also that such grants might be made of land already +apportioned for cattle ranges, the owners of the ranges thus invaded +being indemnified by other grants of land elsewhere. By this means a +varied agricultural industry was gradually developed to the great +advantage of the Island, though for many years cattle raising remained +the chief industry. During Carreno's administration more than 20,000 +hides were exported yearly, and in the great demand for leather at that +time this trade was exceedingly profitable. Of course a large amount of +meat was also produced, but the difficulty of preserving it in the warm +climate of Cuba caused much of it to go to waste, so that yearly +thousands of heads of cattle were slaughtered for their hides alone, +their carcasses being left to the dogs and buzzards. + +The sudden death of Carreno caused some curious complications in the +Government of the Island. As he had been appointed for a definite term +of four years, and as that term was scarcely half expired, no successor +had yet been chosen for him. In this emergency the Supreme Court of +Hispaniola appointed a temporary governor to discharge the functions of +the office until the Crown should make a permanent appointment. The +choice of the court fell upon a lawyer, Gaspar de Torres. Even he was +not appointed until several months after the death of Carreno, and in +fact not until after the King had selected a permanent Governor to +succeed Carreno. However, as the permanent Governor would not take +office until the expiration of the term for which Carreno had been +appointed it was necessary for the temporary Governor to fill the +vacancy. Torres was appointed in October, 1579, but did not actually +assume office until the first of January, 1580. Little is known of his +antecedents, but he appears to have been an unworthy member of the legal +profession. He was possessed of an itching palm. As a result his brief +administration was filled with scandals and with controversies and +conflicts, practically all arising from his pecuniary greed and from the +unscrupulous means which he employed for satisfying it. + +He came into conflict with the powerful and numerous Rojas family, and +particularly with the most conspicuous member, Juan Bautista Rojas, the +Royal Treasurer. This latter official declared that Torres was the worst +Governor Cuba had ever had, and that he misappropriated more funds than +all his predecessors put together. Apparently as Torres had been +appointed merely to fill out Carreno's unexpired term, he determined to +make hay while the sun shone. He took office in January, 1580. Eight +months later a judicial investigation into his administration was +ordered, as a result of which he was very quickly convicted of +misappropriation of funds and was ordered to refund several thousand +ducats which had been improperly collected and retained by him. Instead +of refunding, however, he absconded, leaving his bondsman to make good +his liabilities. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +The regularly appointed successor of Governor Carreno was another +soldier, to wit, Captain Gabriel de Luzan. He was an army veteran who +had performed distinguished service in the Netherlands and elsewhere and +was personally known to and greatly favored by the King. He was selected +for the governorship and was informed of the appointment in the early +fall of 1579, a few weeks before the malodorous Torres was appointed by +the Court of Hispaniola. It was intended, however, that he should not +actually take office until the expiration of the full term for which +Carreno had been appointed, and he accordingly had much time to attend +to his affairs in Spain and elsewhere before removing to Havana. His +duties were not to begin until 1581. But he removed to Cuba in the fall +of 1580 while Torres was being investigated. There came to Cuba with him +Juan Ceballos, who had been selected for Lieutenant-Governor. Both of +these officials were to receive the same salaries that their +predecessors had received, although Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, +vigorously protested that their salaries should be reduced by one-half. + +Governor Luzan was very soon involved in numerous controversies, largely +over questions of dignity and precedents among insular officials. +Something of the spirit of the formal Spanish Court appears to have +permeated Cuba at this time, and the insular and municipal officials +became as great sticklers for forms and ceremonies and for recognition +of their comparative ranks as any of the Grandees at Seville or Madrid. +Thus Jorge de Balza, Adjutant General of the Royal Forces in the Island, +insisted upon the privilege of wearing his sword at meetings of the +municipal council of Havana, of which he was ex officio a member, +although it was a penal offense for anyone else, even the Governor +himself, to wear a sword or dagger in that assembly. Another controversy +arose, as might confidently be assumed, over La Fuerza. The office of +captain or commander of that fortress paid a salary of 300 ducats, on +which account several former governors had appointed themselves to the +place and had drawn that salary for themselves. Governor Carreno +regarded this practice as reprehensible. It was not right, he said, for +the Governor to hold another office and to draw a second salary. +Therefore, he appointed his own son, a lad just in his teens, to be +Captain of La Fuerza and to draw the salary. Whether the boy had the +spending of the money himself or dutifully handed it over to his father +is not a matter of record. + +Governor Luzan stopped this nonsense and put a real soldier at the head +of the Fort and then quarreled with him. This commander was Captain +Melchior Sarto de Arana, an expert soldier who had been Luzan's comrade +in arms in the wars of Spain, in the Netherlands and in Italy. He and +his family moved into that upper story of La Fuerza which Carreno had +insisted upon building, regarding it as the most desirable place of +residence in Havana. The unhappy garrison in the lower part of the +building was subject to the dampness which there prevailed, to the great +detriment of health. Indeed conditions were so bad that their weapons +became almost ruined with rust and it was almost impossible to keep +gunpowder in condition for use. The Governor appears to have envied +Captain Arana his quarters in the Fort, but he was not able to displace +him, and so he turned his own attention to completing the Custom House +for his own use. Governor Torres had stopped all work upon this latter +building because of some uncertainty concerning the site, and had +appropriated to his own use some of the funds which had been provided +for completing it. But Luzan secured the necessary funds, hurried the +work of construction and soon moved in to the fine new quarters which +that building provided. + +This gave great umbrage to the royal accountant of the Island, one Pedro +de Arana, who does not appear to have been related, unless very +remotely, to the Commander of the Fort. He declared that the Governor +had no right to live in the Custom House, that the King's money had not +been appropriated for any such purpose. It was true, he admitted, that a +part of the Custom House building had been designed for an official +residence. But it was not for the Governor, but for one of the royal +officials. Now as Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, had a fine house of his +own, the meaning of this suggestion was obvious. The royal accountant +wanted the place for himself. He indeed went so far as to order the +Governor, in the King's name, to vacate the building. But he did not +venture to move in and take possession himself, and so the Governor +presently returned and remained. In retaliation Luzan personally charged +Pedro de Arana with various illegal acts, particularly in violating the +law which forbade royal officials to encourage any trade. He declared +that Arana was the owner, or half owner, of a vessel trading between +Cuba and Yucatan, a vessel which was built to be chiefly used for +smuggling. He also said that Arana was organizing an expedition to seek +and raise sunken treasure ships along the coast and was planning to +establish cattle ranches in Bermuda. On the strength of these charges, +which were probably true, he began a searching investigation into +Arana's affairs, raided his house and ordered him to be arrested by his +namesake and confined in a cell in La Fuerza. To this, however, Captain +Melchior de Arana demurred. It was not that he did not regard the +accountant as worthy of arrest. But he held that it was beneath his +dignity to arrest a mere civilian and beneath the dignity of the Fort to +serve as a prison for him. The arrest, he said, should be made by the +sheriff, and the prisoner should be confined in the civil jail. At this +the Governor was furious and he retaliated by sending the sheriff to +arrest Captain Melchior de Arana and to confine him not in the military +fortress but in the civil jail. A little later, however, he had the +Captain transferred to a cell in La Fuerza. Then he made his +brother-in-law, Juan de Ferrer, Captain of the Fort in Melchior's place. + +In his strenuous dealings with the royal accountant the Governor appears +merely to have anticipated the King himself. At any rate, a very little +while after he had begun his investigation of Pedro de Arana the +instructions came to him from Madrid that he should pursue precisely +that course. This naturally encouraged him to renewed zeal in the +prosecution. And the result was that in March, 1582, he removed Arana +from the office of royal accountant and appointed Manuel Diaz +temporarily to fill his place. At this Arana made his way to Hispaniola, +there to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Governor. He did more +than appeal. He made grave charges against Luzon and got the court to +order an investigation. The court appointed as chief inquisitor into +Luzan's affairs Garcia de Torquemada, who went to Cuba in April, 1583, +taking Arana along with him. Diaz made no attempt to maintain his title +to the office, but, regarding discretion as the better part of valor, +left Havana and repaired to his plantation in the Far West. But the +Governor and also Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, who sided with him against +Arana, stood their ground. + +In the meantime, early in 1582, the King became dissatisfied with the +fast and loose game which was being played at Havana, and chiefly at La +Fuerza, and determined to take matters into his own hand. He did so by +appointing a Captain-General to be Commander of the Fortress, who should +be independent of the Governor of Cuba. This involved some awkward +complications. The Governor, Luzan, had been regularly commissioned as +Captain-General as well as Governor. And the King naturally hesitated +for a time over the question of appointing another man to the same +place. He would have preferred that the Governor and Captain-General +should have continued to be one and the same man. But that seemed no +longer practicable, unless indeed he should dismiss Luzan altogether, +which he was not yet prepared to do. He therefore consulted with the +Council for the Indies, and in conjunction with that body finally +decided to make a new appointment. Luzan was to continue to bear the +nominal title of Captain-General, so as to give him rank comparable with +that of the military and naval commanders who might visit Havana with +the fleets of Spain. But the same title with real authority over the +fortifications and defenses of Havana, and indeed a measure of authority +over the fortifications and defenses of the entire Island, was to be +given to another man. + +The man selected for the new Captain-Generalship was a practical soldier +of experience named Diego Hernandez de Quinones. He took office in July, +1582, and found La Fuerza substantially complete, save for the +construction of a moat, and containing a garrison of 120 men, the +majority of whom were always more or less sick because of the dampness +and unsanitary conditions of the place. The fortress had been completed, +however, in some respects in a highly unsatisfactory way. Thus there was +no stairway inside the building connecting the lower and upper stories. +There was a stairway on the outside of the building, constructed of wood +and it was obvious that in case of attack that stairway might easily be +destroyed by cannon shot and thus communications between the two stories +of the fortress be cut off. The moat had not yet been constructed, and +numerous wooden and even some masonry houses had been constructed close +to the fort, which might give sheltered approach to an attacking party. + +The King and the Council obviously apprehended some friction between the +Governor and the newly appointed Captain-General, and they therefore +prepared an elaborate code of rules and regulations intended to avert +such trouble and to conduce to harmonious co-operation between the two +officials. Thus it was provided that in all matters of law relating +exclusively to the soldiers, the Captain-General should have entire +jurisdiction. In all matters relating entirely to civilians, the +Governor should have jurisdiction. In cases in which both soldiers and +civilians were concerned the two officials should act together with +concurrent jurisdiction, and in case they could not agree the senior +royal official at Havana should act as umpire between them. + +This plan seemed fair enough and was expected to work well. But Luzan +immediately protested against the whole scheme with much vigor and even +violence of speech. In this he was heartily supported by the town +council of Havana. When his protests were ignored by the Crown, or at +least were not favorably heeded, he asked to be relieved from office as +Governor and to be assigned to duty elsewhere. This request the King +refused to grant, at the same time bidding Luzan to avoid any quarrel or +disagreement with Quinones. In spite of this admonition within a few +weeks a bitter quarrel arose over the case of a soldier and a civilian +who had had some strife over an alleged insult offered by the soldier to +a young woman. From this there developed a bitter feud between the +Governor and the Captain-General which soon became apparently +irreconcilable. Each reviled the other, not only in his public capacity +but in relation to his private life and morals. The partisans of each +took up the strife and the entire city was soon involved in it. + +Such was the deplorable state of affairs, when, as already related, +Torquemada began his investigations. He found affairs in what seemed to +him as bad a state as possible. The City of Havana, and indeed the +entire Island of Cuba, were rent by faction. The Governor and the +Captain-General each had a band of armed retainers in Havana, and these +were at the point of open conflict which would amount practically to +civil war. Regarding the emergency as critical, Torquemada acted +promptly and strenuously. He ordered both the Governor and the +Captain-General under arrest, commanding Luzan to remain within his own +dwelling and Quinones to remain within La Fuerza. Then he literally read +the riot act to them both. He reproved them scathingly for their lack of +loyalty to the King in letting personal animosities and jealousies have +sway over their sense of duty. He secured from each a full statement of +his complaints and grievances against the other. Then he compelled them +to submit their cases to a tribunal consisting of himself, the Captain +of a Mexican fleet who happened to be visiting Havana, and two judges of +the Supreme Court of Hispaniola. As a result of the deliberations of +this tribunal the two men were compelled to shake hands and pledge +friendship and co-operation. They were then released from arrest and +told to attend to their respective duties without any more nonsense. + +This did not halt Torquemada, however, in his investigation of the +general conduct of Luzan's administration in other respects than the +quarrel with Quinones. The charges which were made against the Governor +were of a very serious character. It was said that he had interfered +with the administration of justice by preventing people who had +grievances from communicating with the courts or with the royal +government in Spain. He had defied the authority of the Supreme Court in +Hispaniola and treated it with contempt. He had enriched himself by +taking bribes. He had encouraged desertions of soldiers from the +garrison of La Fuerza. He had interfered with the functions of the Royal +Treasurer and other officials. In view of these accusations Torquemada +ordered Luzan to relinquish the exercise of all official functions until +the truth or falsity of the charges could be determined. Then he removed +from Havana to Bayamo and summoned Luzan to follow him thither in order +that the case might be tried in a place free from the local influence of +Havana. Luzan obeyed the order but at the same time sent his sister to +Spain to intercede with the King and the Council for the Indies, and +also sent her husband to Hispaniola to plead his cause before the +Supreme Court. + +The result was that in mid August of 1584 the Supreme Court reversed +Torquemada's order and authorized Luzan to resume the full exercise of +his powers and functions as Governor. Luzan at once did so and +immediately the old quarrel with Quinones was resumed. So furious did +their strife become that within three months the Supreme Court reversed +its own orders and restored that of Torquemada. At this Quinones cast +off all restraint and summarily ordered Luzan to leave Havana and to go +to Santiago to protect that place against the hostile raiders who were +hourly expected to descend upon the Cuban coast. Luzan demurred, +whereupon Quinones threatened him with arrest. Thereupon Luzan left +Havana, but instead of going to Santiago went to Guanabacoa and thence +by slow degrees to Bayamo, where he opportunely arrived, as we shall +see, at the beginning of January, 1586. + +In the interim the civil affairs of Havana were conducted by the Town +Council until the end of 1585, when one of Menendez's soldiers, Pedro +Guerra de la Vega, was sent by the Supreme Court of Hispaniola to serve +as Mayor. He got on well enough with Quinones, but not with Rojas, the +Royal Treasurer, who frankly declared him unfit for office and charged +him with possessing a too itching palm. His administration of affairs +seems to have been confined to purely local matters and, as we shall +see, in a very short time, before the spring of 1586, Luzan was again +exercising his full civil authority as Governor, though still most of +the time absent from Havana. Quinones was also in full authority as +Captain-General, and these two former enemies were acting together in +complete accord. + +This radical change in the aspect of affairs was due to an impending +crisis, the most serious thus far in the history of the Island. A new +enemy had arisen, far more formidable than any the Island had yet +known. For years Cuba had been harried by French privateers often little +better than pirates, but now the English rovers of the sea began to +infest the Spanish Main. In 1577 Sir Francis Drake entered upon his +memorable voyage around the world, defiantly navigating that South Sea +which Spain has regarded as exclusively her own, and ravaging the +Peruvian treasure ships even more ruthlessly than the French had preyed +upon those of Mexico. Early in Luzan's administration warnings were +given that this bold adventurer was planning a descent upon the West +Indies and probably, therefore, upon Cuba. + +This menace naturally caused great alarm at Havana and throughout the +Island, and urgent appeals were made to the royal government and also to +the Viceroy in Mexico for aid. It was represented that galleys were +needed to patrol and to defend the coast. Artillery was needed for La +Fuerza and for other fortifications at Havana and elsewhere. A larger +garrison was also needed for La Fuerza. To these and other like appeals +the King made no satisfactory reply. He apparently had no galleys nor +men to spare for the defense of the Island. The best he would do was to +direct Luzan to utilize his own resources to the full. A military census +of the Island was to be taken, the first in its history, and all +available men including Indians and negroes, were to be mustered into +service. + +The result of this enrolment, which was made in the spring of 1582, was +unsatisfactory. In Havana itself only 226 men fit for service could be +found, and no other town on the Island could furnish more than a quarter +as many. They were, moreover, chiefly men unused to arms and therefore +of little prospective value against the formidable fighting men whom +Drake was reported to have in his train. As for La Fuerza, sickness and +desertion had so depleted its garrison that not a score of able-bodied +men were left. Quinones gathered in reinforcements of 60 or 70, chiefly +young and inexperienced men and thus raised the apparently effective +strength to something less than 100, when more than 200 were considered +necessary. Two small brass cannon and a supply of powder and small arms +came from Spain, and Luzan either purchased or requisitioned from a +visiting ship four more small cannon. The Governor also destroyed, by +burning, all the houses which had been built close to La Fuerza so as to +leave an open zone of considerable strength around that fortress. + +Despite the conflict between Luzan and Quinones already recorded, some +substantial progress was made, especially by the latter, in +strengthening the defenses of Havana to meet the coming storm. La Fuerza +was improved in various respects, though it was impossible to get rid of +the dampness which pervaded the place. On the Punta at the entrance to +the harbor trenches were dug and a gun platform was built. The +efficiency of these was unsparingly ridiculed by the Royal Treasurer, +Rojas, and indeed Quinones himself soon realized their unsatisfactory +character. He therefore undertook the construction of the real fort, and +by the end of 1583 had it sufficiently completed to permit the mounting +of eight pieces of artillery. He then declared that if he were properly +supplied with powder and shot he could defend Havana against all comers. +He did not wish more soldiers, and indeed he strongly protested against +the levies from Mexico for which Luzan had sent. During the spring of +1583 about 100 men did arrive from Mexico under a Captain who looked to +Luzan and not to Quinones for orders; a circumstance which naturally +added to the confusion and conflict of authority. But after a few months +Luzan himself agreed with Quinones in regarding the men as practically +worthless, and assented to their shipment back to Mexico. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Such, then, was the state of affairs when in 1585 war began between +Spain and England. English adventurers infested Spanish territory on the +main land in the northern part of the vast region which the Spanish +still called Florida. They planned an English colony at the Bay of Santa +Maria and renamed that place "Roanoke" and they also renamed that part +of Florida after the Queen of England; calling it "Virginia." The news +of this invasion appears to have been known in Cuba, by the way of +Southern Florida, before it was known in Spain, and a fleet vessel was +accordingly sent from Havana to bear the tidings to the King and to ask +for further protection from Cuba. + +There was a period of hesitancy and uncertainty, and then the storm +broke. On January 10th, 1586, Sir Francis Drake landed in Hispaniola and +occupied the City of Santo Domingo, the nominal capital of all the +Spanish West Indies. Some of the judges of the Supreme Court at that +place escaped and fled to Cuba, where they arrived a week later with the +startling news. Luzan, as already related, was then at Bayamo, and it +was there that he received the news. He was startled and alarmed, but +appears not to have been panic stricken. Indeed he acted with coolness +and judgment and in a manner which must be regarded as going far toward +redeeming his reputation from the reproaches which he had formerly +incurred. Discreetly assuming that Drake's attack upon Cuba, whenever it +was made, would be not at Bayamo but at the Capital and metropolis +itself, his first thought was for Havana. Immediately upon receiving the +news from Santo Domingo he dispatched horsemen across country from +Bayamo to Havana to bear the tidings to Quinones, bidding them also to +spread the news through all the country as they went and to command all +towns to marshal all available men and send them on to Havana for the +reinforcement of that place. As soon as possible he also sent two +vessels from Bayamo to Havana laden with men and supplies. Ignoring +their former quarrels in the face of the common danger he wrote to +Quinones outlining his plans for a defense of the Island and urging that +an appeal should be sent to Mexico for aid, from which country it could +be procured much more quickly than from Spain. Then he hastened to +Santiago and from that port sent two vessels to Spain to tell the King +what had happened at Santo Domingo and what was being done to avert, if +possible, a like calamity at Havana. + +The Governor's appeals to the various municipalities were not without +effect. The people of Cuba seemed to be aroused by the imminence of +danger to a better degree of public spirit than they had ever before +manifested. Bayamo, Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, and even poor +little Trinidad, the smallest and weakest town of the Island, +contributed men and arms to their full ability, and when at the +beginning of May these levies were mustered in Havana they numbered more +than 225 efficient men, tolerably well armed. Luzan himself remained at +Bayamo, in the absence of orders or even permission to return to Havana, +professing readiness and eagerness to serve the King there or elsewhere, +wherever he could be of most use. At Havana Quinones was in command, +loyally supported by the Town Council, the royal officials and the +entire community. Even the austere and censorious Rojas, the Royal +Treasurer, who had been the bitter critic and opponent of Quinones, +forgot his animosity and hastened to offer his services in any capacity +in which they might be utilized. It is related that Rojas, despite his +years, his wealth and his social dignity, worked as a common laborer +with pick-axe and shovel in digging trenches and throwing up breastworks +for the fortification of the town, thus setting an example which left no +other citizen any excuse for shirking duty and indeed went far toward +inspiring the whole community with patriotic fervor. A proclamation was +also issued by the Mayor, Pedro de la Vega, addressed to all citizens +who, because of debts, quarrels, crimes, or other causes, had sought +sanctuary in the church or gone into hiding in the jungle, asking them +to come forward and aid in the defense of Havana, and promising them +immunity from arrest or prosecution and a period of a fortnight's grace +in which to return to their asylums or their hiding places after the +need of their services was ended. This extraordinary call was responded +to by scores of fugitives. + +There was no neglect, either, in preparation for the defense of the +suburbs of Havana. Chorrera was generally regarded not only as a +possible but as a very probable landing point for the invaders, from +which a march could be made by land against Havana. It was not +practicable to fortify the place strongly enough to prevent the landing +of any considerable force, but a small camp was established there, +occupied by a company of horsemen, who were to keep watch day and night +for the approach of the enemy, and upon his first appearance were to +ride post-haste to Havana with the news. The first horseman was to set +out the moment the enemy was sighted in the distance. A second was to +follow as soon as the fleet was near enough for the number of vessels +and their approximate strength and men and guns to be determined. A +third would set out the moment the enemy's intention, either of landing +there or of proceeding on to Havana, was ascertained. A fourth would +wait until the enemy was actually landing and his numbers could be +determined, and would then hasten after the others with the news. + +Nearer the city there were several other possible landing places at +inlets of the coast and some of these were fortified with earth-works +and artillery. Chief among these was the inlet of San Lazaro, where in +addition to earth works an enclosed fort of timber, stone and earth was +constructed with several cannons mounted on a platform. At the entrance +to the harbor of Havana itself the strongest preparations were made. At +Punta a dozen guns were in readiness to make that the chief point of +defense outside of La Fuerza itself. Much attention was given to all +roads leading into the city for several miles around; particularly +toward the west from which direction the attack was chiefly expected. +Some of the roads were blocked altogether, others were mined and +provided with pitfalls. Still others were screened and hidden with trees +and brushwood so as to serve as secret means of passage for the +Spaniards in advancing against or retreating from the enemy, and these +were so mined that after having served their purpose to the Spaniards +they could be readily destroyed. Elsewhere trees, underbrush and jungle +were cleared away so that there would be no cover nor concealment for +the invading force. Trenches and earth-works were constructed between La +Fuerza and Punta, and the former fortress was provisioned and prepared +for a siege. Special parapets of timber, stone and earth were +constructed upon the top of the fort, and numerous houses and other +buildings near it were destroyed in order that there might be no shelter +for an attacking force. + +Nor was the possibility of an attack from the eastward overlooked. On +the Morro headland at the important entrance a battery of three guns was +placed, well protected by breast-works of timber, stone and earth, and +the coast from Morro to Matanzas was continually patrolled by horsemen +on the lookout for the coming of strange vessels, and under orders +similar to those which had been given to the watchmen at Chorrera. As +for the harbor itself, a great chain was stretched across its entrance +buoyed with logs and fastened with a huge padlock at the foot of the +Morro headland. + +Finally the few swift sailing vessels which could be mustered into the +service were kept cruising off the shore to espy the approaching +squadron. They were not sufficiently strong to give battle, but they +could give warning to the city. Also they could bear to Spain or to +Mexico tidings of what occurred. Thus one vessel lay in the estuary of +the Puercos River, ready to flee to Mexico, while another cruised around +Ycacos Point, to hasten to Spain to tell if Havana should fall into the +hands of the foe. + +Meanwhile in Havana itself all possible forces were mustered for +defense. The volunteers from the other towns were drilled into an +efficient state of discipline. Such was their zeal that they gladly +served without pay while a considerable number of them in addition +provided their own rations at their own cost. For the necessary expenses +of their maintenance Rojas, the Royal Treasurer, used what royal funds +were in hand regardless of the purpose for which they had been designed, +and when these were insufficient he collected taxes without authority, +on the principle that the safety of the city and Island was the supreme +law. At the beginning of April some welcome aid arrived from Mexico, +which even Quinones was now glad to have. The Viceroy sent four vessels, +bearing about 300 fighting men, with six months' supplies of food and +with pay for eight months in advance. These increased the force under +Quinones to more than 900 well-trained soldiers. During the month of +April Luzan arrived from Bayamo with nearly 100 more men, thus +increasing the garrison of Havana to about 1,000. This was a force which +the Captain-General confidently believed would be able to resist and to +repulse any force which Drake might be able to land. + +Luzan had meantime, in February, received from Spain orders to resume +the governorship of the Island with full power, to return to Havana, and +to consider his term of office indefinitely prolonged. He had been +appointed in 1579 for a term of four years and had assumed office in +1580, so that his original term was by this time long since expired. +Reckoning the four years from his actual assumption of office in the +summer of 1580 his term had ended in 1584. If his return to Havana was +not altogether agreeable to Quinones, and it is quite probable that it +was not, at least a semblance of harmony was preserved between them, and +there was certainly efficient if not cordial co-operation. To this +auspicious state of affairs the Royal Treasurer contributed in no small +degree. + +In fact, in the face of the great peril which confronted it, all Cuba +arose to the occasion with a unity of public spirit never before known +in its history, and wholly admirable. All the officials, civil and +military, insular and royal, were in accord, and all classes of the +population, Spaniards, Indians and negro slaves were loyal and devoted +in their support. In these circumstances it is of fascinating interest +to speculate upon what might have happened had Drake made the expected +descent upon Havana. It is well within the limit not only of possibility +but of probability that he would have been decisively defeated. It is +even possible that in the conflict with more than a thousand well-armed, +well trained and resolute Spaniards, than whom there were then no braver +or better fighting men in all the world, he would himself have been +captured or slain. And such a disposition of Francis Drake in the summer +of 1586, only two years before the descent of the Invincible Armada upon +the shores of England, might well have changed the history of the world. + +But this was not to be. Some say that Drake did not intend to attack +Havana at that time, preferring to raid Carthagena, as he did. Some say +that by means of spies he ascertained the strength of Havana's defenses +and deemed it, therefore, prudent not to meddle with that place. Some +say that there was an interposition of Providence to dissuade him from +what might have been a disastrous fiasco. We have also, as we shall +presently see, the testimony of some Spanish fugitives, which is +entirely plausible, though not certainly correct. Conjecture is +inconclusive. Only the fact remains that Drake passed by and left Cuba +unassailed. + +From the latter part of February until the beginning of May no word of +his doings came to Havana; anxiety meanwhile prevailing and preparations +for his anticipated arrival being unabated. At last word came, most +ominous. A vessel from Spain, a heavily armed frigate, had been +searching for Drake. It had tracked him from Santo Domingo to +Carthagena, and had found him in full possession of the latter place. +There apparently, after two months' occupancy, he was preparing for some +fresh adventure. This information convinced the Cuban authorities that +the great struggle was at hand, and that the approach of the enemy would +be from the westward by way of Cape San Antonio. After despoiling +Carthagena Drake's logical course would be to raid Havana, and +preparations for defense were therefore redoubled. Nor were these +anticipations soon to be dispelled. A few weeks later, on May 27th, a +courier arrived from Cape San Antonio, the western extremity of the +Island, with the news that five days before a powerful British armada, +doubtless Drake's, had touched at that point for fresh water and other +supplies. It was no mere raiding flotilla of privateers, such as those +with which the French had long been troubling the Cuban coasts, but it +was a fleet of thirty-sail, probably with two or three thousand soldiers +aboard, and with artillery far superior both in number and range to all +the defenses of Havana. The courier could not tell what the intentions +of the fleet were or what was its destination. Possibly it was simply +seeking to anticipate and capture the treasure ships of Spain coming +from Mexico or from Darien with the silver, gold and gems of Peru and +Golden Castile. More probably it was planning the conquest of Havana, as +Santo Domingo and Carthagena had been conquered. This latter supposition +seemed to be confirmed two days later, when another messenger arrived +from the west, telling that it was indeed Drake's fleet and that it had +sailed from Cape San Antonio eastward toward Havana. + +In a minor measure Havana and all Cuba now anticipated the feelings +which England had two years later upon the approach of the Invincible +Armada. Every man was summoned to his appointed place in the scheme of +defense and insistent vigilance was maintained night and day. For this +there was full need. Within an hour of the arrival of this second +messenger from the west a Spanish ship from Mexico came flying into the +port of Havana with half a dozen English ships in hot pursuit. She +passed Punta and gained safety before they came up, the big chain being +slackened to let her pass within and then tightened again to shut out +her pursuers. They did not, however, attempt to enter the harbor. One +came so near as to draw a few shots from the guns of the Morro Fort and +then withdrew without returning fire. But an hour later eight more +English sails appeared, making fourteen in all. + +Evidently the crisis was at hand. Every available man in Havana was in +his place. Every available cannon was double-shotted and trained upon +the spot at which the English vessels would first come within range. +There was, however, no panic, no confusion. All men were resolute, +confident and in high spirits. All night long sentinels watched the +English fleet expecting to see it send boat loads of men ashore; ready +to signal the news with beacon fires and torches. But all night long the +English fleet lay dark and silent in the offing. + +The morning of May 30 dawned. It was clear and bright, the sea was +smooth, the wind just sufficient to fill the sails. There could be no +fitter day for a landing or for an approach to the harbor to bombard the +forts and city. The sentinels on Morro counted all thirty of Drake's +vessels, drawn up in line. Now and then one swept out in pursuit of some +incautious or uninformed coasting vessel, but did not go far. The whole +fleet maintained order as if in preparation for some great concerted +operation. + +Hours passed and nothing was done. At mid-afternoon some boats were sent +toward the shore near Chorrera, and the watchers on Morro signaled to La +Fuerza that a landing was being made; only a little later to recall the +tidings as those of a false alarm. Night came on, and again under cover +of darkness it was imagined that Drake's men were seen approaching +Chorrera. Every man in Havana remained awake with arms in hand, but the +night waned and daylight showed the fleet still motionless and the shore +at Chorrera still untouched. Thus for three days and nights the tension +was maintained. The thirty English vessels lay off Havana, firing not a +shot, sending not a man ashore, and making no sign of their commander's +purpose. + +Then the suspense was ended, to the relief of many but to the +disappointment of some. On June 4th the English fleet spread all its +canvas and sailed away, heading north and east, and vanished forever +from the sight of the watchers at Havana. Not the Cuban capital but the +chief city of Florida was to be its prey, and presently word came back +that Drake had attacked and captured the town and fortress of St. +Augustine, which Menendez had built and in the building of which he had +drawn so sorely upon the scanty resources of Cuba. Quinones regretted +that Havana had not been attacked, confident that the result would have +been disastrous to the assailants. He took, however, all possible +precautions against a surprise by a possible return of the English +fleet. The coast patrols to Matanzas and beyond were maintained and +vessels were sent out as scouts to follow in Drake's track and watch for +his turning. + +But no more was seen of Drake or heard of him until the end of June. +Then word came of his destruction of St. Augustine and of his departure +thence to the northward, on some unknown errand. It was supposed that +he had gone straight home. In fact, he went first to Virginia to visit +the English colony at Roanoke and to take back to England its few +discouraged survivors. Thus relieved from fear of invasion Havana +rejoiced and gave a most practical turn to its thanksgiving by sending a +vessel or two richly laden with supplies to the relief of the hapless +people of St. Augustine, many of whom had been former residents of Cuba. + +Meantime some explanation, as we have already seen, came to Havana of +the reason for Drake's failure to take that place. Several Spaniards +whom Drake had captured at Carthagena, had contrived to make their +escape from him when he touched at Cape San Antonio, and after much +wandering found their way to Havana. They reported that on the way from +Carthagena to Cuba the English fleet had been sorely afflicted with +disease including scurvy and possibly also yellow fever, so that many +persons died and many more were incapacitated. Moreover his vessels were +crowded with captives and with plunder. In these circumstances he was +obviously in no condition to attack so strong a place as Havana, and in +a conference with his captains he practically decided to pass by that +place and to seek cooler northern latitudes where his sick men might +more speedily recover. + +Havana's deliverance was Santiago's disaster. The preparations for the +defense of the former city had drawn thither the fighting strength of +the entire Island. Men, munitions, even artillery, had been stripped +from all other places for Havana's sake. Even after the departure of +Drake, and after it was known that he had at least for the time +abandoned his designs against Havana, the forces were still retained at +the capital. This, of course, was known to the foes of Cuba and of +Spain, as well as to Havana itself, and there were those who were not +slow to take advantage of it. French privateers were still hostile and +were raiding Spanish ports wherever opportunity afforded, and the +stripping of Santiago for Havana's defense gave such opportunity. + +So at the very time when Havana learned that Drake had taken Carthagena +and was on his way to the Cuban capital, two French vessels appeared off +Santiago with hostile intent. A demand was made for food, which the town +authorities refused. Probably the demand was a mere pretext. At any rate +the refusal of it was the signal for immediate attack. From noon to +night of May 2nd the battle raged, the Spaniards, only a handful of men, +displaying invincible valor in circumstances of desperate difficulty. +The leader of the defense was a parish priest who was badly wounded by +one of his own men. One other Spaniard was killed by the explosion of a +wretched little cannon which had been pressed into service, all good +guns having been taken to Havana. But these were the only Spanish +losses. On the other hand, one of the French ships, going aground, was +almost destroyed by the Spanish fire before her consort could pull her +off. And the two riddled with shot were at last glad to make their +escape in flight, throwing overboard as they sailed away more than a +score of bodies of men killed by the Spanish musketeers. It was too much +to hope, however, that this repulse of the French would prove final. It +would almost certainly be followed with a stronger attack for vengeance, +and Santiago made what scanty preparations it could to meet the coming +storm. + +Gomez de Rojas, a member of the illustrious family whose members played +so great a part in early Cuban history, was at that time the deputy of +the Governor in that part of the Island, making his headquarters at +Bayamo. A few days before this attack on Santiago he and his men had +killed seven Frenchmen and captured ten more under the lead of a +notorious freebooter. The heads of the seven he displayed on pikes at +Bayamo, and on the very day when the two French vessels reached Santiago +he hanged eight of the ten prisoners. It is recorded that the trial of +these men was not yet concluded. But Rojas grimly observed that the +trial could be finished after the hanging just as well as before, as +there could be no doubt as to what the verdict and the sentence would +be. For this ruthless proceeding the Bishop, Salcedo, reprimanded and +indeed excommunicated Rojas, and there was danger that thus disastrous +dissension would arise among the Spaniards. But Rojas, who seems to have +been a diplomat as well as a soldier and administrator, contrived to +make peace with the Bishop, and all was well. + +Of such unity there was sore need. For a few days later a squadron of +seven French ships, carrying 800 soldiers, appeared off Santiago. To +meet them Santiago, with all possible aid from Bayamo and the country +around could number less than 100 men, some say not more than 70, +indifferently armed and with only a few pounds of gunpowder. For several +days the French vessels lay off Santiago, frequently firing upon the +town at a range at which their own cannon were effective but at which +the Spaniards, with far inferior guns and little ammunition, were quite +helpless. However, the French made no attempt at landing, a circumstance +which for a time puzzled the Spaniards. Then came the explanation. While +their fleet lay directly before Santiago the French had put 150 men +ashore at Zuragua, and these were advancing upon Santiago over land. As +soon as this was known a little force of 20 Spaniards and 10 Indians was +sent out to meet them, with only two or three rounds of ammunition to +each man. They met in unequal battle and the Spaniards lost five men. +But they killed twenty Frenchmen before they were completely exhausted +and were compelled to surrender. Another detachment of thirty Spaniards +kept up a good fight at the landing place in Santiago until their +ammunition was exhausted and then they retreated to the hills. The +French fire from the ships destroyed more than half the town, and the +troops who were then landed demolished most of the remaining buildings. +Then a hasty retreat was made, presumably through fear of the rumored +approach of the powerful Spanish fleet, which unfortunately did not +materialize. + +Gomez de Rojas had been at Bayamo when this attack began. As soon as he +heard of it he hastened on horseback to Santiago, but arrived in time +only to see the last French sail vanish in the distance. Had he been +there it is not certain that he could have saved the town. Indeed it is +probable that he could not have done so. But it is certain that he saved +it after the event. So completely had Santiago been demolished by the +French that many of the people were determined not to attempt to rebuild +but to abandon the place and go elsewhere. A council of war was held on +May 25, at a country house a league inland from the ruined city, at +which all the officials and most of the citizens of Santiago were +present. Rojas was, fortunately, the presiding officer. The military +commander, Captain Camacho, told of what had happened and what the +condition of the place was. It had no military strength. There was not a +pound of powder or shot left. The few pieces of artillery which had not +been captured or destroyed were concealed in the woods, but were of +course useless without ammunition. Fewer than a score of houses were +standing. The cathedral and the monastery had been destroyed, though the +hospital and a church had received little damage. There was, he +believed, nothing left to serve as the nucleus of a rebuilt town. + +Much discussion followed his report. Some were resolute for rebuilding +the place, which they regarded rightly as the birthplace of the Spanish +settlement of Cuba. Others were equally bent on abandoning it altogether +and migrating to Havana or elsewhere. Opinions were so evenly divided +that it was finally agreed to suspend decision until one other leading +citizen, who was absent from the meeting, could be heard from, with the +understanding that his vote should be decisive. + +Then it was that Gomez de Rojas rose to the height of the occasion. He +ascertained secretly that this missing citizen was in favor of +abandoning Santiago and would so declare himself. Determined to +forestall and to prevent such a decision and thus to save the town, +Rojas immediately ordered the clergy to celebrate mass next morning. He +ordered the town authorities to put all the remaining buildings in order +for occupancy and to repair those which had been damaged. He ordered +every man in town to appear at the church that morning, ready for any +action which might be needed. He ordered the Town Council to meet as +usual the next day. He ordered the market to be opened at once, and +artisans to get to work and the Indians to burn the bodies of the +Frenchmen who had been killed in battle, and in brief he ordered +everybody in Santiago to get to work to rehabilitate the town. The sheer +energy of this one strong man carried the day, and Santiago arose from +its ruins larger and more important than ever before, though it was +never again to be the capital of all Cuba. Havana had already for +several years been practically, though without full authority, the +capital of the Island. The formal and authoritative change was made a +few years later, in 1589. + +During the administration of Governor Luzan there was some renewed +interest in copper mining in Cuba, although the wealth of the island in +that metal was not yet appreciated. In 1580 what was supposed to be an +immensely rich mine was discovered, but it proved to be a mere "pocket" +of limited extent. That disappointment, together with the cost of +transportation from the neighborhood of Santiago to Havana for shipment, +discouraged further efforts for a time. But in May, 1587, after +inspection of the Cobre mine, near Santiago, the Governor reported to +the Spanish government: "There is so much metal, and the mines are so +numerous, that they could supply the world with copper." Comparatively +little was done, however, until 1599, when effective work was begun at +El Cobre. The ore was conveyed to Havana for smelting and casting, and +on the site of the present Maestranza Building there was established a +foundry where copper was cast into both cannon and kettles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +It is an interesting circumstance that what threatened to be a great +disaster to Cuba proved in fact to be one of the greatest blessings that +the Island had enjoyed since the Spanish settlement. We have already +seen how great an alarm was caused at Havana and throughout Cuba by the +threatened attack of the British under Sir Francis Drake and how fine a +degree of public spirit and unity among all classes was thereby +inspired. The threatened attack did not occur, and it was many years +before an actual British conquest or even invasion of the Island was +effected. But the lessons learned in that period of agitation and after +were not speedily forgotten, either in Cuba or in Spain. Therefore, a +much larger degree of public spirit and of unity prevailed in the +Island, among the Government officers and among the people, while the +Spanish crown was awakened to a fuller realization than ever before of +the value of Cuba and the imperative necessity of defending the Island +if the integrity of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere was to +be maintained. It was then that Philip II began to appreciate Cuba as +the bulwark of the West Indies and of the City of Havana, its capital, +as the key to the New World. Hitherto Cuba had been nothing but a +stepping stone between Spain on the one hand and Mexico, Darien and +Florida on the other; and Havana was merely a convenient base of +operations and a port of call. But now the immense strategical +importance of Havana was realized, while the value of the Island, in its +products of copper, wood, sugar, hides and other commodities, was +appreciated. + +Governor Luzan administered the affairs of Cuba until the end of March, +1589. On that day he was succeeded by Juan de Tejada, a Field Marshal +of the Spanish Army. He was selected by the King chiefly because of his +military experience and knowledge, and he was the first of the line of +governors of Cuba to be known as Captain-General. In him were merged +both the civil and the military authority of the Island, so that there +would no longer be any such friction as had prevailed between Luzan and +Quinones. Tejada was speedily commissioned by the King to make plans for +the fortification of Cuba and also of the other important islands of the +Spanish West Indies. He was accordingly accompanied on his coming to +Cuba by one of the most distinguished Italian engineers of that age, +Juan Bautista Antonelli. Together they surveyed the port of Havana, the +port of San Juan in Porto Rico, and that of Carthagena in Colombia and +planned powerful defenses for them all. There fortifications were in +fact constructed under the direction of Antonelli and to this day bear +impressive testimony to his skill. + +His first attention was paid, most properly, to Havana. Already there +had been constructed temporary fortifications at La Punta and El Morro, +and also a camp more of observation than of defense at San Lazaro Cove, +probably where the Queen's battery stood in later years. Both +Captain-General Tejada and Antonelli were quick to see the importance of +the Punta and Morro fortifications and to approve those headlands as the +sites of the most powerful fortifications of Havana. Plans were +accordingly made for extensive masonry forts at both those places, and +these were approved and very prompt execution ordered by the King. Funds +for the work were obtained from Mexico, from which source also +appropriations were received for the maintenance of La Fuerza with its +garrison of 300 men. + +The work of Antonelli in Cuba was by no means confined, however, to +military engineering. He laid out and constructed a number of roads, +including some which are to this day principal streets of Havana and its +suburbs. He also constructed a dam across the Chorrera River and an +aqueduct by means of which an ample water supply was conveyed to Havana +and distributed through the city. For by this time it must be understood +Havana was rapidly growing into a populous and prosperous community and +was already the assured metropolis of the Island and indeed one of the +three or four chief centres of Spanish civilization and authority in the +western world. It was during the administration of Tejada that the +technical legal title of "City" was conferred upon Havana, and the place +received the grant of a coat-of-arms. Its escutcheon bore the emblems of +a crown, underneath it in a blue field three silver fortresses, +emblematic of La Fuerza, La Punta and El Morro, and finally a golden key +symbolic of Havana's importance as the key of the western world. The +administration of Tejada lasted a little more than five years and was +marked with almost unbroken peace, prosperity and progress. The new +fortifications of Havana were not all completed in that time, but they +were carried far toward completion and the work upon them was marked +with no such difficulties and complications as had been the bane of La +Fuerza. + +The one exception to the rule of peace and harmony which prevailed +during the administration of Captain-General Tejada was a controversy +with Bishop Salcedo, who was then in charge of the diocese. Because of +some differences of policy concerning the finances of the colony and the +church, Salcedo bitterly criticised Tejada and even cast unfavorable +reflections upon his integrity, which we must regard as unwarranted. To +these attacks, however, Tejada gave little or no attention, and the +peace of Cuba was therefore not materially disturbed by the incident. It +seems probable that the Bishop desired larger revenues than the +straitened condition of Cuban affairs made possible. Tejada indeed +almost exhausted the pecuniary resources of the island in the +prosecution of the much-needed works of fortification, road building, +and what not, and also drew heavily upon his own private funds. He was +saved from more serious embarrassment by the arrival of a treasure fleet +from Vera Cruz, which enabled him to discharge all obligations and to +place a fund of 120,000 ducats in the insular treasury for future needs. + +At this period, it is interesting to recall, the salary of the Governor, +or Captain-General, was only 2,000 pesos a year, that of the Alcalde of +El Morro was 6,600 reales, that of the Alcalde of La Punta was 4,400 +reales, and that of the Sergeant-Mayor was 2,700 reales. The total +yearly budget of the island was about 100,000 pesos. + +It is gratifying to know that Tejada's fine services were appreciated by +the royal government. His insistent resignation was accepted in April, +1595, with sincere regret, and he was made a Knight Commander of the +Order of St. James and was placed in charge of the castle and district +of La Barlete, at Naples. + +Tejada's successor, the second Captain-General of Cuba, was Juan +Maldonado Barrionuevo, who took office in July, 1594. This distinguished +servant of the crown had been an equerry to the Queen of Spain and +Treasurer of the Invincible Armada which had come to grief a few years +before in the Narrow Seas. He was also a Knight of the Military Order of +St. James. Having had, while with the Armada, a taste of Drake's +quality, and learning that that formidable commander was meditating +another descent upon Cuba he gave his first and best attention to +hastening the completion of the fortifications of Havana. Drake was +indeed at that very time in Spanish-American waters planning disaster to +every seaport within reach, but disagreement between himself and other +officers of the fleet made the entire expedition a failure and led, +probably, to the death of Drake himself in 1595. Learning of Drake's +death Maldonado sent out an expedition to attack the British fleet as it +was returning from Darien and succeeded in capturing one of its vessels +and putting the others to flight near the Isle of Pines. This triumph +over the much feared British fleet caused great rejoicing throughout +Cuba and immensely encouraged the Government and the people in their +hope of making a successful stand against British aggressions. + +Despite the growth and importance of Havana it must be remembered that +at this time that city was still in a very primitive condition. The +great majority of the houses were still built of cedar or pine boards +with thatched roofs. They were so scattered, even in the heart of the +city, that it was possible to have gardens and orchards around them. +There were some houses of substantial masonry two or three stories in +height. And the rich cedar, mahogany and other woods native to Cuba made +it possible to finish and furnish them in very rich style. The houses of +the rich were lighted with lamps of bronze or other metal, generally fed +with olive oil, and those of the poor with candles made of suet. The +streets were unlighted save by an occasional lantern at the entrance to +some house. And they were so infested not only with stray dogs but with +vagabonds and ruffians that it was unsafe for citizens to go abroad +after dark without an armed guard. Social and domestic customs, which +had at first been kept after those of Spain itself, by this time began +to have an individuality suited to the circumstances and conditions of +life on the Island. It was the custom to have the chief meal of the day +at noon and a lighter supper quite late in the evening, probably between +eight and ten o'clock. + +It is interesting to record that during the administration of Maldonado +occurred the first theatrical performance in the history of Cuba. This +was on the night of St. John, in the year 1599, and the performance took +place in honor of the Captain-General in the great hall of the military +barracks. It is recorded that on assembling the audience was so noisy +that it was impossible to begin the performance until threats had been +made of serious physical punishment. Despite this vexatious incident the +people were so delighted with the performance that when it came to an +end they unanimously clamored for its repetition although by this time +it was one o'clock in the morning. + +The sugar industry was now rising to great importance, especially in the +vicinity of Havana and thence toward Matanzas. The largest of all the +sugar mills in the Island was that founded by Anton Recia at Guaicanama, +now known as Regla. In 1588 a royal decree was issued bestowing upon the +sugar mills of Cuba the same favor that was formerly granted to those of +Hispaniola, namely, the exemption of the buildings, machinery, negro +slaves and in fact all other property from seizure or attachment for +debt. The sugar plantations were somewhat hampered at this time by lack +of labor, and on that account the importation of negro slaves was +encouraged and hundreds were brought in every year. + +In fact, negro slavery was by this time fully established as the +principal reliance of the industries of the island. It was recognized +that Cuba was a land of inestimable wealth, particularly in agriculture. +Stock raising was the chief industry, but sugar growing was rising in +importance, while the production of honey and wax was also a widespread +and highly lucrative occupation. Of all industries sugar growing was the +most laborious and called, therefore, for the greatest number of slaves. +Each mill required from eighty to a hundred workmen. + +Strangely enough, while the royal government strove in some ways to +encourage and stimulate the sugar industry, it persisted in hampering +it, at any rate in Cuba, in the matter of slave labor. As far back as +1556 a decree fixed the maximum price at which slaves might be sold in +the island at one hundred ducats, or about seventy pesos. Yet at the +same time the price fixed for slaves in Venezuela was one hundred and +ten ducats, and in Mexico one hundred and twenty ducats. The result was +inevitable. Slaves were sent to Venezuela and Mexico rather than to +Cuba; or the best were sent thither and the poorest to the island. This +was only one of a number of eccentricities of government, which +suggested a persistent and inexplicable tendency to discriminate +against Cuba in favor of the other colonies. + +Against such purblind policies the ablest administrators and the most +enterprising planters and merchants struggled to little avail. It was a +splendid achievement for the engineer Antonelli in 1586 to tap the +Almendares River, west of Havana, with a system of canals and aqueducts, +and thus bring an abundant supply of fresh water into Havana. In so +doing he not merely provided the capital with one of the prime +necessities of life, but he also made Havana the centre of the sugar +industry. For it was along these artificial watercourses that the first +sugar mills were erected and operated. But this availed little while +there was persistent discrimination against Cuba to a degree that kept +the island without a tithe of the labor which was needed for the +development of its resources. We cannot, of course, approve the slave +trade, or argue that it should have been followed to a greater extent +than it was. But if it was to exist at all, and Spain was willing and +indeed determined that it should, justice and economic reason required +that it should exist as freely in Cuba as in the neighboring colonies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +The character of the European nations whose navigators and explorers had +sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and had opened to the bewildered +gaze of the Old World a vista of unlimited possibilities in the New, +underwent a great change during the seventeenth century. Acclaimed as +national achievements, adding new lustre to national glory, these +discoveries at first only stimulated patriotism and became an incentive +to national effort. But as Spain and Portugal which had given to the +world those men with the large vision and the undaunted courage, +awakened to the importance of their exploits and began to see them from +the angles of political and economic advantages, the desire to restrict +those advantages to their own use became so powerful, that consideration +for the interests of other nations was ignored. The spirit of +imperialistic expansion was roused and demanded no less than a monopoly +of the traffic and trade of the world. + +With this end in view the two countries adopted a protectionist policy +and imposed restrictions upon mariners and merchants of other nations +that in time became intolerable. The government of Spain forbade its +colonists in Spanish America to receive European merchandise from any +but Spanish ports, which in turn enabled Spanish exporters to demand +unreasonable prices. This was resented by many colonists, and they were +willing to deal with smugglers who sold this merchandise at a lower +price or exchanged it for the produce of the colonies, especially for +hides and sugar. The governors of Santo Domingo were among the first in +the colonies to take steps against this trade. They fitted out small +vessels, which they called Guardacostas, coastguards, and had them +patrol all along the coast. If they succeeded in capturing the +smugglers, they proceeded against them with little ceremony. They were +either thrown overboard or hanged. + +This summary process having stirred in the smugglers the spirit of +vindictiveness, they organized for concerted action, determined to +resist what they considered unwarranted severity and cruelty. They began +to group into fleets, and openly invaded the coasts, burning, +plundering, marauding and killing. They looked about for suitable places +where to establish settlements of their own that could be used as bases +of operation in the neighborhood. Hispaniola or Hayti, where the natives +had been almost exterminated and which by misgovernment was nearly +deserted, invited them. Herds of cattle and swine were running wild +about the island and offered not only valuable provisions for +themselves, but promised to become marketable commodities. Some French +smugglers settled there, killed the cattle and swine, smoked the beef +and salted the pork, and opened a remunerative trade with visiting +sailors in these commodities as also in tallow and hides. The Indians of +the island called smoked beef "boucan"; hence these traders were called +boucaniers which was anglicized into buccaneers. In a similar way the +English freebooter was by the French corrupted into flibustier and later +came back to us as filibuster. At first the term boucanier was limited +to the smugglers and traders in smoked beef living on land, while the +flibustier was applied to the smuggler and trader living on board of a +ship. But later these nice distinctions were ignored and the names +applied indiscriminately to smugglers, freebooters and pirates. + +Whatever term one chose to apply to them, these Brethren of the Coast +and outlaws of the oceans became almost a recognized institution of the +century when rival European powers were fighting for supremacy in the +New World and were unanimously arrayed against Spain. There were among +them recruits from almost all nations, classes and professions. There +were bankrupt shopkeepers, discharged soldiers, runaway convicts, +thieves and murderers, vagabonds and adventurers and many a black sheep +of good family under an assumed name. A large proportion was attracted +by the possibility of getting hold of some of the unlimited treasures of +gold and silver which the New World was said to hold. For the reports +that had been spread by the participants in the early expeditions, not +always limited to natives of Spain and Portugal, were so fairy-like that +the classic tale of the Argonauts paled into insignificance beside them. +It is reported that a noted French freebooter who had joined the pirates +as a runaway debtor, hoped in this way to secure enough to pay off his +debts. An equally large number consisted of men who in that period of +adventure were seized with an insatiable desire for roving about the +world, free from all fetters of conventional life. + +The attitude of England, France and Holland against Spain was so +hostile, that whenever one of these powers was at war with Spain, these +outlaws were granted the rights of belligerents. Mariner-warriors, +prepared to defend themselves and to attack by force, they became a +mercenary navy at the service of any power that happened to be at war +with Spain. At bottom of this united effort, which at the end resulted +in ruining the overseas commerce of Spain, was the opposition against +its restrictions of the navigation and commerce of other countries. +Bancroft who is referred to by Pedro J. Guiteras in his "Historia de la +isla de Cuba" says in the first volume of his "History of the United +States" (p. 163) + + "The moral sense of mariners revolted at the extravagance; since + forfeiture, imprisonment, and the threat of eternal woe were to + follow the attempt at the fair exchanges of trade; since the + freebooter and the pirate could not suffer more than menaced + against the merchant who should disregard the maritime monopoly, + the seas became infested by reckless buccaneers, the natural + offspring of colonial restrictions. Rich Spanish settlements in + America were pillaged; fleets attacked and captured; predatory + invasions were even made on land to intercept the loads of gold, as + they came from the mines, by men who might have acquired honor and + wealth in commerce, if commerce had been permitted." + +John Fiske, too, in the second volume of his "Historical Essays," dwells +upon the causes of the enormous development of piracy in the seventeenth +century. Speaking of the struggle of the Netherlands and England against +the greatest military power of the world, he said that the former had to +rely largely and the latter almost exclusively, upon naval operations, +and continued: + + "Dutch ships on the Indian Ocean and English ships off the American + coasts effectually cut the Spaniard's sinews of war. Now in that + age ocean navigation was still in its infancy, and the work of + creating great and permanent navies was only beginning. Government + was glad to have individuals join in the work of building and + equipping ships of war, and it was accordingly natural that + individuals should expect to reimburse themselves for the heavy + risk and expense by taking a share in the spoils of victory. In + this way privateering came into existence and it played a much more + extensive part in maritime warfare than it now does. The navy was + but incompletely nationalized. Into expeditions that were strictly + military in purpose there entered some of the elements of a + commercial speculation, and as we read them with our modern ideas + we detect the smack of buccaneering." + +England in dealing leniently with these buccaneers sailing under her +flag, argued that since the gold and silver carried from America to +Spain in Spanish ships was used to defray the expenses of a war which +threatened her, English mariners were justified in capturing these +vessels and seizing such treasures. But there is little doubt that by +this interpretation the doors were opened wide to all sorts of trickery +and outrage, carried on regardless whether the countries under whose +flags both captors and captured sailed were at the time at war or at +peace. Thus the naval and commercial restrictions, which Spain imposed +upon other countries, proved at the end a boomerang, which did +irreparable loss to Spain itself. + +For the long war with England had greatly weakened Spanish power and +when the peace of 1604 was concluded, the once so powerful country was +visibly entering upon its downward path. Philip II, called the Great, +had left a son, Philip III, who had neither the personality nor the +ability to continue his famous father's policy of imperialism. Before +long it was found that the naval power had sunk from the proud Armada +which had challenged England in the time of Queen Elizabeth to no more +than thirteen galleys. Ship-building practically ceased. To bring the +tobacco crop from Havana to Spain, French and British vessels had to be +hired. Nothing was done to keep up the military strength of the kingdom +which had once ranked as Europe's greatest military power and had as +such been feared by other nations. The army was composed either of +inexperienced youths or of nerveless old men. The magazines and arsenals +stood empty. With no ships patrolling the seas and protecting the +coasts, the predatory outlaws of the ocean, sailing under various flags, +soon recognized in the Spanish overseas possessions a territory which +upon slight effort promised to yield rich booty. Cuba, Santo Domingo, +Jamaica and other West Indian Islands were repeatedly ravaged by them. +They established settlements on St. Christopher's Island, called St. +Kitts, and on one of the Bahamas, and from these bases carried on their +destructive operations. + +Notwithstanding the great progress which navigation had made during the +previous century, news between the Eastern and the Western continent +traveled slowly. This proved a serious drawback to an efficient +management of the colonies which European powers had established in +America. It was responsible for a great deal of confusion and for the +dilatory policy which characterized the government of the Spanish West +Indies. Communication between the mother country and Cuba was so +irregular and unreliable that Philip III, the new king, was not +proclaimed in Cuba until the spring of the year 1599. Yet at no time was +the fate of the island more closely linked with that of Spain, whose +decline profoundly affected Cuba's political and economic conditions +during the seventeenth century. + +In that most critical period for Spain, when the fate of the Kingdom +passed from the hands of Philip the Great into those of his incapable +successor, Cuba had the good fortune of being under the administration +of strong and able governors. D. Juan Maldonado Barrienuevo, who entered +upon his office in the year 1596, did a great deal towards the +improvement of the capital, starting the erection of a government house +and a public prison. He recognized the great value of sugar as one of +the staple products of the island and by every measure possible +encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane. He obtained from the King +special exemptions and privileges for the builders and owners of sugar +mills. He was the first to construct that of Vicente Santa Maria in +Fuente de Chaves. Sugar was at that time sold at fabulous prices. A +cargo of sugar of inferior quality brought in Seville as much as twelve +pesos per arroba (twenty-five pounds). The importation of and traffic in +African negroes who were set to work on the sugar plantations was +inseparable from this industry which henceforth became the chief source +of Cuba's wealth. But Maldonado, too, had troubles with the pirates. As +the two galleys in the port were known to be absolutely useless, the +pirates approached almost within cannon-shot of the place. + +The administration of D. Pedro de Valdes, Ensign (alfevez major) of the +Order of Santiago and nephew of the famous admiral of that name, began +most auspiciously. He was appointed successor of Maldonado in 1602. A +worthy heir of his uncle's glory, he started for his post from San Lucas +with a galleon and a galizabra (vessel used in the Levantine trade) on +the seventeenth of April. On his voyage he captured an enemy vessel, +sailed bravely through a Dutch squadron and sank three of their ships in +the port of Santo Domingo. After putting to flight a horde of smugglers +that swarmed about the coasts of Cuba, he cast anchor in Havana on the +nineteenth of July, 1602. + +Valdes immediately set out to improve the artillery of the +fortifications, and even to superintend the casting of the cannon. +Within the short space of two years he succeeded in providing the port +of Havana with eighty pieces of good quality and various calibre, most +of which had been cast in the capital itself. Frequent changes of +administration had not only hampered the initiative of minor +functionaries and opened the door to official malpractice of +miscellaneous nature, but had also perceptibly weakened authority. +Valdes was determined to re-enforce it and by his energy and rectitude +brought upon himself the hatred of those elements who had encouraged +disorder. At the end his only loyal supporter was Friar Juan Cabezas de +Altamirano, who had succeeded Salcedo in the bishopric of Santiago. But +Valdes did not mind the hostility, which was more or less openly +manifested towards his government, and continued his untiring efforts in +defense of Spanish interests and policies. + +The steadily increasing wealth of these colonies excited the +covetousness of the pirates and buccaneers. Realizing the necessity of +taking defensive action against them, Valdes armed a few vessels, which +under the command of his son, D. Fernando, cruised about and succeeded +in capturing several ships. In one of these encounters Valdes was +wounded, but he pursued his policy undauntedly. He was also successful +in his campaign against smuggling which had extensively developed, +especially in Bayamo, whither he sent as his deputy the licentiate +Melchior Suarez to inquire into the state of things. + +The depredations committed by the pirates at this time were so serious +that the safety of the inhabitants was imperilled. The population of +Santiago seems to have been especially singled out to be harassed by the +outlaws. They set fire to the cathedral and other churches of the town, +robbed them of the precious vessels and vestments and committed other +outrages. Terror-stricken, the inhabitants fled to neighboring towns or +hid in the country. The city faced gradual depopulation. Even the Bishop +D. Friu Juan de las Cabezas and some of the government officials +withdrew to Bayamo, which, for a time at least, offered safety. + +But in the year 1604 even the roads in the vicinity of Bayamo were no +longer safe for travelers. When the bishop was on a tour of visitation +in the neighborhood, in company with the canons Francisco Pueblo and +Diego Sanchez, a horde of pirates under the leadership of the notorious +Giron surprised him at the stock farm of Yara. They tied him and took +him barefoot to Mazanillo, where one of their bilanders (sloops) was +anchored. They kept him on board their vessel for the period of eighty +days, expecting the authorities of the town to present themselves and +offer an enormous sum as ransom. The name of Gregorio Ramos is inscribed +in the annals of the island as the bishop's deliverer. It was an +undertaking calling for unusual cleverness and courage and Ramos +acquitted himself most brilliantly. He bravely faced the redoubtable +Giron and rescued the bishop by paying a ransom of two hundred ducats, +one thousand skins and one hundred arrobas (twenty-five pounds of +sixteen ounces each) of jerked beef. After having brought the prelate +into security, he returned with a force of valiant men and attacked the +pirates. He succeeded in destroying the whole horde and even in killing +their leader Giron, whose head was triumphantly carried on the point of +a lance to Bayamo, where it was exhibited in the market-place. + +The growth of the island which then numbered from eighteen to twenty +thousand inhabitants was greatly hampered by such invasions. Santiago +offering so little safety, the bishop ventured to suggest the removal of +the cathedral to Havana; but the plan was found impracticable and never +carried out. In time, however, the prelates began to ignore the +disapproval of the government and to install themselves in Havana. Other +members of the ecclesiastical cabildo (chapter) followed their example +and also left Santiago. Governor Valdes, in accord with the ayuntamento, +demonstrated to the king the pitiful state of the island and urged as an +indispensable necessity the stationing of a permanent fleet in Cuban +waters. Only in this way did it seem possible to check the increasing +pirate menace which was paralyzing commerce and arresting the progress +of the island. + +But the royal government at Madrid, weak and helpless in the hands of an +incapable sovereign, lacked stability and strength to cope with the +unrest and confusion that gradually set in. The inadequate +fortifications and insufficient garrison had left the coast of Cuba +almost without defense. Knowledge of these conditions had spread among +the corsairs prowling about and awaiting an opportunity to descend upon +the unprotected population and made them more and more audacious. Philip +III, a weak though humane ruler, had transferred the reigns of +government to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma. But procrastination seems +to have been one of the permanent features in the Spanish kingdom's +management of her American possessions, and little was done to insure +her safety. + +At last the king heeded the clamorous appeals of the authorities +representing his loyal but unfortunate subjects in Cuba and ordered some +timely steps to be taken. Royal letters patent of October eighth, 1607, +arrived from Madrid. In order to safeguard the interests of the +inhabitants they decreed that the island be divided into two districts, +an eastern and a western, with separate jurisdiction, and Havana and +Santiago as their respective capitals. The governor of Havana retained +the title of Captain-General of the island, but his general jurisdiction +was reduced to the territory between Cape San Antonio and eighty leagues +east of the capital. The governor of Santiago was named Capitan de +Guerra (chief military authority) with a salary of one thousand eight +hundred pesos and jurisdiction over the rest of the island including +Puerto Principe. The governor and military commander were to remain in +Havana, this being the most important district. As governor of Santiago +was appointed Juan de Villaverde, a Castilian from the Morro. He was +charged with the defense of the place against pirates and other enemies +disturbing the peace of the island and impeding its economic and social +development. + +This division caused innumerable difficulties and conflicts of authority +and Valdes had reasons to object to it. He had established order in the +Treasury and other branches of the administration, and he feared that +the new order might bring new confusion. In the meantime his energy and +rectitude caused the plots and intrigues spun by his enemies to multiply +to such an extent that they succeeded in reaching the ear of the Spanish +Audiencia. Valdes and his deputy Suarez were indicted, but on proving +their innocence triumphed over their slanderers by being reinstated in +authority. Then the Audiencia reversed the trial by order of the Court, +and the calumniators were convicted and sentenced to various penalties. +But Valdes once more manifested his noble character by joining the +Bishop in an appeal to the King to pardon the convicted men. Soon after +he retired from his office. + +The court of Spain, represented by the Duke of Lerma, who towards the +end of his career succeeded in adding to this title that of a cardinal, +seemed at this period to be deeply concerned with the religious life of +Cuba. This is apparent during the governorship of Don Gaspar Luis +Pereda, Knight of the military order of Santiago, who was inaugurated on +the sixteenth of June, 1608. Don Juan de Villaverde y Oceta was +appointed to the governorship of Santiago. Monastic orders had acquired +much land on the island and established their homes. There were at that +time six convents in Cuba; three in Havana, of the order of San +Franciscus, San Domingo and San Augustin, one of mercenarios, of the +order of la Merced in Trinidad, and two others of the Franciscan order +in Santiago and Bayamo. The government of Cuba was instructed by royal +decree to inquire into and superintend the establishment of the convent +of St. Augustine, then in process of erection in Havana. + +The excellent bishop Cabezas, who had so signally distinguished himself +during the preceding administration, was in the year 1610 promoted to +the bishopric of Guatemala. He was replaced by the Carmelite padre Don +Alfonso Enriquez de Almendariz, who immediately made efforts to have the +king remove his episcopal seat to Havana. This caused serious disputes +between the bishop and Governor Pereda, who sent the king a report +disapproving of this removal. The conflict between the two culminated in +the excommunication of Pereda by the bishop. The administration of his +successor, Don Sancho de Alquiza, former governor of Venezuela and +Guyana, was brief. He was inaugurated on the seventh of September, 1616, +and died on the sixth of June, 1619. He was much interested in the +economic development of Cuba, promoted the development of sugar +industry, encouraged the employment of negroes on the plantations. His +efforts to exploit the mineral wealth of the island were also +commendable. He placed the supervision of the copper mines under the +direction of the military government and the work proceeded most +promisingly. The copper extracted was of superior quality and two +thousand quintals of the metal were annually exported to Spain. + +The sudden death of Alquiza led to much agitation due to the violent +spirit of rivalry between the auditor Don Diego Vallizo and the +Castellan of the Morro, Geronimo del Quero, who aspired to the +governorship. A great calamity occurred in Havana during this interim +administration. On the twenty-second of April, 1620, a fire broke out +and assumed such disastrous proportions, that two hundred homes were +destroyed and the growth of the city was for a time seriously crippled. + +The dangers that beset the development of Cuba were rapidly multiplying +instead of diminishing. Frequent change of administration was not +calculated to insure efficiency and stability in the management of the +island's affairs. Enterprises begun under one governor were interrupted +under the next. Sometimes the original plan was essentially changed and +entirely abandoned. A striking example of this sad state of affairs was +furnished during the third decade of the seventeenth century. Don +Francisco Venegas was inaugurated as governor on the fourteenth of +August, 1620. He had been charged with the organization of a war fleet +for the protection of the coast from invasions by pirates and +freebooters. For that purpose he had brought with him some vessels. They +came at an opportune moment for British and Dutch hookers had been +roving in West Indian waters. The vessels of the Cuban armadilla under +Vazquez de Montiel defeated these intruders at the Island of Tortuga, +captured three of them and put their crews to the sword. But joy over +this victory was offset by the epidemic of malignant fever which broke +out and raged among the population. Another great loss to Spain was +occasioned by the hurricane which in the following year sank on the +reefs of Los Martires several vessels of the fleet that had been sent by +Marquis de Cadreyta, D. Lope Diaz Armendiarez, and were returning to +Spain with great riches. + +Governor Venegas had in obedience to instructions from his government +armed an esquadron, for the maintenance of which he had imposed upon the +people a special tax. But on his death, on the eighteenth of April, +1624, it was found that the work on the fleet was far from complete, and +in spite of the constant menace of invasion by pirates, nothing was +heard of a resumption of the task during the governorship of his +successors. The political governor who temporarily assumed the reigns of +the administration was D. Damian Velasquez de Contreras, assisted by +Juan Esquiro Saavedra as military governor. During their interimistic +rule a prison was built and a new monastery established. + +The successor nominated in the place of Venegas in the year 1624 was +the Governor of Cartagena, Don Garcia Giron, who, however, resigned on +the twentieth of July of the same year. During the interim occasioned by +his resignation the names of Esquival Aranda and de Riva-Martiz are +mentioned in connection with the management of the island's affairs. +There finally arrived from Spain D. Lorenzo de Cabrera, a native of +Ubeda, corregido of Cadiz, field-marshal and Knight of the Order of +Santiago. He was duly installed in his office on the sixteenth of +September, 1626. In the command of the Morro Esquival was replaced by +Captain Cristobal de Arranda and in the government of Santiago Rodrigo +de Velasco was succeeded by Captain D. Pedro de Fonseca. + +During the administration of Cabrera, Cuba was agitated by many exciting +occurrences. Cabrera and the Marquis de Cadreyta, who commanded the +fleet that had brought him to Havana, made a thorough inspection of the +fortifications in order to report on their condition and propose +improvements. Among the most urgent Cabrera considered the manufacture +of a copper chain to shut off the entrance to the two forts; he also had +an intrenchment constructed capable of sheltering two companies. The +plan to block the entrance of the port with trunks of trees in order to +prevent pirates from making an entry, seems, however, to have been +somewhat quixotic. As Spain was then at war with the United Provinces, +Cabrera provided for possible contingencies by furnishing the forts with +large stores of provisions and took other measures to prepare for +eventual attacks by the enemy. + +These preparations proved to be only too justified. For the Dutch had +fitted out an expedition against the Spanish possessions in America. In +June of that year there appeared a fleet of more than thirty vessels +with three thousand men, commanded by Pit Hein, one of the most famous +mariners of his time. The Dutch had several encounters with the Spanish +fleet and were compelled to retire from Havana, which they had tried to +enter. They gained some advantages over the armada commanded by Don +Juan de Benavides, but in the following year the Spaniards inflicted +great losses upon the Dutch fleet commanded by Cornelius Fels, driving +him back from Havana and capturing one of his frigates. + +A little pamphlet published or printed by Heinrich Mellort Jano in +Amsterdam in 1628 gives the Dutch version of the expedition of Pit Hein. +It is entitled "Ausfuehrlicher Bericht wie es der Silber Flotille +herganger wann (durch wen wie und wie viel) solcherin diesem 1628. Jahr +Erobert fort und eingebracht." Therein is related with much detail how +the West India Company, recognizing the rich booty which the capture of +Spanish ships promised, had furnished and fitted out a fleet and manned +it with a crew of brave and hearty sailors and soldiers, with the avowed +purpose of intercepting a silver-laden fleet returning from the colonies +to Spain. The Dutch set out on the twentieth of May, 1628, under the +command of General Petri Peters Heyn and Admiral Heinrich Corneli Lang. + +The Dutch reached San Antonio on the west end of Cuba on the fourth of +August. Their arrival became known to the Spaniards and on the +twenty-third of that month Governor Cabrera dispatched some vessels to +warn the silver fleet. General Peters Heyn sailed close up to the +fortifications of Havana and then turned three or four miles out to sea +to meet the treasure-laden ships, which his informers had reported to be +sailing in that neighborhood, but south winds drove him northeast. +Finally on the eighth of September the famous fleet hove in sight, and +the Dutch captured nine vessels, and seeing eight more, sailed briskly +out to cut them off from the port of Havana. The Spaniards arrived at +Matanzas Bay, hotly pursued by the Dutch, and immediately organized a +defensive. But they were outnumbered in the combat which ensued and laid +down their arms. The Dutch General and his staff offered thanks to the +Almighty for this great victory. The next day the ships were all secured +fast by chains, and the third day the booty was unloaded from the +Spanish and transferred to the Dutch ships. There were bars of silver, +crosses, chalices, other vessels and art objects fashioned out of +silver, in all weighing eighteen thousand four hundred pounds. + +The Dutch started on their home voyage on the seventeenth of September +and took with them four Spanish galleons, two laden with skins and two +with iron and other ore. On the twenty-sixth they reached Bermuda and +sent two couriers to Holland to report to the directors of the West +India Company. The first reached Rotterdam on the fifteenth of November +and received from the Prince of Orange as reward for the good news a +jewelled gold chain. To the story of the expedition is added a detailed +account of the goods carried by the individual ships, which shows that +they also brought dye-stuffs, oil, wine, silks, furniture and other +merchandise which with the silver, other ore and skins brought the total +value up to thirty millions, presumably of Dutch gulden. + +In the meantime there sailed from Cadiz an imposing squadron under the +command of the Marquis de Valdueza and carrying as second in command the +celebrated mariner D. Antonio de Oquendo. The object of the expedition +was to clear the coasts of the islands of all the pirates which had +begun to infest the Antilles. Off Nelson's Island, or Nevis, so called +by Columbus in 1493 because the cloud-veiled summit of its highest peak +reminded him of snow, they captured four Dutch corsairs in a violent +combat from which the island suffered seriously. In September the +Spanish fleet sailed for the island of San Cristobal, and obtained +possession of the fortifications of Charles and Richelieu, compelling +the French filibusters who were garrisoned there to surrender. These +brilliant exploits had within the brief space of eight weeks placed the +Spaniards in possession of two thousand three hundred prisoners, one +hundred and seventy-three pieces of artillery, seven vessels and a great +quantity of arms, powder and tobacco. Besides losing the islands the +pirates suffered a loss of property to the amount of fifty million +pesos. For a time the Antilles and surrounding sea enjoyed freedom from +the menace that had hung over them and disturbed their tranquillity for +so many years. + +But in spite of these successes Cabrera was unpopular. By permitting a +cargo of negroes to be sold in Havana he had called forth heated +discussion in official circles and among the people. Not a few voices +were heard to question his honesty. Other charges, some of a grave +nature, were raised against him and an investigation was demanded. In +response to the island's urgent request the Court of Madrid sent Don +Francisco de Praga, prosecutor of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, to +Cuba, with instructions to inquire into the state of things. The charges +being proved, Cabrera was removed from office on the seventh of October, +1630, and taken to Spain for trial. He died in Seville in a dungeon. De +Praga acted as provisional political governor, and the Alcalde of the +Morro, Cristobal de Arranda, as military governor until the successor of +Cabrera arrived from Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +Spain was at this time gradually working her defection, political and +economic. Philip III. had died in 1621 and, as he had thrown the +responsibilities of the government upon the shoulders of the Duke of +Lerma, so his successor, Philip IV., left them to his favorite Olivares. +Olivares immediately renewed the war with the United Provinces, which +were still a thorn in the flesh of Spain, for, on being freed from the +Spanish yoke, they had plunged into feverish activity which portended +their development into a maritime and mercantile power bound in due time +to rival and surpass Spain. + +The Dutch were by the nature of their country obliged to seek their +means of subsistence upon the sea and in far-off regions. Their famous +son, Hugo Grotius, had been the first to proclaim the freedom of the +seas as an indispensable condition to the growth and progress of the +world's civilization. Since Lisbon had closed her ports to the +Netherlands and Spain was imposing a series of unreasonable restrictions +upon the navigators of other countries, the Dutch had for some time past +been determined to discover a passage by which their ships could +penetrate the seas of Asia. Dutch mariners who had been in the employ of +the Spaniards and Portuguese and had shared in their voyages of +discovery, had brought home tales of the strange lands and stranger +peoples, which stirred the imagination of the ambitious and capable +nation. The unknown continents and islands stimulated the scholars' +desire for investigation and research. Exaggerated reports about the +mineral wealth and other treasures of the New World had roused the +merchants' spirit of enterprise and acquisition. As visions of the +riches that awaited development in those foreign climes, and of +territories they might once call their own, rose before the minds of +these merchant princes and lords of the sea, the thirst of conquest +quickened in this sturdy seafaring people. + +Step by step the Dutch followed the discoveries and explorations of the +Spaniards, and recorded and described them minutely. From the middle of +the sixteenth century on the publishing houses of Amsterdam, Leyden and +other centers of the printing trade of the country sent out books +dealing with the new continent conquered by their enemy, and especially +the West Indies. Stirred by this reading, the spirit of the people rose +and demanded a share in the lands and the wealth which their mariners +had helped to discover. There was an abundance of unemployed labor and +capital in the country. Hence the government, knowing only too well that +the future of the Dutch people lay on the seas, encouraged this spirit +and deliberated upon numerous plans of exploration and colonization. + +The first step towards a realization of these plans was taken when a +charter was granted to the Dutch East India Company, which gave that +organization the exclusive right to commerce beyond the Cape of Good +Hope on the one side and the Straits of Magellan on the other side. As +it recalled similarly privileged institutions in feudal times, when the +rights of the classes engaged in trade and industry had to be protected +against violation by noble lords, more properly called robber barons, +the ideal this company represented appealed to the people. Statesmen of +other countries realized its advantages and the Dutch East India Company +became the model for the great trade corporations which eventually +sprang up in France and England. + +But the East alone could not engage all the forces of the active little +country. The tales of the sailors and the books about the Western +Hemisphere made the people look more and more longingly towards the +continent and the islands across the Atlantic. There unlimited +opportunities beckoned; there was an outlet for their energies. But +unfortunately the Spaniards had long before this established their +claims in that continent and the men at the helm of the Dutch government +were determined to keep peace with Spain. Although Holland's great +pioneer of the "freedom of the seas," Hugo Grotius, refers in his +writings to the great plans upon which the Dutch were deliberating at +the time when Captain John Smith sailed for Virginia, no step was taken +in that direction until two years after the founding of Jamestown. The +voyage of Henry Hudson up the river that bears his name, and the +eventual establishment of the colony called Nieuw Amsterdam, did not +conflict with any Spanish interests and opened the eyes of the +enterprising people to other possibilities in the vast new continent. +Before long the ships of the little confederacy were found in many +harbors all along the Atlantic coast. They discovered some little +islands in the West Indies, which the Spaniards had not found worth +while to colonize, because their rocky structure was prohibitive to +cultivation. So they did not hesitate to anchor their ships in the +inlets of these islands and finally made them a center of contraband +traffic with the continent. + +The States-General of Holland still hesitated to grant a charter to the +long-projected West India Company. But they found means to open to +private enterprise almost unrestricted facilities for operation. On the +twenty-seventh of March, 1614, they enacted a measure giving private +individuals an exclusive privilege for four successive voyages to any +passage, harbor or country they should hereafter find. This gave a +powerful impetus to the enterprise of Dutch mariners and merchants, and +also to adventurers of divers nationality. Finally on the third of June, +1621, the Dutch West India Company received a charter for twenty-four +years with privilege of renewal, which gave it the right to traffic and +plant colonies on the coast of America from the Straits of Magellan to +the extreme north. The ships of the company immediately adopted the +policy of reprisals on Spanish commerce. In the expedition of Pit Hein +in 1628, which has been narrated in the previous chapter, the privateers +of the company secured booty eighty times more in value than all their +own exports for the preceding four years had amounted to. Dutch +buccaneers became as much of a menace to Cuban ports and to the ships +plying between Cuba and other countries as the French and British had +been. + +The sixty years of Philip IV.'s reign proved a long series of failures +for Spain. They would have resulted in serious disadvantage to the +American possessions, and especially to Cuba, had not the immediate +successors of Cabrera in the governorship of Cuba been able men who +managed the affairs of the island with sagacity and foresight. D. Juan +Bitrian de Viamonte, Caballero de Calatrave, a native of Navarre, was +appointed head of the administration and entered upon his duties on the +seventh of October, 1630. As auditor of the interior was appointed the +Licentiate Pedro so who a few months later was succeeded by D. Francisco +Rege Corbalan. One of the most famous religious institutions in the West +Indies was founded about this time. A pious woman, known as Sister +Magdalen de Jesus, opened a retreat for women devoting themselves to a +religious life; it was at first called Beaterio, but subsequently became +known far and wide as the convent of the nuns of Santa Clara. + +Governor Bitrian de Viamonte was neither strong of physique nor of +personality; yet he discharged the functions of his office most +successfully. During his administration was projected the construction +of two towers, one in Chorrera, the other in Cojimar. The garrison of +the place was increased and Castellane was made a respectable +stronghold. He also organized the militia, creating six companies in +Havana, two in Santiago and two in Bayamo. He had, however, serious +disagreements with the Marquis de Cadreyta, and being something of an +invalid and considered unfit to defend the island against the attacks +of some powerful enemy, he was removed to the comparatively easier post +of Captain-General of Santo Domingo. His successor was the Field-marshal +D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa, a native of Burgos. He suffered shipwreck +on the coast of Mariel while on his voyage from Spain and lost +everything but his patents, but was duly inaugurated on the twenty-third +of October, 1634. + +The precautions taken by his successor to insure an effective defense of +the island were by no means superfluous. For as the power of Spain was +steadily declining, that of the Netherlands and of England was rising. +The establishment of the Dutch along the Hudson, their founding of Nieuw +Amsterdam and their settlements on some of the minor West Indies, had +brought the danger of Dutch invasion nearer than ever before. The +colonies founded by the British at Jamestown and Plymouth had brought +within reach the eventuality of having to guard the Spanish possessions +against the British as well. Dutch and British navigation on the +Atlantic was vastly increasing and the future foreshadowed conflicts of +the interests of Spain and Holland on the one, and Spain and England on +the other side. The Cuban authorities, wrought up and kept in a +perpetual state of tension by their experiences with the buccaneers, had +become morbidly susceptible to danger of any kind. The appearance of a +foreign ship in the neighborhood of Cuban waters sufficed to fill them +with the gravest apprehension, lest the stranger might harbor hostile +designs. + +These apprehensions were justified, for the Dutch soon resumed their +operations against Cuba. It was reported that Maurice of Nassau himself +had set out with a powerful squadron, though no historian has any record +of it. But in July, 1638, Cornelius Fels, who was by the Spaniards +called Pie de Palo, appeared in the Bahama Channel, and from that point +sailed for Havana at the head of a fleet of some twenty Dutch vessels +enforced by some filibusters. Pie de Palo took his post at a convenient +place to intercept any message sent by Governor Riano to Mexico or Peru. +Near the coast of Cabanas the fleet of the Spaniards, commanded by D. +Carlos Ibarra and composed of seven badly armed galleons and hookers, +came across the Dutch. Ibarra formed a battle line extending his vessels +so as to flank the enemy. Pie de Palo with six of his galleons bravely +attacked the Spanish ships _Capitana_ and _Almirante_, being under the +impression that they carried a great quantity of coined money and bars +of gold and silver. + +Relying on the experience and the valor of Ibarra and Pedro de Ursua, +who commanded the two vessels so proudly attacked by Pie de Palo, the +captains Sancho Urdambra, Jacinto Molendez, the Marquis de Cordenosa, +Pablo Contreras and Juan de Campos endeavored in the mean time to check +the other galleons of the enemy. The unequal combat between Ibarra and +Ursua and the Dutch vessels lasted eight hours and the brave Spanish +sailors issued from it as victors. Pie de Palo was seriously wounded, +more than four hundred Dutchmen were killed and three of their vessels +were destroyed. The enemy fled, pursued by Ibarra, who returned to Vera +Cruz after saving the honor of the Spanish flag and the riches the fleet +had carried. They sang a Te Deum in Mexico as thanksgiving for the +victory and King Philip IV. rewarded Ibarra and his men by rich gifts. +The success of this expedition awakened in Havana the old spirit of +adventure and military prowess. Cuba had so far been the victim of +piracy and privateering; now it decided to defend her rights by fitting +out her own privateers and sending them against the enemy. The first +encounter was with corsairs that had been lying in wait for a vessel +coming from Vera Cruz; the Cuban who distinguished himself in the +command of the expedition which frustrated the enemy's designs, was +Andres Manso de Contreras. + +The demand for ships suitable for undertakings of this kind was so great +that the ship-builders Carera and Perez of Oporto were kept busy +building vessels for that purpose. + +The administration of D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa was short, but some +important measures were enacted in that period. The Exchequer Tribunal +de Corientes was established with a single auditor for the royal chests +of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida and other Spanish possessions. When it was +subsequently found that the duties were too numerous for one man, a +second official was appointed. It was then arranged that while one of +the auditors was to remain in Cuba, the other was alternately to visit +the other cajas (chests). In this way the government tried to avoid +delays and complications which had caused considerable trouble. At this +period, too, a commission of the Inquisition of Carthagena, elsewhere +generally abolished, established its residence in Havana. Ecclesiastical +life assumed greater proportions and a wider sphere of influence. +Bishops who had previously looked upon Havana as an undesirable place of +residence, no longer hesitated to accept a call to that city. + +Work on the fortifications of the island was actively pursued during the +administration of Gamboa. It was ordered that el Morro should have a +garrison of two hundred, and that as soon as feasible, la Punta and la +Fuerza were to be garrisoned by one hundred men each. The construction +of the fort at the entrance to the port of Santiago de Cuba was an +important improvement. It was called San Pedro de la Rocca, in honor of +the governor of that city, D. Pedro de la Rocca, although it is +generally known as the Morro. A garrison was installed, consisting of +one hundred and fifty men sent from the Peninsula, and the ammunition +destined for the defense came from New Spain. The power of the +armadilla, which had theretofore been arbitrary, was also regulated at +this time. Governor Gamboa, however, retired from office on the +fifteenth of September, 1639, when he had barely inaugurated these +improvements, and sailed for Spain. + +Gamboa's successor was D. Alvaro de Luna y Sarmiento, a knight of the +Order of Alcantara. During his administration, which began on the +fifteenth of September, 1639, and ended on the twenty-ninth of +September, 1647, the work of constructing defenses was eagerly pushed. +Two leagues leeward of Chorrera a fort was erected. At the mouths of the +rivers Casiguagas and Cojimar were built the two towers that had been +planned by Governor Viamonte; they were intended to protect those +advanced points of the capital. The able engineer Bautista Antonelli +superintended the construction of these works of fortification. As the +cost of these structures was defrayed by the inhabitants of the city, +the governor saw fit to entrust their defense to three companies of men +recruited from the native population. It was the first regiment of the +kind organized on the island. By January of the next year the +fortifications of the Castillo del Morro were also completed. + +With the insurrection of Portugal which occurred at this period the +pirates became bolder and renewed their outrages. The Dutch, too, +threatened Havana once more. A squadron commanded by Admiral Fels had +approached close to the coast, but had been driven back by a violent +hurricane. Four of the vessels had been left between Havana and Mariel. +Governor Luna sent Major Lucas de Caravajal against them; three hundred +Dutch were taken prisoners, and seventeen bronze cannon, forty-eight +iron cannons, two pedreros (swivel guns) and a great stock of arms and +ammunition were captured. The captured pieces served to reenforce the +artillery of the forts of La Punta and Morro. + +D. Diego de Villalba y Toledo, Knight of the Order of Alcantara, became +the successor of Governor Luna on the twenty-eighth of September, 1647. +His assistant deputy was the Licentiate Francisco de Molina. A great +calamity befell the island in the second year of his administration. A +terrible epidemic broke out in the spring of 1649; the documents and +chronicles of the period give hardly any details about the origin and +the character of the disease, but it was most likely a putrid fever +imported from the Indian population of Mexico and Cartagena by barges +that had come from those places. The people who were attacked by it +succumbed within three days, and it was estimated that in the course of +five months one third of the population died. + +Among those who died as victims of the scourge were the deputy auditor +Molino and the three licentiates who succeeded him, Pedroso, Torar and +Olivares, an Alcalde and many other functionaries, one third of the +garrison and a great number of the passengers and crew of the fleet +which its general, D. Juan Pujedas, had held ready to station in Havana. +Governor Villalba himself was seriously ill and only saved by utmost +care. The ravages of the epidemic seriously disturbed not only the +ordinary activities of the population, but also the regular routine of +the administration. + +During this period of suffering and sorrow the conduct of the religious +orders of both sexes was so admirable as to deserve special mention and +warm recognition. The monks and nuns received the sick in their +monasteries and convents, tenderly cared for them and when they did not +succeed to nurse them back to health, escorted the victims to their +graves. Among those who individually distinguished themselves by this +true Christian spirit was Padre Antonio de Jesus. After the epidemic had +spent itself and Governor Villalba had recovered, he organized a company +of militia lancers under the command of Martin Calvido la Puerta, one of +the wealthiest men of Havana. Like many other governors of Cuba, +Villalba became at the end the victim of calumny and cabal. The +government of Spain relieved him from his office and the Oidor of Santo +Domingo, D. Francisco Pantoja de Ayala, was charged with an +investigation of the complaints and accusations brought against him. + +The victories of the Dutch fleets in India, Brazil and Peru and their +conquest of some of the West Indian Islands, as also England's +expansion of her dominions and the growth of her naval power were cause +for grave anxiety. Measures of defense and protection became the subject +of interminable discussions in the official circles of Madrid and +Havana. The governors sent over by the court were urged to multiply +their effort to fortify Cuba and insure safety from attacks by covetous +enemies. D. Francisco Gelder, Field-marshal and Knight of Calatravas, +succeeded Villalba and was inaugurated on the twenty-eighth of March, +1653. One of his first official acts was to sever communication with +Santiago and Bayamo, for these two towns were at that time ravaged by +the same epidemic from which Havana had suffered. His preventative +measure set an example which was soon after followed by the authorities +of Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, Baracoa and Remedios, and +the spreading of the epidemic being checked, the island soon returned to +normal conditions. + +Like other governors before him, Gelder showed a deplorable leniency +towards those elements of the population that carried on contraband +traffic with negroes. But he displayed great energy in the persecution +of pirates. During his administration Captain Rojas de Figuerosa +captured the island of Tortuga, which had been a formidable base of +corsair operations. The news of this exploit caused great rejoicing in +Havana and was celebrated by a Te Deum under the direction of Bishop +Torre. Gelder also devised a plan to protect Havana from invasion by +land. He proposed to open a canal from the extreme interior bay running +north and extending to the sea, which would have surrounded the town by +water and make it practically safe. But the suggestion did not seem to +meet with approval. Before any other plans could be drafted, he died of +apoplexy, on the twenty-third of June, 1654, and in the interval between +his death and the arrival of his successor from Spain, the government +was administered by the Regidor D. Ambrosio de Soto and D. Pedro Garcia +Montanes, commandant of Morro. + +The newly appointed governor, Field-marshal D. Juan Montano Velasquez, +was inaugurated in June, 1655, but dying within a year, did not vitally +influence the course of affairs in the island. His plan of fortifying +Havana consisted in enclosing the city with walls from the landside, +running a rampart with ten bastions and two half-bastions. For the +execution of this plan the neighborhood of Havana offered to contribute +nine thousand peons (day-laborers) and the town corporation imposed a +tax on every pint of wine sold to assist in defraying the expenses of +the construction. The king approved heartily of these offers and ordered +that the treasury of Mexico should aid by an additional contribution of +twenty-thousand pesos. But the historian Arrato reports that the whole +scheme was soon after abandoned on account of the war in which Spain was +about to be involved. + +The British, their appetite for colonial possessions once being +awakened, saw in the growing weakness of Spain an opportunity to get +hold of some of her dominions. It was well known that Cromwell, although +England was then at peace with Spain, tried hard to increase and +strengthen its political and commercial power in America. The British +had already conquered the islands Barbadoes and San Cristobal, and in +the year 1655 a squadron of fifty-six vessels and a great number of +transports sailed from England, determined to wrest from Spain more of +her West Indian possessions. A force of nine thousand men was on these +vessels, many of them filibusters who had joined the British. + +The British command had primarily in view the conquest of Santo Domingo; +but, being repelled, it concentrated its efforts upon Jamaica. The +governor and his people stubbornly resisted the inroads of the enemy. In +the desperate struggle with a superior and well-trained force two brave +land-holders distinguished themselves by their heroism: D. Francisco +Proenza and D. Cristobal de Isasi. But their small and poorly equipped +forces were outnumbered by the numerous and well prepared enemy; they +were finally obliged to retire within the fortified camp and to +surrender the place to the British invaders. Panic-stricken and +unwilling to live under the rule of the enemy, thousands of Jamaicans +left for Cuba. The population of this island having been recently +decimated by the great epidemic, the refugees were warmly welcomed. They +numbered about ten thousand and the population of Cuba increased, until +it was estimated at forty thousand. This, however, did not compensate +Cuba for the loss of Jamaica, which in time became as valuable to the +British as it became ruinous to Spanish commerce. + +The comparatively easy victory of the British was a heavy blow to +Spanish pride and ranks high among the great disasters that marked the +reign of Philip IV. Realizing that Cuba might at any time suffer the +same fate as Jamaica, one hundred thousand soldiers were sent over from +the Peninsula and some ammunition from Spain. The establishment of the +British in colonies so near to Cuba was a constant menace to its +security, and during his brief administration Governor Montano devoted +himself with commendable perseverance to the improvement of the defenses +of Havana, beginning with the most important and urgent work upon its +walls. But before the realization of his plans Montano was taken ill and +died during Easter week of the year 1656. + +The conquest of Jamaica by the British had furnished the world such +incontestable proof of Spain's military decline, that the lawless +elements roving the sea under the black flag of the pirates once more +set out upon their criminal expeditions. They extended their +depredations to the whole coast of Spanish America and menaced the life +and property of the inhabitants wherever the lack of forts or adequate +garrisons facilitated their manoeuvres. As the pirates were supposed +to be either British or French, the government of Spain was suddenly +roused to action and entered complaints at the courts of France and +England. But they received little satisfaction beyond an exchange of +polite diplomatic notes, which contained nothing reassuring whatsoever. +Both governments replied that the miscreants were private individuals +and criminals for whose actions their government, however seriously it +discountenanced them, was by no means responsible. Moreover, +interference was out of the question, since the offenses were committed +outside of the jurisdiction of the respective countries. Spain was thus +left to her own resources in proceeding against those disturbers of the +peace and safety of her American colonies. + +But these colonies were thousands of miles away and Spain, under the +weak rule of a weak sovereign, was too much absorbed by the futile +effort to stay the decline of her European power. Roussillon and Artois +had been ceded to France, the war with Portugal was dragging along +hopelessly. Although the revenues of the crown had been materially +increased under the king's favorite, Olivares, the profligate +extravagance of the court was forever draining the coffers. The colonies +had to get along as best they could and they had a troublesome time to +fight the ever growing menace of pirate invasion with little or no aid +from the mother country. + +The death of Governor Montano made necessary another provisional +government; it consisted of D. Diego Ranzel, as political and the +Alcalde Jose Aguirera as military governor. When the duly appointed new +governor, Captain General D. Juan de Salamanca, entered upon his office +on the fifth of March, 1658, he soon found his hands full. Some years +before, a number of Frenchmen, regardless of the Spanish claim of +priority, had settled on the island of Tortuga. They were hunters, +planters and laborers, with a fair sprinkling of adventurers. The +settlement had grown into a real colony, before the Spaniards became +aware of the fact that it constituted a grave danger. Several +expeditions were sent against them, but failed to dislodge them. +Encouraged by this triumph over the Spaniards, these intruders set about +to extend their operations to the coast contiguous to Hayti. Sometimes +these men were working by authority of the French Company of the West +Indies, and of the governor appointed to rule over them; at other times +they undertook excursions quite independently. They fairly succeeded in +making themselves masters of Cape France. Before long they seem to have +reached some agreement with the British authorities of Jamaica, to +combine for concerted action against Spain, and they began to terrorize +the population of the Spanish possessions by sending out piratical +expeditions that kept the people on the coasts in constant fear for +their life and property. + +The work entitled "Pirates of America" contains a wealth of facts +concerning the corsairs sent out by these French and British settlements +and the many other buccaneers and filibusters that harassed the people +of the Spanish colonies. Among them is the story of the famous pirate +Lolonois, also known as Francisco Nau and el Olones, whose descent upon +Cuba during the administration of Governor Salamanca has all the +elements of a thrilling though gruesome melodrama. Lolonois had been in +Campeche and was supposed to have perished in one of his forays. But in +reality he had made his escape and reached Tortuga, where he was able to +arm himself anew. He reached the northern part of Cuba at a small +trading town, los Cayo, which he intended to rob of its stores of +tobacco, sugar and skins. Some fisherman recognized him and hurried to +Havana with the news that Lolonois had arrived with two boats and was +planning a raid. The governor doubted, having been assured of his death +at Campeche, but urged by the entreaties of the men, he sent against him +a vessel with ten pieces of artillery and ninety armed men. Their order +was not to return until the pirate horde was annihilated; every one of +them was to be hung, except Lolonois who was to be brought to Havana +alive. + +The pirates somehow were fully informed of the expedition against them +and awaited the arrival of the vessel in the Riviera estera where it was +to anchor. They terrorized some poor fisherfolk into showing them the +entrance to the port, hoping there to find better boats than their own +canoes. They reached the war-ship at two o'clock in the morning and were +asked by the sentinel whence they came and whether they had seen any +pirates. They made a prisoner answer for them, that they had not seen +any, and the sentinel saw no cause for alarm. At day-break the Cubans +found out their mistake; for the pirates began to attack them from all +sides with such violence that their artillery was soon of no avail. +Sword in hand the outlaws forced the Spaniards to hide in the lower +parts of the ship. Then Lolonois ordered them to be brought on deck, one +by one, and had their heads cut off. Thus the whole force perished with +the exception of one, who was sent as courier to the governor with the +insolent message: + + "I shall never give quarter to a Spaniard, I cherish the firm hope + to execute on your own person what I did with those you sent with + your vessel and what you intended to do with me and my companions." + +Lolonois finally met with a tragical death in Nicaragua. But although +the lack of preparedness on the part of the Cubans and the inefficiency +of the commander and his crew make this story almost incredible, the +exploit of the British pirate Juan or Henry Morgan in Puerto del +Principe, is equally remarkable and vouched for not only in the book +mentioned above, but also by the historian Urrutia. Morgan planned an +attack upon Havana with twelve vessels, but yielding to the persuasion +of his officers who feared its forts, he contented himself with +descending upon the neighboring coast town. As the fleet approached, a +Spanish prisoner dashed into the water, swam ashore and warned the +people of the danger. They put into safety their most precious household +goods and when they gathered about the alcalde numbered about eight +hundred men. A detachment of cavalry was displayed in hope of +intimidating the approaching pirates and attacking them from the rear. +But the enemy advanced in good order, and when the Alcalde and many of +the leaders were killed, the people fled to the mountains. Morgan's +forces entered the city, where they met with some resistance, but when +the pirates threatened to set fire to the town, the people gave up to +them. As soon as they saw themselves masters of the place, the pirates +locked the inhabitants into the churches, plundered as much as they +could find and so ill-treated their victims that many died. Then they +demanded ransom, threatening to take them to Jamaica, if it were not +paid in two weeks. Before the term expired some of the pirates captured +a negro coming towards the town with a message from the governor of +Cuba, promising the people quick help. Morgan then demanded five hundred +bulls or cows with sufficient salt to salt them to be driven to the +coast, took with him six hostages and fifty thousand pesos cash and +jewels, and left his companions attending to the shipping of the cattle. + +To fortify her coasts and strengthen the garrison of her forts became an +urgent need for Cuba and brooked no delay. For while the government of +Spain deliberated at leisure upon means to furnish the much-needed aid, +the enemy was alive to the opportunity which inadequate defense offered. +The invasion of Santiago de Cuba, which is the most important event of +Salamanca's governorship, was a flagrant example of what could at any +time happen at any point along the Spanish American coast. One October +day in the year 1663, a British squadron, according to some authorities +consisting of fifteen, according to others of eighteen ships of various +sizes appeared at the entrance to the port, with unmistakably hostile +intention. The commandant of the Morro immediately informed the +governor, D. Pedro Morales, of this unwelcome arrival, but the governor +did nothing except summon the troops to their respective quarters. Morro +was garrisoned by only eighty men, under an inexperienced captain; some +historians give the number as only twenty-five. It seems to have been an +unpardonable carelessness on the part of the governor not to have at +once dispatched an enforcement to the garrison. The inhabitants +volunteered to make a sortie to attack the enemy. But the governor did +not seem to realize the seriousness of the situation and forbade them to +take any action against them. + +[Illustration: MORRO CASTLE, SANTIAGO + +The oldest of the fortifications of the former capital of Cuba, erected +in the sixteenth century to protect the place from French and English +raiders. It occupies a commanding position on a headland overlooking the +splendid harbor and the waters which were the scene of the destruction +of the last Spanish fleet in Cuban waters.] + +The enemy's forces landed at a point called Aguadores, three quarters of +a league from the city. They numbered eight hundred men and encountered +no opposition whatever. But as it was then night, they decided to encamp +on the little plain of Lagunas and wait until daybreak. The officials of +the garrison, relying on their familiarity with the ground, urged the +governor to let them make a sortie with three hundred picked men and +take them by surprise. But Governor Morales still doubted that they +would have the courage to attack the city and refused the proposal of +the brave troops as he had the offer of the people. When the morning +came, his amazing credulity must have received a stunning blow. For the +enemy, fully armed, began to move towards the city. Disconcerted and +confused, Morales hastily ordered the troops out and placed himself at +their head. Without any order or strategic plan they moved towards the +heights of Santa Anna, where as sole defense he had planted a cannon and +had some trenches dug. + +It was an easy task to get the better of a commander of such little +foresight. Realizing the confusion of the Cuban forces the enemy +separated into two columns and proceeded to surround Morales and his +men. In the panic which broke out, the voice of Morales was heard to +order a retreat. He himself escaped into the city. The British +dispatched two hundred men to take Morro, which they found abandoned, +the garrison having fled instead of making an attempt to save the fort +and their honor. When the British commander entered Morro he was +reported to have made the remark, that he alone with his dog and his +sword could have defended the place. Morro and Santiago were captured +and the enemy unhindered indulged in plunder. The bells of the churches +were taken, the artillery of the fort, three vessels lying in the +harbor, and a number of negro slaves. Unable to get the furniture and +jewels which had been hidden by the residents, the enemy vented their +wrath on the Morro, which they blew up; they destroyed the cathedral and +killed a few people. + +For almost a month they lingered about the place and still the governor +did nothing to force them to leave. When the governor of Cuba heard of +the plight of Santiago, he immediately summoned an expeditionary corps +of five hundred men and hurried to the relief of the sorely tried town; +but when he arrived on the fifteenth of November, he learned that the +British had on that very day evacuated the town. The historian Urrutia +reports that the Audiencia of Santo Domingo entrusted the licentiate D. +Nicolas Munez with the investigation of this disgraceful defeat and +brought about the removal of Morales. By order of the king he was +replaced by the Field Marshal D. Pedro de Bayoa, who was also given two +hundred soldiers and war provisions for future eventualities of this +kind. + +The island had at that time a population of over three hundred thousand +inhabitants. The number of negroes had increased and furnished the labor +so much needed to work on the plantations. The cultivation of the land +was carried on with greater efficiency and began to yield rich results. +Governor Salamanca, in spite of his glorious military antecedents, +devoted himself preferably to works of peace. He succeeded in promoting +tobacco culture and was the author of the decree issued on the fifteenth +of October, 1659, which authorized the extension of the fields into the +uncultivated plains that were not used for any other purposes. He was +profoundly concerned about the morals of Cuban society and attempted to +combat the laxity and dissipation that characterized its life. But it +seems that his moralizing had no great effect upon the people that were +bent upon taking life easy and plunged into pleasure with greater zest +than they pursued their work. + +But while the population of the island enjoyed comparative security and +prosperity, that of the coast towns was steadily worried by danger of +invasion. When Governor Salamanca retired from office, the menace was +still far from removed. After a provisional government of ten months, +Don Rodrigo de Flores y Aldama, Field Marshal and Caballero de +Alcantara, entered upon his administration on the fifteenth of June, +1663. With him arrived also a new bishop, Don Juan Saenz de Manosca, a +Mexican of immaculate purity and uncompromising severity. He took charge +of the diocese on the sixth of August and continued with greater success +than Governor Salamanca in the moralization of the community. Realizing +the increasing danger of invasion Governor Aldama at once set about to +push the work on the walls of Havana. The garrison was increased by two +hundred men. + +But Aldama was only a year later appointed Captain-General of Yucatan, +and a new governor succeeded him, the Field Marshal Don Francisco Davila +Crejon y Gaston, who had previously been governor of Gibraltar and +Venezuela. He entered upon his office on the thirtieth of July, 1664, +and immediately set to work with great energy and perseverance to hasten +the construction of more fortifications. His predecessors had stored up +an immense amount of building material and there was no reason why the +work should not be carried on without delay. But Davila encountered +serious difficulties and obstacles because his plans were opposed by the +engineer Marcos Lucio and the viceroy la Espanola Marques de Muncere. +The resources of the exchequer were at that time so scanty that Orejon +ordered the provisory use of fagots in the construction of the +fortifications of Havana. + +However, El Morro of Santiago de Cuba which had been blown up by +filibusters a few years before, was rebuilt under his orders. The +batteries of La Punta, la Estrella and Santa Clara were established. +The governor of Santiago and D. Pedro Bayone finished these works and +also walled up the convent of San Francisco making it equivalent to a +fort. In the year 1665 the French pirate Pedro Legrand penetrated into +Santo Espiritu with a force of filibusters. He set fire to thirty-three +houses and demanded a ransom from every inhabitant. During that and the +following year, the pirates plundered more than two hundred haciendas +(farms) carrying off cattle and furniture. They committed unspeakable +outrages, violating even the wives and daughters of the men whose homes +they destroyed or robbed. + +One of the most curious historical documents of this period is "De +Americansche Zee Rovers," a narrative of piratical exploits on the +coasts of Cuba and other Spanish possessions by a member of the +redoubtable fraternity, Alexander Exquemeling, a Dutch pirate, whose +talent for piracy was coupled with the gift of literary style and a +pious disposition. The book was translated into many languages and was +very popular at the time; it gives a vivid account of the life and +habits of the buccaneers and of conditions in the colonies they visited. +Exquemeling had come to Tortuga in one of the vessels of the Dutch West +India Company and, as was frequently done then, was sold into servitude +for three years. Being ill-treated by his masters, he made his escape +and joined the Brothers of the Coast. He was with Morgan at the capture +of Puerto del Principe in Cuba, at an attack upon Porto Bello on the +Isthmus of Darien and at the dastardly sack of Panama, and indulges in +no little moralizing about the monster Morgan and his associates. + +In the year 1670 steps were finally taken by the British and the Spanish +government to crush this outlaw power of the seas. As if in defiance of +this act the expedition against Panama was made which Exquemeling +describes with evident horror. He also reports that the new governor of +Jamaica, who had been particularly instructed to enforce the treaty +against piracy, which in the diplomatic documents goes under the name +"American treaty," ordered three hundred French corsairs who had been +shipwrecked on the coast of Porto Rico to be slaughtered. But he does +not forget to add that the same governor only a few years later secretly +abetted the operations of the pirates and even shared in their booty. +One ship alone carried such rich freight, that every member of the +pirate crew received four hundred pounds and the governor himself a +handsome sum of hush-money. + +But the grim tragicomedy of Morgan's career reached its climax when the +scoundrel, who had brought untold misery to homes in Cuba and other +Spanish colonies, suddenly turned about, became respectable, married the +daughter of one of the most prominent citizens of Jamaica, and was +appointed Judge of the admiralty court. Nor was this all: Charles II +knighted him and in 1682 the whilom buccaneer, as Sir Henry Morgan, +became Deputy Governor of Jamaica. He held the office three years, +during which he mercilessly sacrificed some of his former comrades. Then +King James II came upon the throne, and Spain having gathered sufficient +evidence to accuse "Sir Henry" of secret complicity with the pirates, he +was discharged, sent to England and spent some years in prison. The +"American Treaty," however, dealt a blow to piracy in the Western +hemisphere; and in due time relieved the inhabitants of Cuba as of other +Spanish possessions in America for the nightmare that had threatened +them for over a century. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +In spite of the "American Treaty" which had for the moment bound Great +Britain and Spain together for mutual protection against the pirates, +the designs of land-hungry British courtiers and adventurers were by no +means abandoned. Spain was not blind to the fact that she had all powers +against her, that were playing an important part in the development of +the New World. French, Dutch and British were stung with the desire to +appropriate to themselves some of its wealth. For many years the British +government had jealously watched the progress of Dutch navigation and +commerce. Its settlements in North America had whetted the appetite for +colonial expansion, which, once awakened, was bound to be satisfied by +whatever means diplomacy or strategy offered. Though England and Spain +were then nominally at peace, Cromwell was haunted by dreams of British +world power and as soon as the Revolution gave him authority to act as +Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, pursued his visions of conquest. + +The act of navigation which was issued in the year 1651 does not with a +word mention British monopoly of the colonies; it only established the +principle of exclusive maritime commerce by British vessels, equipped +for the most part with British citizens, and prohibited foreigners from +importing into the Commonwealth other products than those of her own +soil or those the sale of which was established in the importing +country. Cromwell's idea was without doubt to attack Dutch commerce and +build upon its ruins a national British commerce. Holland opposed in +vain the act intended to break the friendly relations between the two +nations. Parliament was concerned only about British interests and +refused to revoke her laws to please her neighbor and ally. The war +between England and Holland became inevitable. Cromwell's squadron +triumphed and Dutch commerce had to give way to British. + +This lesson was not lost upon France which was also haunted by visions +of colonial empire and was therefore interested in defending the +principle of monopoly. As early as the reign of Queen Isabella, French +ambition and desire for colonial possessions had become manifest. As +British vessels began to prey upon Spanish colonies, France followed +their operations with keen interest and at opportune moments managed to +acquire a slice of territory in the New World. In the year when the +British had taken possession of Barbadoes, France took half of San +Cristobal; when the British settled on the other half of that island, +the French took possession of Martinique, Guadeloupe and other small +islands. They founded a colony in Cayenne and assisted by corsairs got a +hold on the western part of Santo Domingo. + +But the greed for territory once awakened, was not easily appeased, and +the courtiers of the Restoration, in need of new avenues of wealth to +carry on their wonted extravagance, were among the most rapacious +claimants of land in America. In the Spring of 1663, the province of +Carolina was established, extending from the thirty-sixth degree of +north latitude to the river San Matheo and some dissatisfied planters +from Barbadoes founded a settlement in the fall of the same year. Having +been included by the Spaniards within the limits of Florida, this +arbitrary act was bound not to pass unchallenged by Spain. In defiance +of the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine the Earl of Clarendon +obtained from the King in June, 1665, a charter granting him and his +partners all territory lying between the twenty-ninth and the +thirty-sixth degree of north latitude from the Atlantic to the Pacific. + +Not satisfied with these acquisitions, the British turned covetous eyes +upon Cuba. A letter written by a Major Smith in the year 1665 and +published in the Universal Museum of London in the year 1762, gives an +account of the island which requires no comment. It reads: + +"Cuba is a very good island and in it is generally, for so large a +country, the best land I have seen in America, although I have traveled +the main continent in several places and crossed from the north to the +south seas as also the north side of Hispaniola, and most parts of +Jamaica. This great island is easily to be conquered, and would make the +best plantation, besides the prejudice it would be to the Spaniards and +the great advantage to our nation. For instance had we the port and city +of Havana, which might in all probability be reduced with two regiments +of good soldiers from Jamaica, carrying with them two or three sloops or +shallops for sending men, provided with good arms and other necessities +for an assault. The descent is to be undertaken presently after their +armada hath passed out of the Indies which is once in two years, towards +the end of the summer. There is a good landing on the west side of the +city where it lies open and you need fear no ambuscades, but not on the +east side of the harbor, for there you will be galled by the Morro until +the city be secured; but when once that is taken, you may easily reduce +the castle also and there being no danger of retaking it until the next +armada arrives, which will be almost two years, in which time you will +have planters enough from other of your islands to manure the land and +assist the soldiers in the defense of the island. This conquest being +once effected, would utterly ruin the Spaniards and for these reasons; +our ships lying both here and at Jamaica, would be at all times ready to +gather up their straggling fleet which it is difficult to keep embodied +without the help of that port of Havana, it being windward from the bay +of Mexico or Puerto Bello, without separation and on the other hand, to +pass the Gulf of Florida is impossible should they lose the Havana where +they rendezvous victual water and provide all things necessary for their +return to Spain. When this is done, they wait for a convenient season +of weather (being much observed from the changes of the moon) in order +to pass the dangerous strait; for to say truly, the Spaniards are +neither very fit for sea nor for land service, excepting some officers +and soldiers bred in Flanders, for the latter and a few Biscaniers for +sea affairs. They are so sensible of their weakness, and jealous of +their riches in those parts that it is very difficult for any ingenious +man, once taken by them, to get his liberty, fearing he might give such +intelligence as would be the cause of their ruin, witness their +blindfolding of all strangers, when they pass their cities and castles, +for they much dread an old prophecy among them, _that within a short +time the English will as freely walk the streets of Havana as the +Spaniards now do_, which indeed had been easily performed with a third +of the army sent to Jamaica and a far greater advantage to the nation; +for I esteem that port and harbor of the Havana in the West Indies to be +as great a check upon the Spaniards as Tangier in the straits of +Gibraltar; and if we were once masters of both they would without doubt +be so straightened as absolutely to admit us a free trade into their +ports of America, where they import our commodities and sell them for +ten times more than they first cost in Spain, by reason of the great +plenty of silver, which trade would not only be of great advantage to +us, but also prevent their future enslaving our nation in chains, as +they now do; for being employed in their fortifications, they are worse +used, all things considered, than if they were taken by the Turks. I +have seen other parts of the West Indies, where the Spaniards might be +fleeced of considerable quantity of riches; as at Panama, where there +are silver bars piled up in heaps in the open street day and night, +without guard, four, five or six months together, waiting the arrival of +the armada, which when arriving in Puerto Bello, they transport it +thither with so slender a guard for so great a treasure, that it would +be easy prey for a thousand resolute men the expense of whose +expedition would be small in comparison to the prize. But there is no +resting or long tarrying about the business, the Spaniards being +numerous here as in all other places of the main land; a catch and away. +This island of Cuba hath adjacent to it great conveniences of salt and +fishing and in it is very great plenty of horses, meat, sheep and hogs, +both wild and tame, of a far larger and better breed than in other parts +of America. Which hath also many rich mines of copper already open and +it is the only place which supplies all the West Indies with metal for +the infinite number of ordnance they have in all their ports and +castles, both in the north and south seas; but whether it hath any mines +of silver or gold, I know not; but if there were any such they would +venture their opening a discovery fearing the invasion of that island +which is of so easy access by sea and of such great importance to their +whole interest in America; for which reason also they refuse to work any +mines in Florida that are near the north sea (although they have there +very many) but would rather employ themselves about others farther in +the country although with great labor and cost for conveyance of the +produce by land to Mexico; lastly, this island (to complete its praise) +hath very good ports and harbors of great advantage to ships for safe +passing the gulf; and should the Spaniards keep two or three frigates +always plying off there between the western end of Cuba and the Havana, +it were impossible for any ships of ours that came from Jamaica to +escape them. The scales turned would be their case to all America. +Neither wants it great sugar-works, which have both water-mill and horse +mills and very many large cocoa walks; the most and best tobacco; in +short, it produces all other commodities that any of our American +islands have knowledge of." + +This letter shows plainly how preoccupied was the British mind with the +acquisition of Cuba, and foreshadows the coming events, for which Cuba +in spite of all warning symptoms was little prepared. Clouds had +gathered about the horizon of Spain and darkened its own outlook. + +King Philip IV. had died on the seventeenth of September, 1665, and so +inadequate was at that time the means of communication between Spain and +her American dominions that it took seven months before news of the +event reached the people of Cuba. The heir to the Spanish throne was the +three-year-old Charles II. the queen, assisted by the junta, being named +regent. If the reign of Philip IV. had been called the most disastrous +in the history of the kingdom, that of Charles II. was hardly less so. +It was the period when Louis XIV. of France had begun to cherish a dream +of universal empire and although a brother-in-law of the Spanish +infant-king, did not hesitate to do his share in weakening the power of +Spain. In spite of the critical position of the mother-country, the +proclamation of the new king was celebrated in Havana with great pomp on +the ninth day of May in the following year. At the review held in San +Francisco square of that city appeared two companies of mounted militia, +four companies of veteran infantry and four others of free Pardos (a +mixed race of blacks and whites) and Morenos, sent by the Major Jeronimo +Luque Salazar. + +The perfidy of the French king contributed seriously to the insecurity +of Cuba at this period. There is little doubt that he aided and abetted +the operations of French pirates in the West Indies. The island of +Tortuga was once more in their hands. Barbadoes and Jamaica were the +haunts of great numbers of these outlaws, who kept the Spanish ships +sailing on these seas as well as Campeche, Tabasco, Honduras, Nicaragua, +New Granada, Costa Rica, Santa Catalina, la Guayra and others of the +rich Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere in a continual state of +suspense. Governor Davila succeeded in several punitive expeditions +against the pirates. The notorious Lolonois or El Olones, was executed +in Nicaragua and in Cuba itself more than three hundred were hanged in +the different places where they had been caught. During Davila's +administration some wealthy citizens made bequests for the public good. +The most important was that of Martin Calvo, who left an income of five +thousand pesos to be annually distributed as gifts among five poor +orphan girls. Governor Davila Orejon y Gaston was in the military +literature of his time known as the author of a work called "Escelencias +del arte militare y variones illustres." He demonstrated in that work +the importance of the port of Havana for the conservation of Spanish +dominion in Mexico and Peru. He retired from the governorship on the +sixth of May, 1670, and died in Venezuela. + +The immediate successor of Davila was Field Marshal D. Francisco +Rodriguez de Ledesma, Chevalier of the Order of Santiago. Determined to +curb the brazen bullying in which the buccaneers were still indulging, +he issued privateering patents to a number of valiant mariners and +merchants, who were willing to face the foreign pirates in open fight +and prevent further encroachments upon the coasts of Spanish America. +The two men who especially distinguished themselves in these expeditions +were Felipe Geraldini and Major Marcos de Alcala. Ledesma also carried +on the work of fortification. During his administration was built a +portion of the cathedral under the supervision of D. Juan Bernardo +Alonso de Los Rios; but the imposing edifice was not finished until many +years later. + +Governor Ledesma was not to be spared an experience with the +freebooters. In the year 1678 the governor of Guarico sent a certain +Franquinay to Santiago with the evident intention of conquering the +place. Franquinay, who was a French corsair well-known among the +Brotherhood of the Coast landed with eight hundred men at Jaragua Grande +in the eastern part of the island. There he engaged a half-witted native +by the name of Juan Perdomo to act as guide and started with his forces +to march toward the city. It was a moonlit night and on arriving at a +point where the road branched into two, the pirate divided his forces, +each taking one of the roads. On meeting again at the place where the +two branches continued as the highroad, the idiot Perdomo began to shout +"Santiago, Spain!" The moon had set in the mean time and in the darkness +enveloping them, the pirates did not recognize their own forces and +thought this call a signal to the enemy lying in wait for them. They +began to fire upon their own forces, in the belief that they were +betrayed and surprised by the Spaniards, and killed a great number of +their own people, before they became aware of their mistake. In this way +was Franquinay's plan to take and ransack the city of Cuba frustrated by +a mentally deficient native, one who in the language of the Latin people +is called an "innocent." The corsair turned back to the shore with the +intention of re-embarking and left Perdomo behind. The half-wit, +although manacled, managed to reach Santiago and related his experience +to the great delight of the governor and the residents. This was the +last attempt of pirate forces upon the capital, the inhabitants of which +had been kept in a state of constant alarm for a century and a half. But +the smaller towns of the vicinity were for some time harassed by +Franquinay who, unable to accomplish his ambitious purpose, vented his +wrath upon their population by committing the most cruel outrages. + +The expedition of buccaneers under the command of M. de Grammont in +February, 1679, was another event that justified the fears of the Cubans +and their steps to insure the safeguard of their ports. M. de Grammont +landed with a force of six hundred men at Guanaja and succeeded in +capturing Puerto del Principe. But the inhabitants valiantly organized +and armed themselves to fight the invader. With a scanty reenforcement +of soldiers from the garrison they managed to defeat the enemy's horde +and pursued them as far as the port of Guanaja. There M. de Grammont, +who was wounded in the course of the combat, retired into a trench +which was sufficiently fortified to offer some resistance. On the +twenty-fifth of the month an engagement took place, which forced the +pirates to take to their ships and hurriedly to leave for the open sea. +They had not only accomplished nothing, but suffered the loss of seventy +dead and many wounded. + +Notwithstanding the two countries being at peace, the feeling between +Great Britain and Spain was gradually becoming more and more hostile. +During the pirate raids and other expeditions of British vessels off the +Spanish-American coasts, British soldiers and sailors had been taken +prisoners and were held in what was equivalent to bondage. The British +government had repeatedly remonstrated against this procedure, but the +Cuban authorities had not forgotten Jamaica and other operations of the +British in Spanish America and were not inclined to parley. Ships had +been sent to Havana to demand the release of the men, but even then the +emissaries of the British government failed to obtain any satisfaction. +Their demands were flatly refused. Finally the Earl of Clarence, who was +then governor of Jamaica, dispatched the British ship _Hunter_ under +command of Captain John Tosier to Havana. A full account of this +expedition is given in "A Letter from Captain John Tosier, Commander of +His Majesty's ship the _Hunter_ at Jamaica. With a narrative of his +embassy to the governor of Havana to demand His Majesty's of Great +Britain's Subjects kept prisoners there." The letter is dated Port +Royal, Jamaica, March 28th, 1679, and was published in London in the +same year. + +Captain Tosier tells of previous efforts made to obtain the deliverance +of these British prisoners, saying that even messengers backed by +frigates of fifty guns had so far failed in their purpose. He sailed +from Port Royal on the twenty-fifth of January and on the eleventh of +February arrived off the coast of Havana. There he waited for two days +for more settled weather before he approached within two miles of Morro +castle, "top-sails a-Trip, Jack, Ancient and Pendant flying." He sent a +boat with Mr. Richard Bere, Governor Carlisle's "Gentleman of the Horse" +as messenger and interpreter, and bearer of the list of British subjects +kept prisoners in Havana. The guard of Morro castle ordered the boat +ashore, put a sergeant and soldiers on board and escorted the messenger +to Governor Ledesma. Another guard remained on the boat. Governor +Ledesma read the letter and the sailing orders and replied that the +British prisoners were pirates. According to Captain Tosier's narrative +he refused the British emissaries the customary salute and more or less +politely ordered them out of the house. They were escorted back to the +boat and "were forced to sea at seven o'clock at night." + +Early the next morning the answer was received by Captain Tosier. Within +three hours he sent the boat ashore once more, telling the governor of +Havana "His Majesty's Ship under my command is well Man'd, where he +might be safe and welcome if he would vouchsafe to give her his company; +and His Majesty of England never spared his powder to answer Civilities, +nor received such indignities as waiters or guards on board of any of +His Majesty's Ships of War, which will be a strange report, when His +Majesty shall come to hear of it." Captain Tosier then demanded in the +name of the King of England and "in obedience to the Catholic King" that +forthwith all subjects of his "most Excellent Majesty" detained as +prisoners in Havana be set at liberty and delivered to him to be +transported to the Territories of the King of England. If pirates they +were, they should have been sent to Old Spain to be tried. Great was the +excitement at the government house in Havana, when this message reached +there. But the Cuban authorities saw no other way out of the difficulty +but to give up the captives. Captain Tosier reports that the governor +ordered the prisoners to be called over in a back court near his house +and examined some of them, one after another, and before he had done +said: "Though I have no order to deliver them to you and though I may be +blamed, yet take them all with you, and if there be any more, let them +come forth immediately and they shall be discharged." + +Captain Tosier had cause to be proud of his success, as the Spanish +authorities had never before been known to deliver any British +prisoners. The announcement that they were free was received with wild +cheers by the forty-six Englishmen who had spent from one to six years +in Cuban captivity. The following day the _Hunter_ sailed and at some +distance out of Havana, Captain Tosier came across a long boat, +containing one hundred and forty-four men with their commander, Captain +John Graves who had sailed a month before for London and eight days +before meeting the _Hunter_ had been cast away thirty leagues east of +Havana and expected to be utterly lost or to be made prisoners by the +Cubans. + +Though Governor Ledesma had in this instance yielded to the pressure +exercised by the British, he was by no means convinced of the honesty +and sincerity of the Governor of Jamaica. He had reasons to believe that +in spite of peace between the two countries the governor of Jamaica was +secretly in league with the pirates that had molested Cuba, and that +while pretending to persecute the outlaws, he had really encouraged them +in their raids upon the Spanish colonies. Governor Ledesma collected +evidence to that effect and presented it at the court of Spain. But his +appeal arrived at a time when Spain's European losses had alarmingly +decreased her prestige and when even her national wealth showed a +perceptible shrinkage. So the court at Madrid did nothing but deliberate +at length upon the ever present problem of insuring the safety of the +colonies and limited its practical assistance to the sending over of a +few ships with instructions to organize an armada which was to patrol +the coasts and force the outlaws to respect Spanish possessions. The +island itself armed a few vessels and the garrisons were slightly +increased. + +The great earthquake of the year 1675 added to the sufferings of the +people of Cuba and caused loss of life and property. Three years later a +violent hurricane swept over the island and worked great havoc. It not +only robbed great numbers of the inhabitants of their homes, and did +serious damage to commerce and traffic, but it also destroyed the +recently finished cathedral. Though such catastrophes were of no rare +occurrence in that climate, they invariably left the people's spirits +depressed and indirectly affected their initiative and enterprise. Thus +the copper mines were abandoned about this time, because their +production seemed out of proportion to the labor and expense of working +them. But the real reason was probably the ignorance and inefficiency of +the forces in charge of the work and the lack of energy and courage +which frequently manifested itself in the wake of great disasters. + +A change in the ecclesiastical affairs of Cuba caused considerable +commotion during the administration of Governor Ledesma. Bishop Saenz de +Manosca was promoted to the bishopric of Guatemala. The Trinitarian (in +Mexico a member of a society hired to carry the corpse in the funeral +procession) who had temporarily succeeded him was shortly after +appointed Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo. Thus the diocese came under the wise +spiritual guidance of the Canon of Avila, D. Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon, +who was not only a learned theologian of great reputation, but a priest +of uncompromising moral austerity. He devoted himself with great ardor +to reforming the church in the West Indies. On a single visit to Florida +he was reported to have made as many as four thousand converts. On his +return to Cuba he inaugurated a reign of unwonted severity. He had been +deeply shocked by the levity and frivolity of his diocesans; he had +learned that even ordained priests and personages in high official +positions were in the habit of attending public balls and masquerades, +the latter especially offering opportunity to indulge in polite +intrigues and adventures of a dubious nature. He justly opined that men +in clerical garb and those in responsible government offices lowered +their dignity and abused the trust reposed in them by participating in +such entertainments. He prohibited his diocesans under threat of +excommunication to attend such amusements and by this rigorous +restriction of the gayeties in which the people had been accustomed to +indulge, made not a few enemies. When he died on the sixteenth of March, +1676, public rumor attributed his death to poison administered by some +person in revenge for his interference with the social life of his +diocese. + +Spain was at this period at the lowest ebb of her power. Financially she +was on the brink of bankruptcy. Her commerce was paralyzed by stupid +laws. The scandalous conduct of her officials had sadly lowered her +prestige. Nature herself seemed to conspire against the once so powerful +empire. Storms and inundations had swept over the country and ravaged +the land, until its very soil had become unproductive. Tempests along +her shores had destroyed even the ships lying in port. The mentally and +physically feeble monarch, Charles II., was a helpless puppet in the +hands of his favorites. A believer in witchcraft, astrology and the +black arts and devoted to superstitious practices, he left the affairs +of state to his prime ministers who conducted them with varying ability. + +When Ledesma's governorship terminated on the thirty-first of August, +1680, there was appointed in his place D. Alonso de Campos Espinosa. But +as Valdes and other authorities on Cuban history have nothing to record +about his official career, it must have been only provisional, and was +certainly very brief. For in September of that year the Field Marshal D. +Jose Fernandez de Cordova Ponce de Leon took charge of the office. +Governor Cordova proved to be a very conscientious and energetic +functionary and distinguished himself first by the vigor and +perseverance with which he pushed work on the fortifications of Havana. +He also showed his ability in fighting the pirate scourge. The +filibusters had begun to organize bases of operation on the islands of +Signale and Lucayas, similar to those of Tortuga. He sent against them +an expedition headed by the captains Acosta and Urubarru, who succeeded +in destroying the outlaw colonies in the name of the king and took a +great number of prisoners. The chief event of Governor Cordova's +administration was an encounter which the coast guard Galliot of the +port Virgen del Rosario y Santa Jose had with a host of French invaders. +The governor and organized forces of patriotic citizens so ably seconded +the guard in the defense of the place that the enemy was defeated. + +Governor Cordova made many enemies by his vigorous persecution of the +smugglers who had greatly increased in number and by their clandestine +operations were interfering with and discrediting the legitimate trade +of the island. They had become such a power that they had the audacity +to bring denunciations and accusations against the governor before the +court, which, however, set these charges aside and approved all of +Cordova's measures directed against them. He also had grave difficulties +with the commissary of the Santo Officio, D. Jose Garaondo. They were +not yet settled, when Governor Cordova suddenly died on the second of +June, 1685. There were rumors afloat that he, too, like Bishop Calderon, +had been poisoned by his enemies. During the interim between his death +and the arrival from Spain of his successor, the affairs of the island +were administered by D. Antonio Manuel de Murgina y Mena and Captain D. +Andres de Munive, who shared between them the political and military +authority. + +The newly appointed governor of Cuba was the general of artillery, D. +Diego de Viana y Hinojosa. When he arrived in Havana in November, 1687, +he brought with him the first copies of the "Codigo e Recopilacion de +India," as the statutes or laws of the West Indies were called. They +were in force by royal decree, although they were in reality only a +confirmation of the famous Ordinances of 1542. They were distinguished +by a spirit of rectitude and impartiality and were particularly +commendable for their justice towards the native Indians, who were +exempted from all servitude and were accorded equal rights with the +Spaniards. Unfortunately these laws suffered from one serious defect: +they were framed so as to apply to all dominions of Spanish America and +did not take into account the indisputable fact that laws applicable to +and beneficent in Peru, might be prejudicial in Mexico and Cuba. This +did not, however, diminish in the least the ethical significance and +humanitarian value of this codex of some four hundred laws, decrees and +mandates; they gave proof of the admirable sentiment of the mother +country towards her colonies. + +Among the functionaries who arrived from Spain at the same time as +Governor Viana, were a new Auditor, D. Manuel de Roa, and a new bishop, +D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. This noted ecclesiastic was famous in +Spain not only for his sterling character as a man, but also for his +extraordinary gifts as an orator. On his succession to the episcopate a +spirit of altruism seemed to awaken in the population and find fruition +in various works of charity. Bishop Compostela was conspicuous in these +organizations and in every possible way encouraged his diocesans in +contributing to and actively participating in such works. He founded +many parishes and in Havana organized the seminary of San Ambrosio, the +academy for young ladies called San Francisco de Sala, and the hospital +for convalescents of Bolen. During the fifteen years of his episcopate +Bishop Compostela accomplished what none of his predecessors had +succeeded in doing. He really raised the moral standard of the diocese, +and he attained that end more by his own noble example, than by his +eloquent sermons on moral issues. He was a gentleman of distinguished +manners, who treated all that came in contact with him with the utmost +courtesy. He lived very modestly and was known always to travel on foot. +He devoted his income to alms freely dispensed to all the needy, and by +his numerous works of beneficence built for himself an imperishable +monument in the memory of the grateful population. + +Governor Viana's administration was filled with what at first appeared a +petty local squabble, but later developed into a serious conflict. +Harassed by pirates, the town of San Juan de los Remedios del Cayo had +in the year 1684 obtained permission to remove to another place, +sufficiently distant from the coast to insure the safety of the +inhabitants. The permission arrived at a time when conditions seemed to +have improved and the majority of the population was satisfied to remain +where they were. The parish priest, however, had favored and decided +upon removal to a place called Cupey, and Governor Viana approved of +this choice. When the residents began to discuss the problem of the new +location, it was found that the greater number was of the opinion that +the cattle farms known as Santa Clara offered a more convenient site, +and the governor and bishop were won over to this view and agreed. As +head of the town was appointed the Alcalde Manuel Rodriguez de Arziniega +and as its spiritual adviser was chosen the Cura Gonzales. It so +happened that neither of the two favored the place that had been +selected. The Alcalde and his adherents wanted to settle at Sabana +Largo, near the hacienda of Santa Clara. The priest preferred the place +called El Guanal, in the body of that farm. To adjust the difference the +governor and the bishop chose two men, D. Christobal de Fromesta, Cura +and Vicar of Sancti Spiritu, and the Contador D. Diego de Penalver, who +were both residents of that town. It is characteristic of the manner in +which municipal and other public business of importance was then +conducted, that the two men deliberated without result until the year +1689, when the administration of Governor Viana came to an end. + +Of Governor Viana's share in furthering the building of fortifications +an inscription in the ravelin of the gate of Tierra bears proof. It +reads: + + Reynando La Magestad Catolica De Carlos II. Rey de Las Espanas Y + Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General De Esta Ciudad E Isla de Cuba + D. Diego Antonio De Viana Hinojosa, Caballero del Orden De + Santiago, Veinte Y Cuatro Perpetuo De La Ciudad de Granada, Y + General De La Artilleria Del Reinado de Sevilla, Se Acabo Esta + Puerta Con Su Puente Levandizo, y Su Media Luna, etc. Ano de 1688. + + (In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Charles II. King of Spain, + the resident governor and captain-general of this city and island + of Cuba was D. Diego Antonio de Viana Hinojosa, Cavalier of the + Order of Santiago, the twenty-fourth Perpetuo of the city of + Granada, and the General of Artillery of the ruler of Sevilla, this + gate with its drawbridge and its ravelins was finished. In the year + 1688.) + +The affair of El Cayo continued to absorb the attention of the +government during the administration of D. Severino de Manzaneda y +Salines. This new governor entered upon the functions of his office on +the thirtieth of October, 1689, and remained until the second of +October, 1695. According to the decision which the court rendered after +endless discussion the inhabitants of El Cayo were to move to Santa +Clara. From the oldest Alcaldes and Magistrates of both towns two men +were chosen with orders to superintend the removal: the Cabilde Captain +Luis Perez de Morales and Ensign Gaspar Rodriguez. They proceeded to el +Cayo and issued a proclamation which ordered the residents to move +within a fortnight. When the term expired, and the order had not been +complied with, they went to the church, accompanied by forty men armed +with machetes, lances, battle-axes and guns, and began to harangue the +people. When this had no immediate visible effect, they started to +destroy house upon house, applying either the torch or the sword. They +spared only the church and the residence of the prefect of the new town. + +After committing these unwarranted ruthless outrages they forbade any +one under severe penalty to attempt to rebuilt his house; nor was any +one allowed to admit a homeless neighbor to his hacienda or offer him a +roof. Exposed to the inclemency of the weather, left without shelter or +provisions, the temper of the inhabitants was roused, but they were too +bewildered by the cruel injustice to see their way to demand redress of +their wrongs. A man from the pueblo San Jacinto de Royas, deeply +resenting the heinous crime, resolved not to remain passive. He made his +way to the bishop and the governor, gave them a vivid account of what +had occurred, and lodged a complaint in the name of the poor victims. +Both Bishop Compostela and Governor Manzanedas readily yielded to his +arguments, but it does not appear from the records of the time that the +men who had so flagrantly abused their power were punished. The +governor, probably from fear of stirring up dissatisfaction with his +administration and ultimately losing his position, contented himself by +adjusting the differences between the two parties. He ordered the people +of both towns to live together until the king had handed down his +decision. When His Majesty finally approved of the action taken, the +feelings of both parties were pacified and the new town thus founded +became known as Villa Clara. + +During the administration of Governor Manzanedas the city of Matanzas +was founded. According to some authorities the name is derived from the +Spanish _matanza_, which means slaughter or killing and it was supposed +to refer to the extermination of the Indians who had been the native +owners of that territory. Others derive the term from a corruption of +the word _martizaban_, which the Indians had adopted from the Castilian +when they wailed during the suffering inflicted upon them. Still others +try to establish a certain connection between that name and the +following story of Indian perfidy. It seems that some Spaniards had +engaged a number of Indians to carry them in their canoes from one end +of the bay to another. When they reached the middle of the bay, the +Indians left the boats, and hitting the Spaniards on the head with the +oars, tried to drown them, while they took to the mountains. Seven of +the victims succeeded in escaping from death by swimming to the shore; +but there they were caught by other natives, taken to the nearest pueblo +and hanged. One of them however, managed to get away and reach another +pueblo, whose cacique gave him shelter until the arrival of a Spanish +rescuing force under Narvaez. The cacique, preceded by three hundred men +carrying gifts, went to receive the party from Havana, leading the +prisoner by the hand. In addressing Narvaez and P. Casas, who were the +leaders, he told them that he had treated the man as if he had been his +own son, that he had guarded and protected him for three years and had +refused the strenuous demand of the other caciques to deliver him to +them, knowing that they would have killed him. + +Whatever the origin of its name may be, Matanzas eventually lived down +its sinister significance. The bay of Matanzas with the canal opening +into it, had long been considered a point of great importance. For it +was patent that, if the British set out to capture it and succeeded in +establishing themselves there, the danger to Spanish commerce and +especially to that of Havana would be very grave. A village had existed +there from the time of the Spanish conquest; it had grown in population +and the surrounding land was well cultivated. Governor Manzanedas +decided at once to begin to fortify the bay. He re-organized the +administration of the place and raised it to the rank of a city, which +the authorities named after San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas. + +The solemn ceremonies of its foundation took place on the tenth of +October, 1693, in the presence of Governor Manzanedas and many other +prominent citizens and high officials of the island. After an +examination of the previously drafted plan a Plaza des Armas, or +military parade-ground was the first to be decided upon; then the +principal streets of the city were traced. Two days later an altar and a +cross were raised on the square destined for the church, and Bishop D. +Diego Evelino de Compostela blessed the spot, said mass over it and with +the aid of Governor Manzanedas laid the first stone of the temple which +was to have for its patron saint San Carlos Borromeo. On the following +day the governor went to Punta Gorda on the north side of the bay and +selected a place for the fort which was to be built. When the structure +was completed it was in his honor given the name San Severino. The +industry of the residents, the fertility of the soil and the unusually +favorable location of the port made the small town grow within a few +years into one of the most important cities of the island. Subsequently +Matanzas developed to such size and prominence that it is to-day ranking +next to Havana both in population and in commerce. + +The administration of Manzanedas was toward the end disturbed by the +scandalous dispute between the governor Villalobas and the Licentiate +Roa, Lieutenant Auditor of the Royal Audiencia (a court of appeals in +the West Indies). The affair created a great deal of sensation at the +time, because it threatened to divide the population into hostile +factions. Villalobas was charged with having allowed his adherents to +call themselves Villalobistas, in opposition to those of Lieutenant Roa, +who promptly assumed the name Roistas. Controversies and quarrels arose +and grew to such alarming proportions that civil war seemed imminent. +The two rivals fought each other mercilessly, until Roa fled to Madrid, +where he died in exile. Villalobas justly feared that the report of +these disturbances would damage his reputation at the court of Madrid +and was taken dangerously sick. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo which had +instituted an inquiry into the matter discharged Villalobas from his +office. An Oidor (hearer or judge) of the Audiencia, D. Diego Antonio +Oviedo y Banos was appointed to hear the arguments of the case. But +Villalobas, a broken old man, was so grieved by the disgrace that he +survived the ordeal only a few days. The administration of Governor +Manzanedas came to an end in the year 1695 when he was appointed to the +presidency of Santo Domingo. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +With the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty +upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his +predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had +become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these +marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession +and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most +harassing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had +signed a will in favor of the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, who +succeeded him as Philip V., but the Austrian archduke Charles contested +this succession, until the death of his brother. Joseph called him to +the throne of Austria and forced him to relinquish his claim to that of +Spain. The interval, however, was spent in what is known as the War of +the Austrian Succession which was far more than a war of succession to +the Spanish throne, but one which involved a European problem. + +The hostility between England and France was known to be acute; the +designs of Austria upon Spain were also known to be the source of +incipient conflicts. In order to curb the insatiable ambition of Louis +XIV., England had entered into an alliance with Austria and Holland. The +unexpected ascension of the archduke Charles to the throne of Austria +suddenly changed the political aspect of the time for England. Louis +XIV. and Philip V. had agreed that in order to secure the balance of +European power the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. +Spain, however, was bound in the future to follow the trend of French +politics. It renounced her rights to the Netherlands, which were the +only barrier against invasions of France on the continent, and left +England in possession of Gibraltar. As this was its most important +fortress, Gibraltar was ever to be a thorn in the flesh of Spain. + +The treaty of Utrecht, which was signed in the year 1713, seemed by its +reapportionment of the countries and the readjustment of the map of +Europe to have temporarily assured peace. But the price paid for this +peace by Spain was hardly to be estimated in currency. As Guiteras +justly remarks, Philip V. found Spain prostrate from the impudent +efforts of the Austrian dynasty to preserve her predominance among the +European nations. The wars waged during the reigns of his predecessors +had drained the coffers of Spain and alarmingly decreased her +population. The powerful kingdom which a century before had dared to +threaten the independence of England and had enjoyed prosperity and +opulence, had become almost tributary to France and England. The treaty +of Utrecht reduced Spain to her peninsular provinces and her overseas +colonies. Though united with them by the ties of racial origin, religion +and tradition, it was not an easy task to defend them against the +inimical designs of powers that planned to dominate the seas and usurp +the place which Spain had won for herself. + +Philip V. realized that the condition in which Spain had been left at +the end of the wars that preceded his reign made it incumbent upon him +to maintain peace and to further the country's recovery from a century +and a half of constant warfare. He was inspired by the example of France +under Colbert and Richelieu and his aim was by applying to Spain the +lessons France had learned during the leadership of those men, to bring +about a revival of Spain's previous greatness. He aspired to make Spain +internally stronger than she had ever been, to enable her to humble +England and to wrest from that great rival her ever increasing power in +America. His task was extremely difficult, for it really meant a +thorough reconstruction of the entire government. He found Spain in such +a state of stagnation that it required extraordinary efforts to rouse +in the country only a spark of the old spirit. He was the first +sovereign since Philip II. who had a strong will and a strong +personality and made his absolute power felt in every branch of the +government. He had to create a new navy; he had to organize and train a +new army; he had to reform the legislation, the finances, even the +police of the country. So poor was Spain at that time in men of strong +character and executive power, that he was obliged to employ foreigners +in some of the most important places in the army and navy as well as in +the council chamber. + +Although during the latter half of his reign of forty six years his +initiative and energy were paralyzed and he lapsed into the passive +indifference which had characterized the attitude of some of his +predecessors, his innovations and reforms were the means of stimulating +inquiry into some of the evils, political and social, that Spain had +suffered from. He ushered in a new life, which slowly penetrated to +every corner of the kingdom and brought it into closer contact with the +outside world for which it had hitherto had a curious contempt. However +slow was the work of regeneration which he had inaugurated, it was sure +to benefit the next generation which could never return to the old order +of things. + +The influence of this new life in the mother country was, of course, +still slower in manifesting itself in her colonies. Cuba had still to +rely upon her own resources, both in inaugurating internal improvements +and in combatting external dangers. As both Great Britain and France +were eagerly pursuing their plans to extend their colonial power in +America, conflicts between these powers and the Spanish possessions in +America were inevitable. Towards the end of the seventeenth century +attempts to establish direct maritime intercourse between France and the +Mississippi, and to colonize the southwest of the continent; which was +under the patronage of Louis XIV. created no little anxiety in the old +Spanish settlements of Florida and eventually had to lead to armed +conflicts in which the West Indies, and especially Havana, as the +metropolis of the Spanish island colonies, became involved. + +As early as the year 1693 D. Andres de Pes had settled in Pensacola and +three years later three hundred Spaniards from Vera Cruz and other parts +had under the leadership of D. Andres d'Arriola taken formal possession +of the harbor. Henceforth no foreign ship could enter without being +challenged. This the valiant commander of the French expedition, +d'Iberville, the pioneer founder of Louisiana, was to experience. He had +sailed in October, 1698, with a company of Marines and some two hundred +colonists, among them women and children. At Santo Domingo he took on +board a seasoned veteran of the golden age of piracy, a man who in 1683 +had made a fortune of eight million pesos by the capture of Vera Cruz, +had been an associate of M. de Grammont, Lolonois, Morgan and other +notables of the Brotherhood of the Coast, and as such was familiar with +every spot along the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of New Spain; it was +Captain Laurent Grave or Graff, linguist, sailor and intrepid fighter. +They arrived at the island St. Rose in January, 1699, cast anchor and +applied for permission to enter the harbor of Pensacola. This being +refused they sailed westward and settled in the country west of the +Perdido River, which was later recognized by King Philip V., who was +bent upon a conciliatory policy, as the boundary between Louisiana and +Florida. + +From that time, however, Pensacola was to know no peace, for the French +cast ever a covetous eye upon that Spanish settlement. Nor did the +authorities of Pensacola hesitate to harass the settlers to the west, +resenting the appearance of any rival neighbor. Governor Ravolli made an +expedition in 1700 against the French who had settled on Ship Island, +but he himself was soon to experience that he was being surrounded by +neighbors determined to show their hostility towards Spain by open or +secret operations against the Spanish settlement in Florida. Governor +James Moore of South Carolina, which bordered on Spanish Florida, +undertook in the year 1702 an expedition against the old Spanish town of +St. Augustine, in the defense of which a Cuban force was eventually to +take part. The British succeeded in making their entry into the town and +ravaging it; but they could not reduce the fort, which the garrison +defended with desperate determination. The British sent to Jamaica for +some heavy artillery. But in the meantime the Spanish viceroy had been +informed of the attack and sent two war ships for the relief of the +town. The governor of Cuba, too, dispatched five vessels with troops of +infantry and militia, which sailed from the port of Havana under the +command of Captain D. Esteban de Beroa, a Havanese of great enterprise +and valor. When the Spanish fleet arrived near the harbor, Moore with +his South Carolinians made a hasty retreat by land, leaving behind his +vessels and stores of ammunition. The help which D. Esteban had lent the +garrison of St. Augustine in this critical moment was highly appreciated +by the King of Spain, who took notice of this valuable service in a +cedula addressed to the Captain General of the island in 1703, in which +he especially lauded the exploits of D. Esteban. + +The administration of D. Diego de Cordova Lazo de Vega, Knight of the +military order of Santiago and General of the Galleons, was profoundly +affected by the political unrest of Europe, due to the controversies +about the succession and by the conflicts with the French and the +British in the newly settled continent, which began to darken the future +of the Spanish possessions. Cordova had entered upon his office on the +third of October, 1695, and was reported to have bought the governorship +for fourteen thousand dollars. Some very important internal improvements +were made during his time of office. The territory from the gateway of +la Punta to la Tanaza and the hospital of San Francisco de Paula was +organized into districts. He was like some of his predecessors much +concerned with the religious life of the island and encouraged the +building of churches and convents. One of the most important convents +founded at this time was the third convent of the barefoot Carmelites, +dedicated to Saint Teresa. + +Realizing the need of greater garrisons for the protection of the people +of Cuba from invasions, whether by foreign powers or by corsairs, the +Spanish government sent over twelve companies of militia. So impressed +was the governor with their general condition and their discipline, that +he sent the king a special message referring to them. But he was too +prudent to rest satisfied with this help from the government overseas; +he raised and organized four more companies of infantry and cavalry, +recruited from the population of Cuba itself, and this placed the island +in a better state of defense than it had ever been before. He also +granted a number of merchant mariners privateering privileges, which +enabled them to cruise about and hunt down foreign pirates and +smugglers. These men, among whom the Regidor of Trinidad, Juan Vasquez, +distinguished himself by his valor, made numerous excursions in the +neighborhood, retaliating upon the French colonies for the outrages of +French corsairs, by invading them and capturing some of their vessels, +not excepting the crew, and by carrying off their cattle. Cordova was +also instrumental in promoting the tobacco culture of the island, by +encouraging the employment of new mechanical contrivances. + +When on the thirtieth of November, 1700, King Charles II. expired in +Madrid, and was followed by Philip V., the first Spanish sovereign of +the house of Bourbon, the Spanish Colonies in America paid no heed to +the war of the succession which was carried on between King Philip and +the Archduke of Austria. Without hesitation they recognized the former +as their ruler and thanks to the wholesome influence exerted upon the +population by Governor Cordova and the estimable Bishop Compostela, King +Philip was formally and peacefully proclaimed in Cuba. Cordova's +governorship was so highly appreciated by the royal government in Spain +that he received for his services the title of Marquis de Valdo and was +soon after promoted to the presidency of Panama. But he later returned +to Spain and died in Madrid as Counsellor of State in the year 1720. + +After the departure of Cordova in September, 1702, the government of the +island was for a number of years once more of a rather interimistic +nature, which greatly hampered the efforts of the government to insure +the safety of the coasts against invaders. The British, being since the +accession of Philip V. to the Spanish throne no longer the allies of +Spain as they had been during the validity of the "American Treaty," +were now her enemies, and once more began to harass the Spanish colonies +by encouraging the pirates to interfere with their traffic. The squadron +of three vessels which France sent over to patrol the ocean in the +vicinity of the Antilles, did not seem to intimidate the lawless +elements working more or less directly under orders of and agreements +with the British. + +The administration of Cordova's successor, D. Pedro Benitez de Lugo, +Maestro de Campo and former Counsellor to the Elector of Bavaria, began +on the twentieth of September, 1702, and ended with his death only three +months later, on the fourth of December. But in that brief period +occurred the invasion of the island of Trinidad by the British pirate +Grant, who had under him a force of three hundred men and succeeded in +thoroughly terrorizing the people. + +After the death of D. Benitez, the provisional government was entrusted +to two Habaneros, D. Luis Chacon, Castellan of the Morro, and D. Nicolas +Chirmo Vandeval. They seem to have governed with commendable prudence. +Determined to defend the island against the corsairs which renewed their +activity, the Cuban authorities retaliated by sending out corsairs of +their own. Thus D. Juan Baton de Chavez, governor of Santiago de Cuba, +started from that city in 1704 with a force of two hundred and fifty men +and invaded the islands of New Providence and Siguatey. He destroyed +their fortifications, sacked the houses, took one hundred prisoners and +returned with twenty-two cannon and a large quantity of ammunition and +arms. The town of Santiago having generously contributed to the success +of this enterprise both with volunteers and with material resources, the +king rewarded the city with the title "muy noble y muy leal" (very noble +and very loyal). In the same year there died in Havana the venerable and +much beloved Bishop, D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. In fifteen years of +faithful service he had succeeded in stimulating the religious life of +the diocese by the building of churches, especially those in the plains, +where tobacco was raised and thousands of laborers lived with their +families, and in raising the moral standard of Cuban society. + +The spirit of animosity between France and England on the one hand, and +Spain and England on the other, gave birth to two schemes to attack +Charleston in the year 1706. The valiant Canadian pioneer d'Iberville +was on the way with a respectable force. He reached Santo Domingo, where +he was reenforced by Spanish troops, and set sail for the coast of South +Carolina. He was stricken with yellow fever and the undertaking had to +be abandoned. At the same time the Spanish authorities in the West +Indies, having decided upon an aggressive policy towards the British in +America, planned retaliation for some of the wrongs suffered in recent +years. The unwarranted attack of Governor James Morgan of South Carolina +upon the old Spanish town of St. Augustine, only four years before, was +not forgotten and offered a welcome pretext to launch an offensive +movement. Accordingly an expedition was fitted out in Havana, mostly of +French privateers, but also some Cuban forces and on the way was joined +by more from St. Augustine. The squadron arrived at Sullivan's Island +off Charleston on Saturday afternoon in August of that year. The +militia of the city was rapidly mobilized but open combat did not begin +until the following Wednesday, when the French commander demanded the +surrender of the city in the name of Louis XIV. The South Carolinians +replied by a violent attack, which drove a large number of the French +that had landed into the water. The fight was renewed when more ships of +the expedition came up, and though the attack was repulsed and there was +considerable loss of life, the Cuban force that had participated, +returned with considerable booty. + +The new governor who entered upon his office May 13, 1706, was Field +Marshal D. Pedro Alvarez de Villarin, a native of Asturia, gentilhombre +(a nobleman-attendant of the young princes of Spain and counsellor of +the Elector of Bavaria). But his reign was one of the shortest in Cuban +history. He died on the eighth of July, and the former provisional +governors, D. Luis Chacon and D. Nicolas Chirmo Vandeval, once more +administered their duties, political and military. British warships were +haunting the coasts of the island and kept the authorities and the +residents in a perpetual state of suspense. But the French were now the +allies of the Spaniards and their able admiral Chavagnac came to the +rescue of Cuba. The unrest due to the disputed Spanish succession +encouraged the defiant attitude of the British. In the year 1707 a +British armada appeared on the coast for the purpose of engaging in +propaganda against Philip V. and winning over the population to the +support of the Austrian Archduke's claims. They flooded the island with +grandiloquent proclamations and tried to bribe the people by making the +most alluring promises. But D. Luis Chacon was not the man to betray the +king to whom the island had sworn allegiance at his accession in 1700. +He so effectively replied with cannons that the conspirators withdrew. + +The next duly appointed governor of Cuba and the thirty-second in order +was Colonel D. Laureano de Torres Ayala, a native of Havana, Knight of +the Order of Santiago and former Governor of Florida. He entered upon +his office on the eighteenth of January, 1708. His attention was at once +directed to an economic problem of great importance. The landowner Orri, +an official in the service of Spain, had conceived the project to sell +the tobacco on the island for the government. This measure was opposed +by the speculators in tobacco, who sold it without custom duties to the +Peninsula and other parts of America. But Governor Torres was so +impressed with the advantage which would accrue from the new arrangement +to the government of Spain, that he did not rest until the measure was +carried and enforced. The Exchequer of Spain was henceforth enabled to +purchase almost the entire tobacco crop and to make enormous profits +thereby, which the coffers of the kingdom, depleted by the many wars of +the past century, sorely needed. For the successful negotiation of this +matter, which created the government's tobacco monopoly, the governor +was rewarded with the title Marquis de Casa-Torres. + +Governor Torres like his predecessors was much concerned with the safety +of the island, and accordingly resumed work on the Havana forts. He +added to the fortifications by having the bulwark halfway between la +Punta and la Fuerza built; it was considered of great importance at that +time, but was later demolished, when Governor Don Dionisos Martinez +proceeded with the wall of la Punta in the same direction. The Marquis +de Casa-Torres had grave disputes with the Lieutenant-Auditor Don Jose +Fernandez de Cordova, which caused endless discussion, not only among +the officials of the island, but also in the population. The Court was +finally compelled to submit the controversy to the Oidor D. Pablo +Cavera, who came over from Spain to begin an investigation. Governor +Torres was temporarily suspended. But the Oidor Cavera died while the +inquiry into the differences between the two men was in progress. Hence +Torres and the lieutenant-auditor were obliged to sail for Spain and +explain their grievances. + +The administration of Governor Torres was a period of comparative peace. +The enemies of Spain that were ever waiting for an opportunity to do +something that might weaken her power in America and deprive her of some +of her American possessions had not molested Cuba and the governor was +able to devote his energies to internal improvements and even to aid the +new bishop in his many works for the welfare of the diocese. This worthy +successor of the unforgettable Bishop Compostela was D. Jeronimo Valdes, +formerly Bishop of Porto Rico, provincial of the order of St. Basil and +professor of Alcala. He had entered upon his duties on the thirteenth of +May, 1706, and at once proved that he, too, was imbued with that noble +disinterestedness which characterized his predecessor. He insisted upon +strict observance of the doctrines and customs of the church and founded +many new parishes. He enlarged the Belen convent by adding to the +building a wing which was to be used as hospital for convalescents. He +also founded the Casa de Beneficiencia, a Foundlings' Home, investing in +it eleven thousand pesos of his private fortune. Another charitable +institution which he called into being was a home for the poor that were +reduced to beggary. He also succeeded in having a building finished, +which was destined to be a hospital for lepers. In all these enterprises +for the public welfare he was seconded by the Marquis de Casa-Torres. +The island increased in population during this time and among the towns +founded was Bejucal. + +The year 1709 is also memorable for an important measure which was to +safeguard the public health of the island. As early as the year 1634 a +so-called Protomedicato had been created by a certain Nunez, a graduate +of the university of Seville. It was an institution intended to check +the unlawful practice of medicine by ignorant and inexperienced persons +or by downright quacks. For some years Dr. Don Francisco Teneza, +assisted by a duly appointed clerk, who performed the functions of a +notary, embodied in his person the authority of a Protomedico, examining +surgeons, druggists and barbers, who at that time were performing dental +and minor surgical operations. But not until the beginning of the +eighteenth century was the Protomedicato completely organized for +efficient work. It was a college or tribunal composed of physicians duly +licensed by royal patent, who were charged with examining and issuing +licenses to students of medicine. In this way the government hoped to +combat the evil of unlawful medical practice by unknown and incapable +individuals, which had long been a grave menace to the public health. +The king endowed the Protomedicato of Cuba with the same prerogatives +and the same jurisdiction as were enjoyed by the corresponding +institutions of Lima and Mexico. + +Upon the departure of the Marquis de Casa-Torres the affairs of the +island were once more in the hands of a provisional government. The +ayuntamento (municipal government) entrusted D. Luis Chacon with the +military governorship and in default of an auditor the political was +given to two alcaldes, D. Augustin de Arriola and D. Pedro Hobruitinier. +But by royal order of the year 1712 D. Luis Chacon resumed the superior +authority, both civil and military. At the end of the year, when the +re-election of the alcaldes took place, violent disputes arose, which +necessitated the intervention of Chacon and the Bishop Valdes. The court +was called to inquire into the matter and settled the quarrel which had +threatened to disturb the peace of the community. + +In the year 1712 the official circles of Cuba were greatly agitated by a +sensational occurrence. It was the affair between the acting governor of +Cuba, Don Luis Sanudo, and the royal Ensign, who was also Alcalde of +Bayamo. The governor had ordered the Ensign to imprison two Indian +chiefs who were accused of theft, but the Ensign, interpreting +differently a certain royal decree and the municipal ordinances, made no +move to obey the command. Governor Sanudo accordingly betook himself to +Bayamo, and as the Ensign failed to present himself, went to his house. +There he upbraided him, and as was reported by some at the time, slapped +his face. Boiling with wrath at this insult and outrage, the Ensign +killed him on the spot. The court before which he was tried condemned +him to death and ordered his home to be razed. The office was for the +time abolished, but later re-established. + +The Casa-Torres affair had been in the meantime thoroughly aired before +the Court of Spain and the king had found the charges against the +Marquis unfounded. So he restored him to office on the fifth of July, +1712, and in February of the following year he re-entered upon his +duties as Captain-General of Cuba. During the three years of this his +second term, Governor Torres actively promoted the armament of corsairs +which were sent out to counteract the manoeuvres of the enemy pirates +cruising along the Spanish-American coasts. Among the men entrusted with +this venturesome task one especially distinguished himself by his +prowess: Don Juan del Hoye Solorzano. He was later appointed governor of +Santiago de Cuba. About the same time Spain suffered the loss of a rich +fleet, which, sailing from Vera Cruz under command of General Ubilla, +with port at Habana, was on its way to the mother country. It was +wrecked at el Palmar de Aiz, the place where the New Canal of Bahama was +located. To the energetic efforts of the Marquis de Casa-Torres, who at +once ordered divers to go to work, was due the recovery of more than +four million pesos and some valuable merchandise. + +The thirty-third governor duly appointed by decree of the Spanish court, +dated December 15, 1715, was the Field-marshal Don Vicente Raja. He was +inaugurated May 26, 1716, and although in office little more than a year +succeeded in completely reorganizing the tobacco industry of the +island. He was accompanied on his arrival from Spain by a commission of +financial and industrial experts; the director of the bank of Spain, D. +Salvador Olivares, the Visitador, a judge charged with conducting +inquiries, D. Diego Daza, and the licentiate D. Pedro Morales, the chief +of the revenue department. The historian Alcazar gives a clear account +of the proceeding of this commission and the disturbances they created. +He relates that the success of the first tobacco sales in the Peninsula +had suggested the establishment of a factory in Seville. But Orri, the +great landowner and planter, knew that the three million pounds of +tobacco produced by Cuba would not suffice for consumption, and not +wanting to have recourse to the inferior leaf produced in Brazil and +Venezuela, decided to monopolize the tobacco industry of Spain. To +realize this plan he proposed to increase the production of tobacco in +Cuba by extending its cultivation over the whole island and guaranteeing +the laborers full value of their harvest, but insisting that the product +be submitted for examination to the committee presided over by Olivares. + +This proposition, however just it seemed, produced serious disturbances. +The commission favoring the government monopoly had ordered by decree on +April 17, 1717, that there should be established in Havana a general +agency for the purchase of tobacco with branch offices in Trinidad, +Santiago and Bayamo. This decree in reality was of great advantage to +the laborers who were thus certain of selling their crops and with +advance payments could extend and improve their sembrados (tobacco +fields). On the other hand it was opposed by the speculators, who had up +to this time lived on the fat commissions which their operations had +brought them. These men spread all sorts of rumors detrimental to the +newly appointed commission and its work among the producers of tobacco. +Deluded by this insidious propaganda, the men rebelled. Five hundred +vegueros or stewards of the tobacco fields armed themselves and captured +Jesus del Monte. Even in the capital there were public demonstrations +against the commission and the municipal authorities so weakly supported +the governor in his defense of the employees of the estance (monopoly) +established by the royal government, that he resigned his office in +favor of the royal tenente Maraveo (according to the historian Valdes he +was expelled) and sailed for Spain in company of D. Olivares. The +earnest exhortations of Bishop Valdes and the archbishop of Santo +Domingo induced the rebels to cease their hostile activities and to +withdraw to their homes and temporarily quiet was restored. + +So much confusion had been created by frequent changes of governorship +and the interim rule of provisional authorities, that the royal +government at Madrid took steps to establish greater stability and +insure an uninterrupted function of the administrative machine of Cuba. +After the affair of Casa-Torres it became imperative to provide for the +cases of absence or suspension from office. A royal decree dated +December, 1715, ordered that in future, whenever the office of the +Governor and Captain-General should become vacant, by default, absence +or sickness, the political and military power should be held by the +Tenente-Rey (or Royal Lieutenant), or in his default by the Castellan +(warden or governor) of el Morro. + +Upon the return of Vicente de Raja to Spain, Lieutenant-Colonel D. Gomez +de Maraveo Ponce de Leon temporarily exercised the functions of +governorship. Cuba was at that time in a peculiar state of political and +social unrest. There were still some demonstrations of the +tobacco-planters going on in different parts of the island. Maraveo, +instead of being upheld in his authority, soon discovered that he was at +the mercy of the magistrates and some of the wealthy citizens who seemed +to back the rebellious elements. In the eastern part of the island the +miners had joined the tobacco-planters in disturbances, intended to +convey to the government their disapproval of its measures. It required +all the persuasive power of Bishop Valdes and other spiritual leaders of +the colony to pacify the turbulent agitation fermenting among the +people. + +The court of Spain realized the seriousness of the situation and was +particularly circumspect in the choice of the new governor. A man was +needed, firm of will, yet possessed of a sense of justice and of tact in +the handling of the two hostile factions. After long and serious +deliberation D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez de la Vega, a native +of Ossuna, Brigadier-General and Knight of the Order of Santiago was +selected. D. Guazo had in his previous official activities proved his +energy and bravery and soon after entering upon his office relieved the +Spanish authorities of their worries concerning the state of affairs in +Cuba. He took charge of his duties on the twenty-third of June, 1718, +and immediately called a meeting of the Ayuntamento, the bishop and +leading prelates. The men who by their participation in the recent +disturbances compromised their reputation were filled with anxious +apprehension. But the king wished to avoid internal unrest and +discontent and had recommended a policy of reconciliation. + +It was an auspicious beginning of D. Guazo's administration when he +announced at this meeting that the King in his clemency would forget the +past occurrences, if the mischief-makers would in future show loyal +obedience to his orders. A proclamation which Governor Guazo issued the +next day informed the people of the whole island that royal pardon had +been granted to the chiefs of the recent mutiny, and quiet and order +were soon restored. The tumultuous manifestations which a few greedy +speculators had deliberately stirred up among the people associated with +tobacco culture, ceased for the time being. He reorganized the +tobacco-factory and reinstalled the former employees. The factory +advanced funds to the vegueros, who, having no other creditors, could +now fix the price and sell the crop themselves. + +But in the year 1721 the vegueros once more revolted; they resented the +dictatorial manner in which the Visitador D. Manuel Leon exercised his +functions as inspector and supervisor. The Bishop and D. Jose Bayona +Chacon who filled the office of provisor (a sort of ecclesiastical +judiciary), managed by earnest exhortations and promise of watching over +their welfare to pacify the insurgents and prevent blood-shed, a service +for which Bayona was later rewarded by the rank and title of a count. +But the arguments of the two prelates had no effect upon the Visitador +who continued his unwarranted severity. The result was a revolt in 1723 +of the vegueros of San Miguel, Guanabacoa and Jesus del Monte, who +numbered five hundred men with arms and horses. They proceeded to +destroy the tobacco fields of the cultivators of Santiago and Bejucal +who had agreed to sell their tobacco at the price proposed by the +Visitador. Governor Guazo was obliged to send a company of mounted +soldiers under the command of D. Ignacio Barrutia to parley with the +rebels. But at the suggestion of submission they replied with +musket-shot and Barrutia was forced to fire upon them. Several were +killed and wounded, and twelve were taken prisoners. These unfortunates +were hanged at Jesus del Monte on that same day. + +As soon as this matter was disposed of, Governor Guazo directed his +attention to the military affairs of the island. Florida had at this +time been annexed to the government of Cuba and Guazo reorganized the +army of both colonies, and called into being a number of new militia +companies in different parts of the island. He replaced the old pike or +lance and the antiquated musket or blunderbus by the bayonet and rifle. +The garrison of the capital was raised to eight hundred and sixty-five +men, all properly armed and equipped. At the same time the salaries in +the army were increased. The soldiers received eleven pesos a month, the +salaries of the Teniente de Rey--the King's Lieutenant--and of the +governors of el Morro and la Punta were raised and the Captain-General +was paid ten thousand pesos a year. An important measure for the +promotion of West Indian commerce was inaugurated by Patino, the +Minister of the Treasury, who, in order to increase the imports of goods +from Spain, conceded to the merchants the same rights as those given to +the merchants of Seville and Cadiz. + +Guazo had warned British privateers to desist from raids upon the +Spanish possessions and in the year 1719 had to address the same warning +to the French. For the rupture of diplomatic relations between France +and Spain had once more increased the insecurity of the Spanish-American +coasts. The privateers fitted out by the Cuban government and authorized +to retaliate upon the French and British vessels they would meet, were +under the command of men of tried valor, like Gonzalez, Mendreta, +Cornego and others. They succeeded in capturing a number of bilanders +(small one-mast vessels), which carried cargoes of over one hundred +thousand pesos in value. On one of these expeditions the soldiers and +sailors attempted to revolt against the customary discipline, but Count +Bayona suppressed the incipient mutiny before it had the time to +develop. + +As soon as war had been declared between France and Spain the promoters +of the French colonization schemes that had modestly begun to +materialize along southern coast of the American continent, embraced +this opportunity to attack the Spanish settlements in Florida. On the +fourteenth of May, 1718, Bienville, the brother and successor of the +famous d'Iberville, arrived at Pensacola and in the name of the French +king demanded the capitulation of the town. Unprepared for such an +eventuality and unable to resist superior forces, D. Juan Pedro +Metamores, the governor of Pensacola, surrendered and the garrison left +with all honors of war. They were transported in French vessels to +Havana. But already on this involuntary voyage Metamores was considering +measures of retaliation. When the French vessels _Toulouse_ and +_Mareschal de Villars_ reached Cuba and landed the prisoners, they were +seized by the Governor of Havana, who on learning of the disaster at +Pensacola decided upon its recapture. A fleet consisting of one Spanish +warship, nine brigantines and the two French vessels was quickly made +ready and Metamores with his captured troops embarked for Pensacola. On +the sixth of August he entered the harbor with the French vessels flying +the French colors as decoys. The French commander refused to surrender +and a cannonade began. Then the French demanded an armistice which was +followed by the exchange of more shots and finally the garrison of one +hundred men marched out, also with honors of war, under the command of +Chateaugue. They were sent to Havana and were to be transported to +Spain, but in the meantime were imprisoned in Morro castle. Metamores +resumed his governorship of Pensacola. + +But in September Bienville, the brother of Chateaugue, assisted by a +French fleet under Champmeslin, with a large force of Canadians and +Indians, attacked Pensacola once more. Metamores was defeated and with +some of his Spanish troops sent to Havana to be exchanged for the French +prisoners held there since August. The remaining Spaniards were sent to +France as prisoners of war. It seems from the records of the historian +Blanchet that Governor Guazo in the following year made an attempt to +reconquer Pensacola. He sent an expedition of fourteen ships and nine +hundred men under the command of D. Esteban de Berroa, who succeeded in +taking the place. But in the further course of the engagement between +the two forces, the French regained possession and defeated the Cubans, +many of whom were made prisoners and sent to Spain. + +Of Governor Guazo's efforts to improve the fortifications of Havana, an +inscription on the inner side of the gate of Tierra bears witness. It +reads: + + Reynando La Majesdad Catolica del Senor Felipe V. Rey de las + Espanas y Siendo Gobernador de Esta Ciudad, E Isla de Cuba El + Brigadier de los Reales Exercitos D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon + Fernandez de la Vega, Caballero del Orden de Santiago. Ano De 1721. + + In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Philip V. King of the Spains, + and when the Governor of this town and island of Cuba was the + Brigadier of the royal armies D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez + de la Vega, Knight of the Order of Saint James. In the year 1721. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +The wonderful impetus which the discoverers and explorers of Spain gave +to the spirit of adventure by opening to the world the gates of a new +and strange world, promptly began to bear fruit among those nations who +had always been daring navigators. Young men with no ties, either of +family or profession, to hold them, were suddenly fired with the desire +to see the new continent which the genius of Columbus and his associates +had brought within their reach, and set out in quest of what promised to +be a precious new experience. Most of these men were fairly well +educated and sensed the importance of all these enterprises. They set +out as eager observers and they did not fail to record their +observations and impressions in the frank and unadorned manner of +unsophisticated onlookers. Some kept a daily record of their +experiences, others jotted down what seemed to them the most striking +incidents; still others embodied their reflections on what they had seen +and heard in letters that were sent home whenever an occasion presented +itself. + +Out of this great mass of personal records of travel in the New World a +number stand out as deserving of more than passing notice, and though a +careful perusal of these books shows a tendency on the part of some +authors to repeat what they had heard or read in the reports of their +predecessors, there is something worth noting in every individual +volume. Among the writers who were evidently the source from which many +authors drew to corroborate and complete their personal observations is +Tordesillas Herrera, his Spanish Majesty's Chief Chronicler, traces of +whose "Description of the West Indies," which was translated into Dutch, +English, French and other languages are found in many books. The +writings of that worthy prelate and Champion of the Indians, Bartolomeo +de Las Casas, have also been drawn upon by many writers. Almost amusing +in the light of later day events, is a copiously illustrated little book +in which a pious German translator dwells with unctuous +self-righteousness on the cruelties practised by the Spaniards upon the +natives of the islands. + +Herrera thus relates the story of the first settlement of Cuba in the +second volume of "A Description of the West Indies," which was +translated into Dutch, English, French and other languages and appeared +in English in the year 1625: + + "This same year 1511, the Admiral Don James Columbus, resolved to + make settlements in Cuba, knowing it to be an island, the soil + good, populous and abounding in provisions. To this purpose he made + use of James Velasquez, being the wealthiest and best belov'd of + all the first Spanish inhabitants in Hispaniola. Besides he was a + Man of Experience, of a mild and affable Temper, tho' he knew how + to maintain his authority; of Body well-shap'd, of Complexion fair, + and very discreet. As soon as it was known in Hispaniola that James + Velasquez was going to make settlements in Cuba, Abundance of + People resolv'd to bear him Company, some because, as has been + said, he was belov'd and others because they were ruin'd and in + Debt. All these, being about three hundred Men, rendezvous'd in the + Town of Salvatiena de la Zavana to embark aboard four ships, this + Place being at the Extremity of Hispaniola. Before we proceed any + further, it is fit to observe that the Province of Guahaba lying + next to Cuba, the Distance between the two Points being but + eighteen Leagues, many Indians went over to Cuba in their Canoes + and among them pass'd over, with as many of his Men as could, a + Cazique of the said Province of Guahaba, call'd Hatuey, a brave and + discreet Man. He settled on the nearest Country known by the name + of Mazci, and possessing himself of that Part kept the People as + Subjects, but not as Slaves; for it was never found in the Indies + that any Difference was made between a free people or even their + own Children and Slaves, unless it were in New Spain, and the other + Provinces, where they us'd to sacrifice Prisoners to their Idols + which was not practis'd in these Islands. This Cazique Hatuey, + fearing that the Spaniards would at some Time pass over into Cuba, + always kept Spies to know what was doing in Hispaniola and being + inform'd of the Admiral's design, he assembled his People who it + is likely were of the most martial, and putting them in Mind of + their many sufferings under the Spaniards told them: 'They did all + that for a great Lord they were very fond of, which he would show + them' and then taking some Gold out of a little Palm Tree Basket, + added 'This is the Lord whom they serve, him they follow, and as + you have already heard, they are about passing over hither, only to + seek this Lord, therefore let us make a Festival, and dance to him, + to the End that when they come, he may order them not to do us + harm.' Accordingly they all began to sing and dance till they were + quite tir'd, for it was their Custom to dance as long as they could + stand, from nightfall till break of Day, and these Dances were as + in Hispaniola, to the Musick of their Songs, and tho' fifty + thousand Men and Women were assembled, no one differ'd in the least + from the rest in the Motions of their Hands, Feet and Bodies; but + those of Cuba far exceeded the natives of Hispaniola, their Songs + being more agreeable. When they were Spent with Singing and Dancing + before the little Basket of Gold, Hatuey bid them not to Keep the + Lord of the Christians in any Place whatsoever, for if he were in + their Bowels, they would fetch him out, and therefore they should + cast him in the River under Water, where they would not find him, + and so they did." + +Following is a description of the natives of Cuba, quoted from the same +work: + + "The first inhabitants of this Island were the same as those of the + Lucayos, a good sort of People and well temper'd. They had Caziques + and Towns of two or three hundred houses with several Families in + each of them as was usual in Hispaniola. They had no Religion as + having no Temples or Idols or Sacrifices; but they had the + physicians or conjuring Priests as in Hispaniola, who it was + thought had Communication with the Devil and their questions + answered by him. They fasted three or four months to obtain this + Favour, eating nothing but the juice of Herbs, and when reduced to + extreme weakness they were worthy of that hellish Apparition, and + to be inform'd whether the Season of the Year would be favorable or + otherwise, what Children would be born, whether those born would + live, and such like questions. These were their Oracles, and these + Conjurers they call'd Behiques, who led the People in so many + Superstitions and Fopperies, during the Sick by blowing on them, + and such other exterior actions, mumbling some Word between their + Teeth. These People of Cuba knew that Heaven, the Earth and other + Things had been created, and said that they had much Information + concerning the Flood, and the world had been destroy'd by water + from three Persons that came three several ways. Men of above + seventy years of age said that an old Man knowing the Deluge was to + come, built a great Ship and went into it with his Family and + Abundance of Animals, then he sent out a Crow which did not return, + staying to feed on the dead Bodies, and afterward return'd with a + green Branch; in the other Particulars, as far as Noah's Sons + covering him when drunk, and then they scoffing at it; adding that + the Indians descended from the latter, and therefore had no Coats + nor Cloaks; but that the Spaniards, descending from the other that + cover'd him, were therefore cloath'd and had Horses. What has been + here said, was told by an Indian of above seventy years of age to + Gabriel de Cabrera who one Day quarreling with him called him Dog, + whereupon he call'd, Why he abus'd and call'd him Dog, since they + were Brethren, as descending from the Sons of him that made the + great Ship, with all the rest that has been said before." + +Herrera's description of the island may have inspired many writers +coming after him; it had, however, the advantage of giving one of the +earliest and therefore most spontaneous impressions on record. Here is a +sample of his descriptive power: + + "This Island is very much wooded, for Man may travel along it + almost two hundred and thirty leagues, always under Trees of + several Sorts, and particularly sweet scented and red Cedars, as + thick as an Ox, of which they made such large Canoes that they + would contain fifty or sixty Persons, and of this Sort there were + once great numbers in Cuba. There are Storax Trees, and if a Man in + the Morning gets upon a high Place the Vapors that rise from the + Earth perfectly smell of Storax coming from the fire the Indians + make at night, and drawn up when the Sun rises. Another Sort of + Trees produce a Fruit call'd Xaguas, as big as veal kidneys, which + being beaten and laid by four or five days, tho' not gather'd ripe, + are full of Liquor like Honey, and better tasted than the sweetest + Pears. There are abundance of wild Vines that run up high, bearing + grapes, and Wine has been made of them, but somewhat aigre, and + there being an infinite Quantity of them throughout all the Island, + the Spaniards were wont to say they had seen a Vineyard that + extended two hundred and thirty Leagues. Some of the Trunks of + these Vines are as thick as a Man's Body, which proceeded from + extraordinary Moisture and Fertility of the Soil. All the Island is + very pleasant and more temperate than Hispaniola, very healthy, has + safer Harbors for many Ships than if they had been made by Art, as + is that of Santiago on the Southern Coast being in the shape of a + Cross, that of Xagua is scarce to be matched in the World, the + Ships pass into it through a narrow Mouth, not above a Cross bow + Shot over and then turned into the open Part of it, which is about + ten Leagues in Compass with three little islands so posited, that + they may make fast their Ships to Stakes on them, and they will + never budge, all the Compass being shelter'd by Mountains, as if + they were in a House, and there the Indians had Pens to shut up the + Fish. On the north Side there are good Harbours, the best being + that which was call'd de Carenas, and now the Havana, so large that + few can compare to it; and twenty Leagues to the Eastward of it is + that of Matanzas, which is not very safe. About the middle of the + Island is another good Port, call'd del Principe, and almost at the + End that of Baracoa, where much good Ebony is cut; between which + there are other good anchoring places, tho' not large." + +In a volume entitled "Voyages and Travels" and edited by Raymond +Beazley, there is a record of travels in Mexico 1568-1585 by one John +Chilton, which says on the title-page: "A Notable Discourse of Master +John Chilton, touching the people, manners, mines, metals, riches, +forces and other memorable things of the West Indies seen and noted by +himself in the time of his travels continued in those parts the space of +seventeen or eighteen years." He writes of Havana: + + "Merchants after travelling from Nicaragua, Honduras, Porto Rico, + Santo Domingo, Jamaica and all other places in the Indies arrive + there, on their return to Spain; for that in this port they take in + victuals and water and the most part of their landing. Here they + meet from all the foresaid places, always in the beginning of May + by the King's commandment. At the entrance of this port, it is so + narrow that there can scarce come in two ships together, although + it be above six fathoms deep in the narrowest place of it. + + "In the north side of the coming in, there standeth a tower in + which there watcheth every day a man to descry the call of ships + which he can see on the sea; and as many as he discovereth so many + banners he setteth upon the tower, that the people of the town + (which standeth within the port about a mile from the tower) may + understand thereof. + + "Under this tower there lieth a sandy shore, where men may easily + go aland; and by the tower there runneth a hill along by the + water's side, which easily with small store of ordnance, subdueth + the town and port. The port within is so large that there may + easily ride a thousand sail of ships, without anchor or cable; for + no wind is able to hurt them. + + "There inhabit within the town of Havana about three hundred + Spaniards and about sixty soldiers; which the King maintaineth + there, for the keeping of a certain castle which he hath of late + erected, which hath planted in it about twelve pieces of small + ordnance. It is compassed round with a small ditch, where through + at their pleasure, they may let in the sea. + + "About two leagues from Havana there lieth another town called + Guanabacoa, in which there are dwelling about one hundred Indians; + and from this place sixty Leagues there lieth another town named + Bahama, situated on the north side of the island. The chiefest city + of the island of Cuba which is above two hundred miles in length, + is also called Cuba (Santiago de Cuba); where dwelleth a Bishop and + about 200 Spaniards; which town standeth on the south side of the + island about a hundred leagues from Havana. + + "All the trade of this island is cattle; which they kill only for + the hides that are brought thence into Spain. For which end the + Spaniards maintain there many negroes to kill the cattle, and + foster a great number of hogs, which being killed are cut into + small pieces that dry in the sun; and so make provisions for the + ships which come for Spain." + +Many books of West Indian travel are by French writers, among them an +anonymous "Relation des voyages et des decouvertes que las Espagnols on +fait," Jean de Laet's "Histoire du Nouveau Monde," Jean Baptiste Labat's +"Nouveau Voyage aux iles de l'Amerique," Francois Coreal's "Relation des +Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" and that interesting work entitled +"Relation de ce qui s'est passe dans les iles et Terra Firma de +l'Amerique," which does not give the name of the author, but bears on +its title-page the name of the printer, "Gervais Clouzier au Palais, a +la seconde Boutique sur les degres en montant pour aller a la Ste. +Chapelle au Voyageur MDCLXXI" and is dedicated to the Duc de Luynes, a +peer of France. There is also the work of a Dutchman, Linschoten: +"Histoire de la Navigation de Jean Hugues de Linschoten," which has been +translated into English, French and other languages. + +Jan Huygens van Linschoten was a born traveler. His favorite reading had +always been books of travel and as the news of the exploits of foreign +mariners in the New World came pouring into Holland, this young Dutchman +was seized with an irresistible longing to see those far-off worlds. He +frankly speaks in his book of travel of the difficulties he encountered +in trying to persuade his family to approve of his venture, and whether +they did or not, he set out for Lisbon as the place where he would be +most likely to obtain passage. He arrived there just after the death of +Alba. He found the Peninsula in great commotion which even interrupted +the regular routine of overseas traffic. But a man of daring puts his +trust in chance, and chance favored the venturesome youth by an +extraordinary opportunity. + +There was at that time a noble Dominican monk in Lisbon, Fra Vincente +Fonseca, scion of a distinguished family. He had been a preacher to King +Sebastian of Portugal, had done missionary work in Africa and been later +attached to the court of Madrid as confessor of Philip II. The +archbishopric of the West Indies having become vacant, Fonseca was +appointed, but he was unwilling to accept this position, dreading the +long voyage and a repetition of some unpleasant experiences which he had +had in Africa. The king, however, insisted, promised to recall him in +four or five years and held out to him the lure of rich revenues. So Fra +Fonseca finally accepted, and Jan Huygens van Linschoten succeeded in +obtaining a position in the retinue of the prelate. Linschoten's +brother, who was secretary to the king, being tired of court life, had +also asked to be sent overseas and was about to sail as scribe on board +a vessel going to the Levant. But on learning of his brother's luck, he +decided also to go to the West Indies and joined the fleet waiting to +embark in some professional capacity. There were five vessels; the +Admiral ship called _San Felipe_, the Vice-Admiral _San Diego_, the +third was _San Laurente_, the fourth _San Francisco_ and the fifth _San +Salvador_. The two brothers boarded the latter, and set sail on Good +Friday, the eighth of April, 1583. + +Jan Huygens van Linschoten has this to say of Cuba: + + "Cuba is a very large island belonging to the Antille group, first + discovered by Christopher Colomb in 1492, and called by him Jeanne + et Ferdinande and also Alpha and Omega. It has also by others been + called Island of Santiago, after the name of the principal town, so + considered on account of the great harbor and big trade. To the + east it has the island of San Domingo, to the west Yucatan, to the + north the extremity of Florida and the Lucaya islands, to the South + the island of Jamaica. The island of Cuba is greater in length than + in width; it measures from one end to the other three hundred + leagues, from North to South seventy and in width it is only + fifteen and in some places nineteen leagues. The center of the + island is at 91 degrees longitude and twenty latitude. The island + has long been considered part of the continent on account of its + size, of which one ought not to be surprised, for the inhabitants + themselves seem not to know its limits and since the arrival of the + Spaniards they know no better, being a people, naked and simple and + contented with their government and bothering about no other. The + ground is rough and hilly. The sea makes inlets in various places; + there are small rivers, the good waters of which carry gold and + copper. The air is moderately warm, sometimes a little cold. You + find there dye-stuffs for linen and furs. The island is full of + shady woods, ponds and beautiful fresh water rivers; you also find + plenty of ponds the waters of which are naturally salt. The forests + contain wild boars. The rivers frequently yield gold. + + "In this island are six cities, inhabited by Spaniards, the first + and principal of which is San Jago, which is the seat of the + archbishop; but Havana is the principal mercantile center of the + island and there they build ships. Two notable things were remarked + on this island by Gonsalo Onetano. One is a valley between two + mountains, of the length of two or three Spanish leagues, where you + find boulders by nature so round that they could not be rounded + better, and in such quantity that they could serve as ballast for + several ships, that use cannon balls instead of lead or iron. The + other is a mountain, not far from the coast, from which there is a + constant flow of pitch to the coast and wherever the wind may + divert it. The residents and Spaniards use this pitch to tar their + vessels. + + "The inhabitants of this island are like those of the island of + Spain (Hispaniola) though a little different in language. Both men + and women go about naked. In their marriage a strange custom + prevails; the husband is not the first to approach his wife. If he + is a gentleman, he invites all gentlemen to precede him; if he is a + merchant, he invites the merchants, if he is a peasant, he asks the + gentlemen and the priests. The men can for the slightest cause + abandon the women; but the wives cannot desert their husband for + any reason whatsoever. The men are very inconstant and lead a bad + life. The soil produces big worms and serpents or snakes that are + not poisonous so the people eat them without danger. And these + snakes feed on certain little animals called Guabiniquinazes, of + which sometimes seven or eight are found in their stomach, although + they are as big as hares, resembling a fox, the head of a weasel, + the tail of a fox, the hair long like a deer's, color somewhat + reddish, and the flesh tender and wholesome. This island should be + well populated; but it is not so at present, unless it be by some + Spaniards, who have exterminated the greater number of natives, of + which many died of starvation." + +The Sieur Jean de Laet d'Anners, whose History of the New World bears +the imprint of Bonaventure and Elzevir, Printers of the University of +Leyden, also gives a description of Cuba as it was in the sixteenth and +beginning of the seventeenth century. He says: + + "There are few towns in proportion to the size of the island; + Santiago ranks first, both for its age and name; it was built by + Diego Velasco. At the south coast of the island about 20 degrees + North Latitude, opposite Hispaniola, almost two miles from the sea, + in the depth of a harbor which one may well pronounce the first + among the large and safe harbors of the New World. For the ocean + enters through a narrow inlet and is received by a large bay, like + a gulf, with several little islands; it is so safe a port that one + does not need to cast anchor. This city was once well populated, + but now the population is reduced to a very small number. It has a + cathedral church and a bishop Suffragans of the archbishopric of + San Domingo and a monastery of the Minorite brothers. It is owned + by the Lieutenant-Governor of the island. The chief articles of + trade are ox-skins and sugar. Three miles from the town are rich + mines of copper, which is now extracted from high mountains, called + for that reason by the Spaniards Sierras de Cobre. + + "Near this town to the East about thirty miles is the town of + Baracoa, built by the same Velasco on the North Coast The forests + near this town yield very good ebony and according to other reports + Brazilian redwood. + + "The third city is San Salvador or Bayamo from the name of the + province, built by the same Velasco, thirty miles from Santiago, + which surpasses all other towns of the island by good air, fertile + soil and beautiful plains; it is in the center of the island, but + merchandise is brought from the sea by the river Caute, which is + opposite. Among the treasures of this island are certain stones of + divers size, but all perfectly round, so they could serve as cannon + balls; they are said to be so numerous on the shores of the river + bearing the name of the town, that they seem to have rained from + the sky. Oniedo says they are found in a marshy valley almost + midway between this city and Santiago. + + "Puerto de Principe ranks fourth; town and harbor, much esteemed by + mariners, are to the north of the island, forty leagues from + Santiago northwest. Not far are springs of bitumen, which Monardes + mentions (and which the Indians use as remedy for chills). I + believe they are the naptha of the ancients. + + "Santi Spiritus of forty to fifty houses is more a village than a + town and its harbor is good only for barges and sloops. But vessels + stop there on their way from Santiago, Bayamo and Puerto Principe + to Havana. + + "Trinite-Trinidad--once populated by Indians, now almost deserted, + has an inconvenient harbor and was the scene of some shipwrecks. + + "Havana receives the sea by a narrow but deep inlet, enlarging into + a wide bay, with coasts at first diverging and then meeting, + capable of holding a thousand vessels as if in a safe bosom. All + the Spanish fleets coming from the meridional continent, New Spain + and the islands, loaded with a variety of merchandise and an + abundance of gold and silver, stop there to take on water and + necessary victuals, and when a sufficient number has collected, in + September or later, they go out together or in two fleets through + the straits of Bahama towards Spain: The city has besides the + garrison (the number of which is uncertain, although the king sends + the pay for a thousand soldiers and more) three hundred Spanish + families, some Portuguese and a large number of slaves. The + governor of the island and the other royal officers reside there. + It surpasses not only the other cities of the island, but almost + all of America by the size and safety of her port, her wealth and + her commerce. The neighboring forests furnish a great abundance of + excellent woods, which they use to build their ships, which is a + very great convenience. They have also tried to work some copper + mines not far from the town; but without success, either because + the veins failed, or the laborers were too ignorant or the expense + was greater than the profit." + +Many of the writers of these books of travel dwell at length upon the +wealth of precious woods found on the island. One of them makes a list +which contains the following: l'acana, called vegetable iron, cedar, +majagna (mahogany) frijolillo, a wood with shaded veins, granadillo, a +wood light purple in color, ebony, yew and many others. Wood was so +plentiful that it was even used instead of metal in machinery. +Foreigners visiting the first sugar refinery in Cuba, which was in 1532 +founded by Brigadier Gonzales de Velosa, associated with the veedor +Cristobal de Tapia and his brother, found the machines made of hard +wood. The variety of fruits is also commented upon by the travelers that +visited Cuba in the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth +century. They mention among the fruit trees abundant in Cuba the cocoa +trees of Los Remedios, the ubiquitous banana, the orange, the West India +chestnut, the fruit-bearing palms, guesima, garoubier, yaya and others. + +Francois Coreal's "Relation des Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" also +contains some interesting data and goes into the causes of the decline +of Spanish power in the West Indies. Coreal, who seems to be of Spanish +origin or at least citizenship, says among other things: + +"There grows in Porto Rico a guiac tree, the wood of which was +considered a sovereign remedy against small-pox. Indians sometimes told +me, were it but for that wood, one should be glad that America was +discovered. These Indians often asked me whether there are any drugs +against small pox growing in Europe; and when I told them that many +excellent antivenereal remedies came from the West Indies, they remarked +with some common sense and not without a touch of irony, that God had +much kindness for the Castellanos, having given them their gold, their +wives and even their guiac." + +In another part of the very readable work he says: + +"It is certain the Spaniards owe the rapidity of their conquest of +America to the sudden (and almost miraculous) fear with which the +Indians were seized at the approach of the new enemy. It seems that +without it we would have had much more trouble; but artillery was +unknown to these Americans, so was military discipline, which we +understood better than they, so they with extraordinary rapidity cleared +for us the roads to the South Sea and on to Chili and the Straits of +Magellan. This facility of our conquest made for carelessness, which +from that time through the luxury and idleness of our people increased, +until it became almost inconceivable. As our people rather scorned the +Indians and considered them almost a sort of intermediary creature +between man and beast, it was believed that lands so easily conquered +could not be as easily lost; and there was some reason for this belief, +for at that time Spain had no rival on the sea, there was nothing to +fear from the Indians themselves, who could not hold out against us +conquerors. Later we had even less fear, for the Spanish monarchy became +a formidable power to all Europe and when it ceased to be so, interests +and politics had so changed that one was obliged to leave us in peaceful +ownership of a possession which could have been taken from us as easily +as we had conquered it. + +"This is according to my opinion the main cause of the decline of +Spanish power in America. There are others which are no less real. As +soon as one has set foot in the New World, you are confronted with an +endless lot of plunderers and marauders, who call themselves soldiers, +ravage the beautiful country, pillage the treasures of the Indians, +torture the inhabitants and rob them of their property and freedom, +under a thousand pretences unworthy of Christianity and of Spanish +generosity. So that several of these nations which at the beginning +favored the Spaniards, became in time their most mortal enemies. These +plunderers, I cannot call them anything else, ruined at the outset the +authority of the King and by their wickedness hindered all the good +that one could have expected from the friendship of native residents. +Royal authority being poorly upheld by these bad subjects of the King, +and the facile abundance which they had found, having plunged them into +all sorts of vice, their pride made them look upon the Indians as their +slaves and even as property acquired by the sword, which succeeded in +spoiling our position with the natives. It is quite certain that these +people would not wish for more than to throw off the yoke of servitude +under which they sigh to-day as did their ancestors before them." + +The author of the book printed by Gervais Glouzier, "Relation de ce qui +s'est passe dans les iles et la Terra Firma de l'Amerique pendant la +derniere guerre avec l'Angleterre, etc." also dwells upon the policy +pursued by certain Spanish adventurers and officials towards the natives +of the islands: + +"The Spaniards pretended to have recognized the natives of these islands +as being anthropophagous, and asked the king of Castile permission to +capture them, i.e., to take and make them slaves (which they did +elsewhere without permission), so they did not approach the Antilles +except armed, and in the character of enemies; and the Indians who +inhabited them prepared to make upon them the most cruel war, as soon as +they saw vessels off their coasts, be it openly or from ambush in the +woods, or by surprise attacks, when the strangers wanted to take water +or leave the vessels, which irritated these people and many a Spaniard +regretted having obliged them to go to such extremities. + +"Things of this kind happened in the Antilles during the fifteenth +century when the Spaniards were busy making other discoveries, wherever +gold or silver attracted them and for the conservation of which and the +exploitation of mines they could not furnish a sufficient number of men. +They had no idea of settling down to cultivate the soil of these lands, +and waiting only to procure the convenience of taking on water or +leaving their invalids to recuperate on St. Christopher island, they +made peace with the Indians who inhabited this island, and continued to +treat as enemies all those of other islands. + +"When at the end of this century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the +English and French sailed on the seas of America, the first with more +considerable forces like those conducted by Drake, Walter Raleigh, +Kenits and others, and the French with less armaments, the voyages of +the ones and the others in those little frequented climates made some +other compatriots conceive the idea of establishing themselves on +American soil and found colonies, which would furnish subsistence to a +considerable number of their nation and serve as retreat to those +vessels where they could renew their supplies. In this way in 1625 two +adventurers, the one French, named d'Enemene 'de la maison de Duil en +Normandie,' the other also a gentleman, an Englishman named V. Varnard, +moved by the same desire landed on the same day on St. Christopher's, +which they had chosen for their purpose and from there all the French +and British settlements in the Antilles radiated." + +These records of visits to the West Indies by Dutch, English, French and +other travellers following in the wake of the great discoverers and +explorers, rise almost to the importance of documentary evidence, when +they attempt to deal with such questions as the attitude of the +Spaniards towards the natives of the New World. But mainly they are +narratives, setting down simply and unpretentiously the impressions made +upon European visitors by the bigness of dimensions and proportions and +the abundance of natural products of all sorts. There is a spirit of +wonderment at the riches so profusely bestowed upon this Western world; +but there is not yet a trace of the jealousy so apparent in later +writings, when commercial rivalry had divided the nations of Europe into +hostile camps and finally arrayed all of them against Spain. Though not +always written by men who had set out in pursuit of adventure, they +convey to the reader a breath of the oldtime romance of travel in +countries the plants and animals and native residents of which are so +many objects of curious interest. But viewed as a whole, these books are +full of information, at times strangely quickened by an individual human +touch, and read at leisure in a certain order, reconstruct the panorama +of West Indian life in a period which had no parallel in the history of +the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +It was the inscrutable irony of fate that Cuba should remain so +negligible a quantity during one of the most momentous and progressive +periods of human history. No other era since man began his career had +been on the whole so marked with greatness. Discovery and exploration +had doubled the known area of the globe, and the intellectual +achievements of the race had even more than kept pace with the material. +The era of which we have been writing in this volume saw the completion +of Columbus's work in his fourth voyage, the exploits of Magellan, +Balboa and Cabot, the enterprises of Cortez and Pizarro, of Cartier and +Raleigh. It saw the rise of religious liberty, and of modern philosophy +and science. It saw the art of printing, invented in the preceding +century, developed into world-wide significance. + +This was the era of genius. Its annals were adorned with the names of +Shakespeare and Cervantes, of Rafael and Titian and Michael Angelo, of +Holbein and Durer, of Luther and Erasmus, of Ariosto and Rabelais, of +Tyndale and Knox, of Calvin, Loyola and Xavier, of Copernicus and +Vesalius, of Montaigne and Camoens, of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, of Tasso +and Spenser, of Bacon and Jonson, of Sidney and Lope de Vega. It was a +wondrous company that passed along the world's highway while Cuba was +struggling in obscurity to lay the foundations of a future state. + +Nor did Spain herself lag behind her neighbor nations. The sixteenth +century saw her swift rise to the greatest estate she has ever known, +and her development of many of the greatest names in her history. She +began the century a newly-formed kingdom uncertain of herself and +timorously essaying an ambitious career; and she reached its close one +of the most extensive and most powerful empires in the world. We +commonly think of her chiefly as a conquering power. But in fact that +century of her marvellous conquests of empire was also her golden age in +intellect. We may imagine that the swiftness of her rise to primacy +among the nations, and the dazzling splendor of her conquests, +stimulated and inspired the minds of her people to comparable +achievements in the intellectual world. The sixteenth century was indeed +to Spain what the Augustan Age was to Rome, and what the Elizabethan and +Victorian ages were to England, and for some of the same reasons. + +It was then that three great universities were founded: Salamanca, +Alcala for science, Valladolid for law; and a noteworthy school of +navigation at Seville. There flourished the philosopher Luis Vives, the +tutor of Mary Stuart. In jurisprudence there were Victoria and Vazquez, +from whom Grotius received his inspiration; and Solorzano, with his +monumental work of the Government of the Indies. The drama was adorned +by Lope de Rueda, Lope de Vega, Gabriel Tellez, and Juan del Enzina. The +greatest name of all in literature was that of Miguel Cervantes y +Saavedra. There were the poets Garcilaso de Vega, and Luis de Argote y +Gongora. There were the painters Ribera, and Domenico Theotocopuli, who +inspired Velazquez. + +Above all, there was one of the most remarkable groups of historians of +any land or age. Paez de Castro was more than any other man the founder +of history as a philosophical study as distinguished from mere polite +letters; the forerunner of Voltaire and Hume. There were Florian de +Ocampo, Jeronimo Zurita, Ambrosio de Morales, and the famous Jesuit +Mariana. Then there was a remarkable company of historians inspired by +the American conquests of Spain, who gave their attention to writing of +the lands thus added to her empire: Oviedo, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, Lopez +de Velasco, Las Casas, and many more. Cortez, Pizarro, Velasquez and +others might conquer lands for Spain. These others would see to it that +their deeds were fittingly chronicled. + +There was something more, still more significant. There arose +distinguished writers, producing notable works, in the countries of +Spanish America; some born there, some travelling thither from the +peninsula. It was in 1558 that the University of Santo Domingo was +founded, which for a time served all the Spanish Indies and was a great +centre of learning. How many poets and dramatists, not to mention +historians and other writers, there were in America in that century, we +are reminded in Cervantes's "Viaje de Parnaso" and Lope de Vega's +"Laurel de Apolo." These writers were chiefly in Mexico and Peru, for +obvious reasons. Those were Spain's chief colonies, and they were those +which had themselves the most noteworthy past, a past marked with a high +degree of civilization. The first book ever printed in the Western +Hemisphere was the "Breve y Compendiosa Doctrina Cristiana," published +by Juan de Zumarraga, the first Bishop of Mexico, in Mexico in 1539. + +It was about the middle of the century that there appeared the first +American book of real literary merit. This was "La Araucana," a Chilean +epic poem, by Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga. Another epic, with Hernando +Cortez for its hero, was "Cortez Valeroso," by Gabriel Lasso de la Vega, +in 1588. The next year saw Juan de Castellanos's prodigious historical +and biographical poem of 150,000 lines, "Elegias de Varones Ilustres de +Indias." Another epic of Cortez was Antonio de Saavedra Guzman's +"Peregrino Indiano," in 1599. + +In all these things Cuba had no part. In later centuries that island +could boast of poets and other writers worthy to rank with their best +contemporaries of other lands. But in that marvellous sixteenth century +she seems to have produced not a single name worthy of remembrance. In +the rich productivity of Spanish intellect Cuba remained unrepresented. +In Oriente, in Camaguey and in Havana there may be found legends and +ballads of unknown but ancient origin, which are assumed to have been +composed perhaps in the days of Velasquez, and to have been passed down +orally from generation to generation. _Quien sabe?_ It is quite probable +that such was their origin; but it is quite certain that their authors +are unknown. + +For this lack of intellectual productivity in the first century of +Cuba's history, and indeed the lack of any noteworthy achievements, the +reason is not difficult to perceive. As we observed at the beginning of +this volume, Cuba, at the advent of Europeans, was a country without a +civilization and without a past. Mexico, Yucatan and Peru had enjoyed +civilizations not unworthy of comparison with those of Europe and Asia, +the remains of which attracted thither the intellects of Spain, and +inspired them. But Cuba had nothing of the sort. Again, the vast wealth +of Mexico and Peru attracted to those countries many more explorers, +conquerors and colonists than Cuba could draw to herself. And there was +also the partiality which was shown to them by royal favor and in royal +interest. We shall have reviewed the annals of the first Cuban century +to little purpose if we do not perceive that during the greater part of +that time the "Queen of the Antilles," the "Pearl of the West Indies," +as she was even then occasionally and afterward habitually called, was +the Cinderella of the Spanish Empire; a Cinderella destined, however, +one day to meet her Fairy Prince and thus to be wakened into splendor +not surpassed by the finest of her sisters. + +The close of the sixteenth century marked, then, approximately a great +turning point in Cuban history. Thitherto she had been exclusively +identified with Spain. She had developed no individuality and had +exercised no influence upon other lands and their relationships, or +indeed upon the empire of which she was a part. It was left for later +years to make her an important factor in international affairs and to +develop in her an individuality worthy of an independent sovereign among +the nations of the world. + +Yet in these very circumstances which we have recounted, and which upon +the face of them appeared to be and indeed were for the time so +unfavorable, there were developed the influences which unerringly led to +the subsequent greatness of the island. The earliest settlers were not +only of Spanish origin but also of Spanish sympathies. They could not be +expected to have any affection for or any pride in the land to which +they had come as to a mere "Tom Tiddler's ground," on which to pick up +silver and gold. They valued Cuba for only what they could get out of +her; many of them glad, after thus gaining wealth, to return to Spain, +or to go to Mexico, Venezuela or Peru, there the better to enjoy it and +to mingle in social pleasures which the primitive life of Cuba did not +yet afford. + +There were, however, some even in the first generation who were +exceptions to this rule, who loved Cuba for her own sake, who wished to +identify themselves permanently with her, and who wished to see her +developed to the greatness and the splendor for which her natural +endowments seemed to them to have designed her. In the second generation +the number of such was of course greatly multiplied, and in succeeding +generations their increase proceeded at a constantly increasing ratio. +Thus by the end of the first century of Cuban history the great majority +of residents of the island regarded themselves as Cubans rather than as +Spaniards. They were Spaniards in race and tongue, and they were ready +to stand with the peninsular kingdom and the rest of its world-circling +empire against any of other tongues and races. But while thus to the +outside world they were Spaniards, to Spain itself and to the people of +the peninsula they were Cubans; differentiated from Spain much more than +the Catalonian was from the Castilian, or the Andalusian from the +Navarrais. + +This sentiment of differentiation, and of insular individuality, was +naturally strengthened by the treatment which the peninsular government +accorded to the island. The Cubans were made to feel that Spain regarded +them as apart from her, just as much as they themselves so regarded her. +They felt, too, that she was treating them with injustice and with +neglect; that instead of nourishing her young plantation and giving it +the support of her wealth and strength she was drawing upon it for her +own nourishment and support. They would have been either far more or far +less than human if they had not thus been incited to a certain degree of +resentment and to an assertion of independence. + +In brief, it was with the Cubans even at that early day as it was with +the British colonists in North America a century and a half later; +though indeed the Cubans determined upon separation from the mother +country at a comparatively earlier date than the people of the Thirteen +Colonies, or certainly much longer before their achievement of that +independence. We know that the British colonists were dissatisfied and +protesting for nearly a score of years before their Declaration of +Independence, but that down to within a few months of the latter +transcendent event scarcely any of them thought of separation from +England. Lexington and Concord, and even Bunker Hill, were fought not +for independence but for the securing of the same rights for the +colonists that their fellow subjects in the British Isles enjoyed. But +the Cubans resolved upon separation from Spain not only years but at +least two full generations before they were able to achieve it. + +This spirit belongs to a much later date in Cuban history than that of +which we are now writing, and to refer to it here is an act of +anticipation. But it is desirable to some extent to scan the end from +the beginning; to see from the outset to what end we shall come as well +as to see at the end from what beginning we have come. Moreover, it +cannot be too well remembered that even as soon as the latter part of +the sixteenth century the people of Cuba regarded themselves as Cubans, +and so called themselves, and had begun the cultivation of a social +order and a sentiment of patriotism quite distinct from though not yet +necessarily antagonistic to that of Spain. + +The transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century was marked, +then, with a significant change in the temper and character of Cuba, +especially by a great accession of the spirit of insular integrity and +independence. While Spain was great and apparently growing greater, +there was a gratifying pride in identification with her. But when her +decline began, and showed signs of being as rapid as her rise had been, +that pride waned, and there began to arise in its place a pride in Cuba, +or perhaps we might say at that early date a determination to develop in +Cuba cause for pride. From that time forward Cuba was destined to be +more American than European; and though for nearly three centuries she +might continue to be a European possession, yet her lot was decided. +Unconsciously, perhaps, but not the less surely she was drawn into the +irresistible current which was drawing all the American settlements away +from the European planters of them. It was one of the interesting +eccentricities of history that the first important land acquired by +Spain in the western hemisphere should be the last to leave her sway; +and that the first European colonists in America to have cause for +complaint against their overlords should be the longest to suffer and +the last to secure abatement of their wrongs. Such is the reflection +caused by consideration of this first era in the history of the Queen of +the Antilles. + + +THE END OF VOLUME ONE + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX + + + Abarzuza, Sr. proposes reforms for Cuba, IV, 6. + + Abreu. Marta and Rosalie, patriotism of, IV, 25. + + Academy of Sciences, Havana, picture of, IV, 364. + + Adams, John Quincy, enunciates American policy toward Cuba, II, 258; + portrait, 259; + on Cuban annexation, 327. + + Aglona, Prince de. Governor, II, 363. + + Agramonte, Aristide, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Agramonte, Enrique, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12. + + Agramonte, Eugenio Sanchez, sketch and portrait, IV, 362. + + Agramonte, Francisco, IV, 41. + + Agramonte, Ignacio, portrait, facing. III, 258. + + Agriculture, early attention to, I, 173, 224; + progress, 234; + II, 213; + absentee landlords, 214; + statistics, 223; + discussed in periodicals, 250; + rehabilitation of after War of Independence, IV, 147. + + Aguayo, Geronimo de, I, 161. + + Aguero, Joaquin de, organizes revolution, III, 72; + final defeat, 87. + + Aguiar, Luis de, II, 60. + + Aguiera, Jose, I, 295. + + Aguila, Negra, II, 346. + + Aguilera, Francisco V., sketch and portrait, III, 173. + + Aguirre, Jose Maria, filibuster, IV, 55; + death, 85. + + Albemarle, Earl of, expedition against Havana, II, 46; + occupies Havana, 78; + controversy with Bishop Morell, 83. + + Alcala, Marcos, I, 310. + + Aldama, Miguel de, sketch and portrait, III, 204. + + Aleman, Manuel, French emissary, II, 305. + + Algonquins, I, 7. + + Allen, Robert, on "Importance of Havana," II, 81. + + Almendares River, tapped for water supply, I, 266; + view on, IV, 167. + + Almendariz, Alfonso Enrique, Bishop, I, 277. + + Alquiza, Sancho de, Governor, I, 277. + + Altamarino, Governor, I, 105; + post mortem trial of Velasquez, 107; + attacked by the Guzmans, 109; + removed, 110. + + Altamirano, Juan C., Bishop, I, 273; + seized by brigands, 274. + + Alvarado, Luis de, I, 147. + + Alvarado, Pedro de, in Mexico, I, 86. + + Amadeus, King of Spain, III, 260. + + America, relation of Cuba to, I, 1; + II, 254. See <sc>United States</sc>. + + American Revolution, effect of upon Spain and her colonies, II, 138. + + American Treaty, between Great Britain and Spain, I, 303. + + Andrea, Juan de, II, 9. + + Angulo, Francisco de, exiled, I, 193. + + Angulo, Gonzales Perez de, Governor, I, 161; + emancipation proclamation, 163; + quarrel with Havana Council, 181; + flight from Sores, 186; + end of administration, 192. + + Anners, Jean de Laet de, quoted, I, 353. + + Annexation of Cuba to United States, first suggested, II, 257, 326; + campaign for, 380; + sought by United States, III, 132, 135; + Marcy's policy, 141; + Ostend Manifesto, 142; + Buchanan's efforts, 143; + not considered in War of Independence, IV, 19. + + Antonelli, Juan Bautista, engineering works in Cuba, I, 261; + creates water supply for Havana, 266. + + Apezteguia. Marquis de, Autonomist leader, IV, 94. + + Apodaca, Juan Ruiz, Governor, II, 311. + + Arana, Martin de, warns Prado of British approach, II, 53. + + Arana, Melchior Sarto de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 237. + + Arana, Pedro de, royal accountant, I, 238. + + Aranda, Esquival, I, 279. + + Arango, Augustin, murder of, III, 188. + + Arango, Napoleon, treason of, III, 226. + + Arango y Pareno, Francisco, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. II; + organizes Society of Progress, II, 178; + leadership in Cuba, 191; + attitude toward slavery, 208; + his illustrious career, 305 et seq. + + Aranguren, Nestor, revolutionist, IV, 85; + death, 92. + + Araoz, Juan, II, 181. + + Arias, A. R., Governor, III, 314. + + Arias, Gomez, I, 145. + + Arignon, Villiet, quoted, II, 26, 94. + + Armona, Jose de, II, 108. + + Army, Cuban, organization of, III, 178; + reorganized, 263; + under Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 301. + + Army, Spanish, in Cuba, III, 181, 295. + + Aroztegui, Martin de, II, 20. + + Arrate, Jose Martin Felix, historian, II, 17, 179. + + Arredondo, Nicolas, Governor at Santiago, II, 165. + + Asbert, Gen. Ernesto, amnesty case, IV, 326. + + "Assiento" compact on slavery, II, 2. + + Assumption, Our Lady of the, I, 61. + + Astor, John Jacob, aids War of Independence, IV, 14. + + Asylums for Insane, II, 317. + + Atares fortress, picture, II, 103. + + Atkins, John, book on West Indies, II, 36. + + Atrocities, committed by Spanish, III, 250; + Cespedes's protest against, 254; + "Book of Blood," 284; + Spanish confession of, 286; + war of destruction, + 295; + Weyler's "concentration" policy, IV, 85. + + Attwood's Cay. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Autonomist party, III, 305; + IV, 34; + attitude toward Campos in War of Independence, 59; + Cabinet under Blanco, 94; + earnest efforts for peace, 101; + record of its government, 102. + + Avellanda, Gertrudis Gomez de, III, 331; + portrait, facing, 332. + + Avila, Alfonso de, I, 154. + + Avila, Juan de, Governor, I, 151; + marries rich widow, 154; + charges against him, 157; + convicted and imprisoned, 158. + + Avila. See <sc>Davila</sc>. + + Aviles, Pedro Menendez de, See <sc>Menendez</sc>. + + Ayala, Francisco P. de, I, 291. + + Ayilon, Lucas V. de, strives to make peace between Velasquez + and Cortez, I, 98. + + Azcarata, Jose Luis, Secretary of Justice, sketch and portrait, + IV, 341. + + Azcarate, Nicolas, sketch and portrait, III, 251, 332. + + Azcarraga, Gen., Spanish Premier, IV, 88. + + + "Barbeque" sought by Columbus, I, 18. + + Bachiller, Antonio, sketch and portrait, III, 317. + + Bacon, Robert, Assistant Secretary of State of U. S., intervenes + in revolution, IV, 272. + + Bahia Honda, selected as U. S. naval station, IV, 256. + + Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, I, 55, 91. + + Bancroft, George, quoted, I, 269; + II, 1, 24, 41, 117, 120, 159. + + Banderas, Quintin, revolutionist, IV, 34; + raid, 57; + death, 84. + + Baracoa, Columbus at, I, 18; + Velasquez at, 60; + picture, 60; + first capital of Cuba, 61, 168. + + Barreda, Baltazar, I, 201. + + Barreiro, Juan Bautista, Secretary of Education, IV, 160. + + Barrieres, Manuel Garcia, II, 165. + + Barrionuevo, Juan Maldonado, Governor, I, 263. + + Barsicourt, Juan Procopio. See <sc>Santa Clara</sc>, Conde. + + Bayamo, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168; + Cuban Republic organized there, III, 157. + + Bayoa, Pedro de, I, 300. + + Bay of Cortez, reached by Columbus, I, 25. + + Bees, introduced by Bishop Morell, II, 104; + increase of industry, 132. + + "Beggars of the Sea," raid Cuban coasts, I, 208. + + Bells, church, controversy over, II, 82. + + Bembrilla, Alonzo, I, 111. + + Benavides, Juan de, I, 280. + + Berrea, Esteban S. de, II, 6. + + Betancourt, Pedro, Civil Governor of Matanzas, IV, 179; + loyal to Palma, 271. + + Betancourt. See <sc>Cisneros</sc>. + + "Bimini," Island of, I, 139. + + Bishops of Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, I, 122. + + "Black Eagle," II, 346. + + <i>Black Warrior</i> affair, III, 138. + + Blanchet, Emilio, historian, quoted, II, 9, 15, 24; + on siege of Havana, 57, 87. + + Blanco, Ramon, Governor, IV, 88; + undertakes reforms, 89; + plans Cuban autonomy, 93; + on destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99; + resigns, 121. + + Blue, Victor, observations at Santiago, IV, 110. + + Bobadilla, F. de, I, 54. + + Boca de la Yana, I, 18. + + "Bohio" sought by Columbus, I, 18. + + Bolivar, Simon, II, 333; + portrait, 334; + "Liberator," 334 et seq.; + influence on Cuba, 341; + "Soles de Bolivar," 341. + + Bonel, Juan Bautista, II, 133. + + "Book of Blood," III, 284. + + Bourne, Edward Gaylord, quoted, on slavery, II, 209; + on Spanish in America, 226. + + Brinas, Felipe, III, 330. + + British policy toward Spain and Cuba, I, 270; + aggressions in West Indies, 293; + slave trade, II, 2; + war of 1639, 22; + designs upon Cuba, 41; + expedition against Havana, 1762, 46; + conquest of Cuba, 78; + relinquishment to Spain, 92. See <sc>Great Britain</sc>. + + Broa Bay, I, 22. + + Brooke, Gen. John R., receives Spanish surrender of Cuba, IV, 122; + proclamation to Cuban people, 145; + retired, 157. + + Brooks, Henry, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Buccaneers, origin of, I, 269. + + Buccarelli, Antonio Maria, Governor, II, 110; + retires, 115. + + Buchanan, James, on U. S. relations to Cuba, II, 263; + III, 135; + Minister to Great Britain, 142; + as President seeks annexation of Cuba to U. S., 143. + + Bull-fighting, II, 233. + + Burgos, Juan de, Bishop, I, 225. + + Burtnett, Spanish spy against Lopez, III, 65. + + Bustamente, Antonio Sanchez de, jurist, sketch and portrait, IV, 165. + + + Caballero, Jose Agustin, sketch and portrait, III, 321. + + Caballo, Domingo, II, 173. + + Cabanas, defences constructed, II, 58; + Laurel Ditch, view, facing, 58. + + Caballero, Diego de, I, 111. + + Cabezas, Bishop, I, 277. + + Cabrera, Diego de, I, 206. + + Cabrera, Luis, I, 198. + + Cabrera, Lorenzo de, Governor, I, 279; + removed, 282. + + Cabrera, Rafael, filibuster, IV, 70. + + Cabrera, Raimundo, conspirator in New York, IV, 334; + warned, 339. + + Cadreyta, Marquis de, I, 279. + + Cagigal, Juan Manuel de, Governor, II, 154; + defence of Havana, 155; + removed and imprisoned, 157. + + Cagigal, Juan Manuel, Governor, II, 313; + successful administration, 315. + + Cagigal de la Vega, Francisco, defends Santiago, II, 29; + Governor, 32; + Viceroy of Mexico, 34. + + Caguax, Cuban chief, I, 63. + + Calderon, Gabriel, Bishop, I, 315. + + Calderon, Garcia, quoted, II, 164, 172. + + Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister, + on <i>La Verdad</i>, III, 19; + on colonial status, 21; + negotiations with Soule, 140. + + Calhoun, John C., on Cuba, III, 132. + + Calleja y Isisi, Emilio, Governor, III, 313; + proclaims martial law, IV, 30; + resigns, 35. + + Camaguey. See <sc>Puerto Principe</sc>, I, 168. + + Campbell, John, description of Havana, II, 14. + + Campillo, Jose de, II, 19. + + Campos, Martinez de, Governor, III, 296; + proclamations to Cuba, 297, 299; + makes Treaty of Zanjon and ends Ten Years War, 299; + in Spanish crisis, IV, 36; + Governor again, 37; + establishes Trocha, 44; + defeated by Maceo, 46; + conferences with party leaders, 59, 63; + removed, 63. + + Cancio, Leopoldo, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 161, 320. + + Canizares, Santiago J., Minister of Interior, IV, 48. + + Canning, George, policy toward Cuba, II, 257; + portrait, 258. + + Canoe, of Cuban origin, I, 10. + + Canon, Rodrigo, I, 111. + + Canovas del Castillo, Spanish Premier, IV, 36; + assassinated, 88. + + Cape Cruz, Columbus at, I, 20. + + Cape Maysi, I, 4. + + Cape of Palms, I, 17. + + Capote, Domingo Menendez. Vice-President, IV, 90; + Secretary of State, 146; + President of Constitutional Convention. 189. + + Carajaval, Lucas, defies Dutch, I, 290. + + Cardenas, Lopez lands at, III, 49. + + Caribs, I, 8. + + Carillo, Francisco, filibuster, IV, 55. + + Carleton, Sir Guy, at Havana, II, 47. + + Carranza, Domingo Gonzales, book on West Indies, II, 37. + + Carrascesa, Alfonso, II, 6. + + Carreno, Francisco, Governor, I, 219; + conditions at his accession, 228; + dies in office, 229; + work in rebuilding Havana, 231. + + Carroll, James, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Casa de Beneficienca, founded, I, 335; + II, 177. + + Casa de Resorgiamento, founded, II, 31. + + Casares, Alfonso, codifies municipal ordinances, I, 207. + + Castellanos, Jovellar, last Spanish Governor of Cuba, IV, 121; + surrenders Spanish sovereignty, 123. + + Castillo, Demetrio, Civil Governor of Oriente, IV, 180. + + Castillo, Ignacio Maria del, Governor, III, 314. + + Castillo, Loinaz, revolutionist. IV, 269. + + Castillo, Pedro del, Bishop, I, 226. + + Castro, Hernando de, royal treasurer, I, 115. + + Cathcart Lord, expedition to West Indies, II, 28. + + Cathedral of Havana, picture, facing I, 36; + begun, I, 310. + + Cat Island. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Cayo, San Juan de los Remedios del, removal of, I, 319. + + Cazones, Gulf of, I, 21. + + Cemi, Cuban worship of, I, 55. + + Census, of Cuba, first taken, by Torre, II, 131; + by Las Casas, 176; + of slaves, 205; + of 1775, 276; + of 1791, 277; + Humboldt on, 277; + of 1811, 280; + of 1817, 281; + of 1827, 283; + of 1846, 283; + of 1899, IV, 154; + of 1907, 287. + + Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, III, 157; + portrait, facing 158; + in Spain, 158; + leads Cuban revolution, 158; + President of Republic, 158; + proclamation, 168; + negotiations with Spain, 187; + removed from office, 275. + + Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, filibuster, IV, 55. + + Cespedes, Enrique, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Cervera, Admiral, brings Spanish fleet to Cuba, IV, 110; + portrait, 110; + surrenders, 114. + + Chacon, Jose Bayoma, II, 13. + + Chacon, Luis, I, 331, 333. + + Chalons, Sr., Secretary of Public Works, IV, 297. + + Chamber of Commerce founded, II, 307. + + Charles I, King, I, 74; + denounces oppression of Indians, 128. + + Chaves, Antonio, Governor, I, 157; + prosecutes Avila, 157; + ruthless policy toward natives, 159; + controversy with King, 160; + dismissed from office, 161. + + Chaves, Juan Baton de, I, 331. + + Chilton, John, describes Havana, I, 349. + + Chinchilla, Jose, Governor, III, 314. + + Chinese, colonies in America, I, 7; + laborers imported into Cuba, II, 295. + + Chorrera, expected to be Drake's landing place, I, 248. + + Chorrera River, dam built by Antonelli, I, 262. + + Christianity, introduced into Cuba by Ojeda, I, 55; + urged by King Ferdinand, 73. + + Church, Roman Catholic, organized and influential in Cuba, I, 122; + cathedral removed from Baracoa to Santiago, 123; + conflict with civil power, 227; + controversy with British during British occupation, II, 84; + division of island into two dioceses, 173; + attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 26; + controversy over property, 294. + + Cienfuegos, Jose, Governor, II, 311. + + Cimmarones, "wild Indians," I, 126; + revolt against De Soto, 148. + + Cipango, Cuba identified with, by Columbus, I, 5. + + Cisneros, Gaspar Betancourt, sketch and portrait, II, 379. + + Cisneros, Pascal Jiminez de, II, 110, 127. + + Cisneros, Salvador, III, 167; + sketch and portrait, 276; + President of Cuban Republic, 277; + President of Council of Ministers, IV, 48; + in Constitutional Convention, 190. + + Civil Service, law, IV, 325; + respected by President Menocal, 325. + + Clay, Henry, policy toward Cuba, II, 261. + + Clayton, John M., U. S. Secretary of State, issues proclamation + against filibustering, III, 42. + + Cleaveland, Samuel, controversy over church bells, II, 83. + + Cleveland, Grover. President of United States, issues warning against + breaches of neutrality, IV, 70; + reference to Cuba + in message of 1896, 79; + its significance, 80. + + Coat of Arms of Cuba, picture, IV, 251; + significance, 251. + + Cobre, copper mines, I, 173, 259. + + "Cockfighting and Idleness" campaign, IV, 291. + + Coffee, cultivation begun, II, 33, 113. + + Coinage, reformed, II, 142; + statistics of, 158. + + Collazo, Enrique, filibuster, IV, 55. + + Coloma, Antonio Lopez, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Colombia, designs upon Cuba, II, 262; + III, 134; + attitude toward Cuban revolution, 223. + + Columbus, Bartholomew, recalled to Spain, I, 57. + + Columbus, Christopher, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. I; + discoverer of America, I; + i; + first landing in America, 2; + monument on Watling's Island, picture, 3; + arrival in Cuba, 11; + question as to first landing place, 12; + first impressions of Cuba and intercourse with natives, 14; + exploration of north coast, 16; + end of first visit, 18; + second visit, 19; + exploration of south coast, 21; + at Bay of Cortez, 25; + turns back from circumnavigation, 26; + at Isle of Pines, 26; + final departure from Cuba, 27; + diary and narrative, 28 et seq.; + death and burial, 33; + tomb in Havana cathedral, 34; + removal to Seville, 36; + removal from Santo Domingo to Havana, II, 181; + epitaph, 182. + + Columbus, Diego, plans exploration and colonization of Cuba, I, 57; + attempts mediation between Velasquez and Cortez, 97; + replaces Velasquez with Zuazo, 100; + rebuked by King, 100. + + Comendador, Cacique, I, 55. + + Commerce, begun by Velasquez, I, 68; + rise of corporations, II, 19; + after British occupation, 98; + under Torre, 132; + reduction of duties, 141; + extension of trade, 163; + Tribunal of Commerce founded, 177; + Real Compania de Havana, 199; + restrictive measures, 200; + Chamber of Commerce founded, 307; + commerce with United States, III, 2; + during American occupation, IV, 184; + present, 358. + + Compostela, Diego E. de, Bishop, I, 318; + death, 332. + + Concepcion, Columbus's landing place, I, 3. + + Concessions, forbidden under American occupation, IV, 153. + + Concha, Jose Gutierrez de la, Governor, III, 62, 290. + + Conchillos, royal secretary, I, 59. + + Congress, Cuban, welcomed by Gen. Wood, IV, 246; + turns against Palma, 269; + friendly to Gomez, 303; + hostile to Menocal, 323; + protects the lottery, 324. + + Constitution: Cuban Republic of 1868, III, 157; + of 1895, IV, 47; + call for Constitutional Convention, 185; + meeting of Convention, 187; + draft completed, 192; + salient provisions, 193; + Elihu Root's comments, 194; + Convention discusses relations with United States, 197; + Platt + Amendment, 199; + amendment adopted, 203; + text of Constitution, 304 et seq.; + The Nation, 205; + Cubans, 205; + Foreigners, 207; + Individual Rights, 208; + Suffrage, 211; + Suspension of Guarantees, 212; + Sovereignty, 213; + Legislative Bodies, 214; + Senate, 214; + House of Representatives, 216; + Congress, 218; + Legislation, 221; + Executive, 222; + President, 222; + Vice-President, 225; + Secretaries of State, 226; + Judiciary, 227; + Supreme Court, 227; + Administration of Justice, 228; + Provincial Governments, 229; + Provincial Councils, 230; + Provincial Governors, 231; + Municipal Government, 233; + Municipal Councils, 233; + Mayors, 235; + National Treasury, 235; + Amendments, 236; + Transient Provisions, 237; + Appendix (Platt Amendment), 238. + + "Constitutional Army," IV, 268. + + Contreras, Andres Manso de, I, 288. + + Contreras, Damien, I, 278. + + Convents, founded, I, 276; + Nuns of Santa Clara, 286. + + Conyedo, Juan de, Bishop, II, 35. + + Copper, discovered near Santiago, I, 173; + wealth of mines, 259; + reopened, II, 13; + exports, III, 3. + + Corbalon, Francisco R., I, 286. + + Cordova de Vega, Diego de, Governor, I, 239. + + Cordova, Francisco H., expedition to Yucatan, I, 84. + + Cordova Ponce de Leon, Jose Fernandez, Governor, I, 316. + + Coreal, Francois, account of West Indies, quoted, I, 355. + + Coronado, Manuel, gift for air planes, IV, 352. + + Cortes, Spanish, Cuban representation in, II, 308; + excluded, 351; + lack of representation, III, 3; + after Ten Years' War, 307. + + Cortez, Hernando, Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, I, 72; + sent to Mexico by King, 74; + agent of Velasquez, 86; + early career, 90; + portrait, 90; + quarrel with Velasquez, 91; + marriage, 92; + commissioned by Velasquez to explore Mexico, 92; + sails for Mexico, 94; + final breach with Velasquez, 96; + denounced as rebel, 97; + escapes murder, 99. + + Cosa, Juan de la, geographer, I, 6, 53. + + Councillors, appointed for life, I, 111; + conflict with Procurators, 113. + + Creoles, origin of name, II, 204. + + Crittenden, J. J., protests against European intervention in Cuba, + III, 129. + + Crittenden, William S., with Lopez, III, 96; + captured, 101; + death, 105. + + Crombet, Flor, revolutionist, IV, 41, 42. + + Crooked Island. See <sc>Isabella</sc>. + + Crowder, Gen. Enoch H., head of Consulting Board, IV, 284. + + Cuba: Relation to America, I, 1; + Columbus's first landing, 3; + identified with Mangi or Cathay, 4; + with Cipango, 5; + earliest maps, 6; + physical history, 7, 37 et seq.; + Columbus's discovery, 11 et seq.; + named Juana, 13; + other names, 14; + Columbus's account of, 28; + geological history, 37-42; + topography, 42-51; + climate, 51-52; + first circumnavigation, 54; + colonization, 54; + Velasquez at Baracoa, 60; + commerce begun, 68; + government organized, 69; + named Ferdinandina, 73; + policy of Spain toward, 175; + slow economic progress, 215; + land legislation, 232; + Spanish discrimination against, 266; + divided into two districts, 275; + British description in 1665, 306; + various accounts, 346; + turning point in history, 363; + close of first era, 366; + British conquest, II, 78; + relinquished to Spain, 92; + great changes effected, 94; + economic condition, 98; + reoccupied by Spain, 102; + untouched by early revolutions, 165; + effect of revolution in Santo Domingo, 190; + first suggestion of annexation to United States, 257; + "Ever Faithful Isle," 268; + rise of independence, 268; + censuses, 276 et seq.; + representation in Cortes, 308; + "Soles de Bolivar," 341; + representatives rejected from Cortes, 351; + transformation of popular spirit, 383; + independence proclaimed, III, 145; + Republic organized, 157; + War of Independence, IV, 15; + Spanish elections held during war, 67; + Blanco's plan of autonomy, 93; + sovereignty surrendered by Spain, 123; + list of Spanish Governors, 123. See <sc>Republic of Cuba</sc>. + + Cuban Aborigines; + I, 8; + manners, customs and religion, 8 et seq.; + Columbus's first intercourse, 15, 24; + priest's address to Columbus, 26; + Columbus's observations of them, 29; + hostilities begun by Velasquez, 61; + subjected to Repartimiento system, 70; + practical slavery, 71; + Key Indians, 125; + Cimmarones, 126; + new laws in their favor, 129; + Rojas's endeavor to save them, 130; + final doom, 133; + efforts at reform, 153; + oppression by Chaves, 159; + Angulo's emancipation proclamation, 163. + + "Cuba-nacan," I, 5. + + "Cuba and the Cubans," quoted, II, 313. + + "Cuba y Su Gobierno," quoted, II, 354. + + Cuellar, Cristobal de, royal accountant, I, 59. + + Cushing, Caleb, Minister to Spain, III, 291. + + Custom House, first at Havana, I, 231. + + + Dady, Michael J., & Co., contract dispute, IV, 169. + + Davila, Pedrarias, I, 140. + + Davis, Jefferson, declines to join Lopez, III, 38. + + Del Casal, Julian, sketch and portrait, IV, 6. + + Del Cueta, Jose A., President of Supreme Court, portrait, IV, 359. + + Delgado, Moru, Liberal leader, IV, 267. + + Del Monte, Domingo, sketch, portrait, and work, II, 323. + + Del Monte, Ricardo, sketch and portrait, IV, 2. + + Demobilization of Cuban army, IV, 135. + + Desvernine, Pablo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 146. + + Diaz, Bernal, at Sancti Spiritus, I, 72; + in Mexico, 86. + + Diaz, Manuel, I, 239. + + Diaz, Manuel Luciano, Secretary of Public Works, IV, 254. + + Diaz, Modeste, III, 263. + + Divino, Sr., Secretary of Justice, IV, 297. + + Dockyard at Havana, established, II, 8. + + Dolz, Eduardo, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 96. + + Dominguez, Fermin V., Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 50. + + Dorst, J. H., mission to Pinar del Rio, IV, 107. + + "Dragado" deal, IV, 310. + + Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana, I, 243; + in Hispaniola, 246; + leaves Havana unassailed, 252; + departs for Virginia, 255. + + Duany, Joaquin Castillo, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12; + Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 50; + filibuster, 70. + + Dubois, Carlos, Assistant Secretary of Interior, IV, 50. + + Duero, Andres de, I, 93, 115. + + Dulce y Garay, Domingo, Governor, III, 190, 194; + decree of confiscation, 209; + recalled, 213. + + Dupuy de Lome, Sr., Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 40; + writes offensive letter, 98; + recalled, 98. + + Duque, Sr., Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, IV, 297. + + Durango, Bishop, I, 225. + + Dutch hostilities, I, 208, 279; + activities in West Indies, 283 et seq. + + + Earthquakes, in 1765, I, 315; + II, 114. + + Echeverria, Esteban B., Superintendent of Schools, IV, 162. + + Echeverria, Jose, Bishop, II, 113. + + Echeverria, Jose Antonio, III, 324. + + Echeverria, Juan Maria, Governor, II, 312. + + Education, backward state of, II, 244; + progress under American occupation, IV, 156; + A. E. Frye, Superintendent, 156; + reorganization of system, 162; + Harvard University's entertainment of teachers, 163; + achievements under President Menocal, 357. + + Elections: for municipal officers under American occupation, IV, 180; + law for regulation of, 180; + result, 181; + for Constitutional Convention, 186; + for general officers, 240; + result, 244; + Presidential, 1906, 265; + new law, 287; + local elections under Second Intervention, 289; + Presidential, 290; + for Congress in 1908, 303; + Presidential, 1912, 309; + Presidential, 1916, disputed, 330, result confirmed, 341. + + Enciso, Martin F. de, first Spanish writer about America, I, 54. + + Epidemics: putrid fever, 1649, I, 290; + vaccination introduced, II, 192; + small pox and yellow fever, III, 313; + at Santiago, IV, 142; + Gen. Wood applies Dr. Finlay's theory of yellow fever, 171; + success, 176; + malaria, 177. + + Escudero, Antonio, de, II, 10. + + Espada, Juan Jose Diaz, portrait, facing II, 272. + + Espagnola. See <sc>Hispaniola</sc>. + + Espeleta, Joaquin de, Governor, II, 362. + + Espinosa, Alonzo de Campos, Governor, I, 316. + + Espoleto, Jose de, Governor, II, 169. + + Estenoz, Negro insurgent, IV, 307. + + Estevez, Luis, Secretary of Justice, IV, 160; + Vice-President, 245. + + Evangelista. See <sc>Isle of Pines</sc>. + + Everett, Edward, policy toward Cuba, III, 130. + + "Ever Faithful Isle," II, 268, 304. + + Exquemeling, Alexander, author and pirate, I, 302. + + + "Family Pact," of Bourbons, effect upon Cuba, II, 42. + + Felin, Antonio, Bishop, II, 172. + + Fels, Cornelius, defeated by Spanish, I, 288. + + Ferdinand, King, policy toward Cuba, I, 56; + esteem for Velasquez, 73. + + Ferdinandina, Columbus's landing place, I, 3; + name for Cuba, 73. + + Ferrara, Orestes, Liberal leader, IV, 260; + revolutionist, 269; + deprecates factional strife, 306; + revolutionary conspirator in New York, 334; + warned by U. S. Government, I, 239. + + Ferrer, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 239. + + Figueroa, Vasco Porcallo de, I, 72; + De Soto's lieutenant, 142; + returns from Florida in disgust, 145. + + Figuerosa, Rojas de, captures Tortuga, I, 292. + + Filarmonia, riot at ball, III, 119. + + Filibustering, proclamation of United States against, III, 42; + after Ten Years' War, 311, in War of Independence, IV, 20; + expeditions intercepted, 52; + many successful expeditions, 69; + warnings, 70. + + Fine Arts, II, 240. + + Finlay, Carlos G., theory of yellow fever successfully applied + under General Wood, IV, 171; + portrait, facing, 172. + + Fish, Hamilton, U. S. Secretary of State, prevents premature + recognition of Cuban Republic, III, 203; + protests against Rodas's decree, 216; + on losses in Ten Years' War, 290; + seeks British support, 292; + states terms of proposed mediation, 293. + + Fish market at Havana, founder for pirate, II, 357. + + Fiske, John, historian, quoted, I, 270. + + Flag, Cuban, first raised, III, 31; + replaces American, IV, 249; + picture, 250; + history and significance, 250. + + Flores y Aldama, Rodrigo de, Governor, I, 301. + + Florida, attempted colonization by Ponce de Leon, I, 139; + De Soto's expedition, 145. See <sc>Menendez</sc>. + + Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, Bishop of Seville, I, 59. + + Fonts-Sterling, Ernesto, Secretary of Finance, IV, 90; + urges resistance to revolution, 270. + + Fornaris, Jose, III, 230. + + Forestry, attention paid by Montalvo, I, 223; + efforts to check waste, II, 166. + + Foyo, Sr., Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, IV, 297. + + France, first foe of Spanish in Cuba, I, 177; + "Family Pact," II, 42; + interest in Cuban revolution, III, 126. + + Franquinay, pirate, at Santiago, I, 310. + + French refugees, in Cuba, II, 189; + expelled, 302. + + French Revolution, effects of, II, 184. + + Freyre y Andrade, Fernando, filibuster, + IV, 70; + negotiations with Pino Guerra, 267. + + Frye, Alexis, Superintendent of Schools, IV, 156; + controversy with General Wood, 162. + + Fuerza, La: picture, facing I, 146; + building begun by De Soto, I, 147; + scene of Lady Isabel's tragic vigil, 147, 179; + planned and built by Sanchez, 194; + work by Menendez, and Ribera, 209; + slave labor sought, 211; + bad construction, 222; + Montalvo's recommendations, 223; + Luzan-Arana quarrel, 237; + practical completion, 240; + decorated by Cagigal, II, 33. + + + Galvano, Antony, historian, quoted, I, 4. + + Galvez, Bernardo, seeks Cuban aid for Pensacola, II, 146; + Governor, 168; + death, 170. + + Galvez, Jose Maria, head of Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95. + + Garaondo, Jose, I, 317. + + Garay, Francisco de, Governor of Jamaica, I, 102. + + Garcia, Calixto, portrait, facing III, 268; + President of Cuban Republic, III, 301; + joins War of Independence, IV, 69; + his notable career, 76 et seq.; + joins with Shafter at Santiago, 111; + death, 241. + + Garcia, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 269. + + Garcia, Esequiel, Secretary of Education, IV, 320. + + Garcia, Marcos, IV, 44. + + Garcia, Quintiliano, III, 329. + + Garvey, Jose N. P., II, 222. + + Gastaneta, Antonio, II, 9. + + Gelder, Francisco, Governor, I, 292. + + Gener y Rincon, Miguel, Secretary of Justice, IV, 161. + + Geraldini, Felipe, I, 310. + + Germany, malicious course of in 1898, IV, 104; + Cuba declares war against, 348; + property in Cuba seized, 349; + aid to Gomez, 350. + + Gibson. Hugh S., U. S. Charge d'Affaires, assaulted, IV, 308. + + Giron. Garcia, Governor, I, 279. + + Godoy, Captain, arrested at Santiago, and put to death, I, 203. + + Godoy, Manuel, II, 172. + + Goicouria, Domingo, sketch and portrait, III, 234. + + Gold, Columbus's quest for, I, 19; + Velasquez's search, 61; + the "Spaniards' God," 62; + early mining, 81; + value of mines, 173. + + Gomez, Jose Antonio, II, 18. + + Gomez, Jose Miguel, Civil Governor of Santa Clara, IV, 179; + aspires to Presidency, 260, 264; + turns from Conservative to Liberal party, 265; + compact with Zayas, 265; + starts revolution, 269; + elected President, 290; + becomes President, 297; + Cabinet, 297; + sketch and portrait, 298; + acts of his administration, 301; + charged with corruption, 304; + conflict with Veterans' Association, 304; + quarrel with Zayas, 306; + suppresses Negro revolt, 307; + amnesty bill, 309; + National Lottery, 310; + "Dragado" deal, 310; + railroad deal, 310; + estimate of his administration, 311; + double treason in 1916, 332; + defeated and captured, 337; + his orders for devastation, 337; + aided by Germany, 350. + + Gomez, Juan Gualberto, revolutionist, IV, 30; + captured and imprisoned, 52; + insurgent, 269. + + Gomez, Maximo, III, 264; + succeeds Gen. Agramonte, 275; + makes Treaty of Zanjon with Campos, 299; + in War of Independence, IV, 15; + commander in chief, 16, 43; + portrait, facing 44; + plans great campaign of war, 53; + controversy with Lacret, 84; + opposed to American invasion, 109; + appeals to Cubans to accept American occupation, 136; + impeachment by National Assembly ignored, 137; + influence during Government of Intervention, 149; + considered by Constitutional Convention, 191; + proposed for Presidency, 240; + declines, 241. + + Gonzalez, Aurelia Castillo de, author, sketch and portrait, IV, 192. + + Gonzales, William E., U. S. Minister to Cuba, IV, 335; + watches Gomez's insurrection, 336. + + Gorgas, William C., work for sanitation, IV, 175. + + Government of Cuba: organized by Velasquez, I, 69; + developed at Santiago, 81; + radical changes made, 111; + revolution in political status of island, 138; + codification of ordinances, 207; + Ordinances of 1542, 317; + land tenure, II, 12; + reforms by Governor Guemez, 17; + reorganization after British occupation, 104; + great reforms by Torre, 132; + budget and tax reforms, 197; + authority of Captain-General, III, 11; + administrative and judicial functions, 13 et seq.; + military and naval command, 16; + attempted reforms, 63; + concessions after Ten Years' War, 310. + + Governors of Cuba, Spanish, list of, IV, 123. + + Govin, Antonio, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95; + sketch and portrait, 95. + + Grammont, buccaneer, I, 311. + + Gran Caico, I, 4. + + Grand Turk Island. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Grant, U. S., President of United States, III, 200; + inclined to recognize Cuban Republic, 202; + prevented by his Secretary of State, 203; + comments in messages, 205, 292. + + Great Britain, interest in Cuban revolution, III, 125; + protection sought by Spain, 129; + declines cooperation with United States, 294; + requires return of fugitives, 310. + + Great Exuma. See <sc>Ferdinandina</sc>. + + Great Inagua, I, 4. + + Great War, Cuba enters, IV, 348; + offers 10,000 troops, 348; + German intrigues and propaganda, 349; + attitude of Roman Catholic clergy, 349; + ships seized, 350; + cooperation with Food Commission, 351; + military activities, 352; + liberal subscriptions to loans, 352; + Red Cross work, 352; + Senora Menocal's inspiring leadership, 353. + + Grijalva, Juan de, I, 65; + expedition to Mexico, 66; + names Mexico New Spain, 97; + unjustly recalled and discredited, 88. + + Guajaba Island, I, 18. + + Guama, Cimmarron chief, I, 127. + + Guanabacoa founded, II, 21. + + Guanahani, Columbus's landing place, I, 2. + + Guanajes Islands, source of slave trade, I, 83. + + Guantanamo, Columbus at, I, 19; + U. S. Naval Station, IV, 256. + + Guardia, Cristobal de la, Secretary of Justice, IV, 320. + + Guazo, Gregorio, de la Vega, Governor, I, 340; + stops tobacco war, 341; + warnings to Great Britain and France, 342; + military activity and efficiency, II, 5. + + Guemez y Horcasitas, Juan F., Governor, II, 17; + reforms, 17; + close of administration, 26. + + Guerra, Amador, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Guerra, Benjamin, treasurer of Junta, IV, 3. + + Guerro, Pino, starts insurrection, IV, 267, 269; + commander of Cuban army, 301; + attempt to assassinate him, 303. + + Guevara, Francisco, III, 265. + + Guiteras, Juan, physician and scientist, sketch and portrait, IV, 321. + + Guiteras, Pedro J., quoted, I, 269; + II, 6; + 42; + 207. + + Guzman, Gonzalez de, mission from Velasquez to King Charles I, I, 85; + vindicates Velasquez, 108; + Governor of Cuba, 110; + marries rich sister-in-law, 116; + litigation over estate, 117; + tremendous indictment by Vadillo, 120; + appeals to King and Council for Indies, 120; + seeks to oppress natives, 128; + second time Governor, 137; + makes more trouble, 148; + trouble with French privateers, 178. + + Guzman, Nunez de, royal treasurer, I, 109; + death and fortune, 115. + + Guzman, Santos, spokesman of Constitutionalists, IV, 59. + + + Hammock, of Cuban origin, I, 10. + + Hanebanilla, falls of, view, facing III, 110. + + Harponville, Viscount Gustave, quoted, II, 189. + + Harvard University, entertains Cuban teachers, IV, 163. + + Hatuey, Cuban chief, leader against Spaniards, I, 62; + death, 63. + + Havana: founded by Narvaez, I, 69; + De Soto's home and capital, 144; + rise in importance, 166; + Governor's permanent residence, 180; + inadequate defences, 183; + captured by Sores, 186; + protected by Mazariegos, 194; + sea wall proposed by Osorio, 202; + fortified by Menendez, 209; + "Key of the New World," 210; + commercial metropolis of West Indies, 216; + first hospital founded, 226; + San Francisco church, picture, facing 226; + building in Carreno's time, 231; + custom house, 231; + threatened by Drake, 243; + preparations for defence, 250; + officially called "city," 262; + coat of arms, 202; + primitive conditions, 264; + first theatrical performance, 264; + capital of western district, 275; + great fire, 277; + attacked by Pit Hein, 280; + described by John Chilton, 349; + first dockyard established, II, 8; + attacked by British under Admiral + Hosier, 9; + University founded, 11; + described by John Campbell, 14; + British expedition against in 1762, 46; + journal of siege, 54; + American troops engaged, 66; + surrender, 69; + terms, 71; + British occupation, 78; + great changes, 94; + description, 94; + view from Cabanas, facing, 96; + reoccupied by Spanish, 102; + hurricane, 115; + improvements in streets and buildings, 129; + view in Old Havana, facing 130; + street cleaning, and market, 169; + slaughter house removed, 194; + shopping, 242; + cafes, 243; + Tacon's public works, 365; + view of old Presidential Palace, facing III, 14; + view of the Prado, facing IV, 16; + besieged in War of Independence, 62; + view of bay and harbor, facing, 98; + old City Wall, picture, 122; + view of old and new buildings, facing 134; + General Ludlow's administration, 146; + Police reorganized, 150; + view of University, facing 164; + view of the new capitol, facing 204; + view of the President's home, facing 268; + view of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, facing 288; + new railroad terminal, 311. + + Hay, John, epigram on revolutions, IV, 343 + + Hayti. See <sc>Hispaniola</sc>. + + Hein, Pit, Dutch raider, I, 279. + + Henderson, John, on Lopez's expedition, III, 64. + + <i>Herald</i>, New York, on Cuban revolution, III, 89. + + Heredia, Jose Maria. II, 274; + exiled, 344; + life and works, III, 318; + portrait, facing 318. + + Hernani, Domingo, II, 170. + + Herrera, historian, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12; + on Hatuey, 62; + description of West Indies, 345. + + Herrera, Geronimo Bustamente de, I, 194. + + Hevea, Aurelio, Secretary of Interior, IV, 320. + + Hispaniola, Columbus at, I, 19; + revolution in, II, 173; + 186; + effect upon Cuba, 189. + + Hobson, Richmond P., exploit at Santiago, IV, 110. + + Holleben, Dr. von, German Ambassador at Washington, intrigues of, + IV, 104. + + Home Rule, proposed by Spain, IV, 6; + adopted, 8. + + Horses introduced into Cuba, I, 63. + + Hosier, Admiral, attacks Havana, I, 312; + II, 9. + + Hospital, first in Havana, I, 226; + Belen founded, 318; + San Paula and San Francisco, 195. + + "House of Fear," Governor's home, I, 156. + + Humboldt, Alexander von, on slavery, II, 206; + on census, 277; + 282; + on slave trade, 288. + + Hurricanes, II, 115, 176, 310. + + Hurtado, Lopez, royal treasurer, I, 116; + has Chaves removed, 162. + + + Ibarra, Carlos, defeats Dutch raiders, I, 288. + + Incas, I, 7. + + Independence, first conceived, II, 268; + 326; + first revolts for, 343; + sentiment fostered by slave trade, 377; + proclaimed by Aguero, III, 72; + proclaimed by Cespedes at Yara, 155; + proposed by United States to Spain, 217; + War of Independence, IV, 1; + recognized by Spain, 119. See <sc>War of Independence</sc>. + + Intellectual life of Cuba, I, 360; + lack of productiveness in Sixteenth Century, 362; + Cuban backwardness, II, 235; + first important progress, 273; + great arising and splendid achievements, III, 317. + + Insurrections. See <sc>Revolutions</sc>, and <sc>Slavery</sc>. + + Intervention, Government of: First, established, IV, 132; + organized, 145; + Cuban Cabinet, 145; + saves island from famine, 146; + works of rehabilitation and reform, 148; + marriage law, 152; + concessions forbidden, 153; + census, 154; + civil governments of provinces, 179; + municipal elections ordered, 180; + electoral law 180; + final transactions, 246; + Second Government of Intervention, 281; + C. E. Magoon, Governor, 281; + Consulting Board, 284; + elections held, 289, 290; + commission for revising laws, 294; + controversy over church property, 294. + + Intervention sought by Great Britain and France, III, 128; + by United States, IV, 106. + + Iroquois, I, 7. + + Irving, Washington, on Columbus's landing place, I, 12. + + Isabella, Columbus's landing place, I, 3. + + Isabella, Queen, portrait, I, 13. + + Isidore of Seville, quoted, I, 4. + + Islas de Arena, I, 11. + + Isle of Pines, I, 26; + recognized as part of Cuba, 224; + status under Platt Amendment, IV, 255. + + Italian settlers in Cuba, I, 169. + + Ivonnet, Negro insurgent, IV, 307. + + + Jamaica, Columbus at, I, 20. + + Japan. See <sc>Cipango</sc>. + + Jaruco, founded, II, 131. + + Jefferson, Thomas, on Cuban annexation, II, 260; + III, 132. + + Jeronimite Order, made guardian of Indians, I, 78; + becomes their oppressor, 127. + + Jesuits, controversy over, II, 86; + expulsion of, 111. + + Jordan, Thomas, joins Cuban revolution, III, 211. + + Jorrin, Jose Silverio, portrait, facing III, 308. + + Jovellar, Joachim, Governor, III, 273; + proclaims state of siege, 289; + resigns, 290. + + Juana, Columbus's first name for Cuba, I, 13. + + Juan Luis Keys, I, 21. + + Judiciary, reforms in, II, 110; + under Navarro, 142; + under Unzaga, 165; + under Leonard Wood, IV, 177. + + Junta, Cuban, in United States, III, 91; + New York, IV, 2; + branches elsewhere, 3; + policy in enlisting men, 19. + + Junta de Fomento, II, 178. + + Juntas of the Laborers, III, 174. + + + Keppel, Gen. See <sc>Albemarle</sc>. + + Key Indians, I, 125; + expedition against, 126. + + "Key of the New World and Bulwark of the Indies," I, 210. + + Kindelan, Sebastian de, II, 197, 315. + + + Lacoste, Perfecto, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, + IV, 160. + + Land tenure, II, 12; + absentee landlords, 214. + + Lanuza, Gonzalez, Secretary of Justice, IV, 146; + portrait, 146. + + Lares, Amador de, I, 93. + + La Salle, in Cuba, I, 73. + + Las Casas, Bartholomew, Apostle to the Indies, arrival in Cuba, I, 63; + portrait, 64; + denounces Narvaez, 66; + begins campaign against slavery, 75; + mission to Spain, 77; + before Ximenes, 77. + + Las Casas, Luis de, Governor, II, 175; + portrait, 175; + death, 182. + + Lasso de la Vega, Juan, Bishop, II, 17. + + Lawton, Gen. Henry W., leads advance against Spanish, IV, 112; + Military Governor of Oriente, 139. + + Lazear, Camp, established, IV, 172. + + Lazear, Jesse W., hero and martyr in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Ledesma, Francisco Rodriguez, Governor, I, 310. + + Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul General at Havana, IV, 72; + reports on "concentration" policy of Weyler, 86; + asks for warship to protect Americans at Havana, 97; + <i>Maine</i> sent, 98; + commands troops at Havana, 121. + + Lee, Robert Edward, declines to join Lopez, III, 39. + + Legrand, Pedro, invades Cuba, I, 302. + + Leiva, Lopez, Secretary of Government, IV, 297. + + Lemus, Jose Morales, III, 333. + + Lendian, Evelio Rodriguez, educator, sketch and portrait, IV, 162. + + Liberal Party, III, 306; + triumphant through revolution, IV, 285; + dissensions, 303; + conspiracy against election, 329. + + Liberty Loans, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 352. + + Lighthouse service, under Mario G. Menocal, IV, 168. + + Linares, Tomas de, first Rector of University of Havana, II, 11. + + Lindsay, Forbes, quoted, II, 217. + + Linschoten, Jan H. van, historian, quoted, I, 351. + + Liquor, intoxicating, prohibited in 1780, II, 150. + + Literary periodicals: <i>El Habanero</i>, III, 321; + <i>El Plantel</i>, 324; + <i>Cuban Review</i>, 325; + <i>Havana Review</i>, 329. + + Literature, II, 245; + early works, 252; + poets, 274; + great development of activity, III, 315 et seq. + + Little Inagua, I, 4. + + Llorente, Pedro, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188, 190. + + Lobera, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 182; + desperate defence against Sores, 185. + + Lolonois, pirate, I, 296. + + Long Island. See <sc>Ferdinandina</sc>. + + Lopez, Narciso, sketch and portrait, III, 23; + in Venezuela, 24; + joins the Spanish + army, 26; + marries and settles in Cuba, 30; + against the Carlists in Spain, 31; + friend of Valdez, 31; + offices and honors, 33; + plans Cuban revolution, 36; + betrayed and fugitive, 37; + consults Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, 38; + first American expedition, 39; + members of the party, 40; + activity in Southern States, 43; + expedition starts, 45; + proclamation to his men, 46; + lands at Cardenas, 49; + lack of Cuban support, 54; + reembarks, 56; + lands at Key West, 58; + arrested and tried, 60; + second expedition organized, 65; + betrayed, 67; + third expedition, 70; + final expedition organized, 91; + lands in Cuba, 98; + defeated and captured, 112; + death, 114; + results of his works, 116. + + Lorenzo, Gen., Governor at Santiago, II, 347. + + Lorraine, Sir Lambton, III, 280. + + Los Rios, J. B. A. de, I, 310. + + Lottery, National, established by Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 310. + + Louisiana, Franco-Spanish contest over, II, 117; + Ulloa sent from Cuba to take possession, 118; + O'Reilly sent, 123; + Uznaga sent, 126. + + Louverture, Toussaint, II, 186. + + Luaces, Joaquin Lorenzo, sketch and portrait, III, 330. + + Ludlow, Gen. William, command and work at Havana, IV, 144. + + Lugo, Pedro Benitez de, Governor, I, 331. + + Luna y Sarmiento, Alvaro de, Governor, I, 290. + + Luz y Caballero, Jose de la, "Father of the Cuban Revolution," + III, 322; + great work for patriotic education, 323; + Portrait, frontispiece, Vol III. + + Luzan, Gabriel de, Governor, I, 236; + controversy over La Fuerza, 237; + feud with Quinones, 241; + unites with Quinones to resist Drake, 243; + energetic action, 246; + tenure of office prolonged, 250; + end of term, 260. + + + Macaca, province of, I, 20. + + Maceo, Jose Antonio, proclaims Provisional Government, IV, 15; + leader in War of Independence, 41; + commands Division of Oriente, 43; + defeats Campos, 46; + plans great campaign, 53; + invades Pinar del Rio, 61; + successful campaign, 73; + death, 74; + portrait, facing 74. + + Maceo, Jose, IV, 41; + marches through Cuba, 76. + + Machado, Eduard, treason of, III, 258. + + Machete, used in battle, IV, 57. + + Madison, James, on status of Cuba, III, 132. + + Madriaga, Juan Ignacio, II, 59. + + Magoon, Charles E., Provisional Governor, IV, 281; + his administration, 283; + promotes public works, 286; + takes census, 287; + election law, 287; + retires, 295. + + Mahy, Nicolas, Governor, II, 315. + + Mail service established, II, 107; + under American occupation, IV, 168. + + Maine sent to Havana, IV, 98; + destruction of, 98; + investigation, 100. + + Maldonado, Diego, I, 146. + + Mandeville, Sir John, I, 20. + + Mangon, identified with Mangi, I, 20. + + Manners and Customs, II, 229 et seq.; + balls, 239; + shopping, 242; + relations of black and white races, 242; + cafes, 243; + early society, 248. + + Monosca, Juan Saenz, Bishop, I, 301. + + Manrique, Diego, Governor, II, 109. + + Manzaneda y Salines, Severino de, Governor, I, 320. + + Manzanillo, Declaration of Independence issued, III, 155. + + Maraveo Ponce de Leon, Gomez de, I, 339. + + Marco Polo, I, 4, 20. + + Marcy, William L., policy toward Cuba, III, 136. + + Mar de la Nuestra Senora, I, 18. + + Mariguana. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Marin, Sabas, succeeds Campos in command, IV, 63. + + Markham, Sir Clements, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12. + + Marmol, Donato, III, 173, 184. + + Marquez, Pedro Menendez, I, 206. + + Marriage law, reformed under American occupation, IV, 152; + controversy over, 153. + + Marti, Jose, portrait, frontispiece, Vol IV; + leader of War of Independence, IV, 2; + his career, 9; + in New York, 11; + organizes Junta, 11; + goes to Cuba, 15; + death, 16; + his war manifesto, 17; + fulfilment of his ideals, 355. + + Marti, Jose, secretary of War, portrait, IV, 360. + + Marti, the pirate, II, 357. + + Martinez Campos. See Campos. + + Martinez, Dionisio de la Vega, Governor, II, 8; + inscription on La Punta, 14. + + Martinez, Juan, I, 192. + + Martyr, Peter, I, 53. + + Maso, Bartolome, revolutionist, IV, 34; + rebukes Spotorno, 35; + President of Cuban Republic, 43; + Vice President of Council, 48; + President of Republic, 90; + candidate for Vice President, 242; + seeks Presidency, 243. + + Mason, James M., U. S. Minister to France, III, 141. + + Masse, E. M., describes slave trade, II, 202; + rural life, 216; + on Spanish policy toward Cuba, 227; + social morals, 230. + + Matanzas, founded, I, 321; + meaning of name, 321. + + Maura, Sr., proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 5. + + McCullagh, John B., reorganizes Havana Police, IV, 150. + + McKinley, William, President of United States, message of 1897 + on Cuba, IV, 87; + declines European mediation, 103; + message for war, 104. + + Maza, Enrique, assaults Hugh S. Gibson, IV, 308. + + Mazariegos, Diego de, Governor, I, 191; + a scandalous moralist, 193; + defences against privateering, 193; + takes charge of La Fuerza, 195; + controversy with Governor of Florida, 196; + replaced by Sandoval, 197. + + Medina, Fernando de, I, 111. + + Mendez-Capote, Fernando, Secretary of Sanitation, portrait, IV, 360. + + Mendieta, Carlos, candidate for Vice President, IV, 328; + rebels, 338. + + Mendive, Rafael Maria de, III, 328. + + Mendoza, Martin de, I, 204. + + Menendez, Pedro de Aviles, I, 199; + commander of Spanish fleet, 200; + clash with Osorio, 201; + Governor of Cuba, 205; + dealing with increasing enemies, 208; + fortifies Havana, 209; + recalled to Spain, 213; + conflict with Bishop Castillo, 226. + + Menocal, Aniceto G., portrait, IV, 50. + + Menocal, Mario G., Assistant Secretary of War, IV, 49; + Chief of Police at Havana, 144, 150; + in charge of Lighthouse Service, 168; + candidate for President, 290; + slandered by Liberals, 291; + elected President, 312; + biography, 312; + portrait, facing 312; + view of birthplace, 313; + Cabinet, 320; + opinion of Cuba's needs, 321; + first message, 322; + conflict with Congress, 323; + important reforms, 324; + suppresses rebellion, 327; + candidate for reelection, 328; + vigorous action against Gomez's rebellion, 335; + declines American aid, 337; + escapes assassination, 339; + reelection confirmed, 341; + clemency to traitors, 342; + message on entering Great War, 346; + fulfilment of Marti's ideals, 355; + estimate of his administration, 356; + achievements for education, 357; + health, 357; + industry and commerce, 358; + finance, 359; + "from Velasquez to Menocal," 365. + + Menocal, Senora, leadership of Cuban womanhood in Red Cross and + other work, IV, 354; + portrait, facing 352. + + Mercedes, Maria de las, quoted, II, 174; + on slave insurrection, 368. + + Merchan, Rafael, III, 174; + patriotic works, 335. + + Merlin, Countess de. See <sc>Mercedes</sc>. + + <i>Merrimac</i>, sunk at Santiago, IV, 111. + + Mesa, Hernando de, first Bishop, I, 122. + + Mestre, Jose Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 326. + + Meza, Sr., Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, IV, 297. + + Mexico, discovered and explored from Cuba, I, 87; + designs upon Cuba, II, 262; + Cuban expedition against, 346; + warned off by United States, III, 134; + fall of Maximilian, 150. + + Milanes, Jose Jacinto, sketch, portrait and works, III, 324. + + Miles, Gen. Nelson A., prepares for invasion of Cuba, IV, 111. + + Miranda, Francisco, II, 156; + with Bolivar, 335. + + Miscegenation, II, 204. + + Molina, Francisco, I, 290. + + Monastic orders, I, 276. + + Monroe Doctrine, foreshadowed, II, 256; + promulgated, 328. + + Monroe, James, interest in Cuba, II, 257; + promulgates Doctrine, 328; + portrait, 329. + + Monserrate Gate, Havana, picture, II, 241. + + Montalvo, Gabriel, Governor, I, 215; + feud with Rojas family, 218; + investigated and retired, 219; + pleads for naval protection for Cuba, 220. + + Montalvo, Lorenzo, II, 89. + + Montalvo, Rafael, Secretary of Public Works, urges resistance + to revolutionists, IV, 270. + + Montanes, Pedro Garcia, I, 292. + + Montano See <sc>Velasquez</sc>, J. M. + + Montes, Garcia, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 254. + + Montesino, Antonio, I, 78. + + Montiel, Vasquez de, naval commander, I, 278. + + Montoro, Rafael, Representative in Cortes, III, 308; + spokesman of Autonomists, IV, 59; + in Autonomist Cabinet, 95; + candidate for Vice President, 290; + attacked by Liberals, 291; + biography, 317; + portrait, facing 320. + + Morales case, IV, 92. + + Morales. Pedro de, commands at Santiago, I, 299. + + Morals, strangely mixed with piety and vice, II, 229. + + Morell, Pedro Augustino, Bishop, II, 53; + controversy with Albemarle, 83; + exiled, 87; + death, 113. + + Moreno, Andres, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 90. + + Moret law, abolishing slavery, III, 243. + + Morgan, Henry, plans raid on Havana, I, 297; + later career, 303. + + Morro Castle, Havana, picture, facing I, 180; + site of battery, 180; + tower built by Mazariegos, 196; + fortified against Drake, 249; + planned by Antonelli, 261; + besieged by British, II, 55. + + Morro Castle, Santiago, built, I, 289; + picture, facing 298. + + Mucaras, I, 11. + + Muenster, geographer, I, 6. + + Mugeres Islands, I, 84. + + Munive, Andres de, I, 317. + + Murgina y Mena, A. M., I, 317. + + Music, early concerts at Havana, II, 239. + + + Nabia, Juan Alfonso de, I, 207. + + Nancy Globe, I. 6. + + Napoleon's designs upon Cuba, II, 203. + + Naranjo, probable landing place of Columbus, I, 12. + + Narvaez, Panfilo de, portrait, I, 63; + arrival in Cuba, 63; + campaign against natives, 65; + explores the island, 67; + errand to Spain, 77; + sent to Mexico to oppose Cortez, 98; + secures appointment of Councillors for life, 111. + + Naval stations, U. S., in Cuba, IV, 255. + + Navarrete, quoted, I, 3, 12. + + Navarro, Diego Jose, Governor, II, 141, 150. + + Navy, Spanish, in Cuban waters, III, 182, 225. + + Negroes, imported as slaves, I, 170; + treatment of, 171; + slaves and free, increasing numbers of, 229. See <sc>Slavery</sc>. + + New Orleans, anti-Spanish outbreak, III, 126. + + New Spain. See <sc>Mexico</sc>. + + Newspapers: <i>Gazeta</i>, 1780, II, 157; + <i>Papel Periodico</i>, 179; + 246; + publications in Paris, Madrid and New York, 354; + El Faro Industrial, III, 18; + Diario de la Marina, 18; + La Verdad, 18; + La Vos de Cuba, 260; + La Vos del Siglo, 232; + La Revolucion, 333; + El Siglo, 334; + El Laborante, 335. + + Norsemen, American colonists, I, 7. + + Nougaret, Jean Baptiste, quoted, II, 26. + + Nunez, Emilio, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12; + in war, 57; + Civil Governor of Havana, 179; + head of Veterans' Association, 305; + Secretary of Agriculture, 320; + candidate for Vice President, 328; + election confirmed, 341. + + Nunez, Enrique, Secretary of Health and Charities, IV, 320. + + + Ocampo, Sebastian de, circumnavigates Cuba, I, 54. + + O'Donnell, George Leopold, Governor, II, 365; + his wife's sordid intrigues, 365. + + Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, hostile to Spain, II, 24, 30. + + O'Hara, Theodore, with Lopez, III, 46. + + Ojeda, Alonzo de, I, 54; + introduces Christianity to Cuba, 55. + + Olid, Christopher de, sent to Mexico, I, 88. + + Olney, Richard. U. S. Secretary of State, attitude toward War + of Independence, IV, 71. + + Oquendo, Antonio de, I, 281. + + Orejon y Gaston, Francisco Davila de, Governor, I, 301, 310. + + O'Reilly, Alexandre, sent to occupy Louisiana, II, 123; + ruthless rule, 125. + + Orellano, Diego de, I, 86. + + Ornofay, province of, I, 20. + + Ortiz, Bartholomew, alcalde mayor, I, 146; + retires, 151. + + Osorio, Garcia de Sandoval, Governor, I, 197; + conflict with Menendez, 199, 201; + retired, 205; + tried, 206. + + Osorio, Sancho Pardo, I, 207. + + Ostend Manifesto, III, 142. + + Ovando, Alfonso de Caceres, I, 214; + revises law system, 233. + + Ovando, Nicolas de, I, 54. + + + Palma, Tomas Estrada, head of Cuban Junta in New York, IV, 3; + Provisional President of Cuban Republic, 15; + Delegate at Large, 43; + rejects anything short of independence, 71; + candidate for Presidency, 241; + his career, 241; + elected President, 245; + arrival in Cuba, 247; + portrait, facing 248; + receives transfer of government from General Wood, 248; + Cabinet, 254; + first message, 254; + prosperous administration, 259; + non-partisan at first, 264; + forced toward Conservative party, 264; + reelected, 266; + refuses to believe insurrection impending, 266; + refuses to submit to blackmail, 268; + betrayed by Congress, 269; + acts too late, 270; + seeks American aid, 271; + interview with W. H. Taft, 276; + resigns Presidency, 280; + estimate of character and work, 282; + death, 284. + + Palma y Romay, Ramon, III, 327. + + Parra, Antonio, scientist, II, 252. + + Parra, Maso, revolutionist, IV, 30. + + Parties, political, in Cuba, IV, 59; + origin and characteristics of Conservative and Liberal, 181, 261. + + Pasalodos, Damaso, Secretary to President, IV, 297 + + Pasamonte, Miguel, intrigues against Columbus, I, 58. + + Paz, Dona de, marries Juan de Avila, I, 154. + + Paz, Pedro de, I, 109. + + Penalosa, Diego de, Governor, II, 31. + + Penalver. See <sc>Penalosa</sc>. + + Penalver, Luis, Bishop of New Orleans, II, 179. + + "Peninsulars," III, 152. + + Pensacola, settlement of, I, 328; + seized by French, 342; + recovered by Spanish, II, 7; + defended by Galvez, 146. + + Pereda, Gaspar Luis, Governor, I, 276. + + Perez, Diego, repels privateers, I, 179. + + Perez, Perico, revolutionist, IV, 15, 30, 78. + + Perez de Zambrana, Luisa, sketch and portrait, III, 328. + + Personal liberty restricted, III, 8. + + Peru, good wishes for Cuban revolution, III, 223. + + Philip II, King, appreciation of Cuba, I, 260. + + Pieltain, Candido, Governor, III, 275. + + Pierce, Franklin, President of United States, policy toward + Cuba, III, 136. + + Pina, Severo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 48. + + Pinar del Rio, city founded, II, 131; + Maceo invades province, IV, 61; + war in, 73. + + Pineyro, Enrique, III, 333; + sketch and portrait, 334. + + Pinto, Ramon, sketch and portrait, III, 62. + + "Pirates of America," I, 296. + + Pizarro, Francisco de, I, 54, 91. + + Platt, Orville H., Senator, on relations of United States + and Cuba, IV, 198; + Amendment to Cuban Constitution, 199; + Amendment adopted, 203; + text of Amendment, 238. + + Pococke, Sir George, expedition against Havana, II, 46. + + Poey, Felipe, sketch and portrait, III, 315. + + Point Lucrecia, I, 18. + + Polavieja, Gen., Governor, III, 314. + + Police, reorganized, II, 312; + under American occupation, IV, 150; + police courts established, 171. + + Polk, James K., President of the United States, policy toward + Cuba, III, 135. + + Polo y Bernabe, Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 98. + + Ponce de Leon, in Cuba, I, 73; + death, 139. + + Ponce de Leon, of New York, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13. + + Pope, efforts to maintain peace, between United States and + Spain, IV, 104. + + Porro, Cornelio, treason of, III, 257. + + Port Banes, I, 18. + + Port Nipe, I, 18. + + Port Nuevitas, I, 3. + + Portuguese settlers, I, 168. + + Portuondo, Rafael, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, IV, 48; + filibuster, 70. + + Prado y Portocasso, Juan, Governor, II, 49; + neglect of duty, 52; + sentenced to degradation, 108. + + Praga, Francisco de, I, 282. + + Presidency, first candidates for, IV, 240; + Tomas Estrada Palma elected, 245; + Jose Miguel Gomez aspires to, 260; + candidates in 1906, 265; + Palma's resignation, 280; + Jose Miguel Gomez elected, 290; + fourth campaign, 312; + Mario G. Menocal elected, 312; + fifth campaign, 328; + General Menocal reelected, 341. + + Prim, Gen., Spanish revolutionist, III, 145. + + Printing, first press in Cuba, II, 245. + + Privateers, French ravage Cuba, I, 177; + Havana and Santiago attacked, 178; + Havana looted, 179; + Jacques Sores, 183; + Havana captured, 186; + Santiago looted, 193; + French raids, 220, et seq. + + Proctor, Redfield, Senator, investigates and reports on condition + of Cuba in War of Independence, IV, 87. + + Procurators, appointment of, I, 112. + + Protectorate, tripartite, refused by United States, II, 261; + III, 130, 133. + + Provincial governments organized, IV, 179, confusion in, 292. + + Public Works, promoted by General Wood, IV, 166; + by Magoon, 286. + + Puerto Grande. See <sc>Guantanamo</sc>. + + Puerto Principe, I, 18, 167. + + Punta, La, first fortification, I, 203; + strengthened against Drake, 249; + fortress planned by Antonelli, 261; + picture, IV, 33. + + Punta Lucrecia, I, 3. + + Punta Serafina, I, 22. + + + Queen's Gardens, I, 20. + + Quero, Geronimo, I, 277. + + Quesada, Gonzalo de, Secretary of Cuban Junta, IV, 3; + Minister to United States, 275. + + Quesada, Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 167; + proclamation, 169; + death, 262. + + Quezo, Juan de, I, 113. + + Quilez, J. M., Civil Governor of Pinar del Rio, IV, 179. + + Quinones, Diego Hernandez de, commander of fortifications at + Havana, I, 240; + feud with Luzan, 241; + unites with Luzan to resist Drake, 243. + + Quinones, Dona Leonora de, I, 117. + + + Rabi, Jesus, revolutionist, IV, 34, 42. + + Railroads, first in Cuba, II, 343. + + Raja, Vicente, Governor, I, 337. + + Ramirez, Alejandro, sketch and portrait, II, 311. + + Ramirez, Miguel, Bishop, partisan of Guzman, I, 120; + political activities and greed, 124. + + Ramos, Gregorio, I, 274. + + Ranzel, Diego, I, 295. + + Recio, R. Lopez, Civil Governor of Camaguey, IV, 180. + + Recio, Serafin, III, 86. + + Reciprocity, secured by Roosevelt for Cuba, IV, 256. + + "Reconcentrados," mortality among, IV, 86. + + Red Cross, Cuban activities, IV, 353. + + Redroban, Pedro de, I, 201. + + Reed, Walter, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172. + + Reformists, Spanish, support Blanco's Autonomist policy, IV, 97. + + Reggio, Andreas, II, 32. + + Reno, George, in War of Independence, IV, 12; + running blockade, 21; + portrait, 21; + services in Great War, 351. + + Renteria, Pedro de, partner of Las Casas, I, 75; + opposes slavery, 76. + + Repartimiento, I, 70. + + Republic of Cuba: proclaimed and organized, III, 157; + first representative Assembly, 161; + Constitution of 1868, 164; + first House of Representatives, 176; + Judiciary, 177; + legislation, 177; + army, 178; + fails to secure recognition, 203; + Government reorganized, 275; + after Treaty of Zanjon, 301; + reorganized in War of Independence, IV, 15; + Maso chosen President, 43; + Conventions of Yara and Najasa, 47; + Constitution adopted, 47; + Government reorganized, Cisneros President, 48; + capital at Las Tunas, 56; + removes to Cubitas, 72; + exercises functions of government, 72; + reorganized in 1897, 90; + after Spanish evacuation of island, 134; + disbanded, 135; + Constitutional Convention called, 185; + Constitution completed, 192; + relations with United States, 195; + Platt Amendment, 203; + enters Great War, 346. + + Revolutions: Rise of spirit, II, 268; + in South America, 333; + "Soles de Bolivar," 341; + attempts to revolt, 344; + "Black Eagle," 346; + plans of Lopez, III, 36; + Lopez's first invasion, 49; + Aguero's insurrection, 72; + comments of New York <i>Herald</i>, 89; + Lopez's last expedition, 91; + results of his work, 116; + European interest, 125; + beginning of Ten Years' War. 155; + end of Ten Years' War, 299; + insurrection renewed, 308, 318; + War of Independence, IV, 1; + Sartorius Brothers, 4; + end of War of Independence, 116; + revolt against President Palma, 266; + ultimatum, 278; + government overthrown, 280; + Negro insurrection, 307; + conspiracy against President Menocal, 327; + great treason of Jose Miguel Gomez, 332; + Gomez captured, 337; + warnings from United States Government, 338; + revolutions denounced by United States, 343. + + Revolutionary party, Cuban, IV, 1, 11. + + Rey, Juan F. G., III, 40. + + Riano y Gamboa, Francisco, Governor, I, 287. + + Ribera, Diego de, I, 206; + work on La Fuerza, 209. + + Ricafort, Mariano, Governor, II, 347. + + Ricla, Conde de, Governor, II, 102; + retires, 109. + + Rio de la Luna, I, 16. + + Rio de Mares, I, 16. + + Riva-Martiz, I, 279. + + Rivera, Juan Ruiz, filibuster, IV, 70; + succeeds Maceo, 79. + + Rivera, Ruiz, Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, IV, 160. + + Roa, feud with Villalobos, I, 323. + + Rodas, Caballero de, Governor, III, 213; + emancipation decree, 242. + + Rodney, Sir George, expedition to West Indies, II, 153. + + Rodriguez, Alejandro, suppresses revolt, IV, 266. + + Rodriguez, Laureano, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95. + + Rojas, Alfonso de, I, 181. + + Rojas, Gomez de, banished, I, 193; + Governor of La Fuerza, 217; + rebuilds Santiago, 258. + + Rojas, Hernando de, expedition to Florida, I, 196. + + Rojas, Juan Bautista de, royal treasurer, I, 218. + + Rojas, Juan de, aid to Lady Isabel de Soto, I, 145; + commander at Havana, 183. + + Rojas, Manuel de, Governor, I, 105; + adopts policy of "Cuba for the Cubans," 106; + second Governorship, 121; + dealings with Indians, 126; + noble endeavors frustrated, 130; + resigns, 135; + the King's unique tribute to him, 135. + + Roldan, Francisco Dominguez, Secretary of Public Instruction, + sketch and portrait, IV, 357. + + Roldan, Jose Gonzalo, III, 328. + + Roloff, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 45; + Secretary of War, 48; + filibuster, 70. + + Romano Key, I, 18. + + Romay, Tomas, introduces vaccination, II, 192; + portrait, facing 192. + + Roncali, Federico, Governor, II, 366; + on Spanish interests in Cuba, 381. + + Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113; + portrait, 113; + President of United States, on relations with Cuba, 245; + estimate of General Wood's work in Cuba, 251; + fight with Congress for Cuban reciprocity, 256; + seeks to aid President Palma against revolutionists, 275; + letter to Quesada, 275. + + Root, Elihu, Secretary of War, on Cuban Constitution, IV, 194; + on Cuban relations with United States, 197; + explains Platt Amendment, 201. + + Rowan, A. S., messenger to Oriente, IV. 107. + + Rubalcava, Manuel Justo, II, 274. + + Rubens, Horatio, Counsel of Cuban Junta, IV, 3. + + Rubios, Palacios, I, 78. + + Ruiz, Joaquin, spy, IV, 91; + death, 92. See <sc>Aranguren</sc>. + + Ruiz, Juan Fernandez, filibuster, IV, 70. + + Rum Cay. See <sc>Conception</sc>. + + Rural Guards, organized by General Wood, IV, 144; + efficiency of, 301. + + Ruysch, geographer, I, 6. + + + Saavedra, Juan Esquiro, I, 278. + + Sabinal Key, I, 18. + + Saco, Jose Antonio, pioneer of Independence, II, 378; + portrait, facing 378; + literary and patriotic work, III, 325, 327. + + Sagasta, Praxedes, Spanish Premier, proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 6; + resigns, 36. + + Saint Augustine, expedition against, I, 332. + + Saint Mery, M. de, search for tomb of Columbus, I, 34. + + Salamanca, Juan de, Governor, I, 295; + promotes industries, 300. + + Salamanca y Negrete, Manuel, Governor, III, 314. + + Salaries, some early, I, 263. + + Salas, Indalacio, IV, 21. + + Salazar. See <sc>Someruelos</sc>. + + Salcedo, Bishop, controversy with Governor Tejada, I, 262. + + Sama Point, I, 4. + + Samana. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Sampson, William T., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110; + at Santiago, 114; + portrait, 115. + + Sanchez, Bartolome, makes plans for La + Fuerza, I, 194; + begins building, 195; + feud with Mazariegos, 197. + + Sanchez, Bernabe, II, 345. + + Sancti Spiritus, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168. + + Sandoval, Garcia Osorio, Governor, I, 197. See <sc>Osario</sc>. + + Sanitation, undertaken by Guemez, II, 18; + vaccination introduced by Dr. Romay. 192; + bad conditions, III, 313; + General Wood at Santiago, IV, 142; + achievements under President Menocal, 357. + + Sanguilly, Julio, falls in leading revolution, IV, 29, 55. + + Sanguilly, Manuel, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 190. + + San Lazaro watchtower, picture, I, 155; + fortified against Drake, 248. + + San Salvador. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Santa Clara, Conde de, Governor, II, 194, 300. + + Santa Crux del Sur, I, 20. + + Santa Cruz, Francisco, I, 111. + + Santiago de Cuba, Columbus at, I, 19; + founded by Velasquez, 68; + second capital of island, 69; + seat of gold refining, 80; + site of cathedral, 123; + condition in Angulo's time, 166; + looted by privateers, 193; + fortified by Menendez, 203; + raided and destroyed by French, 256; + rebuilt by Gomez de Rojas, 258; + capital of Eastern District, 275; + Morro Castle built, 289; + captured by British, 299; + attacked by Franquinay, 310; + attacked by Admiral Vernon, II, 29; + literary activities, 169; + great improvements made, 180; + battles near in War of Independence, IV, 112; + naval battle, 114; + General Wood's administration, 135; + great work for sanitation, 142. + + Santiago, battle of, IV, 114. + + Santiago, sunset scene, facing III, 280. + + Santillan, Diego, Governor, I, 205. + + Santo Domingo See <sc>Hispaniola</sc>. + + Sanudo, Luis, Governor, I, 336. + + Sarmiento. Diego de, Bishop, makes trouble, I, 149, 152. + + Saunders, Romulus M., sounds Spain on purchase of Cuba, III, 135. + + Sartorius, Manuel and Ricardo, revolutionists, IV, 4. + + Savine, Albert, on British designs on Cuba, II, 40. + + Schley, Winfield S., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110; + portrait, 110; + at Santiago, 114. + + Schoener's globe, I, 5. + + Schools, backward condition of, II, 174, 244, 312. See <sc>Education</sc>. + + Shafter, W. R., General, leads American army into Cuba, IV, 111. + + Shipbuilding at Havana, II, 8, 33, 113, 300. + + Sickles, Daniel E., Minister to Spain, offers mediation, III, 217. + + Silva, Manuel, Secretary of Interior, IV, 90. + + Slave Insurrection, II, 13; + III, 367, et seq. + + Slavery, begun in Repartimiento system, I, 70; + not sanctioned by King, 82; + slave trading begun, 83; + growth and regulation, 170; + oppressive policy of Spain, 266; + the "Assiento," II, 2; + great growth + of trade, 22; + gross abuses, 202; + described by Masse, 202; + census of slaves, 204; + rise of emancipation movement, 206; + rights of slaves defined by King, 210; + African trade forbidden, 285; + Negro census, 286; + early records of trade, 288; + Humboldt on, 288; + statistics of trade, 289 et seq.; + domestic relations of slaves, 292; + dangers of system denounced, 320; + official complicity in illegal trade, 366; + slave insurrection, 367; + inhuman suppression by government, 374 et seq.; + emancipation by revolution of 1868, 159; + United States urges Spain to abolish slavery, 242; + Rodas's decrees, 242; + Moret law, 243. + + Smith, Caleb. publishes book on West Indies, II, 37. + + Smuggling, II, 133. + + "Sociedad de Amigos," II, 169. + + "Sociedad Patriotica," II, 166. + + "Sociedad Patriotica y Economica," II, 178. + + Society of Progress, II, 78. + + Solano, Jose de, naval commander, II, 147. + + "Soles de Bolivar," II, 341; + attempts to suppress, 343. + + Solorzano, Juan del Hoya, I, 337; + II, 10. + + Someruelos, Marquis of, Governor, II, 196, 301. + + Sores, Jacques, French raider, II, 183; + attacks Havana, 184; + captures city, 186. + + Soto, Antonio de, I, 292. + + Soto, Diego de, I, 109, 217. + + Soto, Hernando de, Governor and Adelantado, I, 140; + portrait, 140; + arrival in Cuba, 141; + tour of island, 142; + makes Havana his home, 144; + chiefly interested in Florida, 144; + sails for Florida, 145; + his fate in Mississippi, 147; + trouble with Indians, 148. + + Soto, Lady Isabel de, I, 141; + her vigil at La Fuerza, 147; + death, 149. + + Soto, Luis de, I, 141. + + Soule, Pierre, Minister to Spain, III, 137; + Indiscretions, 138; + Ostend Manifesto, 142. + + South Sea Company, II, 21, 201. + + Spain: Fiscal policy toward Cuba, I, 175; + wars with France, 177; + discriminations against Cuba, 266, 267; + protests against South Sea Company, II, 22; + course in American Revolution, 143; + war with Great Britain, 151; + attitude toward America, 159; + peace with Great Britain, 162; + restrictive laws, 224; + policy under Godoy, 265; + decline of power, 273; + seeks to pawn Cuba to Great Britain for loan, 330; + protests to United States against Lopez's expedition, III, 59; + seeks British protection, 129; + refuses to sell Cuba, 135; + revolution against Bourbon dynasty, 145 et seq.; + rejects suggestion of American mediation in Cuba, 219; + seeks American mediation, 293; + strives to placate Cuba, IV, 5; + crisis over Cuban affairs, 35; + attitude toward War of Independence, 40; + considers Autonomy, 71; + Cabinet crisis of 1897, 88; + proposes joint investigation of Maine disaster, 100; + at war with United States, 106; + makes Treaty of Paris, relinquishing Cuba, 118. + + Spanish-American War: causes of, IV, 105; + declared, 106; + blockade of Cuban coast, 110; + landing of American army in Cuba, 111; + fighting near Santiago, 112; + fort at El Caney, picture, 112; + San Juan Hill, battle, 113; + San Juan Hill, picture of monument, 114; + naval battle of Santiago, 115; + peace negotiations, 116; + "Peace Tree," picture, 116; + treaty of peace, 118. + + Spanish literature in XVI century, I, 360. + + Spotorno, Juan Bautista, seeks peace, rebuked by Maso, IV, 35. + + Steinhart, Frank, American consul, advises President Palma to + ask for American aid, IV, 271; + correspondence with State Department, 272. + + Stock raising, early attention to, I, 173, 224; + development of, 220. + + Stokes, W. E. D., aids War of Independence, IV, 14. + + Students, murder of by Volunteers, III, 260. + + Suarez y Romero, Anselmo, III, 326. + + Sugar, Industry begun under Velasquez, I, 175, 224; + growth of industry, 265; + primitive methods, II, 222; + growth, III, 3; + great development under President Menocal, IV, 358. + + "Suma de Geografia," of Enciso, I, 54. + + Sumana, Diego de, I, 111. + + + Tacon, Miguel, Governor, II, 347; + despotic fury, 348; + conflict with Lorenzo, 349; + public works, 355; + fish market, 357; + melodramatic administration of justice, 359. + + Taft, William H., Secretary of War of United States, intervenes + in revolution, IV, 272; + arrives at Havana, 275; + negotiates with President Palma and the revolutionists, 276; + portrait, 276; + conveys ultimatum of revolutionists to President Palma, 279; + accepts President Palma's resignation, 280; + pardons revolutionists, 280; + unfortunate policy, 283. + + Tainan, Antillan stock, I, 8. + + Tamayo, Diego, Secretary of State, IV, 159; + Secretary of Government, 254. + + Tamayo, Rodrigo de, I, 126. + + Tariff, after British occupation, II, 106; + reduction, 141; + oppressive duties. III, 5; + under American occupation, IV, 183. + + Taxation, revolt against, II, 197; + "reforms," 342; + oppressive burdens, III, 6; + increase in Ten Years' War, 207; + evasion of, 312; + under American intervention, IV, 151. + + Taylor, Hannis, American Minister at Madrid, IV, 33. + + Tejada, Juan de, Governor, I, 261; + great works for Cuba, 262; + resigns, 263. + + Teneza, Dr. Francisco, Protomedico, I, 336. + + Ten Years' War, III, 155 et seq.; + first battles, 184; + aid from United States, 211; + offers of American mediation, 217; + rejected, 219; + campaigns of destruction, 222; + losses reported, 290; + end in Treaty of Zanjon, 299; + losses, 304. + + Terry, Emilio, Secretary of Agriculture, IV, 254. + + Theatres, first performance in Cuba, I, 264; + first theatre built, II, 130, 236. + + Thrasher, J. S., on census, II, 283. + + Tines y Fuertes, Juan Antonio, Governor, II, 31. + + Tobacco, early use, I, 9; + culture promoted, 300; + monopoly, 334; + "Tobacco War," 338; + effects of monopoly, II, 221. + + Tobar, Nunez, I, 141, 143. + + Tolon, Miguel de, III, 330. + + Toltecs, I, 7. + + Tomayo, Esteban, revolutionist, IV, 34. + + Torquemada, Garcia de, I, 239; + investigates Luzan, 241. + + Torre, Marquis de la, Governor, II, 127; + work for Havana, 129; + death, 133. + + Torres Ayala, Laureano de, Governor, I, 334; + reappointed, 337. + + Torres, Gaspar de, Governor, I, 234; + conflict with Rojas family, 235; + absconds, 235. + + Torres, Rodrigo de, naval commander, II, 34. + + Torriente, Cosimo de la, Secretary of Government, IV, 320. + + Toscanelli, I, 4. + + Treaty of Paris, IV, 118. + + Tres Palacios, Felipe Jose de, Bishop, II, 174. + + Tribune, New York, describes revolutionary leaders, III, 173. + + Trinidad, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168; + great fire, II, 177. + + Trocha, begun by Campos, IV, 44; + Weyler's, 73. + + Troncoso, Bernardo, Governor, II, 168. + + Turnbull, David, British consul, II, 364; + complicity in slave insurrection, 372. + + + Ubite, Juan de, Bishop, I, 123. + + Ulloa, Antonio de, sent to take possession of Louisiana, II, 118; + arbitrary conduct, 120. + + Union Constitutionalists, III, 306. + + United States, early relations with Cuba, II, 254; + first suggestion of annexation, 257; + John Quincy Adams's policy, 258; + Jefferson's policy, 260; + Clay's policy, 261; + representations to Colombia and Mexico, 262; + Buchanan's policy, 263; + Monroe Doctrine, 328; + consuls not admitted to Cuba, 330; + Van Buren's policy, 331; + growth of commerce with Cuba, III, 22; + President Taylor's proclamation against filibustering, 41; + course toward Lopez, 60; + attitude toward Cuban revolutionists, 123; + division of sentiment between North and South, 124; + policy of Edward Everett, 130; + overtures for purchase of Cuba, 135; + end of Civil War, 151; + new policy toward Cuba, 151; + recognition denied to revolution, 172; + aid and sympathy given secretly, 195; + Cuban appeals for recognition, 200; + recognition denied, 203; + protests against Rodas's decrees, 216; + offers of mediation, 217; + rejected by Spain, 219; + increasing interest and sympathy with revolutionists, 273; + warning to Spanish Government, 291; + effect of reciprocity upon Cuba, 313; + attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 27, 70; + Congress favors recognition, 70; + tender of good + offices, 71; + President Cleveland's message of 1896, 79; + appropriation for relief of victims of "concentration" policy, 86; + President McKinley's message of 1897, 87; + sensation at destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99; + declaration of war against Spain, 106; + Treaty of Paris, 118; + establishment of first Government of Intervention, 132; + relations with Republic of Cuba, 195; + protectorate to be retained, 196; + Platt Amendment, 199; + mischief-making intrigues, 200; + naval stations in Cuba, 255; + reciprocity, 256; + second Intervention, 281; + warning to Jose Miguel Gomez, 305; + asks settlement of claims, 308; + Charge d'Affaires assaulted, 308; + supervision of Cuban legislation, 326; + warning to revolutionists, 339; + attitude toward Gomez revolution, 343. + + University of Havana, founded, II, 11. + + Unzaga, Luis de, Governor, II, 157. + + Urrutia, historian, quoted, I, 300. + + Urrutia, Sancho de, I, 111. + + Utrecht, Treaty of, I, 326; + begins new era, II, 1. + + Uznaga, Luis de, sent to rule Louisiana, II, 126; + reforms, 165. + + + Vaca, Cabeza de, I, 140. + + Vadillo, Juan, declines to investigate Guzman, I, 118; + temporary Governor, 119; + tremendous indictment of Guzman, 120; + retires after good work, 121; + clash with Bishop Ramirez, 124. + + Valdes, historian, quoted, II, 175. + + Valdes, Gabriel de la Conception, III, 325. + + Valdes, Jeronimo, Bishop, I, 335. + + Valdes, Pedro de, Governor, I, 202, 272; + retires, 276. + + Valdes, Geronimo, Governor, II, 364. + + Valdueza, Marquis de, I, 281. + + Valiente, Jose Pablo, II, 170, 180. + + Valiente, Juan Bautista, Governor of Santiago, II, 180. + + Vallizo, Diego, I, 277. + + Valmaseda, Count, Governor, proclamation against revolution, III, + 171, 270; + recalled for barbarities, 273. + + Van Buren, Martin, on United States and Cuba, II, 331. + + Vandeval, Nicolas C., I, 331, 333. + + Varela, Felix, sketch and portrait, III, 320; + works, 321. + + Varnhagen, F. A. de, quoted, I, 2. + + Varona, Bernabe de, sketch and portrait, III, 178. + + Varona, Jose Enrique, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 159; + Vice President, 312; + biography, 316; + portrait, facing 316. + + Varona, Pepe Jerez, chief of secret service, IV, 268. + + Vasquez, Juan, I, 330. + + Vedado, view in, IV, 176. + + Vega, Pedro Guerra de la, I, 243; + asks fugitives to aid in defence against Drake, 248. + + Velasco, Francisco de Aguero, II, 345. + + Velasco, Luis Vicente, defender of Morro against British, II, 58; + signal valor, 61; + death, 67. + + Velasquez, Antonio, errand to Spain, I, 77 + + Velasquez, Bernardino, I, 115. + + Velasquez, Diego, first Governor of Cuba, I, 59; + portrait, 59; + colonizes Cuba, 60; + hostilities with natives, 61, explores the island, 67; + marriage and bereavement, 68; + founds various towns, 68; + begins Cuban commerce, 68; + organizes government, 69; + favored by King Ferdinand, 73; + appointed Adelantado, 74; + seeks to rule Yucatan and Mexico, 85; + recalls Grijalva, 88; + quarrels with Cortez, 91; + sends Cortez to explore Mexico, 92, 94; + seeks to intercept and recall Cortez, 97; + sends Narvaez to Mexico, 98; + removed from office by Diego Columbus, 100; + restored by King, 102; + death and epitaph, 103; + posthumous arraignment by Altamarino, 107; + convicted and condemned, 108. + + Velasquez, Juan Montano, Governor, I, 293. + + Velez Garcia, Secretary of State, IV, 297. + + Velez y Herrera, Ramon, III, 324. + + Venegas, Francisco, Governor, I, 278. + + Vernon, Edward, Admiral, expedition to Darien, II 27; + Invasion of Cuba, 29. + + Viamonte, Bitrian, Governor, I, 286. + + Viana y Hinojosa, Diego de, Governor, I, 317. + + Victory loan, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 353. + + Villa Clara, founded, I, 321. + + Villafana, attempts to assassinate Cortez, I, 99. + + Villafana, Angelo de, Governor of Florida, controversy with + Mazariegos, I, 196. + + Villalba y Toledo, Diego de, Governor, I, 290. + + Villalobos, Governor, feud with Roa, I, 323. + + Villalon, Jose Ramon, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13; + Secretary of Public Works, 160, 330. + + Villalon Park, scene in, IV, 247. + + Villanueva, Count de, II, 342. + + Villapando, Bernardino de, Bishop, I, 225. + + Villarin, Pedro Alvarez de, Governor, I, 333. + + Villaverde, Cirillo, III, 327. + + Villaverde, Juan de, Governor of Santiago, I, 276. + + Villegas, Diaz de, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 297; + resigns, 302. + + Villuendas, Enrique, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188; + secretary, 189. + + Virginius, capture of, III, 277; + butchery of officers and crew, 278 et seq.; + British intervention, 280; + list of passengers, 281; + diplomatic negotiations over, 283. + + Vives, Francisco, Governor, II, 317; + despotism, 317; + expedition against Mexico, 346. + + Viyuri, Luis, II, 197. + + Volunteers, organized, III, 152; + murder Arango, 188; + have Dulce recalled, 213; + cause murder of Zenea, 252; + increased activities, 260; + murder of students, 261. + + + War of Independence, IV, i, 8; + circumstances of beginning, 9; + finances, 14; + Republic of Cuba proclaimed, 15; + attitude of Cuban people, 22; + actual outbreak, 29; + martial law proclaimed, 30; + Spanish forces in Cuba, 31; + arrival and policy of Martinez Campos, 38; + Gomez and Maceo begin great campaign, 53; + Spanish defeated, and reenforced, 55; + campaign of devastation, 60; + entire island involved, 61; + fall of Campos, 63; + Weyler in command, 66; + destruction by both sides, 68; + losses, 90; + entry of United States, 107; + attitude of Cubans toward American intervention, 108; + end of war, 116. + + Watling's Island. See <sc>Guanahani</sc>. + + Wax, development of Industry, II, 132. + + Webster, Daniel, negotiations with Spain, III, 126. + + Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, Governor, IV, 65; + portrait, 66; + harsh decree, 66; + conquers Pinar del Rio. 83; + "concentration" policy, 85; + recalled, 88. + + Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, at Santiago, IV, 113, 115. + + White, Col. G. W., with Lopez, III, 40. + + Whitney, Henry, messenger to Gomez, IV, 107. + + Williams, Ramon O., United States consul at Havana, IV, 32; + acts in behalf of Americans in Cuba, 72; + opposes sending <i>Maine</i> to Havana, 100. + + Wittemeyer, Major, reports on Gomez revolution to Washington + government, IV, 336; + offers President Menocal aid of United States, 337. + + Wood, General Leonard, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113; + Military Governor of Santiago, 135; + his previous career, 140; + unique responsibility and power, 141; + dealing with pestilence, 142; + organizes Rural Guards, 144; + portrait, facing 158; + Military Governor of Cuba, 158; + well received by Cubans, 158; + estimate of <i>La Lucha</i>, 158; + his Cabinet, 159; + comments on his appointments, 160; + reorganization of school system, 161; + promotes public works, 166; + Dady contract dispute, 171; + applies Finlay's yellow fever theory with great success, 171; + reform of jurisprudence, 177; + organizes Provincial governments, 179; + holds municipal elections, 180; + promulgates election law, 181; + calls Constitutional Convention, 185; + calls for general election, 240; + his comments on election, 245; + announces end of American occupation, 246; + surrenders government of Cuba to + Cubans, 249; + President Roosevelt's estimate of his work, 251; + view of one of his mountain roads, facing 358. + + Woodford, Stewart L., United States Minister to Spain, IV, 103; + presents ultimatum and departs, 106. + + + Xagua, Gulf of, I, 21. + + Ximenes, Cardinal and Regent, gives Las Casas hearing on Cuba, I, 77. + + + Yanez, Adolfo Saenz, Secretary of Agriculture and Public Works, + IV, 146. + + Yellow Fever, first invasion, II, 51; + Dr. Finlay's theory applied by General Wood, IV, 171; + disease eliminated from island, 176. + + Yero, Eduardo, Secretary of Public Instruction, IV, 254. + + Ynestrosa, Juan de, I, 207. + + Yniguez, Bernardino, I, 111. + + Yucatan, islands source of slave trade, I, 83; + explored by Cordova, 84. + + Yznaga, Jose Sanchez, III, 37. + + + Zaldo, Carlos, Secretary of State, IV, 254. + + Zambrana, Ramon, III, 328. + + Zanjon, Treaty of, III, 299. + + Zapata, Peninsula of, visited by Columbus, I, 22. + + Zarraga, Julian, filibuster, IV, 70. + + Zayas, Alfredo, secretary of Constitutional Convention, IV, 189; + compact with Jose Miguel Gomez, 265; + spokesman of revolutionists against President Palma, 277; + elected Vice President, 290; + becomes Vice President, 297; + sketch and portrait, 300; + quarrel with Gomez, 306; + candidate for President, 328; + hints at revolution, 330. + + Zayas, Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, I, 205; + resigns, 206. + + Zayas, Francisco, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95. + + Zayas, Juan B., killed in battle, IV, 78. + + Zayas, Lincoln de, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12; + Superintendent of Schools, 162. + + Zenea, Juan Clemente, sketch and portrait, III, 252; + murdered, 253; + his works, 332. + + Zequiera y Arango, Manuel, II, 274. + + Zipangu. See <sc>Cipanoo</sc>. + + Zuazo, Alfonso de, appointed second Governor of Cuba, I, 100; + dismissed by King, 102. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Cuba, vol. 1, by +Willis Fletcher Johnson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 1 *** + +***** This file should be named 33847.txt or 33847.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/8/4/33847/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/33847.zip b/33847.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab76213 --- /dev/null +++ b/33847.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b15008 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #33847 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33847) |
