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.