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.