_Review of the Dominion of the =Spaniards= in =Hayti= or
=Hispaniola=._
[Sidenote: 1492-3. Hayti, or Hispaniola, the first Settlement of the
Spaniards in America.] The first settlement formed by the Castilians in
their newly discovered world, was on the Island by the native inhabitants
named _Hayti_; but to which the Spaniards gave the name of _Espanola_ or
_Hispaniola_. And in process of time it came to pass, that this same
Island became the great place of resort, and nursery, of the European
adventurers, who have been so conspicuous under the denomination of the
Buccaneers of _America_.
The native inhabitants found in _Hayti_, have been described a people of
gentle, compassionate dispositions, of too frail a constitution, both of
body and mind, either to resist oppression, or to support themselves under
its weight; and to the indolence, luxury, and avarice of the discoverers,
their freedom and happiness in the first instance, and finally their
existence, fell a sacrifice.
Queen Ysabel, the patroness of the discovery, believed it her duty, and
was earnestly disposed, to be their protectress; but she wanted resolution
to second her inclination. The Island abounded in gold mines. The natives
were tasked to work them, heavier and heavier by degrees; and it was the
great misfortune of Columbus, after achieving an enterprise, the glory of
which was not exceeded by any action of his contemporaries, to make an
ungrateful use of the success Heaven had favoured him with, and to be the
foremost in the destruction of the nations his discovery first made known
to _Europe_.
[Sidenote: Review of the Dominion of the Spaniards in Hispaniola.] The
population of _Hayti_, according to the lowest estimation made, amounted
to a million of souls. The first visit of Columbus was passed in a
continual reciprocation of kind offices between them and the Spaniards.
One of the Spanish ships was wrecked upon the coast, and the natives gave
every assistance in their power towards saving the crew, and their effects
to them. When Columbus departed to return to _Europe_, he left behind him
thirty-eight Spaniards, with the consent of the Chief or Sovereign of the
part of the Island where he had been so hospitably received. He had
erected a fort for their security, and the declared purpose of their
remaining was to protect the Chief against all his enemies. Several of the
native Islanders voluntarily embarked in the ships to go to _Spain_, among
whom was a relation of the _Hayti_ Chief; and with them were taken gold,
and various samples of the productions of the _New World_.
Columbus, on his return, was received by the Court of _Spain_ with the
honours due to his heroic achievement, indeed with honours little short of
adoration: he was declared Admiral, Governor, and Viceroy of the Countries
that he had discovered, and also of those which he should afterwards
discover; he was ordered to assume the style and title of nobility; and
was furnished with a larger fleet to prosecute farther the discovery, and
to make conquest of the new lands. The Instructions for his second
expedition contained the following direction: 'Forasmuch as you,
Christopher Columbus, are going by our command, with our vessels and our
men, to discover and subdue certain Islands and Continent, our will is,
that you shall be our Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor in them.' This was
the first step in the iniquitous usurpations which the more cultivated
nations of the world have practised upon their weaker brethren, the
natives of _America_.
[Sidenote: 1493. Government of Columbus.] Thus provided and instructed,
Columbus sailed on his second voyage. On arriving at _Hayti_, the first
news he learnt was, that the natives had demolished the fort which he had
built, and destroyed the garrison, who, it appeared, had given great
provocation, by their rapacity and licentious conduct. War did not
immediately follow. Columbus accepted presents of gold from the Chief; he
landed a number of colonists, and built a town on the North side of
_Hayti_, which he named after the patroness, _Ysabel_, and fortified.
[Sidenote: 1494.] A second fort was soon built; new Spaniards arrived; and
the natives began to understand that it was the intention of their
visitors to stay, and be lords of the country. The Chiefs held meetings,
to confer on the means to rid themselves of such unwelcome guests, and
there was appearance of preparation making to that end. The Spaniards had
as yet no farther asserted dominion, than in taking land for their town
and forts, and helping themselves to provisions when the natives neglected
to bring supplies voluntarily. The histories of these transactions affect
a tone of apprehension on account of the extreme danger in which the
Spaniards were, from the multitude of the heathen inhabitants; but all the
facts shew that they perfectly understood the helpless character of the
natives. A Spanish officer, named Pedro Margarit, was blamed, not
altogether reasonably, for disorderly conduct to the natives, which
happened in the following manner. He was ordered, with a large body of
troops, to make a progress through the Island in different parts, and was
strictly enjoined to restrain his men from committing any violence against
the natives, or from giving them any cause for complaint. But the troops
were sent on their journey without provisions, and the natives were not
disposed to furnish them. The troops recurred to violence, which they did
not limit to the obtaining food. If Columbus could spare a detachment
strong enough to make such a visitation through the land, he could have
entertained no doubt of his ability to subdue it. But before he risked
engaging in open war with the natives, he thought it prudent to weaken
their means of resisting by what he called stratagem. _Hayti_ was divided
into five provinces, or small kingdoms, under the separate dominion of as
many Princes or Caciques. One of these, Coanabo, the Cacique of _Maguana_,
Columbus believed to be more resolute, and more dangerous to his purpose,
than any other of the chiefs. To Coanabo, therefore, he sent an Officer,
to propose an accommodation on terms which appeared so reasonable, that
the Indian Chief assented to them. Afterwards, relying on the good faith
of the Spaniards, not, as some authors have meanly represented, through
credulous and childish simplicity, but with the natural confidence which
generally prevails, and which ought to prevail, among mankind in their
mutual engagements, he gave opportunity for Columbus to get possession of
his person, who caused him to be seized, and embarked in a ship then ready
to sail for _Spain_. The ship foundered in the passage. [Sidenote: 1495.]
The story of Coanabo, and the contempt with which he treated Columbus for
his treachery, form one of the most striking circumstances in the history
of the perfidious dealings of the Spaniards in _America_. [Sidenote: Dogs
used in Battle against the Indians.] On the seizure of this Chief, the
Islanders rose in arms. Columbus took the field with two hundred foot
armed with musketry and cross-bows, with twenty troopers mounted on
horses, and with twenty large dogs[1]!
It is not to be urged in exculpation of the Spaniards, that the natives
were the aggressors, by their killing the garrison left at _Hayti_.
Columbus had terminated his first visit in friendship; and, without the
knowledge that any breach had happened between the Spaniards left behind,
and the natives, sentence of subjugation had been pronounced against
them. This was not to avenge injury, for the Spaniards knew not of any
committed. Columbus was commissioned to execute this sentence, and for
that end, besides a force of armed men, he took with him from _Spain_ a
number of blood-hounds, to prosecute a most unrighteous purpose by the
most inhuman means.
Many things are justifiable in defence, which in offensive war are
regarded by the generality of mankind with detestation. All are agreed in
the use of dogs, as faithful guards to our persons as well as to our
dwellings; but to hunt men with dogs seems to have been till then unheard
of, and is nothing less offensive to humanity than cannibalism or feasting
on our enemies. Neither jagged shot, poisoned darts, springing of mines,
nor any species of destruction, can be objected to, if this is allowed in
honourable war, or admitted not to be a disgraceful practice in any war.
It was scarcely possible for the Indians, or indeed for any people naked
and undisciplined, however numerous, to stand their ground against a force
so calculated to excite dread. The Islanders were naturally a timid
people, and they regarded fire-arms as engines of more than mortal
contrivance. Don Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, who wrote a History of
his father's actions, relates an instance, which happened before the war,
of above 400 Indians running away from a single Spanish horseman.
[Sidenote: Massacre of the Natives, and Subjugation of the Island.] So
little was attack, or valiant opposition, apprehended from the natives,
that Columbus divided his force into several squadrons, to charge them at
different points. 'These faint-hearted creatures,' says Don Ferdinand,
'fled at the first onset; and our men, pursuing and killing them, made
such havock, that in a short time they obtained a complete victory.' The
policy adopted by Columbus was, to confirm the natives in their dread of
European arms, by a terrible execution. The victors, both dogs and men,
used their ascendancy like furies. The dogs flew at the throats of the
Indians, and strangled or tore them in pieces; whilst the Spaniards, with
the eagerness of hunters, pursued and mowed down the unresisting
fugitives. Some thousands of the Islanders were slaughtered, and those
taken prisoners were consigned to servitude. If the fact were not extant,
it would not be conceivable that any one could be so blind to the infamy
of such a proceeding, as to extol the courage of the Spaniards on this
occasion, instead of execrating their cruelty. Three hundred of the
natives were shipped for _Spain_ as slaves, and the whole Island, with the
exception of a small part towards the Western coast, which has since been
named the _Cul de Sac_, was subdued. [Sidenote: Tribute imposed.] Columbus
made a leisurely progress through the Island, which occupied him nine or
ten months, and imposed a tribute generally upon all the natives above the
age of fourteen, requiring each of them to pay quarterly a certain
quantity of gold, or 25 lbs. of cotton. Those natives who were discovered
to have been active against the Spaniards, were taxed higher. To prevent
evasion, rings or tokens, to be produced in the nature of receipts, were
given to the Islanders on their paying the tribute, and any Islander found
without such a mark in his possession, was deemed not to have paid, and
proceeded against.
Queen Ysabel shewed her disapprobation of Columbus's proceedings, by
liberating and sending back the captive Islanders to their own country;
and she moreover added her positive commands, that none of the natives
should be made slaves. This order was accompanied with others intended for
their protection; but the Spanish Colonists, following the example of
their Governor, contrived means to evade them.
In the mean time, the Islanders could not furnish the tribute, and
Columbus was rigorous in the collection. It is said in palliation, that
he was embarrassed in consequence of the magnificent descriptions he had
given to Ferdinand and Ysabel, of the riches of _Hispaniola_, by which he
had taught them to expect much; and that the fear of disappointing them
and losing their favour, prompted him to act more oppressively to the
Indians than his disposition otherwise inclined him to do. Distresses of
this kind press upon all men; but only in very ordinary minds do they
outweigh solemn considerations. Setting aside the dictates of religion and
moral duty, as doubtless was done, and looking only to worldly advantages,
if Columbus had properly estimated his situation, he would have been
resolute not to descend from the eminence he had attained. The dilemma in
which he was placed, was simply, whether he would risk some diminution of
the favour he was in at Court, by being the protector of these Islanders,
who, by circumstances peculiarly calculated to engage his interest, were
entitled in an especial manner to have been regarded as his clients; or,
to preserve that favour, would oppress them to their destruction, and to
the ruin of his own fame.
[Sidenote: Despair of the Natives.] The Islanders, finding their inability
to oppose the invaders, took the desperate resolution to desist from the
cultivation of their lands, to abandon their houses, and to withdraw
themselves to the mountains; hoping thereby that want of subsistence would
force their oppressors to quit the Island. The Spaniards had many
resources; the sea-coast supplied them with fish, and their vessels
brought provisions from other islands. As to the natives of _Hayti_, one
third part of them, it is said, perished in the course of a few months, by
famine and by suicide. The rest returned to their dwellings, and
submitted. All these events took place within three years after the
discovery; so active is rapacity.
Some among the Spaniards (authors of that time say, the enemies of
Columbus, as if sentiments of humanity were not capable of such an effort)
wrote Memorials to their Catholic Majesties, representing the disastrous
condition to which the natives were reduced. [Sidenote: 1496.]
Commissioners were sent to examine into the fact, and Columbus found it
necessary to go to _Spain_ to defend his administration.
So great was the veneration and respect entertained for him, that on his
arrival at Court, accusation was not allowed to be produced against him:
and, without instituting enquiry, it was arranged, that he should return
to his government with a large reinforcement of Spaniards, and with
authority to grant lands to whomsoever he chose to think capable of
cultivating them. Various accidents delayed his departure from _Spain_ on
his third voyage, till 1498.
[Sidenote: City of Nueva Ysabel founded, 1496.] He had left two of his
brothers to govern in _Hispaniola_ during his absence; the eldest,
Bartolome, with the title of Adelantado; in whose time (A. D. 1496) was
traced, on the South side of the Island, the plan of a new town intended
for the capital, the land in the neighbourhood of the town of _Ysabel_,
before built, being poor and little productive. [Sidenote: Its name
changed to Santo Domingo.] The name first given to the new town was _Nueva
Ysabel_; this in a short time gave place to that of _Santo Domingo_, a
name which was not imposed by authority, but adopted and became in time
established by common usage, of which the original cause is not now
known[2].
Under the Adelantado's government, the parts of the Island which till then
had held out in their refusal to receive the Spanish yoke, were reduced to
subjection; and the conqueror gratified his vanity with the public
execution of one of the Hayti Kings.
Columbus whilst he was in _Spain_ received mortification in two instances,
of neither of which he had any right to complain. In October 1496, three
hundred natives of _Hayti_ (made prisoners by the Adelantado) were landed
at _Cadiz_, being sent to _Spain_ as slaves. At this act of disobedience,
the King and Queen strongly expressed their displeasure, and said, if the
Islanders made war against the Castilians, they must have been constrained
to do it by hard treatment. Columbus thought proper to blame, and to
disavow what his brother had done. The other instance of his receiving
mortification, was an act of kindness done him, and so intended; and it
was the only shadow of any thing like reproof offered to him. In the
instructions which he now received, it was earnestly recommended to him to
prefer conciliation to severity on all occasions which would admit it
without prejudice to justice or to his honour.
[Sidenote: 1498.] It was in the third voyage of Columbus that he first saw
the Continent of _South America_, in August 1498, which he then took to be
an Island, and named _Isla Santa_. He arrived on the 22d of the same month
at the City of _San Domingo_.
The short remainder of Columbus's government in _Hayti_ was occupied with
disputes among the Spaniards themselves. A strong party was in a state of
revolt against the government of the Columbuses, and accommodation was
kept at a distance, by neither party daring to place trust in the other.
[Sidenote: 1498-9.] Columbus would have had recourse to arms to recover
his authority, but some of his troops deserted to the disaffected, and
others refused to be employed against their countrymen. In this state, the
parties engaged in a treaty on some points, and each sent Memorials to the
Court. The Admiral in his dispatches represented, that necessity had made
him consent to certain conditions, to avoid endangering the Colony; but
that it would be highly prejudicial to the interests of their Majesties
to ratify the treaty he had been forced to subscribe.
[Sidenote: Beginning of the Repartimientos.] The Admiral now made grants
of lands to Spanish colonists, and accompanied them with requisitions to
the neighbouring Caciques, to furnish the new proprietors with labourers
to cultivate the soil. This was the beginning of the _Repartimientos_, or
distributions of the Indians, which confirmed them slaves, and
contributed, more than all former oppressions, to their extermination.
Notwithstanding the earnest and express order of the King and Queen to the
contrary, the practice of transporting the natives of _Hayti_ to _Spain_
as slaves, was connived at and continued; and this being discovered, lost
Columbus the confidence, but not wholly the support, of Queen Ysabel.
[Sidenote: 1500. Government of Bovadilla.] The dissensions in the Colony
increased, as did the unpopularity of the Admiral; and in the year 1500, a
new Governor General of the _Indies_, Francisco de Bovadilla, was sent
from _Spain_, with a commission empowering him to examine into the
accusations against the Admiral; and he was particularly enjoined by the
Queen, to declare all the native inhabitants free, and to take measures to
secure to them that they should be treated as a free people. How a man so
grossly ignorant and intemperate as Bovadilla, should have been chosen to
an office of such high trust, is not a little extraordinary. His first
display of authority was to send the Columbuses home prisoners, with the
indignity to their persons of confining them in chains. He courted
popularity in his government by shewing favour to all who had been
disaffected to the government or measures of the Admiral and his brothers,
the natives excepted, for whose relief he had been especially appointed
Governor. To encourage the Spaniards to work the mines, he reduced the
duties payable to the Crown on the produce, and trusted to an increase in
the quantity of gold extracted, for preserving the revenue from
diminution. [Sidenote: All the Natives compelled to work the Mines.] This
was to be effected by increasing the labour of the natives; and that these
miserable people might not evade their servitude, he caused muster-rolls
to be made of all the inhabitants, divided them into classes, and made
distribution of them according to the value of the mines, or to his desire
to gratify particular persons. The Spanish Colonists believed that the
same facilities to enrich themselves would not last long, and made all the
haste in their power to profit by the present opportunity.
By these means, Bovadilla drew from the mines in a few months so great a
quantity of gold, that one fleet which he sent home, carried a freight
more than sufficient to reimburse _Spain_ all the expences which had been
incurred in the discovery and conquest. The procuring these riches was
attended with so great a mortality among the natives as to threaten their
utter extinction.
Nothing could exceed the surprise and indignation of the Queen, on
receiving information of these proceedings. The bad government of
Bovadilla was a kind of palliation which had the effect of lessening the
reproach upon the preceding government, and, joined to the disgraceful
manner in which Columbus had been sent home, produced a revolution of
sentiment in his favour. The good Queen Ysabel wished to compensate him
for the hard treatment he had received, at the same time that she had the
sincerity to make him understand she would not again commit the Indian
natives to his care. All his other offices and dignities were restored to
him.
[Sidenote: 1501-2. Nicolas Ovando, Governor.] For a successor to Bovadilla
in the office of Governor General, Don Nicolas Ovando, a Cavalero of the
Order of _Alcantara_, was chosen; a man esteemed capable and just, and who
entered on his government with apparent mildness and consideration. But in
a short time he proved the most execrable of all the tyrants, 'as if,'
says an historian, 'tyranny was inherent and contagious in the office, so
as to change good men to bad, for the destruction of these unfortunate
Indians.'
[Sidenote: Working the Mines discontinued by Orders from Spain.] In
obedience to his instructions, Ovando, on arriving at his government,
called a General Assembly of all the Caciques or principal persons among
the natives, to whom he declared, that their Catholic Majesties took the
Islanders under their royal protection; that no exaction should be made on
them, other than the tribute which had been heretofore imposed; and that
no person should be employed to work in the mines, except on the footing
of voluntary labourers for wages.
[Sidenote: 1502.] On the promulgation of the royal pleasure, all working
in the mines immediately ceased. The impression made by their past
sufferings was too strong for any offer of pay or reward to prevail on
them to continue in that work. [The same thing happened, many years
afterwards, between the Chilese and the Spaniards.] A few mines had been
allowed to remain in possession of some of the Caciques of _Hayti_, on the
condition of rendering up half the produce; but now, instead of working
them, they sold their implements. In consequence of this defection, it was
judged expedient to lower the royal duties on the produce of the mines,
which produced some effect.
Ovando, however, was intent on procuring the mines to be worked as
heretofore, but proceeded with caution. In his dispatches to the Council
of the _Indies_, he represented in strong colours the natural levity and
inconstancy of the Indians, and their idle and disorderly manner of
living; on which account, he said, it would be for their improvement and
benefit to find them occupation in moderate labour; that there would be no
injustice in so doing, as they would receive wages for their work, and
they would thereby be enabled to pay the tribute, which otherwise, from
their habitual idleness, many would not be able to satisfy. He added
moreover, that the Indians, being left entirely their own masters, kept at
a distance from the Spanish habitations, which rendered it impossible to
instruct them in the principles of Christianity.
This reasoning, and the proposal to furnish the natives with employment,
were approved by the Council of the _Indies_; and the Court, from the
opinion entertained of the justice and moderation of Ovando, acquiesced so
far as to trust making the experiment to his discretion. In reply to his
representations, he received instructions recommending, 'That if it was
necessary to oblige the Indians to work, it should be done in the most
gentle and moderate manner; that the Caciques should be invited to send
their people in regular turns; and that the employers should treat them
well, and pay them wages, according to the quality of the person and
nature of the labour; that care should be taken for their regular
attendance at religious service and instruction; and that it should be
remembered they were a free people, to be governed with mildness, and on
no account to be treated as slaves.'
[Sidenote: 1502-3. The Natives again forced to the Mines.] These
directions, notwithstanding the expressions of care for the natives
contained in them, released the Governor General from all restriction.
This man had recently been appointed Grand Master of the order of
_Calatrava_, and thenceforward he was most generally distinguished by the
appellation or title of the Grand Commander.
A transaction of a shocking nature, which took place during Bovadilla's
government, caused an insurrection of the natives; but which did not break
out till after the removal of Bovadilla. A Spanish vessel had put into a
port of the province of _Higuey_ (the most Eastern part of _Hayti_) to
procure a lading of _cassava_, a root which is used as bread. The
Spaniards landed, having with them a large dog held by a cord. Whilst the
natives were helping them to what they wanted, one of the Spaniards in
wanton insolence pointed to a Cacique, and called to the dog in manner of
setting him on. The Spaniard who held the cord, it is doubtful whether
purposely or by accident, suffered it to slip out of his hand, and the dog
instantly tore out the unfortunate Cacique's entrails. The people of
_Higuey_ sent a deputation, to complain to Bovadilla; but those who went
could not obtain attention. [Sidenote: Severities shewn to the people of
Higuey.] In the beginning of Ovando's government, some other Spaniards
landed at the same port of _Higuey_, and the natives, in revenge for what
had happened, fell upon them, and killed them; after which they took to
arms. This insurrection was quelled with so great a slaughter, that the
province, from having been well peopled, was rendered almost a desert.
[Sidenote: 1503. Encomiendas established.] Ovando, on obtaining his new
instructions, followed the model set by his predecessors. He enrolled and
classed the natives in divisions, called _Repartimientos_: from these he
assigned to the Spanish proprietors a specified number of labourers, by
grants, which, with most detestable hypocrisy, were denominated
_Encomiendas_. The word _Encomienda_ signifies recommendation, and the
employer to whom the Indian was consigned, was to have the reputation of
being his patron. The _Encomienda_ was conceived in the following
terms:--'_I recommend to =A. B.= such and such Indians =(listed by name)=
the subjects of such Cacique; and he is to take care to have them
instructed in the principles of our holy faith._'
Under the enforcement of the _encomiendas_, the natives were again dragged
to the mines; and many of these unfortunate wretches were kept by their
hard employers under ground for six months together. With the labour, and
grief at being again doomed to slavery, they sunk so rapidly, that it
suggested to the murderous proprietors of the mines the having recourse to
_Africa_ for slaves. [Sidenote: African Slaves carried to the West
Indies.] Ovando, after small experience of this practice, endeavoured to
oppose it as dangerous, the Africans frequently escaping from their
masters, and finding concealment among the natives, in whom they excited
some spirit of resistance.
The ill use made by the Grand Commander of the powers with which he had
been trusted, appears to have reached the Court early, for, in 1503, he
received fresh orders, enjoining him not to allow, on any pretext, the
natives to be employed in labour against their own will, either in the
mines or elsewhere. Ovando, however, trusted to being supported by the
Spanish proprietors of the mines within his government, who grew rich by
the _encomiendas_, and with their assistance he found pretences for not
restraining himself to the orders of the Court.
In parts of the Island, the Caciques still enjoyed a degree of authority
over the natives, which rested almost wholly on habitual custom and
voluntary attachment. To loosen this band, Ovando, assuming the character
of a protector, published ordonnances to release the lower classes from
the oppressions of the Caciques; but from those of their European
taskmasters he gave them no relief.
Some of the principal among the native inhabitants of _Xaragua_, the
South-western province of _Hayti_, had the hardiness openly to express
their discontent at the tyranny exercised by the Spaniards established in
that province. The person at this time regarded as Cacique or Chief of
_Xaragua_ was a female, sister to the last Cacique, who had died without
issue. The Spanish histories call her Queen of _Xaragua_. This Princess
had shewn symptoms of something like abhorrence of the Spaniards near her,
and they did not fail to send representations to the Grand Commander,
with the addition, that there appeared indications of an intention in the
Xaraguans to revolt. On receiving this notice, Ovando determined that
_Xaragua_, as _Higuey_ had before, should feel the weight of his
displeasure. Putting himself at the head of 370 Spanish troops, part of
them cavalry, he departed from the city of _San Domingo_ for the devoted
province, giving out publicly, that his intention was to make a progress
into the West, to collect the tribute, and to visit the Queen of
_Xaragua_. He was received by the Princess and her people with honours,
feastings, and all the demonstrations of joy usually acted by terrified
people with the hopes of soothing tyranny; and the troops were regaled
with profusion of victuals, with dancing, and shows. [Sidenote: 1503-4.]
After some days thus spent, Ovando invited the Princess, her friends and
attendants, to an entertainment which he promised them, after the manner
of _Spain_. A large open public building was the chosen place for holding
this festival, and all the Spanish settlers in the province were required
to attend. A great concourse of Indians, besides the bidden guests,
crowded round, to enjoy the spectacle. [Sidenote: Massacre of the people
of Xaragua.] As the appointed time approached, the Spanish infantry
gradually appeared, and took possession of all the avenues; which being
secured, this Grand Commander himself appeared, mounted at the head of his
cavalry; and on his making a signal, which had been previously concerted,
which was laying his hand on the Cross of his Order, the whole of these
diabolical conquerors fell upon the defenceless multitude, who were so
hemmed in, that thousands were slaughtered, and it was scarcely possible
for any to escape unwounded. Some of the principal Indians or Caciques, it
is said, were by the Commander's order fastened to the pillars of the
building, where they were questioned, and made to confess themselves in a
conspiracy against the Spanish government; after which confession the
building was set on fire, and they perished in the flames. The massacre
did not stop here. Detachments of troops, with dogs, were sent to hunt and
destroy the natives in different parts of the province, and some were
pursued over to the Island _Gonave_. The Princess was carried bound to the
city of _San Domingo_, and with the forms of law was tried, condemned, and
put to death.
The purposes, besides that of gratifying his revenge for the hatred shewn
to his government, which were sufficient to move Ovando to this bloody
act, were, the plunder of the province, and the reduction of the Islanders
to a more manageable number, and to the most unlimited submission.
[Sidenote: 1504.] Some of the Indians fled to the mountains. 'But,' say
the Spanish Chronicles of these events, 'in a short time their Chiefs were
taken and punished, and at the end of six months there was not a native
living on the Island who had not submitted to the dominion of the
Spaniards.'
[Sidenote: Death of Queen Ysabel.] Queen Ysabel died in November 1504,
much and universally lamented. This Princess bore a large share in the
usurpations practised in the New World; but it is evident she was carried
away, contrary to her real principles and disposition, which were just and
benevolent, and to her own happiness, by the powerful stream of general
opinion.
In _Europe_, political principles, or maxims of policy, have been in
continual change, fashioned by the nature of the passing events, no less
than dress has been by caprice; causes which have led one to deviate from
plain rectitude, as the other from convenience. One principle,
covetousness of the attainment of power, has nevertheless constantly
predominated, and has derided and endeavoured to stigmatize as weakness
and imbecility, the stopping short of great acquisitions, territorial
especially, for moral considerations. Queen Ysabel lived surrounded by a
world of such politicians, who were moreover stimulated to avarice by the
prospect of American gold; a passion which yet more than ambition is apt
to steel the heart of man against the calls of justice and the distresses
of his fellow creatures. If Ysabel had been endued with more than mortal
fortitude, she might have refused her sanction to the usurpations, but
could not have prevented them. On her death bed she earnestly recommended
to King Ferdinand to recall Ovando. Ovando, however, sent home much gold,
and Ferdinand referred to a distant time the fulfilment of her dying
request.
Upon news of the death of Queen Ysabel, the small wages which had been
paid the Indians for their labour, amounting to about half a piastre _per_
month, were withheld, as being too grievous a burthen on the Spanish
Colonists; and the hours of labour were no longer limited. [Sidenote:
1506.] In the province of _Higuey_, the tyranny and licentiousness of the
military again threw the poor natives into a frenzy of rage and despair,
and they once more revolted, burnt the fort, and killed the soldiers.
Ovando resolved to put it out of the power of the people of _Higuey_ ever
again to be troublesome. A strong body of troops was marched into the
province, the Cacique of _Higuey_ (the last of the _Hayti_ Kings) was
taken prisoner and executed, and the province pacified.
The pecuniary value of grants of land in _Hayti_ with _encomiendas_,
became so considerable as to cause them to be coveted and solicited for by
many of the grandees and favourites of the Court in _Spain_, who, on
obtaining them, sent out agents to turn them to account. [Sidenote:
Desperate condition of the Natives.] The agent was to make his own fortune
by his employment, and to satisfy his principal. In no instance were the
natives spared through any interference of the Grand Commander. It was a
maxim with this bad man, always to keep well with the powerful; and every
thing respecting the natives was yielded to their accommodation. Care,
however, was taken that the Indians should be baptised, and that a head
tax should be paid to the Crown; and these particulars being complied
with, the rest was left to the patron of the _encomienda_. Punishments and
tortures of every kind were practised, to wring labour out of men who were
dying through despair. Some of the accounts, which are corroborated by
circumstances, relate, that the natives were frequently coupled and
harnessed like cattle, and driven with whips. If they fell under their
load, they were flogged up. To prevent their taking refuge in the woods or
mountains, an officer, under the title of _Alguazil del Campo_, was
constantly on the watch with a pack of hounds; and many Indians, in
endeavouring to escape, were torn in pieces. The settlers on the Island,
the great men at home, their agents, and the royal revenue, were all to be
enriched at the expence of the destruction of the natives. It was as if
the discovery of _America_ had changed the religion of the Spaniards from
Christianity to the worship of gold with human sacrifices. If power were
entitled to dominion between man and man, as between man and other
animals, the Spaniards would remain chargeable with the most outrageous
abuse of their advantages. In enslaving the inhabitants of _Hayti_, if
they had been satisfied with reducing them to the state of cattle, it
would have been merciful, comparatively with what was done. The labour
imposed by mankind upon their cattle, is in general so regulated as not to
exceed what is compatible with their full enjoyment of health; but the
main consideration with the Spanish proprietors was, by what means they
should obtain the greatest quantity of gold from the labour of the natives
in the shortest time. By an enumeration made in the year 1507, the number
of the natives in the whole Island _Hayti_ was reckoned at 60,000, the
remains of a population which fifteen years before exceeded a million. The
insatiate colonists did not stop: many of the mines lay unproductive for
want of labourers, and they bent their efforts to the supplying this
defect.
[Sidenote: The Grand Antilles.] The Islands of the _West Indies_ have been
classed into three divisions, which chiefly regard their situations; but
they are distinguished also by other peculiar circumstances. The four
largest Islands, _Cuba_, _Hayti_, _Jamaica_, and _Porto Rico_, have been
called the _Grand Antilles_. When first discovered by Europeans, they were
inhabited by people whose similarity of language, of customs, and
character, bespoke them the offspring of one common stock. [Sidenote:
Small Antilles, or Caribbee Islands.] The second division is a chain of
small Islands Eastward of these, and extending South to the coast of
_Paria_ on the Continent of _South America_. They have been called
sometimes the _Small Antilles_; sometimes after the native inhabitants,
the _Caribbee Islands_; and not less frequently by a subdivision, the
Windward and Leeward Islands. The inhabitants on these Islands were a
different race from the inhabitants of the _Grand Antilles_. They spoke a
different language, were robust in person; and in disposition fierce,
active, and warlike. Some have conjectured them to be of Tartar
extraction, which corresponds with the belief that they emigrated from
_North America_ to the _West Indies_. It is supposed they drove out the
original inhabitants from the _Small Antilles_, to establish themselves
there; but they had not gained footing in the large Islands. [Sidenote:
Lucayas, or Bahama Islands.] The third division of the Islands is the
cluster which are situated to the North of _Cuba_, and near _East
Florida_, and are called the _Lucayas_, of whose inhabitants mention will
shortly be made.
The Spanish Government participated largely in the wickedness practised to
procure labourers for the mines of _Hispaniola_. Pretending great concern
for the cause of humanity, they declared it legal, and gave general
license, for any individual to make war against, and enslave, people who
were cannibals; under which pretext every nation, both of the American
Continent and of the Islands, was exposed to their enterprises. Spanish
adventurers made attempts to take people from the small _Antilles_,
sometimes with success; but they were not obtained without danger, and in
several expeditions of the kind, the Spaniards were repulsed with loss.
This made them turn their attention to the _Lucayas Islands_.
[Sidenote: 1508.] The inhabitants of the _Lucayas_, an unsuspicious and
credulous people, did not escape the snares laid for them. Ovando, in his
dispatches to _Spain_, represented the benefit it would be to the holy
faith, to have the inhabitants of the _Lucayas_ instructed in the
Christian religion; for which purpose, he said, 'it would be necessary
they should be transported to _Hispaniola_, as Missionaries could not be
spared to every place, and there was no other way in which this abandoned
people could be converted.' [Sidenote: The Natives of the Lucayas betrayed
to the Mines;] King Ferdinand and the Council of the Indies were
themselves so abandoned and destitute of all goodness, as to pretend to
give credit to Ovando's representation, and lent him their authority to
sacrifice the Lucayans, under the pretext of advancing religion. Spanish
ships were sent to the Islands on this business, and the natives were at
first inveigled on board by the foulest hypocrisy and treachery. Among the
artifices used by the Spaniards, they pretended that they came from a
delicious country, where rested the souls of the deceased fathers,
kinsmen, and friends, of the Lucayans, who had sent to invite them.
[Sidenote: and the Islands wholly unpeopled.] The innocent Islanders so
seduced to follow the Spaniards, when, on arriving at _Hispaniola_, they
found how much they had been abused, died in great numbers of chagrin and
grief. Afterwards, when these impious pretences of the Spaniards were no
longer believed, they dragged away the natives by force, as long as any
could be found, till they wholly unpeopled the _Lucayas Islands_. The
Buccaneers of _America_, whose adventures and misdeeds are about to be
related, may be esteemed saints in comparison with the men whose names
have been celebrated as the Conquerors of the NEW WORLD.
In the same manner as at the _Lucayas_, other Islands of the _West
Indies_, and different parts of the Continent, were resorted to for
recruits. A pearl fishery was established, in which the Indians were not
more spared as divers, than on the land as miners.
_Porto Rico_ was conquered at this time. [Sidenote: Fate of the native
Inhabitants of Porto Rico.] Ore had been brought thence, which was not so
pure as that of _Hayti_; but it was of sufficient value to determine
Ovando to the conquest of the Island. The Islanders were terrified by the
carnage which the Spaniards with their dogs made in the commencement of
the war, and, from the fear of irritating them by further resistance, they
yielded wholly at discretion, and were immediately sent to the mines,
where in a short time they all perished. In the same year with _Porto
Rico_, the Island of _Jamaica_ was taken possession of by the Spaniards.
[Sidenote: 1509. D. Diego Columbus, Governor of Hispaniola.] Ovando was at
length recalled, and was succeeded in the government of _Hispaniola_ by
Don Diego Columbus, the eldest son and inheritor of the rights and titles
of the Admiral Christopher. To conclude with Ovando, it is related that he
was regretted by his countrymen in the _Indies_, and was well received at
Court.
Don Diego did not make any alteration in the _repartimientos_, except that
some of them changed hands in favour of his own adherents. During his
government, some fathers of the Dominican Order had the courage to inveigh
from the pulpit against the enormity of the _repartimientos_, and were so
persevering in their representations, that the Court of _Spain_ found it
necessary, to avoid scandal, to order an enquiry into the condition of the
Indians. In this enquiry it was seriously disputed, whether it was just or
unjust to make them slaves.
[Sidenote: 1511. Increase of Cattle in Hayti.] The Histories of
_Hispaniola_ first notice about this time a great increase in the number
of cattle in the Island. As the human race disappeared, less and less land
was occupied in husbandry, till almost the whole country became pasturage
for cattle, by far the greater part of which were wild. An ordonnance,
issued in the year 1511, specified, that as beasts of burthen were so much
multiplied, the Indians should not be made to carry or drag heavy loads.
[Sidenote: Cuba.] In 1511, the conquest of _Cuba_ was undertaken and
completed. The terror conceived of the Spaniards is not to be expressed.
The story of the conquest is related in a Spanish history in the following
terms: 'A leader was chosen, who had acquitted himself in high employments
with fortune and good conduct. He had in other respects amiable qualities,
and was esteemed a man of honour and rectitude. He went from _S. Domingo_
with regular troops and above 300 volunteers. He landed in _Cuba_, not
without opposition from the natives. In a few days, he surprised and took
the principal Cacique, named Hatuey, prisoner, and _made him expiate in
the flames the fault he had been guilty of in not submitting with a good
grace to the conqueror_.' This Cacique, when at the stake, being
importuned by a Spanish priest to become a Christian, that he might go to
Heaven, replied, that if any Spaniard was to be met in Heaven, he hoped
not to go there.
[Sidenote: 1514.] The Reader will be detained a very little longer with
these irksome scenes. In 1514, the number of the inhabitants of _Hayti_
was reckoned 14,000. A distributor of Indians was appointed, with powers
independent of the Governor, with intention to save the few remaining
natives of _Hayti_. The new distributor began the exercise of his office
by a general revocation of all the _encomiendas_, except those which had
been granted by the King; and almost immediately afterwards, in the most
open and shameless manner, he made new grants, and sold them to the
highest bidder. [Sidenote: 1515.] He was speedily recalled; and another
(the Licentiate Ybarra) was sent to supply his place, who had a high
character for probity and resolution; but he died immediately on his
arrival at _Santo Domingo_, and not without suspicion that he was
poisoned.
[Sidenote: Bart. de las Casas, and Cardinal Ximenes; their endeavours to
serve the Indians. The Cardinal dies.] The endeavours of the
Dominican Friars in behalf of the natives were seconded by the Licentiate
Bartolomeo de las Casas, and by Cardinal Ximenes when he became Prime
Minister of _Spain_; and, to their great honour, they were both resolute
to exert all their power to preserve the natives of _America_. The
Cardinal sent Commissioners, and with them las Casas, with the title of
Protector of the Indians. But the Cardinal died in 1517; after which all
the exertions of las Casas and the Dominicans could not shake the
_repartimientos_.
[Sidenote: 1519.] At length, among the native Islanders there sprung up
one who had the courage to put himself at the head of a number of his
countrymen, and the address to withdraw with them from the gripe of the
Spaniards, and to find refuge among the mountains. [Sidenote: Cacique
Henriquez.] This man was the son, and, according to the laws of
inheritance, should have been the successor, of one of the principal
Caciques. He had been christened by the name of Henriquez, and, in
consequence of a regulation made by the late Queen Ysabel of _Castile_, he
had been educated, on account of his former rank, in a Convent of the
Franciscans. He defended his retreat in the mountains by skilful
management and resolute conduct, and had the good fortune in the
commencement to defeat some parties of Spanish troops sent against him,
which encouraged more of his countrymen, and as many of the Africans as
could escape, to flock to him; and under his government, as of a sovereign
prince, they withstood the attempts of the Spaniards to subdue them.
Fortunately for Henriquez and his followers, the conquest and settlement
of _Cuba_, and the invasion of _Mexico_, which was begun at this time,
lessened the strength of the Spaniards in _Hispaniola_, and enabled the
insurgents for many years to keep all the Spanish settlements in the
Island in continual alarm, and to maintain their own independence.
During this time, the question of the propriety of keeping the Islanders
in slavery, underwent grave examinations. It is related that the
experiment was tried, of allowing a number of the natives to build
themselves two villages, to live in them according to their own customs
and liking; and that the result was, they were found to be so improvident,
and so utterly unable to take care of themselves, that the _encomiendas_
were pronounced to be necessary for their preservation. Such an experiment
is a mockery. Before the conquest, and now under Don Henriquez, the people
of _Hayti_ shewed they wanted not the Spaniards to take care of them.