PANAMÁ, PORTOBELLO, AND PIRACY.
1601-1670.
AN AUDIENCIA AGAIN ESTABLISHED IN PANAMÁ—ITS
PRESIDENTS—CAPTAIN PARKER'S RAID ON PORTOBELLO—GROWTH
OF PORTOBELLO AND DECADENCE OF PANAMÁ—MALEFEASANCE OF
OFFICIALS—INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION—CONTRABAND TRADING—CHURCH
MATTERS IN PANAMÁ—DISPUTES BETWEEN THE BISHOPS AND THE
OIDORES—THE ECCLESIASTICS IN EVIL REPUTE—DESTRUCTIVE
CONFLAGRATION—BAZAN'S ADMINISTRATION—HIS DOWNFALL AND ITS
CAUSE—THE ANNUAL FAIR AT PANAMÁ.
During the first half of the seventeenth century the province of Panamá
was under the control of a governor or president, and an audiencia real,
which was reëstablished toward the close of the previous century. The
archives are meagre of information regarding the governors, some of them
being barely mentioned, and their succession not always agreed upon by
the authorities. In 1601 Alonso de Sotomayor was governor; on the 9th of
June 1604 the licentiate Alonso de Coronado, an oidor of the audiencia
of Guatemala, was appointed president; and on the 18th of September in
the same year that office was filled by Valverde de Mercado, each of the
officials receiving as salary six thousand ducats per annum.[XXVII‑1]
We have also the personnel of the ayuntamiento of Panamá,[XXVII‑2] and
certain ordinances passed by that body, one of which relates to the sale
of a noxious liquor known as vino de Aljarafe,[XXVII‑3] and the other
forbids trafficking in negro slaves.[XXVII‑4]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PARKER'S ATTACK.]
It was during the administration of Mercado that Captain William Parker
attacked and captured Portobello. He sailed from Plymouth in November
1601 with two ships, a pinnace, and two shallops, and at least two
hundred men.[XXVII‑5] After a tempestuous voyage in which he lost
his pinnace and all her crew save three, he captured the town of San
Vicente, on the Cape Verde Islands, and after despoiling it and giving
it up to the flames sailed for the coast of Tierra Firme. Arriving at
the island of Cubagua, where was a pearl-fishery, he was confronted by a
company of soldiers, who resisted manfully, but were finally overcome;
several barks and boats were captured, and several prisoners taken,
for whose ransom he received pearls to the value of twenty-five hundred
pesos. Thence he shaped his course for Cape de la Vela, off which he met
with a fine Portuguese ship of two hundred and fifty tons, bound for
Cartagena, and laden with negroes for the mines. An easy capture was
made, and another twenty-five hundred pesos secured as ransom for the
slaves. Calling at the islands of Cabezas and Bastimentos, at the latter
of which he procured several negro guides, he embarked one hundred and
fifty of his men in the shallops and in two small pinnaces which he
had built during the voyage. He entered the mouth of the river on which
Portobello is situated about two o'clock in the morning of the 7th of
February 1602.[XXVII‑6]
The moonlight quickly revealed the boats to the watch on duty at
the fort of San Felipe, commanding the entrance of the harbor. Being
challenged as to whence they came, they answered from Cartagena, the
reply being given in Spanish by men taken on board at that town for
the purpose. They were then commanded to anchor, and did so at once,
six leagues from Portobello, "the Place where my Shippes roade," says
Parker, "beinge the rock where Sir Francis Drake his Coffin was throwne
overboarde."
The captain was well aware that at San Felipe were always thirty-five
great pieces of brass ordnance, ready mounted, to bid an enemy welcome,
and fifty soldiers to manage them. Nevertheless, as soon as all was
quiet, he proceeded up the river with thirty men and two cannon in his
shallops, ordering the remainder of his forces to follow him. Directly
opposite the castle was a smaller fort named Santiago, mounting five
pieces of ordnance and manned by thirty soldiers, some of whom, seeing
the boats, cried out to them to stop, and ran along the shore in
pursuit. Heedless of their noise Parker proceeded to the suburban town
of Triana, landed there with his company, and in a trice, though the
alarm was promptly given, set it on fire. Then, leaving it burning, he
marched on Portobello, capturing on his way a piece of ordnance with
the loss of only one man. The English made directly for the king's
treasure-house, a large and conspicuous building where the governor
of the town, Pedro Melendez, was stationed, with a strong force. The
flames and smoke of Triana had given warning of the invaders' approach,
and Parker found before the treasury a squadron of soldiers drawn up
ready to receive him, and also a company of trained civilians with two
field-pieces. The conflict that followed was sharp and bloody. Soon
all of the English except eight or nine were killed or wounded, and the
governor at the head of sixty soldiers was now advancing to crush the
remnant of their little band. "But," says the pious pirate, "God did
prosper our Proceedings mightelie, for the first two Shott which went
from us shot Malendus through his Targett, and went throughe both his
Armes, and the other Shott hurted the Corporall of the Fielde, whereupon
they all retired to their House which they made good untill it was
almost daie."
[Sidenote: PORTOBELLO TAKEN.]
Meanwhile the remainder of the captain's forces had come up, and after
a fight of four or five hours the contest was decided in favor of
the English. Among the prisoners taken were the governor, the king's
escribano, and many of the leading citizens, all of whom were afterward
released, Melendez[XXVII‑7] being carried on board the fleet and
liberated without ransom after his wounds had been dressed.
The booty captured in the treasure-house amounted to but ten thousand
ducats,[XXVII‑8] though had the English arrived but seven days earlier
they would have made prize of a hundred and twenty thousand ducats which
had just before been carried away by two frigates bound for Cartagena.
Elsewhere in the town a considerable amount of plunder was found in
the shape of plate, merchandise, and money, all of which was divided
among the men, the commander reserving for himself the sum found in the
treasury.
No further injury was done to the town, except that a few negro huts
were burned in order to intimidate the inhabitants. Seizing two vessels
that he found in the port, and in one of which were three mounted pieces
of cannon, the English, as they dropped down the river, opened fire
on the forts, and were warmly answered by the Spaniards, who expected
to sink their vessels. "But God so wrought for us," says the captain,
"that we safely gott forthe againe contrarie to the Expectation of
our Enemyes." Most of the shots fired from shore passed high overhead,
though a few of the English were wounded, among them the commander, who
was hit in the elbow with a musket ball which passed out at his wrist.
Reaching a neighboring island, Parker was soon rejoined by his ships,
and next day, the 9th of February, put out to sea.[XXVII‑9]
* * * * *
It has already been said that in 1585 Portobello contained not more than
ten dwellings, and that in March 1597 the port of entry was removed
there from Nombre de Dios. During the five years that elapsed between
this change and Parker's raid the town had developed into a thriving
settlement, and now contained two churches, a treasury, an exchange,
a hospital rich and large, a convent and several streets, where for
six weeks in the year, when the galleons were in port, merchants and
artificers congregated.
Upon the arrival of the galleons, the treasurer, contador, or factor,
was ordered by the governor to proceed there, taking with him the
deputies of the other two officials.[XXVII‑10] When the gold and silver
had been put on board the galleons, and other commodities on board the
merchant ships, all were visited by the royal officers to see that the
king was not cheated—except for valuable consideration. The coming and
going of the annual fleets was a matter of the utmost solicitude to
the crown, to shippers, and to consignees. Many a treasure-laden craft
either foundered at sea or fell a prey to buccaneers, and the safe
arrival of a convoy was heralded with every manifestation of joy, even
royalty itself not deeming it out of place to announce such an event.
Thus on October 15, 1605, the king in a despatch to the president and
audiencia informs them of the arrival of General Don Luis de Córdoba in
January of that year.
After the departure of the galleons, Portobello was almost abandoned
by the Spaniards, and left mainly to negroes and mulattoes, the
inhabitants living chiefly by renting their dwellings and stores
at exorbitant rates.[XXVII‑11] The town was built in the shape of a
crescent; its harbor was one of the most secure in the Indies,[XXVII‑12]
and ship-building and the preparation of cedar lumber were its leading
industries. The climate of Portobello, like that of other towns on the
Isthmus, was unhealthy, as I have elsewhere stated, though less so than
that of Nombre de Dios or even Panamá. The hospital was crowded with
invalid soldiers, laborers, and slaves, and in 1608 an annual grant of
two thousand ducats was assigned by the crown for its support.
In 1610 the city of Panamá had not more than one third of the population
which it possessed in 1585,[XXVII‑13] although from the time of its
establishment to the latter date it had grown steadily in wealth and
population. The best indication of its decline as a commercial centre
is the fact that the revenues of the casa de Cruces,[XXVII‑14] which
at one time were farmed out for ten thousand pesos a year, were rented
in 1610 for only two thousand pesos. There were mines, but they were
not worked;[XXVII‑15] pearl-fisheries, but they lay idle; a measure of
trade, but it was in the hands of monopolists, who shared their profits
with the king.[XXVII‑16]
* * * * *
The expenses of the general government of Panamá were met by annual
appropriations allowed by the council of the Indies, and if we take
into consideration the sparseness of the population and the comparative
cheapness of the necessaries of life, the officials were exceedingly
well paid for their services.[XXVII‑17] But good pay does not seem to
have secured faithful service, for on the 28th of March 1605 his Majesty
informs the president that he has learned that married officials,
while going their official rounds, were accustomed to take with them
their wives, who were always provided for at the towns they visited;
he enjoins him to forbid them thus to take advantage of their position
and to insist that the retinue of bailiffs and servants be reduced to
the smallest possible number. Governor Valverde in his report of June
6th following, says that many of the interior towns of Tierra Firme
had not been visited by an oidor for many years, and that the province
of Veragua had never been visited at all. To remedy such neglect the
governor orders the oidores to visit all properly designated places in
rotation.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION.]
The question of interoceanic communication, to which allusion has
already been made, was discussed at intervals during the latter half
of the sixteenth century, and further surveys were made early in the
seventeenth. "It is true," writes Gomara in 1554, "that mountains
obstruct these passages, but if there be mountains there be also
hands; let but the resolve be formed to make the passage and it can be
made." On the 31st of December 1616 the king informed Diego Fernandez
de Velasco, who at that date was appointed governor of Castilla del
Oro, that the court of Spain endorsed the opinion of the commercial
world on this project. They believed that communication might be easily
established between the oceans by constructing a canal connecting the
rivers Dacil and Damaquiel, about thirty leagues from Cartagena, and
that such a work would enable the king to provide better for the defence
of the provinces.[XXVII‑18]
The governor was directed to report on the feasibility of the project,
and to despatch a few small vessels for the purpose of making a
similar investigation at the gulf of San Miguel and the Rio Darien. The
conclusions arrived at by the officers employed on these surveys is not
recorded in the chronicles of the age, but we learn that his Majesty was
very explicit in his directions that all such explorations and surveys
should be made at the expense of those who were interested, and not
charged to the royal treasury.[XXVII‑19]
* * * * *
When Felipe IV. ascended the throne of Spain he assured his subjects
in the New World that no forced loans should be required during his
reign. He even reimbursed, with interest, the money seized by his
predecessor, who a year before his death appropriated to his own use an
eighth of the treasure on board the fleet from the Isthmus.[XXVII‑20]
Nevertheless the fourth Philip was often in sore need of funds. About
this time Rodrigo de Vivero was governor of Castilla del Oro, having
been appointed the successor of Velasco,[XXVII‑21] and those in charge
of the bullion fleet had made a practice of tarrying long at the port of
Perico under pretence of taking in merchandise from Spain. Claiming to
be under the jurisdiction of the viceroy of Peru they refused obedience
to the audiencia of Panamá. In order to prevent delay in the arrival
of the treasure-ships it was ordered that all the officers and men of
the fleets calling at Tierra Firme should be placed under the immediate
jurisdiction of the audiencia.
[Sidenote: SMUGGLING.]
The king was constantly defrauded of his revenues by contraband trading
which prevailed throughout the provinces, but nowhere to such an extent
as in Panamá. In the year 1624 the amount of merchandise registered as
passing through the casa de Cruces was 1,446,346 pesos, while goods to
the amount of 7,597,559 pesos were reported by the factor Cristóbal
de Balba to have been smuggled through. No punishment was inflicted
for these frauds, though his Majesty thus suffered a loss of 1,370,656
pesos, and the matter was compounded by the payment of 200,000 pesos
into the treasury, the factor having received a bribe of 6,000 pesos.
Smuggling was practised to such an extent that it threatened the
very existence of legitimate commerce. For this condition of affairs
Spain had but herself to blame. The merchants of Seville, who still
enjoyed a monopoly of the trade with the provinces, despatched only
a small squadron twice a year to supply the wants of the colonists.
They regulated no less the supply of European goods in America than of
American goods in Europe, and took care that both should be shipped
in quantities so small as to ensure enormous profits. All kinds of
devices were resorted to by contraband traders, both Spaniards and
foreigners,[XXVII‑22] to secure a portion of the rich traffic of the
Isthmus, and the government finding its revenues constantly decreasing,
finally declared smuggling to be a mortal sin, and made those who
engaged in it liable to be tried by the inquisition.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.]
It is now in place to allude briefly to the progress of ecclesiastical
affairs in Panamá, for here, as elsewhere, they figure largely in the
history of the province. With regard to moral and spiritual matters, the
people of Panamá, as we have seen, were low enough. Reforms were needed,
but reformers were few. On the 26th of November 1572 Pedro Castro
de Vedeales, provoked by the flagrant abuses of the time, addressed
the licenciado Juan de Ovando, his Majesty's counsellor of the holy
inquisition and visitador of the council of the Indies, upon reforms
needed in church matters. The communication is elaborate and reviews the
errors and misdoings of the Spaniards, particularly in their intercourse
with the natives.[XXVII‑23]
When Francisco de Toledo, the new viceroy, arrived at Panamá on his way
to Peru in 1569, he restored the royal prerogative of church patronage,
which in this diocese, and throughout his viceroyalty, had fallen by
disuse into the hands of the archbishop and bishops. In the same year,
probably, Francisco Ábrego, a secular priest, had been elevated to the
bishopric of Panamá, and continued to hold that office till his decease
in 1574.[XXVII‑24] During his administration the chapter considered and
formally ratified the decrees of the council of Trent, and in keeping
with its behests appointed _adjutos_, or inferior ecclesiastical judges.
After an interval of four years Fray Manuel de Mercado was placed in
charge; and at this time Panamá contained a cathedral, a Franciscan
and a Dominican convent, and one belonging to the Merced order. Mercado
was succeeded, probably in 1583, by Bartolomé Martinez,[XXVII‑25] who
had formerly been archdeacon of the Santa Iglesia of Lima, and after
presiding over the see of Panamá for about ten years was promoted to
the new prelacy of Granada, but died en route at Cartagena.[XXVII‑26]
The successor of Martinez was Pedro, duque de Ribera, a prominent
Jesuit, elected in 1594, who died like his predecessor on reaching
Cartagena. The next in succession was Antonio Calderon who was
transferred from the bishopric of Porto Rico, and in 1603 was promoted
to the see of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.[XXVII‑27]
In 1592 the chapter resolved on the establishment of a nunnery at
Panamá, and an appeal in behalf of the project met with prompt and
generous response, one citizen alone providing the necessary buildings
and a considerable endowment. Six years later the convent was dedicated
to Our Lady of the Conception, with an assured revenue of four thousand
pesos a year.[XXVII‑28] Four nuns and twenty-four assistants were sent
by the archbishop of Lima, whose coöperation had been heartily given.
Thus the spiritual welfare of the inhabitants of Panamá was fully
provided for; but the ecclesiastics were by no means single-minded
in their labors on behalf of the church. Not content with receiving
maintenance, service, and tithes, as provided by law, they extorted,
with the connivance of their bishops, salaries of three hundred pesos
each from the Indians under their charge,[XXVII‑29] and justly aroused
against them the indignation of the king, who instructed the audiencia
forthwith to banish from the province many irregular friars of whose
disgraceful conduct he had heard.
[Sidenote: WEIGHTY MATTERS OF FORM.]
After the promotion of Bishop Calderon the see of Panamá remained
vacant until 1605, when Fray Agustin de Carabajal was appointed prior,
and assistant-general of the provinces of Spain and America.[XXVII‑30]
Meanwhile the long struggle for supremacy between the authorities of the
state and the church, which had now subsided into an unseemly question
of precedence in the various religious ceremonials, was disposed of by
a royal decree assigning the place of lay and clerical dignitaries in
all such pageants. In all processions the bishop led, followed by the
officiating presbyter and the clergy. Behind them came the president
and audiencia. At the sprinkling with holy water before high mass, the
ecclesiastics were to be first sprinkled, and then the president and
the audiencia. With regard to handing their bible to the president, the
king declared it should not be done, it being an honor to be extended
only to viceroys. The bishop's train was to be raised in ecclesiastical
ceremony, even though the president and audiencia were present, but
only one servant should be allowed to carry it. When the bishop went
to the royal house, his train was to be carried as far as the door of
the president's room and then dropped. But the main points in dispute
were the momentous questions where the bishop was to place his chair
on the side of the high altar in the cathedral when the oidores were
present, and whether the prebendaries were to be seated beside him.
The king decided these matters in favor of the church, and on the 4th
of June 1614, after a consultation with the bishop, issued a decree
ordering that the regulations in force in the cathedral of Quito should
be observed.[XXVII‑31]
In 1611 Carabajal was appointed to the see of Guamango, having founded
during his administration at Panamá the college of San Agustin and
endowed it with six scholarships, according to the directions of the
council of Trent.[XXVII‑32] His successor was Francisco de la Cámara
y Raya, who entered upon his office in 1614. During his prelacy was
convened the first synod ever held in the diocese of Panamá. During his
administration four monks of the order of San Juan de Dios[XXVII‑33]
arrived in that city, proposing to serve in the hospitals established
there or elsewhere on the Isthmus. Their admission was bitterly
opposed by the audiencia, and by the prelate, who was a Dominican,
and it was not until June 26, 1620, and in obedience to a provision
received, that Captain Ordonó de Salazar, the alguacil mayor, enabled
them to take possession of the hospital of Panamá.[XXVII‑34] The order
was permanently established in Panamá by Fray Fabian Diaz, who came
from Spain with Fray Francisco Lopez in 1604, became celebrated as a
physician,[XXVII‑35] and grew rapidly in importance.[XXVII‑36]
In 1625 Fray Cristóbal Martinez, formerly abbot of Segovia, was
appointed to the see of Panamá.[XXVII‑37] During his administration
serious disturbances occurred among the Augustinian Recollets of the
convent of San José, the prime mover, Fray Francisco de la Resurreccion,
and his disorderly followers being arrested and sent to Spain by Enrique
de Sotomayor, then governor of the province.[XXVII‑38]
The reputation of the ecclesiastics in Panamá about this period appears
to have been somewhat unsavory. In 1634 Felipe IV. issued a decree
ordering the members of the audiencia to see that the reputation of
cloistered nuns be protected. On the 14th of July 1636 the monarch
writes to the bishop ordering that he enforce the provisions of a decree
addressed to the hierarchy of the Indies in the previous February, by
which no mestee, illegitimate son, or person of moral or physical defect
was to be ordained. Immoral or scandalous priests were to be expelled
from the diocese.[XXVII‑39] During the same year it was ordered that the
religious processions, which had hitherto been held at night, should, in
the interest of order and decency, be thenceforth conducted by daylight.
Nevertheless the work of conversion went bravely on, and during four
years the number of baptisms reported in the district of the audiencia
exceeded thirteen thousand souls.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: FIRES AND FAIRS.]
In 1644, during the prelacy of Fray Hernando Ramirez, the successor of
Martinez, a fire broke out in Panamá which consumed ninety-seven houses,
including the episcopal residence, and almost destroyed the cathedral.
The latter edifice was restored by the prelate and dedicated in 1655 by
his successor, Bernardo de Izaguirre, a fiscal of the inquisition of
Cartagena. Its ruins exist at the present day. Great was the distress
caused to the citizens by this calamity. "Panamá," writes Juan de Vega
Bazan, then governor of the province,[XXVII‑40] in a letter addressed to
Felipe IV., "has now but a small population, and this decreasing more
and more every day, the fields and roads being filled with vagrants."
The king, entertaining an unjust suspicion that the Portuguese had fired
the city,[XXVII‑41] ordered their removal from Panamá and Portobello
to a distance of twenty leagues into the interior, and instructed Bazan
to extort from them as much money as possible before sending them into
banishment; but to the credit of that official it is related that he
gave no heed to the mandate. For this neglect, and for the nepotism
which he displayed during his administration, he was severely censured
by his sovereign.[XXVII‑42]
In 1647 Bazan was again censured by the crown for a proceeding which,
after due investigation by the fiscal of the audiencia, caused his
downfall. Acting under the advice of the licentiate Pedro Chacon,
he had caused to be driven from their homes eighteen friars of the
order of San José, appointing in their places others of bad repute.
The ecclesiastics took refuge in the San Cristóbal hills, but were
soon afterward reinstated, and at the close of the following year the
governor was superseded by Juan Bitrian de Biamonte y Navarra.[XXVII‑43]
The latter died in 1651 while superintending the despatch of a fleet
from Portobello, and in the parish church of that city a marble monument
was erected to his memory.
Panamá appears to have recovered quickly from the prostration caused
by the fire of 1644. An annual fair was held there until the year
1671, at which date the city was destroyed during the raid of Morgan
and his buccaneers, as will be presently related. In 1655 the value of
merchandise that changed hands during the fair is officially reported
at five millions of pesos, and this sum probably represents but a
small portion of the business actually done, for, as we have seen,
the quantity of goods that found their way into the provinces through
contraband trading was often three or four fold greater than that on
which duty was paid.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.]
A rare and valuable manuscript and one indispensable to the history
of the district of Darien is the report of its governor, Don Andrés de
Ariza, of April 5, 1774, addressed to the viceroy, Don Manuel Guirior,
entitled _Comentas de la Rica y Fertilísima Provincia de el Darien_. The
original report, accompanied by a map, exists in the National Library
of Bogotá, whence the present copy was made for the author. Three
separate documents compose the report; a letter describing the generally
ruined condition of the province, causes, and proposed remedies; a
detailed description of the towns, military posts, and inhabitants,
and a condensed account of the actual condition of the province, its
inhabitants, resources, and history. These documents review in brief the
history of the province for the previous sixty-two years, describing
more fully the latest Indian revolts. The manuscript forms one volume
in folio of forty closely written pages.