When Governor Martinez de la Vega was promoted to the post of President
and Captain-General of Panama, there was appointed in his place, as the
thirty-sixth governor of Cuba, Fieldmarshal D. Juan Francisco Guemez y
Horcasitas, a native of Oviedo and son of Baron de Guemez. Valdes
remarks that during his administration was born his son D. Juan, who
seems to have been also actively engaged in public life. Guemez was
governor of Cuba long enough to occupy a prominent place in the
chronicles of the island. He was inaugurated on the eighteenth of March,
1734, and continued in office until the twenty-eighth of April, 1746.
Guemez entered upon the political and military administration
simultaneously with the Franciscan padre D. Juan Lasso de la Vega, who
assumed the spiritual leadership of the people as successor to Bishop
Valdez. During his governorship, the Municipio of Havana was organized,
and Santiago de Cuba being for the first time subordinated to his
authority, Havana became virtually the capital of the island, and one of
the most important of Spanish America. In that civic corporation, a very
prominent member was the Habanero D. Jose Martin Felix de Arrate, who
wrote a valuable history of Havana under the title "Llave del Nuevo
Mundo, Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, la Habana descriptiva:
Noticias de su fundacion, aumentos y Estado."
Governor Guemez introduced some measures of reform which tended to
appease the discontent occasioned by previous abuses of municipal power.
One of these was the rigid enforcement of the royal decree which forbade
the ayuntamentos to trade in land. He also improved the functioning of
the primary courts called Justicias ordinarias; for a great deal of
disorder was caused by the fact that their decisions were rarely
promptly obeyed. He associated with them the tenentes a guerra, military
lieutenants, whose authority was more likely to be respected. One of
these, the Captain of militia D. Jose Antonio Gomez, was sent to the
salt works of Punta Hicacos and Cayo Sal, where much confusion had
reigned, to regulate the salt production, and insure an efficient
functioning of the organization concerned in it. He became later known
as a famous guerillero, a civilian serving in guerilla warfare, and was
familiarly called by the people Pepe Antonio.
During this administration some very important work was done towards
sanitation. Guemez succeeded in having the harbor thoroughly dredged; by
urgent appeals to the residents he secured the removal from the streets
of all encumbrances of traffic and insisted upon having them regularly
cleaned. It can be justly said that, if the standard of public health in
Cuba was raised at this period, it was undoubtedly due to his efforts.
Nor was he indifferent to the extortion practiced upon the poorer
inhabitants by unscrupulous landlords and shopkeepers, one of his
ordinances to that effect regulating the prices at which provisions were
to be sold by the grocers and thus insuring a proper and sufficient
supply of these necessities to the population which otherwise would have
been underfed. He was also the first governor of Cuba who paid attention
to the island's forests and curbed the operations of the thieves that
ravaged them. Of course such measures were bound to be resented by those
elements who had previously profited from the freedom with which they
could carry on their trade regardless of human equity and public
welfare; and although the administration of Guemez was one of great
material prosperity for the people, he did not escape the fate that
befell so many of his predecessors, that of being made the target of
slanderous accusations. But the government had profited from previous
experiences of this character, that of the Marquis de Casa-Torres being
still remembered; it was no longer inclined to lend so ready an ear to
charges raised against the governors, and paid no attention to the
attempts made by his enemies to discredit Guemez in Madrid.
The colonial government was then in charge of D. Jose del Campillo, an
official of great knowledge and sagacity and of wide experience in
economic and financial affairs. Many of the improvements that had been
introduced in Spain by Minister Ori were through D. Campillo's efforts
now applied to the colonies in America. Among these valuable innovations
were the regulation of the revenues, the reduction of import and export
duties, and the distribution of the realenzes or royal patrimonies. But
equally important was the creation of royal commissions to inquire into
the state, the resources and needs of the provinces, and to organize
industry and commerce upon a sound and equitable basis.
On the other hand it cannot be denied that powerful influences were at
work to secure privileges for private corporations, which in a measure
threatened to undo what those commissions attained. The organization
which came into being in Havana in the year 1740 under the name Real
Compania de Comercio under the patronage of the Virgin del Rosario, was
such a corporation and it seems doubtful whether the privileges it
enjoyed and the profits that accrued from them did not outweigh the
advantages which were promised to the colony. The company was given a
general monopoly, including the exclusive right of exportation of
tobacco and sugar; it had the right of importation of articles of
consumption in the island without paying custom on goods imported into
the interior. Of course, it pledged itself on its part to render the
community certain services which should not be underestimated. It was to
build in its dockyards vessels of war and of trade; to supply the
warships anchored in the harbor with provisions for their crews; to
furnish ten armed vessels for the persecution of contraband; and for the
transportation of the country's products to the port of Cadiz; to bring
from Spain the ammunition needed in Cuba; to provision the garrison of
Florida; and to furnish articles of equipment to the weather-side fleet.
The Captain-General himself was given the office of Juez conservador
(judge conservator). The first president of the company was D. Martin de
Aroztegui. The organizers had at first counted upon a capital of one
million pesos, but it barely exceeded nine hundred thousand. Each share
was valued at five hundred duros (dollars) and eight shares were
required to entitle the holder to a vote in the general conventions.
There were at first five directors in all, but they were gradually
reduced to two only. Some historians had warm praise for the work of the
company, among them Arrate, who with many others was preoccupied by the
economic interests and the commercial progress of the community. But
there is no doubt that at the end it did not bring about the results
that had been expected. During twenty years of its existence Cuba
derived no tangible benefit. The importation of goods from Spain did not
amount to more than three vessels annually. The exports amounted to less
than twenty-one thousand arrobas of sugar (a weight of twenty-five
pounds of sixteen ounces each).
Governor Guemez was not oblivious to the dangers forever menacing the
security and the peace of the island. He made great improvements on the
batteries of el Morro; he had parts of the city walls, which ran from la
Tenaze to Paula, demolished, and rebuilt of better material; he had the
walls on the inland side re-enforced so as to offer greater resistance
in case of attack by enemies. To all these improvements the citizens of
Havana contributed generously; they furnished ten thousand peons
(day-laborers) and as many beasts of burden to do the work. Guemez also
built factories in the parish of El Jaguey on the other side of the bay
and established the first powder magazine on the coast. During the
latter part of his administration, in the year 1743, the town of
Guanabacoa received its charter. The following year, 1744, is memorable
in the history of Cuba as the year when the first postal service was
organized. Thus the governorship of D. Guemez proved for the island a
period of great civic and material progress and prosperity. The peace it
enjoyed during the earlier years was, however, to be seriously disturbed
later on.
For even towards the end of the administration of D. Martinez de la Vega
clouds had arisen upon the political horizon of Europe which had begun
to cast their shadows over the colonies. The slave-trade sanctioned by
the famous Assiento agreement gave rise to more and more serious tension
between the governments of England and of Spain. In order to execute
that part of the Treaty of Utrecht which related to the importation of
negro slaves into Spanish America, the British government had encouraged
the formation of a company, the Compania de la Mar del Sud, or South Sea
Company, which was to act as agent of the assientists. It consisted of
men holding the large national debt of Great Britain and had received a
grant for the exclusive trade of the South Seas. But since Spain was in
possession of a great proportion of the coast in that part of the world
and had so far enjoyed a monopoly of its trade, the South Sea Company
derived no benefit from that grant, unless the commercial activity of
Spanish America could be paralyzed. The slave-trade with its clandestine
opportunities for contraband, offered the South Sea Company
possibilities to undermine Spanish trade. The slavers, as the
slave-carrying vessels were called, being protected by passports issued
by their contractors, were not slow in getting into communication with
those elements in the Spanish colonies that placed their personal profit
above their duty to the country under the protection of which they
lived, and had no difficulty in delivering cargoes of divers merchandise
while they unloaded their human freight. Moreover they never returned to
Europe in ballast, but carried a correspondingly large cargo of West
Indian goods of which they disposed in European ports.
Spain had repeatedly entered complaints against these scandalously
dishonest operations upon the coasts of Spanish America, but Great
Britain was then not in the mood to concern herself with problems of
international ethics. The enormous profits that the trade in negro
slaves had brought to investors in that enterprise had dimmed their
sense of honor. Queen Anne herself had in a speech to the parliament
boasted of having secured to the British a new market for slaves in
Spanish America. A considerable part of the population of Jamaica lived
exclusively on the profits of this traffic between the Spanish-American
harbors. The vessel which the British according to the Assiento were
allowed to send annually to Portobello was soon followed at a certain
distance by a fleet of smaller ships that approached the harbor at night
and replaced the cargo that had been unloaded by day. Frequently the
slavers would appeal to the human feelings of the officials in
Spanish-American ports and with stories of shipwreck and damages
sustained in hurricanes induce them to desist from the customary
inspection of every foreign vessel. The effect of these manoeuvers was
the complete extinction of Spanish commerce. While the tonnage of the
fleet of Cadiz had formerly reached sixteen thousand, it was reduced at
the beginning of the eighteenth century to two thousand.
But the reclamations of Spain were not heeded. Great Britain, then in a
mad fever for the acquisition of wealth, was intoxicated with the rich
profits it was deriving from the operations in the West Indies and other
parts of Spanish America. It not only wished to continue these, but it
also tried to bring about war between the two countries. As Guiteras
says, and Bancroft expresses the same ideas in his second volume of his
"History of the United States," the war which was on the point of
breaking out was not about the right to cut the timber of Campeche in
the Bay of Honduras, nor because of the difference between the King of
Spain and the South Sea Company, nor about the disputed frontiers of
Florida. All these questions could have been easily settled. The sole
aim and end was to compel Spain to renounce her right of inspecting or
examining suspected merchant vessels that cruised in the Antilles, in
order that Great Britain might extend her insidious operations.
After much deliberation on both sides, an instrument was drawn up and
signed, in which the mutual claims for damages sustained in the overseas
commerce were balanced and settled. The king of Spain demanded from the
South Sea Company sixty-eight thousand pounds as his share of their
profits, in the slave-trade; on the other hand he paid to the British
merchants as indemnity for losses caused by unwarranted seizures the
sum of ninety-five pounds. The question with regard to the boundaries of
Florida was also disposed of; it was agreed that both nations were to
retain the land then in their possession, until a duly appointed
commission should determine the exact boundaries, which meant that Great
Britain would hold jurisdiction over the country to the mouth of St.
Mary's River.
The discussion about this agreement in the British parliament did not
add to the glory of the United Kingdom. Walpole spoke in favor of its
acceptance, saying "It requires no great abilities in a minister to
pursue such measures as make a war unavoidable. But how many ministers
have known the art of avoiding war by making a safe and honorable
peace?" The Duke of Newcastle, not credited with too much intelligence,
opposed the measure. William Pitt, Pulteny and others sided with him.
The opposition finally triumphed. Bancroft says of this disgraceful
termination of a conference intended to seek equitable solution of a
most harassing international problem:
"In an ill hour for herself, in a happy one for America, England,
on the twenty-third of October, 1639, declared war against Spain.
If the rightfulness of the European colonial system be conceded,
the declaration was a wanton invasion of it for immediate selfish
purposes; but, in endeavoring to open the ports of Spanish America
to the mercantile enterprise of her own people, she was beginning a
war on colonial monopoly, which could not end till American
colonies of her own, as well as of Spain, should obtain
independence."
Even before this official break between the two countries, the British
had become guilty of movements that violated Spanish territory.
There is not much said by Spanish historians about the difficulties
between Florida and the newly planned British colony of Georgia. But
the dispute about the boundary of Florida ripened into an armed
conflict, in which Cuban forces assisted those of St. Augustine.
Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, had in the year 1736 endeavored to
vindicate British rights to territory previously claimed by the
Spaniards and the opposition of the latter when the British approached
more and more closely was easily understood. Oglethorpe dispatched
messengers to St. Augustine and, claiming the St. John's River as the
southern boundary of the British colony, built Ft. George for defense of
the British frontier. The messengers were for a time held in St.
Augustine as prisoners, but eventually released. The dispute was
temporarily settled by negotiation. But though the British abandoned Ft.
George, they kept St. Andrew's at the mouth of St. Mary's, which was
bound to be a perpetual source of irritation to the Spaniards. Two years
later, according to Blanchet, hostile movements of British ships were
observed in Cuban waters. He speaks of the _Commodore Brown_ as having,
by the effective defense which Guemez had prepared, been prevented from
landing in Bacuranao, Bahia-Honda and other places. With the beginning
of the war, Guemez was called upon to secure the aprovionamento, the
provisioning of the island and to insure its security. He received
efficient assistance from some of his privateers, among them D. Jose
Cordero and D. Pedro Garaicochea, who valorously fought some British
vessels and obtained advantages over the British fleets commanded by the
admirals Bermon and Oglethorpe. D. Jose Hurriaza, too, won some
victories over the British with his three ships, of the kind called at
that time guipuzcoanos. He sank one British vessel, captured another and
anchored safely with his booty in the harbor of San Juan of Puerto
Rico.
The British war party made capital out of the news of these encounters.
Exaggerated reports about the cruelty practiced upon British prisoners
were sent to London. The authorities did not hesitate to call as
witnesses of victims of such outrages, characters whose words would not
have received credence at other times. Bancroft quotes the case of a
notorious smuggler by the name of Jenkins, who accused the enemy of
having cut off one of his ears, and Pulteny, in order to precipitate the
issue, exclaimed in parliament: "We have no need of allies to enable us
to command justice; the story of Jenkins will raise volunteers."
Not only politicians and the ever ready pamphleteers lent their voice to
the "cause," but even the poets joined the ignoble chorus. Alexander
Pope wrote in his customary mordant manner:
"And own the Spaniard did the waggish thing
Who cropped our ears, and sent them to the king";
and even Samuel Johnson burst out into the cry:
"Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,
No pathless waste or undiscovered shore,
No secret island in the boundless main,
No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"
Thus was the mood of the moment prepared in the multitude and mass
psychology did the rest, as it always does in such crises.
About this time occurred an incident, in which Guemez showed his mettle
as a man, regardless of his official capacity. It is the historian
Blanchet who has recorded this remarkable example of noble generosity.
It seems that the British frigate _Elizabeth_, under the command of a
Captain Edwards, had been caught in a terrible tempest off the coast of
Cuba and threatened with inevitable shipwreck, sought the protection of
the harbor. According to the laws of warfare, the Captain surrendered as
prisoner of war. But Guemez, as acting Captain General, refused to take
advantage of his misfortune, and not only permitted the vessel to careen
and take on much-needed supplies, but gave Captain Edwards letters of
safe-conduct allowing him to continue on his way as far as Bermuda. The
rivals and enemies of Guemez, who had previously attempted to lodge
complaints against him with the Consejo de Indias, renewed their
intrigues and cabals, aimed at robbing him of the good name he enjoyed
in Cuba as in Madrid, and accused him of all sorts of misdemeanors and
abuses. But they failed in ruining his career. He was made
lieutenant-general and on his retirement from the governorship was given
the rank and title of Conde (count) de Revillagigedo and appointed
Viceroy of New Spain. He died in Madrid as commander-in-chief of the
army at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.
However great were the services rendered by D. Guemez y Horcasitas to
Cuba, the conflicting rumors attacking his character must have had some
foundation. Perhaps the impression the governor made upon a French
traveler, who visited Havana at this time and was on board the vessel
which took him to Mexico, may add some traits to his portrait. M.
Villiet d'Arignon is quoted in Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret's "Voyages
interessans" as saying:
"D. Juan Orcazita had been appointed to this important post on
account of the sums he had lavishly spent at the court of Madrid.
One could say that he bought it. The immense fortune he made during
his governorship soon enabled him to turn his eyes to a higher
goal. Everything depended upon contributions. So he in a short time
amassed considerable sums, which from a simple civilian raised him
to the highest rank ambition could aspire to. We shall see that he
continued the same tactics in Mexico and profited even more, the
country being wealthier. Orcazita was a man of some height, rather
handsome, but of a mediocre intelligence, and had no ambition
except for spoils. This was the viceroy given to Mexico, whither
his reputation had preceded him. For the inhabitants soon made fun
of his, and circulated this uncomplimentary nickname which sounds
better in Spanish than in French: 'Non es Conde, ni Marquis, Juan
es,' which means that he was neither count, nor Marquis, but simply
'Juan.' In fact he was not a man of birth, and he owed all he had
to his money."
In the meantime Great Britain's preparations for the war resulted in the
sending over to Spanish America of two fleets. The one under Edward
Vernon was commanded to make an attack upon Chagres, east of the Isthmus
of Darien; the other one, considerably smaller, under the command of
Commodore Anson, was to begin operations in the Pacific. But a series of
unfortunate accidents made it impossible for him to cooperate with
Vernon, as he was expected to do. He encountered terrible gales, which
disabled and scattered his ships, one by one, and after many romantic
adventures which were set forth by a member of the expedition in a very
readable book, he returned to England with a single vessel, but one
richly laden with spoils acquired in pirate fashion. Edward Vernon,
whose experiences have also been recorded in a volume, giving
interesting details of his expedition, arrived at Portobello in
November, 1739. He had under his command six war ships and a
well-equipped force of trained men, and on the twenty-second of the
month launched an attack. The garrison was so small and poorly prepared
that he forced it to capitulate on the very next day. The British lost
only seven men in the engagement and found themselves in the possession
of the place. Vernon dismantled the fortifications and returned to
Jamaica with a booty of ten thousand pesos. Expecting to be joined by
Anson, he went to Chagres early in January, succeeded in forcing that
port, too, to surrender, and after having demolished it, returned to
Jamaica, and rested from his easily won victory, which the party
opposing Walpole celebrated in London as a most heroic exploit.
The greatest armed force that had yet been seen in West Indian waters
had in the mean time sailed from England to join the expedition of
Vernon. It consisted not only of British troops, but had been reenforced
by recruits from the colonies north of Carolina. Its commander was Lord
Cathcart, who, when they stopped to take on fresh water in Dominica, was
taken violently ill with a malignant fever and succumbed. His death was
a disastrous blow to the British, for it destroyed the unity of command
which is indispensable for the success of military operations.
Cathcart's successor was Wentworth, who not only lacked experience and
firmness, but was a political opponent of the impulsive, irritable
Vernon. Thus the enterprise seemed to be at the outset doomed to failure
owing to the rivalry and the discord of the leaders. The fleet under
their command consisted of twenty-nine line ships, eighty smaller
vessels with a crew of fifteen thousand sailors and a land force of
twelve thousand men.
The expedition set sail from Jamaica without having agreed upon any
definite plan of attack. Havana was the nearest point at which
operations should be directed and besides her conquest would have given
Great Britain supremacy over the Gulf. But Admiral Vernon saw everything
only in the light of his own advantages and decided to go in search of
the French and Spanish squadrons, without taking trouble to inform
himself whether they had not already left. Finally a war council was
held and it was decided to make an assault upon the tower of Cartagena.
The squadron appeared before the city on the fourth of March and after
a siege of twenty-two days succeeded in capturing the fort of Bocachica
at the entrance of the harbor. Admiral Wentworth then made preparations
to take the fort of San Lazare, which dominated the city. He planned to
attack it with a force of two thousand men, but half of them,
misunderstanding his directions, remained in camp. The squadron, too,
failed to come to his assistance in time, and after a complete defeat he
was forced to retire. Before the British had a chance to recover from
the effects of this disaster, caused mainly by the lack of harmonious
cooperation between their commanders, the rainy season set in. With it
came the usual epidemic of tropical fever and alarmingly decimated the
forces of the British. The blockade was for the time being abandoned and
the survivors of the expedition returned to Jamaica.
Admiral Vernon resumed the plan in July, 1741, and arrived in the bay of
Guantanamo on the coast of Cuba with a force of three thousand men and
about one thousand negroes. He landed and then moved to Santiago with
the purpose of taking that city. There the governor Colonel Francisco
Cagigal prepared for him an unexpectedly hot reception. He divided his
people into small detachment of trained troops, militia and armed
inhabitants, and placed himself at their head. His example and the care
with which he had calculated the defense inspired the people with the
will to win and they plunged with zest into the fight with the invaders.
Never for a moment stopping in their furious assaults upon the British,
the forces of Admiral Vernon were decimated in the endless series of
attacks and counter attacks. The climate, too, was against the British,
and they were forced to retire. Vernon left the island with the
remainder of his men and abandoned large stores of provisions and
ammunition, which Governor Cagigal appropriated amid the enthusiastic
acclamation of the brave citizens.
Thus ended according to the reports of Guiteras and other Spanish
historians the British expedition which had started out with the
intention of conquering not only the Spanish West Indies, but Mexico and
Peru as well. British arrogance and greed had for the moment received a
well-earned lesson. The fleet retired to Jamaica towards the end of
November. When a survey of the state of both the naval and military
forces was made, it was found that the British had lost some twenty
thousand men. During all the time that these fights took place, commerce
with the Spanish colonies had of necessity been suspended. The
importation of negroes had ceased. Smuggling had considerably decreased.
Spanish privateers lay in wait and intercepted the British merchant
vessels, whose cargoes were triumphantly brought to Spanish ports. Great
Britain, on the contrary, had not conquered a single Spanish possession
and the damage caused to her commerce was far greater than that which
Spanish America had suffered.
In the meantime, the undaunted Oglethorpe had once more decided to
challenge the Spanish neighbor in Florida, and encouraged by the British
authorities marched upon St. Augustine. He had six hundred regular
troops, four hundred militia from Carolina and two hundred Indians, and
set out on his expedition in January, 1740. But the garrison of the old
town, under the command of the able Monteaco, was prepared and had also
secured reenforcements. Five weeks lasted the siege; the troops of
Oglethorpe lost patience and courage, failure staring them in the face.
When they threatened to abandon him, he retired without even being
pursued by the enemy. After this provocation the Spanish authorities
felt forced to retaliate and decided upon an invasion of Georgia. A
large fleet with troops from Cuba joined the forces of the Florida
settlement. They arrived at the mouth of St. Mary's, where Oglethorpe
had built Ft. William, in the first days of July. But Oglethorpe
succeeded in retaining his hold upon that place, though his forces had
to retire. The Spanish took possession of their abandoned camps, but on
the seventh of July, when they were attempting to advance towards the
town on a road which skirted a swamp on one side and a dense wood of
brush-oak on the other, they were surprised by Oglethorpe and the fight
which ensued was so fierce, and caused such a great loss of life, that
the spot has ever since been known as Bloody Marsh. Another attack was
made upon Fort William, but being again repulsed, the Spanish forces
retired, abandoning a quantity of ammunition.
When Guemez of Cuba was promoted to the vice-regency of New Spain, he
had been succeeded by Field Marshal D. Juan Antonio Tines y Fuertes, who
was inaugurated on the twenty-second of April, 1746, but died on the
twenty-first of July of the same year. In spite of his very brief term
of service, he is remembered according to Valdes for having been the
first governor to whom it occurred to do something for the confinement
and possible reform of dissolute women. He is said to have founded for
that purpose the Casa de Resorgimento, which seems to have been both a
home and a reform school. He was temporarily replaced by Colonel D.
Diego de Penalosa. About the name and exact date of his interim
administration there seems to exist some confusion, some historians
placing him immediately after Martinez de la Vega. Valdes says he was
Tenente-Rey in 1738, assumed the functions of provisional governorship
at the death of Fuentes, and upon the arrival of the newly appointed
governor, was sent to Vera Cruz as Brigadier General. Blanchet, too,
calls him Penalosa; but Alcazar gives his name as Penalver. However,
Penalosa or Penalver enjoyed during his brief administration the
privilege of proclaiming the ascension of Fernando VI. to the throne of
Spain.
King Philip V., who had so reluctantly been dragged into the war with
England, did not live long after the victory of Santiago had temporarily
checked the designs of Great Britain. He had died on the ninth of July,
1746, and his crown descended to his son Fernando, an amiable and
virtuous prince. King Fernando VI. was also inclined to follow a
peaceful policy. He promptly settled the foreign questions that called
for attention at this time, and tried his best to enter into and
maintain friendly relations with all foreign powers. He aimed at the
preservation of Spanish neutrality in the European wars of the period,
being most deeply concerned with developing the national wealth. The
brilliant festivities with which Cuba celebrated Fernando's coronation
gave proof of the love his subjects even in Spanish America had
conceived for him before he ascended the throne.
After the brief administrations of Fuentes and Penalosa, a new governor
was appointed in Madrid and the choice fell upon D. Francisco Cagigal de
la Vega, Knight of the order of Santiago. The brave defender of his town
against the attack of Admiral Vernon had since that experience
ingratiated himself with his people by other equally commendable
exploits. With the cooperation of his valiant seamen Regio Espinela and
D. Vicenzo Lopez, he had repulsed many an aggressive manoeuver of the
British fleet in Cuban waters, until the signing of the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle. Cagigal was a personality of quite different calibre
from Guemez. While the latter had been singularly open and sincere for a
man in an official position, Cagigal was endowed with a suavity of
manner which concealed his keen shrewdness. He had after the defeat of
Admiral Vernon been created Field Marshal and was certainly the right
man for his place.
His inauguration occurred on the ninth of June, 1747, and from that day
Cagigal entered upon his duties with the energy and perseverance that
had characterized his previous career. Seriously concerned with the
defenses of Havana, he had the battery of la Pastora finished, which had
been begun long before him, and upon his urgent request the king ordered
a citadel to be built on the mountain-side of la Cabana. He also had the
Barlovento (weather-side) fleet removed from the port of Vera Cruz to
that of Havana. The activity of the ship-building plant of Havana was
remarkable during his administration. In the thirteen years of his
governorship it turned out seven line ships, one frigate, one brig and
one packet-boat and kept in steady work a great number of laborers.
Cagigal improved the fort of la Fuerza by having a reception hall built
on the seaward side, which was surrounded by a row of balconies. The
interior was sumptuously decorated with medallions and escutcheons in
bas-relief. He was much interested in the work of the Commercial Company
which had been organized during the administration of Guemez; its
capital at this time was nine hundred thousand pesos, with shares of one
hundred pesos each, and there was declared in 1760 a dividend of thirty
per cent. on each share.
Before the signing of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle became known in
America there was a serious engagement between the British fleet and the
Spanish on the twelfth of October, 1747, a league off Havana. There
were six vessels on each side, the Spanish under the command of General
Andreas Reggio, the British under that of Admiral Knowles. The Spanish
opened fire at three o'clock in the afternoon and a furious battle took
place which lasted for full six hours. The forces of both sustained
heavy losses, computed approximately at one thousand men on each side,
and when the firing ceased, neither could claim a decisive victory. The
British fleet retired and the Spanish returned to Havana.
The efficient management of the island's affairs during the
administrations of Guemez and Cagigal greatly stimulated the initiative
and enterprise of the Cubans. The first coffee-trees were set out on a
plantation in the province of Waja by D. Jose Gelabert. Brandy and other
spirits were distilled. The armory of Vera Cruz having been removed to
Havana, there was great activity in military circles, and D. Rodrigo de
Torres was appointed as the first commander of the navy of Cuba.
King Fernando VI. succeeded during the thirteen years of his reign in
keeping out of the general European war of 1756, in which England and
Prussia had ranged themselves against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden
and Poland. He was intent upon building up the resources of the kingdom
which had been drained by the wars waged by his predecessors and devoted
his attention to promoting the agriculture, industry and commerce of
Spain. He was fortunate in the choice of an intelligent wife and of two
ministers whose wise counsel he could ever depend upon. The Marquis de
Ensenada, who had risen from a peasant to a banker, financier and
finally minister of marine, war and finance, enjoyed at first the
unlimited confidence of the sovereign and the people, but later fell
into disgrace, because it was discovered that he had sent out secret
orders to the West Indies to attack the British logwood colony on the
Mosquito Coast. The other adviser of Fernando VI., D. Jose de Carvajal,
was a man of quite different stamp, endowed with common sense, sound
judgment, pure of morals and as just as he was incorruptible. But
Fernando died without direct heir to the throne in the year 1759, and
his brother, D. Carlos III., succeeded him.
The solemn proclamation of King Carlos III. in the cities of Cuba was
one of the last acts of the administration of Governor Cagigal. In the
year 1760, he was promoted to the post of viceroy of Mexico and left the
affairs of the government in charge of the Tenente-Rey, the King's
Lieutenant, D. Pedro Alonso. During this provisional government there
was erected a new sentry-house at the gate of Tierra, as is commemorated
in the following inscription:
Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan
General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se
Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.
In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro
Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island
was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.
During this administration died the venerable Cuban prelate D. Juan de
Conyedo, who as spiritual adviser to individuals and as counselor to
prominent officials had won the love and esteem of the population as did
the Bishop Compostela and later the popular Bishop Valdes. Conyedo's
services to Cuba in the interest of religion, charity and education were
invaluable. He was especially identified with the growth of Villa Clara,
where in the year 1712 he had founded a free school for children of both
sexes and had himself taken charge of the classes. Before he opened this
school, the people knew absolutely nothing besides the Christian
doctrine, and the rudiments of reading and writing.
The propaganda of the British war party favoring the conquest of Spanish
America was in the meantime going on without interruption. When the
greed of acquisition of territory is once roused in a nation, it is
difficult to appease it. It enlists in the cause all ranks and
professions, it employs all means, whether they answer the test of
international justice and human equity, or not. Art, literature, science
are harnessed in its service. It is needless to remind of a recent
example of national mentality and morality gone astray through
misapplied ambition. The utterances of Pope and Johnson were tame in
comparison to the hymns of hate following the declaration of the World's
war, still fresh in our memory.
But, there was another side to this literary activity. It did not always
appeal to the emotions and stir up feelings. It was also of an
instructive kind. Just as the Dutch at the time when their attention was
fixed upon the Spanish possessions of America wrote book upon book
describing the coveted islands and the coasts of the continent supposed
to hold inexhaustible riches, so did the British during the eighteenth
century suddenly conceive an interest in Spanish America which led to
magazine articles, pamphlets and books dealing with those lands. That
this literature with its endless descriptions of ports and products was
intended for the use of mariners venturing forth on legitimate or
illegitimate business, was evident. All these writers did not fail to
remark that Havana was the richest town in America, that it had
magnificent churches and public buildings and that the streets were
narrow, but clean. But their main concern was to describe the exact
location of every bay and every harbor: Matanzas, Nipe, Puerto del
Principe, Santiago, Baracoa, Guantanamo, etc., and their next concern
was to dwell upon the several products of the country, as tobacco,
sugar, and others.
One of the most curious books of this kind was "A Voyage to Guinea,
Brazil and the West Indies," published in London in the year 1735. Its
author was John Atkins, surgeon of the Royal Navy, and though it
contained an account of a trip made by him, it very plainly revealed an
interest in the commerce of the countries visited and in the
possibilities they offered, which, while natural in a business man, was
quite surprising in a member of the medical fraternity. After devoting
considerable space to the products of these southern lands, hurricanes,
etc., he also discourses at length upon the slave-trade and gives
interesting glimpses of the manner in which it was conducted. "To give
dispatch," says he, "cajole the traders with Brandy," and continues:
"Giving way to the ridiculous Humours and Gestures of the trading
Negroes is no small artifice for success. If you look strange and are
niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him. Sambo is gone, he never cares
to treat with dry lips, and as the Expenses is in English Spirits of two
Shillings a Gallon, brought partly for this purpose, the good Humour it
brings them into, is found discounted in the sale of goods." Speaking of
Cuba, he calls it a very pleasant and flourishing island, the Spanish
building and improving for posterity without dreaming, as the English
planters do, of any other homes. But he does not fail to add, "They make
the best Sugars in the world."
Another publication aiming more directly at the mariners and merchants
of Great Britain is by one Caleb Smith, called on the title page, the
inventor of the "New Sea Quadrant." It was printed in 1740 and was a
translation of Domingo Gonzales Carranza's description of the coasts,
harbors and sea-ports of the Spanish West Indies. In the curious preface
he says:
"The original was brought to England by a Sympathetic prisoner who
had been in Havana where he procured it in manuscript and presented
it to the Editor as a Testimony of his friendship and respect,"
and the dedication is addressed "to the Merchants of Great Britain, the
Commanders of Ships, and others who were pleased to subscribe for this
Treatise."
Thus was the mind of the people perpetually stimulated to look beyond
the Atlantic for lands and seas which waited to be conquered by British
prowess; and the defeat of Vernon in Santiago was hardly heeded. In the
meantime negotiations had been going on between the European powers and
a convention of their representatives had met at Aix-la-Chapelle to
settle certain disputes and sign a treaty of peace. England and Spain on
the one and England and France on the other hand had gained nothing by
eight years of mutual fighting, but an immense national debt. As at
other conferences for the establishment of the world's peace much was
said and after all little was done. For when the document known since as
the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, it left some of the
most harassing problems unsolved. Among them was the frontier of Florida
and the right of Spanish ships to search British vessels suspected of
smuggling. The assiente agreement, which had been found so profitable,
was continued for four more years. In the light of later events the
treaty was found to be only a makeshift for the moment, and did not
prevent the outbreak of new hostilities between Great Britain and Spain
when the ink with which the treaty was signed had barely dried on that
document.