BARACOA First Capital of CubaBARACOAFirst Capital of Cuba
Early in 1511 Velasquez assembled a flotilla of three or four vessels on the northwest coast of Hispaniola, at or near the place where Columbus had landed when he discovered that island and first visited it from Cuba. In the adjacent region he recruited a company of about three hundred men, and with that force set out for the conquest and colonization of Cuba. The precise date of his expedition is not to be ascertained, but it was probably in February or at latest March of that year. The place of his landing in Cuba, however, is known. It was at Baracoa, where also Columbus had landed beforehim. Following the practice of Columbus and the other explorers he promptly gave the place a new name of his own selection, calling it the City of Our Lady of the Assumption. There he established his seat of government and base of further operations, giving to the place in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs the technical rank and dignity of a city. But, as also frequently happened, the new name was unable to supplant the old one in popular usage; and when, in 1514, the insular capital was transferred to Santiago de Cuba, and in 1522 the cathedral of the diocese was similarly transferred, the new name was permitted to lapse, and the place became again universally known as Baracoa. Despite its vicissitudes of fortune, therefore, and its loss of its former high estate, Baracoa is entitled to the triple distinction of having been the site of the first permanent European settlement in Cuba, of the first civilized government, and of the first cathedral church.
At Baracoa, immediately upon his arrival, Velasquez built a fort, the exact site of which is now matter of conjecture, and various other edifices. These were all constructed of wood, probably of bamboo and thatch, and no trace of them remains to-day. Search was also promptly made for gold, and some seems to have been found in the beds of streams, though in no large quantities, and the attempt to operate mines was soon abandoned. Attention was then turned to further explorations and conquests, and to the quest for gold in other parts of the island.
Still more unfortunate than the failure to find much gold, and largely because of that fruitless quest, was the rise of bitter hostilities between the Spaniards and the natives. This was also a sequel to and in part a consequence of the Spanish administration in Hispaniola and particularly of the part which Velasquez had played therein. Shortly before coming to Cuba, Velasquez had waged several strenuous and probably somewhat ruthless campaigns against the natives of Hispaniola, chieflyin that part of the island which lay nearest to Cuba and in which he recruited his Cuban expedition. His chief opponent there was a native chief named Hatuey, who, finding himself unable to cope with the Spaniards, fled to Cuba with many of his followers and settled in the country near Baracoa. These refugees were of course quick to report to the natives of Cuba the cause of their migration, and to portray the conduct and character of the Spaniards, and of Velasquez personally, in the most unfavorable light. The natural result was to predispose the Cuban natives to regard the Spaniards with distrust and aversion. And when Velasquez himself presently appeared among the very people who had been thus prejudiced against him, trouble inevitably arose.
The leader in the trouble was Hatuey, who had a large following both of his own tribe from Hispaniola and also of Cubans. He had maintained a system of spying and communication through which he kept himself perfectly informed of the doings of Velasquez, whom he considered his chief foe, not only politically but personally, and when he learned that he was coming to Cuba he busied himself with preparations to resist him. He was foremost in spreading among the Cuban natives all manner of evil reports concerning the Spaniards, all of which, whether true or false, found ready credence.
Thus on one occasion, as related by Herrera, he gathered many of the natives together with a promise to reveal to them the God of the Spaniards, whom they worshipped and to whom they made human sacrifices of Indians' lives. When they were assembled and their anticipation was whetted, he placed before them a small basket filled with gold. "That," said he, "is the God which the Spaniards worship, and in quest of which they are following us hither. Let us, therefore, ourselves pay this God reverence and implore him to bid his Spanish worshippers not to harm us when they come hither!" The natives performed a religious dance and other rites about the gold, until they were exhausted, and thenHatuey further counselled them to cast the gold into the river, where the Spaniards could not find it; since if they found it they would continue their search for more, even to cutting out the hearts of the people in quest of it.
Whether true or fabricated, the story indicates the attitude of Hatuey toward the Spaniards and explains the intensity of the bitterness which prevailed between him and Velasquez. Of course, when the Spaniards arrived and immediately began to hunt for gold, Hatuey's words about their God seemed to be confirmed. War began, which soon resulted in the defeat and capture of Hatuey, who was put to death. Tradition has it that he was burned at the stake, as was the common custom in those times, and that just before the fire was lighted he was invited to accept Christianity and be baptized, but refused on the ground that he did not want to meet any Spaniards in the other world. He was succeeded in command of the hostile natives by Caguax, who had been his comrade in Hispaniola and who had come to Cuba with him; and the hostilities were continued with the usual result of conflicts between a higher and a lower civilization. In a short time the province of Maysi was conquered and partly pacified, and that of Bayamo was invaded.
PANFILO DE NARVAEZPANFILO DE NARVAEZ
At this time and in these operations there appeared in Cuba two more men of commanding importance in the early history of the island, who were sent thither from Hispaniola to assist Velasquez soon after the defeat and death of Hatuey. One of these was Panfilo de Narvaez, a soldier and the leader of a company of thirty expert crossbow-men who had been serving in Jamaica but were no longer needed by the governor of that island, Esquivel. Narvaez was anative of Valladolid, Spain, near which city Velasquez also had been born. It is possible, indeed, that the two men were related, since there was a marked physical resemblance between them; both being tall, handsome, and of a pronounced blond complexion. At any rate, they had long been friends, and Velasquez was glad to make Narvaez his chief lieutenant and right-hand man. Narvaez appears to have been a man of high intelligence, honorable character, and much personal charm. He was, however, too much inclined toward fighting, was sometimes reckless in his leadership, and was no more scrupulous in his conduct toward the natives than were many other conquerors of various lands in those days of adventure and violence. At the head of a force of more than a hundred and fifty men, including a score of horsemen, he led the way in the conquest, first of Bayamo and finally of all the rest of the island. In his campaign he enjoyed immense advantage from the awe and terror which were caused among the natives by the appearance of the horses, which were the first ever seen in Cuba.
BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASASBARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS
The other and more famous of these two men was Bartholomew de Las Casas, known to the world as the "Protector of the Indians" and as the "Apostle to the Indies." As a youth he had accompanied his father on Columbus's third voyage to America, and he had come to the Antilles a second time and permanently with Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, in 1502. In 1510 he was ordained to be a priest, and it was in that clerical capacity that he was sent over to Cuba to assist Velasquez in the conquest, pacification and settlement of the island. He appears at first to have had no important religious scruples againstoppression of the natives, but joined with Velasquez and Narvaez in their sometimes ruthless policy. When the island was divided among the conquerors under the system of repartimientos, or allotments of natives as practical slaves of the Spaniards, he received and accepted without demur his encomienda or commandery, and held it for some time in partnership with his friend Pedro de Renteria. But a little later, realizing the injustice and cruelties which the natives suffered under this system, he became, as he himself described it, "converted," and thereafter was an earnest, zealous and almost fanatical champion of their rights. He visited Spain several times, to secure commissions of inquiry and other measures for their relief. Also, thinking thus to redeem them from enforced servitude, he secured royal sanction for the introduction of Negro slavery and the importation of Negro slaves into Cuba; a policy which he afterward deeply regretted.
After a brief campaign in Bayamo, which was not particularly successful, beyond the killing of Caguax and the final dispersion of the force which Hatuey had organized, Narvaez formed an expedition of perhaps five hundred men for more extended enterprises, in which he had as his principal companions Las Casas and a young nephew of Velasquez, Juan de Grijalva. The precise route of this expedition cannot now be stated. It certainly, however, traversed the Bayamo region, and went as far west as Camaguey. It also visited the neighborhood of Cape Cruz and there passed through the town of Cueyba, as Las Casas called it, where, as hitherto related, a Spanish mariner, presumably Ojeda, had landed and had established a Christian shrine with a statue of the Holy Virgin. Here and at other places amicable relations were maintained between the Spaniards and the natives.
Unhappily that was not always the rule. At the large town of Caonao, probably near Manzanillo, a number of Spanish soldiers, as if suddenly stricken with madness,began a massacre of the natives, killed a great number, and drove the rest into flight. Narvaez does not seem to have ordered nor to have taken part in the slaughter, but neither did he exert himself to prevent it or to stop it. Whereupon Las Casas, righteously wrathful, bade him to go to the Devil, and thereafter devoted himself to ministering to the sufferers and to reassuring the survivors.
From Caonao the expedition moved westward, through the southern part of the Province of Camaguey, where the natives were so frightened that they fled to the little islands off the coast which Columbus had named the Queen's Gardens. Thence it went across the island to the north coast, and probably in the region of Sagua la Grande, in Santa Clara Province, found some small deposits of gold. After stopping there for some time, it continued its progress into Havana Province, where more gold was found and where, unhappily, serious trouble with the natives was renewed.
On the way across the island Narvaez had heard of three Spaniards, a man and two women, who had been shipwrecked on the coast and were living with the Indians somewhere in the west. He sent word of this report back to Velasquez, who returned him orders to search for the castaways even in preference to gold, and who also dispatched a ship along the north coast to meet Narvaez and his party in the region to which they were going. In Santa Clara the two women were found, unharmed and well, and they presently married members of the expedition. Finally, in Havana the man also was found. He too was unharmed and well, though he had become in speech and habits more like an Indian than a Spaniard. According to his story, he and the two women were the sole survivors of a company of twenty-six. They had fled from Ojeda's ill-starred settlement at Uraba, on the Gulf of Darien, and were trying to make their way back to Hispaniola, but had been driven out of their course around the north coast of Cuba. Not farfrom Cape San Antonio they had been shipwrecked and thence had made their way by land, along the north coast. Most of them had been killed by natives while trying to cross an arm of the sea, which has been assumed to have been the Bay of Matanzas, which was so named on that account.
On the Havana coast the expedition met the vessel which Velasquez had sent. But leaving it in port there the expedition went across the island again to Xagua, or Cienfuegos, there to meet Velasquez himself and another expedition which he was leading, and there to spend with him the Christmas season of 1513. At the beginning of 1514 Narvaez and a hundred men returned to Havana and thence marched westward into Pinar del Rio, the vessel keeping in touch with them along the coast. How far they went in that province is not now certainly known. Some accounts have it that they stopped at Bahia Honda and there took ship back for Baracoa, while others insist that they got as far as Nombre de Dios. All that is certain is that Narvaez and his comrades visited on this expedition all parts of the island, and thus completed the nominal exploration and occupation of Cuba in the early part of 1514.
Velasquezwas for a number of years the dominant figure in Cuban history, and he much more than any other man is to be credited with the settlement of the island and its social, political and economical organization. He was married at Baracoa in the early part of 1513 to Donna Maria de Cuellar, daughter of Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer in the island, but within a week was left a widower. To find solace for his grief in action, he threw himself with extraordinary energy into the work of exploring, pacifying and colonizing the island.
After founding the town of San Salvador de Bayamo he went westward, as already stated, to meet Narvaez and to spend Christmas at Xagua or Cienfuegos. Less than a month later he founded La Villa de Trinidad, and later in the year La Villa de Sancti Spiritus and, finally, Santiago de Cuba. At all of these places excepting the last named gold was found, though not in any large quantities. He was thus encouraged to continue his search for that precious metal, while at the same time he was admonished not to look too much to it for the prosperity of the Island, but to pay attention to the development of its other resources, and particularly its obvious agricultural potentialities.
Accordingly in the spring of 1514 he sent a vessel to Hispaniola for horses and cattle with which to stock Cuba, and for supplies of grain and other seeds, and agricultural implements. In the cargo which it brought back to him lay the germ of the subsequent agricultural greatness of Cuba. At about the same time, also, he founded Cuban commerce by the establishment of regular communication between the island and Jamaica, Darien andother Spanish settlements at the south. In this latter enterprise the King was especially interested, and his directions to Velasquez were that he should develop it to the largest possible extent. He did not expect Cuba ever to rival Darien and other regions in mineral wealth, but that island could, he thought, surpass them in agriculture, and thus could serve as a source of supply to them, and as a base of operations.
It was, indeed, in pursuance of this policy of commerce with the countries at the south and west of the Caribbean that Santiago de Cuba was founded as the seventh of the seven cities among which the island was partitioned, and that it was made the insular capital. The site was, as already stated, the only one at which gold was not found. It was selected partly because of the secure and commodious harbor, one of the finest anywhere on the shores of the Caribbean, and partly because its situation on the south coast made it particularly accessible to and from Jamaica, Darien and the other regions in which the Spanish crown was interested. As soon as it was founded, the seat of civil, military and ecclesiastical authority was transferred thither from Baracoa, and Santiago de Cuba became the second capital of the island. Meantime Narvaez, at the north, had founded Havana, which was destined to be the third and final capital.
Each city or town was made, however, a capital unto itself. The principle of local autonomy or home rule had long been cherished by the Spanish people in the Iberian Kingdom, and it was transplanted by them in an increased degree to their Antillean colonies. In accord with that principle, these first seven cities were planned and arranged with a view to civic self-sufficiency. The plan was uniform. Each place had its central park or plaza, upon which fronted the town hall, the parish church and the residence of the governor or the alcalde. The plan of government was also uniform. In each place Velasquez appointed an Alcalde, who was not a mayor but a judge of first instance; a Deputy Alcalde,and three regidores or councillors; the Alcalde and the regidores sitting together forming the Town Council. There were also a procurador, or public prosecutor; an alguacil, or sheriff; and one or more escribanos, or notaries public.
There was also at this time established throughout the island a social and economic system borrowed from Hispaniola, where it had not been in operation long enough for its evil effects to be demonstrated. Its intention was unquestionably benevolent, and, given a sufficiently altruistic quality of human nature, its results might have been good. With human nature what it was, it became almost unrelievedly evil. This was known as the system of Repartimiento, or Encomienda. First of all, the whole territory of the island was partitioned among the seven cities. Then in each there were appointed persons whom we might describe as land-holders and slave-holders. The former, known as vecinos, were the representatives of the king in ownership of the land, all of which was regarded as the property of the crown, to be apportioned for working to suitable loyal subjects. The latter were called encomenderos, and to them were apportioned the native population, in tutelage and servitude.
Now the fundamental evil of the system lay in the appropriation of the land. It was all taken for the crown, and the natives who had been occupying it wereipso factotransformed into squatters, or trespassers. But as the king claimed the whole area of the island, there was no other land for them to occupy; wherefore they must remain on the king's land. But if they did that, they must become his serfs. They were therefore apportioned among the land-holders; to remain in their homes and to be educated, fed and clothed and generally cared for by the latter; and in return to do a certain amount of useful work. Thus they would become civilized and Christianized, and perhaps themselves fitted to become land-holders.
It was an excellent plan, in theory; and it seemed themore likely to succeed because the Spanish colonists manifested no such caste prejudice against the natives as those of some other lands did. Thus it was an unusual thing for a French settler in North America, and a still more unusual thing for a British settler, to marry an Indian woman, and such unions, when they did occur, were generally regarded as debasing. But there was no such feeling among the Spanish, and intermarriages between the races, of an entirely legal and honorable character, were not uncommon and were not regarded with disfavor. Nevertheless, the repartimiento system soon lapsed into utter evil, as such a relationship between a superior and an inferior race seems certain to do. In brief, it became slavery, pure and simple.
The benevolent and statesmanlike spirit of Velasquez was shown, in contrast to that of most other conquistadors of that time, in the circumstance that he ordered the natives to be thus impressed into work for a period of only a single month, to be paid for their labor at a prescribed rate, and to be engaged as largely as possible in agricultural pursuits. He did not prohibit the employment of them at gold mining, but he strove earnestly to extend agricultural enterprise. This was partly, no doubt, in pursuance of the king's order, that he should make Cuba a source of food supplies for the supposedly less favored regions at Darien and elsewhere, but was partly, too, because Velasquez recognized the agricultural possibilities of Cuba and was determined to make it self-supporting. He exercised this authority, not merely as Governor General of the island, but also as Repartidor, or Partitioner of the Natives, to which office he was expressly appointed by the king, with responsibility to nobody but the king himself. He apportioned the natives in lots of from not fewer than forty to not more than three hundred, according to the land held by the vecino, and ordered that they be well treated, and of course be not sold nor transferred from one master to another.
There was, unfortunately, another class of native servitors, to wit, those taken as captives in battle in the occasional hostilities between the two races. These were by royal decree made outright and life-long slaves, subject to be bought and sold and even branded with their owners' names, like cattle. The number of these being few after the collapse of Hatuey's short-lived resistance, the practice arose of adding to their number natives from Mexico, Darien and elsewhere, who were seized and brought to Cuba as slaves. All this was declared to be illegal and was ordered abolished by a royal decree which was promulgated in Cuba in November, 1531. But long before that time the evil system had become widespread, and had involved in absolute slavery encomendado natives as well as the captives. The bad results of the system were reflected upon the masters if possible more than upon the slaves, and were felt for many years after the native population had so nearly vanished as to be no longer a factor in Cuban affairs worthy of consideration.
PONCE DE LEONPONCE DE LEON
Following the establishment of these political and industrial systems, Cuban colonization made extraordinarily rapid progress. The island which for years had been neglected and all but ignored became the chief centre of Antillean interest. It drew from Hispaniola, Darien and other lands, both insular and continental, many of their best colonists, including some who afterward became famous for their achievements elsewhere. Thus, Hernando Cortez was alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. Bernal Diaz, whose honest soul revolted against the infamies of Pedrarias Davila at Darien, settled for a time at Sancti Spiritus before following Cortez to Mexico. Vasco de Figueroa was a great plantation owner at Camaguey. Las Casas was at Trinidad until he returned to Spain tobegin his propaganda for the welfare of the Indians. Ponce de Leon also spent some time in Cuba, and so did La Salle. Velasquez himself was of course settled at Santiago de Cuba, with Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer, and Hurtado de Isunsolo and Amador de Lares, fiscal agents of the King. At Santiago was established the royal assay office and refining works for the output of the gold mines of the island.
In brief, the island prospered greatly in all respects. The mines were rich, the plantations fertile and productive, and live stock greatly thrived. The island, according to Oviedo, became "much populated with both Christians and Indians." It appears to have been at the instance of Velasquez that its name was changed in 1515 from Juana to Fernandina, in honor of the king; an incident which added to the high regard which that monarch cherished for Velasquez, of whom he said that "no man could more wisely administer the affairs of the island." This tribute was probably deserved. But it cannot be said that Velasquez served his King for naught, or that he promoted the interests of the island to the neglect of his own, since he himself so greatly prospered that he became the richest man in all Cuba and probably in all the Antilles, and was so secure in his place that he could feel quite independent of even the Admiral himself, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola.
A noteworthy tribute to Velasquez was paid, also, in a series of cedulas issued by the King. The first, dated December 12, 1512, thanked him for his pacification of Cuba and his tactful and humane treatment of the natives. Another, on April 8, 1513, was much to the same effect, adding the exhortation: "Because I much desire that all diligence possible be used to convert the natives of the island, I direct that you undertake this with all means possible. In nothing can you do me greater service." Five days later a third cedula formally appointed Velasquez Governor of the town and fortress of Baracoa, with a salary of 20,000 maravedis a year. After the completeorganization of the insular government and industrial system, as already described, the King in a cedula of February 28, 1515, commended all that had been done, adding: "The chief recommendation I would make to you is that you have all possible care for the conversion and good treatment of the Indians of the island, and that you endeavor in every way to have them taught and indoctrinated in our Holy Catholic Faith and to have them remain in it; so that we may be without burden on our conscience regarding them and so that you may free yourself of all the obligation which you have assumed for their welfare."
It was impossible that Velasquez should, however, escape the attacks of envy and malice. Suggestions were made to the King that he was growing too rich, and that he was manipulating the affairs of the island in his own interest rather than in the interest of the royal treasury. But these were without effect, save to confirm Velasquez in royal confidence and favor. To the suggestion that a residencia or investigation be made of the administration of Velasquez and his lieutenants, the King returned an emphatic negative. In a cedula of July 7, 1515, he expressly ordered that no residencia be taken, since he was entirely satisfied with the administration of the island. This was of material advantage to Velasquez, and was also a most unusual honor; the more unusual and noteworthy when we remember that Ferdinand had developed a particularly selfish and suspicious disposition and was little inclined to give full confidence to any man.
Nor was the royal favor short lived or confined to the reign of Ferdinand. In November, 1518, another royal decree from Ferdinand's successor, Charles I, appointed Velasquez Adelantado of all lands which he personally or through his agents might discover, and endowed him with one-fifteenth part of all the revenues which might be obtained from them. At this time Velasquez was already busy with enterprises of exploration, and his efforts were redoubled under this incentive. But in so doing he suffered the same fate that he himself had inflicted upon Diego Columbus. For he sent Hernando Cortez, who had been alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, upon the expedition which resulted in the conquest of Mexico; upon achieving which transcendent exploit, Cortez repudiated him and his authority, much as Velasquez had repudiated the authority of Columbus in Hispaniola.
The year 1515 marked a turning-point in the early history of Cuba. In that year Las Casas began his great crusade in behalf of the natives. At first, as we have seen, he accepted and approved the repartimiento system, and himself with his partner and close friend Pedro de Renteria took several hundred Indians as his wards and servants on the land which had been allotted to him at Trinidad. But when he became "converted," as he himself described it, he was convinced that the system, which had degenerated into little else than slavery, was wholly evil and could be nothing else, putting all who practised it in imminent danger of hell fire. To this conviction he was brought through consideration of what he had heard Dominican friars preach in Hispaniola.
At this time his partner, Renteria, was absent, in Jamaica, and Las Casas was ignorant of his views on the subject. Moreover, he realized that the natives whom he had in his possession belonged to Renteria as much as to him, and he could not properly do anything which would be injurious to the interests of his partner. Accordingly he went to Velasquez and told him that his conscience would no longer permit him to hold slaves, and he must therefore release them; but he wished the matter held in abeyance and confidence until the return of Renteria, in order that the latter might protect his own interests as he saw fit. In addition, he passionately adjured Velasquez, for the sake of his own soul, to free all the natives and to abolish the repartimiento system. Velasquez did not follow this advice, but he continued to hold Las Casas in the highest esteem and to show him all possible favors.
Las Casas then at once began publicly preachingagainst the sin of slavery, and proclaiming the right of the natives to equal freedom with the Spaniards; a course which gave great offense to many in the island but in which Velasquez protected him. Then he determined to hasten at once to Spain and to lay the matter before the King, who in his various cedulas and messages to Velasquez had expressed so much concern for the welfare of the Indians. He accordingly wrote to Renteria, in Jamaica, that he was called to Spain on imperatively urgent business, and that unless he, Renteria, could return to Cuba at once, he would have to go without seeing him first, which he would regret to do. Upon receiving this letter, Renteria immediately hastened back to Cuba; and then was disclosed one of the most extraordinary coincidences in history.
The meeting of the two friends was in the presence of Velasquez and others, and nothing was said by Las Casas concerning his plans, nor did Renteria say anything about his own affairs. But as soon as they were alone together, Renteria announced that he was planning himself to go to Spain, and that he would therefore accompany Las Casas. He then explained that while in Jamaica he had gone for a time into "retreat" at a Franciscan monastery, and while thus engaged in pious meditation had become convinced that the Indians of Cuba were being very badly treated, and had resolved to go to Spain and there to plead their cause before the King, especially asking for the foundation of schools and colleges in which the Indian youth could be educated. The astonishment and delight of Las Casas at hearing this was equalled only by the similar feelings of Renteria when in turn Las Casas told him the purpose of his proposed mission to Spain. Hundreds of miles apart, and entirely unknown to each other, the two friends at precisely the same time had been cherishing the same noble purposes. It was quickly agreed between them that Las Casas alone should undertake the mission, that their native wards should be surrendered at once to Velasquez, and that their land andother property should be sold, if necessary, to provide Las Casas with the money needed for his journey. In his departure from Cuba and his journey to Spain, Las Casas was also greatly assisted by Pedro de Cordova, the head of the Dominican Order in Hispaniola.
Simultaneously with the departure of Las Casas another and very different mission was dispatched to the same goal. This was one consisting of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez—not the Governor, Diego Velasquez—bearing a petition to the King to the effect that the repartimiento system should be transformed into one of absolute and perpetual slavery; so that the land-owners might hold their Indians permanently, and bequeath them to their heirs like any other property. That this was sent simultaneously with Las Casas's going is not to be regarded as a coincidence, however. It is altogether probable that the action was inspired by knowledge of the purpose of Las Casas and by a determination to forestall him or to defeat him.
How Ferdinand would have decided between the two, whether the impassioned eloquence of Las Casas or the gold which Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez bore with their petition, would have been the more potent, must ever remain matter of uncertainty; for he was never called upon to make the decision. Before the issue could be put to him, on January 23, 1516, he died. In the interregnum, before the arrival of the new King, Charles I, from Flanders, Cardinal Ximenes was Regent, and it was to him that Las Casas addressed himself; after he had first been scornfully received and his mission ridiculed by Bishop Fonseca, of Burgos. The great Cardinal had long been an advocate of humane treatment of the Indians, and was quite ready to listen to Las Casas, calling into council for the purpose several other prelates and statesmen. Early in the hearings, in order to make sure of his ground, Ximenes bade the clerk to read the full text of the laws relating to the Indians, and that functionary, being a partisan of the advocates of slavery, purposely misreadone important clause. Las Casas cried out, "That is not the law!" Ximenes bade the clerk to read it again. He did so, with the same perversion; and again Las Casas exclaimed, "The law says no such thing!" Annoyed, Ximenes rebuked Las Casas and threatened him with a penalty if he interrupted again. "Your Lordship is welcome to send my head to the block," retorted the undaunted Las Casas, "if what the clerk has read is in the law!" Other members of the Council thereupon snatched the laws from the clerk's hand, and found that Las Casas was right, whereupon the clerk wished that he had never been born, while Las Casas, as he himself modestly records, "lost nothing of the regard which the Cardinal had for him or of the credit which he gave to him."
The result of the conferences was that Ximenes authorized Las Casas, Palacios Rubios and Antonio Montesino to prepare the draft of a plan for emancipating the Indians and providing for their just government and education. When the plan was completed and adopted there was some question as to whom it should be entrusted for execution. Ximenes invited Las Casas to nominate a commission, but the latter declined because his long absence from Spain had left him unfamiliar with men there and their qualifications. The Cardinal therefore decided to select a commission from among the monks of the Order of St. Jerome. That Order was selected because, while the Dominicans and Franciscans were already settled in Hispaniola and Jamaica and had committed themselves to a certain policy toward the Indian question, the Jeronimites had not yet gone thither and were quite without bias or predisposition.
This was on July 8, 1516. The following Sunday the Cardinal and other members of the council, and also Las Casas, went to the Jeronimite monastery, near Madrid, to attend mass and to make a selection of three Commissioners or judges from among the twelve who had been nominated by the head of the Order. There Las Casas was received with much distinction by the monks and bythe Cardinal, to the chagrin of his enemy the Bishop of Burgos, who was present in the congregation. After some consideration, Ximenes then announced that Las Casas should be provided with money and letters of credit to the General of the Order at Seville, and should himself go thither and select the three Commissioners. This was immediately done, and the result was the selection of Luis de Figueroa, Prior of La Mejorada; Alonzo de Santo Domingo, Prior of Ortega; and Bernardino Manzanedo. These three were thereupon commissioned by Ximenes to proceed to Hispaniola, to take away all the Indians held by members of the Council, judges and other officers, and hold a court of impeachment upon all colonial officers, who were charged as having "lived, like Moors, without a king." They were then to consult with both the colonists and the chief men among the Indians as to the condition of the Indians and the ways and means of bettering it; so that the Indians, who had become Christians, should be set free and enabled to govern themselves. They were to assure the Indians it was the will of the Cardinal that they should be treated as free men and Christians. That Ximenes was sincere in giving these orders there can be no question. On more than one occasion he vehemently declared that the Indians were as a matter of right and should and must be as a matter of fact free men.
But all this was too late to save the Indians. Immediately upon Las Casas's departure from Cuba, treatment of the Indians there and elsewhere in the Indies became more harsh and oppressive, actually tending toward extinction of the race. Moreover, when the bearers of the petition of Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez finally got a hearing before Ximenes, they were referred to the three Commissioners, who were about to leave Spain for Hispaniola. They therefore went to see them, and succeeded, apparently, to some degree in alienating them from Las Casas and his colleagues and in prejudicing them against the Indians; to such an extent that before their departure for Hispaniola Las Casas had begun to doubt whethermuch real good would come from their mission. He and the three Commissioners travelled to Hispaniola on separate ships, and on their arrival in that island the three were more ready to confer with others, even with his opponents, than with him.
It is true that Cardinal Ximenes gave detailed and generally admirable directions to the Jeronimite Fathers as to the course which they were to pursue; not only toward the natives of Cuba but also toward those of the other islands and the continent. These provided that the natives were to be well treated. They were to be formed into autonomous communities of their own, under their own chiefs and owning their own land and cattle. They were to be provided with churches, schools and hospitals, and were to be converted to Christianity and educated. They were, however, to be required to work for a part of the time in the gold mines of the Spaniards, for which service they would be paid a percentage of the gold obtained. In compensation for thus being deprived of what was fast becoming the slave labor of the native islanders, the Spanish settlers of Cuba were permitted each to hold as outright slaves four or five Caribs from other islands, Negroes from Africa, or, in time, Red Indians from the North American continent. The net result was that for a time the Cuban natives were fairly well treated, though their fate was simply postponed for a few years. At the same time there was generally established in Cuba, as in most other lands of the world at that time, the hateful institution of human slavery.
Goldmining in Cuba appears for some time to have been profitable. There was not the vast opulence of the precious metal which a little later was discovered in Peru and elsewhere on the South American continent, but there was enough greatly to encourage an influx of colonists from Spain and also from the other Antilles. Hispaniola itself was for a time almost depopulated. Nor did this multitude of settlers consist exclusively of gold-seekers. There were also many agriculturists, artificers and tradesmen, who perceived that their activities would be needed to complement the gold-mining industry.
From the same cause arose at this time an important development of the political organization of the island. Nominally, all the provincial capitals were of equal dignity. But the smelting works and assay office were at Santiago, and thither, therefore, all gold miners had to repair at intervals, to have their nuggets, dust and ore refined and its value determined. They came in the spring, just before the beginning of the rainy season. Naturally their coming thither attracted at the same time tradesmen from all parts of the island, and Santiago thus became the business and social metropolis.
Moreover, each of the other provincial capitals deemed it profitable to send to Santiago at that time an official representative of its local government. These procuradors, as they were called, came together at Santiago to exchange experiences and advice and to confer for the general welfare of their respective communities. Thus early in Cuban history were the rudiments of a representative insular legislature established; through the influence of which the various provinces were drawn together in sympathy and made uniform in administration, and the foundations of Cuban nationality were laid.
Soon, indeed, a regular organization was voluntarily formed, with the Alcalde of Santiago as presiding officer and with rules of order and a programme of procedure. As a result of each annual session of this primitive insular council an address was prepared for transmission to the King of Spain. This consisted of a report upon the condition, progress and prospects of the island, and a request for the supplying of its legislative, administrative or other needs. In the presentation of this address the insular council performed a function practically identical with that of the Spanish Cortes of that time; a body which had no legislative or other authority, but merely the privilege of protest and petition to the King. Usually a procurador representing the council was despatched to Spain, to present the address in person to the King; who was received with something of the attention and honor which were paid to important foreign ambassadors.
The first such mission from Cuba to the King was that which has already been mentioned as consisting of Panfilo de Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez. It went to Spain in July, 1515, and it bore not alone the address of the council but also the king's share of the gold that had down to that time been mined in the island. The amount of that share was more than 12,000 "pieces of eight," which we must believe was most welcome to the money-loving King. As that was supposed to be twenty per cent of the whole output of gold, but was certainly not more than that proportion, it follows that in about three years more than 60,000 pesos of gold had been taken. It is not to be wondered at that Ferdinand welcomed them cordially, and promptly granted many of their requests; those which required expenditure of cash being paid for out of the insular tribute which the envoys had brought; and that he expressed profound satisfaction, as already mentioned, with the existing government of the island.
One of the requests which these envoys bore was not, however, granted. That was, their request that the natives of Cuba be given to them in perpetuity as slaves.In consequence of the refusal to grant this, the Cuban gold-miners and planters suffered more and more from scarcity of labor, and more and more engaged in slave-hunting elsewhere to supply their needs. This pernicious traffic was resolutely opposed by Las Casas, but not with entire success. But it brought with it in a measure its own penalty. As a direct result of it there soon occurred an event mischievous to Cuba, but of transcendent interest to Spain and to all the world.
The slave-hunters naturally sought new islands, which had not yet been depopulated, and where the Jeronimite Fathers had not yet established themselves to interfere with the trade in human flesh. Accordingly in 1516 a squadron of vessels from Cuba visited the Guanajes Islands, as they had been called by Columbus when he discovered them, off the coast of Yucatan. There they took many captives, loading all the vessels with them. Leaving twenty-five men to guard their landing place on the island, the squadron returned to Cuba with the slaves. Havana was the port to which they were taken; a port which from that time forward increased rapidly in importance. Before they could all be landed, the slaves on one vessel mutinied, overpowered the crew, took possession of the vessel, and sailed back to the Yucatan islands. There the vessel was run ashore and wrecked, but the slaves escaped from it and, going ashore, exterminated the Spanish garrison which had been left there. A relief expedition was hastily sent from Havana, but it arrived too late. It found only the wreck of the ship, and no trace of the Spanish garrison. However, it looted the islands and was thus enabled to carry back to Cuba some 20,000 pesos in gold.
This had a revolutionary effect. Cubans who were becoming dissatisfied with the scarcity of slave labor and with the waning production of gold in the island, were roused by the promise of greater riches in the lands to the westward, and began to plan further adventures in that direction. In this movement the first importantleader was Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, a wealthy land-holder, planter and miner of Sancti Spiritus. He with more than a hundred others equipped a squadron of three vessels, to sail westward, not, however, for slaves but for gold. One of these vessels appears to have belonged to Velasquez, the Governor, and in return for the use of it he asked that the expedition should bring him back a cargo of slaves. This Cordova indignantly refused, declaring that the slave-trade was offensive to God and man. So, at least, says Bernal Diaz del Castillo; though there are others who say that slave trading was the real object of the expedition. However that may be, the expedition set out from either Havana or Jaruco, near by, on February 8, 1517, piloted by Antonio Alaminos who, as a boy, had sailed with Columbus on his fourth voyage on which he skirted the coast of Central America. Columbus had believed that coast to be the Golden Chersonesus, a land of fabulous riches, and it was with eagerness that Alaminos guided the Cuban expedition thither.
The Mugeres Islands were the first land reached after leaving Cape San Antonio, and two days later, on March 4, 1517, they landed at Punta Catoche—a name said to have been given to it by them because of the words "con escotoch" which the natives uttered on greeting them upon their landing, words meaning "welcome to our home." All thoughts of seizing slaves were quickly abandoned when they found the natives a well clad, armed and civilized people, living in large cities, with houses and temples built of fine masonry, comparable with those of the cities of Spain. Hostilities, however, speedily arose. It does not appear whether the Spanish or the natives of Yucatan were the aggressors, but the upshot of it was that the Spanish were ambuscaded and several of them were badly wounded. The explorers persisted in their enterprise, however, and made their way along the northern coast and thence southward along the shore of the Gulf of Campeche, as far as Champoton. Hostilities with the natives increased, and nearly a third of the party perished fromwounds or thirst and fever before they got back to Havana. Moreover, one ship was lost, and the other two were in so bad condition that they with difficulty were beached for repairs at Havana, while the survivors marched afoot across the island to Santiago, there to report to Velasquez the results of their expedition. It is believed that on their way back they were driven by a "norther" far out of their course, and touched the southern extremity of Florida, or at least some of its islands. Cordova himself had been so badly wounded that he was unable to go to Santiago, but made his way to his home at Sancti Spiritus, where he soon afterward died.
Immense interest was aroused in Cuba by the tales of Cordova's men, and by the appearance of the two captive Mayas of Yucatan whom they brought with them. The reports of large cities, built of stone dressed and carved and laid in mortar,—reports which were, of course, entirely true,—piqued curiosity as to the identity of the people who had built them, and the belief became widespread that they were some of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, or at least descendants of the Jews who were driven into exile after Vespasian's conquest of Jerusalem. Velasquez himself was foremost in interesting himself in the matter, perhaps partly with a desire to recoup the loss of his ship; and he accordingly sent his nephew Gonzalez de Guzman, of Santiago, as a messenger to the King in Spain, to tell him of these discoveries and to ask that he, Velasquez, be commissioned Adelantado of Yucatan and all other lands which he might discover.
Now we have seen how high an opinion King Ferdinand had of Velasquez; regarding him as the best possible Governor of Cuba, whose administration should not be subject even to the balancing and auditing of accounts which he elsewhere required. But Ferdinand was now dead, and the new king, Charles, knew not Velasquez, or at least not so well. Guzman pleaded the cause as strongly as he could, and so, we may assume, did Narvaez, who was still in Spain, though Antonio Velasquezhad returned to Cuba. The king was not, however, to be so easily persuaded. He was not unfavorable to the ambition of Velasquez, but neither was he unhesitatingly favorable to it. Accordingly he temporized. Instead of giving Velasquez the appointment, he sent two agents, procuradors, to Hispaniola, to look into the whole matter with plenary authority. These agents, the name of one of whom marks an epoch in Cuban and in American history, were Diego de Orellano and Hernando Cortez.
Velasquez was disappointed but not deterred from prosecuting the great enterprise which he had in mind. He would not wait for the report of the procuradors and the action which the king might take upon it, but hastened his preparations for another expedition to Yucatan, which he regarded as by far the most important land of all that had thus far been discovered by the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The leader of the new venture was to be his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, who appears not to have been well fitted for the task. Grijalva was commissioned in January, 1518, and in the same month set out from Santiago de Cuba with a flotilla of four vessels. Sailing eastward he rounded Cape Maysi and thence proceeded north and west along the Cuban coast to what is now Matanzas, where a stop was made for repairs and supplies. Thence he went to Havana for further supplies and men, and tarried for some time, so that it was not until some time in April—some say April 5, others a much later date—that he finally set out from Cuba. He had four vessels, carrying two hundred and fifty men, among whom were several of whom the world was later to hear much; such as Bernal Diaz, and Pedro de Alvarado, who was captain of one of the vessels. The chief pilot was Antonio Alaminos, whose plan was to follow the same course that Cordova's expedition had pursued.
Upon passing Cape San Antonio, however, the little squadron fell into the grip of a "norther" which carried it somewhat out of its course, and on May 3 it first sighted land at Cozumel Island, of which Grijalva was thus thediscoverer. Doubling back, the expedition followed the course of its predecessor around Punta Catoche and along the Yucatan coast to Champoton. Thence it continued westward, discovering the Tabasco and other rivers, and the great bay near Vera Cruz which still bears the name of Alvarado. How far up the Mexican coast it sailed is not altogether clear, but it certainly passed Cabo Rojo, and probably reached Tampico and the mouth of the Panuco River. Thus to two Cuban expeditions must be credited the discovery of the vast empire thereafter known as New Spain. De Solis and Pinzon had skirted a part of the coast of Yucatan in 1506 but had made no landing. Indeed, Columbus himself on his last voyage had visited some of the coastal islands, but had apparently ignored the proximity of the mainland. Cordova was the first to reach the actual coast of Yucatan and to explore a portion of that country. Grijalva in turn was the first to discover and to land in Mexico; of which country he formally claimed possession, in the name of Velasquez, for the King of Spain, it was he, too, or some member of his expedition, who gave to Mexico the name of New Spain.
In his commission Grijalva had been directed to discover and explore new lands, and to take possession of them for the King of Spain, but he was forbidden to undertake colonization of them or to make any permanent settlements. To that prohibition must be ascribed the practical failure of his expedition. He appears to have realized the desirability of making permanent settlements, but felt himself restrained by his orders. His men murmured and almost mutinied because they were not permitted to build forts, take land, and establish colonies; but Grijalva, though firm to resist them, dared not violate the orders of his uncle. However, at midsummer he sent Alvarado back with two ships, carrying the sick and wounded, and also much treasure in gold which had been obtained from the natives in barter. He likewise wrote to Velasquez, asking and indeed urging that his commission be so amended as to permit him to make permanent settlements in the lands which he had discovered.
It does not appear that Velasquez made a favorable response to this request, if indeed he made any at all. He had previously manifested his impatience to learn what Grijalva was doing and what he had found, by sending Christopher de Olid with one vessel to offer him reenforcements and supplies, if needed, and to get a report of his achievements. Off the Mexican coast, however, that expedition ran into a succession of violent storms which so discouraged and dismayed Olid that he abandoned his errand and scuttled incontinently back to Cuba without so much as communicating with Grijalva. The latter, accordingly, after spending the summer and early fall in Mexico, and despairing of receiving the increased authority which he deemed essential to the further success of his expedition, reembarked and returned to Cuba, arriving at Matanzas early in October.
There he found Olid, who had reached that port only a few days before, and who had not yet communicated with Velasquez the news of the failure of his errand. Olid's report to Velasquez, which was then promptly dispatched, contained therefore the news of Grijalva's return as well as his own. As soon as he received this, Velasquez sent word to Grijalva to come at once to Santiago and report to him in person, but to let his men remain at Matanzas, or at Havana, since he wanted them to serve in another Mexican expedition which he was already fitting out. Most of the men were willing to do this, and were accordingly maintained there at the cost of Velasquez, or of the Spanish Crown, until he was ready to use them; though a certain number expressed themselves as having had their fill of exploring and accordingly returned to their homes in various parts of Cuba.
Grijalva repaired, as summoned, to Santiago, and there met what we must regard as an unjust and unmerited fate. Velasquez expressed entire dissatisfaction with his conduct, particularly in not having planted permanent settlements in Mexico; the very thing which Grijalva had wanted to do but was forbidden by Velasquez himself to do. This extraordinary inconsistency on the part of Velasquez can probably be explained on the ground that he himself had been forbidden by the Jeronimite Fathers to plant such colonies, and did not venture to disobey them, but had hoped that Grijalva would disobey them. He further let his unhappy nephew know that, because of his failure to disobey orders, he would have no further use for him. He was sending out another expedition to Mexico, to plant permanent colonies there, but it would be under other leadership, and Grijalva would have no part in it whatever. As Grijalva had already alienated most of his men by refusing to break his orders, he was thus left friendless, and he played no further part in the history either of the Cuba which he had loyally served or of the Mexico of which he was the discoverer and first explorer.
Thenew Mexican expedition was entrusted by Velasquez to the leadership of the greatest of all the Spanish conquistadors, Hernando Cortez, then Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. This famous man was then, in 1518, only thirty-three years of age.HERNANDO CORTEZHERNANDO CORTEZHe had been born in Estremadura, had survived a particularly weak and sickly childhood, and had studied law at the University of Salamanca. Leaving the University, he enlisted in the company of Nicolas de Ovando, also of Estremadura, for an expedition to America. But on the very eve of sailing he went to bid a tender farewell to his inamorata; while scaling the garden wall to reach her window he fell and had part of the wall topple upon him, and in consequence was laid abed for some time, while Ovando's expedition sailed without him. Recovering from this mishap, he passed a year or two in obscurity and poverty, and then secured passage, in 1504, for Hispaniola. His courage and prowess during a storm which threatened to swamp the vessel made him a conspicuous member of the company, and on landing at Hispaniola he was quickly taken into the good graces and the employ of both Velasquez and Ovando. Having overcome his early delicacy of constitution, he was now a stalwart, handsome youth, of engaging manners, fine education and much spirit and capacity in martial adventure; in brief, admirably fitted for the great career which he was already unconsciously confronting.
We have seen that a mishap in a love affair determined the time and circumstances of his leaving Spain for the New World. A sequel to that incident again determined his course. He had enlisted in the expedition of Diego de Nicuesa bound for Darien when from the old injury from his garden wall disaster there developed an abscess in his right knee, which again disabled him for a time and restrained him from going on that voyage. Had he gone on it, perhaps he might have become the conqueror of Peru, instead of his fellow Estremaduran, Pizarro, who was a member of Nicuesa's company, and the discoverer of the Pacific, instead of that other Estremaduran, Balboa, who went to Darien at a little later date. Instead, Cortez was detailed by Diego Columbus to go to Cuba as a secretary to Velasquez. In that capacity he acquitted himself so well that he received an extensive grant of land, together with a large number of natives as slaves, and for a time he settled down as a Cuban planter.
His adventurous spirit would not permit him permanently to engage in so placid an occupation, however, and he presently became involved in some strenuous transactions which came near to making an end of him. Precisely what happened is uncertain. Historic accounts differ. According to Benito Martinez, he made himself the leader of a faction opposed to Velasquez, and undertook to go from Cuba to Hispaniola in an open boat to carry to certain royal Judges there complaints and accusations against the Governor. As he was setting out on this venture, however, he was betrayed and arrested, was charged with fomenting a revolt against Velasquez, and was condemned to be hanged. Upon the intercession of friends, however, Velasquez commuted the sentence into exile from Cuba, and put Cortez aboard a vessel bound for Hispaniola. Soon after the vessel sailed Cortez contrived to slip overboard unperceived, caught hold of a floating log, and swam back to Cuba. There he found refuge in a church, until once more his passion for the fair sex came near to being his undoing. For one day as hewas slipping out of the church to keep a love-tryst, he was seized by an alguazil named Juan Escudero, and returned to prison. Velasquez then again ordered him hanged, but again yielded to intercession, and gave Cortez his freedom. Incidentally, Cortez afterward hanged Escudero, in Mexico.
So runs one version of the story, told by Herrera and others. Gomara, Barcia and others tell quite another. It is to the effect that Cortez went to Cuba as an accountant for Miguel de Pasamonte, the royal treasurer, though he also did much business for Velasquez and was in charge of the assay office and the hospital at Santiago; and that the feud between him and Velasquez arose over a love affair. Cortez had engaged himself to marry Doña Catalina Suarez, one of the ladies in waiting upon Maria de Toledo, the consort of the Admiral and Viceroy, Diego Columbus, but either delayed to fulfil the engagement or was suspected of an intention to break it by Velasquez, who was much interested in the lady's sister. In the course of this feud, Cortez was arrested and was found to have on his person papers unfriendly to Velasquez. He escaped, and took refuge in a church. But in time he emerged from sanctuary, married Doña Catalina, and "lived happily with her ever after." He also became reconciled to Velasquez, so much that the latter stood as god-father to the first-born child of Cortez.
This latter story seems the more probable of the two, and more in accord with what we know of the characters and dispositions of both Velasquez and Cortez. Certain it is that after their disagreements and conflicts Velasquez took Cortez back into full favor, made him Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, and selected him in preference to his own nephew, Grijalva, to be the leader of what he himself considered to be the most important of all his enterprises.
In making this choice, which was of epochal importance both to himself and to Cuba and the Spanish colonial empire, Velasquez was doubtless largely influenced by thearguments and persuasions of his own secretary, Andres de Ducro, and by the royal contador in Cuba, Amador de Lares. These two appear to have worked together, with a mutual understanding, and also with an understanding with Cortez; so that we might almost consider the three to have formed a conspiracy to prevail upon the Governor. Perhaps their chief argument, or temptation, was to promise Velasquez the royal appointment as Adelantado, not alone over Cuba but also over all other lands which he might discover, and it was shrewdly pointed out to him that if haste was made, he might secure that appointment in time to claim the enormously rich land of Mexico as part of his domain. All that would be necessary would be for him to get the appointment before the return of Grijalva with the official report of his discoveries. As this appointment was the dearest wish and ambition of Velasquez's life, it is easy to understand how potent this offer was in persuading him to make Cortez the leader of the expedition.
There was on the other hand much opposition to the choice. All of the relatives and many of the friends and counsellors of Velasquez warned him not to trust Cortez. Las Casas joined his advice with theirs, warning Velasquez, however, not so much against Cortez as against the royal contador, De Lares, and anyone whom he might favor. De Lares, he said, had lived long in Italy, a country then considered to be a very hotbed of trickery and treachery, and was doubtless deeply imbued with the spirit of conspiracy and intrigue, which he was quite likely to exercise against Velasquez himself.
Cortez was of course well aware of these conflicting influences, and for some time felt much uncertainty as to which side would prove the more powerful. He especially dreaded the return of Grijalva, fearing that either he would regain the favor of his uncle, or would give so glowing a report of the wealth of Mexico as to excite the cupidity of Velasquez to a degree that would move him to go thither in person. When he learned that Grijalvahad arrived at Havana and was about to come across the island to Santiago, he pushed preparations for his departure with feverish haste, apparently determined to set out whether Velasquez approved his going or not. He borrowed large sums of money, wherever he could, for fitting out the expedition at his own expense if necessary, and in fact he did thus provide a large share of its cost. He also recruited a number of men upon whom he could depend to stand by him in any emergency; even if he should have to defy the authority of Velasquez and sail without his permission.
The middle of November, 1518, was the crucial and indeed epochal time; in which the fate of Velasquez, the fortunes of Cortez, and in a large measure the future of the Spanish empire in America, were all decided. Within a week, three major incidents occurred. First, on November 13, Velasquez received his commission from the King, as Adelantado of Cuba and all new lands which he might cause to be discovered. In getting that for him, De Ducro and De Lares fulfilled their promise; whereupon Velasquez in turn fulfilled his agreement, by confirming the appointment of Cortez. Two days later, on November 15, Grijalva arrived at Santiago, and as already stated was unfavorably received. Nevertheless, the apprehensions of Cortez were partially fulfilled. Velasquez did not, indeed, restore his nephew to favor, but he was so impressed by the reports and visible and tangible tokens of the wealth of Mexico, that he hesitated to let Cortez go. The thought occurred to him that it would be better to go himself, or to send somebody upon whom he could more implicitly depend.
His hesitation became known to Cortez, and of course greatly disquieted and alarmed him. But with the intrepidity and resolution which were characteristic of him, he hastened his preparations for departure and added to them preparations for breaking away by force if that should be necessary. It has been said by some that hefinally sailed secretly, by night. Las Casas tells that story, and the American historian of Cortez, Prescott, credits and repeats it. Others have pictured Cortez as sailing away openly, with Velasquez falling upon his knees on the shore, imploring him not to go. We may prudently relegate both these versions to the realm of imagination. The far more likely story is that given by honest Bernal Diaz. He tells us that Andres de Ducro—probably knowing that there was danger that Velasquez would change his mind and revoke the appointment of Cortez—urged Cortez to sail without delay; that Cortez accordingly, the second day after Grijalva's arrival at Santiago ordered all his men to go aboard ship and remain there; that he then went with De Ducro and De Lares to bid Velasquez adieu; and that the next day, November 18, after attending an early mass at the cathedral, he went aboard and at once set sail for Mexico. That was five days after the appointment of Velasquez as Adelantado, and three days after the arrival of the real discoverer of Mexico, Grijalva, at Santiago.
With those three incidents, as we have said, a new era began. We need not here concern ourselves with the further doings of Cortez, excepting in that he took from Cuba several hundred of its most venturesome and competent men, including many of those who had been with Grijalva; and that he promptly renounced the authority of Velasquez over the new lands which were to be discovered. The breach between the two occurred when Cortez, having sailed from Santiago, put into the Cuban port of Trinidad for men and supplies. There he was intercepted by a messenger from Velasquez, with orders to return at once to Santiago. If he would not obey this summons, the Alcalde, Verduzo, was authorized forcibly to deprive him of his commission and to give it instead to Vasco Portallo. The latter was a friend of Velasquez, who had formerly been considered by him for the leadership of the expedition, before the choice fell on Cortez.Another candidate had been Baltazar Bermudez, whom indeed Velasquez actually selected for the place, only to have him decline it.
Cortez, as might have been expected, refused to return. Instead, he prevailed upon the Governor's own messenger to join his expedition. To the demand of the Alcalde, that he surrender his commission, he replied with a haughty refusal, and so strong was the force which he had with him that Verduzo prudently refrained from any attempt to coerce him. He then wrote a friendly letter to Velasquez, assuring him that he was giving himself needless concern, took on additional supplies, and resumed his voyage. He had previously helped himself freely from a royal storehouse at Macaca, saying that he was going on the King's business and was therefore entitled to the King's goods. Also he is said to have stopped a merchant ship bound for Hispaniola, and to have taken such goods from its cargo as he desired.
Thus provided, he next put in at the harbor at or near Batabano which had in 1514 been called San Cristobal de la Havana, but which by this time was falling into some disuse and was surrendering its name to the far more important port on the northern coast. Here another messenger from Velasquez intercepted him, with a similar command, to which Cortez gave a similar reply. Last of all, he touched at Guane, on what is now appropriately known as Cortez Bay, near the western extremity of the island; and thence, at the middle of February, 1519, left Cuba for the island of Cozumel, thence to proceed to Vera Cruz, Mexico. The story of his burning his ships after he had landed, in order that his men might have no thought or hope of returning, is historic, and is true. But in effect he did the same, at least for himself, before that time. He departed from Cuba in circumstances which made his return to that island impossible; at least as long as Velasquez was its governor. Then, to seal the matter and make the breach with his former friend and patron more absolutely irremediable, immediatelyupon landing at Vera Cruz he organized a government by appointing some of his own men to be a municipal council. Then to that Council of his own creation he surrendered the commission which Velasquez had bestowed upon him; and finally, also from his own creatures, he accepted appointment as Royal Governor of New Spain!
It was of course out of the question that Velasquez would meekly acquiesce in this flouting of his authority, and particularly in this open attempt to deprive him of his newly-won authority as Adelantado of Mexico. He immediately reported to the King what Cortez had done, and protested against it as a defiance of the King's authority as well as his own. But Cortez answered his protests and appeals to the Crown with still more potent arguments in justification of his course. These arguments took the form of bars and ingots of gold, which he secured in Mexico and sent to Spain; in some cases "ballasting his ships" with the precious metal. One of the first of these treasure ships was a brigantine, dispatched in the midsummer of 1519 under the pilot-captain Alaminos. As it passed Havana it was espied by Juan de Rojas, a cousin of Velasquez, who sent word of it to Velasquez. The latter sent out Gonzalo de Guzman to intercept and seize it, but he failed in the errand.
Finding his appeals and protests ineffective against the gold of Cortez, Velasquez determined to use force. He was Adelantado, by royal commission. Therefore Cortez was a rebel. He rallied his friends, in both Cuba and Hispaniola. He used his own immense wealth freely for the purchase and equipment of ships. He enlisted an army twice as great as the force which had accompanied Cortez. With this expedition he purposed to follow Cortez to Mexico, and compel his submission. Whether he would have succeeded in this undertaking, had it not been interfered with, must remain subject matter of speculation; for there was prompt and effective interference. Diego Columbus, in Hispaniola, became much concerned. He was still Admiral, and nominally, at least, superior inauthority to Velasquez as well as to Cortez, and he did not wish to have his subordinates fighting among themselves. So he sent one of the most eminent Spanish colonial judges, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, to Cuba to make peace. This envoy reached Santiago in January, 1520, just in time to find that Velasquez and his expedition had already sailed for Mexico. With the swiftest vessel he could find he set out in pursuit, and was lucky enough to overtake them where they had stopped for supplies, in Corrientes Bay, near the extreme western point of the island.
Ayllon seems to have been vested with no actual authority over Velasquez. He merely tried to dissuade him from executing his purpose. He urged him to content himself with sending one or two vessels on to Mexico, with a summons to Cortez, to return or at least to abandon his pretensions of independence and to acknowledge the authority of Velasquez; under penalty of being reported to the King as a contumacious rebel. The rest of the expedition, he suggested, might be used in explorations elsewhere. Above all, he pleaded with Velasquez not to go to Mexico himself, but to return to Santiago, where his presence was sorely needed. Velasquez yielded to these entreaties so far as to abandon personal leadership of the expedition. He made Panfilo de Narvaez leader in his stead, and then returned to Santiago. Ayllon went along with Narvaez, to keep the peace. The result was that soon after landing in Mexico, Narvaez was wounded and made captive by Cortez, and practically all his men, with their stores, munitions, arms and ships, who had been sent out to subdue Cortez, became loyal followers of that resourceful conquistador. In fact, we may judiciously reckon that Cortez owed his success in the conquest of Mexico to the reenforcements which he thus received from the expedition which had been sent against him.