In a minor measure Havana and all Cuba now anticipated the feelings which England had two years later upon the approach of the Invincible Armada. Every man was summoned to his appointed place in the scheme of defense and insistent vigilance was maintained night and day. For this there was full need. Within an hour of the arrival of this second messenger from the west a Spanish ship from Mexico came flying into the port of Havana with half a dozen English ships in hot pursuit. She passed Punta and gained safety before they came up, the big chain being slackened to let her pass within and then tightened again to shut out her pursuers. They did not, however, attempt to enter the harbor. One came so near as to draw a few shots from the guns of the Morro Fort and then withdrew without returning fire. But an hour later eight more English sails appeared, making fourteen in all.
Evidently the crisis was at hand. Every available man in Havana was in his place. Every available cannon was double-shotted and trained upon the spot at which the English vessels would first come within range. There was, however, no panic, no confusion. All men were resolute, confident and in high spirits. All night long sentinels watched the English fleet expecting to see it send boat loads of men ashore; ready to signal the news with beacon fires and torches. But all night long the English fleet lay dark and silent in the offing.
The morning of May 30 dawned. It was clear and bright, the sea was smooth, the wind just sufficient to fill the sails. There could be no fitter day for a landing or for an approach to the harbor to bombard the forts and city. The sentinels on Morro counted all thirty of Drake's vessels, drawn up in line. Now and then one swept out in pursuit of some incautious or uninformedcoasting vessel, but did not go far. The whole fleet maintained order as if in preparation for some great concerted operation.
Hours passed and nothing was done. At mid-afternoon some boats were sent toward the shore near Chorrera, and the watchers on Morro signaled to La Fuerza that a landing was being made; only a little later to recall the tidings as those of a false alarm. Night came on, and again under cover of darkness it was imagined that Drake's men were seen approaching Chorrera. Every man in Havana remained awake with arms in hand, but the night waned and daylight showed the fleet still motionless and the shore at Chorrera still untouched. Thus for three days and nights the tension was maintained. The thirty English vessels lay off Havana, firing not a shot, sending not a man ashore, and making no sign of their commander's purpose.
Then the suspense was ended, to the relief of many but to the disappointment of some. On June 4th the English fleet spread all its canvas and sailed away, heading north and east, and vanished forever from the sight of the watchers at Havana. Not the Cuban capital but the chief city of Florida was to be its prey, and presently word came back that Drake had attacked and captured the town and fortress of St. Augustine, which Menendez had built and in the building of which he had drawn so sorely upon the scanty resources of Cuba. Quiñones regretted that Havana had not been attacked, confident that the result would have been disastrous to the assailants. He took, however, all possible precautions against a surprise by a possible return of the English fleet. The coast patrols to Matanzas and beyond were maintained and vessels were sent out as scouts to follow in Drake's track and watch for his turning.
But no more was seen of Drake or heard of him until the end of June. Then word came of his destruction of St. Augustine and of his departure thence to the northward, on some unknown errand. It was supposed thathe had gone straight home. In fact, he went first to Virginia to visit the English colony at Roanoke and to take back to England its few discouraged survivors. Thus relieved from fear of invasion Havana rejoiced and gave a most practical turn to its thanksgiving by sending a vessel or two richly laden with supplies to the relief of the hapless people of St. Augustine, many of whom had been former residents of Cuba.
Meantime some explanation, as we have already seen, came to Havana of the reason for Drake's failure to take that place. Several Spaniards whom Drake had captured at Carthagena, had contrived to make their escape from him when he touched at Cape San Antonio, and after much wandering found their way to Havana. They reported that on the way from Carthagena to Cuba the English fleet had been sorely afflicted with disease including scurvy and possibly also yellow fever, so that many persons died and many more were incapacitated. Moreover his vessels were crowded with captives and with plunder. In these circumstances he was obviously in no condition to attack so strong a place as Havana, and in a conference with his captains he practically decided to pass by that place and to seek cooler northern latitudes where his sick men might more speedily recover.
Havana's deliverance was Santiago's disaster. The preparations for the defense of the former city had drawn thither the fighting strength of the entire Island. Men, munitions, even artillery, had been stripped from all other places for Havana's sake. Even after the departure of Drake, and after it was known that he had at least for the time abandoned his designs against Havana, the forces were still retained at the capital. This, of course, was known to the foes of Cuba and of Spain, as well as to Havana itself, and there were those who were not slow to take advantage of it. French privateers were still hostile and were raiding Spanish ports wherever opportunity afforded, and the stripping of Santiago for Havana's defense gave such opportunity.
So at the very time when Havana learned that Drake had taken Carthagena and was on his way to the Cuban capital, two French vessels appeared off Santiago with hostile intent. A demand was made for food, which the town authorities refused. Probably the demand was a mere pretext. At any rate the refusal of it was the signal for immediate attack. From noon to night of May 2nd the battle raged, the Spaniards, only a handful of men, displaying invincible valor in circumstances of desperate difficulty. The leader of the defense was a parish priest who was badly wounded by one of his own men. One other Spaniard was killed by the explosion of a wretched little cannon which had been pressed into service, all good guns having been taken to Havana. But these were the only Spanish losses. On the other hand, one of the French ships, going aground, was almost destroyed by the Spanish fire before her consort could pull her off. And the two riddled with shot were at last glad to make their escape in flight, throwing overboard as they sailed away more than a score of bodies of men killed by the Spanish musketeers. It was too much to hope, however, that this repulse of the French would prove final. It would almost certainly be followed with a stronger attack for vengeance, and Santiago made what scanty preparations it could to meet the coming storm.
Gomez de Rojas, a member of the illustrious family whose members played so great a part in early Cuban history, was at that time the deputy of the Governor in that part of the Island, making his headquarters at Bayamo. A few days before this attack on Santiago he and his men had killed seven Frenchmen and captured ten more under the lead of a notorious freebooter. The heads of the seven he displayed on pikes at Bayamo, and on the very day when the two French vessels reached Santiago he hanged eight of the ten prisoners. It is recorded that the trial of these men was not yet concluded. But Rojas grimly observed that the trial could be finished after the hanging just as well as before, as there could be no doubtas to what the verdict and the sentence would be. For this ruthless proceeding the Bishop, Salcedo, reprimanded and indeed excommunicated Rojas, and there was danger that thus disastrous dissension would arise among the Spaniards. But Rojas, who seems to have been a diplomat as well as a soldier and administrator, contrived to make peace with the Bishop, and all was well.
Of such unity there was sore need. For a few days later a squadron of seven French ships, carrying 800 soldiers, appeared off Santiago. To meet them Santiago, with all possible aid from Bayamo and the country around could number less than 100 men, some say not more than 70, indifferently armed and with only a few pounds of gunpowder. For several days the French vessels lay off Santiago, frequently firing upon the town at a range at which their own cannon were effective but at which the Spaniards, with far inferior guns and little ammunition, were quite helpless. However, the French made no attempt at landing, a circumstance which for a time puzzled the Spaniards. Then came the explanation. While their fleet lay directly before Santiago the French had put 150 men ashore at Zuragua, and these were advancing upon Santiago over land. As soon as this was known a little force of 20 Spaniards and 10 Indians was sent out to meet them, with only two or three rounds of ammunition to each man. They met in unequal battle and the Spaniards lost five men. But they killed twenty Frenchmen before they were completely exhausted and were compelled to surrender. Another detachment of thirty Spaniards kept up a good fight at the landing place in Santiago until their ammunition was exhausted and then they retreated to the hills. The French fire from the ships destroyed more than half the town, and the troops who were then landed demolished most of the remaining buildings. Then a hasty retreat was made, presumably through fear of the rumored approach of the powerful Spanish fleet, which unfortunately did not materialize.
Gomez de Rojas had been at Bayamo when this attack began. As soon as he heard of it he hastened on horseback to Santiago, but arrived in time only to see the last French sail vanish in the distance. Had he been there it is not certain that he could have saved the town. Indeed it is probable that he could not have done so. But it is certain that he saved it after the event. So completely had Santiago been demolished by the French that many of the people were determined not to attempt to rebuild but to abandon the place and go elsewhere. A council of war was held on May 25, at a country house a league inland from the ruined city, at which all the officials and most of the citizens of Santiago were present. Rojas was, fortunately, the presiding officer. The military commander, Captain Camacho, told of what had happened and what the condition of the place was. It had no military strength. There was not a pound of powder or shot left. The few pieces of artillery which had not been captured or destroyed were concealed in the woods, but were of course useless without ammunition. Fewer than a score of houses were standing. The cathedral and the monastery had been destroyed, though the hospital and a church had received little damage. There was, he believed, nothing left to serve as the nucleus of a rebuilt town.
Much discussion followed his report. Some were resolute for rebuilding the place, which they regarded rightly as the birthplace of the Spanish settlement of Cuba. Others were equally bent on abandoning it altogether and migrating to Havana or elsewhere. Opinions were so evenly divided that it was finally agreed to suspend decision until one other leading citizen, who was absent from the meeting, could be heard from, with the understanding that his vote should be decisive.
Then it was that Gomez de Rojas rose to the height of the occasion. He ascertained secretly that this missing citizen was in favor of abandoning Santiago and would so declare himself. Determined to forestall and to prevent such a decision and thus to save the town, Rojas immediately ordered the clergy to celebrate mass next morning. He ordered the town authorities to put all the remaining buildings in order for occupancy and to repair those which had been damaged. He ordered every man in town to appear at the church that morning, ready for any action which might be needed. He ordered the Town Council to meet as usual the next day. He ordered the market to be opened at once, and artisans to get to work and the Indians to burn the bodies of the Frenchmen who had been killed in battle, and in brief he ordered everybody in Santiago to get to work to rehabilitate the town. The sheer energy of this one strong man carried the day, and Santiago arose from its ruins larger and more important than ever before, though it was never again to be the capital of all Cuba. Havana had already for several years been practically, though without full authority, the capital of the Island. The formal and authoritative change was made a few years later, in 1589.
During the administration of Governor Luzan there was some renewed interest in copper mining in Cuba, although the wealth of the island in that metal was not yet appreciated. In 1580 what was supposed to be an immensely rich mine was discovered, but it proved to be a mere "pocket" of limited extent. That disappointment, together with the cost of transportation from the neighborhood of Santiago to Havana for shipment, discouraged further efforts for a time. But in May, 1587, after inspection of the Cobre mine, near Santiago, the Governor reported to the Spanish government: "There is so much metal, and the mines are so numerous, that they could supply the world with copper." Comparatively little was done, however, until 1599, when effective work was begun at El Cobre. The ore was conveyed to Havana for smelting and casting, and on the site of the present Maestranza Building there was established a foundry where copper was cast into both cannon and kettles.
Itis an interesting circumstance that what threatened to be a great disaster to Cuba proved in fact to be one of the greatest blessings that the Island had enjoyed since the Spanish settlement. We have already seen how great an alarm was caused at Havana and throughout Cuba by the threatened attack of the British under Sir Francis Drake and how fine a degree of public spirit and unity among all classes was thereby inspired. The threatened attack did not occur, and it was many years before an actual British conquest or even invasion of the Island was effected. But the lessons learned in that period of agitation and after were not speedily forgotten, either in Cuba or in Spain. Therefore, a much larger degree of public spirit and of unity prevailed in the Island, among the Government officers and among the people, while the Spanish crown was awakened to a fuller realization than ever before of the value of Cuba and the imperative necessity of defending the Island if the integrity of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere was to be maintained. It was then that Philip II began to appreciate Cuba as the bulwark of the West Indies and of the City of Havana, its capital, as the key to the New World. Hitherto Cuba had been nothing but a stepping stone between Spain on the one hand and Mexico, Darien and Florida on the other; and Havana was merely a convenient base of operations and a port of call. But now the immense strategical importance of Havana was realized, while the value of the Island, in its products of copper, wood, sugar, hides and other commodities, was appreciated.
Governor Luzan administered the affairs of Cuba until the end of March, 1589. On that day he was succeededby Juan de Tejada, a Field Marshal of the Spanish Army. He was selected by the King chiefly because of his military experience and knowledge, and he was the first of the line of governors of Cuba to be known as Captain-General. In him were merged both the civil and the military authority of the Island, so that there would no longer be any such friction as had prevailed between Luzan and Quiñones. Tejada was speedily commissioned by the King to make plans for the fortification of Cuba and also of the other important islands of the Spanish West Indies. He was accordingly accompanied on his coming to Cuba by one of the most distinguished Italian engineers of that age, Juan Bautista Antonelli. Together they surveyed the port of Havana, the port of San Juan in Porto Rico, and that of Carthagena in Colombia and planned powerful defenses for them all. There fortifications were in fact constructed under the direction of Antonelli and to this day bear impressive testimony to his skill.
His first attention was paid, most properly, to Havana. Already there had been constructed temporary fortifications at La Punta and El Morro, and also a camp more of observation than of defense at San Lazaro Cove, probably where the Queen's battery stood in later years. Both Captain-General Tejada and Antonelli were quick to see the importance of the Punta and Morro fortifications and to approve those headlands as the sites of the most powerful fortifications of Havana. Plans were accordingly made for extensive masonry forts at both those places, and these were approved and very prompt execution ordered by the King. Funds for the work were obtained from Mexico, from which source also appropriations were received for the maintenance of La Fuerza with its garrison of 300 men.
The work of Antonelli in Cuba was by no means confined, however, to military engineering. He laid out and constructed a number of roads, including some which are to this day principal streets of Havana and its suburbs.He also constructed a dam across the Chorrera River and an aqueduct by means of which an ample water supply was conveyed to Havana and distributed through the city. For by this time it must be understood Havana was rapidly growing into a populous and prosperous community and was already the assured metropolis of the Island and indeed one of the three or four chief centres of Spanish civilization and authority in the western world. It was during the administration of Tejada that the technical legal title of "City" was conferred upon Havana, and the place received the grant of a coat-of-arms. Its escutcheon bore the emblems of a crown, underneath it in a blue field three silver fortresses, emblematic of La Fuerza, La Punta and El Morro, and finally a golden key symbolic of Havana's importance as the key of the western world. The administration of Tejada lasted a little more than five years and was marked with almost unbroken peace, prosperity and progress. The new fortifications of Havana were not all completed in that time, but they were carried far toward completion and the work upon them was marked with no such difficulties and complications as had been the bane of La Fuerza.
The one exception to the rule of peace and harmony which prevailed during the administration of Captain-General Tejada was a controversy with Bishop Salcedo, who was then in charge of the diocese. Because of some differences of policy concerning the finances of the colony and the church, Salcedo bitterly criticised Tejada and even cast unfavorable reflections upon his integrity, which we must regard as unwarranted. To these attacks, however, Tejada gave little or no attention, and the peace of Cuba was therefore not materially disturbed by the incident. It seems probable that the Bishop desired larger revenues than the straitened condition of Cuban affairs made possible. Tejada indeed almost exhausted the pecuniary resources of the island in the prosecution of the much-needed works of fortification, road building, and what not, and also drew heavily upon his own privatefunds. He was saved from more serious embarrassment by the arrival of a treasure fleet from Vera Cruz, which enabled him to discharge all obligations and to place a fund of 120,000 ducats in the insular treasury for future needs.
At this period, it is interesting to recall, the salary of the Governor, or Captain-General, was only 2,000 pesos a year, that of the Alcalde of El Morro was 6,600 reales, that of the Alcalde of La Punta was 4,400 reales, and that of the Sergeant-Mayor was 2,700 reales. The total yearly budget of the island was about 100,000 pesos.
It is gratifying to know that Tejada's fine services were appreciated by the royal government. His insistent resignation was accepted in April, 1595, with sincere regret, and he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. James and was placed in charge of the castle and district of La Barlete, at Naples.
Tejada's successor, the second Captain-General of Cuba, was Juan Maldonado Barrionuevo, who took office in July, 1594. This distinguished servant of the crown had been an equerry to the Queen of Spain and Treasurer of the Invincible Armada which had come to grief a few years before in the Narrow Seas. He was also a Knight of the Military Order of St. James. Having had, while with the Armada, a taste of Drake's quality, and learning that that formidable commander was meditating another descent upon Cuba he gave his first and best attention to hastening the completion of the fortifications of Havana. Drake was indeed at that very time in Spanish-American waters planning disaster to every seaport within reach, but disagreement between himself and other officers of the fleet made the entire expedition a failure and led, probably, to the death of Drake himself in 1595. Learning of Drake's death Maldonado sent out an expedition to attack the British fleet as it was returning from Darien and succeeded in capturing one of its vessels and putting the others to flight near the Isle of Pines. This triumph over the much feared British fleet caused greatrejoicing throughout Cuba and immensely encouraged the Government and the people in their hope of making a successful stand against British aggressions.
Despite the growth and importance of Havana it must be remembered that at this time that city was still in a very primitive condition. The great majority of the houses were still built of cedar or pine boards with thatched roofs. They were so scattered, even in the heart of the city, that it was possible to have gardens and orchards around them. There were some houses of substantial masonry two or three stories in height. And the rich cedar, mahogany and other woods native to Cuba made it possible to finish and furnish them in very rich style. The houses of the rich were lighted with lamps of bronze or other metal, generally fed with olive oil, and those of the poor with candles made of suet. The streets were unlighted save by an occasional lantern at the entrance to some house. And they were so infested not only with stray dogs but with vagabonds and ruffians that it was unsafe for citizens to go abroad after dark without an armed guard. Social and domestic customs, which had at first been kept after those of Spain itself, by this time began to have an individuality suited to the circumstances and conditions of life on the Island. It was the custom to have the chief meal of the day at noon and a lighter supper quite late in the evening, probably between eight and ten o'clock.
It is interesting to record that during the administration of Maldonado occurred the first theatrical performance in the history of Cuba. This was on the night of St. John, in the year 1599, and the performance took place in honor of the Captain-General in the great hall of the military barracks. It is recorded that on assembling the audience was so noisy that it was impossible to begin the performance until threats had been made of serious physical punishment. Despite this vexatious incident the people were so delighted with the performance that when it came to an end they unanimously clamored for its repetition although by this time it was one o'clock in the morning.
The sugar industry was now rising to great importance, especially in the vicinity of Havana and thence toward Matanzas. The largest of all the sugar mills in the Island was that founded by Anton Recia at Guaicanama, now known as Regla. In 1588 a royal decree was issued bestowing upon the sugar mills of Cuba the same favor that was formerly granted to those of Hispaniola, namely, the exemption of the buildings, machinery, negro slaves and in fact all other property from seizure or attachment for debt. The sugar plantations were somewhat hampered at this time by lack of labor, and on that account the importation of negro slaves was encouraged and hundreds were brought in every year.
In fact, negro slavery was by this time fully established as the principal reliance of the industries of the island. It was recognized that Cuba was a land of inestimable wealth, particularly in agriculture. Stock raising was the chief industry, but sugar growing was rising in importance, while the production of honey and wax was also a widespread and highly lucrative occupation. Of all industries sugar growing was the most laborious and called, therefore, for the greatest number of slaves. Each mill required from eighty to a hundred workmen.
Strangely enough, while the royal government strove in some ways to encourage and stimulate the sugar industry, it persisted in hampering it, at any rate in Cuba, in the matter of slave labor. As far back as 1556 a decree fixed the maximum price at which slaves might be sold in the island at one hundred ducats, or about seventy pesos. Yet at the same time the price fixed for slaves in Venezuela was one hundred and ten ducats, and in Mexico one hundred and twenty ducats. The result was inevitable. Slaves were sent to Venezuela and Mexico rather than to Cuba; or the best were sent thither and the poorest to the island. This was only one of a number of eccentricities of government, which suggested a persistentand inexplicable tendency to discriminate against Cuba in favor of the other colonies.
Against such purblind policies the ablest administrators and the most enterprising planters and merchants struggled to little avail. It was a splendid achievement for the engineer Antonelli in 1586 to tap the Almendares River, west of Havana, with a system of canals and aqueducts, and thus bring an abundant supply of fresh water into Havana. In so doing he not merely provided the capital with one of the prime necessities of life, but he also made Havana the centre of the sugar industry. For it was along these artificial watercourses that the first sugar mills were erected and operated. But this availed little while there was persistent discrimination against Cuba to a degree that kept the island without a tithe of the labor which was needed for the development of its resources. We cannot, of course, approve the slave trade, or argue that it should have been followed to a greater extent than it was. But if it was to exist at all, and Spain was willing and indeed determined that it should, justice and economic reason required that it should exist as freely in Cuba as in the neighboring colonies.
Thecharacter of the European nations whose navigators and explorers had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and had opened to the bewildered gaze of the Old World a vista of unlimited possibilities in the New, underwent a great change during the seventeenth century. Acclaimed as national achievements, adding new lustre to national glory, these discoveries at first only stimulated patriotism and became an incentive to national effort. But as Spain and Portugal which had given to the world those men with the large vision and the undaunted courage, awakened to the importance of their exploits and began to see them from the angles of political and economic advantages, the desire to restrict those advantages to their own use became so powerful, that consideration for the interests of other nations was ignored. The spirit of imperialistic expansion was roused and demanded no less than a monopoly of the traffic and trade of the world.
With this end in view the two countries adopted a protectionist policy and imposed restrictions upon mariners and merchants of other nations that in time became intolerable. The government of Spain forbade its colonists in Spanish America to receive European merchandise from any but Spanish ports, which in turn enabled Spanish exporters to demand unreasonable prices. This was resented by many colonists, and they were willing to deal with smugglers who sold this merchandise at a lower price or exchanged it for the produce of the colonies, especially for hides and sugar. The governors of Santo Domingo were among the first in the colonies to take steps against this trade. They fitted out small vessels, which they called Guardacostas, coastguards, and had thempatrol all along the coast. If they succeeded in capturing the smugglers, they proceeded against them with little ceremony. They were either thrown overboard or hanged.
This summary process having stirred in the smugglers the spirit of vindictiveness, they organized for concerted action, determined to resist what they considered unwarranted severity and cruelty. They began to group into fleets, and openly invaded the coasts, burning, plundering, marauding and killing. They looked about for suitable places where to establish settlements of their own that could be used as bases of operation in the neighborhood. Hispaniola or Hayti, where the natives had been almost exterminated and which by misgovernment was nearly deserted, invited them. Herds of cattle and swine were running wild about the island and offered not only valuable provisions for themselves, but promised to become marketable commodities. Some French smugglers settled there, killed the cattle and swine, smoked the beef and salted the pork, and opened a remunerative trade with visiting sailors in these commodities as also in tallow and hides. The Indians of the island called smoked beef "boucan"; hence these traders were called boucaniers which was anglicized into buccaneers. In a similar way the English freebooter was by the French corrupted into flibustier and later came back to us as filibuster. At first the term boucanier was limited to the smugglers and traders in smoked beef living on land, while the flibustier was applied to the smuggler and trader living on board of a ship. But later these nice distinctions were ignored and the names applied indiscriminately to smugglers, freebooters and pirates.
Whatever term one chose to apply to them, these Brethren of the Coast and outlaws of the oceans became almost a recognized institution of the century when rival European powers were fighting for supremacy in the New World and were unanimously arrayed against Spain. There were among them recruits from almost all nations,classes and professions. There were bankrupt shopkeepers, discharged soldiers, runaway convicts, thieves and murderers, vagabonds and adventurers and many a black sheep of good family under an assumed name. A large proportion was attracted by the possibility of getting hold of some of the unlimited treasures of gold and silver which the New World was said to hold. For the reports that had been spread by the participants in the early expeditions, not always limited to natives of Spain and Portugal, were so fairy-like that the classic tale of the Argonauts paled into insignificance beside them. It is reported that a noted French freebooter who had joined the pirates as a runaway debtor, hoped in this way to secure enough to pay off his debts. An equally large number consisted of men who in that period of adventure were seized with an insatiable desire for roving about the world, free from all fetters of conventional life.
The attitude of England, France and Holland against Spain was so hostile, that whenever one of these powers was at war with Spain, these outlaws were granted the rights of belligerents. Mariner-warriors, prepared to defend themselves and to attack by force, they became a mercenary navy at the service of any power that happened to be at war with Spain. At bottom of this united effort, which at the end resulted in ruining the overseas commerce of Spain, was the opposition against its restrictions of the navigation and commerce of other countries. Bancroft who is referred to by Pedro J. Guiteras in his "Historia de la isla de Cuba" says in the first volume of his "History of the United States" (p. 163)
"The moral sense of mariners revolted at the extravagance; since forfeiture, imprisonment, and the threat of eternal woe were to follow the attempt at the fair exchanges of trade; since the freebooter and the pirate could not suffer more than menaced against the merchant who should disregard the maritime monopoly, the seas became infested by reckless buccaneers, the natural offspring of colonial restrictions. Rich Spanish settlements in America were pillaged; fleets attacked and captured; predatory invasions were even made on land to intercept the loads of gold, as they came fromthe mines, by men who might have acquired honor and wealth in commerce, if commerce had been permitted."
"The moral sense of mariners revolted at the extravagance; since forfeiture, imprisonment, and the threat of eternal woe were to follow the attempt at the fair exchanges of trade; since the freebooter and the pirate could not suffer more than menaced against the merchant who should disregard the maritime monopoly, the seas became infested by reckless buccaneers, the natural offspring of colonial restrictions. Rich Spanish settlements in America were pillaged; fleets attacked and captured; predatory invasions were even made on land to intercept the loads of gold, as they came fromthe mines, by men who might have acquired honor and wealth in commerce, if commerce had been permitted."
John Fiske, too, in the second volume of his "Historical Essays," dwells upon the causes of the enormous development of piracy in the seventeenth century. Speaking of the struggle of the Netherlands and England against the greatest military power of the world, he said that the former had to rely largely and the latter almost exclusively, upon naval operations, and continued:
"Dutch ships on the Indian Ocean and English ships off the American coasts effectually cut the Spaniard's sinews of war. Now in that age ocean navigation was still in its infancy, and the work of creating great and permanent navies was only beginning. Government was glad to have individuals join in the work of building and equipping ships of war, and it was accordingly natural that individuals should expect to reimburse themselves for the heavy risk and expense by taking a share in the spoils of victory. In this way privateering came into existence and it played a much more extensive part in maritime warfare than it now does. The navy was but incompletely nationalized. Into expeditions that were strictly military in purpose there entered some of the elements of a commercial speculation, and as we read them with our modern ideas we detect the smack of buccaneering."
"Dutch ships on the Indian Ocean and English ships off the American coasts effectually cut the Spaniard's sinews of war. Now in that age ocean navigation was still in its infancy, and the work of creating great and permanent navies was only beginning. Government was glad to have individuals join in the work of building and equipping ships of war, and it was accordingly natural that individuals should expect to reimburse themselves for the heavy risk and expense by taking a share in the spoils of victory. In this way privateering came into existence and it played a much more extensive part in maritime warfare than it now does. The navy was but incompletely nationalized. Into expeditions that were strictly military in purpose there entered some of the elements of a commercial speculation, and as we read them with our modern ideas we detect the smack of buccaneering."
England in dealing leniently with these buccaneers sailing under her flag, argued that since the gold and silver carried from America to Spain in Spanish ships was used to defray the expenses of a war which threatened her, English mariners were justified in capturing these vessels and seizing such treasures. But there is little doubt that by this interpretation the doors were opened wide to all sorts of trickery and outrage, carried on regardless whether the countries under whose flags both captors and captured sailed were at the time at war or at peace. Thus the naval and commercial restrictions, which Spain imposed upon other countries, proved at the end a boomerang, which did irreparable loss to Spain itself.
For the long war with England had greatly weakenedSpanish power and when the peace of 1604 was concluded, the once so powerful country was visibly entering upon its downward path. Philip II, called the Great, had left a son, Philip III, who had neither the personality nor the ability to continue his famous father's policy of imperialism. Before long it was found that the naval power had sunk from the proud Armada which had challenged England in the time of Queen Elizabeth to no more than thirteen galleys. Ship-building practically ceased. To bring the tobacco crop from Havana to Spain, French and British vessels had to be hired. Nothing was done to keep up the military strength of the kingdom which had once ranked as Europe's greatest military power and had as such been feared by other nations. The army was composed either of inexperienced youths or of nerveless old men. The magazines and arsenals stood empty. With no ships patrolling the seas and protecting the coasts, the predatory outlaws of the ocean, sailing under various flags, soon recognized in the Spanish overseas possessions a territory which upon slight effort promised to yield rich booty. Cuba, Santo Domingo, Jamaica and other West Indian Islands were repeatedly ravaged by them. They established settlements on St. Christopher's Island, called St. Kitts, and on one of the Bahamas, and from these bases carried on their destructive operations.
Notwithstanding the great progress which navigation had made during the previous century, news between the Eastern and the Western continent traveled slowly. This proved a serious drawback to an efficient management of the colonies which European powers had established in America. It was responsible for a great deal of confusion and for the dilatory policy which characterized the government of the Spanish West Indies. Communication between the mother country and Cuba was so irregular and unreliable that Philip III, the new king, was not proclaimed in Cuba until the spring of the year 1599. Yet at no time was the fate of the island moreclosely linked with that of Spain, whose decline profoundly affected Cuba's political and economic conditions during the seventeenth century.
In that most critical period for Spain, when the fate of the Kingdom passed from the hands of Philip the Great into those of his incapable successor, Cuba had the good fortune of being under the administration of strong and able governors. D. Juan Maldonado Barrienuevo, who entered upon his office in the year 1596, did a great deal towards the improvement of the capital, starting the erection of a government house and a public prison. He recognized the great value of sugar as one of the staple products of the island and by every measure possible encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane. He obtained from the King special exemptions and privileges for the builders and owners of sugar mills. He was the first to construct that of Vicente Santa Maria in Fuente de Chaves. Sugar was at that time sold at fabulous prices. A cargo of sugar of inferior quality brought in Seville as much as twelve pesos per arroba (twenty-five pounds). The importation of and traffic in African negroes who were set to work on the sugar plantations was inseparable from this industry which henceforth became the chief source of Cuba's wealth. But Maldonado, too, had troubles with the pirates. As the two galleys in the port were known to be absolutely useless, the pirates approached almost within cannon-shot of the place.
The administration of D. Pedro de Valdes, Ensign (alfevez major) of the Order of Santiago and nephew of the famous admiral of that name, began most auspiciously. He was appointed successor of Maldonado in 1602. A worthy heir of his uncle's glory, he started for his post from San Lucas with a galleon and a galizabra (vessel used in the Levantine trade) on the seventeenth of April. On his voyage he captured an enemy vessel, sailed bravely through a Dutch squadron and sank three of their ships in the port of Santo Domingo. After putting to flight a horde of smugglers that swarmed aboutthe coasts of Cuba, he cast anchor in Havana on the nineteenth of July, 1602.
Valdes immediately set out to improve the artillery of the fortifications, and even to superintend the casting of the cannon. Within the short space of two years he succeeded in providing the port of Havana with eighty pieces of good quality and various calibre, most of which had been cast in the capital itself. Frequent changes of administration had not only hampered the initiative of minor functionaries and opened the door to official malpractice of miscellaneous nature, but had also perceptibly weakened authority. Valdes was determined to re-enforce it and by his energy and rectitude brought upon himself the hatred of those elements who had encouraged disorder. At the end his only loyal supporter was Friar Juan Cabezas de Altamirano, who had succeeded Salcedo in the bishopric of Santiago. But Valdes did not mind the hostility, which was more or less openly manifested towards his government, and continued his untiring efforts in defense of Spanish interests and policies.
The steadily increasing wealth of these colonies excited the covetousness of the pirates and buccaneers. Realizing the necessity of taking defensive action against them, Valdes armed a few vessels, which under the command of his son, D. Fernando, cruised about and succeeded in capturing several ships. In one of these encounters Valdes was wounded, but he pursued his policy undauntedly. He was also successful in his campaign against smuggling which had extensively developed, especially in Bayamo, whither he sent as his deputy the licentiate Melchior Suarez to inquire into the state of things.
The depredations committed by the pirates at this time were so serious that the safety of the inhabitants was imperilled. The population of Santiago seems to have been especially singled out to be harassed by the outlaws. They set fire to the cathedral and other churches of the town, robbed them of the precious vessels and vestments and committed other outrages. Terror-stricken,the inhabitants fled to neighboring towns or hid in the country. The city faced gradual depopulation. Even the Bishop D. Friu Juan de las Cabezas and some of the government officials withdrew to Bayamo, which, for a time at least, offered safety.
But in the year 1604 even the roads in the vicinity of Bayamo were no longer safe for travelers. When the bishop was on a tour of visitation in the neighborhood, in company with the canons Francisco Pueblo and Diego Sanchez, a horde of pirates under the leadership of the notorious Giron surprised him at the stock farm of Yara. They tied him and took him barefoot to Mazanillo, where one of their bilanders (sloops) was anchored. They kept him on board their vessel for the period of eighty days, expecting the authorities of the town to present themselves and offer an enormous sum as ransom. The name of Gregorio Ramos is inscribed in the annals of the island as the bishop's deliverer. It was an undertaking calling for unusual cleverness and courage and Ramos acquitted himself most brilliantly. He bravely faced the redoubtable Giron and rescued the bishop by paying a ransom of two hundred ducats, one thousand skins and one hundred arrobas (twenty-five pounds of sixteen ounces each) of jerked beef. After having brought the prelate into security, he returned with a force of valiant men and attacked the pirates. He succeeded in destroying the whole horde and even in killing their leader Giron, whose head was triumphantly carried on the point of a lance to Bayamo, where it was exhibited in the market-place.
The growth of the island which then numbered from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants was greatly hampered by such invasions. Santiago offering so little safety, the bishop ventured to suggest the removal of the cathedral to Havana; but the plan was found impracticable and never carried out. In time, however, the prelates began to ignore the disapproval of the government and to install themselves in Havana. Other members of the ecclesiastical cabildo (chapter) followed theirexample and also left Santiago. Governor Valdes, in accord with the ayuntamento, demonstrated to the king the pitiful state of the island and urged as an indispensable necessity the stationing of a permanent fleet in Cuban waters. Only in this way did it seem possible to check the increasing pirate menace which was paralyzing commerce and arresting the progress of the island.
But the royal government at Madrid, weak and helpless in the hands of an incapable sovereign, lacked stability and strength to cope with the unrest and confusion that gradually set in. The inadequate fortifications and insufficient garrison had left the coast of Cuba almost without defense. Knowledge of these conditions had spread among the corsairs prowling about and awaiting an opportunity to descend upon the unprotected population and made them more and more audacious. Philip III, a weak though humane ruler, had transferred the reigns of government to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma. But procrastination seems to have been one of the permanent features in the Spanish kingdom's management of her American possessions, and little was done to insure her safety.
At last the king heeded the clamorous appeals of the authorities representing his loyal but unfortunate subjects in Cuba and ordered some timely steps to be taken. Royal letters patent of October eighth, 1607, arrived from Madrid. In order to safeguard the interests of the inhabitants they decreed that the island be divided into two districts, an eastern and a western, with separate jurisdiction, and Havana and Santiago as their respective capitals. The governor of Havana retained the title of Captain-General of the island, but his general jurisdiction was reduced to the territory between Cape San Antonio and eighty leagues east of the capital. The governor of Santiago was named Capitan de Guerra (chief military authority) with a salary of one thousand eight hundred pesos and jurisdiction over the rest of the island including Puerto Principe. The governor and militarycommander were to remain in Havana, this being the most important district. As governor of Santiago was appointed Juan de Villaverde, a Castilian from the Morro. He was charged with the defense of the place against pirates and other enemies disturbing the peace of the island and impeding its economic and social development.
This division caused innumerable difficulties and conflicts of authority and Valdes had reasons to object to it. He had established order in the Treasury and other branches of the administration, and he feared that the new order might bring new confusion. In the meantime his energy and rectitude caused the plots and intrigues spun by his enemies to multiply to such an extent that they succeeded in reaching the ear of the Spanish Audiencia. Valdes and his deputy Suarez were indicted, but on proving their innocence triumphed over their slanderers by being reinstated in authority. Then the Audiencia reversed the trial by order of the Court, and the calumniators were convicted and sentenced to various penalties. But Valdes once more manifested his noble character by joining the Bishop in an appeal to the King to pardon the convicted men. Soon after he retired from his office.
The court of Spain, represented by the Duke of Lerma, who towards the end of his career succeeded in adding to this title that of a cardinal, seemed at this period to be deeply concerned with the religious life of Cuba. This is apparent during the governorship of Don Gaspar Luis Pereda, Knight of the military order of Santiago, who was inaugurated on the sixteenth of June, 1608. Don Juan de Villaverde y Oceta was appointed to the governorship of Santiago. Monastic orders had acquired much land on the island and established their homes. There were at that time six convents in Cuba; three in Havana, of the order of San Franciscus, San Domingo and San Augustin, one of mercenarios, of the order of la Merced in Trinidad, and two others of the Franciscan order in Santiago and Bayamo. The government of Cuba was instructed by royal decree to inquireinto and superintend the establishment of the convent of St. Augustine, then in process of erection in Havana.
The excellent bishop Cabezas, who had so signally distinguished himself during the preceding administration, was in the year 1610 promoted to the bishopric of Guatemala. He was replaced by the Carmelite padre Don Alfonso Enriquez de Almendariz, who immediately made efforts to have the king remove his episcopal seat to Havana. This caused serious disputes between the bishop and Governor Pereda, who sent the king a report disapproving of this removal. The conflict between the two culminated in the excommunication of Pereda by the bishop. The administration of his successor, Don Sancho de Alquiza, former governor of Venezuela and Guyana, was brief. He was inaugurated on the seventh of September, 1616, and died on the sixth of June, 1619. He was much interested in the economic development of Cuba, promoted the development of sugar industry, encouraged the employment of negroes on the plantations. His efforts to exploit the mineral wealth of the island were also commendable. He placed the supervision of the copper mines under the direction of the military government and the work proceeded most promisingly. The copper extracted was of superior quality and two thousand quintals of the metal were annually exported to Spain.
The sudden death of Alquiza led to much agitation due to the violent spirit of rivalry between the auditor Don Diego Vallizo and the Castellan of the Morro, Geronimo del Quero, who aspired to the governorship. A great calamity occurred in Havana during this interim administration. On the twenty-second of April, 1620, a fire broke out and assumed such disastrous proportions, that two hundred homes were destroyed and the growth of the city was for a time seriously crippled.
The dangers that beset the development of Cuba were rapidly multiplying instead of diminishing. Frequent change of administration was not calculated to insureefficiency and stability in the management of the island's affairs. Enterprises begun under one governor were interrupted under the next. Sometimes the original plan was essentially changed and entirely abandoned. A striking example of this sad state of affairs was furnished during the third decade of the seventeenth century. Don Francisco Venegas was inaugurated as governor on the fourteenth of August, 1620. He had been charged with the organization of a war fleet for the protection of the coast from invasions by pirates and freebooters. For that purpose he had brought with him some vessels. They came at an opportune moment for British and Dutch hookers had been roving in West Indian waters. The vessels of the Cuban armadilla under Vazquez de Montiel defeated these intruders at the Island of Tortuga, captured three of them and put their crews to the sword. But joy over this victory was offset by the epidemic of malignant fever which broke out and raged among the population. Another great loss to Spain was occasioned by the hurricane which in the following year sank on the reefs of Los Martires several vessels of the fleet that had been sent by Marquis de Cadreyta, D. Lope Diaz Armendiarez, and were returning to Spain with great riches.
Governor Venegas had in obedience to instructions from his government armed an esquadron, for the maintenance of which he had imposed upon the people a special tax. But on his death, on the eighteenth of April, 1624, it was found that the work on the fleet was far from complete, and in spite of the constant menace of invasion by pirates, nothing was heard of a resumption of the task during the governorship of his successors. The political governor who temporarily assumed the reigns of the administration was D. Damian Velasquez de Contreras, assisted by Juan Esquiro Saavedra as military governor. During their interimistic rule a prison was built and a new monastery established.
The successor nominated in the place of Venegas in theyear 1624 was the Governor of Cartagena, Don Garcia Giron, who, however, resigned on the twentieth of July of the same year. During the interim occasioned by his resignation the names of Esquival Aranda and de Riva-Martiz are mentioned in connection with the management of the island's affairs. There finally arrived from Spain D. Lorenzo de Cabrera, a native of Ubeda, corregido of Cadiz, field-marshal and Knight of the Order of Santiago. He was duly installed in his office on the sixteenth of September, 1626. In the command of the Morro Esquival was replaced by Captain Cristobal de Arranda and in the government of Santiago Rodrigo de Velasco was succeeded by Captain D. Pedro de Fonseca.
During the administration of Cabrera, Cuba was agitated by many exciting occurrences. Cabrera and the Marquis de Cadreyta, who commanded the fleet that had brought him to Havana, made a thorough inspection of the fortifications in order to report on their condition and propose improvements. Among the most urgent Cabrera considered the manufacture of a copper chain to shut off the entrance to the two forts; he also had an intrenchment constructed capable of sheltering two companies. The plan to block the entrance of the port with trunks of trees in order to prevent pirates from making an entry, seems, however, to have been somewhat quixotic. As Spain was then at war with the United Provinces, Cabrera provided for possible contingencies by furnishing the forts with large stores of provisions and took other measures to prepare for eventual attacks by the enemy.
These preparations proved to be only too justified. For the Dutch had fitted out an expedition against the Spanish possessions in America. In June of that year there appeared a fleet of more than thirty vessels with three thousand men, commanded by Pit Hein, one of the most famous mariners of his time. The Dutch had several encounters with the Spanish fleet and were compelled to retire from Havana, which they had tried to enter. They gained some advantages over the armada commanded by Don Juan de Benavides, but in the following year the Spaniards inflicted great losses upon the Dutch fleet commanded by Cornelius Fels, driving him back from Havana and capturing one of his frigates.
A little pamphlet published or printed by Heinrich Mellort Jano in Amsterdam in 1628 gives the Dutch version of the expedition of Pit Hein. It is entitled "Ausführlicher Bericht wie es der Silber Flotille herganger wann (durch wen wie und wie viel) solcherin diesem 1628. Jahr Erobert fort und eingebracht." Therein is related with much detail how the West India Company, recognizing the rich booty which the capture of Spanish ships promised, had furnished and fitted out a fleet and manned it with a crew of brave and hearty sailors and soldiers, with the avowed purpose of intercepting a silver-laden fleet returning from the colonies to Spain. The Dutch set out on the twentieth of May, 1628, under the command of General Petri Peters Heyn and Admiral Heinrich Corneli Lang.
The Dutch reached San Antonio on the west end of Cuba on the fourth of August. Their arrival became known to the Spaniards and on the twenty-third of that month Governor Cabrera dispatched some vessels to warn the silver fleet. General Peters Heyn sailed close up to the fortifications of Havana and then turned three or four miles out to sea to meet the treasure-laden ships, which his informers had reported to be sailing in that neighborhood, but south winds drove him northeast. Finally on the eighth of September the famous fleet hove in sight, and the Dutch captured nine vessels, and seeing eight more, sailed briskly out to cut them off from the port of Havana. The Spaniards arrived at Matanzas Bay, hotly pursued by the Dutch, and immediately organized a defensive. But they were outnumbered in the combat which ensued and laid down their arms. The Dutch General and his staff offered thanks to the Almighty for this great victory. The next day the ships were all secured fast by chains, and the third day thebooty was unloaded from the Spanish and transferred to the Dutch ships. There were bars of silver, crosses, chalices, other vessels and art objects fashioned out of silver, in all weighing eighteen thousand four hundred pounds.
The Dutch started on their home voyage on the seventeenth of September and took with them four Spanish galleons, two laden with skins and two with iron and other ore. On the twenty-sixth they reached Bermuda and sent two couriers to Holland to report to the directors of the West India Company. The first reached Rotterdam on the fifteenth of November and received from the Prince of Orange as reward for the good news a jewelled gold chain. To the story of the expedition is added a detailed account of the goods carried by the individual ships, which shows that they also brought dye-stuffs, oil, wine, silks, furniture and other merchandise which with the silver, other ore and skins brought the total value up to thirty millions, presumably of Dutch gulden.
In the meantime there sailed from Cadiz an imposing squadron under the command of the Marquis de Valdueza and carrying as second in command the celebrated mariner D. Antonio de Oquendo. The object of the expedition was to clear the coasts of the islands of all the pirates which had begun to infest the Antilles. Off Nelson's Island, or Nevis, so called by Columbus in 1493 because the cloud-veiled summit of its highest peak reminded him of snow, they captured four Dutch corsairs in a violent combat from which the island suffered seriously. In September the Spanish fleet sailed for the island of San Cristobal, and obtained possession of the fortifications of Charles and Richelieu, compelling the French filibusters who were garrisoned there to surrender. These brilliant exploits had within the brief space of eight weeks placed the Spaniards in possession of two thousand three hundred prisoners, one hundred and seventy-three pieces of artillery, seven vessels and a great quantity of arms, powder and tobacco. Besides losingthe islands the pirates suffered a loss of property to the amount of fifty million pesos. For a time the Antilles and surrounding sea enjoyed freedom from the menace that had hung over them and disturbed their tranquillity for so many years.
But in spite of these successes Cabrera was unpopular. By permitting a cargo of negroes to be sold in Havana he had called forth heated discussion in official circles and among the people. Not a few voices were heard to question his honesty. Other charges, some of a grave nature, were raised against him and an investigation was demanded. In response to the island's urgent request the Court of Madrid sent Don Francisco de Praga, prosecutor of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, to Cuba, with instructions to inquire into the state of things. The charges being proved, Cabrera was removed from office on the seventh of October, 1630, and taken to Spain for trial. He died in Seville in a dungeon. De Praga acted as provisional political governor, and the Alcalde of the Morro, Cristobal de Arranda, as military governor until the successor of Cabrera arrived from Spain.
Spainwas at this time gradually working her defection, political and economic. Philip III. had died in 1621 and, as he had thrown the responsibilities of the government upon the shoulders of the Duke of Lerma, so his successor, Philip IV., left them to his favorite Olivares. Olivares immediately renewed the war with the United Provinces, which were still a thorn in the flesh of Spain, for, on being freed from the Spanish yoke, they had plunged into feverish activity which portended their development into a maritime and mercantile power bound in due time to rival and surpass Spain.
The Dutch were by the nature of their country obliged to seek their means of subsistence upon the sea and in far-off regions. Their famous son, Hugo Grotius, had been the first to proclaim the freedom of the seas as an indispensable condition to the growth and progress of the world's civilization. Since Lisbon had closed her ports to the Netherlands and Spain was imposing a series of unreasonable restrictions upon the navigators of other countries, the Dutch had for some time past been determined to discover a passage by which their ships could penetrate the seas of Asia. Dutch mariners who had been in the employ of the Spaniards and Portuguese and had shared in their voyages of discovery, had brought home tales of the strange lands and stranger peoples, which stirred the imagination of the ambitious and capable nation. The unknown continents and islands stimulated the scholars' desire for investigation and research. Exaggerated reports about the mineral wealth and other treasures of the New World had roused the merchants' spirit of enterprise and acquisition. As visions of the riches that awaited development in those foreign climes,and of territories they might once call their own, rose before the minds of these merchant princes and lords of the sea, the thirst of conquest quickened in this sturdy seafaring people.
Step by step the Dutch followed the discoveries and explorations of the Spaniards, and recorded and described them minutely. From the middle of the sixteenth century on the publishing houses of Amsterdam, Leyden and other centers of the printing trade of the country sent out books dealing with the new continent conquered by their enemy, and especially the West Indies. Stirred by this reading, the spirit of the people rose and demanded a share in the lands and the wealth which their mariners had helped to discover. There was an abundance of unemployed labor and capital in the country. Hence the government, knowing only too well that the future of the Dutch people lay on the seas, encouraged this spirit and deliberated upon numerous plans of exploration and colonization.
The first step towards a realization of these plans was taken when a charter was granted to the Dutch East India Company, which gave that organization the exclusive right to commerce beyond the Cape of Good Hope on the one side and the Straits of Magellan on the other side. As it recalled similarly privileged institutions in feudal times, when the rights of the classes engaged in trade and industry had to be protected against violation by noble lords, more properly called robber barons, the ideal this company represented appealed to the people. Statesmen of other countries realized its advantages and the Dutch East India Company became the model for the great trade corporations which eventually sprang up in France and England.
But the East alone could not engage all the forces of the active little country. The tales of the sailors and the books about the Western Hemisphere made the people look more and more longingly towards the continent and the islands across the Atlantic. There unlimited opportunities beckoned; there was an outlet for their energies. But unfortunately the Spaniards had long before this established their claims in that continent and the men at the helm of the Dutch government were determined to keep peace with Spain. Although Holland's great pioneer of the "freedom of the seas," Hugo Grotius, refers in his writings to the great plans upon which the Dutch were deliberating at the time when Captain John Smith sailed for Virginia, no step was taken in that direction until two years after the founding of Jamestown. The voyage of Henry Hudson up the river that bears his name, and the eventual establishment of the colony called Nieuw Amsterdam, did not conflict with any Spanish interests and opened the eyes of the enterprising people to other possibilities in the vast new continent. Before long the ships of the little confederacy were found in many harbors all along the Atlantic coast. They discovered some little islands in the West Indies, which the Spaniards had not found worth while to colonize, because their rocky structure was prohibitive to cultivation. So they did not hesitate to anchor their ships in the inlets of these islands and finally made them a center of contraband traffic with the continent.
The States-General of Holland still hesitated to grant a charter to the long-projected West India Company. But they found means to open to private enterprise almost unrestricted facilities for operation. On the twenty-seventh of March, 1614, they enacted a measure giving private individuals an exclusive privilege for four successive voyages to any passage, harbor or country they should hereafter find. This gave a powerful impetus to the enterprise of Dutch mariners and merchants, and also to adventurers of divers nationality. Finally on the third of June, 1621, the Dutch West India Company received a charter for twenty-four years with privilege of renewal, which gave it the right to traffic and plant colonies on the coast of America from the Straits of Magellan to the extreme north. The ships of the company immediately adopted the policy of reprisals on Spanish commerce. In the expedition of Pit Hein in 1628, which has been narrated in the previous chapter, the privateers of the company secured booty eighty times more in value than all their own exports for the preceding four years had amounted to. Dutch buccaneers became as much of a menace to Cuban ports and to the ships plying between Cuba and other countries as the French and British had been.
The sixty years of Philip IV.'s reign proved a long series of failures for Spain. They would have resulted in serious disadvantage to the American possessions, and especially to Cuba, had not the immediate successors of Cabrera in the governorship of Cuba been able men who managed the affairs of the island with sagacity and foresight. D. Juan Bitrian de Viamonte, Caballero de Calatrave, a native of Navarre, was appointed head of the administration and entered upon his duties on the seventh of October, 1630. As auditor of the interior was appointed the Licentiate Pedro so who a few months later was succeeded by D. Francisco Rege Corbalan. One of the most famous religious institutions in the West Indies was founded about this time. A pious woman, known as Sister Magdalen de Jesus, opened a retreat for women devoting themselves to a religious life; it was at first called Beaterio, but subsequently became known far and wide as the convent of the nuns of Santa Clara.
Governor Bitrian de Viamonte was neither strong of physique nor of personality; yet he discharged the functions of his office most successfully. During his administration was projected the construction of two towers, one in Chorrera, the other in Cojimar. The garrison of the place was increased and Castellane was made a respectable stronghold. He also organized the militia, creating six companies in Havana, two in Santiago and two in Bayamo. He had, however, serious disagreements with the Marquis de Cadreyta, and being something of an invalid and considered unfit to defend the island againstthe attacks of some powerful enemy, he was removed to the comparatively easier post of Captain-General of Santo Domingo. His successor was the Field-marshal D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa, a native of Burgos. He suffered shipwreck on the coast of Mariel while on his voyage from Spain and lost everything but his patents, but was duly inaugurated on the twenty-third of October, 1634.
The precautions taken by his successor to insure an effective defense of the island were by no means superfluous. For as the power of Spain was steadily declining, that of the Netherlands and of England was rising. The establishment of the Dutch along the Hudson, their founding of Nieuw Amsterdam and their settlements on some of the minor West Indies, had brought the danger of Dutch invasion nearer than ever before. The colonies founded by the British at Jamestown and Plymouth had brought within reach the eventuality of having to guard the Spanish possessions against the British as well. Dutch and British navigation on the Atlantic was vastly increasing and the future foreshadowed conflicts of the interests of Spain and Holland on the one, and Spain and England on the other side. The Cuban authorities, wrought up and kept in a perpetual state of tension by their experiences with the buccaneers, had become morbidly susceptible to danger of any kind. The appearance of a foreign ship in the neighborhood of Cuban waters sufficed to fill them with the gravest apprehension, lest the stranger might harbor hostile designs.
These apprehensions were justified, for the Dutch soon resumed their operations against Cuba. It was reported that Maurice of Nassau himself had set out with a powerful squadron, though no historian has any record of it. But in July, 1638, Cornelius Fels, who was by the Spaniards called Pie de Palo, appeared in the Bahama Channel, and from that point sailed for Havana at the head of a fleet of some twenty Dutch vessels enforced by some filibusters. Pie de Palo took his post at a convenientplace to intercept any message sent by Governor Riano to Mexico or Peru. Near the coast of Cabanas the fleet of the Spaniards, commanded by D. Carlos Ibarra and composed of seven badly armed galleons and hookers, came across the Dutch. Ibarra formed a battle line extending his vessels so as to flank the enemy. Pie de Palo with six of his galleons bravely attacked the Spanish shipsCapitanaandAlmirante, being under the impression that they carried a great quantity of coined money and bars of gold and silver.
Relying on the experience and the valor of Ibarra and Pedro de Ursua, who commanded the two vessels so proudly attacked by Pie de Palo, the captains Sancho Urdambra, Jacinto Molendez, the Marquis de Cordenosa, Pablo Contreras and Juan de Campos endeavored in the mean time to check the other galleons of the enemy. The unequal combat between Ibarra and Ursua and the Dutch vessels lasted eight hours and the brave Spanish sailors issued from it as victors. Pie de Palo was seriously wounded, more than four hundred Dutchmen were killed and three of their vessels were destroyed. The enemy fled, pursued by Ibarra, who returned to Vera Cruz after saving the honor of the Spanish flag and the riches the fleet had carried. They sang a Te Deum in Mexico as thanksgiving for the victory and King Philip IV. rewarded Ibarra and his men by rich gifts. The success of this expedition awakened in Havana the old spirit of adventure and military prowess. Cuba had so far been the victim of piracy and privateering; now it decided to defend her rights by fitting out her own privateers and sending them against the enemy. The first encounter was with corsairs that had been lying in wait for a vessel coming from Vera Cruz; the Cuban who distinguished himself in the command of the expedition which frustrated the enemy's designs, was Andres Manso de Contreras.
The demand for ships suitable for undertakings of this kind was so great that the ship-builders Careraand Perez of Oporto were kept busy building vessels for that purpose.
The administration of D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa was short, but some important measures were enacted in that period. The Exchequer Tribunal de Corientes was established with a single auditor for the royal chests of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida and other Spanish possessions. When it was subsequently found that the duties were too numerous for one man, a second official was appointed. It was then arranged that while one of the auditors was to remain in Cuba, the other was alternately to visit the other cajas (chests). In this way the government tried to avoid delays and complications which had caused considerable trouble. At this period, too, a commission of the Inquisition of Carthagena, elsewhere generally abolished, established its residence in Havana. Ecclesiastical life assumed greater proportions and a wider sphere of influence. Bishops who had previously looked upon Havana as an undesirable place of residence, no longer hesitated to accept a call to that city.
Work on the fortifications of the island was actively pursued during the administration of Gamboa. It was ordered that el Morro should have a garrison of two hundred, and that as soon as feasible, la Punta and la Fuerza were to be garrisoned by one hundred men each. The construction of the fort at the entrance to the port of Santiago de Cuba was an important improvement. It was called San Pedro de la Rocca, in honor of the governor of that city, D. Pedro de la Rocca, although it is generally known as the Morro. A garrison was installed, consisting of one hundred and fifty men sent from the Peninsula, and the ammunition destined for the defense came from New Spain. The power of the armadilla, which had theretofore been arbitrary, was also regulated at this time. Governor Gamboa, however, retired from office on the fifteenth of September, 1639, when he had barely inaugurated these improvements, and sailed for Spain.
Gamboa's successor was D. Alvaro de Luna y Sarmiento, a knight of the Order of Alcantara. During his administration, which began on the fifteenth of September, 1639, and ended on the twenty-ninth of September, 1647, the work of constructing defenses was eagerly pushed. Two leagues leeward of Chorrera a fort was erected. At the mouths of the rivers Casiguagas and Cojimar were built the two towers that had been planned by Governor Viamonte; they were intended to protect those advanced points of the capital. The able engineer Bautista Antonelli superintended the construction of these works of fortification. As the cost of these structures was defrayed by the inhabitants of the city, the governor saw fit to entrust their defense to three companies of men recruited from the native population. It was the first regiment of the kind organized on the island. By January of the next year the fortifications of the Castillo del Morro were also completed.
With the insurrection of Portugal which occurred at this period the pirates became bolder and renewed their outrages. The Dutch, too, threatened Havana once more. A squadron commanded by Admiral Fels had approached close to the coast, but had been driven back by a violent hurricane. Four of the vessels had been left between Havana and Mariel. Governor Luna sent Major Lucas de Caravajal against them; three hundred Dutch were taken prisoners, and seventeen bronze cannon, forty-eight iron cannons, two pedreros (swivel guns) and a great stock of arms and ammunition were captured. The captured pieces served to reenforce the artillery of the forts of La Punta and Morro.
D. Diego de Villalba y Toledo, Knight of the Order of Alcantara, became the successor of Governor Luna on the twenty-eighth of September, 1647. His assistant deputy was the Licentiate Francisco de Molina. A great calamity befell the island in the second year of his administration. A terrible epidemic broke out in the spring of 1649; the documents and chronicles of the period givehardly any details about the origin and the character of the disease, but it was most likely a putrid fever imported from the Indian population of Mexico and Cartagena by barges that had come from those places. The people who were attacked by it succumbed within three days, and it was estimated that in the course of five months one third of the population died.