CHAPTER II

Reinando en Espana Don Felipe V. El Animoso y Siendo Gobernador y Captan General de Esta Plaza E Isla de Cuba El Brigadier Don Dionisio Martinez de la Vega, se Hiciron Estas Bovedas, Almacenes, Terraplenes, Y Muralla Hasta San Telmo; Se Acabo La Murella Y Baluartes Desde El Angel Hasta El Colateral De La Puerta de Tierra Y Desde El Anguilo De la Tonaza Hasta El Otro Colatoral; Se Puso En Estado y con Respeto La Artilleria; Se Hizo La Caldaza, Y En El Real Artillero Navios De Guerra Y Tres Paquebotos, Con Otras Obras Menores; Y Lo Gueda Continua do Por Marzo de 1731 Con 220 Esclavos De S. M. Que Con Su Arbotrio Ha Puesto En Las Reales Fabrica.(While King Philip V. the Brave reigned in Spain and the Brigadier Don Dioniosio Martinez de la Vega was Governor of this place and the island of Cuba, there were built three vaults, stores, terraces and a wall as far as Telma, were finished the wall and bastions from El Angel unto the Colateral of the Gate of Tierra, and from the corner of the tenaillo unto the other collateral; was set up in good condition the artillery; was constructed the high road and were built in the royal dockyard war vessels and three packet-boats and minor ships; and this was continued in March, 1730, with 200 slaves of his Majesty, who deigned to have them placed in the royal shops.)

(While King Philip V. the Brave reigned in Spain and the Brigadier Don Dioniosio Martinez de la Vega was Governor of this place and the island of Cuba, there were built three vaults, stores, terraces and a wall as far as Telma, were finished the wall and bastions from El Angel unto the Colateral of the Gate of Tierra, and from the corner of the tenaillo unto the other collateral; was set up in good condition the artillery; was constructed the high road and were built in the royal dockyard war vessels and three packet-boats and minor ships; and this was continued in March, 1730, with 200 slaves of his Majesty, who deigned to have them placed in the royal shops.)

Accounts of foreigners that traveled in the West Indies and visited Cuba during this period give glimpses of the cities and the life therein which are interesting reading.John Campbell, the author of "The Spanish Empire in America" and "A Concise History of Spanish America," published in London in the year 1747, says in the latter book, in the description of Havana:

"The Buildings are fair, but not high, built of Stone and make a very good appearance, though it is said they are but meanly furnished. There are eleven Churches and Monasteries and two handsome hospitals. The Churches are rich and magnificent; that dedicated to St. Clara having seven Altars, all adorned with Plate to a great Value; And the Monastery adjoining contains a hundred Nuns with their Servants, all habited in Blue. It is not, as some have reported, a Bishop's see, though the Bishop generally resides there. But the Cathedral is at St. Jago, and the Revenue of this Prelate not less than fifty thousand Pieces of Eight per Annum. Authors differ exceedingly as to the Number of Inhabitants in this City. A Spanish Writer, who was there in 1700 and who had Reason to be well acquainted with the Place, computed them at twenty-six thousand, and we may well suppose that they are increased since. They are a more polite and sociable People than the Inhabitants of any of the Ports on the Continent, and of late imitate the French both in their Dress and their Manner."

The Spanish historian, Emilio Blanchet, also limns a picture of life in Havana about this time. Always inclined to express their feelings of joy or of sorrow in a rather demonstrative manner, every national event of some importance gave occasion for festivities that lasted sometimes several days, and in one instance almost a whole month. This extraordinary example of Cuban delight in great public celebrations occurred in the year 1735 in Villaclara. The recent victories of Spain in Italy and the ascension of Carlos to the Neapolitan crown were celebrated in that town from the first to the twenty-second of February. Of course, the national sport of bull-fights figured largely in the program of this month of festivities; but there were also equestrian contests, military games, processions and cavalcades, and for the first time in Cuban history, dramatic performances. Besides suchunusual occasions as the celebration of a victory, the numerous church festivals also encouraged the people's love of more or less ceremonial display and solemn public functions. The eyes of the people loved to feast upon the processions on foot or on horseback which took place on various saints' days, especially on the days of St. John, St. Peter, St. James and St. Anna.

The British writer quoted above was right in saying that the Cubans emulated the example and followed the models of the French in the dress of the period. For Blanchet gives a description of the dress of the Cuban women of that time, which evokes before the reader visions of the elaborate costumes inseparable from the period of Louis XIV. The Spanish historian dwells at some detail upon the gorgeous dresses of the wealthy women of Cuba. There were gowns with long, sweeping trains, the material of which was mostly a heavy brocade silk, interwoven with threads of gold or silver, trimmed with taffeta in sky blue or crimson. Other material was trimmed with gold or silver braids. The belt generally of rose taffeta joined the waist to the skirt. The hair was adorned with a large silver or gold pin which held the folds of a richly trimmed mantilla, also either of brocade or some lighter tissue, gracefully falling back over the shoulders. The undergarments were of silk taffeta, all of these materials being flowered or checkered and interwoven with threads of gold. Velvet was also used in the fashioning of vestees and jackets. Cloaks, capes and redingotes were either of camelot or barocan, or of some other fine cloth. Pink was the favorite color. Laces and embroideries were used on the dress of both men and women. No cavalier was without a frill. The use of powder for the face and hair was quite common, and the powdered queue was as indispensable to the costume of a cavalier as the buckled shoe.

When Governor Martinez de la Vega was promoted to the post of President and Captain-General of Panama, there was appointed in his place, as the thirty-sixth governor of Cuba, Fieldmarshal D. Juan Francisco Guemez y Horcasitas, a native of Oviedo and son of Baron de Guemez. Valdes remarks that during his administration was born his son D. Juan, who seems to have been also actively engaged in public life. Guemez was governor of Cuba long enough to occupy a prominent place in the chronicles of the island. He was inaugurated on the eighteenth of March, 1734, and continued in office until the twenty-eighth of April, 1746. Guemez entered upon the political and military administration simultaneously with the Franciscan padre D. Juan Lasso de la Vega, who assumed the spiritual leadership of the people as successor to Bishop Valdez. During his governorship, the Municipio of Havana was organized, and Santiago de Cuba being for the first time subordinated to his authority, Havana became virtually the capital of the island, and one of the most important of Spanish America. In that civic corporation, a very prominent member was the Habanero D. Jose Martin Felix de Arrate, who wrote a valuable history of Havana under the title "Llave del Nuevo Mundo, Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, la Habana descriptiva: Noticias de su fundacion, aumentos y Estado."

Governor Guemez introduced some measures of reform which tended to appease the discontent occasioned by previous abuses of municipal power. One of these was the rigid enforcement of the royal decree which forbade theayuntamentos to trade in land. He also improved the functioning of the primary courts called Justicias ordinarias; for a great deal of disorder was caused by the fact that their decisions were rarely promptly obeyed. He associated with them the tenentes a guerra, military lieutenants, whose authority was more likely to be respected. One of these, the Captain of militia D. Jose Antonio Gomez, was sent to the salt works of Punta Hicacos and Cayo Sal, where much confusion had reigned, to regulate the salt production, and insure an efficient functioning of the organization concerned in it. He became later known as a famous guerillero, a civilian serving in guerilla warfare, and was familiarly called by the people Pepe Antonio.

During this administration some very important work was done towards sanitation. Guemez succeeded in having the harbor thoroughly dredged; by urgent appeals to the residents he secured the removal from the streets of all encumbrances of traffic and insisted upon having them regularly cleaned. It can be justly said that, if the standard of public health in Cuba was raised at this period, it was undoubtedly due to his efforts. Nor was he indifferent to the extortion practiced upon the poorer inhabitants by unscrupulous landlords and shopkeepers, one of his ordinances to that effect regulating the prices at which provisions were to be sold by the grocers and thus insuring a proper and sufficient supply of these necessities to the population which otherwise would have been underfed. He was also the first governor of Cuba who paid attention to the island's forests and curbed the operations of the thieves that ravaged them. Of course such measures were bound to be resented by those elements who had previously profited from the freedom with which they could carry on their trade regardless of human equity andpublic welfare; and although the administration of Guemez was one of great material prosperity for the people, he did not escape the fate that befell so many of his predecessors, that of being made the target of slanderous accusations. But the government had profited from previous experiences of this character, that of the Marquis de Casa-Torres being still remembered; it was no longer inclined to lend so ready an ear to charges raised against the governors, and paid no attention to the attempts made by his enemies to discredit Guemez in Madrid.

The colonial government was then in charge of D. Jose del Campillo, an official of great knowledge and sagacity and of wide experience in economic and financial affairs. Many of the improvements that had been introduced in Spain by Minister Ori were through D. Campillo's efforts now applied to the colonies in America. Among these valuable innovations were the regulation of the revenues, the reduction of import and export duties, and the distribution of the realenzes or royal patrimonies. But equally important was the creation of royal commissions to inquire into the state, the resources and needs of the provinces, and to organize industry and commerce upon a sound and equitable basis.

On the other hand it cannot be denied that powerful influences were at work to secure privileges for private corporations, which in a measure threatened to undo what those commissions attained. The organization which came into being in Havana in the year 1740 under the name Real Compania de Comercio under the patronage of the Virgin del Rosario, was such a corporation and it seems doubtful whether the privileges it enjoyed and the profits that accrued from them did not outweigh the advantages which were promised to the colony. The company was given a general monopoly, including the exclusiveright of exportation of tobacco and sugar; it had the right of importation of articles of consumption in the island without paying custom on goods imported into the interior. Of course, it pledged itself on its part to render the community certain services which should not be underestimated. It was to build in its dockyards vessels of war and of trade; to supply the warships anchored in the harbor with provisions for their crews; to furnish ten armed vessels for the persecution of contraband; and for the transportation of the country's products to the port of Cadiz; to bring from Spain the ammunition needed in Cuba; to provision the garrison of Florida; and to furnish articles of equipment to the weather-side fleet.

The Captain-General himself was given the office of Juez conservador (judge conservator). The first president of the company was D. Martin de Aroztegui. The organizers had at first counted upon a capital of one million pesos, but it barely exceeded nine hundred thousand. Each share was valued at five hundred duros (dollars) and eight shares were required to entitle the holder to a vote in the general conventions. There were at first five directors in all, but they were gradually reduced to two only. Some historians had warm praise for the work of the company, among them Arrate, who with many others was preoccupied by the economic interests and the commercial progress of the community. But there is no doubt that at the end it did not bring about the results that had been expected. During twenty years of its existence Cuba derived no tangible benefit. The importation of goods from Spain did not amount to more than three vessels annually. The exports amounted to less than twenty-one thousand arrobas of sugar (a weight of twenty-five pounds of sixteen ounces each).

Governor Guemez was not oblivious to the dangers forevermenacing the security and the peace of the island. He made great improvements on the batteries of el Morro; he had parts of the city walls, which ran from la Tenaze to Paula, demolished, and rebuilt of better material; he had the walls on the inland side re-enforced so as to offer greater resistance in case of attack by enemies. To all these improvements the citizens of Havana contributed generously; they furnished ten thousand peons (day-laborers) and as many beasts of burden to do the work. Guemez also built factories in the parish of El Jaguey on the other side of the bay and established the first powder magazine on the coast. During the latter part of his administration, in the year 1743, the town of Guanabacoa received its charter. The following year, 1744, is memorable in the history of Cuba as the year when the first postal service was organized. Thus the governorship of D. Guemez proved for the island a period of great civic and material progress and prosperity. The peace it enjoyed during the earlier years was, however, to be seriously disturbed later on.

For even towards the end of the administration of D. Martinez de la Vega clouds had arisen upon the political horizon of Europe which had begun to cast their shadows over the colonies. The slave-trade sanctioned by the famous Assiento agreement gave rise to more and more serious tension between the governments of England and of Spain. In order to execute that part of the Treaty of Utrecht which related to the importation of negro slaves into Spanish America, the British government had encouraged the formation of a company, the Compania de la Mar del Sud, or South Sea Company, which was to act as agent of the assientists. It consisted of men holding the large national debt of Great Britain and had received a grant for the exclusive trade of the South Seas.But since Spain was in possession of a great proportion of the coast in that part of the world and had so far enjoyed a monopoly of its trade, the South Sea Company derived no benefit from that grant, unless the commercial activity of Spanish America could be paralyzed. The slave-trade with its clandestine opportunities for contraband, offered the South Sea Company possibilities to undermine Spanish trade. The slavers, as the slave-carrying vessels were called, being protected by passports issued by their contractors, were not slow in getting into communication with those elements in the Spanish colonies that placed their personal profit above their duty to the country under the protection of which they lived, and had no difficulty in delivering cargoes of divers merchandise while they unloaded their human freight. Moreover they never returned to Europe in ballast, but carried a correspondingly large cargo of West Indian goods of which they disposed in European ports.

Spain had repeatedly entered complaints against these scandalously dishonest operations upon the coasts of Spanish America, but Great Britain was then not in the mood to concern herself with problems of international ethics. The enormous profits that the trade in negro slaves had brought to investors in that enterprise had dimmed their sense of honor. Queen Anne herself had in a speech to the parliament boasted of having secured to the British a new market for slaves in Spanish America. A considerable part of the population of Jamaica lived exclusively on the profits of this traffic between the Spanish-American harbors. The vessel which the British according to the Assiento were allowed to send annually to Portobello was soon followed at a certain distance by a fleet of smaller ships that approached the harbor at night and replaced the cargo that had been unloaded by day.Frequently the slavers would appeal to the human feelings of the officials in Spanish-American ports and with stories of shipwreck and damages sustained in hurricanes induce them to desist from the customary inspection of every foreign vessel. The effect of these manoeuvers was the complete extinction of Spanish commerce. While the tonnage of the fleet of Cadiz had formerly reached sixteen thousand, it was reduced at the beginning of the eighteenth century to two thousand.

But the reclamations of Spain were not heeded. Great Britain, then in a mad fever for the acquisition of wealth, was intoxicated with the rich profits it was deriving from the operations in the West Indies and other parts of Spanish America. It not only wished to continue these, but it also tried to bring about war between the two countries. As Guiteras says, and Bancroft expresses the same ideas in his second volume of his "History of the United States," the war which was on the point of breaking out was not about the right to cut the timber of Campeche in the Bay of Honduras, nor because of the difference between the King of Spain and the South Sea Company, nor about the disputed frontiers of Florida. All these questions could have been easily settled. The sole aim and end was to compel Spain to renounce her right of inspecting or examining suspected merchant vessels that cruised in the Antilles, in order that Great Britain might extend her insidious operations.

After much deliberation on both sides, an instrument was drawn up and signed, in which the mutual claims for damages sustained in the overseas commerce were balanced and settled. The king of Spain demanded from the South Sea Company sixty-eight thousand pounds as his share of their profits, in the slave-trade; on the other hand he paid to the British merchants as indemnity forlosses caused by unwarranted seizures the sum of ninety-five pounds. The question with regard to the boundaries of Florida was also disposed of; it was agreed that both nations were to retain the land then in their possession, until a duly appointed commission should determine the exact boundaries, which meant that Great Britain would hold jurisdiction over the country to the mouth of St. Mary's River.

The discussion about this agreement in the British parliament did not add to the glory of the United Kingdom. Walpole spoke in favor of its acceptance, saying "It requires no great abilities in a minister to pursue such measures as make a war unavoidable. But how many ministers have known the art of avoiding war by making a safe and honorable peace?" The Duke of Newcastle, not credited with too much intelligence, opposed the measure. William Pitt, Pulteny and others sided with him. The opposition finally triumphed. Bancroft says of this disgraceful termination of a conference intended to seek equitable solution of a most harassing international problem:

"In an ill hour for herself, in a happy one for America, England, on the twenty-third of October, 1639, declared war against Spain. If the rightfulness of the European colonial system be conceded, the declaration was a wanton invasion of it for immediate selfish purposes; but, in endeavoring to open the ports of Spanish America to the mercantile enterprise of her own people, she was beginning a war on colonial monopoly, which could not end till American colonies of her own, as well as of Spain, should obtain independence."

Even before this official break between the two countries, the British had become guilty of movements that violated Spanish territory.

There is not much said by Spanish historians about the difficulties between Florida and the newly plannedBritish colony of Georgia. But the dispute about the boundary of Florida ripened into an armed conflict, in which Cuban forces assisted those of St. Augustine. Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, had in the year 1736 endeavored to vindicate British rights to territory previously claimed by the Spaniards and the opposition of the latter when the British approached more and more closely was easily understood. Oglethorpe dispatched messengers to St. Augustine and, claiming the St. John's River as the southern boundary of the British colony, built Ft. George for defense of the British frontier. The messengers were for a time held in St. Augustine as prisoners, but eventually released. The dispute was temporarily settled by negotiation. But though the British abandoned Ft. George, they kept St. Andrew's at the mouth of St. Mary's, which was bound to be a perpetual source of irritation to the Spaniards. Two years later, according to Blanchet, hostile movements of British ships were observed in Cuban waters. He speaks of theCommodore Brownas having, by the effective defense which Guemez had prepared, been prevented from landing in Bacuranao, Bahia-Honda and other places. With the beginning of the war, Guemez was called upon to secure the aprovionamento, the provisioning of the island and to insure its security. He received efficient assistance from some of his privateers, among them D. Jose Cordero and D. Pedro Garaicochea, who valorously fought some British vessels and obtained advantages over the British fleets commanded by the admirals Bermon and Oglethorpe. D. Jose Hurriaza, too, won some victories over the British with his three ships, of the kind called at that time guipuzcoanos. He sank one British vessel, captured another and anchored safely with his booty in the harbor of San Juan of Puerto Rico.

The British war party made capital out of the news of these encounters. Exaggerated reports about the cruelty practiced upon British prisoners were sent to London. The authorities did not hesitate to call as witnesses of victims of such outrages, characters whose words would not have received credence at other times. Bancroft quotes the case of a notorious smuggler by the name of Jenkins, who accused the enemy of having cut off one of his ears, and Pulteny, in order to precipitate the issue, exclaimed in parliament: "We have no need of allies to enable us to command justice; the story of Jenkins will raise volunteers."

Not only politicians and the ever ready pamphleteers lent their voice to the "cause," but even the poets joined the ignoble chorus. Alexander Pope wrote in his customary mordant manner:

and even Samuel Johnson burst out into the cry:

Thus was the mood of the moment prepared in the multitude and mass psychology did the rest, as it always does in such crises.

About this time occurred an incident, in which Guemez showed his mettle as a man, regardless of his official capacity. It is the historian Blanchet who has recorded this remarkable example of noble generosity. It seems that the British frigateElizabeth, under the command of a Captain Edwards, had been caught in a terrible tempest off the coast of Cuba and threatened with inevitable shipwreck,sought the protection of the harbor. According to the laws of warfare, the Captain surrendered as prisoner of war. But Guemez, as acting Captain General, refused to take advantage of his misfortune, and not only permitted the vessel to careen and take on much-needed supplies, but gave Captain Edwards letters of safe-conduct allowing him to continue on his way as far as Bermuda. The rivals and enemies of Guemez, who had previously attempted to lodge complaints against him with the Consejo de Indias, renewed their intrigues and cabals, aimed at robbing him of the good name he enjoyed in Cuba as in Madrid, and accused him of all sorts of misdemeanors and abuses. But they failed in ruining his career. He was made lieutenant-general and on his retirement from the governorship was given the rank and title of Conde (count) de Revillagigedo and appointed Viceroy of New Spain. He died in Madrid as commander-in-chief of the army at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.

However great were the services rendered by D. Guemez y Horcasitas to Cuba, the conflicting rumors attacking his character must have had some foundation. Perhaps the impression the governor made upon a French traveler, who visited Havana at this time and was on board the vessel which took him to Mexico, may add some traits to his portrait. M. Villiet d'Arignon is quoted in Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret's "Voyages interessans" as saying:

"D. Juan Orcazita had been appointed to this important post on account of the sums he had lavishly spent at the court of Madrid. One could say that he bought it. The immense fortune he made during his governorship soon enabled him to turn his eyes to a higher goal. Everything depended upon contributions. So he in a short time amassed considerable sums, which from a simple civilian raised him to the highest rank ambition could aspire to. We shall see that he continued the same tactics in Mexico andprofited even more, the country being wealthier. Orcazita was a man of some height, rather handsome, but of a mediocre intelligence, and had no ambition except for spoils. This was the viceroy given to Mexico, whither his reputation had preceded him. For the inhabitants soon made fun of his, and circulated this uncomplimentary nickname which sounds better in Spanish than in French: 'Non es Conde, ni Marquis, Juan es,' which means that he was neither count, nor Marquis, but simply 'Juan.' In fact he was not a man of birth, and he owed all he had to his money."

In the meantime Great Britain's preparations for the war resulted in the sending over to Spanish America of two fleets. The one under Edward Vernon was commanded to make an attack upon Chagres, east of the Isthmus of Darien; the other one, considerably smaller, under the command of Commodore Anson, was to begin operations in the Pacific. But a series of unfortunate accidents made it impossible for him to cooperate with Vernon, as he was expected to do. He encountered terrible gales, which disabled and scattered his ships, one by one, and after many romantic adventures which were set forth by a member of the expedition in a very readable book, he returned to England with a single vessel, but one richly laden with spoils acquired in pirate fashion. Edward Vernon, whose experiences have also been recorded in a volume, giving interesting details of his expedition, arrived at Portobello in November, 1739. He had under his command six war ships and a well-equipped force of trained men, and on the twenty-second of the month launched an attack. The garrison was so small and poorly prepared that he forced it to capitulate on the very next day. The British lost only seven men in the engagement and found themselves in the possession of the place. Vernon dismantled the fortifications and returned to Jamaica with a booty of ten thousand pesos. Expecting to be joined by Anson, he went to Chagres early in January,succeeded in forcing that port, too, to surrender, and after having demolished it, returned to Jamaica, and rested from his easily won victory, which the party opposing Walpole celebrated in London as a most heroic exploit.

The greatest armed force that had yet been seen in West Indian waters had in the mean time sailed from England to join the expedition of Vernon. It consisted not only of British troops, but had been reenforced by recruits from the colonies north of Carolina. Its commander was Lord Cathcart, who, when they stopped to take on fresh water in Dominica, was taken violently ill with a malignant fever and succumbed. His death was a disastrous blow to the British, for it destroyed the unity of command which is indispensable for the success of military operations. Cathcart's successor was Wentworth, who not only lacked experience and firmness, but was a political opponent of the impulsive, irritable Vernon. Thus the enterprise seemed to be at the outset doomed to failure owing to the rivalry and the discord of the leaders. The fleet under their command consisted of twenty-nine line ships, eighty smaller vessels with a crew of fifteen thousand sailors and a land force of twelve thousand men.

The expedition set sail from Jamaica without having agreed upon any definite plan of attack. Havana was the nearest point at which operations should be directed and besides her conquest would have given Great Britain supremacy over the Gulf. But Admiral Vernon saw everything only in the light of his own advantages and decided to go in search of the French and Spanish squadrons, without taking trouble to inform himself whether they had not already left. Finally a war council was held and it was decided to make an assault upon the tower of Cartagena. The squadron appeared before the city onthe fourth of March and after a siege of twenty-two days succeeded in capturing the fort of Bocachica at the entrance of the harbor. Admiral Wentworth then made preparations to take the fort of San Lazare, which dominated the city. He planned to attack it with a force of two thousand men, but half of them, misunderstanding his directions, remained in camp. The squadron, too, failed to come to his assistance in time, and after a complete defeat he was forced to retire. Before the British had a chance to recover from the effects of this disaster, caused mainly by the lack of harmonious cooperation between their commanders, the rainy season set in. With it came the usual epidemic of tropical fever and alarmingly decimated the forces of the British. The blockade was for the time being abandoned and the survivors of the expedition returned to Jamaica.

Admiral Vernon resumed the plan in July, 1741, and arrived in the bay of Guantanamo on the coast of Cuba with a force of three thousand men and about one thousand negroes. He landed and then moved to Santiago with the purpose of taking that city. There the governor Colonel Francisco Cagigal prepared for him an unexpectedly hot reception. He divided his people into small detachment of trained troops, militia and armed inhabitants, and placed himself at their head. His example and the care with which he had calculated the defense inspired the people with the will to win and they plunged with zest into the fight with the invaders. Never for a moment stopping in their furious assaults upon the British, the forces of Admiral Vernon were decimated in the endless series of attacks and counter attacks. The climate, too, was against the British, and they were forced to retire. Vernon left the island with the remainder of hismen and abandoned large stores of provisions and ammunition, which Governor Cagigal appropriated amid the enthusiastic acclamation of the brave citizens.

Thus ended according to the reports of Guiteras and other Spanish historians the British expedition which had started out with the intention of conquering not only the Spanish West Indies, but Mexico and Peru as well. British arrogance and greed had for the moment received a well-earned lesson. The fleet retired to Jamaica towards the end of November. When a survey of the state of both the naval and military forces was made, it was found that the British had lost some twenty thousand men. During all the time that these fights took place, commerce with the Spanish colonies had of necessity been suspended. The importation of negroes had ceased. Smuggling had considerably decreased. Spanish privateers lay in wait and intercepted the British merchant vessels, whose cargoes were triumphantly brought to Spanish ports. Great Britain, on the contrary, had not conquered a single Spanish possession and the damage caused to her commerce was far greater than that which Spanish America had suffered.

In the meantime, the undaunted Oglethorpe had once more decided to challenge the Spanish neighbor in Florida, and encouraged by the British authorities marched upon St. Augustine. He had six hundred regular troops, four hundred militia from Carolina and two hundred Indians, and set out on his expedition in January, 1740. But the garrison of the old town, under the command of the able Monteaco, was prepared and had also secured reenforcements. Five weeks lasted the siege; the troops of Oglethorpe lost patience and courage, failure staring them in the face. When they threatened to abandon him, he retired without even being pursuedby the enemy. After this provocation the Spanish authorities felt forced to retaliate and decided upon an invasion of Georgia. A large fleet with troops from Cuba joined the forces of the Florida settlement. They arrived at the mouth of St. Mary's, where Oglethorpe had built Ft. William, in the first days of July. But Oglethorpe succeeded in retaining his hold upon that place, though his forces had to retire. The Spanish took possession of their abandoned camps, but on the seventh of July, when they were attempting to advance towards the town on a road which skirted a swamp on one side and a dense wood of brush-oak on the other, they were surprised by Oglethorpe and the fight which ensued was so fierce, and caused such a great loss of life, that the spot has ever since been known as Bloody Marsh. Another attack was made upon Fort William, but being again repulsed, the Spanish forces retired, abandoning a quantity of ammunition.

When Guemez of Cuba was promoted to the vice-regency of New Spain, he had been succeeded by Field Marshal D. Juan Antonio Tines y Fuertes, who was inaugurated on the twenty-second of April, 1746, but died on the twenty-first of July of the same year. In spite of his very brief term of service, he is remembered according to Valdes for having been the first governor to whom it occurred to do something for the confinement and possible reform of dissolute women. He is said to have founded for that purpose the Casa de Resorgimento, which seems to have been both a home and a reform school. He was temporarily replaced by Colonel D. Diego de Penalosa. About the name and exact date of his interim administration there seems to exist some confusion, some historians placing him immediately after Martinez de la Vega. Valdes says he was Tenente-Reyin 1738, assumed the functions of provisional governorship at the death of Fuentes, and upon the arrival of the newly appointed governor, was sent to Vera Cruz as Brigadier General. Blanchet, too, calls him Penalosa; but Alcazar gives his name as Penalver. However, Penalosa or Penalver enjoyed during his brief administration the privilege of proclaiming the ascension of Fernando VI. to the throne of Spain.

King Philip V., who had so reluctantly been dragged into the war with England, did not live long after the victory of Santiago had temporarily checked the designs of Great Britain. He had died on the ninth of July, 1746, and his crown descended to his son Fernando, an amiable and virtuous prince. King Fernando VI. was also inclined to follow a peaceful policy. He promptly settled the foreign questions that called for attention at this time, and tried his best to enter into and maintain friendly relations with all foreign powers. He aimed at the preservation of Spanish neutrality in the European wars of the period, being most deeply concerned with developing the national wealth. The brilliant festivities with which Cuba celebrated Fernando's coronation gave proof of the love his subjects even in Spanish America had conceived for him before he ascended the throne.

After the brief administrations of Fuentes and Penalosa, a new governor was appointed in Madrid and the choice fell upon D. Francisco Cagigal de la Vega, Knight of the order of Santiago. The brave defender of his town against the attack of Admiral Vernon had since that experience ingratiated himself with his people by other equally commendable exploits. With the cooperation of his valiant seamen Regio Espinela and D. Vicenzo Lopez, he had repulsed many an aggressive manoeuver of the British fleet in Cuban waters, until the signing of thepeace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Cagigal was a personality of quite different calibre from Guemez. While the latter had been singularly open and sincere for a man in an official position, Cagigal was endowed with a suavity of manner which concealed his keen shrewdness. He had after the defeat of Admiral Vernon been created Field Marshal and was certainly the right man for his place.

His inauguration occurred on the ninth of June, 1747, and from that day Cagigal entered upon his duties with the energy and perseverance that had characterized his previous career. Seriously concerned with the defenses of Havana, he had the battery of la Pastora finished, which had been begun long before him, and upon his urgent request the king ordered a citadel to be built on the mountain-side of la Cabana. He also had the Barlovento (weather-side) fleet removed from the port of Vera Cruz to that of Havana. The activity of the ship-building plant of Havana was remarkable during his administration. In the thirteen years of his governorship it turned out seven line ships, one frigate, one brig and one packet-boat and kept in steady work a great number of laborers. Cagigal improved the fort of la Fuerza by having a reception hall built on the seaward side, which was surrounded by a row of balconies. The interior was sumptuously decorated with medallions and escutcheons in bas-relief. He was much interested in the work of the Commercial Company which had been organized during the administration of Guemez; its capital at this time was nine hundred thousand pesos, with shares of one hundred pesos each, and there was declared in 1760 a dividend of thirty per cent. on each share.

Before the signing of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle became known in America there was a serious engagement between the British fleet and the Spanish on the twelfth ofOctober, 1747, a league off Havana. There were six vessels on each side, the Spanish under the command of General Andreas Reggio, the British under that of Admiral Knowles. The Spanish opened fire at three o'clock in the afternoon and a furious battle took place which lasted for full six hours. The forces of both sustained heavy losses, computed approximately at one thousand men on each side, and when the firing ceased, neither could claim a decisive victory. The British fleet retired and the Spanish returned to Havana.

The efficient management of the island's affairs during the administrations of Guemez and Cagigal greatly stimulated the initiative and enterprise of the Cubans. The first coffee-trees were set out on a plantation in the province of Waja by D. Jose Gelabert. Brandy and other spirits were distilled. The armory of Vera Cruz having been removed to Havana, there was great activity in military circles, and D. Rodrigo de Torres was appointed as the first commander of the navy of Cuba.

King Fernando VI. succeeded during the thirteen years of his reign in keeping out of the general European war of 1756, in which England and Prussia had ranged themselves against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Poland. He was intent upon building up the resources of the kingdom which had been drained by the wars waged by his predecessors and devoted his attention to promoting the agriculture, industry and commerce of Spain. He was fortunate in the choice of an intelligent wife and of two ministers whose wise counsel he could ever depend upon. The Marquis de Ensenada, who had risen from a peasant to a banker, financier and finally minister of marine, war and finance, enjoyed at first the unlimited confidence of the sovereign and the people, but later fell into disgrace, because it was discovered that he had sentout secret orders to the West Indies to attack the British logwood colony on the Mosquito Coast. The other adviser of Fernando VI., D. Jose de Carvajal, was a man of quite different stamp, endowed with common sense, sound judgment, pure of morals and as just as he was incorruptible. But Fernando died without direct heir to the throne in the year 1759, and his brother, D. Carlos III., succeeded him.

The solemn proclamation of King Carlos III. in the cities of Cuba was one of the last acts of the administration of Governor Cagigal. In the year 1760, he was promoted to the post of viceroy of Mexico and left the affairs of the government in charge of the Tenente-Rey, the King's Lieutenant, D. Pedro Alonso. During this provisional government there was erected a new sentry-house at the gate of Tierra, as is commemorated in the following inscription:

Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.

Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.

In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.

During this administration died the venerable Cuban prelate D. Juan de Conyedo, who as spiritual adviser to individuals and as counselor to prominent officials had won the love and esteem of the population as did the Bishop Compostela and later the popular Bishop Valdes. Conyedo's services to Cuba in the interest of religion, charity and education were invaluable. He was especially identified with the growth of Villa Clara, where in the year 1712 he had founded a free school for children of both sexes and had himself taken charge of the classes. Before he opened this school, the people knew absolutelynothing besides the Christian doctrine, and the rudiments of reading and writing.

The propaganda of the British war party favoring the conquest of Spanish America was in the meantime going on without interruption. When the greed of acquisition of territory is once roused in a nation, it is difficult to appease it. It enlists in the cause all ranks and professions, it employs all means, whether they answer the test of international justice and human equity, or not. Art, literature, science are harnessed in its service. It is needless to remind of a recent example of national mentality and morality gone astray through misapplied ambition. The utterances of Pope and Johnson were tame in comparison to the hymns of hate following the declaration of the World's war, still fresh in our memory.

But, there was another side to this literary activity. It did not always appeal to the emotions and stir up feelings. It was also of an instructive kind. Just as the Dutch at the time when their attention was fixed upon the Spanish possessions of America wrote book upon book describing the coveted islands and the coasts of the continent supposed to hold inexhaustible riches, so did the British during the eighteenth century suddenly conceive an interest in Spanish America which led to magazine articles, pamphlets and books dealing with those lands. That this literature with its endless descriptions of ports and products was intended for the use of mariners venturing forth on legitimate or illegitimate business, was evident. All these writers did not fail to remark that Havana was the richest town in America, that it had magnificent churches and public buildings and that the streets were narrow, but clean. But their main concern was to describe the exact location of every bay and every harbor: Matanzas, Nipe, Puerto del Principe, Santiago, Baracoa,Guantanamo, etc., and their next concern was to dwell upon the several products of the country, as tobacco, sugar, and others.

One of the most curious books of this kind was "A Voyage to Guinea, Brazil and the West Indies," published in London in the year 1735. Its author was John Atkins, surgeon of the Royal Navy, and though it contained an account of a trip made by him, it very plainly revealed an interest in the commerce of the countries visited and in the possibilities they offered, which, while natural in a business man, was quite surprising in a member of the medical fraternity. After devoting considerable space to the products of these southern lands, hurricanes, etc., he also discourses at length upon the slave-trade and gives interesting glimpses of the manner in which it was conducted. "To give dispatch," says he, "cajole the traders with Brandy," and continues: "Giving way to the ridiculous Humours and Gestures of the trading Negroes is no small artifice for success. If you look strange and are niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him. Sambo is gone, he never cares to treat with dry lips, and as the Expenses is in English Spirits of two Shillings a Gallon, brought partly for this purpose, the good Humour it brings them into, is found discounted in the sale of goods." Speaking of Cuba, he calls it a very pleasant and flourishing island, the Spanish building and improving for posterity without dreaming, as the English planters do, of any other homes. But he does not fail to add, "They make the best Sugars in the world."

Another publication aiming more directly at the mariners and merchants of Great Britain is by one Caleb Smith, called on the title page, the inventor of the "New Sea Quadrant." It was printed in 1740 and was a translation of Domingo Gonzales Carranza's description of thecoasts, harbors and sea-ports of the Spanish West Indies. In the curious preface he says:

"The original was brought to England by a Sympathetic prisoner who had been in Havana where he procured it in manuscript and presented it to the Editor as a Testimony of his friendship and respect,"

and the dedication is addressed "to the Merchants of Great Britain, the Commanders of Ships, and others who were pleased to subscribe for this Treatise."

Thus was the mind of the people perpetually stimulated to look beyond the Atlantic for lands and seas which waited to be conquered by British prowess; and the defeat of Vernon in Santiago was hardly heeded. In the meantime negotiations had been going on between the European powers and a convention of their representatives had met at Aix-la-Chapelle to settle certain disputes and sign a treaty of peace. England and Spain on the one and England and France on the other hand had gained nothing by eight years of mutual fighting, but an immense national debt. As at other conferences for the establishment of the world's peace much was said and after all little was done. For when the document known since as the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, it left some of the most harassing problems unsolved. Among them was the frontier of Florida and the right of Spanish ships to search British vessels suspected of smuggling. The assiente agreement, which had been found so profitable, was continued for four more years. In the light of later events the treaty was found to be only a makeshift for the moment, and did not prevent the outbreak of new hostilities between Great Britain and Spain when the ink with which the treaty was signed had barely dried on that document.

The alliances among the powers of Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century and the unsatisfactory settlements of some of the most harassing questions in dispute produced a state of unrest and tension throughout the world which the clever pourparlers and the fascinating fencing bouts of European diplomacy failed to relieve, and of which Cuba was destined to feel the effects. In spite of her insular isolation Great Britain was closely concerned with the intrigues that were being spun at the courts of the continent and were bound sooner or later to involve Europe in a new bloody conflict. She had on the one hand allied herself with Austria, bribing even some of the South German principalities to insure the election of Joseph II. to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, and on the other hand with Russia, which was then a newcomer not yet vitally interested in the issues at stake. Both allies failed to keep their pledge; Austria turned away to enter into a confederacy with France, while Russia passed from one camp to the other. The growing ascendancy of Prussia under Frederick II. had long been watched with distrust by the immediate neighbors, but by this time even those whose territories seemed safe from his acquisitive aggressiveness were roused to the realization of the danger it foreboded.

When Saxony and some other German states, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Russia and France combined to check the Prussian's ambitious designs, Great Britain, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick became the allies of Frederick. Spain with remarkable firmness decided tokeep out of the general war which broke out in 1756 and, lasting until 1763, was to be known in history as The Seven Years' War. Even when Pitt, who was the ally of Frederick of Prussia, offered the conditional return of Gibraltar and the abandonment of the British settlements on the Mosquito Coast and in the Bay of Honduras, Fernando VI. resolutely refused to participate.

By this wise policy of non-interference this king secured for Spain a period of peace which brought with it a prosperity it had long lacked. The country recovered from the losses occasioned by previous wars, and when Carlos III. succeeded his father, he found fifteen millions of dollars in the treasury. He, too, was determined to keep peace, but the stubborn resistance of Great Britain to any equitable settlement of the question in dispute between the two countries, and the continual violation of international justice by her mariners were hard to bear and sorely tried the patience of the people. Bancroft says in his history of the United States (Vol. III, p. 264):

"The restitution of the merchant ships, which the English had seized before the war, was justly demanded. They were afloat on the ocean, under every guarantee of safety; they were the property of private citizens, who knew nothing, and could know nothing, of the diplomatic disputes of the two countries. The capture was unjustifiable by every reason of equity and public law. 'The cannon,' said Pitt, 'has settled the question in our favor; and, in the absence of a tribunal, this decision is a sentence.'"

It is meet in this place to call attention to the literature called forth by Britain's colonial ambitions. Albert Savine, a French writer, during the Spanish-American war, wrote an interesting article in theRevue Brittaniqueof Paris (1898, Vol. III, pp. 167 etc.), entitled: "LesAnglais dans l'ile de Cuba au dix-huitieme siecle," in which he refers to a History of Jamaica by Hans Sloane, published in 1740 and translated into French in 1751. This writer brought out the importance of Cuba very clearly, saying that no vessel could go to the continent without passing that island, that Havana was the general rendezvous of the fleet and that for the British to be really lords of the seas surrounding them, nothing was needed but Havana. Savine in discussing Britain's designs upon Havana, continued:

"The reason for their attack upon Cuba was, as is seen, the commercial and military importance of the island, which was at that epoch considered a necessary stopping place, a rallying point for the vessels going from Spain to America and from America to Spain. To be master of Cuba, thought they, was to be master of the road which the Spanish galleons followed. This rôle of port of supply and repairs for the damages sustained on the sea had made of Havana since the middle of the sixteenth century an important arsenal and dockyard, where there were continually in process of construction enormous ships destined for travel to Spain or South America. From 1747 to 1760 they fitted out seven ships of line, a frigate, a brigantine, and a packet-boat. The vessels which at the side of our fleet at Trafalgar fought those of Nelson had almost all come from the yards of Havana, which used the excellent timber of the island, commerce in which has somewhat diminished in our century."

The notes and dispatches exchanged between France and Spain on the one, and Britain on the other side, prove how the two were slowly forced into an alliance against the latter. On the fifteenth of May, France presented a memorial asking that England give no help to the king of Prussia and simultaneously a paper was presentedfrom Spain, demanding indemnity for seizure of ships, the right to fish at Newfoundland and the abandonment of the settlements in the Bay of Honduras. On the twenty-ninth, England demanded Canada, the fisheries, granting to the French a limited concession, unlikely to be of any use, the reduction of Dunkirk, half of the neutral islands; Senegal and Goree, which was equivalent to a monopoly of the slave trade; Minorca; freedom to give help to the king of Prussia; and British supremacy in East India. On the fifteenth of August, the French minister Choiseul concluded with Spain what was called a family compact, rallying all the Bourbons to check the arrogance of Britain. On the same day a special agreement was reached between France and Spain, empowering the latter, unless peace were concluded between France and England before the first of May, 1762, to declare war against England.

Guiteras in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" has set forth the position of Spain at this time and her relation to France, which led to the famous alliance known as the Family Pact. He says justly, that the general interests of the nation demanded from Carlos III. the continuation of the strict neutrality which his brother had pursued in this war; for by that neutrality the commerce and general welfare of Spain had derived great benefits. But personal motives of resentment against England and of esteem and gratitude for Louis XV. predominated in his mind against the serious reasons of state and the advantages to his subjects, and the voluminous correspondence carried on between him and the king of France made him deeply share the humiliation of the principal branch of his family under the triumph of British arms. These sentiments and other motives finally gave birth to the treaty which was concluded between the two sovereigns on the fifteenthof August, 1761, and which was a defensive and offensive alliance of the two countries with the object of creating between them firm and lasting bonds for the mutual protection of their interests, and thus to secure on a solid basis the internal prosperity of the two kingdoms and the predominance of the house of Bourbon among the princes of Europe.

It was agreed to consider henceforth as a common enemy any government that would declare war against either of the two kingdoms and reciprocally to guarantee the dominions they possessed at the conclusion of the war, in which France saw herself involved; to lend each other aid at sea and on land, and not to listen to or enter into any settlement with the enemies of both crowns unless so done with common accord. For as much in peace as in war they had to consider the identified interests of the two nations, compensate their losses and divide their respective acquisitions and operate as though the two peoples were one, by granting to the subjects of both kingdoms in their European dominions the enjoyment of the same privileges as those of their native subjects; and, finally, to admit to participation in this treaty only such countries as were ruled by sovereigns of the House of Bourbon.

As Spain was by this treaty compelled to break with Great Britain, they awaited only the arrival of the galleons from South America in order to provide for the security of their commerce and territory, and that of their distant possessions. Then would be the moment to make known the consummation of this alliance and to begin hostilities against the common enemy. But somehow Britain anticipated the designs of Spain, for the French with their characteristic impatience had divulged the secret in their communications to foreign courts, and a lively correspondence ensued between the countries, soonto be arrayed against each other in the war Carlos III. had so zealously wished to avoid. But there was no doubt in the minds of the Spanish king and his cabinet, that the British policy was one solely of conquest, that Britain recognized no other law than the aggrandizement of her power on land and her universal despotism on the ocean. Nor could it be doubted by any impartial onlooker that Britain had long cast covetous eyes upon the Spanish possessions in America, and had for a long time given Spain sufficient cause for grievance. The audacity of her privateers and pirates in their attacks upon the West Indies had not been forgotten; the colonies especially had reason to remember the numerous and criminal outrages to which they had been subjected at the hands of men openly or covertly breaking treaties that had been made and accepted by the two nations for the mutual protection of their merchantmen at sea. The leniency of Britain in dealing with the most notorious pirate of all, the scoundrel Morgan, whom she allowed to settle under the protection of her flag in Jamaica, to rise to social prominence, to be appointed to public offices of importance, and whom her king had finally distinguished by conferring upon him knighthood, had always been felt as acts of defiance.

In the rapid exchange of notes during the period when the rupture between the two powers was daily coming nearer the suavity of diplomatic language was sometimes discarded for rather plain speech. When Britain proposed some regulations of the privileges of the British to cut logwood in Campeche, the king of Spain, through his minister, Wall, replied in a dispatch:

"The evacuation of the logwood establishment is offered, if his Catholic majesty will assure to the English the logwood! He who avows that he has entered another man's house to seize his jewels says, 'I will go out of yourhouse, if you will first give me what I am come to seize!'"

This drastic comparison enraged Pitt and he decided upon even more stringent measures to humiliate Spain and crush her power in America. But in the meantime the party in parliament that had steadily opposed him succeeded in its propaganda against him, and he was forced to retire. However, the feelings had run too high, the hostility on both sides had assumed such proportions that war was inevitable. The British were more than ever bent upon pursuing their acquisitions in America, regardless of France and Spain; and the Spanish were unanimous in their hatred of the aggressor.

The year 1762 opened for the powers concerned in this conflict with the declaration of war upon Spain by King George III. on the fourth of January. This was promptly followed on the sixteenth of the same month by a declaration of war upon Britain by King Carlos III. Thus was the die cast, and both governments at once set about to make extensive preparations for military and naval action. Fortune seemed to favor the British; for George Rodney, the gifted naval officer, who was to distinguish himself during the war between Britain and her colonies by his daring and successful operations against the French and Spanish fleets in the West Indian waters, was at that time in the neighborhood of what was to be the scene of action. He had with a fleet of sixteen ships of line and thirteen frigates, carrying an army of twelve thousand men under Monckton, arrived at Martinique and laid siege to the colony which France cherished most among her island possessions in America. After five weeks, it was forced to surrender. A number of other islands followed, until all the outer Caribbeans from St. Domingo towards the continent of South America were in the possession of the British.

Naturally the attention of the British government was immediately fixed upon Havana. This being the most important military post of New Spain, its conquest promised to close the passage of the ocean to the Spanish ships carrying away from America its inexhaustible treasures for the sole enrichment of the crown of Spain. It meant also opening that and other ports of the Spanish West Indies to British navigation, and lastly it was to be only the beginning of operations which ultimately were to include the conquest of other possessions of Spain in that part of the world. The honor of conceiving the project has been conceded to Admiral Knowles, who had submitted his plan to the Duke of Cumberland; but although the latter recommended it to the ministry, the plan of the invasion, which had been simultaneously submitted by Lord Anson, chief of the board of Admiralty, and which was almost identical with that of Knowles, was the one finally adopted. In order to divert the attention of the enemy from the true object of the expedition, a rumor was circulated that the forces were destined for Santo Domingo, which seemed quite plausible, this island being nearer to Martinique than to Cuba, and one half of it belonging to France, the other to Spain.The London Gazetteof January ninth corroborated this statement by the announcement that the English army was bound for the Antilles.

George III. entrusted the Duke of Cumberland with the task of selecting the chiefs who were to be placed at the head of the enterprise, and his choice fell upon the following: Lieutenant-General Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, for general-in-chief of the land forces, and Admiral Sir George Pococke for the command of the squadron. The latter and a division of four thousand men gathered in Portsmouth and orders were given to GeneralMonckton to hold the forces which had gone to the conquest of Martinique and Guadeloupe ready for the arrival of Admiral Pococke. The authorities in Jamaica and the British colonies of North America were ordered to prepare two divisions, the first of two thousand men, the latter of four thousand. The British command staked everything upon a surprise attack. Fear that information of the rupture between the two countries might have reached Cuba, caused no little anxiety to Lord Albemarle and Admiral Pococke. The expedition narrowly escaped an encounter with the squadron of M. de Blenac, who had left Brest in aid of Martinique with seven vessels and four frigates and a sufficient force to have saved that colony, had he come in time. Unfortunately he arrived in sight of Martinique only after the surrender of Fort Royal, and on hearing that the island was in possession of the British, he altered his course and turned towards Cape France, leaving the passage free for Admiral Pococke and his fleet.

Upon his arrival in Martinique, Lord Albemarle took command of all the forces assembled on the island and found that his army consisted of twelve thousand men. He divided them into five brigades and formed besides them two bodies, one of four companies of light infantry brought from England, and one battalion of grenadiers under the command of Colonel Guy Carleton, and placed two other battalions of grenadiers under the command of William Howe. He also ordered the purchase of four thousand negroes in Martinique and other islands, who were incorporated into a company with six thousand negroes of Jamaica. When all these preparations had been made, the forces that were to take part in the siege of Havana were under orders of the following commanders:

Lord Albemarle, Commander-in-chief.

Lieutenant-General George August Eliot, second chief.

Field Marshals: John Lafanfille and the Hon. William Keppel.

Brigadiers: William Haviland, Francis Grant, John Reid, Andrew Lord Rollo and Hunt Walsh.

Adjutant-General: Hon. Col. William Howe; second;—Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Ackland.

Quartermaster General: Col. Guy Carleton; sub-delegate:—Major Nevinson Poole.

Secretary of the general-in-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel John Hale.

Engineer-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick MacKellar.

Chief of the Military Health Board and of the medical corps: Sir Clifton Wintringham; sub-delegate: Richard Hunck and a staff of three physicians, four surgeons, four druggists and forty-four attendants.

A month passed in concluding the details of this well-elaborated plan. Finally on the sixth of May Admiral Pococke started from Martinique in the direction of the Paso de la Mano, where he was joined on the eighth by the division of Captain Hervey, who was blocking the squadron of Admiral de Blenac at Cape France; on the seventeenth they arrived at Cape Nicolas and on the twenty-third they met the Jamaica fleet under command of Sir James Douglas. The British naval forces, including these two divisions and the one that later arrived from North America, consisted of fifty-three warships of various kinds with a crew of ten thousand eight hundred men, and a great number of transports, among them two hundred vessels carrying provisions, hospital supplies, ammunition, etc. When the manner of conducting the expedition was at last decided upon, the fleet ordered to takepart in the siege of Havana was composed of the following vessels:

The Admiral shipNamurof fifty cannons;Cambridgeof eighty;Valiant;Culloden;Temerare;Dragon;Centaur; andDublinof seventy-four;MarlboroughandTempleof seventy;OxfordandDevonshireof sixty-six;Belleisle;Edgar;Alcide;Hampton Court; andSterling Castleof sixty-four;Pembroke;Rippon;Nottingham;Defense; andIntrepidof sixty;Centurion;Depford;Sutherland; andHampshireof fifty; the frigatesPenzance,DoverandEnterpriseof forty;RichmondandAlarmof thirty-two;Echo,Lizard,Trent,CerberusandBoreasof twenty-eight;Mercuryof twenty-four;Rose,Portmahon,ForveyandGlasgowof twenty;Bonetta,CygnetandMerleof sixteen; the schoonerPorcupineof sixteen,Barbadoes,Viper,Port Royal,LurcherandFerretof fourteen, and the bomb-vesselsThunder,GrenadeandBasilisk, each of eight cannons.

Of such formidable dimensions were, according to Guiteras, the preparations made by Britain for the attack upon Havana. Little is heard of corresponding steps taken by her opponents. France was too exhausted to indulge in great expenditures of money or men. Spain was curiously unconcerned. The possibility of an attack upon Havana was discussed in Madrid, but the Spanish minister Grimaldi could not be made to believe that it might be successful. Cuba, too, little suspected what was in store for her. The new governor appointed to take the place of Cagigal, when the latter was promoted to the vice-regency of Mexico, was the Field Marshal D. Juan Prado y Portocasso. Before the consummation of the Family Pact, in March, 1670, King Carlos III. had told Prado of the menacing attitude of Britain and had warnedhim of the possibility of a rupture. He counted upon him to reorganize the island from a military point of view. Nevertheless Prado did not immediately after his appointment sail for Cuba, but lingered six more months in Spain, and, when he arrived on the island, wasted another month in a visit to his friend Madriaga, the governor of Santiago. He did not arrive in Havana until January, 1761. Valdes gives July as the month of his inauguration which seems improbable.

When Prado took charge of the governorship, he immediately proceeded to build quarters for the reenforcement of dragoons which were to be sent over from Spain, and for that purpose engaged sixty galley-slaves from Vera Cruz. He also began work on the fortifications of Cabanas under the direction of the excellent engineer Francois Ribaut de Tirgale. But a second consignment of galley-slaves in June brought to Havana the "vomito negro," the yellow fever, of which Siam had made a gift to Mexico in 1713 and which so far had been unknown in Cuba. Physicians being unfamiliar with the terrible scourge, all remedies proved of no avail. Within three months eighteen hundred men of the garrison and the fleet succumbed to the disease. The hospitals were filled with the sick, and work on the important public constructions was suspended. Engineer Tirgale was one of the first stricken. He was succeeded by his brother Balthazar, but he himself was sick and had such insufficient and inadequate help that he was much handicapped in his work. New difficulties having arisen with the vigueros, or tobacco-planters, Prado convoked the Junta which agreed to fix the process, the quantity and the brands of tobacco which the General Factory was to receive from the planters.

THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750

Thus was the whole year 1761 wasted, while the signs of the impending outbreak multiplied and the danger of the dreaded invasion came nearer and nearer. On the sixteenth of January, war was declared and only on the twenty-sixth of February did the news reach Prado, forthe vessel carrying the dispatches of the Spanish government had been captured by the tender of theDublin. He called at once a meeting of the council and asked for one thousand veterans to replace the losses which the troops had sustained through the epidemic. He also demanded that he be furnished four thousand rounds of powder. The army that he could muster in the eventuality of an invasion did not number at that time more than four thousand six hundred men. Yet Prado could not be roused from a curious apathy that possessed him and that made him again lapse into the indolence of Creole life. It seemed impossible for him to realize that anybody would dare to attempt what neither Hossier, nor Vernon, nor Knowles had dared. M. de Blenac, who commanded a French fleet charged with the protection of Santo Domingo, and Prado's friend Madriaga were equally unsuspecting. Had the former come to an understanding with the commander of the Royal Spanish transports, theymight have surprised the British in the straits of Bahama and averted the disaster.

On the twenty first of May, a business man from Santiago, Martin de Arana, who had been on an errand to Kingston and in his patriotic anxiety perceived the armaments and supplies that were being collected there, came to Havana to inform the government. Reluctantly Governor Prado consented to an interview with this man who had braved the sea voyage and suffered privations to save his country from the menacing attack. The attitude of the people as soon as the news spread was commendable. The sugar-planters promised their negroes freedom if they joined the troops of defense and the clergy went about rousing the spirit of the people to action. Bishop Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa Cruz did admirable work. He had during the expedition of Edward Vernon traversed the country on horseback, and stirred the people to resist the invaders. Beloved by his parishioners, whom he inspired with his zeal, he had for twenty years preached the holy war against the enemies of his native soil. His generosity and his self-denial knew no bounds. The word of such a man at such a moment had weight and the people were ready to go to any length of sacrifice; but the man at the head of the government seemed oblivious to the gravity of the situation and did nothing efficiently to prepare the defense of the city. Prado presided at the meetings of the War Junta which failed to suit the action of the word and wasted time in heated discussions. This War Council consisted of the "Marquès" of the Royal Transports, the honorary marine quartermaster, D. Juan Montalvo, Col. del Rio D. Alejandro Arroyo, the engineer D. Balthasar Ricaut, and the captains of the vessels anchored in the bay. Later it was joined by the Lieutenant-General D. Jose Manso deVelasco, the former viceroy of Peru, the Field Marshal D. Diego Tabares, ex-governor of Cartagena, and the Lieutenant-General Conde de Superanda, then visiting Havana. The council did not heed the warning of D. Martin de Arana, the Santiago trader, any more than did Governor Prado.

In the meantime the British fleet was approaching through the straits of Bahama, clear of purpose, strong of will, and bent upon conquest. An interesting document of that event is "An Authentic Journal of the Siege of the Havana By an Officer. Printed in London MDCCLXII. Reprinted in Dublin, by Boulton Grierson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty." That record of the expedition had evidently for its author a man of sound judgment and is imbued throughout with a rare sense of justice towards British and Spanish alike. Spanish authorities, among them Blanchet, give the number of line ships in the fleet as twenty-six, fifteen frigates and an infinite number of smaller vessels, and about twenty thousand combatants. The author of the journal reports nineteen ships of the line, about eighteen frigates, sloops, and other vessels and one hundred and fifty transports with ten thousand troops. The commander of the fleet was Sir George Pococke, Knight of the Bath, Admiral of the Blue, etc., and the commander of the troops, Lieutenant-General Earl of Albemarle. The witness writes that they left Cape Nicolas, northwest of Hispaniola, on the twenty-seventh of May and sailed in seven divisions through the old straits of Bahama—"an undertaking far superior to anything we know in our times, or read of in the past, as few ships care to go through this passage at any time, much less such a fleet, destitute of pilots that professed any knowledge of it and almost of any information of the passage that could be relied on."He goes on to say that "frigates, smaller vessels and even the great ships' boats were sent ahead and so distributed on both shores, with such proper and well adapted signals for day and night, that not only reconciled every one to the dangers and risk of so hazardous an undertaking, but almost ensured our success. We were often in sight of the keys or shoals on each side."

In the first days of June some of the British ships engaged in a fight with and took a Spanish frigate of twenty-four guns and a smaller vessel of eighteen guns, a brig and a schooner, all of which had sailed ten days before from Havana for timber. Through the crews of these vessels, the British learned that at the time of their sailing the people of Havana had not yet been informed of the declaration of war. On the fifth of June the fleet cleared the straits and the next day was off Puerto de Terrara, about thirty-six miles windward of Havana. Colonel Carleton and Colonel Howe went to reconnoitre the coast for landing. The siege of Morro Castle was left to Commodore Keppel. "The Admiral went himself with the rest of the fleet off the harbor, to block up the enemy's ships and in order to more effectually draw the attention of the enemy that way, took with him all the victualling ships, store ships and transports, whose troops had over night been put in those men-of-war appointed for securing the landing." By daylight the troops were in the flat and other boats, and Captain Hervey gave the signal for descent on the sandy beach between Boconao and Cojimar. The enemy had thrown up small breastworks near the old tower commanding the mouth of Boconao and attempted a defense, but was soon dispersed by fire from two ships anchored close to shore. At three o'clock in the afternoon the army was on shore and began to advance toward the Morro, five miles away, along a road which had a thickwood to the left and the sea to the right. The ten guns of the old stone fort of Cojimar were soon silenced by theDragon, anchored close by. Two and a half miles from the Morro the British lay down for the night upon their arms in a heavy rain.

While the British were continuing their advance upon Havana, the authorities of the Cuban metropolis were deliberating in the sessions of the War Junta, and the Governor was still unconvinced of the serious intention of the British, this time determined not to rest until Havana was in their possession. Valdes reports that this state of affairs lasted until on the sixth of June there appeared on the weather-side about two hundred and fifty vessels. Everybody but Governor Prado was convinced that they had come ready to fight. He supposed them to be a flotilla come from Jamaica to discharge their cargo. Nevertheless he went that morning to the Morro to observe the movements of the armada. He found the garrison under arms by order of the royal lieutenant D. Dionisio Soler. Much vexed by what he considered exaggerated fear and suspicion, he rescinded the order and commanded the soldiers to return to their quarters. That afternoon, however, the report came from the Morro, that the fleet had arrived and was preparing to land troops.

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