The History of Cuba Volume I Part 20

Among the functionaries who arrived from Spain at the same time as Governor Viana, were a new Auditor, D. Manuel de Roa, and a new bishop, D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. This noted ecclesiastic was famous in Spain not only for his sterling character as a man, but also for his extraordinary gifts as an orator. On his succession to the episcopate a spirit of altruism seemed to awaken in the population and find fruition in various works of charity. Bishop Compostela was conspicuous in these organizations and in every possible way encouraged his diocesans in contributing to and actively partic.i.p.ating in such works. He founded many parishes and in Havana organized the seminary of San Ambrosio, the academy for young ladies called San Francisco de Sala, and the hospital for convalescents of Bolen. During the fifteen years of his episcopate Bishop Compostela accomplished what none of his predecessors had succeeded in doing. He really raised the moral standard of the diocese, and he attained that end more by his own n.o.ble example, than by his eloquent sermons on moral issues. He was a gentleman of distinguished manners, who treated all that came in contact with him with the utmost courtesy. He lived very modestly and was known always to travel on foot.

He devoted his income to alms freely dispensed to all the needy, and by his numerous works of beneficence built for himself an imperishable monument in the memory of the grateful population.

Governor Viana's administration was filled with what at first appeared a petty local squabble, but later developed into a serious conflict.

Hara.s.sed by pirates, the town of San Juan de los Remedios del Cayo had in the year 1684 obtained permission to remove to another place, sufficiently distant from the coast to insure the safety of the inhabitants. The permission arrived at a time when conditions seemed to have improved and the majority of the population was satisfied to remain where they were. The parish priest, however, had favored and decided upon removal to a place called Cupey, and Governor Viana approved of this choice. When the residents began to discuss the problem of the new location, it was found that the greater number was of the opinion that the cattle farms known as Santa Clara offered a more convenient site, and the governor and bishop were won over to this view and agreed. As head of the town was appointed the Alcalde Manuel Rodriguez de Arziniega and as its spiritual adviser was chosen the Cura Gonzales. It so happened that neither of the two favored the place that had been selected. The Alcalde and his adherents wanted to settle at Sabana Largo, near the hacienda of Santa Clara. The priest preferred the place called El Gua.n.a.l, in the body of that farm. To adjust the difference the governor and the bishop chose two men, D. Christobal de Fromesta, Cura and Vicar of Sancti Spiritu, and the Contador D. Diego de Penalver, who were both residents of that town. It is characteristic of the manner in which munic.i.p.al and other public business of importance was then conducted, that the two men deliberated without result until the year 1689, when the administration of Governor Viana came to an end.

Of Governor Viana's share in furthering the building of fortifications an inscription in the ravelin of the gate of Tierra bears proof. It reads:

Reynando La Magestad Catolica De Carlos II. Rey de Las Espanas Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General De Esta Ciudad E Isla de Cuba D. Diego Antonio De Viana Hinojosa, Caballero del Orden De Santiago, Veinte Y Cuatro Perpetuo De La Ciudad de Granada, Y General De La Artilleria Del Reinado de Sevilla, Se Acabo Esta Puerta Con Su Puente Levandizo, y Su Media Luna, etc. Ano de 1688.

(In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Charles II. King of Spain, the resident governor and captain-general of this city and island of Cuba was D. Diego Antonio de Viana Hinojosa, Cavalier of the Order of Santiago, the twenty-fourth Perpetuo of the city of Granada, and the General of Artillery of the ruler of Sevilla, this gate with its drawbridge and its ravelins was finished. In the year 1688.)

The affair of El Cayo continued to absorb the attention of the government during the administration of D. Severino de Manzaneda y Salines. This new governor entered upon the functions of his office on the thirtieth of October, 1689, and remained until the second of October, 1695. According to the decision which the court rendered after endless discussion the inhabitants of El Cayo were to move to Santa Clara. From the oldest Alcaldes and Magistrates of both towns two men were chosen with orders to superintend the removal: the Cabilde Captain Luis Perez de Morales and Ensign Gaspar Rodriguez. They proceeded to el Cayo and issued a proclamation which ordered the residents to move within a fortnight. When the term expired, and the order had not been complied with, they went to the church, accompanied by forty men armed with machetes, lances, battle-axes and guns, and began to harangue the people. When this had no immediate visible effect, they started to destroy house upon house, applying either the torch or the sword. They spared only the church and the residence of the prefect of the new town.

After committing these unwarranted ruthless outrages they forbade any one under severe penalty to attempt to rebuilt his house; nor was any one allowed to admit a homeless neighbor to his hacienda or offer him a roof. Exposed to the inclemency of the weather, left without shelter or provisions, the temper of the inhabitants was roused, but they were too bewildered by the cruel injustice to see their way to demand redress of their wrongs. A man from the pueblo San Jacinto de Royas, deeply resenting the heinous crime, resolved not to remain pa.s.sive. He made his way to the bishop and the governor, gave them a vivid account of what had occurred, and lodged a complaint in the name of the poor victims.

Both Bishop Compostela and Governor Manzanedas readily yielded to his arguments, but it does not appear from the records of the time that the men who had so flagrantly abused their power were punished. The governor, probably from fear of stirring up dissatisfaction with his administration and ultimately losing his position, contented himself by adjusting the differences between the two parties. He ordered the people of both towns to live together until the king had handed down his decision. When His Majesty finally approved of the action taken, the feelings of both parties were pacified and the new town thus founded became known as Villa Clara.

During the administration of Governor Manzanedas the city of Matanzas was founded. According to some authorities the name is derived from the Spanish _matanza_, which means slaughter or killing and it was supposed to refer to the extermination of the Indians who had been the native owners of that territory. Others derive the term from a corruption of the word _martizaban_, which the Indians had adopted from the Castilian when they wailed during the suffering inflicted upon them. Still others try to establish a certain connection between that name and the following story of Indian perfidy. It seems that some Spaniards had engaged a number of Indians to carry them in their canoes from one end of the bay to another. When they reached the middle of the bay, the Indians left the boats, and hitting the Spaniards on the head with the oars, tried to drown them, while they took to the mountains. Seven of the victims succeeded in escaping from death by swimming to the sh.o.r.e; but there they were caught by other natives, taken to the nearest pueblo and hanged. One of them however, managed to get away and reach another pueblo, whose cacique gave him shelter until the arrival of a Spanish rescuing force under Narvaez. The cacique, preceded by three hundred men carrying gifts, went to receive the party from Havana, leading the prisoner by the hand. In addressing Narvaez and P. Casas, who were the leaders, he told them that he had treated the man as if he had been his own son, that he had guarded and protected him for three years and had refused the strenuous demand of the other caciques to deliver him to them, knowing that they would have killed him.

Whatever the origin of its name may be, Matanzas eventually lived down its sinister significance. The bay of Matanzas with the ca.n.a.l opening into it, had long been considered a point of great importance. For it was patent that, if the British set out to capture it and succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng themselves there, the danger to Spanish commerce and especially to that of Havana would be very grave. A village had existed there from the time of the Spanish conquest; it had grown in population and the surrounding land was well cultivated. Governor Manzanedas decided at once to begin to fortify the bay. He re-organized the administration of the place and raised it to the rank of a city, which the authorities named after San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas.

The solemn ceremonies of its foundation took place on the tenth of October, 1693, in the presence of Governor Manzanedas and many other prominent citizens and high officials of the island. After an examination of the previously drafted plan a Plaza des Armas, or military parade-ground was the first to be decided upon; then the princ.i.p.al streets of the city were traced. Two days later an altar and a cross were raised on the square destined for the church, and Bishop D.

Diego Evelino de Compostela blessed the spot, said ma.s.s over it and with the aid of Governor Manzanedas laid the first stone of the temple which was to have for its patron saint San Carlos Borromeo. On the following day the governor went to Punta Gorda on the north side of the bay and selected a place for the fort which was to be built. When the structure was completed it was in his honor given the name San Severino. The industry of the residents, the fertility of the soil and the unusually favorable location of the port made the small town grow within a few years into one of the most important cities of the island. Subsequently Matanzas developed to such size and prominence that it is to-day ranking next to Havana both in population and in commerce.

The administration of Manzanedas was toward the end disturbed by the scandalous dispute between the governor Villalobas and the Licentiate Roa, Lieutenant Auditor of the Royal Audiencia (a court of appeals in the West Indies). The affair created a great deal of sensation at the time, because it threatened to divide the population into hostile factions. Villalobas was charged with having allowed his adherents to call themselves Villalobistas, in opposition to those of Lieutenant Roa, who promptly a.s.sumed the name Roistas. Controversies and quarrels arose and grew to such alarming proportions that civil war seemed imminent.

The two rivals fought each other mercilessly, until Roa fled to Madrid, where he died in exile. Villalobas justly feared that the report of these disturbances would damage his reputation at the court of Madrid and was taken dangerously sick. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo which had inst.i.tuted an inquiry into the matter discharged Villalobas from his office. An Oidor (hearer or judge) of the Audiencia, D. Diego Antonio Oviedo y Banos was appointed to hear the arguments of the case. But Villalobas, a broken old man, was so grieved by the disgrace that he survived the ordeal only a few days. The administration of Governor Manzanedas came to an end in the year 1695 when he was appointed to the presidency of Santo Domingo.

CHAPTER XXVI

With the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most hara.s.sing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had signed a will in favor of the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, who succeeded him as Philip V., but the Austrian archduke Charles contested this succession, until the death of his brother. Joseph called him to the throne of Austria and forced him to relinquish his claim to that of Spain. The interval, however, was spent in what is known as the War of the Austrian Succession which was far more than a war of succession to the Spanish throne, but one which involved a European problem.

The hostility between England and France was known to be acute; the designs of Austria upon Spain were also known to be the source of incipient conflicts. In order to curb the insatiable ambition of Louis XIV., England had entered into an alliance with Austria and Holland. The unexpected ascension of the archduke Charles to the throne of Austria suddenly changed the political aspect of the time for England. Louis XIV. and Philip V. had agreed that in order to secure the balance of European power the crowns of France and Spain should never be united.

Spain, however, was bound in the future to follow the trend of French politics. It renounced her rights to the Netherlands, which were the only barrier against invasions of France on the continent, and left England in possession of Gibraltar. As this was its most important fortress, Gibraltar was ever to be a thorn in the flesh of Spain.

The treaty of Utrecht, which was signed in the year 1713, seemed by its reapportionment of the countries and the readjustment of the map of Europe to have temporarily a.s.sured peace. But the price paid for this peace by Spain was hardly to be estimated in currency. As Guiteras justly remarks, Philip V. found Spain prostrate from the impudent efforts of the Austrian dynasty to preserve her predominance among the European nations. The wars waged during the reigns of his predecessors had drained the coffers of Spain and alarmingly decreased her population. The powerful kingdom which a century before had dared to threaten the independence of England and had enjoyed prosperity and opulence, had become almost tributary to France and England. The treaty of Utrecht reduced Spain to her peninsular provinces and her overseas colonies. Though united with them by the ties of racial origin, religion and tradition, it was not an easy task to defend them against the inimical designs of powers that planned to dominate the seas and usurp the place which Spain had won for herself.

Philip V. realized that the condition in which Spain had been left at the end of the wars that preceded his reign made it inc.u.mbent upon him to maintain peace and to further the country's recovery from a century and a half of constant warfare. He was inspired by the example of France under Colbert and Richelieu and his aim was by applying to Spain the lessons France had learned during the leaders.h.i.+p of those men, to bring about a revival of Spain's previous greatness. He aspired to make Spain internally stronger than she had ever been, to enable her to humble England and to wrest from that great rival her ever increasing power in America. His task was extremely difficult, for it really meant a thorough reconstruction of the entire government. He found Spain in such a state of stagnation that it required extraordinary efforts to rouse in the country only a spark of the old spirit. He was the first sovereign since Philip II. who had a strong will and a strong personality and made his absolute power felt in every branch of the government. He had to create a new navy; he had to organize and train a new army; he had to reform the legislation, the finances, even the police of the country. So poor was Spain at that time in men of strong character and executive power, that he was obliged to employ foreigners in some of the most important places in the army and navy as well as in the council chamber.

Although during the latter half of his reign of forty six years his initiative and energy were paralyzed and he lapsed into the pa.s.sive indifference which had characterized the att.i.tude of some of his predecessors, his innovations and reforms were the means of stimulating inquiry into some of the evils, political and social, that Spain had suffered from. He ushered in a new life, which slowly penetrated to every corner of the kingdom and brought it into closer contact with the outside world for which it had hitherto had a curious contempt. However slow was the work of regeneration which he had inaugurated, it was sure to benefit the next generation which could never return to the old order of things.

The influence of this new life in the mother country was, of course, still slower in manifesting itself in her colonies. Cuba had still to rely upon her own resources, both in inaugurating internal improvements and in combatting external dangers. As both Great Britain and France were eagerly pursuing their plans to extend their colonial power in America, conflicts between these powers and the Spanish possessions in America were inevitable. Towards the end of the seventeenth century attempts to establish direct maritime intercourse between France and the Mississippi, and to colonize the southwest of the continent; which was under the patronage of Louis XIV. created no little anxiety in the old Spanish settlements of Florida and eventually had to lead to armed conflicts in which the West Indies, and especially Havana, as the metropolis of the Spanish island colonies, became involved.

As early as the year 1693 D. Andres de Pes had settled in Pensacola and three years later three hundred Spaniards from Vera Cruz and other parts had under the leaders.h.i.+p of D. Andres d'Arriola taken formal possession of the harbor. Henceforth no foreign s.h.i.+p could enter without being challenged. This the valiant commander of the French expedition, d'Iberville, the pioneer founder of Louisiana, was to experience. He had sailed in October, 1698, with a company of Marines and some two hundred colonists, among them women and children. At Santo Domingo he took on board a seasoned veteran of the golden age of piracy, a man who in 1683 had made a fortune of eight million pesos by the capture of Vera Cruz, had been an a.s.sociate of M. de Grammont, Lolonois, Morgan and other notables of the Brotherhood of the Coast, and as such was familiar with every spot along the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of New Spain; it was Captain Laurent Grave or Graff, linguist, sailor and intrepid fighter.

They arrived at the island St. Rose in January, 1699, cast anchor and applied for permission to enter the harbor of Pensacola. This being refused they sailed westward and settled in the country west of the Perdido River, which was later recognized by King Philip V., who was bent upon a conciliatory policy, as the boundary between Louisiana and Florida.

From that time, however, Pensacola was to know no peace, for the French cast ever a covetous eye upon that Spanish settlement. Nor did the authorities of Pensacola hesitate to hara.s.s the settlers to the west, resenting the appearance of any rival neighbor. Governor Ravolli made an expedition in 1700 against the French who had settled on s.h.i.+p Island, but he himself was soon to experience that he was being surrounded by neighbors determined to show their hostility towards Spain by open or secret operations against the Spanish settlement in Florida. Governor James Moore of South Carolina, which bordered on Spanish Florida, undertook in the year 1702 an expedition against the old Spanish town of St. Augustine, in the defense of which a Cuban force was eventually to take part. The British succeeded in making their entry into the town and ravaging it; but they could not reduce the fort, which the garrison defended with desperate determination. The British sent to Jamaica for some heavy artillery. But in the meantime the Spanish viceroy had been informed of the attack and sent two war s.h.i.+ps for the relief of the town. The governor of Cuba, too, dispatched five vessels with troops of infantry and militia, which sailed from the port of Havana under the command of Captain D. Esteban de Beroa, a Havanese of great enterprise and valor. When the Spanish fleet arrived near the harbor, Moore with his South Carolinians made a hasty retreat by land, leaving behind his vessels and stores of ammunition. The help which D. Esteban had lent the garrison of St. Augustine in this critical moment was highly appreciated by the King of Spain, who took notice of this valuable service in a cedula addressed to the Captain General of the island in 1703, in which he especially lauded the exploits of D. Esteban.

The administration of D. Diego de Cordova Lazo de Vega, Knight of the military order of Santiago and General of the Galleons, was profoundly affected by the political unrest of Europe, due to the controversies about the succession and by the conflicts with the French and the British in the newly settled continent, which began to darken the future of the Spanish possessions. Cordova had entered upon his office on the third of October, 1695, and was reported to have bought the governors.h.i.+p for fourteen thousand dollars. Some very important internal improvements were made during his time of office. The territory from the gateway of la Punta to la Tanaza and the hospital of San Francisco de Paula was organized into districts. He was like some of his predecessors much concerned with the religious life of the island and encouraged the building of churches and convents. One of the most important convents founded at this time was the third convent of the barefoot Carmelites, dedicated to Saint Teresa.

Realizing the need of greater garrisons for the protection of the people of Cuba from invasions, whether by foreign powers or by corsairs, the Spanish government sent over twelve companies of militia. So impressed was the governor with their general condition and their discipline, that he sent the king a special message referring to them. But he was too prudent to rest satisfied with this help from the government overseas; he raised and organized four more companies of infantry and cavalry, recruited from the population of Cuba itself, and this placed the island in a better state of defense than it had ever been before. He also granted a number of merchant mariners privateering privileges, which enabled them to cruise about and hunt down foreign pirates and smugglers. These men, among whom the Regidor of Trinidad, Juan Vasquez, distinguished himself by his valor, made numerous excursions in the neighborhood, retaliating upon the French colonies for the outrages of French corsairs, by invading them and capturing some of their vessels, not excepting the crew, and by carrying off their cattle. Cordova was also instrumental in promoting the tobacco culture of the island, by encouraging the employment of new mechanical contrivances.

When on the thirtieth of November, 1700, King Charles II. expired in Madrid, and was followed by Philip V., the first Spanish sovereign of the house of Bourbon, the Spanish Colonies in America paid no heed to the war of the succession which was carried on between King Philip and the Archduke of Austria. Without hesitation they recognized the former as their ruler and thanks to the wholesome influence exerted upon the population by Governor Cordova and the estimable Bishop Compostela, King Philip was formally and peacefully proclaimed in Cuba. Cordova's governors.h.i.+p was so highly appreciated by the royal government in Spain that he received for his services the t.i.tle of Marquis de Valdo and was soon after promoted to the presidency of Panama. But he later returned to Spain and died in Madrid as Counsellor of State in the year 1720.

After the departure of Cordova in September, 1702, the government of the island was for a number of years once more of a rather interimistic nature, which greatly hampered the efforts of the government to insure the safety of the coasts against invaders. The British, being since the accession of Philip V. to the Spanish throne no longer the allies of Spain as they had been during the validity of the "American Treaty,"

were now her enemies, and once more began to hara.s.s the Spanish colonies by encouraging the pirates to interfere with their traffic. The squadron of three vessels which France sent over to patrol the ocean in the vicinity of the Antilles, did not seem to intimidate the lawless elements working more or less directly under orders of and agreements with the British.

The administration of Cordova's successor, D. Pedro Benitez de Lugo, Maestro de Campo and former Counsellor to the Elector of Bavaria, began on the twentieth of September, 1702, and ended with his death only three months later, on the fourth of December. But in that brief period occurred the invasion of the island of Trinidad by the British pirate Grant, who had under him a force of three hundred men and succeeded in thoroughly terrorizing the people.

After the death of D. Benitez, the provisional government was entrusted to two Habaneros, D. Luis Chacon, Castellan of the Morro, and D. Nicolas Chirmo Vandeval. They seem to have governed with commendable prudence.

Determined to defend the island against the corsairs which renewed their activity, the Cuban authorities retaliated by sending out corsairs of their own. Thus D. Juan Baton de Chavez, governor of Santiago de Cuba, started from that city in 1704 with a force of two hundred and fifty men and invaded the islands of New Providence and Siguatey. He destroyed their fortifications, sacked the houses, took one hundred prisoners and returned with twenty-two cannon and a large quant.i.ty of ammunition and arms. The town of Santiago having generously contributed to the success of this enterprise both with volunteers and with material resources, the king rewarded the city with the t.i.tle "muy n.o.ble y muy leal" (very n.o.ble and very loyal). In the same year there died in Havana the venerable and much beloved Bishop, D. Diego Evelino de Compostela. In fifteen years of faithful service he had succeeded in stimulating the religious life of the diocese by the building of churches, especially those in the plains, where tobacco was raised and thousands of laborers lived with their families, and in raising the moral standard of Cuban society.

The spirit of animosity between France and England on the one hand, and Spain and England on the other, gave birth to two schemes to attack Charleston in the year 1706. The valiant Canadian pioneer d'Iberville was on the way with a respectable force. He reached Santo Domingo, where he was reenforced by Spanish troops, and set sail for the coast of South Carolina. He was stricken with yellow fever and the undertaking had to be abandoned. At the same time the Spanish authorities in the West Indies, having decided upon an aggressive policy towards the British in America, planned retaliation for some of the wrongs suffered in recent years. The unwarranted attack of Governor James Morgan of South Carolina upon the old Spanish town of St. Augustine, only four years before, was not forgotten and offered a welcome pretext to launch an offensive movement. Accordingly an expedition was fitted out in Havana, mostly of French privateers, but also some Cuban forces and on the way was joined by more from St. Augustine. The squadron arrived at Sullivan's Island off Charleston on Sat.u.r.day afternoon in August of that year. The militia of the city was rapidly mobilized but open combat did not begin until the following Wednesday, when the French commander demanded the surrender of the city in the name of Louis XIV. The South Carolinians replied by a violent attack, which drove a large number of the French that had landed into the water. The fight was renewed when more s.h.i.+ps of the expedition came up, and though the attack was repulsed and there was considerable loss of life, the Cuban force that had partic.i.p.ated, returned with considerable booty.

The new governor who entered upon his office May 13, 1706, was Field Marshal D. Pedro Alvarez de Villarin, a native of Asturia, gentilhombre (a n.o.bleman-attendant of the young princes of Spain and counsellor of the Elector of Bavaria). But his reign was one of the shortest in Cuban history. He died on the eighth of July, and the former provisional governors, D. Luis Chacon and D. Nicolas Chirmo Vandeval, once more administered their duties, political and military. British wars.h.i.+ps were haunting the coasts of the island and kept the authorities and the residents in a perpetual state of suspense. But the French were now the allies of the Spaniards and their able admiral Chavagnac came to the rescue of Cuba. The unrest due to the disputed Spanish succession encouraged the defiant att.i.tude of the British. In the year 1707 a British armada appeared on the coast for the purpose of engaging in propaganda against Philip V. and winning over the population to the support of the Austrian Archduke's claims. They flooded the island with grandiloquent proclamations and tried to bribe the people by making the most alluring promises. But D. Luis Chacon was not the man to betray the king to whom the island had sworn allegiance at his accession in 1700.

He so effectively replied with cannons that the conspirators withdrew.

The next duly appointed governor of Cuba and the thirty-second in order was Colonel D. Laureano de Torres Ayala, a native of Havana, Knight of the Order of Santiago and former Governor of Florida. He entered upon his office on the eighteenth of January, 1708. His attention was at once directed to an economic problem of great importance. The landowner Orri, an official in the service of Spain, had conceived the project to sell the tobacco on the island for the government. This measure was opposed by the speculators in tobacco, who sold it without custom duties to the Peninsula and other parts of America. But Governor Torres was so impressed with the advantage which would accrue from the new arrangement to the government of Spain, that he did not rest until the measure was carried and enforced. The Exchequer of Spain was henceforth enabled to purchase almost the entire tobacco crop and to make enormous profits thereby, which the coffers of the kingdom, depleted by the many wars of the past century, sorely needed. For the successful negotiation of this matter, which created the government's tobacco monopoly, the governor was rewarded with the t.i.tle Marquis de Casa-Torres.

Governor Torres like his predecessors was much concerned with the safety of the island, and accordingly resumed work on the Havana forts. He added to the fortifications by having the bulwark halfway between la Punta and la Fuerza built; it was considered of great importance at that time, but was later demolished, when Governor Don Dionisos Martinez proceeded with the wall of la Punta in the same direction. The Marquis de Casa-Torres had grave disputes with the Lieutenant-Auditor Don Jose Fernandez de Cordova, which caused endless discussion, not only among the officials of the island, but also in the population. The Court was finally compelled to submit the controversy to the Oidor D. Pablo Cavera, who came over from Spain to begin an investigation. Governor Torres was temporarily suspended. But the Oidor Cavera died while the inquiry into the differences between the two men was in progress. Hence Torres and the lieutenant-auditor were obliged to sail for Spain and explain their grievances.

The administration of Governor Torres was a period of comparative peace.

The enemies of Spain that were ever waiting for an opportunity to do something that might weaken her power in America and deprive her of some of her American possessions had not molested Cuba and the governor was able to devote his energies to internal improvements and even to aid the new bishop in his many works for the welfare of the diocese. This worthy successor of the unforgettable Bishop Compostela was D. Jeronimo Valdes, formerly Bishop of Porto Rico, provincial of the order of St. Basil and professor of Alcala. He had entered upon his duties on the thirteenth of May, 1706, and at once proved that he, too, was imbued with that n.o.ble disinterestedness which characterized his predecessor. He insisted upon strict observance of the doctrines and customs of the church and founded many new parishes. He enlarged the Belen convent by adding to the building a wing which was to be used as hospital for convalescents. He also founded the Casa de Beneficiencia, a Foundlings' Home, investing in it eleven thousand pesos of his private fortune. Another charitable inst.i.tution which he called into being was a home for the poor that were reduced to beggary. He also succeeded in having a building finished, which was destined to be a hospital for lepers. In all these enterprises for the public welfare he was seconded by the Marquis de Casa-Torres.

The island increased in population during this time and among the towns founded was Bejucal.

The year 1709 is also memorable for an important measure which was to safeguard the public health of the island. As early as the year 1634 a so-called Protomedicato had been created by a certain Nunez, a graduate of the university of Seville. It was an inst.i.tution intended to check the unlawful practice of medicine by ignorant and inexperienced persons or by downright quacks. For some years Dr. Don Francisco Teneza, a.s.sisted by a duly appointed clerk, who performed the functions of a notary, embodied in his person the authority of a Protomedico, examining surgeons, druggists and barbers, who at that time were performing dental and minor surgical operations. But not until the beginning of the eighteenth century was the Protomedicato completely organized for efficient work. It was a college or tribunal composed of physicians duly licensed by royal patent, who were charged with examining and issuing licenses to students of medicine. In this way the government hoped to combat the evil of unlawful medical practice by unknown and incapable individuals, which had long been a grave menace to the public health.

The king endowed the Protomedicato of Cuba with the same prerogatives and the same jurisdiction as were enjoyed by the corresponding inst.i.tutions of Lima and Mexico.

Upon the departure of the Marquis de Casa-Torres the affairs of the island were once more in the hands of a provisional government. The ayuntamento (munic.i.p.al government) entrusted D. Luis Chacon with the military governors.h.i.+p and in default of an auditor the political was given to two alcaldes, D. Augustin de Arriola and D. Pedro Hobruitinier.

But by royal order of the year 1712 D. Luis Chacon resumed the superior authority, both civil and military. At the end of the year, when the re-election of the alcaldes took place, violent disputes arose, which necessitated the intervention of Chacon and the Bishop Valdes. The court was called to inquire into the matter and settled the quarrel which had threatened to disturb the peace of the community.

In the year 1712 the official circles of Cuba were greatly agitated by a sensational occurrence. It was the affair between the acting governor of Cuba, Don Luis Sanudo, and the royal Ensign, who was also Alcalde of Bayamo. The governor had ordered the Ensign to imprison two Indian chiefs who were accused of theft, but the Ensign, interpreting differently a certain royal decree and the munic.i.p.al ordinances, made no move to obey the command. Governor Sanudo accordingly betook himself to Bayamo, and as the Ensign failed to present himself, went to his house.

There he upbraided him, and as was reported by some at the time, slapped his face. Boiling with wrath at this insult and outrage, the Ensign killed him on the spot. The court before which he was tried condemned him to death and ordered his home to be razed. The office was for the time abolished, but later re-established.

The Casa-Torres affair had been in the meantime thoroughly aired before the Court of Spain and the king had found the charges against the Marquis unfounded. So he restored him to office on the fifth of July, 1712, and in February of the following year he re-entered upon his duties as Captain-General of Cuba. During the three years of this his second term, Governor Torres actively promoted the armament of corsairs which were sent out to counteract the manoeuvres of the enemy pirates cruising along the Spanish-American coasts. Among the men entrusted with this venturesome task one especially distinguished himself by his prowess: Don Juan del Hoye Solorzano. He was later appointed governor of Santiago de Cuba. About the same time Spain suffered the loss of a rich fleet, which, sailing from Vera Cruz under command of General Ubilla, with port at Habana, was on its way to the mother country. It was wrecked at el Palmar de Aiz, the place where the New Ca.n.a.l of Bahama was located. To the energetic efforts of the Marquis de Casa-Torres, who at once ordered divers to go to work, was due the recovery of more than four million pesos and some valuable merchandise.

The thirty-third governor duly appointed by decree of the Spanish court, dated December 15, 1715, was the Field-marshal Don Vicente Raja. He was inaugurated May 26, 1716, and although in office little more than a year succeeded in completely reorganizing the tobacco industry of the island. He was accompanied on his arrival from Spain by a commission of financial and industrial experts; the director of the bank of Spain, D.

Salvador Olivares, the Visitador, a judge charged with conducting inquiries, D. Diego Daza, and the licentiate D. Pedro Morales, the chief of the revenue department. The historian Alcazar gives a clear account of the proceeding of this commission and the disturbances they created.

He relates that the success of the first tobacco sales in the Peninsula had suggested the establishment of a factory in Seville. But Orri, the great landowner and planter, knew that the three million pounds of tobacco produced by Cuba would not suffice for consumption, and not wanting to have recourse to the inferior leaf produced in Brazil and Venezuela, decided to monopolize the tobacco industry of Spain. To realize this plan he proposed to increase the production of tobacco in Cuba by extending its cultivation over the whole island and guaranteeing the laborers full value of their harvest, but insisting that the product be submitted for examination to the committee presided over by Olivares.

This proposition, however just it seemed, produced serious disturbances.

The commission favoring the government monopoly had ordered by decree on April 17, 1717, that there should be established in Havana a general agency for the purchase of tobacco with branch offices in Trinidad, Santiago and Bayamo. This decree in reality was of great advantage to the laborers who were thus certain of selling their crops and with advance payments could extend and improve their sembrados (tobacco fields). On the other hand it was opposed by the speculators, who had up to this time lived on the fat commissions which their operations had brought them. These men spread all sorts of rumors detrimental to the newly appointed commission and its work among the producers of tobacco.

Deluded by this insidious propaganda, the men rebelled. Five hundred vegueros or stewards of the tobacco fields armed themselves and captured Jesus del Monte. Even in the capital there were public demonstrations against the commission and the munic.i.p.al authorities so weakly supported the governor in his defense of the employees of the estance (monopoly) established by the royal government, that he resigned his office in favor of the royal tenente Maraveo (according to the historian Valdes he was expelled) and sailed for Spain in company of D. Olivares. The earnest exhortations of Bishop Valdes and the archbishop of Santo Domingo induced the rebels to cease their hostile activities and to withdraw to their homes and temporarily quiet was restored.

So much confusion had been created by frequent changes of governors.h.i.+p and the interim rule of provisional authorities, that the royal government at Madrid took steps to establish greater stability and insure an uninterrupted function of the administrative machine of Cuba.

After the affair of Casa-Torres it became imperative to provide for the cases of absence or suspension from office. A royal decree dated December, 1715, ordered that in future, whenever the office of the Governor and Captain-General should become vacant, by default, absence or sickness, the political and military power should be held by the Tenente-Rey (or Royal Lieutenant), or in his default by the Castellan (warden or governor) of el Morro.