Читать книгу The History of Cuba - Willis Fletcher Johnson - Страница 31

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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 harassing 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 assured 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 incumbent 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 leadership 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 passive indifference which had characterized the attitude 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 leadership of D. Andres d'Arriola taken formal possession of the harbor. Henceforth no foreign ship 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 associate 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 harass 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 Ship 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 ships 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 governorship 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 governorship was so highly appreciated by the royal government in Spain that he received for his services the title 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 harass 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 quantity 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 title "muy noble y muy leal" (very noble 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 Saturday 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 ships of the expedition came up, and though the attack was repulsed and there was considerable loss of life, the Cuban force that had participated, 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 nobleman-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 warships 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 attitude 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 title 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 noble 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 institution 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 Nuñez, a graduate of the university of Seville. It was an institution intended to check the unlawful practice of medicine by ignorant and inexperienced persons or by downright quacks. For some years Dr. Don Francisco Teneza, assisted 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 institutions 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 (municipal government) entrusted D. Luis Chacon with the military governorship 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 municipal 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 manœuvres 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 Canal 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 municipal 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 governorship 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.

Upon the return of Vicente de Raja to Spain, Lieutenant-Colonel D. Gomez de Maraveo Ponce de Leon temporarily exercised the functions of governorship. Cuba was at that time in a peculiar state of political and social unrest. There were still some demonstrations of the tobacco-planters going on in different parts of the island. Maraveo, instead of being upheld in his authority, soon discovered that he was at the mercy of the magistrates and some of the wealthy citizens who seemed to back the rebellious elements. In the eastern part of the island the miners had joined the tobacco-planters in disturbances, intended to convey to the government their disapproval of its measures. It required all the persuasive power of Bishop Valdes and other spiritual leaders of the colony to pacify the turbulent agitation fermenting among the people.

The court of Spain realized the seriousness of the situation and was particularly circumspect in the choice of the new governor. A man was needed, firm of will, yet possessed of a sense of justice and of tact in the handling of the two hostile factions. After long and serious deliberation D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez de la Vega, a native of Ossuna, Brigadier-General and Knight of the Order of Santiago was selected. D. Guazo had in his previous official activities proved his energy and bravery and soon after entering upon his office relieved the Spanish authorities of their worries concerning the state of affairs in Cuba. He took charge of his duties on the twenty-third of June, 1718, and immediately called a meeting of the Ayuntamento, the bishop and leading prelates. The men who by their participation in the recent disturbances compromised their reputation were filled with anxious apprehension. But the king wished to avoid internal unrest and discontent and had recommended a policy of reconciliation.

It was an auspicious beginning of D. Guazo's administration when he announced at this meeting that the King in his clemency would forget the past occurrences, if the mischief-makers would in future show loyal obedience to his orders. A proclamation which Governor Guazo issued the next day informed the people of the whole island that royal pardon had been granted to the chiefs of the recent mutiny, and quiet and order were soon restored. The tumultuous manifestations which a few greedy speculators had deliberately stirred up among the people associated with tobacco culture, ceased for the time being. He reorganized the tobacco-factory and reinstalled the former employees. The factory advanced funds to the vegueros, who, having no other creditors, could now fix the price and sell the crop themselves.

But in the year 1721 the vegueros once more revolted; they resented the dictatorial manner in which the Visitador D. Manuel Leon exercised his functions as inspector and supervisor. The Bishop and D. Jose Bayona Chacon who filled the office of provisor (a sort of ecclesiastical judiciary), managed by earnest exhortations and promise of watching over their welfare to pacify the insurgents and prevent blood-shed, a service for which Bayona was later rewarded by the rank and title of a count. But the arguments of the two prelates had no effect upon the Visitador who continued his unwarranted severity. The result was a revolt in 1723 of the vegueros of San Miguel, Guanabacoa and Jesus del Monte, who numbered five hundred men with arms and horses. They proceeded to destroy the tobacco fields of the cultivators of Santiago and Bejucal who had agreed to sell their tobacco at the price proposed by the Visitador. Governor Guazo was obliged to send a company of mounted soldiers under the command of D. Ignacio Barrutia to parley with the rebels. But at the suggestion of submission they replied with musket-shot and Barrutia was forced to fire upon them. Several were killed and wounded, and twelve were taken prisoners. These unfortunates were hanged at Jesus del Monte on that same day.

As soon as this matter was disposed of, Governor Guazo directed his attention to the military affairs of the island. Florida had at this time been annexed to the government of Cuba and Guazo reorganized the army of both colonies, and called into being a number of new militia companies in different parts of the island. He replaced the old pike or lance and the antiquated musket or blunderbus by the bayonet and rifle. The garrison of the capital was raised to eight hundred and sixty-five men, all properly armed and equipped. At the same time the salaries in the army were increased. The soldiers received eleven pesos a month, the salaries of the Teniente de Rey—the King's Lieutenant—and of the governors of el Morro and la Punta were raised and the Captain-General was paid ten thousand pesos a year. An important measure for the promotion of West Indian commerce was inaugurated by Patino, the Minister of the Treasury, who, in order to increase the imports of goods from Spain, conceded to the merchants the same rights as those given to the merchants of Seville and Cadiz.

Guazo had warned British privateers to desist from raids upon the Spanish possessions and in the year 1719 had to address the same warning to the French. For the rupture of diplomatic relations between France and Spain had once more increased the insecurity of the Spanish-American coasts. The privateers fitted out by the Cuban government and authorized to retaliate upon the French and British vessels they would meet, were under the command of men of tried valor, like Gonzalez, Mendreta, Cornego and others. They succeeded in capturing a number of bilanders (small one-mast vessels), which carried cargoes of over one hundred thousand pesos in value. On one of these expeditions the soldiers and sailors attempted to revolt against the customary discipline, but Count Bayona suppressed the incipient mutiny before it had the time to develop.

As soon as war had been declared between France and Spain the promoters of the French colonization schemes that had modestly begun to materialize along southern coast of the American continent, embraced this opportunity to attack the Spanish settlements in Florida. On the fourteenth of May, 1718, Bienville, the brother and successor of the famous d'Iberville, arrived at Pensacola and in the name of the French king demanded the capitulation of the town. Unprepared for such an eventuality and unable to resist superior forces, D. Juan Pedro Metamores, the governor of Pensacola, surrendered and the garrison left with all honors of war. They were transported in French vessels to Havana. But already on this involuntary voyage Metamores was considering measures of retaliation. When the French vessels Toulouse and Mareschal de Villars reached Cuba and landed the prisoners, they were seized by the Governor of Havana, who on learning of the disaster at Pensacola decided upon its recapture. A fleet consisting of one Spanish warship, nine brigantines and the two French vessels was quickly made ready and Metamores with his captured troops embarked for Pensacola. On the sixth of August he entered the harbor with the French vessels flying the French colors as decoys. The French commander refused to surrender and a cannonade began. Then the French demanded an armistice which was followed by the exchange of more shots and finally the garrison of one hundred men marched out, also with honors of war, under the command of Chateaugue. They were sent to Havana and were to be transported to Spain, but in the meantime were imprisoned in Morro castle. Metamores resumed his governorship of Pensacola.

But in September Bienville, the brother of Chateaugue, assisted by a French fleet under Champmeslin, with a large force of Canadians and Indians, attacked Pensacola once more. Metamores was defeated and with some of his Spanish troops sent to Havana to be exchanged for the French prisoners held there since August. The remaining Spaniards were sent to France as prisoners of war. It seems from the records of the historian Blanchet that Governor Guazo in the following year made an attempt to reconquer Pensacola. He sent an expedition of fourteen ships and nine hundred men under the command of D. Esteban de Berroa, who succeeded in taking the place. But in the further course of the engagement between the two forces, the French regained possession and defeated the Cubans, many of whom were made prisoners and sent to Spain.

Of Governor Guazo's efforts to improve the fortifications of Havana, an inscription on the inner side of the gate of Tierra bears witness. It reads:

Reynando La Majesdad Catolica del Senor Felipe V. Rey de las Espanas y Siendo Gobernador de Esta Ciudad, E Isla de Cuba El Brigadier de los Reales Exercitos D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez de la Vega, Caballero del Orden de Santiago. Ano De 1721.

In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Philip V. King of the Spains, and when the Governor of this town and island of Cuba was the Brigadier of the royal armies D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez de la Vega, Knight of the Order of Saint James. In the year 1721.