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An important innovation was made at this period concerning land tenure. The Ayuntamentos or municipal corporations started to rent lands, that is to give them in usufructu for the pasturing of cattle, to swine herds, for labor or as ground plots. The person receiving such a grant paid to the propios six ducats annually for the first, four for the second, and two for the others. The land-surveyor, D. Luis de la Pena, resolved to give a plot of land in the radius of two leagues to the haciendas that raised black cattle, called hatos, and to the raisers of hogs, cordos or corroles . But there was such a lack of precision in determining the boundaries of the lands covered by these concessions, that one overlapped the others and caused innumerable heated lawsuits. The abuses committed by the corporation concerned in these land deals, finally caused the king to strip these bodies of the power of renting the lands. This important royal decree was according to the historian Pezuela dated 1727, according to La Torre 1729.

The copper-mines of Cuba which had during the second half of the seventeenth century been totally abandoned, but had been reopened in the year 1705 under the direction of D. Sabastian de Arancibia and D. Francisco Delgado, once more disappointed those interested in that investment and yielding little profit were closed. The result was very disastrous for the men that had been employed in the mines. For when they found themselves without work, they began to lead a sort of unrestrained life, which caused unrest and disturbances. In the year 1731, the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Pedro Jiminez, decided to put an end to this idleness and without warning imposed upon them hard labor. This the men resented and rebelled. After considerable difficulty, the gentle exhortations of the Canonicus Morrell of Santa Cruz prevailed and succeeded in appeasing the men, who took up other work.

In other parts of the island there occurred about this time uprisings of the slaves, which required the use of force and led to no little bloodshed before they could be suppressed. One of these revolts on the plantation Quiebra Hache and some on other neighboring haciendas led to the foundation of Santa Maria del Rosario. It was D. Jose Bayona Chacon, Conde de Casa-Bayona, who conceived the idea that the existence of a white population in the heart of the mutinous district might help to keep the negroes submissive. He asked the king's permission to establish a town on the land of said plantation and of the Jiaraco corral, which were all his property, and asked for manorial grants, civil and criminal jurisdiction, that is the right to appoint alcaldes , eight aldermen and as many other officials of the court as were needed. King Philip, remembering the services D. Bayona Chacon had rendered the island, granted this request in the year 1732, and D. Bayona or Conde Casa-Bayona settled thirty families on the place, which was henceforth called Santa Maria del Rosario.

The last years of the governorship of D. Martinez were undisturbed by strife either from within or without, and Cuba prospered during that brief spell of peace and quiet. But he did not delude himself by imagining Cuba safe from further disturbances, either of her internal conditions or her relations to her enemies. Like his predecessors he continued to add to the fortifications, as is proved by an inscription on the gate of la Punta, which reads:

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 such unusual 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.

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 the ayuntamentos 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 and public 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 exclusive right 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 . 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 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 .

Governor Guemez was not oblivious to the dangers forever menacing 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 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 for losses 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.

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 own the Spaniard did the waggish thing Who cropped our ears, and sent them to the king";

and even Samuel Johnson burst out into the cry:

"Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor, No pathless waste or undiscovered shore, No secret island in the boundless main, No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"

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

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 and profited 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 on the 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 his men 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 pursued by 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.

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 the peace 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 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 of October, 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.

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 absolutely nothing 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 the coasts, 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 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.'"

"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 r?le 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 presented from 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.

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.

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