The History of Puerto Rico by R.A. Van Middeldyk

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Alonzo la Fuente was of a different opinion. He wrote in November,
1536: "It has been a great boon to take the appointment of governors
out of the Admiral's hands. As a rule, some neighbor or friend was
made supreme judge, and he usually proceeded with but little regard
for the island's welfare. All the rest were servants and employees of
the Admiral, which caused me much uneasiness, seeing the results.
Appoint a governor, but a man from abroad, not a resident." In the
following year he wrote regarding the elective system just introduced:
" ... If the alcaldes must take cognizance of everything, this will
become a place of confusion and disorder. A few will lord it over all
the rest, and the alcaldes themselves will but be their creatures."

The new system of government was unsatisfactory. Castro and
Castellanos asked for the appointment of a supreme judge in March,
1539, because an appeal to the authorities in la Espanola was made
against every decision of the alcalde. Alderman La Fuente and Martel
confirmed this in December, 1541. They wrote: " ... There is great
want of a supreme judge. More than fifteen homicides have been
committed in less than eight years, and only one of the delinquents
has been punished ..." In January, 1542, the city officers sent a
deputy to lay their grievances before the emperor, not daring to write
them "for their lives," and in February the island's attorney, Alonzo
Molina, stated the causes of the failure of the elective system to be
the ignorance of the laws of those in authority and the reduced number
of electors. "It is necessary," he said, "to name a mayor or governor
who is a man of education and conscience, _not a resident_, because
the judges have their 'compadres.'[35] The governor must be a man of
whom they stand in fear, and if some one of this class is not sent
soon, he will find few to govern, for the majority intend to abandon
the island."

A law passed, it appears, at the petition of a single individual, in
1542, increased the confusion and discord still more. This law made
the pastures of the island, as well as the woods and waters, public
property. The woods and waters had been considered such from the
beginning, but the pastures, included in the concessions of lands made
at different times by the crown, were private property. The result of
this law was aggression on the part of the landless and resistance on
the part of the proprietors, with the consequent scenes of violence
and civil strife.

Representations against the law were made by the ecclesiastical
chapter, by the city attorney, and by the three crown officers in
February, 1542; but the regidores, on the other hand, insisted on the
compliance with the royal mandate, and reported that when the law was
promulgated, all the possessors of cattle-ranges opposed it, and four
of their body who voted for compliance with the law were threatened to
be stoned to death and have their eyes pulled out. "We asked to have
the circumstance testified to by a notary, and it was refused. We
wanted to write to your Majesty, and to prevent any one conveying our
letters, they bought the whole cargo of the only ship in port, and did
the same with another ship that came in afterward...."

On the 2d of June following they wrote again: " ... An alcalde, two
aldermen, and ten or twelve wealthy cattle-owners wanted to kill us.
We had to lock ourselves up in our houses.... The people here are so
insubordinate that if your Majesty does not send some one to chastise
them and protect his servants, there will soon be no island of San
Juan."

The system of electing annual governors among the residents was
abolished in 1544, and the crown resumed its prerogative with the
appointment of Geronimo Lebron, of la Espanola, as governor for one
year. He died fifteen days after his arrival, and the Audiencia
named licentiate Cervantes de Loayza in his place, who was compelled
to imprison some of the ringleaders in the party of opposition
against the pasture laws. This governor wrote to the emperor in July,
1545: " ... I came to this island with my wife and children to serve
your Majesty, but I found it a prey to incredible violences...."

Cervantes was well received at first, and the city officials asked the
emperor to prorogue his term of office, but as Bishop Bastidas said of
the islanders, it was not in their nature to be long satisfied with
any governor, and the next year they clamored for his "residencia." He
rendered his accounts and came out without blame or censure.

It appears that about the year 1549 the system of electing alcaldes as
governors was resumed, for in that year Bishop Bastidas thanks the
emperor, and tells him "the alcaldes were sufficient, considering the
small population." But in 1550 we again find a governor appointed by
the crown for five years, a Doctor Louis Vallejo, from whose
communications describing the conditions of the island we extract the
following: "It is a pity to see how the island has been ruined by the
attacks of Frenchmen and Caribs. The few people that remain in San
German live in the worst possible places, in swamps surrounded by
rough mountains, a league from the port...." And on the 4th of
December, 1550: " ... The island was in a languishing condition
because the mines gave out, but now, with the sugar industry, it is
comparatively prosperous. The people beg your Majesty's protection."

However, in October, 1553, we find Bishop Alonzo la Fuente and others
addressing King Philip II, and telling him that "the land is in great
distress, ... traffic has ceased for fear of the corsairs...." The
same complaints continue during 1554 and 1555. Then Vallejo is
subjected to "residencia" by the new governor, Estevez, who, after a
few months' office, is "residentiated" in his turn by Caraza, who had
been governor in 1547.

After this the chronicles are so scanty that not even the diligent
researches of Friar Abbad's commentator enabled him to give any
reliable information regarding the government of the island. It
remained the almost defenseless point of attack for the nations with
which Spain was constantly at war, and this small but bright pearl in
her colonial crown was preserved only by fortunate circumstances on
the one hand and the loyalty of the inhabitants on the other.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 35: Protectors or proteges--literally, "godfathers."]

CHAPTER XVI

DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND--CONSTRUCTION OF
FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION OF SAN JUAN

1555-1641

San German disappeared for want of means of defense, and if the French
privateers of the time had been aware that the forts in San Juan were
without guns or ammunition it is probable that this island would have
become a French possession.

The defenses of the island were constructed by the home authorities in
a very dilatory manner. Ponce's house in Caparra had been fortified in
a way so ineffective that Las Casas said of it that the Indians might
knock it down butting their heads against it. This so-called fort soon
fell in ruins after the transfer of the capital to its present site.
There is no information of what became of the six "espingardas" (small
ordnance or hand-guns) with which it had been armed at King
Ferdinand's expense. They had probably been transferred to San Juan,
where, very likely, they did good service intimidating the Caribs.

In 1527 an English ship came prowling about San Juan bay, la Mona, and
la Espanola, and this warning to the Spanish authorities was
disregarded, notwithstanding Blas de Villasante's urgent request
for artillery and ammunition.

[Illustration: Inner harbor, San Juan.]

After the burning of San German by a French privateer in August, 1537,
Villasante bought five "lombardas" (another kind of small ordnance)
for the defense of San Juan. In 1529 and 1530 both La Gama, the acting
governor, and the city officers represented to the emperor the
necessity of constructing fortifications, "_because the island's
defenseless condition caused the people to emigrate_."

It appears that the construction of the first fort commenced about
1533, for in that year the Audiencia in la Espanola disposed of some
funds for the purpose, and Governor Lando suggested the following year
that if the fort were made of stone "it would be eternal." The
suggestion was acted upon and a tax levied on the people to defray the
expense.

This fort must have been concluded about the year 1540, for in that
same year the ecclesiastical and the city authorities were contending
for the grant of the slaves, carts, and oxen that had been employed,
the former wanting them for the construction of a church, the latter
for making roads and bridges.

This "Fortaleza" is the same edifice which, after many changes, was at
last, and is still, used as a gubernatorial residence, the latest
reconstruction being effected in 1846.[36] As a fort, Gonzalez
Fernandez de Oviedo denounced it as a piece of useless work which,
"if it had been constructed by blind men could not have been located
in a worse place," and in harmony with his advice a battery was
constructed on the rocky promontory called "the Morro."

San Juan had now a fort (1540) but no guns. The crown officers,
reporting an attack on Guayama by a French privateer in 1541, again
clamor for artillery. Treasurer Castellanos writes in March and June
of the same year: "The artillery for this fort has not yet arrived.
How are we to defend it?"

Treasurer Salinas writes in 1554: "The French have taken several
ships. It would have been a great boon if your Majesty had ordered
Captain Mindirichaga to come here with his four ships to defend this
island and la Espanola. He would have found Frenchmen in la Mona,
where they prepare for their expeditions and lay in wait. They declare
their intention to take this island, and it will be difficult for us
to defend it without artillery or other arms. If there is anything in
the fort it is useless, nor is the fort itself of any account. It is
merely a lodging-house. The bastion on the Morro, if well constructed,
could defend the entrance to the harbor with 6 pieces. We have 60
horsemen here with lances and shields, but no arquebusiers or pikemen.
Send us artillery and ammunition."

The demand for arms and ammunition continued in this way till 1555,
when acting Governor Caraza reported that 8 pieces of bronze ordnance
had been planted on the Morro.

The existing fortifications of San Juan have all been added and
extended at different periods. Father Torres Vargas, in his chronicles
of San Juan, says that the castle grounds of San Felipe del Morro
were laid out in 1584. The construction cost 2,000,000 ducats.[37] The
Boqueron, or Santiago fort, the fort of the Canuelo, and the
extensions of the Morro were constructed during the administration of
Gabriel Royas (1599 to 1609). Governor Henriquez began the
circumvallation of the city in 1630, and his successor, Sarmiento,
concluded it between the years 1635 and 1641. Fort San Cristobal was
begun in the eighteenth century and completed in 1771. Some
fortifications of less importance were added in the nineteenth
century.

When Caraza reported, in 1555, that the first steps in the
fortification of the capital had been taken, the West Indian seas
swarmed with French privateers, and their depredations on Spanish
commerce and ill-protected possessions continued till Philip II signed
the treaty of peace at Vervins in 1598.

But before that, war with England had been declared, and a more
formidable enemy than the French was soon to appear before the capital
of this much-afflicted island.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 36: The inscription on the upper front wall of the building
is: "During the reign of her Majesty, Dona Isabel II, the Count of
Mirasol being Captain-General, Santos Cortijo, Colonel of Engineers,
reconstructed this royal fort in 1846."]

[Footnote 37: Ducat, a coin struck by a duke, worth, in silver, about
$1.15, in gold, twice as much. It was also a nominal money worth
eleven pesetas and one maravedi.]

CHAPTER XVII

DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN

1595

Of all the English freebooters that preyed upon Spain and her colonies
from the commencement of the war in 1585 to the signing of peace in
1604, Francis Drake was the greatest scourge and the most feared.

Drake early distinguished himself among the fraternity of sea-rovers
by the boldness of his enterprises and the intensity of his hatred of
the Spaniards. When still a young man, in 1567-'68, he was captain of
a small ship, the Judith, one of a fleet of slavers running between
the coast of Africa and the West Indies, under the command of John
Hawkyns, another famous freebooter. In the harbor of San Juan de Ulua
the Spaniards took the fleet by stratagem; the Judith and the Minion,
with Hawkyns on board, being the only vessels that escaped. Young
Drake's experiences on that occasion fixed the character of his
relations to the Dons forever afterward. He vowed that they should pay
for all he had suffered and all he had lost.

At that time the Spaniards were ostensibly still friends with England.
To Drake they were then and always treacherous and forsworn enemies.
In 1570 he made a voyage to the West Indies in a bark of forty tons
with a private crew. In the Chagres River, on the coast of Nombre de
Dios, there happened to be sundry barks transporting velvets and
taffetas to the value of 40,000 ducats, besides gold and silver. They
were all taken.

Two years later he made a most daring attempt to take the town of
Nombre de Dios, and would probably have succeeded had he not been
wounded. He fainted from loss of blood. His men carried him back on
board and suspended the attack. On his recovery he met with complete
success, and returned to Plymouth in 1573 with a large amount of
treasure openly torn from a nation with which England was at peace,
arriving at the very time that Philip's ambassador to Queen Elizabeth
was negotiating a treaty of peace. Drake had no letters of marque, and
consequently was guilty of piracy in the eyes of the law, the penalty
for which was hanging. The Spaniards were naturally very angry, and
clamored for restitution or compensation and Drake's punishment, but
the queen, who shared the pirate's hatred of the Spaniards, sent him
timely advice to keep out of the way.

In 1580 he returned from another voyage in the West Indies, just when
a body of so-called papal volunteers had landed in Ireland. They had
been brought by a Spanish officer in Spanish ships, and the queen,
pending a satisfactory explanation, refused to receive Mendoza, the
Spanish ambassador, and hear his complaints of Drake's piracies. When
his ships had been brought round in the Thames, she visited him on
board and conferred on him the honor of knighthood. From this time
onward he became a servant of the crown.[38]

It was this redoubtable sea-rover who, according to advices received
early in 1595, was preparing an expedition in England for the purpose
of wresting her West Indian possessions from Spain. The expedition was
brought to naught, through the disagreements between Drake and Hawkyns,
who both commanded it, by administrative blunders and vexatious delays
in England. The Spaniards were everywhere forewarned and goaded to
action by the terror of Drake's name.

Notwithstanding this, the island's fate, seeing its defenseless
condition, would, no doubt, have been sealed at that time but for a
most fortunate occurrence which brought to its shores the forces that
enabled it to repulse the attack. Acosta's annotations on Abbad's
history contains the following details of the events in San Juan at
the time:

"General Sancho Pardo y Osorio sailed from Havana March 10, 1595, in
the flagship of the Spanish West Indian fleet, to convoy some
merchantmen and convey 2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver, the greater
part the property of his Majesty the king. The flagship carried 300
men.

"On the 15th, when in the Bermuda channel, a storm separated the
convoy from the other ships, sent her mainmast overboard, broke her
rudder, and the ship sprang a leak. In this condition, after a
consultation among the officers, it was decided to repair the damage
as well as possible and steer for Puerto Rico, which they reached on
the 9th of April. The treasure was placed in security in the fort and
messengers despatched to the king to learn his Majesty's commands.

"A few days later official advice of the preparations in England was
brought to the island in a despatch-boat. Governor Juarez, General
Sancho, and the commander of the local infantry held a council, in
which it was resolved to land the artillery from the dismasted ship
and sink her and another vessel in the channel at the entrance to the
harbor, while defenses should be constructed at every point where an
enemy could attempt a landing. The plan was carried out under the
direction of General Sancho, who had ample time, as no enemy appeared
during the next seven months.

"On the 13th of November 5 Spanish frigates arrived under the command
of Pedro Tello de Guzman, with orders from the king to embark the
treasure forthwith and take it to Spain; but Tello, on his way hither,
had fallen in off Guadeloupe with two English small craft, had had a
fight with one of them, sank it, and while pursuing the other had come
suddenly in sight of the whole fleet, which made him turn about and
make his way to Puerto Rico before the English should cut him off.
From the prisoners taken from the sunken vessel he had learned that
the English fleet consisted of 6 line-of-battle ships of 600 to 800
tons each, and about 20 others of different sizes, with launches for
landing troops, 3,000 infantry, 1,500 mariners, all well armed and
provided with artillery, bound direct for Puerto Rico under the
command of Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkyns.

"Tello's 5 frigates made a very important addition to the island's
defenses. Part of his men were distributed among the land forces, and
his ships anchored in the bay, just behind the two sunken ships.

"All was now ready for a determined resistance. General Sancho had
charge of the shore defenses, Admiral Gonzalo Mendez de Cauzo
commanded the forts, Tello, with his frigates and 300 men, defended
the harbor. The bishop promised to say a mass and preach a sermon
every day, and placed a priest at every post to give spiritual aid
where necessary. Lastly, despatch-boats were sent to la Espanola and
to Cuba to inform the authorities there of the coming danger.

"The defensive forces consisted of 450 men distributed at different
points on shore with 34 pieces of ordnance of small caliber. In the
forts there were 36 pieces, mostly bronze ordnance, with the
respective contingent of men. On board of Tello's frigates there were
300 men.

"General Sancho, after an inspection of the defenses, assured the
governor that the island was safe if the men would but fight.

"At daybreak on the 22d of November the English fleet hove in sight.
The call to arms was sounded, and everybody," says the chronicler,
"ran joyfully to his post."

A caravel with some launches showing white flags came on ahead,
sounding, but on passing the Boqueron were saluted with a cannon shot,
whereupon they withdrew replacing the white flags by red ones.

The whole fleet now came to anchor in front of the "Caleta del Cabron"
(Goat's Creek), much to the surprise of the islanders, who had no idea
that there was anchoring ground at that point; but, being within range
of the 3 pieces of cannon on the Morrillo and of the 2 pieces planted
at the mouth of the creek, they were fired upon, with the result, as
became known afterward, of considerable damage to the flagship and the
death of 2 or 3 persons, among them Hawkyns, Drake's second in
command.

This unexpectedly warm reception made it clear to the English admiral
that the islanders had been forewarned and were not so defenseless as
they had been reported. Some launches were sent to take soundings in
the vicinity of Goat Island, and at 5 in the afternoon the fleet
lifted anchor and stood out to sea. Next morning at 8 o'clock it
returned and took up a position under the shelter of the said island,
out of range of the artillery on the forts.

More soundings were taken during the day in the direction of Bayamon,
as far as the Canuelo. That night, about 10 o'clock, 25 launches, each
containing from 50 to 60 men, advanced under cover of the darkness and
attacked Tello's frigates. The flames of 3 of the ships, which the
English succeeded in firing, soon lit up the bay and enabled the
artillery of the 3 forts to play with effect among the crowded
launches. The Spaniards on board Tello's ships succeeded in putting
out the fire on board 2 of the ships, the third one was destroyed.
After an hour's hard fighting and the loss by the English, as
estimated by the Spanish chronicler, of 8 or 10 launches and of about
400 men, they withdrew. The Spanish loss that night was 40 killed and
some wounded.

The next day the English fleet stood out to sea again, keeping to
windward of the harbor, which made Tello suspect that they intended to
return under full sail when the wind sprang up and force their way
into the harbor. To prevent this, 2 more ships and a frigate were sunk
across the entrance with all they had on board, there being no time to
unload them.

As expected, the fleet came down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but
did not try to force an entrance. It quietly took up the same position
between the Morro and Goat Island, which it had occupied the day
before, and this made the Spaniards think that another night attack on
the 3 remaining frigates was impending. After dark the frigates were
removed to a place of safety within the bay.

The night passed without an alarm. The next day the English launches
were busy all day sounding the bay as far as the Boqueron, taking care
to keep out of range of the artillery on shore. Night came on and when
next morning the sun lit up the western world there was not an enemy
visible. Drake had found the island too well prepared and deemed it
prudent to postpone the conquest.

Two days later news came from Arecibo that the English fleet had
passed that port. A messenger sent to San German returned six days
later with the information that the enemy had been there four days
taking in wood and water and had sailed southward on the 9th of
December.

It is said that when Drake afterward learned that his abandonment of
the conquest of Puerto Rico had made him miss the chance of adding
2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver to the Maiden Queen's exchequer, he
pulled his beard with vexation.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 38: Drake and his Successors. The Edinburgh Review, July,
1901.]

CHAPTER XVIII

OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY LORD GEORGE
CUMBERLAND--CONDITION OF THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY

Puerto Rico and his Majesty's treasure were now safe. When there was
no longer any fear of the enemy's return, haste was made to reembark
the money and get rid of General Sancho and Tello and their men who
were fast consuming the island's scanty resources.

Two years after Drake's ineffectual attack on the island another
English fleet, with a large body of troops under the orders of Lord
George Cumberland, came to Puerto Rico. A landing was effected at
Cangrejos (the present Santurce). The bridge leading to the capital
was not then fortified, but its passage was gallantly disputed by
Governor Antonio Mosquera, an old soldier of the war in Flanders. The
English were far superior in numbers and armament, and Mosquera had to
fall back. Captain Serralta, the brothers John and Simon Sanabria, and
other natives of the island, greatly distinguished themselves in this
action. The English occupied the capital and the forts without much
more opposition. An epidemic of dysentery and yellow fever carried off
400 Englishmen in less than three months and bid fair to exterminate
the whole invading force, so that, to save his troops, the English
commander was obliged to evacuate the island, which he did on the 23d
of November. He carried with him 70 pieces of artillery of all sizes
which he found in the fortifications. The city itself he left unhurt,
except that he took the church-bells and organ and carried off an
artistically sculptured marble window in one of the houses which had
taken his fancy.

Mr. Brau mentions some documents in the Indian archives of Spain, from
which it appears that another invasion of Puerto Rico took place a
year after Cumberland's departure. On that occasion the governor and
the garrison were carried off as prisoners, but as there was a cruel
epidemic still raging in the island at the time the English did not
stay.

The death of Philip II (September 13, 1598) and of his inveterate
enemy, Queen Elizabeth (March 24, 1603), brought the war with England
to a close. The ambassador of Philip III in London negotiated a treaty
of peace with James I, which was signed and ratified in the early part
of 1604.

So ended the sixteenth century in Boriquen. If the dictum of Las
Casas, that the island at the century's beginning was "as populous as
a beehive and as lovely as an orchard," was but a rhetorical figure,
there is no gainsaying the fact that at the time of Ponce's landing it
was thickly peopled, not only that part occupied by the Spaniards but
_the whole island_, with a comparatively innocent, simple, and
peaceably disposed native race. The end of the century saw them no
more. The erstwhile garden was an extensive jungle. The island's
history during these hundred years was condensed into the one word
"strife." All that the efforts of the king and his governors had been
able to make of it was a penal settlement, a presidio with a
population of about 400 inhabitants, white, black, and mongrel. The
littoral was an extensive hog-and cattle-ranch, with here and there a
patch of sugar-cane; there was no commerce.[39] There were no roads.
The people, morally, mentally, and materially poor, were steeped in
ignorance and vice. Education there was none. The very few who aspired
to know, went to la Espanola to obtain an education. The few spiritual
wants of the people were supplied by monks, many of them as ignorant
and bigoted as themselves. War and pestilence and tempest had united
to wipe the island from the face of the earth, and the very name of
"Rich Port," given to it without cause or reason, must have sounded in
the ears of the inhabitants as a bitter sarcasm on their wretched
condition.

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