LITMIR.BIZ

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precautions taken were to be well rewarded. On the twenty-seventh of April, 1727, the English squadron under the command of Admiral Hossier came in sight and approached the entrance to the harbor of Havana. But the population had so effectively prepared the defense of the city, that the attack of the British failed. Besides seeing himself defeated by the enemy, the Admiral saw with dismay that his crews were decimated by fever. Gastaneta was at that time in Vera Cruz and Martinez alone carried off the victory over the British forces which after a blockade of a month had to retire. Admiral Hossier was so overcome with his failure and the loss of his men that he himself died of grief shortly after.

      The following two years of the governorship of D. Martinez were turbulent with the discord of rivals and their factions. The immediate cause of these regrettable disturbances was Hoyo Solorzana, the governor of Santiago de Cuba. He had some time before taken a prominent part in the removal of the treasures lost in el Palmer de Aiz. The charge was raised against him that he had appropriated a certain portion of these treasures and he was suspended and proceedings were begun against him. The case was pending when the accused, who enjoyed great popularity with the people, suddenly without the knowledge of the Captain-General or the Dominican Audiencia, took possession of the government office in which he had formerly exercised his official functions. The authorities were indignant and sent a complaint to his Majesty in Madrid. When the reply arrived a few months later, it ordered his immediate removal from office, annulled his earlier appointment and demanded that he be sent to Madrid. The commander-in-chief took steps for his removal, but the municipal government claimed that the cause could not be pursued as long as an appeal was pending. Governor Martinez, too, waited with the execution of the royal decree in order to learn what decision the Ayuntamento of Havana would take. But the latter was kindly disposed to Hoyo Solorzano, remembering the undeniable services he had rendered the city.

      Both sides held stubbornly to their opinions and the lawyers also could not be swayed by any arguments. Suddenly there appeared in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba a few galleons under command of the chief of the squadron, Barlavente, and acting under orders of Fra D. Antonio de Escudero. They were to apprehend the governor and his supporters, and take them as prisoners to Vera Cruz on the Admiral's ship. True to his character and antecedents, Solorzano bravely defended himself and with the help of his adherents managed to elude his pursuers and to escape to the country. After visiting places where many of his friends lived, he ventured into Puerto Principe, whose inhabitants were such loyal partisans of his that they decided upon protecting him arms in hand. A detachment of troops had been sent from Havana and surrounded the house in which Solorzano was staying. They succeeded in crushing the riotous demonstrations in his favor and seized him. Manacled and chained he was taken to el Morro and imprisoned. Although he was evidently the victim of misaimed ambition, the court that tried his case condemned him to death.

      While these unpleasant events were agitating the official circles of the island, the people saw in the year 1728 one of the most ardent desires of the ambitious youth of Cuba attain fulfillment. This was the foundation of the University. Hitherto, it was necessary for young men desiring a superior and especially a scientific education to attend the universities of Mexico, Santo Domingo or Seville. With the opening of this institution of learning in the metropolis of the island, Havana, the intellectual life received a strong impulse. The credit for having secured the permission to open this university is due to the Dominican order which was mainly instrumental in promoting the cause of education in Latin America and especially the West Indies. The University was opened in the convent of Havana by virtue of a bull issued by Pope Innocent XIII. and in accord with the royal order of March fourteenth, 1732. The event was celebrated by brilliant decoration and illumination of the principal thoroughfares and buildings of the city and by festive gatherings and banquets, as also by dignified and solemn ceremonies in the building itself.

      The first rector of the University was Fra Tomas de Linares. According to the custom of the period and the country the rector, vice-rector and assistants were all selected from the clergy. The curriculum comprised courses in grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, philosophy, theology, canons of economic laws, jurisprudence and medicine. But it seems strange that for a number of years no professor could be found to occupy the chair of mathematics. The peripatetic system prevailed. After two years of existence the university won such hearty approbation from the king that it was granted by royal decree of the twenty-seventh of June, 1734, the same concessions and prerogatives as were accorded to the University of Alcala. In the year 1733 Cuba lost her most revered and beloved spiritual leader, Bishop Valdes, who expired on the twenty-ninth of March. He lived in the memory of many generations that followed not only by the many parishes which he had founded in the smaller towns and rural districts, and by the seminary of San Baulie el Magne, which he had called into being, but also by his many personal virtues that had endeared him to his people.

      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 (estates or lands belonging to the city or civic corporation) 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 (enclosures within which cattle is held). 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 (ordinary judges), 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 (count) 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:

      Reinando en Espana Don Felipe V. El Animoso y Siendo Gobernador y Captan General de Esta Plaza E Isla de Cuba El Brigadier Don Dionisio Martinez de la Vega, se Hiciron Estas Bovedas, Almacenes, Terraplenes, Y Muralla Hasta San Telmo; Se Acabo La Murella Y Baluartes Desde El Angel Hasta El Colateral De La Puerta de Tierra Y Desde El Anguilo De la Tonaza Hasta El Otro Colatoral; Se Puso En Estado y con Respeto

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