Chapter I (1)

_Considerations on the Rights acquired by the Discovery of
Unknown Lands, and on the Claims advanced by the =Spaniards=._

The accounts given by the Buccaneers who extended their enterprises to the _Pacific Ocean_, are the best authenticated of any which have been published by that class of Adventurers. They are interspersed with nautical and geographical descriptions, corroborative of the events related, and more worth being preserved than the memory of what was performed. The materials for this portion of Buccaneer history, which it was necessary should be included in a History of South Sea Navigations, could not be collected without bringing other parts into view; whence it appeared, that with a moderate increase of labour, and without much enlarging the bulk of narrative, a regular history might be formed of their career, from their first rise, to their suppression; and that such a work would not be without its use.

No practice is more common in literature, than for an author to endeavour to clear the ground before him, by mowing down the labours of his predecessors on the same subject. To do this, where the labour they have bestowed is of good tendency, or even to treat with harshness the commission of error where no bad intention is manifest, is in no small degree illiberal. But all the Buccaneer histories that hitherto have appeared, and the number is not small, are boastful compositions, which have delighted in exaggeration: and, what is most mischievous, they have lavished commendation on acts which demanded reprobation, and have endeavoured to raise miscreants, notorious for their want of humanity, to the rank of heroes, lessening thereby the stain upon robbery, and the abhorrence naturally conceived against cruelty.

There is some excuse for the Buccaneer, who tells his own story. Vanity, and his prejudices, without any intention to deceive, lead him to magnify his own exploits; and the reader naturally makes allowances.

The men whose enterprises are to be related, were natives of different European nations, but chiefly of _Great Britain_ and _France_, and most of them seafaring people, who being disappointed, by accidents or the enmity of the Spaniards, in their more sober pursuits in the _West Indies_, and also instigated by thirst for plunder as much as by desire for vengeance, embodied themselves, under different leaders of their own choosing, to make predatory war upon the Spaniards. These men the Spaniards naturally treated as pirates; but some peculiar circumstances which provoked their first enterprises, and a general feeling of enmity against that nation on account of their American conquests, procured them the connivance of the rest of the maritime states of _Europe_, and to be distinguished first by the softened appellations of Freebooters and Adventurers, and afterwards by that of Buccaneers.

_Spain_, or, more strictly speaking, _Castile_, on the merit of a first discovery, claimed an exclusive right to the possession of the whole of _America_, with the exception of the _Brasils_, which were conceded to the Portuguese. These claims, and this division, the Pope sanctioned by an instrument, entitled a Bull of Donation, which was granted at a time when all the maritime powers of _Europe_ were under the spiritual dominion of the See of _Rome_. The Spaniards, however, did not flatter themselves that they should be left in the sole and undisputed enjoyment of so large a portion of the newly-discovered countries; but they were principally anxious to preserve wholly to themselves the _West Indies_: and, such was the monopolising spirit of the Castilians, that during the life of the Queen Ysabel of _Castile_, who was regarded as the patroness of Columbus's discovery, it was difficult even for Spaniards, not subjects born of the crown of _Castile_, to gain access to this _New World_, prohibitions being repeatedly published against the admission of all other persons into the ships bound thither. Ferdinand, King of _Arragon_, the husband of Ysabel, had refused to contribute towards the outfit of Columbus's first voyage, having no opinion of the probability that it would produce him an adequate return; and the undertaking being at the expence of _Castile_, the countries discovered were considered as appendages to the crown of _Castile_.

If such jealousy was entertained by the Spaniards of each other, what must not have been their feelings respecting other European nations? 'Whoever,' says Hakluyt, 'is conversant with the Portugal and Spanish writers, shall find that they account all other nations for pirates, rovers, and thieves, which visit any heathen coast that they have sailed by or looked on.'

_Spain_ considered the _New World_ as what in our law books is called Treasure-trove, of which she became lawfully and exclusively entitled to take possession, as fully as if it had been found without any owner or proprietor. _Spain_ has not been singular in her maxims respecting the rights of discoverers. Our books of Voyages abound in instances of the same disregard shewn to the rights of the native inhabitants, the only rightful proprietors, by the navigators of other European nations, who, with a solemnity due only to offices of a religious nature, have continually put in practice the form of taking possession of Countries which to them were new discoveries, their being inhabited or desert making no difference. Not unfrequently has the ceremony been performed in the presence, but not within the understanding, of the wondering natives; and on this formality is grounded a claim to usurp the actual possession, in preference to other Europeans.

Nothing can be more opposed to common sense, than that strangers should pretend to acquire by discovery, a title to countries they find with inhabitants; as if in those very inhabitants the right of prior discovery was not inherent. On some occasions, however, Europeans have thought it expedient to acknowledge the rights of the natives, as when, in disputing each other's claims, a title by gift from the natives has been pretended.

In uninhabited lands, a right of occupancy results from the discovery; but actual and _bona fide_ possession is requisite to perfect appropriation. If real possession be not taken, or if taken shall not be retained, the right acquired by the mere discovery is not indefinite and a perpetual bar of exclusion to all others; for that would amount to discovery giving a right equivalent to annihilation. Moveable effects may be hoarded and kept out of use, or be destroyed, and it will not always be easy to prove whether with injury or benefit to mankind: but the necessities of human life will not admit, unless under the strong hand of power, that a right should be pretended to keep extensive and fertile countries waste and secluded from their use, without other reason than the will of a proprietor or claimant.

Particular local circumstances have created objections to the occupancy of territory: for instance, between the confines of the Russian and Chinese Empires, large tracts of country are left waste, it being held, that their being occupied by the subjects of either Empire would affect the security of the other. Several similar instances might be mentioned.

There is in many cases difficulty to settle what constitutes occupancy. On a small Island, any first settlement is acknowledged an occupancy of the whole; and sometimes, the occupancy of a single Island of a group is supposed to comprehend an exclusive title to the possession of the remainder of the group. In the _West Indies_, the Spaniards regarded their making settlements on a few Islands, to be an actual taking possession of the whole, as far as European pretensions were concerned.

The first discovery of Columbus set in activity the curiosity and speculative dispositions of all the European maritime Powers. King Henry the VIIth, of _England_, as soon as he was certified of the existence of countries in the Western hemisphere, sent ships thither, whereby _Newfoundland_, and parts of the continent of _North America_, were first discovered. _South America_ was also visited very early, both by the English and the French; 'which nations,' the Historian of _Brasil_ remarks, 'had neglected to ask a share of the undiscovered World, when Pope Alexander the VIth partitioned it, who would as willingly have drawn two lines as one; and, because they derived no advantage from that partition, refused to admit its validity.' The _West Indies_, however, which doubtless was the part most coveted by all, seem to have been considered as more particularly the discovery and right of the Spaniards; and, either from respect to their pretensions, or from the opinion entertained of their force in those parts, they remained many years undisturbed by intruders in the _West Indian Seas_. But their homeward-bound ships, and also those of the Portuguese from the _East Indies_, did not escape being molested by pirates; sometimes by those of their own, as well as of other nations.

CHAP. II.

_Review of the Dominion of the =Spaniards= in =Hayti= or
=Hispaniola=._

[Sidenote: 1492-3. Hayti, or Hispaniola, the first Settlement of the Spaniards in America.] The first settlement formed by the Castilians in their newly discovered world, was on the Island by the native inhabitants named _Hayti_; but to which the Spaniards gave the name of _Espanola_ or _Hispaniola_. And in process of time it came to pass, that this same Island became the great place of resort, and nursery, of the European adventurers, who have been so conspicuous under the denomination of the Buccaneers of _America_.

The native inhabitants found in _Hayti_, have been described a people of gentle, compassionate dispositions, of too frail a constitution, both of body and mind, either to resist oppression, or to support themselves under its weight; and to the indolence, luxury, and avarice of the discoverers, their freedom and happiness in the first instance, and finally their existence, fell a sacrifice.

Queen Ysabel, the patroness of the discovery, believed it her duty, and was earnestly disposed, to be their protectress; but she wanted resolution to second her inclination. The Island abounded in gold mines. The natives were tasked to work them, heavier and heavier by degrees; and it was the great misfortune of Columbus, after achieving an enterprise, the glory of which was not exceeded by any action of his contemporaries, to make an ungrateful use of the success Heaven had favoured him with, and to be the foremost in the destruction of the nations his discovery first made known to _Europe_.

[Sidenote: Review of the Dominion of the Spaniards in Hispaniola.] The population of _Hayti_, according to the lowest estimation made, amounted to a million of souls. The first visit of Columbus was passed in a continual reciprocation of kind offices between them and the Spaniards. One of the Spanish ships was wrecked upon the coast, and the natives gave every assistance in their power towards saving the crew, and their effects to them. When Columbus departed to return to _Europe_, he left behind him thirty-eight Spaniards, with the consent of the Chief or Sovereign of the part of the Island where he had been so hospitably received. He had erected a fort for their security, and the declared purpose of their remaining was to protect the Chief against all his enemies. Several of the native Islanders voluntarily embarked in the ships to go to _Spain_, among whom was a relation of the _Hayti_ Chief; and with them were taken gold, and various samples of the productions of the _New World_.

Columbus, on his return, was received by the Court of _Spain_ with the honours due to his heroic achievement, indeed with honours little short of adoration: he was declared Admiral, Governor, and Viceroy of the Countries that he had discovered, and also of those which he should afterwards discover; he was ordered to assume the style and title of nobility; and was furnished with a larger fleet to prosecute farther the discovery, and to make conquest of the new lands. The Instructions for his second expedition contained the following direction: 'Forasmuch as you, Christopher Columbus, are going by our command, with our vessels and our men, to discover and subdue certain Islands and Continent, our will is, that you shall be our Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor in them.' This was the first step in the iniquitous usurpations which the more cultivated nations of the world have practised upon their weaker brethren, the natives of _America_.

[Sidenote: 1493. Government of Columbus.] Thus provided and instructed, Columbus sailed on his second voyage. On arriving at _Hayti_, the first news he learnt was, that the natives had demolished the fort which he had built, and destroyed the garrison, who, it appeared, had given great provocation, by their rapacity and licentious conduct. War did not immediately follow. Columbus accepted presents of gold from the Chief; he landed a number of colonists, and built a town on the North side of _Hayti_, which he named after the patroness, _Ysabel_, and fortified. [Sidenote: 1494.] A second fort was soon built; new Spaniards arrived; and the natives began to understand that it was the intention of their visitors to stay, and be lords of the country. The Chiefs held meetings, to confer on the means to rid themselves of such unwelcome guests, and there was appearance of preparation making to that end. The Spaniards had as yet no farther asserted dominion, than in taking land for their town and forts, and helping themselves to provisions when the natives neglected to bring supplies voluntarily. The histories of these transactions affect a tone of apprehension on account of the extreme danger in which the Spaniards were, from the multitude of the heathen inhabitants; but all the facts shew that they perfectly understood the helpless character of the natives. A Spanish officer, named Pedro Margarit, was blamed, not altogether reasonably, for disorderly conduct to the natives, which happened in the following manner. He was ordered, with a large body of troops, to make a progress through the Island in different parts, and was strictly enjoined to restrain his men from committing any violence against the natives, or from giving them any cause for complaint. But the troops were sent on their journey without provisions, and the natives were not disposed to furnish them. The troops recurred to violence, which they did not limit to the obtaining food. If Columbus could spare a detachment strong enough to make such a visitation through the land, he could have entertained no doubt of his ability to subdue it. But before he risked engaging in open war with the natives, he thought it prudent to weaken their means of resisting by what he called stratagem. _Hayti_ was divided into five provinces, or small kingdoms, under the separate dominion of as many Princes or Caciques. One of these, Coanabo, the Cacique of _Maguana_, Columbus believed to be more resolute, and more dangerous to his purpose, than any other of the chiefs. To Coanabo, therefore, he sent an Officer, to propose an accommodation on terms which appeared so reasonable, that the Indian Chief assented to them. Afterwards, relying on the good faith of the Spaniards, not, as some authors have meanly represented, through credulous and childish simplicity, but with the natural confidence which generally prevails, and which ought to prevail, among mankind in their mutual engagements, he gave opportunity for Columbus to get possession of his person, who caused him to be seized, and embarked in a ship then ready to sail for _Spain_. The ship foundered in the passage. [Sidenote: 1495.] The story of Coanabo, and the contempt with which he treated Columbus for his treachery, form one of the most striking circumstances in the history of the perfidious dealings of the Spaniards in _America_. [Sidenote: Dogs used in Battle against the Indians.] On the seizure of this Chief, the Islanders rose in arms. Columbus took the field with two hundred foot armed with musketry and cross-bows, with twenty troopers mounted on horses, and with twenty large dogs[1]!

It is not to be urged in exculpation of the Spaniards, that the natives were the aggressors, by their killing the garrison left at _Hayti_. Columbus had terminated his first visit in friendship; and, without the knowledge that any breach had happened between the Spaniards left behind, and the natives, sentence of subjugation had been pronounced against them. This was not to avenge injury, for the Spaniards knew not of any committed. Columbus was commissioned to execute this sentence, and for that end, besides a force of armed men, he took with him from _Spain_ a number of blood-hounds, to prosecute a most unrighteous purpose by the most inhuman means.

Many things are justifiable in defence, which in offensive war are regarded by the generality of mankind with detestation. All are agreed in the use of dogs, as faithful guards to our persons as well as to our dwellings; but to hunt men with dogs seems to have been till then unheard of, and is nothing less offensive to humanity than cannibalism or feasting on our enemies. Neither jagged shot, poisoned darts, springing of mines, nor any species of destruction, can be objected to, if this is allowed in honourable war, or admitted not to be a disgraceful practice in any war.

It was scarcely possible for the Indians, or indeed for any people naked and undisciplined, however numerous, to stand their ground against a force so calculated to excite dread. The Islanders were naturally a timid people, and they regarded fire-arms as engines of more than mortal contrivance. Don Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, who wrote a History of his father's actions, relates an instance, which happened before the war, of above 400 Indians running away from a single Spanish horseman. [Sidenote: Massacre of the Natives, and Subjugation of the Island.] So little was attack, or valiant opposition, apprehended from the natives, that Columbus divided his force into several squadrons, to charge them at different points. 'These faint-hearted creatures,' says Don Ferdinand, 'fled at the first onset; and our men, pursuing and killing them, made such havock, that in a short time they obtained a complete victory.' The policy adopted by Columbus was, to confirm the natives in their dread of European arms, by a terrible execution. The victors, both dogs and men, used their ascendancy like furies. The dogs flew at the throats of the Indians, and strangled or tore them in pieces; whilst the Spaniards, with the eagerness of hunters, pursued and mowed down the unresisting fugitives. Some thousands of the Islanders were slaughtered, and those taken prisoners were consigned to servitude. If the fact were not extant, it would not be conceivable that any one could be so blind to the infamy of such a proceeding, as to extol the courage of the Spaniards on this occasion, instead of execrating their cruelty. Three hundred of the natives were shipped for _Spain_ as slaves, and the whole Island, with the exception of a small part towards the Western coast, which has since been named the _Cul de Sac_, was subdued. [Sidenote: Tribute imposed.] Columbus made a leisurely progress through the Island, which occupied him nine or ten months, and imposed a tribute generally upon all the natives above the age of fourteen, requiring each of them to pay quarterly a certain quantity of gold, or 25 lbs. of cotton. Those natives who were discovered to have been active against the Spaniards, were taxed higher. To prevent evasion, rings or tokens, to be produced in the nature of receipts, were given to the Islanders on their paying the tribute, and any Islander found without such a mark in his possession, was deemed not to have paid, and proceeded against.

Queen Ysabel shewed her disapprobation of Columbus's proceedings, by liberating and sending back the captive Islanders to their own country; and she moreover added her positive commands, that none of the natives should be made slaves. This order was accompanied with others intended for their protection; but the Spanish Colonists, following the example of their Governor, contrived means to evade them.

In the mean time, the Islanders could not furnish the tribute, and Columbus was rigorous in the collection. It is said in palliation, that he was embarrassed in consequence of the magnificent descriptions he had given to Ferdinand and Ysabel, of the riches of _Hispaniola_, by which he had taught them to expect much; and that the fear of disappointing them and losing their favour, prompted him to act more oppressively to the Indians than his disposition otherwise inclined him to do. Distresses of this kind press upon all men; but only in very ordinary minds do they outweigh solemn considerations. Setting aside the dictates of religion and moral duty, as doubtless was done, and looking only to worldly advantages, if Columbus had properly estimated his situation, he would have been resolute not to descend from the eminence he had attained. The dilemma in which he was placed, was simply, whether he would risk some diminution of the favour he was in at Court, by being the protector of these Islanders, who, by circumstances peculiarly calculated to engage his interest, were entitled in an especial manner to have been regarded as his clients; or, to preserve that favour, would oppress them to their destruction, and to the ruin of his own fame.

[Sidenote: Despair of the Natives.] The Islanders, finding their inability to oppose the invaders, took the desperate resolution to desist from the cultivation of their lands, to abandon their houses, and to withdraw themselves to the mountains; hoping thereby that want of subsistence would force their oppressors to quit the Island. The Spaniards had many resources; the sea-coast supplied them with fish, and their vessels brought provisions from other islands. As to the natives of _Hayti_, one third part of them, it is said, perished in the course of a few months, by famine and by suicide. The rest returned to their dwellings, and submitted. All these events took place within three years after the discovery; so active is rapacity.

Some among the Spaniards (authors of that time say, the enemies of Columbus, as if sentiments of humanity were not capable of such an effort) wrote Memorials to their Catholic Majesties, representing the disastrous condition to which the natives were reduced. [Sidenote: 1496.] Commissioners were sent to examine into the fact, and Columbus found it necessary to go to _Spain_ to defend his administration.

So great was the veneration and respect entertained for him, that on his arrival at Court, accusation was not allowed to be produced against him: and, without instituting enquiry, it was arranged, that he should return to his government with a large reinforcement of Spaniards, and with authority to grant lands to whomsoever he chose to think capable of cultivating them. Various accidents delayed his departure from _Spain_ on his third voyage, till 1498.

[Sidenote: City of Nueva Ysabel founded, 1496.] He had left two of his brothers to govern in _Hispaniola_ during his absence; the eldest, Bartolome, with the title of Adelantado; in whose time (A. D. 1496) was traced, on the South side of the Island, the plan of a new town intended for the capital, the land in the neighbourhood of the town of _Ysabel_, before built, being poor and little productive. [Sidenote: Its name changed to Santo Domingo.] The name first given to the new town was _Nueva Ysabel_; this in a short time gave place to that of _Santo Domingo_, a name which was not imposed by authority, but adopted and became in time established by common usage, of which the original cause is not now known[2].

Under the Adelantado's government, the parts of the Island which till then had held out in their refusal to receive the Spanish yoke, were reduced to subjection; and the conqueror gratified his vanity with the public execution of one of the Hayti Kings.

Columbus whilst he was in _Spain_ received mortification in two instances, of neither of which he had any right to complain. In October 1496, three hundred natives of _Hayti_ (made prisoners by the Adelantado) were landed at _Cadiz_, being sent to _Spain_ as slaves. At this act of disobedience, the King and Queen strongly expressed their displeasure, and said, if the Islanders made war against the Castilians, they must have been constrained to do it by hard treatment. Columbus thought proper to blame, and to disavow what his brother had done. The other instance of his receiving mortification, was an act of kindness done him, and so intended; and it was the only shadow of any thing like reproof offered to him. In the instructions which he now received, it was earnestly recommended to him to prefer conciliation to severity on all occasions which would admit it without prejudice to justice or to his honour.

[Sidenote: 1498.] It was in the third voyage of Columbus that he first saw the Continent of _South America_, in August 1498, which he then took to be an Island, and named _Isla Santa_. He arrived on the 22d of the same month at the City of _San Domingo_.

The short remainder of Columbus's government in _Hayti_ was occupied with disputes among the Spaniards themselves. A strong party was in a state of revolt against the government of the Columbuses, and accommodation was kept at a distance, by neither party daring to place trust in the other. [Sidenote: 1498-9.] Columbus would have had recourse to arms to recover his authority, but some of his troops deserted to the disaffected, and others refused to be employed against their countrymen. In this state, the parties engaged in a treaty on some points, and each sent Memorials to the Court. The Admiral in his dispatches represented, that necessity had made him consent to certain conditions, to avoid endangering the Colony; but that it would be highly prejudicial to the interests of their Majesties to ratify the treaty he had been forced to subscribe.

[Sidenote: Beginning of the Repartimientos.] The Admiral now made grants of lands to Spanish colonists, and accompanied them with requisitions to the neighbouring Caciques, to furnish the new proprietors with labourers to cultivate the soil. This was the beginning of the _Repartimientos_, or distributions of the Indians, which confirmed them slaves, and contributed, more than all former oppressions, to their extermination. Notwithstanding the earnest and express order of the King and Queen to the contrary, the practice of transporting the natives of _Hayti_ to _Spain_ as slaves, was connived at and continued; and this being discovered, lost Columbus the confidence, but not wholly the support, of Queen Ysabel.

[Sidenote: 1500. Government of Bovadilla.] The dissensions in the Colony increased, as did the unpopularity of the Admiral; and in the year 1500, a new Governor General of the _Indies_, Francisco de Bovadilla, was sent from _Spain_, with a commission empowering him to examine into the accusations against the Admiral; and he was particularly enjoined by the Queen, to declare all the native inhabitants free, and to take measures to secure to them that they should be treated as a free people. How a man so grossly ignorant and intemperate as Bovadilla, should have been chosen to an office of such high trust, is not a little extraordinary. His first display of authority was to send the Columbuses home prisoners, with the indignity to their persons of confining them in chains. He courted popularity in his government by shewing favour to all who had been disaffected to the government or measures of the Admiral and his brothers, the natives excepted, for whose relief he had been especially appointed Governor. To encourage the Spaniards to work the mines, he reduced the duties payable to the Crown on the produce, and trusted to an increase in the quantity of gold extracted, for preserving the revenue from diminution. [Sidenote: All the Natives compelled to work the Mines.] This was to be effected by increasing the labour of the natives; and that these miserable people might not evade their servitude, he caused muster-rolls to be made of all the inhabitants, divided them into classes, and made distribution of them according to the value of the mines, or to his desire to gratify particular persons. The Spanish Colonists believed that the same facilities to enrich themselves would not last long, and made all the haste in their power to profit by the present opportunity.

By these means, Bovadilla drew from the mines in a few months so great a quantity of gold, that one fleet which he sent home, carried a freight more than sufficient to reimburse _Spain_ all the expences which had been incurred in the discovery and conquest. The procuring these riches was attended with so great a mortality among the natives as to threaten their utter extinction.

Nothing could exceed the surprise and indignation of the Queen, on receiving information of these proceedings. The bad government of Bovadilla was a kind of palliation which had the effect of lessening the reproach upon the preceding government, and, joined to the disgraceful manner in which Columbus had been sent home, produced a revolution of sentiment in his favour. The good Queen Ysabel wished to compensate him for the hard treatment he had received, at the same time that she had the sincerity to make him understand she would not again commit the Indian natives to his care. All his other offices and dignities were restored to him.

[Sidenote: 1501-2. Nicolas Ovando, Governor.] For a successor to Bovadilla in the office of Governor General, Don Nicolas Ovando, a Cavalero of the Order of _Alcantara_, was chosen; a man esteemed capable and just, and who entered on his government with apparent mildness and consideration. But in a short time he proved the most execrable of all the tyrants, 'as if,' says an historian, 'tyranny was inherent and contagious in the office, so as to change good men to bad, for the destruction of these unfortunate Indians.'

[Sidenote: Working the Mines discontinued by Orders from Spain.] In obedience to his instructions, Ovando, on arriving at his government, called a General Assembly of all the Caciques or principal persons among the natives, to whom he declared, that their Catholic Majesties took the Islanders under their royal protection; that no exaction should be made on them, other than the tribute which had been heretofore imposed; and that no person should be employed to work in the mines, except on the footing of voluntary labourers for wages.

[Sidenote: 1502.] On the promulgation of the royal pleasure, all working in the mines immediately ceased. The impression made by their past sufferings was too strong for any offer of pay or reward to prevail on them to continue in that work. [The same thing happened, many years afterwards, between the Chilese and the Spaniards.] A few mines had been allowed to remain in possession of some of the Caciques of _Hayti_, on the condition of rendering up half the produce; but now, instead of working them, they sold their implements. In consequence of this defection, it was judged expedient to lower the royal duties on the produce of the mines, which produced some effect.

Ovando, however, was intent on procuring the mines to be worked as heretofore, but proceeded with caution. In his dispatches to the Council of the _Indies_, he represented in strong colours the natural levity and inconstancy of the Indians, and their idle and disorderly manner of living; on which account, he said, it would be for their improvement and benefit to find them occupation in moderate labour; that there would be no injustice in so doing, as they would receive wages for their work, and they would thereby be enabled to pay the tribute, which otherwise, from their habitual idleness, many would not be able to satisfy. He added moreover, that the Indians, being left entirely their own masters, kept at a distance from the Spanish habitations, which rendered it impossible to instruct them in the principles of Christianity.

This reasoning, and the proposal to furnish the natives with employment, were approved by the Council of the _Indies_; and the Court, from the opinion entertained of the justice and moderation of Ovando, acquiesced so far as to trust making the experiment to his discretion. In reply to his representations, he received instructions recommending, 'That if it was necessary to oblige the Indians to work, it should be done in the most gentle and moderate manner; that the Caciques should be invited to send their people in regular turns; and that the employers should treat them well, and pay them wages, according to the quality of the person and nature of the labour; that care should be taken for their regular attendance at religious service and instruction; and that it should be remembered they were a free people, to be governed with mildness, and on no account to be treated as slaves.'

[Sidenote: 1502-3. The Natives again forced to the Mines.] These directions, notwithstanding the expressions of care for the natives contained in them, released the Governor General from all restriction. This man had recently been appointed Grand Master of the order of _Calatrava_, and thenceforward he was most generally distinguished by the appellation or title of the Grand Commander.

A transaction of a shocking nature, which took place during Bovadilla's government, caused an insurrection of the natives; but which did not break out till after the removal of Bovadilla. A Spanish vessel had put into a port of the province of _Higuey_ (the most Eastern part of _Hayti_) to procure a lading of _cassava_, a root which is used as bread. The Spaniards landed, having with them a large dog held by a cord. Whilst the natives were helping them to what they wanted, one of the Spaniards in wanton insolence pointed to a Cacique, and called to the dog in manner of setting him on. The Spaniard who held the cord, it is doubtful whether purposely or by accident, suffered it to slip out of his hand, and the dog instantly tore out the unfortunate Cacique's entrails. The people of _Higuey_ sent a deputation, to complain to Bovadilla; but those who went could not obtain attention. [Sidenote: Severities shewn to the people of Higuey.] In the beginning of Ovando's government, some other Spaniards landed at the same port of _Higuey_, and the natives, in revenge for what had happened, fell upon them, and killed them; after which they took to arms. This insurrection was quelled with so great a slaughter, that the province, from having been well peopled, was rendered almost a desert.

[Sidenote: 1503. Encomiendas established.] Ovando, on obtaining his new instructions, followed the model set by his predecessors. He enrolled and classed the natives in divisions, called _Repartimientos_: from these he assigned to the Spanish proprietors a specified number of labourers, by grants, which, with most detestable hypocrisy, were denominated _Encomiendas_. The word _Encomienda_ signifies recommendation, and the employer to whom the Indian was consigned, was to have the reputation of being his patron. The _Encomienda_ was conceived in the following terms:--'_I recommend to =A. B.= such and such Indians =(listed by name)= the subjects of such Cacique; and he is to take care to have them instructed in the principles of our holy faith._'

Under the enforcement of the _encomiendas_, the natives were again dragged to the mines; and many of these unfortunate wretches were kept by their hard employers under ground for six months together. With the labour, and grief at being again doomed to slavery, they sunk so rapidly, that it suggested to the murderous proprietors of the mines the having recourse to _Africa_ for slaves. [Sidenote: African Slaves carried to the West Indies.] Ovando, after small experience of this practice, endeavoured to oppose it as dangerous, the Africans frequently escaping from their masters, and finding concealment among the natives, in whom they excited some spirit of resistance.

The ill use made by the Grand Commander of the powers with which he had been trusted, appears to have reached the Court early, for, in 1503, he received fresh orders, enjoining him not to allow, on any pretext, the natives to be employed in labour against their own will, either in the mines or elsewhere. Ovando, however, trusted to being supported by the Spanish proprietors of the mines within his government, who grew rich by the _encomiendas_, and with their assistance he found pretences for not restraining himself to the orders of the Court.

In parts of the Island, the Caciques still enjoyed a degree of authority over the natives, which rested almost wholly on habitual custom and voluntary attachment. To loosen this band, Ovando, assuming the character of a protector, published ordonnances to release the lower classes from the oppressions of the Caciques; but from those of their European taskmasters he gave them no relief.

Some of the principal among the native inhabitants of _Xaragua_, the South-western province of _Hayti_, had the hardiness openly to express their discontent at the tyranny exercised by the Spaniards established in that province. The person at this time regarded as Cacique or Chief of _Xaragua_ was a female, sister to the last Cacique, who had died without issue. The Spanish histories call her Queen of _Xaragua_. This Princess had shewn symptoms of something like abhorrence of the Spaniards near her, and they did not fail to send representations to the Grand Commander, with the addition, that there appeared indications of an intention in the Xaraguans to revolt. On receiving this notice, Ovando determined that _Xaragua_, as _Higuey_ had before, should feel the weight of his displeasure. Putting himself at the head of 370 Spanish troops, part of them cavalry, he departed from the city of _San Domingo_ for the devoted province, giving out publicly, that his intention was to make a progress into the West, to collect the tribute, and to visit the Queen of _Xaragua_. He was received by the Princess and her people with honours, feastings, and all the demonstrations of joy usually acted by terrified people with the hopes of soothing tyranny; and the troops were regaled with profusion of victuals, with dancing, and shows. [Sidenote: 1503-4.] After some days thus spent, Ovando invited the Princess, her friends and attendants, to an entertainment which he promised them, after the manner of _Spain_. A large open public building was the chosen place for holding this festival, and all the Spanish settlers in the province were required to attend. A great concourse of Indians, besides the bidden guests, crowded round, to enjoy the spectacle. [Sidenote: Massacre of the people of Xaragua.] As the appointed time approached, the Spanish infantry gradually appeared, and took possession of all the avenues; which being secured, this Grand Commander himself appeared, mounted at the head of his cavalry; and on his making a signal, which had been previously concerted, which was laying his hand on the Cross of his Order, the whole of these diabolical conquerors fell upon the defenceless multitude, who were so hemmed in, that thousands were slaughtered, and it was scarcely possible for any to escape unwounded. Some of the principal Indians or Caciques, it is said, were by the Commander's order fastened to the pillars of the building, where they were questioned, and made to confess themselves in a conspiracy against the Spanish government; after which confession the building was set on fire, and they perished in the flames. The massacre did not stop here. Detachments of troops, with dogs, were sent to hunt and destroy the natives in different parts of the province, and some were pursued over to the Island _Gonave_. The Princess was carried bound to the city of _San Domingo_, and with the forms of law was tried, condemned, and put to death.

The purposes, besides that of gratifying his revenge for the hatred shewn to his government, which were sufficient to move Ovando to this bloody act, were, the plunder of the province, and the reduction of the Islanders to a more manageable number, and to the most unlimited submission. [Sidenote: 1504.] Some of the Indians fled to the mountains. 'But,' say the Spanish Chronicles of these events, 'in a short time their Chiefs were taken and punished, and at the end of six months there was not a native living on the Island who had not submitted to the dominion of the Spaniards.'

[Sidenote: Death of Queen Ysabel.] Queen Ysabel died in November 1504, much and universally lamented. This Princess bore a large share in the usurpations practised in the New World; but it is evident she was carried away, contrary to her real principles and disposition, which were just and benevolent, and to her own happiness, by the powerful stream of general opinion.

In _Europe_, political principles, or maxims of policy, have been in continual change, fashioned by the nature of the passing events, no less than dress has been by caprice; causes which have led one to deviate from plain rectitude, as the other from convenience. One principle, covetousness of the attainment of power, has nevertheless constantly predominated, and has derided and endeavoured to stigmatize as weakness and imbecility, the stopping short of great acquisitions, territorial especially, for moral considerations. Queen Ysabel lived surrounded by a world of such politicians, who were moreover stimulated to avarice by the prospect of American gold; a passion which yet more than ambition is apt to steel the heart of man against the calls of justice and the distresses of his fellow creatures. If Ysabel had been endued with more than mortal fortitude, she might have refused her sanction to the usurpations, but could not have prevented them. On her death bed she earnestly recommended to King Ferdinand to recall Ovando. Ovando, however, sent home much gold, and Ferdinand referred to a distant time the fulfilment of her dying request.

Upon news of the death of Queen Ysabel, the small wages which had been paid the Indians for their labour, amounting to about half a piastre _per_ month, were withheld, as being too grievous a burthen on the Spanish Colonists; and the hours of labour were no longer limited. [Sidenote: 1506.] In the province of _Higuey_, the tyranny and licentiousness of the military again threw the poor natives into a frenzy of rage and despair, and they once more revolted, burnt the fort, and killed the soldiers. Ovando resolved to put it out of the power of the people of _Higuey_ ever again to be troublesome. A strong body of troops was marched into the province, the Cacique of _Higuey_ (the last of the _Hayti_ Kings) was taken prisoner and executed, and the province pacified.

The pecuniary value of grants of land in _Hayti_ with _encomiendas_, became so considerable as to cause them to be coveted and solicited for by many of the grandees and favourites of the Court in _Spain_, who, on obtaining them, sent out agents to turn them to account. [Sidenote: Desperate condition of the Natives.] The agent was to make his own fortune by his employment, and to satisfy his principal. In no instance were the natives spared through any interference of the Grand Commander. It was a maxim with this bad man, always to keep well with the powerful; and every thing respecting the natives was yielded to their accommodation. Care, however, was taken that the Indians should be baptised, and that a head tax should be paid to the Crown; and these particulars being complied with, the rest was left to the patron of the _encomienda_. Punishments and tortures of every kind were practised, to wring labour out of men who were dying through despair. Some of the accounts, which are corroborated by circumstances, relate, that the natives were frequently coupled and harnessed like cattle, and driven with whips. If they fell under their load, they were flogged up. To prevent their taking refuge in the woods or mountains, an officer, under the title of _Alguazil del Campo_, was constantly on the watch with a pack of hounds; and many Indians, in endeavouring to escape, were torn in pieces. The settlers on the Island, the great men at home, their agents, and the royal revenue, were all to be enriched at the expence of the destruction of the natives. It was as if the discovery of _America_ had changed the religion of the Spaniards from Christianity to the worship of gold with human sacrifices. If power were entitled to dominion between man and man, as between man and other animals, the Spaniards would remain chargeable with the most outrageous abuse of their advantages. In enslaving the inhabitants of _Hayti_, if they had been satisfied with reducing them to the state of cattle, it would have been merciful, comparatively with what was done. The labour imposed by mankind upon their cattle, is in general so regulated as not to exceed what is compatible with their full enjoyment of health; but the main consideration with the Spanish proprietors was, by what means they should obtain the greatest quantity of gold from the labour of the natives in the shortest time. By an enumeration made in the year 1507, the number of the natives in the whole Island _Hayti_ was reckoned at 60,000, the remains of a population which fifteen years before exceeded a million. The insatiate colonists did not stop: many of the mines lay unproductive for want of labourers, and they bent their efforts to the supplying this defect.

[Sidenote: The Grand Antilles.] The Islands of the _West Indies_ have been classed into three divisions, which chiefly regard their situations; but they are distinguished also by other peculiar circumstances. The four largest Islands, _Cuba_, _Hayti_, _Jamaica_, and _Porto Rico_, have been called the _Grand Antilles_. When first discovered by Europeans, they were inhabited by people whose similarity of language, of customs, and character, bespoke them the offspring of one common stock. [Sidenote: Small Antilles, or Caribbee Islands.] The second division is a chain of small Islands Eastward of these, and extending South to the coast of _Paria_ on the Continent of _South America_. They have been called sometimes the _Small Antilles_; sometimes after the native inhabitants, the _Caribbee Islands_; and not less frequently by a subdivision, the Windward and Leeward Islands. The inhabitants on these Islands were a different race from the inhabitants of the _Grand Antilles_. They spoke a different language, were robust in person; and in disposition fierce, active, and warlike. Some have conjectured them to be of Tartar extraction, which corresponds with the belief that they emigrated from _North America_ to the _West Indies_. It is supposed they drove out the original inhabitants from the _Small Antilles_, to establish themselves there; but they had not gained footing in the large Islands. [Sidenote: Lucayas, or Bahama Islands.] The third division of the Islands is the cluster which are situated to the North of _Cuba_, and near _East Florida_, and are called the _Lucayas_, of whose inhabitants mention will shortly be made.

The Spanish Government participated largely in the wickedness practised to procure labourers for the mines of _Hispaniola_. Pretending great concern for the cause of humanity, they declared it legal, and gave general license, for any individual to make war against, and enslave, people who were cannibals; under which pretext every nation, both of the American Continent and of the Islands, was exposed to their enterprises. Spanish adventurers made attempts to take people from the small _Antilles_, sometimes with success; but they were not obtained without danger, and in several expeditions of the kind, the Spaniards were repulsed with loss. This made them turn their attention to the _Lucayas Islands_.

[Sidenote: 1508.] The inhabitants of the _Lucayas_, an unsuspicious and credulous people, did not escape the snares laid for them. Ovando, in his dispatches to _Spain_, represented the benefit it would be to the holy faith, to have the inhabitants of the _Lucayas_ instructed in the Christian religion; for which purpose, he said, 'it would be necessary they should be transported to _Hispaniola_, as Missionaries could not be spared to every place, and there was no other way in which this abandoned people could be converted.' [Sidenote: The Natives of the Lucayas betrayed to the Mines;] King Ferdinand and the Council of the Indies were themselves so abandoned and destitute of all goodness, as to pretend to give credit to Ovando's representation, and lent him their authority to sacrifice the Lucayans, under the pretext of advancing religion. Spanish ships were sent to the Islands on this business, and the natives were at first inveigled on board by the foulest hypocrisy and treachery. Among the artifices used by the Spaniards, they pretended that they came from a delicious country, where rested the souls of the deceased fathers, kinsmen, and friends, of the Lucayans, who had sent to invite them. [Sidenote: and the Islands wholly unpeopled.] The innocent Islanders so seduced to follow the Spaniards, when, on arriving at _Hispaniola_, they found how much they had been abused, died in great numbers of chagrin and grief. Afterwards, when these impious pretences of the Spaniards were no longer believed, they dragged away the natives by force, as long as any could be found, till they wholly unpeopled the _Lucayas Islands_. The Buccaneers of _America_, whose adventures and misdeeds are about to be related, may be esteemed saints in comparison with the men whose names have been celebrated as the Conquerors of the NEW WORLD.

In the same manner as at the _Lucayas_, other Islands of the _West Indies_, and different parts of the Continent, were resorted to for recruits. A pearl fishery was established, in which the Indians were not more spared as divers, than on the land as miners.

_Porto Rico_ was conquered at this time. [Sidenote: Fate of the native Inhabitants of Porto Rico.] Ore had been brought thence, which was not so pure as that of _Hayti_; but it was of sufficient value to determine Ovando to the conquest of the Island. The Islanders were terrified by the carnage which the Spaniards with their dogs made in the commencement of the war, and, from the fear of irritating them by further resistance, they yielded wholly at discretion, and were immediately sent to the mines, where in a short time they all perished. In the same year with _Porto Rico_, the Island of _Jamaica_ was taken possession of by the Spaniards.

[Sidenote: 1509. D. Diego Columbus, Governor of Hispaniola.] Ovando was at length recalled, and was succeeded in the government of _Hispaniola_ by Don Diego Columbus, the eldest son and inheritor of the rights and titles of the Admiral Christopher. To conclude with Ovando, it is related that he was regretted by his countrymen in the _Indies_, and was well received at Court.

Don Diego did not make any alteration in the _repartimientos_, except that some of them changed hands in favour of his own adherents. During his government, some fathers of the Dominican Order had the courage to inveigh from the pulpit against the enormity of the _repartimientos_, and were so persevering in their representations, that the Court of _Spain_ found it necessary, to avoid scandal, to order an enquiry into the condition of the Indians. In this enquiry it was seriously disputed, whether it was just or unjust to make them slaves.

[Sidenote: 1511. Increase of Cattle in Hayti.] The Histories of _Hispaniola_ first notice about this time a great increase in the number of cattle in the Island. As the human race disappeared, less and less land was occupied in husbandry, till almost the whole country became pasturage for cattle, by far the greater part of which were wild. An ordonnance, issued in the year 1511, specified, that as beasts of burthen were so much multiplied, the Indians should not be made to carry or drag heavy loads.

[Sidenote: Cuba.] In 1511, the conquest of _Cuba_ was undertaken and completed. The terror conceived of the Spaniards is not to be expressed. The story of the conquest is related in a Spanish history in the following terms: 'A leader was chosen, who had acquitted himself in high employments with fortune and good conduct. He had in other respects amiable qualities, and was esteemed a man of honour and rectitude. He went from _S. Domingo_ with regular troops and above 300 volunteers. He landed in _Cuba_, not without opposition from the natives. In a few days, he surprised and took the principal Cacique, named Hatuey, prisoner, and _made him expiate in the flames the fault he had been guilty of in not submitting with a good grace to the conqueror_.' This Cacique, when at the stake, being importuned by a Spanish priest to become a Christian, that he might go to Heaven, replied, that if any Spaniard was to be met in Heaven, he hoped not to go there.

[Sidenote: 1514.] The Reader will be detained a very little longer with these irksome scenes. In 1514, the number of the inhabitants of _Hayti_ was reckoned 14,000. A distributor of Indians was appointed, with powers independent of the Governor, with intention to save the few remaining natives of _Hayti_. The new distributor began the exercise of his office by a general revocation of all the _encomiendas_, except those which had been granted by the King; and almost immediately afterwards, in the most open and shameless manner, he made new grants, and sold them to the highest bidder. [Sidenote: 1515.] He was speedily recalled; and another (the Licentiate Ybarra) was sent to supply his place, who had a high character for probity and resolution; but he died immediately on his arrival at _Santo Domingo_, and not without suspicion that he was poisoned.