In fact the whole southeastern part of the Cuban coast was the resort of contraband traders, who brought thither silks and linens, wines, and sometimes cargoes of slaves, to exchange without paying tariff duties for hides and the valuable woods with which Cuba abounded. No attempt was made, at least with any efficiency, by the governor or the royal officials at Havana to stop this lawless trade. Now and then, however, the Supreme Court at Hispaniola interfered, arrested citizens of Bayamo, Manzanillo, and Santiago itself, and fined them heavily. Then the government at Havana, which had done nothing to enforce the law, remonstrated and protested against so much money being taken from Cuba to Hispaniola.
The island was, nevertheless, making some progress; appropriately enough through a reversal of the conditions which had formerly involved it in disaster. The Mexican adventure of Cortez had drawn away from Cuba men and resources almost to the exhaustion of the island. But now that country began sending men and means back to Cuba. Cortez had long been dead, but under his successors the wealth of Mexico was being wondrously developed, as was indeed that of Peru and other South American countries. Some of the commerce between South America and Spain went by other routes, though a considerable portion of it passed by the shores of Cuba and utilized that island as a stopping place, to its material benefit. But all the Mexican traffic followed the Cuban route, the most of it passing along the north coast and making Havana a port of call or of refuge. Florida, too, which had likewise drawn much from Cuba, was now sending men and supplies back to the island.
By 1575 Havana was the commercial metropolis of the West Indies, and it had for some years been the practical capital of the island, though Santiago continued nominally to enjoy that distinction until 1589. Vessels from Vera Cruz, bearing the treasures of New Spain, and from Nombre de Dios, laden with the wealth of Castilla del Oro and of Peru, thronged the harbor, and contributed to the trade of the city. To meet the requirements of the thousands of transient visitors, houses in the city were multiplied in number, and plantations in the suburbs extended their borders. The people began to realize how profitable a business was to be conducted in providing supplies of food for the ships' companies. And while the southeastern part of the island was, as we have seen, in a backward condition, the northwestern part entered upon an era of progress and prosperity.
CHAPTER XVIII
Don Gabriel Montalvo was appointed to be Governor of Cuba early in December, 1573. As was the custom in those days, however, he delayed for some time actual assumption of office, so that it was not until October 29, 1574, that he entered upon his duties. He was also charged with some important duties in Florida, but they were subordinate to those in Cuba. He made his home in the island and spent most of his time there. Indeed, he seems to have planned to make his home at Santiago, and to restore that place to its former prestige. On coming to Cuba he landed at Manzanillo instead of coming to Havana, and sent Diego de Soto to be his representative, practically deputy governor, at the latter place. From Manzanillo he went straight to Santiago, refurbished the governor's house and the public buildings, and began planning an elaborate system of harbor defences worthy of the capital of the island. He was naturally received with great joy by the people of Santiago and of the eastern end of the island generally, who saw in him, as they thought, a promise of restoration of that region to its former importance.
From Santiago the governor set out on a tour of the eastern cities and towns, and had got as far as Bayamo when there came a hurried and urgent appeal for him to come to Havana. There was trouble in the city. Diego de Soto, the deputy governor there, had made Gomez de Rojas commander of La Fuerza—that reckless and truculent younger brother of Juan de Rojas whom Governor Mazariegos had once exiled from the island for disorderly if not criminal conduct. Now Gomez de Rojas was a land owner, and therefore, under the law, ineligible thus to serve. But confiding in the powerful influence of his family he ignored the law and held his place in defiance of all protests and demands for his retirement. The town council demanded his retirement, and the populace of Havana raged against him, but he shut himself up in the unfinished fort, trained his guns against the town, and prepared to resist with force any attempt which might be made by force to compel his resignation.
Such was the emergency which sent a message post haste to the new governor asking him to hasten to Havana. He came, and at his coming Gomez de Rojas capitulated without a blow. Montalvo rebuked him severely and imposed upon him a heavy fine, which was paid. But in this the governor incurred the hostility of the Rojas family. The feud was taken up by Juan Bautista de Rojas, who had succeeded his cousin Juan de Ynestrosa, deceased, as royal treasurer. This official charged the governor with conniving with smugglers and receivers of smuggled goods, and also with those who exported goods to countries with which traffic was prohibited, and on that account demanded for himself the right to inspect vessels and their cargoes; a function which had been exercised by the governor.
This demand was curtly rejected by Montalvo, who appears to have been a stickler for dignity and technical rights. Thereupon De Rojas made appeal to the King, coupling the appeal with a detailed and bitter arraignment of the governor and an impeachment of his integrity. This seems to have impressed the king deeply, for he presently decided the controversy in favor of his own treasurer. He sent word to the governor that thereafter he should not inspect or even visit ships, but should leave that whole business in the hands of the royal treasurer. The advantage thus gained was mercilessly pressed by the Rojas family, with the purpose of compelling the retirement of Montalvo. They accused him of employing for his own private work slaves belonging to the crown and intended for employment on La Fuerza and other public works. They charged him specifically with having made Bartolome Morales a notary for a consideration of five hundred ducats; a transaction the evil of which consisted not in selling the appointment for cash, but in selling it for so little to a favored friend when it might have been sold to someone else for twice as much. Finally he was accused of corruption and maladministration in connection with La Fuerza, in that he had appointed friends to places at exorbitant salaries, and that he had ignored the suggestions of the royal officials in completing the plans of the fort.
These charges were serious, and there is reason to think that some of them, at least, were true. The Rojas family made them and repeated them to the king, again and again, until that monarch was constrained to remark that the time seemed to be near at hand when an investigation would have to be ordered, and Montalvo's administration be brought to a close. Nevertheless the king's favorable disposition toward Montalvo was potent, and prevailed. The governor had been appointed, as was the custom, for the specific term of four years, reckoned from the date of his appointment and not of his actual assumption of office, and the king delayed calling for an investigation until the four years were so nearly expired that they would be entirely filled out by the time the investigation was completed and a new governor was ready to take the place.
The order for the investigation was given in February, 1577, and at the same time, on February 13, Captain Francisco Carreño was named to succeed Montalvo as governor. The investigation was vigorously prosecuted, and some of the charges against Montalvo were proved. Yet so great was the king's personal regard for him that he was permitted to go with a nominal fine, and was retained in the royal service in important capacities for some years thereafter. He remained governor of Cuba until the accession of his successor, which did not occur until June 2, 1578.
The administration of Montalvo was unfavorably marked by three things. One was, the continuance of the contraband trade already referred to, in both imports and exports; in which, as already related, the governor himself was charged with participating. Montalvo at any rate gave the appearance of striving to suppress it. He sent agents to investigate the business, some of whom found their own relatives engaged in it and therefore refrained from reporting upon it, and some were prevented by the people from executing that for which they had been sent. Not merely the people, but the local officials all along the southeastern coast did all in their power to hamper and prevent investigation or any interference with the contraband trade. Indeed, alcaldes and other officials were foremost among those engaged in the unlawful commerce.
The