Before the signing of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle became known in America there was a serious engagement between the British fleet and the Spanish on the twelfth of October, 1747, a league off Havana. There were six vessels on each side, the Spanish under the command of General Andreas Reggio, the British under that of Admiral Knowles. The Spanish opened fire at three o'clock in the afternoon and a furious battle took place which lasted for full six hours. The forces of both sustained heavy losses, computed approximately at one thousand men on each side, and when the firing ceased, neither could claim a decisive victory. The British fleet retired and the Spanish returned to Havana.
The efficient management of the island's affairs during the administrations of Guemez and Cagigal greatly stimulated the initiative and enterprise of the Cubans. The first coffee-trees were set out on a plantation in the province of Waja by D. Jose Gelabert. Brandy and other spirits were distilled. The armory of Vera Cruz having been removed to Havana, there was great activity in military circles, and D. Rodrigo de Torres was appointed as the first commander of the navy of Cuba.
King Fernando VI. succeeded during the thirteen years of his reign in keeping out of the general European war of 1756, in which England and Prussia had ranged themselves against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Poland. He was intent upon building up the resources of the kingdom which had been drained by the wars waged by his predecessors and devoted his attention to promoting the agriculture, industry and commerce of Spain. He was fortunate in the choice of an intelligent wife and of two ministers whose wise counsel he could ever depend upon. The Marquis de Ensenada, who had risen from a peasant to a banker, financier and finally minister of marine, war and finance, enjoyed at first the unlimited confidence of the sovereign and the people, but later fell into disgrace, because it was discovered that he had sent out secret orders to the West Indies to attack the British logwood colony on the Mosquito Coast. The other adviser of Fernando VI., D. Jose de Carvajal, was a man of quite different stamp, endowed with common sense, sound judgment, pure of morals and as just as he was incorruptible. But Fernando died without direct heir to the throne in the year 1759, and his brother, D. Carlos III., succeeded him.
The solemn proclamation of King Carlos III. in the cities of Cuba was one of the last acts of the administration of Governor Cagigal. In the year 1760, he was promoted to the post of viceroy of Mexico and left the affairs of the government in charge of the Tenente-Rey, the King's Lieutenant, D. Pedro Alonso. During this provisional government there was erected a new sentry-house at the gate of Tierra, as is commemorated in the following inscription:
Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.
In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.
During this administration died the venerable Cuban prelate D. Juan de Conyedo, who as spiritual adviser to individuals and as counselor to prominent officials had won the love and esteem of the population as did the Bishop Compostela and later the popular Bishop Valdes. Conyedo's services to Cuba in the interest of religion, charity and education were invaluable. He was especially identified with the growth of Villa Clara, where in the year 1712 he had founded a free school for children of both sexes and had himself taken charge of the classes. Before he opened this school, the people knew absolutely nothing besides the Christian doctrine, and the rudiments of reading and writing.
The propaganda of the British war party favoring the conquest of Spanish America was in the meantime going on without interruption. When the greed of acquisition of territory is once roused in a nation, it is difficult to appease it. It enlists in the cause all ranks and professions, it employs all means, whether they answer the test of international justice and human equity, or not. Art, literature, science are harnessed in its service. It is needless to remind of a recent example of national mentality and morality gone astray through misapplied ambition. The utterances of Pope and Johnson were tame in comparison to the hymns of hate following the declaration of the World's war, still fresh in our memory.
But, there was another side to this literary activity. It did not always appeal to the emotions and stir up feelings. It was also of an instructive kind. Just as the Dutch at the time when their attention was fixed upon the Spanish possessions of America wrote book upon book describing the coveted islands and the coasts of the continent supposed to hold inexhaustible riches, so did the British during the eighteenth century suddenly conceive an interest in Spanish America which led to magazine articles, pamphlets and books dealing with those lands. That this literature with its endless descriptions of ports and products was intended for the use of mariners venturing forth on legitimate or illegitimate business, was evident. All these writers did not fail to remark that Havana was the richest town in America, that it had magnificent churches and public buildings and that the streets were narrow, but clean. But their main concern was to describe the exact location of every bay and every harbor: Matanzas, Nipe, Puerto del Principe, Santiago, Baracoa, Guantanamo, etc., and their next concern was to dwell upon the several products of the country, as tobacco, sugar, and others.
One of the most curious books of this kind was "A Voyage to Guinea, Brazil and the West Indies," published in London in the year 1735. Its author was John Atkins, surgeon of the Royal Navy, and though it contained an account of a trip made by him, it very plainly revealed an interest in the commerce of the countries visited and in the possibilities they offered, which, while natural in a business man, was quite surprising in a member of the medical fraternity. After devoting considerable space to the products of these southern lands, hurricanes, etc., he also discourses at length upon the slave-trade and gives interesting glimpses of the manner in which it was conducted. "To give dispatch," says he, "cajole the traders with Brandy," and continues: "Giving way to the ridiculous Humours and Gestures of the trading Negroes is no small artifice for success. If you look strange and are niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him. Sambo is gone, he never cares to treat with dry lips, and as the Expenses is in English Spirits of two Shillings a Gallon, brought partly for this purpose, the good Humour it brings them into, is found discounted in the sale of goods." Speaking of Cuba, he calls it a very pleasant and flourishing island, the Spanish building and improving for posterity without dreaming, as the English planters do, of any other homes. But he does not fail to add, "They make the best Sugars in the world."
Another publication aiming more directly at the mariners and merchants of Great Britain is by one Caleb Smith, called on the title page, the inventor of the "New Sea Quadrant." It was printed in 1740 and was a translation of Domingo Gonzales Carranza's description of the coasts, harbors and sea-ports of the Spanish West Indies. In the curious preface he says:
"The original was brought to England by a Sympathetic prisoner who had been in Havana where he procured it in manuscript and presented it to the Editor as a Testimony of his friendship and respect,"
and the dedication is addressed "to the Merchants of Great Britain, the Commanders of Ships, and others who were pleased to subscribe for this Treatise."
Thus was the mind of the people perpetually stimulated to look beyond the Atlantic for lands and seas which waited to be conquered by British prowess; and the defeat of Vernon in Santiago was hardly heeded. In the meantime negotiations had been going on between the European powers and a convention of their representatives had met at Aix-la-Chapelle to settle certain disputes and sign a treaty of peace. England and Spain on the one and England and France on the other hand had gained nothing by eight years of mutual fighting, but an immense national debt. As at other conferences for the establishment of the world's peace much was said and after all little was done. For when the document known since as the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, it left some of the most harassing problems unsolved. Among them was the frontier of Florida and the right of Spanish ships to search British vessels suspected of smuggling. The assiente agreement, which had been found so profitable, was continued for four more years. In the light of later events the treaty was found to be only a makeshift for the moment, and