In 1625 Fray Cristóbal Martinez, formerly abbot of Segovia, was appointed to the see of Panamá.[XXVII‑37] During his administration serious disturbances occurred among the Augustinian Recollets of the convent of San José, the prime mover, Fray Francisco de la Resurreccion, and his disorderly followers being arrested and sent to Spain by Enrique de Sotomayor, then governor of the province.[XXVII‑38]
The reputation of the ecclesiastics in Panamá about this period appears to have been somewhat unsavory. In 1634 Felipe IV. issued a decree ordering the members of the audiencia to see that the reputation of cloistered nuns be protected. On the 14th of July 1636 the monarch writes to the bishop ordering that he enforce the provisions of a decree addressed to the hierarchy of the Indies in the previous February, by which no mestee, illegitimate son, or person of moral or physical defect was to be ordained. Immoral or scandalous priests were to be expelled from the diocese.[XXVII‑39] During the same year it was ordered that the religious processions, which had hitherto been held at night, should, in the interest of order and decency, be thenceforth conducted by daylight. Nevertheless the work of conversion went bravely on, and during four years the number of baptisms reported in the district of the audiencia exceeded thirteen thousand souls.
FIRES AND FAIRS.
In 1644, during the prelacy of Fray Hernando Ramirez, the successor of Martinez, a fire broke out in Panamá which consumed ninety-seven houses, including the episcopal residence, and almost destroyed the cathedral. The latter edifice was restored by the prelate and dedicated in 1655 by his successor, Bernardo de Izaguirre, a fiscal of the inquisition of Cartagena. Its ruins exist at the present day. Great was the distress caused to the citizens by this calamity. "Panamá," writes Juan de Vega Bazan, then governor of the province,[XXVII‑40] in a letter addressed to Felipe IV., "has now but a small population, and this decreasing more and more every day, the fields and roads being filled with vagrants." The king, entertaining an unjust suspicion that the Portuguese had fired the city,[XXVII‑41] ordered their removal from Panamá and Portobello to a distance of twenty leagues into the interior, and instructed Bazan to extort from them as much money as possible before sending them into banishment; but to the credit of that official it is related that he gave no heed to the mandate. For this neglect, and for the nepotism which he displayed during his administration, he was severely censured by his sovereign.[XXVII‑42]
In 1647 Bazan was again censured by the crown for a proceeding which, after due investigation by the fiscal of the audiencia, caused his downfall. Acting under the advice of the licentiate Pedro Chacon, he had caused to be driven from their homes eighteen friars of the order of San José, appointing in their places others of bad repute. The ecclesiastics took refuge in the San Cristóbal hills, but were soon afterward reinstated, and at the close of the following year the governor was superseded by Juan Bitrian de Biamonte y Navarra.[XXVII‑43] The latter died in 1651 while superintending the despatch of a fleet from Portobello, and in the parish church of that city a marble monument was erected to his memory.
Panamá appears to have recovered quickly from the prostration caused by the fire of 1644. An annual fair was held there until the year 1671, at which date the city was destroyed during the raid of Morgan and his buccaneers, as will be presently related. In 1655 the value of merchandise that changed hands during the fair is officially reported at five millions of pesos, and this sum probably represents but a small portion of the business actually done, for, as we have seen, the quantity of goods that found their way into the provinces through contraband trading was often three or four fold greater than that on which duty was paid.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.
A rare and valuable manuscript and one indispensable to the history of the district of Darien is the report of its governor, Don Andrés de Ariza, of April 5, 1774, addressed to the viceroy, Don Manuel Guirior, entitled Comentas de la Rica y Fertilísima Provincia de el Darien. The original report, accompanied by a map, exists in the National Library of Bogotá, whence the present copy was made for the author. Three separate documents compose the report; a letter describing the generally ruined condition of the province, causes, and proposed remedies; a detailed description of the towns, military posts, and inhabitants, and a condensed account of the actual condition of the province, its inhabitants, resources, and history. These documents review in brief the history of the province for the previous sixty-two years, describing more fully the latest Indian revolts. The manuscript forms one volume in folio of forty closely written pages.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MORGAN'S RAIDS ON THE ISTHMUS.
1664-1671.
Morgan's Early Career—He Resolves to Attack Portobello—The Castle of Triana Blown into the Air—Capture of the City—Atrocities Committed by the Buccaneers—The President of Panamá Marches against Them—He is Driven Back—Morgan Sends Him a Specimen of his Weapons—Ransom of the City and Return to Jamaica—The Buccaneers Prepare another Armament, and Resolve to Attack Panamá—Capture of Fort San Lorenzo—March across the Isthmus—Morgan Arrives in Sight of Panamá—Cowardice of the Governor—Battle with the Spaniards—Burning of the City—Torture of Prisoners—Bravery of a Captive Gentlewoman—The Buccaneers Recross the Isthmus—Division of the Booty.