The military force stationed in Costa Rica about the middle of the eighteenth century was little short of one thousand men, and yet the magistrates throughout the province were unable to enforce their authority. The administration of justice had ceased. Judges did not dare to impose, nor governors execute sentence upon criminals.[XXXII‑42] Even the forms of restraint disappeared. Yet officials were numerous enough. The governor appointed on the first day of the year 1740 five lieutenant-generals, one each for Cartago, Esparza, and Matina, and two for the valley country, invested with civil and criminal jurisdiction, besides four alcaldes, an attorney-general, and an administrator.
After 1746 we have no reliable records as to the succession of governors in Costa Rica until 1773. In the former year Francisco Fernandez de la Pastora was in power;[XXXII‑43] in the latter Joaquin de Nava. To him succeeded in 1779 José Perie, and then occur in the order of their succession the names of Juan Fernandez Bobadilla in 1780, Juan Flores in 1782, and José Terci in 1785.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
BELIZE.
1650-1800.
Buccaneer Settlements in Yucatan—The Pirates Engage in Wood-cutting—Governor Figueroa Ordered to Expel Them—Raid of the Wood-cutters on Ascension Bay—They are Driven Back by the Governor—Their Settlement in Belize Destroyed by Figueroa-They Return in Stronger Force—Further Expeditions against Them—The Wood-cutters under British Protection—They are Attacked by Governor Rivas—The Boundaries of Belize Defined by the Treaty of Versailles—Stipulations of a Later Treaty—Further Encroachments of the English.
Not the least valuable among the spoils obtained by the buccaneers during their depredations on the Spanish main were the quantities of dye-wood which they found deposited at certain points on the coast of Yucatan and Honduras awaiting shipment. With the decline of their lawless pursuits, the more industrious, especially the English, turned their attention to the cutting and shipment of dye-woods and mahogany, and with this object established settlements on the coasts of these two provinces. The most extensive of their settlements were those in the bay of Términos. Here they remained for many years, varying their industrial pursuits with occasional incursions into the surrounding country, or attacks on the Spanish vessels which plied between Campeche and Vera Cruz.
Neighbors so dangerous could not long be tolerated, and, as soon as circumstances permitted, the authorities of New Spain took measures to expel them. The wood-cutters successfully resisted the many expeditions sent against them, not unfrequently retaliating by laying waste the Spanish settlements, until about 1717, when they were finally driven from that part of the coast and their establishments destroyed.
In the latter half of the seventeenth century that portion of Yucatan bordering on the bay of Honduras was abandoned by Spaniards, owing to the destruction by pirates and Indians of the town of Bacalar.[XXXIII‑1] Its henceforth isolated position, together with the ruggedness of the surrounding country and the numberless reefs and shoals on its sea-coast, made it peculiarly fitted for the haunts of the buccaneers. One of these, Peter Wallace, a Scotchman, landed with some eighty companions at the mouth of the Belize river, and erected on its banks a few houses, which he enclosed with a rude palisade. His name was given both to the river and settlement, and subsequently to the whole region occupied by the English. By the Spaniards this territory was variously termed Walis, Balis, and Walix, and the word became finally corrupted into the present name of Belice or Belize.[XXXIII‑2]
The district was rich in dye-woods and mahogany, and wood-cutting soon became the chief occupation of the freebooters, whose numbers had gradually increased. With the same object, many Mosquito Indians had also settled in the country. The buccaneers who were driven from the bay of Términos also harbored in Belize, and after attempting in vain to retake their settlements finally settled there.
The existence of the piratical establishment of Wallace and his companions was not discovered by the Spaniards until the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1725 Antonio de Figueroa y Silva was ordered to expel the English from Yucatan, and for this purpose was appointed governor of that province.[XXXIII‑3] Soon afterward, in obedience to instructions from the crown, he visited the ruined town of Bacalar, or Salamanca, as it was also called, and erected a fort which he garrisoned with forty-five men. This fortress, situated on a lake of the same name and connected with the bay of Espíritu Santo by a navigable river, was to serve as the base of future operations. To insure its permanency it was decided to rebuild the town. The want of settlers in Yucatan, however, compelled the transportation of a colony from the Canary Islands, the first portion of which did not arrive until several years later.[XXXIII‑4]
FIGUEROA'S EXPEDITION.