The motto "Non sufficit orbis," ascribed by some chroniclers to the crown of Spain, was one worthy of the pretensions of Philip. What mattered the conquest of a hemisphere while the ocean was ruled by another; while the royal banner of Castile could be degraded by licensed bands of freebooters, and the commercial marts of the New World be held for ransom? Such was the sentiment which lured the Spanish monarchs to attempt ambitious schemes of conquest like that which ended in the destruction of the great armada, in which the pirate Drake played his allotted part.
After sharing with Sir John Morris the command of an expedition directed against Spain in 1589, Drake was ordered by his sovereign five years later to prepare another armament against the Spanish West Indies. In this enterprise he associated with himself Sir John Hawkins,[XXIII‑26] an old friend and once his patron, and among other officers Sir Thomas Baskerville,[XXIII‑27] as commander of the land forces. On the 28th of August 1595 a squadron of six men-of-war equipped at the expense of the queen[XXIII‑28] sailed from Plymouth, accompanied by twenty-one vessels fitted out by private subscription. The entire force of the expedition mustered twenty-five hundred men.
Although every precaution was used to mask the purpose of the armament, it was known to Philip, long before the departure of the fleet, that Drake intended to capture Nombre de Dios and to march thence to Panamá, touching first at Puerto Rico to plunder a dismasted treasure-ship which lay in that harbor. The English soon found to their cost that every preparation had been made for a resolute defence. Anchoring near the town of San Juan de Puerto Rico, their vessels were exposed to a well directed fire from a battery of thirty guns. Drake's chair was struck from under him by a round-shot as he sat at supper in his cabin, and after a loss of at least fifty killed[XXIII‑29] and as many wounded the expedition sailed for the mainland. The towns of Ranchería, Rio de la Hacha, and Santa Márta were burnt in default of ransom. Nombre de Dios was captured almost without resistance and levelled to the ground; but Baskerville, despatched with seven hundred and fifty men to attack Panamá, was defeated by the Spaniards when half way across the Isthmus, and his command returned hungry, sore-footed,[XXIII‑30] and in sorry plight.
DEATH OF DRAKE.
"It matters not, man," said Drake to one of his favorite officers. "God hath many things in store for us; and I knowe many means to do Her Majestie good service and to make us riche, for we must have gould before wee see Englande." The words were hardly uttered when the speaker grew sick, and on the 28th of January 1596, less than a week afterward, the great captain breathed his last as the English fleet entered the harbor of Portobello. A league from land he found a sailor's sepulchre; and as the leaden casket that contained his remains was lowered into the waves near the spot where first he had won repute, salvos of artillery proclaimed to the exulting Spaniards on shore that one more name was added to the list of those whose memory Spain has never ceased to hate and England to honor.[XXIII‑31]
CHAPTER XXIV.
NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA.
1551-1600.
Revolt of Juan Gaitan—His Defeat by the Licentiate Juan de Caballon—Expedition of Caballon and Juan de Estrada Rábago to Costa Rica—Settlements Founded—Distress of the Spaniards—Juan Vazquez Coronado Comes to their Relief—Further Expeditions—Flight of the Natives—Capture of the Stronghold of Cotu—Administration of Diego de Artiego Cherino—The Franciscans in Costa Rica—Martyrdom of Juan Pizarro—The Ecclesiastics in Nicaragua—Fray Juan de Torres—Condition of the Settlements—Slow Growth of Trade.
The revolt of the Contreras brothers served at least one good purpose. It rid Nicaragua of swarms of vagabonds and dissatisfied adventurers, most of whom found a grave, as we have seen, during their raid on the Isthmus. Still there remained in the province a residuum of floating ruffianism, the very sweepings of all the provinces, and four years after the events described in a preceding chapter a fresh disturbance broke out. A band of disaffected soldiers and runaways from Nicaragua and Honduras, joining with themselves a number of negroes, rose in rebellion under the leadership of Juan Gaitan, a criminal banished from Nicaragua by order of the licentiate Juan de Caballon, then in charge at Leon.
The rebels began by sacking the village of San Miguel,[XXIV‑1] and thence proceeding to the mines of [Chuluteca] captured them after a stout resistance[XXIV‑2] and despoiled the adjacent village. They then entered Nicaragua and marched directly on the capital, but when within five leagues of it, Gaitan, who was a firm believer in astrology, was drawn into a controversy with his maestre de campo, Tarragona, a dabbler in the occult art. The latter predicted that they would certainly be hanged should they then continue their march on Leon, and advised that they repair first to Realejo and seize the vessels lying there. But revenge got the better of Gaitan's superstition, and he proceeded on his way to the capital, resolved to take the life of the licentiate.
Meanwhile news of the outbreak had reached Caballon. Assistance had been summoned from Realejo and Granada; the ships at the former port were ordered to put out to sea to avoid capture;[XXIV‑3] and entering Leon on the last day of pentecost 1554, Gaitan found the licentiate's forces drawn up in the public square well posted for defence. A stubborn conflict ensued; but, the powder of the rebels having become damp from the rains, they fought at a disadvantage and were finally routed. Gaitan took refuge in a convent belonging to the order of Merced, where his brother was one of the friars, but this asylum availed him nothing. The licentiate Sotomayor, an exile from New Spain, who was also an inmate, seized him and delivered him to the authorities. Next day the insurgent leader was beheaded, and that the prophecy of the maestro de campo might be fulfilled, Tarragona and others were hanged, the rest being sent into exile.