The History of Cuba, vol. 1

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Velasquez returned to Santiago to find affairs in a sad plight. Small pox, measles and other epidemics were raging, and disastrous tropical hurricanes had swept the island, destroying crops and buildings. A large proportion of the most efficient men of the island had followed Cortez—and Narvaez—to Mexico. Moreover, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola, was threatening trouble. It must be remembered that Velasquez had practically flouted Columbus's authority, almost as much as his own had been flouted by Cortez. At any rate, the Admiral had a serious grievance against him, and deemed this a fitting time for calling him to account. Apparently he was further aggrieved because Velasquez would not more fully accept the counsel of Ayllon. At any rate, in the middle of January, 1521, he sent over to Cuba an envoy, to take the place of Velasquez as Governor of Cuba and to investigate the manner in which Velasquez had administered his affairs. This envoy was Alfonso de Zuazo, who thus became the second Governor of Cuba.

In this action Velasquez acquiesced; probably because he durst not do otherwise. It would have been a dangerous thing in any circumstances to defy the Admiral; and it would have been superlatively so at a time when Cuba had just been stripped of its ships and its best fighting men. Nevertheless, he pointed out that he himself was still commandant of the fort at Baracoa, and was Repartidor of the natives throughout the island. This latter was in some important respects a more influential office than that of Governor, and it Velasquez held, not by the Admiral's appointment but by virtue of a commission granted directly by the King himself. He could not, therefore, be superseded or interfered with in any way by the Admiral or any of his underlings, nor by anybody short of the King himself. In this he was quite right, and when Zuazo, relying upon Diego Columbus's authority, did infringe upon some of Velasquez's functions and powers, the latter complained to the King, and the King disavowed Zuazo, and severely reprimanded Columbus.

Velasquez was not, however, yet at the end of his difficulties. The royal vindication of his claims was gratifying, and he doubtless felt some secret satisfaction in the humiliation of Diego Columbus. But the son of the great Admiral was not a man to be flouted with impunity, not even by the King of Spain. True, he acquiesced, perforce, in the royal decree. But his resourceful mind quickly devised another line of attack upon Velasquez. At the beginning of 1522, accompanied by two judges of the supreme court of Hispaniola, he proceeded to Santiago de Cuba, and there instituted a judicial investigation into the conduct of Velasquez's administration. To this Velasquez demurred, on the grounds already mentioned that as Repartidor he was accountable to the King alone. Diego Columbus responded by pointing out in the commission of Velasquez as Repartidor a provision that the judges of Hispaniola might and indeed should give him specific advice as to the conduct of his office; and such advice they thereupon proceeded to give, in terms indistinguishable from commands. To this Velasquez could not demur; the text of his commission did indeed provide for that very thing. But his retort was prompt and effective. The commission provided for the giving of advice, but it did not require Velasquez to accept it! As a matter of fact, it was not accepted but ignored, and Diego Columbus and his judges returned to Hispaniola in defeat.

One more effort was made by Velasquez to vindicate his authority over Cortez in Mexico. He went so far as to equip a third expedition of which he personally took command, intending to invade Mexico and compel Cortez to submit to his authority. This expedition sailed from Cuba in the fall of 1522, but never reached the coast of Mexico. It was intercepted by a message from the King, announcing that he had appointed Cortez to be Governor of Mexico in entire independence of Cuba, and expressly forbidding Velasquez to interfere with him in any way. This was conclusive, and Velasquez returned home, abandoning all further thoughts of Mexico.

Despite his losses and the great expense to which he had gone in fruitless Mexican ventures, he was still one of the richest men in Cuba; especially since the death of his father-in-law, Cristobal de Cuellar, who had left him the major part of his large fortune. As Repartidor, also, he continued his activities in public affairs. In the summer of 1523 he personally directed a campaign against a revolt and depredations of an Indian tribe inhabiting some of the small islands off the Cuban coast. He suffered humiliation, it is true, in having at about that same time public proclamation made in Cuba of the royal decree inhibiting him from further designs against Cortez. But before the end of the year atonement was made for this in another royal decree completely restoring Velasquez to his place as Governor of Cuba.

The causes which led to this extraordinary action are obscure, but it seems probable that the King recognized the really great services and merits of Velasquez, and it is quite possible that he had reason for dissatisfaction with Zuazo. At any rate, at about Christmas time, 1523, Velasquez was restored and Zuazo was summarily dismissed. No charges were at that time preferred against Zuazo, nor was he prosecuted or subjected to any penalties. But his commission as Governor was declared to have been illegal and all his acts to have been therefore null and void. Everything was therefore put back in as nearly as possible the condition it was in when Velasquez was formerly Governor.

Zuazo seems to have taken his dismissal philosophically, without demur or resentment; wherefore we may suspect that as a lawyer he realized that there had indeed been a fatal flaw in his commission. He remained at Santiago for a few weeks, and then went to Mexico as the attorney and envoy of Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, who had a controversy with Cortez as to which of them was the rightful Governor of Panuco. In this errand he was frustrated by shipwreck and other vicissitudes, and it does not appear that he ever had an opportunity of serving Garay as had been intended. In time, however, he reached Mexico, and was regarded with much favor by Cortez, who appointed him to a lucrative and influential office. A little later he was extradited by the Cuban government, and was brought back to that island as a prisoner, to undergo trial for alleged misdemeanors committed when he was Governor. This strenuous action was taken in 1525. Zuazo complained bitterly of such harsh treatment, which probably was unwarranted. At any rate, he was acquitted; whereupon he went to Hispaniola and spent the remainder of his life there in prosperity.

We have seen that the restoration of Velasquez to the Governorship of Cuba came as a sort of solatium for his loss and humiliation with respect to Mexico. But it did not altogether reconcile him to the destruction of his hopes and ambitions. On the contrary, he conceived the scheme of remonstrating with the King and pleading his cause in person. Setting his affairs in order, therefore, he prepared to set sail for Spain, and was just on the point of doing so when death supervened. He died on June 12, 1524, and was interred, according to his wish, in the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba.

The King, who had so recently both humiliated him and honored him, was profoundly affected by the loss of one who had added much lustre to the crown of Spain, and wrote for his tomb an epitaph in Latin, eloquently setting forth his merits and his services. This was not, however, inscribed above his remains, and soon was forgotten. Instead, there was popularly circulated and remembered an epigram upon him coined by some adversary whose identity is unknown. This declared Velasquez to have been "Covetous of honor, but more covetous of gain."

This we must regard as unjust. Velasquez had his faults, and some of them were grave. He was at times arbitrary and ruthless, as most empire-builders of all lands have been. He was not always grateful to those who served him faithfully, nor was he impartial in his dealings with men. These faults were, however, common in those times, and they were no more marked in Velasquez than in his contemporaries. On the other hand he unquestionably had great virtues. He had courage, vision, enterprise, and statesmanlike views for the development of his domain. His work in Cuba was over-shadowed by that of Cortez in Mexico and of Pizarro in Peru, but it was in essence not less meritorious than theirs, for which indeed it prepared and opened the way. It is one of the tragedies of history that his very tomb should have been forgotten and lost, and his name remembered as a name and nothing more. For in the early history of Cuba there is no other name which stands for so much in conquest and colonization, and in the foundation, organization and development of the State, as that of the first Cuban Governor, Diego de Velasquez.