The History of Cuba, vol. 1

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Bartholomew Ortiz was at last, on his earnest entreaty, relieved of his duties as alcalde mayor in the fall of 1542, and for some time the insular government was again without a head. But in August, 1543, since nothing had been heard from or of de Soto for three years, the crown assumed that he was dead and that his office was vacant. It therefore appointed Juan de Avila to be not alcalde mayor but governor; permitting the title of Adelantado of Florida to fall into desuetude. The new governor was a young lawyer, whose chief recommendation was that he was a member of the de Avila family, a relative of Lady Isabel de Soto and of her father, the formidable Pedrarias d'Avila. He seems to have been doubtful of his own ability to administer the office successfully, and therefore reluctant to assume its duties. However, he finally came to Cuba, arriving at Santiago at the beginning of February, 1544, nearly six months after his appointment. He was, of course, regularly appointed and commissioned by the crown, with the full powers of governor, and for those reasons he was received at Santiago with grateful rejoicings. The people of that city and indeed of all Cuba had become tired of having an absentee governor and an alcalde mayor in his place.

Juan de Avila's first official act of importance was to make the usual examination of his predecessor's affairs. This was a slight task, because of the short time in which de Soto had actually administered the governorship, and nothing wrong appears to have been found. The affairs of all other officials were likewise in good order. He then turned his attention to the question of the Indians; after which, the deluge.

The royal government had for the time acquiesced in the ruthless policy of de Soto. At least it had not vetoed nor opposed it. But now it had reconsidered the matter, and had resumed its former and better policy, of treating the natives justly and kindly, and giving them their freedom. Perhaps it was moved to do this partly through horror at what Pedrarias d'Avila had done at Darien, in all but exterminating an entire race, and was minded to make atonement by requiring the young kinsman of that "Timour of the Indies" to do the opposite in Cuba. At any rate orders were sent to Cuba that there should be no more enslavement of the natives in gold mining. In fact, they were not to be employed in mining at all. Now as mining was practically the only work in which the Indians were engaged, the effect of that order, if enforced, would have been very marked. It would have stopped gold mining, and would have left the natives in idleness. In fact, it was not enforced. The governor received it, and transmitted it to the various local officials for promulgation and enforcement; and they ignored it. Presently the governor wanted to know why the order had not been obeyed, and was curtly told that it would have been disastrous to the industries and interests of the island. This he reported to the crown, asking for further directions.

The reply was a reminder that the new Bishop, Sarmiento, was Protector of the Indians, and that the governor and he should cooperate for their welfare and for the enforcement of the decrees in their behalf. But the people were no readier to listen to the bishop than to the governor; particularly since that ecclesiastic was himself a slave-holder. Indeed, the municipal council of Santiago formally protested against his appointment as Protector of the Indians and refused to recognize his authority. There were some actual conflicts with force and arms between the two factions, in which the followers of the local government appear to have triumphed over the fewer adherents of the Bishop, and from which no profit nor advantage of any kind accrued to the unhappy objects of the strife.

When these things were reported to the King and his advisers, there was much indignation, and new and peremptory orders were sent to the governor, that involuntary service by the Indians was immediately to be abolished, and that the natives were to be free to work for whom they pleased, or not to work at all. Moreover, they were to be treated in all respects as well as the Spaniards themselves. This radical decree seems to have impressed the governor and bishop as going a little too far, and an appeal was made by common consent to the Council for the Indies, in Spain. That body was divided in opinion, but the majority of it inclined to a modification of the order, to which the King agreed. The governor and the bishop were directed to act together for the welfare of the natives, with a view to granting them ultimately entire liberty and equal rights. There was to be no more slavery. All the Indian slaves who had been brought to Cuba from other islands or from the mainland were to be released and returned to their homes. To hold such slaves, or to engage in the slave trade, was made a grave penal offense. The native Cubans who were held under the repartimiento system were not immediately to be released, but they were not to be transferred from one master to another, and upon the death of their master they were not to be bequeathed as chattels to his heirs, but were to be released. Moreover, if any of the proprietors were proved to be cruel to their native workmen, or neglectful of their interests, the natives were to be released from their authority and set at liberty. In all cases, the natives were to receive fair wages for their labor, and were not to be compelled to do any kind of work for which they were not suited or to which they objected. Finally, it was forbidden for the governor, the bishop, or any other functionary of state or church to hold native Cuban Indians in bondage, though negro slavery was apparently still permitted.

These regulations, put forward by the King and the Council for the Indies, were actually more far-reaching than the order of the crown which had been disputed, though they would not take effect so abruptly. The governor received them, and himself had them publicly proclaimed throughout the island; with prodigious effect. The whole island rose against them. Municipal councils and others officials, as well as planters and gold miners, protested against them, and pleaded for at least postponement of their enforcement until they could have an opportunity to appeal to the crown and to the Council for the Indies against them. To this plea for delay, De Avila acceded; to his own subsequent undoing, as we shall presently see. His own brother, Alfonso de Avila, turned against him, and went to Spain as the chief spokesman of the opponents of the new rules.

While the question of the Indians was thus held in suspension, De Avila turned his attention to other matters, largely matrimonial and domestic. On coming to Cuba, a young bachelor, he made his home in the house of the wealthy widow of Pedro de Paz. This lady, who had otherwise been much married, and who was by birth a member of the formidable Guzman family, whose name she now bore, was past fifty years old, or about twice the age of the young governor. Indeed, she had sons and daughters of about De Avila's age. It was therefore assumed to be quite permissible for the governor to live in her house. The arrangement proved in the end, however, to be disastrous. It was probably the lady's intention from the beginning to take the young man for her husband—her fourth or fifth. At any rate, his domestic association with her, while it could not compromise her reputation, did so compromise his that he could get none of the eligible young women of Cuba to marry him, although he sought the hands of several of them. So after a time, despairing of any other bride, and doubtless much impressed by the wealth of his mature hostess, he married her; and thereafter was her slave.

For the remainder of the ill-starred administration the lady was the real governor. A large part of her fortune was in Indian slaves, or in enterprises dependent upon their labor. Therefore it was she who was foremost in opposing the enforcement of the decrees for their emancipation. It was owing to her influence that De Avila acquiesced in their suspension. Then, when the matter was being appealed, it was she who constrained De Avila to leave Santiago for a tour of the island, ostensibly for inspection, but in reality to get away from Santiago, where the social atmosphere was not agreeable, and to settle in some more advantageous place.

That new place was found at Havana. Since the burning of it by French buccaneers that city had been rebuilt in a much more attractive style than Santiago, and society there was more hospitable to the governor's wife. A plausible excuse for settling there was, moreover, readily found. It was necessary, for the protection of the place against another French attack, that the valiant governor should remain there in person. For the furtherance of this purpose, he procured the free granting to him of a choice tract of land, and also the free gift of materials for building him a fine mansion. Whether the citizens of Havana gave the materials willingly, for the sake of having the governor of the island living among them, or under some sort of compulsion, may not certainly be declared. Two traditions have been extant. One was, that they gave the materials under compulsion, and that for that reason the governor's mansion was called the "House of Fear." The other was, that they gave them willingly, even eagerly, because of actual dread of another French descent; thinking that if the governor himself lived there, he would take all possible measures for the defence of the place; and that it was for that reason that it was called the "House of Fear."