Reynando La Magestad Catolica De Carlos II. Rey de Las Espanas Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan General De Esta Ciudad E Isla de Cuba D. Diego Antonio De Viana Hinojosa, Caballero del Orden De Santiago, Veinte Y Cuatro Perpetuo De La Ciudad de Granada, Y General De La Artilleria Del Reinado de Sevilla, Se Acabo Esta Puerta Con Su Puente Levandizo, y Su Media Luna, etc. Ano de 1688.

(In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Charles II. King of Spain, the resident governor and captain-general of this city and island of Cuba was D. Diego Antonio de Viana Hinojosa, Cavalier of the Order of Santiago, the twenty-fourth Perpetuo of the city of Granada, and the General of Artillery of the ruler of Sevilla, this gate with its drawbridge and its ravelins was finished. In the year 1688.)

The affair of El Cayo continued to absorb the attention of the government during the administration of D. Severino de Manzañeda y Salines. This new governor entered upon the functions of his office on the thirtieth of October, 1689, and remained until the second of October, 1695. According to the decision which the court rendered after endless discussion the inhabitants of El Cayo were to move to Santa Clara. From the oldest Alcaldes and Magistrates of both towns two men were chosen with orders to superintend the removal: the Cabilde Captain Luis Perez de Morales and Ensign Gaspar Rodriguez. They proceeded to el Cayo and issued a proclamation which ordered the residents to move within a fortnight. When the term expired, and the order had not been complied with, they went to the church, accompanied by forty men armed with machetes, lances, battle-axes and guns, and began to harangue the people. When this had no immediate visible effect, they started to destroy house upon house, applying either the torch or the sword. They spared only the church and the residence of the prefect of the new town.

After committing these unwarranted ruthless outrages they forbade any one under severe penalty to attempt to rebuilt his house; nor was any one allowed to admit a homeless neighbor to his hacienda or offer him a roof. Exposed to the inclemency of the weather, left without shelter or provisions, the temper of the inhabitants was roused, but they were too bewildered by the cruel injustice to see their way to demand redress of their wrongs. A man from the pueblo San Jacinto de Royas, deeply resenting the heinous crime, resolved not to remain passive. He made his way to the bishop and the governor, gave them a vivid account of what had occurred, and lodged a complaint in the name of the poor victims. Both Bishop Compostela and Governor Manzañedas readily yielded to his arguments, but it does not appear from the records of the time that the men who had so flagrantly abused their power were punished. The governor, probably from fear of stirring up dissatisfaction with his administration and ultimately losing his position, contented himself by adjusting the differences between the two parties. He ordered the people of both towns to live together until the king had handed down his decision. When His Majesty finally approved of the action taken, the feelings of both parties were pacified and the new town thus founded became known as Villa Clara.

During the administration of Governor Manzañedas the city of Matanzas was founded. According to some authorities the name is derived from the Spanish matanza, which means slaughter or killing and it was supposed to refer to the extermination of the Indians who had been the native owners of that territory. Others derive the term from a corruption of the word martizaban, which the Indians had adopted from the Castilian when they wailed during the suffering inflicted upon them. Still others try to establish a certain connection between that name and the following story of Indian perfidy. It seems that some Spaniards had engaged a number of Indians to carry them in their canoes from one end of the bay to another. When they reached the middle of the bay, the Indians left the boats, and hitting the Spaniards on the head with the oars, tried to drown them, while they took to the mountains. Seven of the victims succeeded in escaping from death by swimming to the shore; but there they were caught by other natives, taken to the nearest pueblo and hanged. One of them however, managed to get away and reach another pueblo, whose cacique gave him shelter until the arrival of a Spanish rescuing force under Narvaez. The cacique, preceded by three hundred men carrying gifts, went to receive the party from Havana, leading the prisoner by the hand. In addressing Narvaez and P. Casas, who were the leaders, he told them that he had treated the man as if he had been his own son, that he had guarded and protected him for three years and had refused the strenuous demand of the other caciques to deliver him to them, knowing that they would have killed him.

Whatever the origin of its name may be, Matanzas eventually lived down its sinister significance. The bay of Matanzas with the canal opening into it, had long been considered a point of great importance. For it was patent that, if the British set out to capture it and succeeded in establishing themselves there, the danger to Spanish commerce and especially to that of Havana would be very grave. A village had existed there from the time of the Spanish conquest; it had grown in population and the surrounding land was well cultivated. Governor Manzañedas decided at once to begin to fortify the bay. He re-organized the administration of the place and raised it to the rank of a city, which the authorities named after San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas.

The solemn ceremonies of its foundation took place on the tenth of October, 1693, in the presence of Governor Manzañedas and many other prominent citizens and high officials of the island. After an examination of the previously drafted plan a Plaza des Armas, or military parade-ground was the first to be decided upon; then the principal streets of the city were traced. Two days later an altar and a cross were raised on the square destined for the church, and Bishop D. Diego Evelino de Compostela blessed the spot, said mass over it and with the aid of Governor Manzañedas laid the first stone of the temple which was to have for its patron saint San Carlos Borromeo. On the following day the governor went to Punta Gorda on the north side of the bay and selected a place for the fort which was to be built. When the structure was completed it was in his honor given the name San Severino. The industry of the residents, the fertility of the soil and the unusually favorable location of the port made the small town grow within a few years into one of the most important cities of the island. Subsequently Matanzas developed to such size and prominence that it is to-day ranking next to Havana both in population and in commerce.

The administration of Manzañedas was toward the end disturbed by the scandalous dispute between the governor Villalobas and the Licentiate Roa, Lieutenant Auditor of the Royal Audiencia (a court of appeals in the West Indies). The affair created a great deal of sensation at the time, because it threatened to divide the population into hostile factions. Villalobas was charged with having allowed his adherents to call themselves Villalobistas, in opposition to those of Lieutenant Roa, who promptly assumed the name Roistas. Controversies and quarrels arose and grew to such alarming proportions that civil war seemed imminent. The two rivals fought each other mercilessly, until Roa fled to Madrid, where he died in exile. Villalobas justly feared that the report of these disturbances would damage his reputation at the court of Madrid and was taken dangerously sick. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo which had instituted an inquiry into the matter discharged Villalobas from his office. An Oidor (hearer or judge) of the Audiencia, D. Diego Antonio Oviedo y Banos was appointed to hear the arguments of the case. But Villalobas, a broken old man, was so grieved by the disgrace that he survived the ordeal only a few days. The administration of Governor Manzañedas came to an end in the year 1695 when he was appointed to the presidency of Santo Domingo.

CHAPTER XXVI

With the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most harassing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had signed a will in favor of the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, who succeeded him as Philip V., but the Austrian archduke Charles contested this succession, until the death of his brother. Joseph called him to the throne of Austria and forced him to relinquish his claim to that of Spain. The interval, however, was spent in what is known as the War of the Austrian Succession which was far more than a war of succession to the Spanish throne, but one which involved a European problem.