The History of Cuba, vol. 2

ension throughout the world which the clever pourparlers and the fascinating fencing bouts of European diplomacy failed to relieve, and of which Cuba was destined to feel the effects. In spite of her

comer not yet vitally interested in the issues at stake. Both allies failed to keep their pledge; Austria turned away to enter into a confederacy with France, while Russia passed from one camp to the other. The growing ascendancy of Pruss

ederick. Spain with remarkable firmness decided to keep out of the general war which broke out in 1756 and, lasting until 1763, was to be known in history as The Seven Years' War. Even when Pitt, who was the ally

III. succeeded his father, he found fifteen millions of dollars in the treasury. He, too, was determined to keep peace, but the stubborn resistance of Great Britain to any equitable settlement of the question in dispute betw

they were the property of private citizens, who knew nothing, and could know nothing, of the diplomatic disputes of the two countries. The capture was unjustifiable by

ntitled: "Les Anglais dans l'ile de Cuba au dix-huitieme siecle," in which he refers to a History of Jamaica by Hans Sloane, published in 1740 and translated into French in 1751. This writer brought out the importance of Cuba very clearly, saying that no vessel could

hich the Spanish galleons followed. This r?le of port of supply and repairs for the damages sustained on the sea had made of Havana since the middle of the sixteenth century an important arsenal and dockyard, where there were continually in process of construction enormous ships destined for travel to Spain or South America.

oundland and the abandonment of the settlements in the Bay of Honduras. On the twenty-ninth, England demanded Canada, the fisheries, granting to the French a limited concession, unlikely to be of any use, the reduction of Dunkirk, half of the neutral islands; Senegal and Goree, which was equivalent to a monopoly of the slave trade; Minorca; freedom to give help to the king of Prussia; and British suprem

nefits. But personal motives of resentment against England and of esteem and gratitude for Louis XV. predominated in his mind against the serious reasons of state and the advantages to his subjects, and the voluminous correspondence carried on between him and the king of France made him deeply share the humiliation of the principal branch of his family under the triumph of British arms. These sentiments and other motives finally ga

nd not to listen to or enter into any settlement with the enemies of both crowns unless so done with common accord. For as much in peace as in war they had to consider the identified interests of the two nations, compensate their losses and divide their respective acquisitions and operate as though

her in the war Carlos III. had so zealously wished to avoid. But there was no doubt in the minds of the Spanish king and his cabinet, that the British policy was one solely of conquest, that Britain recognized no other law than the aggrandizement of her power on land and her universal despotism on the ocean. Nor could it be doubted by any impartial onlooker that Britain had long cast covetous eyes upon the Spanish possessions in America, and had for a long time given Spain sufficient cause for grievance. The audacity of her privateers and pirates in their attacks upon the West Indies had not been forgotten; the colonies es

ty of diplomatic language was sometimes discarded for rather plain speech. When Britain proposed some regulations of the p

o the English the logwood! He who avows that he has entered another man's house to seize his j

adily opposed him succeeded in its propaganda against him, and he was forced to retire. However, the feelings had run too high, the hostility on both sides had assumed such proportions that war

tune seemed to favor the British; for George Rodney, the gifted naval officer, who was to distinguish himself during the war between Britain and her colonies by his daring and successful operations against the French and Spanish fleets in the West Indian waters, was at that time in the neighborhood of what was to be the scene of action. He had with a fleet of sixteen ships of line and thirte

erations which ultimately were to include the conquest of other possessions of Spain in that part of the world. The honor of conceiving the project has been conceded to Admiral Knowles, who had submitted his plan to the Duke of Cumberland; but although the latter recommended it to the ministry, the plan of the invasion, which had been simultaneously submitted by Lord Anson, chief of the board of Admiralty, and which was almost identical with that of Knowles,

e conquest of Martinique and Guadeloupe ready for the arrival of Admiral Pococke. The authorities in Jamaica and the British colonies of North America were ordered to prepare two divisions, the first of two thousand men, the latter of four thousand. The British command staked everything upon a surprise attack. Fear that information of the rupture between the two countries might have reached Cuba, caused no little anxiety to Lord Albemarle and Admiral Pococke. The expedition

of light infantry brought from England, and one battalion of grenadiers under the command of Colonel Guy Carleton, and placed two other battalions of grenadiers under the command of William Howe. He also ordered the purchase of four thousand negroes i

rle, Comman

l George August E

Lafanfille and the

Francis Grant, John Reid, An

William Howe; second;-Lieute

l. Guy Carleton; sub-dele

ral-in-chief: Lieuten

ieutenant-Colonel

ifton Wintringham; sub-delegate: Richard Hunck and a staff of three

e; on the seventeenth they arrived at Cape Nicolas and on the twenty-third they met the Jamaica fleet under command of Sir James Douglas. The British naval forces, including these two divisions and the one that later arrived from North America, consisted of fifty-three warships of various kinds with a crew of te

y-four; Pembroke; Rippon; Nottingham; Defense; and Intrepid of sixty; Centurion; Depford; Sutherland; and Hampshire of fifty; the frigates Penzance, Dover and Enterprise of forty; Richmond and Alarm of thirty-two; Echo, Lizard, Trent, Cerberus and Boreas of twenty-eight; Mer

might be successful. Cuba, too, little suspected what was in store for her. The new governor appointed to take the place of Cagigal, when the latter was promoted to the vice-regency of Mexico, was the Field Marshal D. Juan Prado y Portocasso. Before the consummation of the Family Pact, in March, 1670, King Carlos III. had told Prado of the menacing attitude of Britain and had warned him of the possibility of a rupture. He