The Scots Colony—They Propose to Establish Settlements in Darien—Subscriptions for the Enterprise—Departure of the Expedition—Its Arrival at Acla—Sickness and Famine among the Colonists—They Abandon their Settlement—A Second Expedition Despatched—Its Failure—Cartagena Sacked by Privateers—Indian Outbreaks—Conflagrations in PanamÁ—Pearl Fisheries—Mining—Spanish Commerce Falling into the Hands of the British—Seizure of British Vessels and Maletreatment of their Crews—Jenkins' Ears—Declaration of War—Vernon's Operations on the Isthmus—Anson's Voyage round the World—Vernon's Second Expedition—Its Disastrous Result.

Yet another phase of life and restless human endeavor on the PanamÁ Isthmus here presents itself. Great Britain is seized by an idea, born of greed and nurtured by injustice; and this conception expands until it covers the earth, and until the good people of England and Scotland are in imagination masters of the whole world, which possession is acquired not through any honest means, but after the too frequent vile indirections of the day and the nation; in all which the people of those isles give themselves and their money over to Satan.

In June 1695 a number of wealthy Scotchmen under the leadership of William Paterson[XXXI-1] obtained from the Scottish parliament a statute, and later letters patent from William III.,[XXXI-2] authorizing them to plant colonies in Asia, Africa, or America, in places uninhabited, or elsewhere by permission of the natives, provided the territory were not occupied by any European prince or state. Paterson had spent several years in the Indies and had explored the province of Darien. Near the old settlement of Acla he had found a port safe for shipping. Three days' journey thence, on the other side of the Isthmus, were other suitable harbors. By establishing settlements on either shore, he purposed to grasp the trade whereby Europe was supplied with the products of North and South America, China, Japan, and the Philippine Islands, with European goods. From the Isthmus to Japan and parts of China was but a few weeks' sail, and the products of Asia could thus be landed in Europe in far less time than that occupied by the vessels of the India companies. Moreover on the rich soil of Darien, sugar, indigo, tobacco, and other articles of value could be raised. "Trade," said the projector of the bank of England, "will beget trade; money will beget money; the commercial world shall no longer want work for their hands, but will rather want hands for their work. This door to the seas and key to the universe will enable its possessors to become the legislators of both worlds, and the arbitrators of commerce. The settlers of Darien will acquire a nobler empire than Alexander or CÆsar, without fatigue, expense, or danger, as well as without incurring the guilt and bloodshed of conquerors."

Paterson was either knave or fool; having been both preacher and pirate he may have been both fool and knave. It was impossible for him to have explored the Isthmus as he claimed and not know that the climate was deadly, and that to the wild highlander, fresh from the cold north, the harbors of Darien could prove nothing but pest-holes, breeding swift destruction. As for the people who blindly threw themselves into the adventure, they were as sheep, and differed little from the human sheep of the present day.

Spain had at least the right of discovery and conquest to her possessions in the New World, even though such conquest had been attended with cruelty almost as great as that of the English in Hindostan. The natives of Darien were never indeed entirely subdued. Yet even according to the European code of robbery it does not appear that Great Britain had any more right to plant colonies in Tierra Firme than she now has to establish them in portions of the United States that may be infested by hostile Indians. Nevertheless in the year 1699 when, as we shall see, the scheme was on the verge of failure, the English monarch, in answer to a petition from "The Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies and their Colony of Darien," as the association was styled, asking that "His Royal Wisdom be pleased to take such Measures as might effectually vindicate the undoubted Rights and Privileges of the said Company, and support the Credit and Interest thereof," replied, "Right Trusty and Well-beloved, We greet you well: Your Petition has been presented to us by our Secretaries, and we do very much regret the Loss which that our antient Kingdom and the Company has lately sustained."[XXXI-3]

"To prove," says a writer of the period,[XXXI-4] "the Falsehood of the Allegation, That the Province of Darien is part of the King of Spain's Domains: It is positively denied by the Scots, who challenge the Spaniards to prove their Right to the said Province, either by Inheritance, Marriage, Donation, Purchase, Reversion, Surrender, Possession or Conquest." "And as to their Claim by the Pope's Donation," writes another author of the period,[XXXI-5] "the very mentioning, and much more the pleading of it, is a ridiculing, as well as bantring of Mankind; seeing even on the supposal that the Roman Pontiffs should be acknowledged the successors of St Peter, which as no Protestants are forward to believe or confess, so they have never hitherto found, nor do they think the Pontificans able to prove it: Yet this would invest them with no right of disposing the Kingdoms of the World as they please and unto whom they will. For Peter being cloathed with no such Power himself, nor having ever pretended to exert such a Jurisdictive Authority as some Popes have had the Vanity and Pride to do, how could he convey it unto, and entail it upon others, under the quality and character of being his Successors"? These and similar excuses, however sorry, were all that the apologists for the Scots' colony had to offer for thus grasping at this territory. It may be remarked that the claim of Great Britain to her colonies is in few instances based on discovery, and that nearly all her most valuable possessions have been gained at the point of the sword. Might is right.

Six hundred thousand pounds were required for the enterprise and the amount was quickly subscribed, in Scotland, England, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. The scheme was a bold one, but the promise of returns was vast, and as will be remembered this was the era of gigantic and insane speculations. In Scotland alone the subscriptions summed up three hundred thousand pounds, an amount which absorbed almost the entire circulating capital of the country. All who possessed ready money ventured at least a part of it in the enterprise. Some threw in all they had; others all they could borrow. Maidens invested their portions; widows pledged their dower, expecting to be repaid fifty or a hundred fold. In England half the capital stock was subscribed for in nine days, one fourth being paid in specie or bank notes, and the rest in bills payable on demand. The total of the subscriptions from all sources was nine hundred thousand pounds, a sum which at the close of the seventeenth century was enormous even in the money capital of Great Britain. Soon the success of the scheme aroused the jealousy of English merchants, who feared that the commerce of the world might pass into the hands of the Scotch. William III. was at heart opposed to the scheme, although he had granted letters patent to the association; and partly through his influence the contributions in England, Hamburg, and Amsterdam were withdrawn. Nevertheless, another hundred thousand pounds was raised in Scotland, thus making up a capital of four hundred thousand pounds sterling.

Permission was given by the crown to Paterson and his associates to fit out men-of-war, to plant colonies, build cities and forts, make reprisals for damage done by land or sea, and to conclude treaties of peace or commerce with princes and governors. They were also allowed to claim the minerals, the valuable timber, and the fisheries in sea or river, and "in the name of God and in Honour and for the Memory of that most Antient and Renowned name of our Mother Kingdom" the country was to be named New Caledonia. The enterprise was under the control of a council of seven,[XXXI-6] to whom was intrusted all power, civil and military. Paterson was of course one of the members, but from all deliberations he was excluded, and in the final arrangements for the fleet he was not even consulted, his reasonable request that an inventory of supplies be taken before setting sail being refused.

The expedition had been planned and ordered in keeping with the first subscriptions[XXXI-7] and was the largest and most costly of any that had yet been fitted out for schemes of colonization in the New World. On the 26th of July 1698 twelve hundred men, among them three hundred youths belonging to the best families of Scotland, and many veterans who had been discharged from the British army after the peace of Ryswick, assembled at the port of Leith. A wild insanity seized the entire population of Edinburgh as they now came forth to witness the embarkation. Guards were kept busy holding back the eager aspirants who, hungry for death, pressed forward in throngs, stretching out their arms to their departing countrymen and clamoring to be taken on board. Stowaways when ordered on shore clung madly to rope and mast, pleading in vain to be allowed to serve without pay on board the fleet. Women sobbed and gasped for breath; men stood uncovered, and with choked utterance and downcast head invoked the blessing of the Almighty. The banner of St Andrew was hoisted at the admiral's mast; and as a light wind caught the sails, the roar of the vast multitude was heard far down the waters of the frith. The breeze freshened, and as the vessels were carried seaward, cheer after cheer followed the highlanders, who now bade farewell, most of them, as it proved, forever, to their native land.

On the 4th of November, having lost fifteen of their number during the voyage, they landed at Acla; founded there a settlement to which they gave the name New St Andrew; cut a canal through the neck of land which divided one side of the harbor from the ocean, and on this spot erected a fort whereon they mounted fifty guns. On a mountain at the opposite side of the harbor they built a watch-house, from which the view was so extensive that there was no danger of surprise. Lands were purchased from the Indians, and messages of friendship sent to the governors of several Spanish provinces.

On the week following the departure of the expedition, the Scottish parliament met and unanimously adopted an address to the king asking his support and countenance for the Darien colony, but no time was lost by the India companies in bringing every means to bear to ensure its ruin; and notwithstanding the memorial of the parliament, the British monarch ordered the governors of Jamaica, Barbadoes, and New York not to furnish the settlers with supplies.[XXXI-8] To such length did rancor go, that the Scotch commanders who should presume to enter English ports, even for repairs after a storm, were threatened with arrest.[XXXI-9]

A stock of provision had been placed on board the fleet sufficient as was supposed to last for eight months, but the supply gave out in as many weeks, since those who had been placed in charge of the commissariat department had embezzled the funds. Fishing and the chase were the only resources, and as these were precarious the colonists were soon on the verge of famine. As summer drew near the atmosphere became stifling, and the exhalations from the steaming soil, united with other causes, wrought deadly destruction on the settlers. Men were continually passing to the hospital and thence to the grave, and the survivors were only kept alive through the friendly services of the Indians.[XXXI-10]

Matters daily grew worse with the colonists. A ship despatched from Scotland laden with provisions had foundered off Cartagena. The Spaniards on the Isthmus looked on their distress with complacency. No relief came nor any tidings from Scotland; and on the 22d of June 1699, less than eight months after their arrival, the survivors resolved to abandon the settlement. Paterson, the first to enter the ship at Leith, was the last to go on board at Darien. Ill with fever and broken in spirit, his misfortune weighed so heavily on him that he became temporarily deranged.[XXXI-11] Of the rest, four hundred perished at sea.

Eight weeks after Paterson's departure two ships arrived from Scotland with ample stores of provisions and three hundred recruits. Finding the colony at New Saint Andrew abandoned they set sail for Jamaica, leaving six of their number, who preferring to remain on the Isthmus, were kindly treated by the natives, and after they had lived there long enough to satisfy themselves were safely brought away.

Not until several months after the departure of the first expedition did the court of Spain protest against the invasion of her territory. And no better policy could have been devised than to have thus let death do the work; but on the 3d of May 1699 a memorial was presented[XXXI-12] to William III. by the Spanish ambassador stating that his Catholic Majesty looked on the proceeding as a rupture of the alliance between the two countries and as a hostile invasion, and would take such measures as he thought best against the intruders.

Provoked by this interference, and as yet ignorant of the fate of their colony, the Scotch soon afterward[XXXI-13] despatched another expedition of thirteen hundred men in four vessels. The ships were hastily fitted out, and during the voyage one was lost and the others scattered. Many died on the passage, and the rest arrived at different times broken in health and spirit. The dwellings of the first settlers had been burned, the fort dismantled, the tools and agricultural implements abandoned, and the site of the settlement was overgrown with weeds. Meanwhile two sloops had arrived in the harbor with a small stock of provisions; but the supply was inadequate, and five hundred of the party were at once ordered to embark for Scotland.

In February 1700 Captain Campbell arrived at New Saint Andrew with a company of three hundred men who had served under him during the campaign in Flanders. Intelligence had now reached the colony that sixteen hundred Spaniards lay encamped on the Rio Santa MarÍa expecting soon to be joined by a squadron of nine vessels, when it was proposed to make a concerted attack on the settlement. Campbell resolved to anticipate the enemy, and marching against them at the head of two hundred veterans, surprised their camp by night, and dispersed them with great slaughter. Returning, he found that the Spanish ships were off the harbor, and that troops had been landed from them, cutting off all chance of relief. Nevertheless for six weeks the Scotch sustained a siege, and when their ammunition gave out they melted their pewter dishes and fashioned them into cannon balls. At length provisions ran short and the Spaniards cut off their water supply. A surrender became inevitable. Campbell with a few comrades escaped on board his vessel and made his way to New York and thence to Scotland. The rest capitulated on condition that they be allowed to depart with their effects,[XXXI-14] but so weak were the survivors and so few in number that they were not able to weigh the anchor of their largest ship until the Spaniards generously came to their assistance. All but two of the vessels were lost; only thirty of the men succeeded in reaching home, and after the loss of more than two thousand lives and several millions of money, the Scotch abandoned further attempts at colonization in Tierra Firme.[XXXI-15]

While the Spaniards were thus annoyed by foreign encroachments in Darien, the capital of the neighboring province was captured by filibusters. This was in 1697. To Pedro de Heredia had been assigned in 1532, as will be remembered, a province in Nueva AndalucÍa; and there had been founded the colony of Cartagena, which toward the close of the sixteenth century had become a flourishing settlement. A hundred years later Cartagena ranked next to Mexico among the cities of the western world. Situated on a capacious harbor, esteemed as one of the best in the Indies, it possessed several large streets, each nearly one sixth of a league in length, with well built houses of stone, a cathedral, several churches, and numerous convents and nunneries. Its population was probably little short of twenty thousand, of whom about three thousand were Spaniards and the remainder negroes and mulattoes. It was strongly fortified by nature and art, and had to some extent superseded the cities of the Isthmus as an entrepÔt of commerce between the hemispheres. Here the pearl fleet called once a year, an entire street being occupied with the shops of the pearl-dressers, and here was brought, by way of the Desaguadero, the sugar, cochineal, and indigo sent from Guatemala for shipment to Spain.

Cartagena was therefore a tempting prize for the banditti who infested the waters of the North Sea. Drake's operations off that city have already been related. A few years after the decease of that famous adventurer it was laid in ashes by French privateers; and now, in 1697, it was captured by a French fleet having on board twelve hundred men, of whom seven hundred were filibusters under command of Le Baron de Pointis. The spoils of this raid were variously estimated at from eight to forty millions of livres; and yet it is said that before the capture of the city a hundred and ten mule-loads of silver were despatched to a place of safety.

In 1726 the governor of PanamÁ gave authority to the mestizo, Luis GarcÍa, a man whose exploits had brought him into prominence, to lead the Indians in a war of extermination against the French filibusters, who still continued to devastate the Isthmus.

A brief but sharp campaign resulted in the death of the French leader, the notorious Petitpied, and GarcÍa, on his return to PanamÁ, was amply rewarded. The Cana mines proved too great a temptation to GarcÍa after his return to his home in Darien, and finding that some of the caciques whose territory extended to the Balsas River were in a state of mutiny on account of grievances inflicted by the curates in the name of the church and the king, he made a compact with them to throw off Spanish allegiance, withdraw their forces to the mountain fastnesses, and form a government of their own. A rendezvous was established in the Cordillera, and GarcÍa, growing more resolute, resolved on an aggressive war upon the Spaniards and their Indian allies. The campaign opened in a frontier town on the river Yavisa, where they killed the cura, the teniente de justicia, a few Spaniards, and all the Indians who would not join them; then they plundered the place. Elated by this victory, GarcÍa continued his march until he reached Santa MarÍa, where he attempted the same system of spoliation and slaughter. He was less successful, for the inhabitants had fled with most of their valuables. GarcÍa's men entered the town, burned it, and killed every Spaniard they could capture in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile news of the revolt had reached the president, and seventy picked men well officered had been sent to suppress it. This and other attempts threw the people of Darien, now numbering twenty thousand, into consternation, and concerted action was planned with PanamÁ. A large reward was offered for the body of GarcÍa, dead or alive; he perished at last by the hands of a negro.[XXXI-16]

Although the Isthmus was the seat of the first Spanish settlement in America, as I have said before, the natives of Darien were never completely subdued. The Spaniards built strongholds, gathered the Indians into settlements, introduced missionaries, guarded the coast with men-of-war, but all in vain. In 1745 Fort San Rafael de Terable was built by Governor Dionisio de Alcedo on a small peninsula bordered by the river and bay. In 1751 the natives carrying out an oft repeated threat attacked this stronghold, and of the garrison but two or three wounded men escaped. In 1756 the population of Yavisa, composed chiefly of friendly Indians, was massacred by the Chucunaques. A fort was erected in 1760 at this point, and a few years later it became the capital of the province and the seat of the residence of the governor. In 1768 the Chucunaques slaughtered the garrison at Port Ypelisa, plundered the place of arms and tools, and in the same year laid waste the banks of the Congo.

Ten years later another extensive raid occurred; but in 1774 AndrÉs de Ariza, being appointed governor, dealt vigorously and skilfully with the hostile tribes. He discovered numerous secret passes and well cut roads from their quarters to various portions of the province; he deciphered a system of alarm signals, and found a number of caves where the light boats of the natives were constructed. By his efforts the Indians were kept at bay or brought under control.

But outbreaks among the natives and the raids of corsairs were not the only misfortunes to which the Isthmus was exposed. During the eighteenth century the city of PanamÁ was thrice devastated by fire. On the 1st and 2d of February 1737 a conflagration occurred which destroyed two thirds of the buildings; March 30, 1756, a second fire destroyed one half of the city; and on the 26th of April 1771 fifty-five houses were burned.[XXXI-17]

While the people of Tierra Firme thus suffered many disasters at this period of their history, and as we shall see later were frequently subject to attack from the armaments of hostile powers, they appear to have been remarkably free from the internal dissensions which prevailed at an earlier date. The unseemly strife between the church and the audiencia had now entirely ceased, and little worthy of note is mentioned by the chroniclers. During the latter portion of the seventeenth century, and for the first few years of the eighteenth, records as to the succession of governors in PanamÁ are meagre. In 1708 the marquÉs de Villa Rocha was in power; but incurring the displeasure of the audiencia, he was deposed in June of that year, and confined in the castle of Portobello. His successor, Fernando de Haro Monterroso, the senior oidor, who had been mainly instrumental in effecting the downfall of the marquis, held the reins of government for about six months when he was prosecuted for alleged outrages of so grave a character that he was sent in custody to Spain for trial.[XXXI-18] From Alcedo we learn that Juan Bautista de Orueta y Irusta, alcalde del crÍmen of the audiencia of Lima, succeeded to the gubernatorial office, and ruled until 1710, when a governor of the king's appointment arrived, and Orueta returned to Lima.

In June 1711 Villa Rocha, having been released and seeing an opportunity of seizing the reins of power, hastened to the capital and proclaimed himself governor. His career was short, for within twenty-four hours JosÉ Hurtado de Amedzaga, mariscal del campo of the royal forces, compelled him to abdicate, and he himself took possession of the governor's chair, occupying it until 1716, by which time he had rendered himself so obnoxious to the people that he was removed by the king's order. The government was then placed in the hands of the bishop of the diocese, and the authority of the audiencia was suspended. Following Haya we find that Doctor Fray JosÉ de Llamas y Rivas, bishop of PanamÁ, administered the government from the deposition of Villa Rocha to January 1719. Authorities differ as to the order of succession of the different governors. I have selected Haya as probably the most accurate. This writer informs us that Governor Alderete began his administration of PanamÁ on the 25th of April 1725, and that he was deposed and sent to Spain in 1730.

The successor of Alderete was Juan JosÉ de Andia, marquÉs de Villa Hermosa, who was promoted from the governorship of Cartagena to the presidency of PanamÁ. In 1735, after five years' service, he was given a generalship in the royal army of Spain, and returned there with honors.

Dionisio de Alcedo y Herrera was appointed a few years later with authority over all the fortified cities which had been the objective point of the English in the war which they had declared in 1739.

On the day before Christmas 1749 the governorship of PanamÁ was conferred on Jaime MuÑoz de Guzman; but on the same day one appointed by the crown arrived in the person of Manuel de Montiano, who held the office until the 11th of November 1755. Montiano was promoted to this position from the governorship of Florida, and was a mariscal de campo.

While engaged in geodetic surveys at the Isthmus about this time, Ulloa had an opportunity of witnessing the manner in which justice was bought and sold. Matters had come to such a pass that the members of the audiencia chose the most dexterous of their number and empowered him to negotiate with rival parties as to what amount of bonus they were respectively disposed to pay in consideration of a favorable verdict.

PanamÁ, in 1758 had for its governor Antonio Guill, an officer of unusual merit, and one whose executive ability was highly prized by the crown. He was promoted to the captain-generalship of Chile in 1761. In the following year JosÉ Raon succeeded, and was promoted to the presidency of Manila two years later. In 1764 JosÉ Vasco y Orosco became governor. He died in 1767, and was succeeded in January 1769 by Vicente Olaziregui, others acting provisionally during the interval. Temporary appointments were made till 1779, when Ramon de Carbajal took charge, returning to Spain in 1786.

Until 1718 the three provinces of the Isthmus were subject to the viceroy of Peru, but after that they were incorporated with New Granada, the viceroy of which resided at Santa FÉ de BogotÁ. The latter was endowed with the prerogatives of royalty, the only checks upon his authority being the residencia and the right of appeal to the audiencia of PanamÁ. The audiencia enjoyed the privilege of direct communication with the sovereign, and with the council of the Indies. Any beneficial effect which that institution might have had was counteracted largely by the vast powers of the viceroy and their consequent means of influencing any and every subordinate.

In 1774 there was instituted at PanamÁ a new audiencia real y chancillerÍa, having for its limits the province of Castilla del Oro as far as Portobello, the province of Veragua, and toward Peru as far as the ports of Buenavista and the river Darien, the territory under its control being bounded on the east and south by that under the jurisdiction of the audiencias of Granada and Quito; on the west by that of Guatemala; and on the north and south by the two oceans.

It has already been stated that about the close of the sixteenth century the fisheries of the Pearl Islands became exhausted, and that they were abandoned for several decades thereafter. In 1697 the Italian traveller Gemelli Careri visited PanamÁ, and according to his report the fisheries then yielded pearls equal to those found near Ceylon. He mentions one belonging to a Jesuit priest that weighed sixty grains, and for which the owner refused seventy thousand pesos.[XXXI-19]

About the same time the industry of gold-mining was revived on the Isthmus. In Darien and Veragua, but especially in the former province, mines which had been abandoned were again worked, and new ones discovered. The operatives were slaves, free negroes, sambos, and mulattoes, who received for their wages a certain amount of pay-dirt, and often pilfered gold dust enough to make them as rich as their masters. It was the delight of the negroes to give fancy balls to their inamoratas, at which they would appear with their hair glistening with golden trinkets, sometimes sprinkling the ball-room floor with gold dust.

A slave of Antonio de Sosa discovered a pocket of gold which is said to have yielded sixty thousand castellanos; and making this known to his master, was rewarded with his freedom and that of his wife, and presented with a house and lot in PanamÁ and a moderate income wherewith to enjoy his liberty. Of a vagabond mulatto it is related that he suddenly reappeared in the church of Santo Domingo, and attracted the gaze of all by a remarkably brilliant rosary formed of large nuggets of purest gold. The place of discovery was subsequently known as the Rosario mining district. Among other nuggets unearthed was one found at the mines of Santa MarÍa, weighing, according to Dampier, a hundred and twenty pounds. Instances like these might be multiplied, but enough has been said to show the value of the mines from which at this time more gold was sent to PanamÁ than from all the others in the Spanish provinces. As late as 1720 they yielded a handsome revenue to the Spanish crown.

The mines of Cana in the mountains of EspÍritu Santo were especially rich, and in the early part of the eighteenth century were so frequently exposed to the raids of robbers that for a season they were abandoned. In 1702 and 1712, at the former of which dates the town of Cana contained nine hundred houses, the place was sacked by the English; in 1724 by the French; and in 1727 by the Indians. During these and later years other parts of the Isthmus were several times invaded by corsairs, or by the armaments of England ostensibly by way of reprisal for injuries inflicted on British commerce.

In 1713 Great Britain obtained an asiento for supplying the Spanish colonies with negro slaves,[XXXI-20] and also the privilege of sending annually to Portobello a five-hundred-ton vessel laden with European merchandise. British factories were soon established at Cartagena and PanamÁ. And British merchants, prompt to take advantage of this license, poured in goods without limitation or restraint. Instead of a vessel of five hundred tons they usually sent one of nearly double that capacity, accompanied by two or three smaller ships, which, mooring in some neighboring creek, supplied fresh bales of goods when the stock on board the larger vessel became exhausted. The inspectors of the fair and the officers of the revenue were bribed, and gradually the immense commerce of the merchants of Seville was diverted, and the squadrons that were wont to be the pride of Spain and the envy of the nations sank to insignificant proportions, the galleons having little other freight than that furnished by the mines and the royal tribute. In 1719 an effort was made to regain this lost ground, foreign commerce being interdicted and increased facilities being given for domestic trade by a cÉdula of December 1st.[XXXI-21]

After the treaty of Seville was concluded between Spain and England, complaints were frequently made of the depredations committed by Spanish guarda costas on British commerce in the West Indies. The English of course retaliated. Whereupon the Spaniards, not satisfied with plundering British merchant-ships, maltreated their crews. A squadron of four twenty-gun ships and two sloops was despatched to the Indies, and accounts of the atrocities inflicted or permitted by the captains of Spanish vessels were continually brought by vessels arriving from the New World. In 1738 the house of commons determined to investigate the matter, and to ascertain the number of ships that had been seized by the Spaniards, the value of their cargoes, and the nature of the alleged cruelties. An instance which was related before a committee of inquiry appointed by the commons aroused a feeling of resentment throughout Great Britain. One Captain Jenkins, master of a brig trading from Glasgow, stated that his craft had been boarded by a guarda costa, that his crew had been ill used, and one of his own ears cut off, the captain of the vessel placing it in his hand and bidding him carry it home to the king, whom he declared he would treat in the same manner if he had him in his power. Discredit was afterward thrown on this story; but whether it were true or false it was at the time believed by the commons and the people of England. On the 14th of January 1739 a convention was signed between the two countries, wherein Spain agreed to indemnify British merchants for their losses, but the Spaniards afterward refused to pay the stipulated sum. In consequence of which, and of the maltreatment of British subjects, letters of marque and reprisal were issued by the admiralty in July of that year, but not until October following was war formally declared.

It was now resolved to despatch a strong squadron to the West Indies[XXXI-22] for the protection of British commerce, and, in retaliation for the injuries inflicted by the Spaniards, to attack Portobello. So strongly was this city fortified that during a debate of the house of commons one of the members stated that it could not be captured with less than fifty or sixty men-of-war; whereupon Captain Edward Vernon, himself a member, happening to be present, rose and said: "I will forfeit my life if I cannot take it with six ships." The offer was promptly accepted; the captain was given the command of an expedition, and being promoted to the rank of vice-admiral set sail on the 20th of July 1739. Touching at Port Royal he obtained a reËnforcement of 240 troops, and after waiting in vain for more land forces from England, put to sea with seven vessels, six of them having on board 2,735 men and 370 guns; one was ordered to cruise off Cartagena, that the commander might make good his promise to capture the city with six ships only. On nearing the coast three Spanish war-vessels were sighted and chased, but made good their escape, and found safe shelter, as their captains supposed, under the cannon of the forts.

At daybreak on the 21st of November the British squadron entered the harbor in line of battle. A brisk fire was at once opened from the strongest fort of the Spaniards, known as the Iron Castle, and against this point Vernon directed his attack. The Hampton Court, a vessel with 70 guns and 500 men, led the way, and, anchoring almost within a cable's length of the fort, bore for some minutes the whole brunt of the fight. Within half an hour two other vessels came into action, and soon the upper portion of the castle wall was battered down, when many of the Spaniards abandoned their guns and fled. Observing this the admiral ordered a lieutenant with forty sailors and a party of marines to land and carry the fort by assault. He then anchored his own ship, the Burford, within half a cable's length of the enemy's cannon, in order to cover the storming party. He met with a warm reception, for the Spaniards opened a point-blank fire on the Burford, and every gun took effect. One shot passed through the fore-top-mast, another struck within two inches of the main-mast, a third broke through the bulwarks of the quarter-deck, close to the spot where Vernon stood, killing two men and wounding five others. The stern of the admiral's barge was shot away, and a large carronade on the main-deck was disabled. But soon the flag-ship brought her starboard broadside to bear on the castle, and at the first discharge drove the Spaniards from their lower batteries; then swinging round on her cable she poured in another volley from her larboard guns. The fire of her small arms commanded the lower embrasures; the men meanwhile had made good their landing from the boats; and soon the white flag was hoisted from the Iron Castle. Firing was continued until dark from two other forts, which then guarded the harbor of Portobello, but on the following morning the city, the fortifications, and all the vessels in port were finally surrendered to the English.[XXXI-23]

Vernon would not allow his men to pillage the town[XXXI-24] or molest the inhabitants; but ten thousand pesos intended for the pay of the garrison were found concealed, and distributed among the English forces.[XXXI-25] The most serviceable pieces of ordnance were placed on board the fleet; the rest were spiked; the ammunition was secured, and after blowing up all the fortifications of the city, Vernon, being now reËnforced by several vessels, returned to Port Royal, whence after refitting his fleet he sailed on the 25th of February 1740 for the mouth of the Chagre with six men-of-war, and several fire-ships, bombketches, and tenders.

The castle of San Lorenzo which, it will be remembered, was demolished by Morgan in 1671, had been rebuilt and strongly fortified. Vernon now resolved to destroy it and thus strike another blow at Spain's dominions in Tierra Firme; but first to punish the inhabitants of Cartagena from which city the Spanish admiral, Don Blas, had sent him while at Portobello a message which savored of insolence. The don had accused him of fear, and remarked that "to take Cities and destroy Royal Fortifications was an unusual and unexpected Way of making Reprisals." This remark the British commander deemed sufficient excuse for shelling the city, during which process the customhouse, the Jesuit college, a church, and other buildings were laid in ruins though he did not succeed in capturing Cartagena. The castle of San Lorenzo was surrendered with but slight resistance; and after committing further depredations on the coast Vernon set sail from the shores of Tierra Firme.

About three weeks after the declaration of war between England and Spain, Captain George Anson arrived at Spithead from his cruise off the coast of Africa and in the West Indies. He was placed in charge of an armament consisting of six vessels with 1,510 men and 236 guns, and was promised a force of infantry composed of several hundred choice troops, the purpose of the expedition being to operate on the coast of Peru, and thence to proceed northward, attack PanamÁ, and capture the treasure-fleet.

In 1741 Vernon, who was now at Jamaica, was placed in charge of the largest fleet and army that had ever been despatched to the West Indies. Twenty-nine ships of the line, with a large number of frigates, bombketches, and fire-ships, manned by 15,000 seamen and having on board about 12,000 troops, were here collected for a descent on the mainland. Anson was directed to coÖperate with Vernon by way of the Isthmus; and had not these expeditions suffered a series of reverses, caused in part by the vacillating policy of the British ministry, Spain's dominion in the western world might now have come to an end.

But in place of choice troops a number of raw recruits were placed on board Anson's ships, the only veterans being invalids; and the departure of his squadron was delayed until the 18th of September 1740. After clearing the straits of Magellan they encountered a furious storm which lasted for fifty-eight days. The vessels were parted, and on the 9th of June in the following year the admiral's ship, the Centurion, arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez with her crew prostrated by scurvy. Here he was soon rejoined by two others of the squadron, and after remaining a hundred and four days at the island set sail for the coast of South America, sacking and burning the town of Paita and taking several vessels, by the men on board one of which he was told that Vernon had been defeated at Cartagena. It was resolved not to make any attempt on PanamÁ; and after some further adventures Anson sailed toward Manila, and captured in that vicinity a prize which rewarded him and his followers for all their toil and suffering. This was a Spanish galleon having on board nearly a million and a half of pesos. Anson then set his face homeward and arrived in England by way of the Cape of Good Hope on the 15th of June 1744, having occupied three years and nine months in his circumnavigation.[XXXI-26]

After his repulse at Cartagena Vernon returned to Jamaica, where he was soon reËnforced by four men-of-war and three thousand troops despatched from England. On the 9th of March 1742 he sailed for Portobello, intending to proceed thence to PanamÁ and capture that city. On arriving at the Isthmus he found that the rainy season had already set in; his men sickened, and a council of war being held it was resolved to return once more to Jamaica. Hence he was soon afterward ordered home, the remnant of his forces now mustering but a tenth part of the number that had been intrusted to his command. Thus in disaster ended an expedition sent to the conquest of an empire.

Notwithstanding the defeat of Vernon's expedition the settlements on the North Sea had been so frequently laid waste that after 1748 there was little intercourse between Spain and her colonies in Tierra Firme and South America except by way of Cape Horn. The despatch of fleets to the Isthmus was discontinued. Licenses were granted, however, to vessels called register ships, and in 1764 a monthly line of packets was established for intercommunication with Portobello and Cartagena. A few years later restrictions on trade were removed by international treaty; but long before the close of the eighteenth century the commerce of the Isthmus declined, and the road from PanamÁ to Portobello could no longer be called one of the chief commercial highways of the world. Agriculture and manufactures were neglected; the mines were exhausted; and the trade which had for more than two hundred years been the life-blood of PanamÁ existed no more.