William W. Dewhurst

RETURN OF THE SPANIARDS.—COMPLETION OF THE CATHEDRAL.—THE OLDEST CHURCH BELL IN AMERICA.—THE GOVERNOR’S DESIRE TO PEOPLE THE PROVINCE WITH IRISH CATHOLICS.—SOME OFFICIAL ORDERS EXHIBITING THE CUSTOMS OF THE SPANIARDS.—UNJUSTIFIABLE INTERFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, DURING THE “PATRIOT WAR.”—FLORIDA AN UNPROFITABLE POSSESSION.—ERECTION OF THE MONUMENT TO THE SPANISH CONSTITUTION.

In June, 1784, Governor Zespedes took possession of St. Augustine, in the name of “his most Catholic Majesty.” The British Government had provided a fleet of transports to convey its subjects, and from the St. Johns River and the St. Mary’s they sailed for the American colonies and the British dominions.

With the Spanish flag returned to St. Augustine the numerous company of salaried officials and crown-pensioners holding sinecure offices, and contributing nothing to the improvement of the place, and nothing to its existence but their presence. This large portion of the inhabitants, dependent upon the crown, did not always receive punctual payment of their salaries; but, with their daily allowance of rations in kind, they were enabled to exist. They generally occupied the houses belonging to the crown, which were numerous, and the rent required was but nominal. In 1764, a large number of lots in the town had been sold in confidence to Jesse Fish, a British subject, to prevent their being forfeited to the crown at the expiration of the period allowed by the treaty between Great Britain and Spain for the disposal of private property. This sale was not recognized as valid by the Spanish authorities upon their return, and one hundred and eighty-five lots were thus forfeited to the King of Spain. These lots were soon after sold at auction, on terms very favorable to the purchasers.

Upon the return of the Spaniards they at once devoted their energies to completing their house of worship. At the change of flags (1763) the walls of the present cathedral had been erected, and, to prevent the property from becoming forfeited to the British Government, the lot and unfinished structure were deeded to Jesse Fish for one hundred dollars. The deed was a trust deed, and, upon the return of the Spaniards, the property was reconveyed by Mr. Fish to the Rev. Thomas Hassett, Vicar-General of Florida. The old parish church, which stood on the lot now belonging to the Episcopal parish, and west of their church edifice, had during the English possession been used as a courthouse. This old church was called “Our Lady of the Angels,” and was built of stone, being probably the second church erected in the town by the Spaniards. The Spanish governor, immediately on taking possession, had fitted up this old church for worship, for which the second story was assigned, while on the first floor were rooms used for a guard, a temporary jail, and for storing provisions, all of which uses would seem more appropriate to the castle. Where the first wooden church stood I have been unable to learn, though there is some rather obscure evidence that it was near the present residence of Mr. Howard, on St. George Street. How long the walls of the cathedral had been standing, before the change of flags, is unknown. In 1703 the king decreed an appropriation of $20,000 for the repair of the churches of St. Augustine injured by Colonel Daniel. In 1720 the crown sent $20,000 more, and in 1723 issued a decree to procure at once workmen and repair the convent, the church, and the walls of the city. In 1790 the king decreed the application of the rent from ten lots in Havana to finish the church. The inhabitants were urged to contribute in work or money; and it is said that they brought in poultry, which was very scarce, and donated the proceeds of the sales of their chickens, which then sold at a dollar apiece. The two old churches—“Nostra Senora de la Leche,” and “Our Lady of the Angels”—were torn down, and the materials sold for the benefit of the new church, as well as such ornaments as were salable. From these sources it was reported to the Bishop of Cuba that the following amounts had been obtained: From the ornaments of the old churches, $3,978; from donations offered by “these wretched inhabitants,” $850; the value of the stone in the two old and dilapidated churches, $800—a total of $5,628. To this amount the government applied revenues which amounted to $11,000. It was not long after the means were secured before the edifice was completed. It was blessed Dec. 8th, 1791. This new church, now called the cathedral, was constructed under the supervision of Don Mariana de la Roque, and presents a very pleasing architectural aspect. The front wall is carried above the roof, making a section of a bell-shaped cone, in excellent proportion and graceful curvature. The front entrance is supported by a circular arch, and upon each side stand two massive Doric columns supporting the entablature. The roof is supported by trusses, so that the whole auditorium is free from columns except two large stone pillars, which support the gallery immediately over the entrance, and thus form the vestibule. From the center of the ceiling hangs a unique chandelier, in which has been kept burning the sacred flame almost without intermission for nearly a hundred years. Near the vestibule, upon the left as you enter the church, is the sacred crucifix belonging to the early chapel of Nra. Sra. de la Leche. It is said that another ornament of this early chapel, a statue representing the blessed Virgin watching from the church over the camp of the new believers in her Son’s divinity, is in the convent of St. Teresa, at Havana. A very interesting document is probably in the possession of the church in Cuba, which is an inventory taken under a decree, issued Feb 6, 1764, by Morel, Bishop of Santa Cruz, enumerating all the ornaments, altars, effigies, bells, and jewels belonging to the churches and religious associations of St. Augustine. This inventory and much of the property was taken to Cuba in a schooner called Our Lady of the Light. From this record it might be possible to learn something of the history of the bells in the belfry of the cathedral. Of these there are four hanging in separate niches cut in the wall of the elevated front, three in niches having their floors upon the same plane, but the two outer ones are constructed of a less height than the center niche in which hangs the largest bell; the fourth is a small bell in a corresponding niche above the other three. I have always thought that one of these bells might have been used in the English church, though there is no record of it. The bell in the westerly niche, though the best in appearance, and having the brightest color, is probably the oldest bell upon this continent. The following inscription is cast upon its exterior surface:

?

SANCTE JOSEPH
ORA PRO NOBIS
D 1682

The other bells have inscriptions cast upon them, but no date. The small bell in the upper niche was placed there about fifty years ago, having been presented to the church by Don Geronimo Alverez, the same who was alcalde (mayor) when the monument was built. An interesting anecdote is told of this man, showing the power he possessed in the town. It is said that, soon after the change of flags, a funeral procession approached the church followed by pall-bearers decorated with a white sash, a custom then first introduced, which is still retained. At the entrance to the church they were met by this valiant but ignorant don, who fiercely brandished a staff, and declared that not one of the impious Freemasons should cross the threshold of the church except over his dead body. Argument was unavailing, and the ceremony at the church was necessarily dispensed with on that occasion, though the precaution was taken to inform the old gentleman, before the next funeral, that the sash was but a badge of mourning, and not the trappings of the devil.

The cathedral is one of the most ornamental and interesting structures in the town, and it is to be hoped that the revenues of the church may be sufficient to keep it in perfect preservation. At present it needs repairs.[30]

May 15th, 1792, the large barracks built by the British were burned. The lower story, only, was built of brick, the upper being of wood, while the porches on all sides were supported by stone pillars. After the destruction of these barracks, the Spanish governor made use of the convent of “The Conception of Our Lady,” or St. Francis, as it was afterward called, for the accommodation of his troops. It has ever since been used for military purposes, though it still bears the canonized name Francis.

Finding that the Minorcans were unable to receive the full benefit from the teachings of the priests because of their inability to understand the Spanish language, the Vicar-General asked that there might be sent to St. Augustine a priest conversant with the language of this large proportion of his flock. In 1795, agreeably to this request, Friar McAfry Catalan, an Irish priest speaking the Minorcan language, arrived in St. Augustine. The Spanish governor, Don Juan Nepomuseno Quesada, made great efforts to settle the province, and allowed many extraordinary privileges, such as were not enjoyed in any other part of the Spanish dominions. In 1792 Florida was opened to general emigration without exception of country or creed. It was rapidly progressing to importance under this wise policy, when the Spanish Minister, growing jealous of the republican spirit of the new colonists, closed the gates against American citizens about the year 1804. Quesada, however, endeavored to procure a large Irish emigration, and wrote to Las Casas, Governor of Cuba, asking that the government would aid those of Irish nationality and Catholic faith to settle in the province. The governor replied that no settlers should be admitted to Florida unless they paid their own transportation and maintained themselves. He instructed Quesada to afford no other assistance than “lands, protection, good treatment, and no molestation in matters of religion, although there shall be no other public worship but Catholic.” He also referred him to the “Law of the Indies.” By this law lands were granted to new settlers, “making a distinction between gentlemen and peasants.” A peasant’s portion was a town lot fifty by one hundred feet—arable land, capable of producing one hundred fanegas (bushels) of wheat and ten of Indian corn, with as much land as two oxen can plow in a day for the raising of esculent roots; also pasture-land for eight breeding sows, twenty cows, five mares, one hundred sheep, and twenty goats.

A gentleman’s portion was a lot in town one hundred by two hundred feet, and, of all the remainder, five times a peasant’s portion. Many grants were made under this law by Governor Quesada, and the patents issued by him are the foundation of many titles of lands in the vicinity of St. Augustine.

At this time there were many customs, ordinances, and habits of life existing in this old town of which no record or chronicle now remains. One most respectable gentleman of the place has mentioned to the author that his mother was married to three different husbands in the space of two years. This would seem a very strange proceeding at the present day, but can be readily understood when we learn that, a hundred years ago, the women of this town were obliged to marry for protection. The following are some of the orders issued September 2d, 1790, by the Spanish governor: Order No. 12 prohibits all women under the age of forty (whether widows or single) from living otherwise than under the immediate protection of their parents or relations. Order No. 23 forbidding masters or supercargoes of vessels from selling their cargoes by wholesale without having first exposed the same for sale at retail eight days previously to the public. Order No. 25 prohibiting persons from galloping horses through the streets, and dogs from going at large except hounds and pointers. Order No. 27 prohibiting persons from walking the streets after nine o’clock at night without a lantern with a light therein. Another order prohibited the owners of billiard tables from admitting tradesmen, laborers, domestics, and boys on working days.

There were few events worth recording which happened under the Spanish rule after 1800, or at least that are of interest to the general reader. Just after the recession the Indians attacked the settlements, and burned Bella Vista, the country seat of Governor Moultrie, seven miles south of St. Augustine. These Indian contests continued during the whole succeeding period up to the change of flags, and were then transferred to the Americans. The Indians were in almost every instance incited by white men, or goaded to desperation by the deceptions of their white neighbors, who were ever attempting to either make slaves of the Indians or procure what negro slaves were owned by them. Just before the cession of Florida to the United States, there were said to be about a thousand Indians in the vicinity of St. Augustine. These obtained a living by hunting, raising herds of cattle, and crops of corn, and bringing wood into St. Augustine. This they were said to carry in bundles on their backs. About this time they were all nearly starved by the trickery of some unprincipled residents of St. Augustine. At the period when the attention of themselves and their negro slaves was directed to the cultivation of their crops a few worthless wretches, for the purpose of alarming the Indians, and inducing them to sell their slaves for almost nothing, went among the nation and spread the report that two thousand men under General Jackson were coming to expel them from their lands and carry away their slaves and cattle. This form of imposition had before proved successful, and did in this case. The Indians upon this abandoned their lands and sold their slaves, but before the next season experienced great suffering from want, while the unprincipled speculators having gratified their avarice were indifferent to the needs of the poor savages.

In January, 1811, President Monroe appointed George Matthews and John McKee commissioners, with power to occupy the Floridas with force, “should there be room to entertain a suspicion that a design existed in any other power to occupy the provinces.” In pursuance of these instructions, which at this day must be considered simply extraordinary, one of the commissioners came to St. Augustine, and made a proposition to the Spanish governor to surrender the province to the United States, which was of course refused. Thereupon it was given out that the United States intended to occupy the province, and those whose interest would be served endeavored to bring such a result about by every means in their power. This was the period of the embargo in the United States. The port of Fernandina affording deep water, and a convenient point for shipping American productions, and being under the Spanish flag, became the resort for a large fleet of vessels. This was of course obnoxious to the United States authorities, who offered every encouragement to a large class of citizens who were anxious to escape from the Spanish rule.

In March, 1812, a large number of these individuals organized a provisional government, and soon after, with the help of Commodore Campbell, United States Navy, obtained the capitulation of the town and fort on Amelia Island. Still encouraged, and led by citizens and officers of the United States, these men, styling themselves patriots, began a march toward St. Augustine, and taking possession of the old Fort Mosa, invested the place. From this place they were dislodged by a Spanish gun-boat, but they still hovered about the town and cut off all supplies. It is said that the courage and activity of a company of negroes commanded by a free black, named Prince, alone saved the people of the town from starvation. At this period a barrel of corn sold for sixteen dollars. At the same time the Indians were urged to attack the Americans and “patriots,” and for the space of a year there was a constant strife between these parties throughout Florida. In May, 1813, President Monroe, seeing that he had gone too far in incroaching upon the territory of a friendly nation, withdrew the American troops from Florida. These incursions under American protection in East Florida, like General Jackson’s unhesitating course in attacking the British on Spanish territory in West Florida, plainly showed the King of Spain how precarious and unreliable was the tenure of his sovereignty. The Spanish nation had held the territory of Florida for two hundred and fifty years, constantly yielding to the French and English portions adjacent originally claimed by Spain. The great hopes of wealth and a vast revenue from the province had never been realized; but, on the contrary, vast outlays had constantly been required, which were supplied by the more prosperous provinces and the home government. In 1811, Governor Estrada writes to the Captain-General of Cuba, that the $140,013 and 4 reals allowed annually for salaries was urgently needed; also that there were no funds wherewith to pay “the annual presents of the Indians, the payments due invalids, Florida pensioners and settlers, who receive a daily pension and charity, whose outcries are so continual that the most obdurate heart would melt at them with compassion.”

Under these circumstances it was but natural that the King of Spain should be willing to rid himself of this so very unprofitable province. The United States, upon the other hand, were anxious to obtain the possession of the peninsula to complete their coast line.

In 1819 a treaty of amity was concluded between his Catholic Majesty and the United States, whereby the two Floridas were ceded to the latter power as an indemnity for damages estimated at five million dollars. This treaty was dated February 22d, 1819, and ratified February 22d, 1821.

Seven years before the cession the Spanish Cortes had issued an order to the authorities of all the Spanish colonies to erect in some public place of their principal town a monument as a memorial of the liberal constitution which had been granted to Spain and her provinces. Accordingly, the City Council of St. Augustine, probably with the crown’s funds, erected upon the public square a monument to commemorate a grant of the privilege of representation, which the people of the province never even asked for, much less enjoyed. At the east end of the public square, or “Plaza de la Constitucion,” as it is now called, there stood, in Spanish times, the government drug store, two private houses used as dwellings, a bar-room, and the town market. Adjoining the market was a bell-tower, and the guard in front of the public jail, which stood where the St Augustine Hotel now is, used to strike the bell in the tower to mark the hours, which were counted with the old-fashioned sand-glass standing within the tower under the supervision of the guard. As these buildings occupied about a fourth part of the present plaza, the monument, though now situated toward the western side of the square, then stood in the center of the inclosure. Soon after its completion, the Spanish government issued orders that all monuments erected to the constitution throughout its realms should be razed. The citizens of St. Augustine were much grieved to think of losing their monument, which was considered a great ornament to the public park, and appealed to the governor and principal men to allow the decree to be disregarded. It was finally decided to allow the monument to stand without the inscription. The citizens accordingly removed the marble tablets upon which the inscriptions had been engraved, and placed them in concealment, where they remained until 1818, when they were restored without opposition. This monument is the only one in existence commemorative of the Spanish constitution of 1812. It is twenty feet high, standing upon a foundation of granite with a square pedestal, from which the shaft rises in a curve, and thence tapers with rectilinear surfaces to its top, which is surmounted by a cannon-ball. It is constructed of coquina, and its surface is cemented and kept whitewashed, except the ball upon the summit, which is painted black. Don Geronimo Alvarez was alcalde at the time it was erected. Upon three of the four sides there is set in the masonry a small marble tablet bearing the inscription, “Plaza de la Constitucion.” Upon the east side is the large marble tablet upon which is engraved the following:

Plaza de la
Constitucion.
Promulga en esta Ciudad
de San Agustin de la Florida
Oriental en 17 de Octubre de
1812 siendo Gobernador el
Brigadier Don Sebastian
Kindalem Cuba Here
del order de Santiago.
Peira eterna memoria
El Ayuntamiento Constitucional
Erigioeste Obelisco
dirigido por Don Fernando
de la Plaza[31]
Arredondo el Joven
Regidor De cano y
Don Franciscor Robira
Procurador Sindico.
AÑo de 1813

Translation.

Plaza of the Constitution, promulgated in the city of St. Augustine, East Florida, on the 17th day of October, the year 1812. Being then Governor the Brigadier Don Sebastian Kindalem, Knight of the order of San Diego.

FOR ETERNAL REMEMBRANCE,

the Constitutional City Council erected this monument under the supervision of Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo, the young municipal officer, oldest member of the corporation, and Don Franciscor Robira, Attorney and Recorder.

Immediately under the date there is cut in the marble tablet the Masonic emblem of the square and compass. The reader can readily believe that the City Council of St. Augustine in 1813 were all too good Catholics to be responsible for this symbol of Masonry. The history of that piece of vandalism is said to be as follows: Soon after the close of the war of the Rebellion, the “young bloods” amused themselves by endeavoring to create an alarm in the mind of the United States commandant, and, by executing a series of cabalistic marks at different localities throughout the town, to convey the impression that a secret society was in existence, and about to do some act contrary to the peace and dignity of the United States. Besides other marks and notices posted upon private and public buildings about the town this square and compass was one night cut upon the tablet of the Spanish monument, where it will remain as long as the tablet exists, an anomaly, without this explanation.