Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 03 (of 15), Spanish AmericanMorris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 03 (of 15), Spanish American
Morris, Charles
Latin America -- History
The Indians refused him food, and the tradition goes that he got this at
length by a skilful artifice. Knowing that a total eclipse of the moon
would soon take place, he sent word to the dusky chief that the lights in
the sky were under his control, and if they did not give him supplies he
would put out the light of the moon and never let it shine again on their
island. The Indians laughed with scorn at this threat, but when they saw
the moon gradually losing its light and fading into darkness, they fell
into a panic, and begged him to let it shine again, promising to bring him
all the food he wanted. At this the admiral feigned to relent, and after
retiring for a time to his cabin, came forth and told them that he would
consent to bring back the lost moonlight. After that the Indians saw that
the crew had abundance of food. The admiral and his crew were finally
rescued by an expedition sent from Hispaniola.
Jamaica, like Cuba and Hayti, has the honor of keeping its old Indian
name, signifying a land of springs, or of woods and waters. It is a land
of mountains also; if it had not been we would have had no story to tell,
for these mountains were the haunts and the strongholds of the Maroons.
The island was not settled till 1523, twenty years after the detention of
Columbus on its shores. Many years after that we find its Spanish settlers
oppressing all the English that fell into their hands. This was the case,
in fact, all through the West Indies, English seamen being put in the
stocks, sent to the galleys, or murdered outright.
It took the sturdy directness of Oliver Cromwell to put an end to these
outrages. He sent word to the Spanish minister that there must be a stop
put to the practices of the Inquisition and to the restriction of free
navigation in the West Indies. The minister replied, that to ask for these
two things was "to ask for his master’s two eyes," and that no such thing
could be allowed. Cromwell’s reply was to the point:
"I know of no title that the Spaniards hath but by force, which by the
same title may be repelled. And as to the first discovery—to me it seems
as little reason that the sailing of a Spanish ship upon the coast of
India should entitle the king of Spain to that country as the sailing of
an Indian or English ship upon the coast of Spain should entitle either
the Indians or the English to the dominion thereof. The Spaniards have
contravented the Treaty of 1630. War must needs be justifiable when peace
is not allowable."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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