Читать книгу The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. With an account of the English settlement of the island of Jamaica онлайн

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This unexpected and successful raid upon a town in the heart of Cuba naturally excited much alarm and indignation both at Havana and Santiago. A few days after Morgan had evacuated Puerto Principe, Bayona Villanueva, the governor of that province, wrote testily to the Queen Regent.

"The appearance of English and French ships on this coast, constantly reconnoitering its harbours, watering-places, and hunting grounds leads me to believe that having sacked Puerto Principe, and the fact that some of the neighbouring inhabitants have been in the habit of paying this kind of ransom to the pirates, they intend other attacks. I have thought proper to summon the sergeant-major and the alcalde in ordinary before me, having already laid a charge against them for misconduct, to hear what excuse they can offer for the loss of that town having such a greatly increased population, when the advantages of its position and the rugged nature of the mountains in an extended march of fourteen leagues, should have enabled a body of native soldiers, acquainted with the country and trained in hill-fighting, although two-thirds less in number, to destroy the enemy. If the evidence in the case warrants a conviction, they ought to be punished as a warning to those other towns, whose inhabitants may be disposed to yield to any insignificant number of the enemy rather than risk their lives in so good a cause as the defence of their country and their Sovereign."[137]