t to resign them, and he
paid little or no attention to the letters of the young captain. But
when Philip II came to the throne, attention was given to them. That
painstaking monarch read them and was much struck by them, both in their
warning of military danger from the French and in their zealous
animosity against heretics. Their writer was evidently, he thought, a
man after his own heart. So he sent for Menendez, talked with him, and
commissioned him to be the guardian of the highway to the Indies, with
the title of captain-general. It was his function to guard Spanish
treasure ships all the way across the Atlantic, from Mexico to Spain, as
he had formerly guarded them in the narrow seas about the Indies. It was
thus that he was serving during a part of Mazariegos's administration in
Cuba, and in that capacity he spent much time at Havana. On one or two
occasions he took charge of the few little vessels which formed
Mazariegos's navy, and did good service with them. At this time, also,
he wrote to the King about the increasing ravages and peril of French
privateers in those waters, very much as he had written to the local
governments years before.

The result was that the King in March, 1565, appointed him to be
Adelantado of Florida, and captain-general of the Spanish fleet in that
part of the world specially commissioned to guard the coasts and ports
of the Indies. That was six months before Osorio became governor of
Cuba.

The commission of Menendez bade him to "guard the coasts and ports of
the Indies." Very well. Cuba was certainly one of the Indies. Therefore
he was commissioned to guard the ports and coasts of Cuba. Being
familiar with Cuba, and recognizing its very great importance, he
naturally deemed the guarding of that island as one of the very first of
his duties. Mazariegos did not demur, since he was himself soon to
retire from the governorship. But when Osorio came to Havana six months
later, and found Menendez in command of all that pertained to harbor and
coast defence, there was trouble. Osorio asserted his rights and
authority as governor of Cuba. Menendez replied with an assertion of his
as captain-general "to guard the coasts and ports."

The first clash came because Menendez interpreted his jurisdiction as
extending to fortifications on land as well as to shipping; which we
must regard as extreme if not overstrained. He assumed direction of the
garrison of Havana, and had two hundred men sen