ing credulity must have received a stunning blow. For the
enemy, fully armed, began to move towards the city. Disconcerted and
confused, Morales hastily ordered the troops out and placed himself at
their head. Without any order or strategic plan they moved towards the
heights of Santa Anna, where as sole defense he had planted a cannon and
had some trenches dug.

It was an easy task to get the better of a commander of such little
foresight. Realizing the confusion of the Cuban forces the enemy
separated into two columns and proceeded to surround Morales and his
men. In the panic which broke out, the voice of Morales was heard to
order a retreat. He himself escaped into the city. The British
dispatched two hundred men to take Morro, which they found abandoned,
the garrison having fled instead of making an attempt to save the fort
and their honor. When the British commander entered Morro he was
reported to have made the remark, that he alone with his dog and his
sword could have defended the place. Morro and Santiago were captured
and the enemy unhindered indulged in plunder. The bells of the churches
were taken, the artillery of the fort, three vessels lying in the
harbor, and a number of negro slaves. Unable to get the furniture and
jewels which had been hidden by the residents, the enemy vented their
wrath on the Morro, which they blew up; they destroyed the cathedral and
killed a few people.

For almost a month they lingered about the place and still the governor
did nothing to force them to leave. When the governor of Cuba heard of
the plight of Santiago, he immediately summoned an expeditionary corps
of five hundred men and hurried to the relief of the sorely tried town;
but when he arrived on the fifteenth of November, he learned that the
British had on that very day evacuated the town. The historian Urrutia
reports that the Audiencia of Santo Domingo entrusted the licentiate D.
Nicolas Munez with the investigation of this disgraceful defeat and
brought about the removal of Morales. By order of the king he was
replaced by the Field Marshal D. Pedro de Bayoa, who was also given two
hundred soldiers and war provisions for future eventualities of this
kind.

The island had at that time a population of over three hundred thousand
inhabitants. The number of negroes had increased and furnished the labor
so much needed to work on the plantations. The cultivation of the land
was carried on with greater efficiency and be