Minorca

“ The Minorcan builders of stone temples, tombs, and dwellings, and pilers up of stones were prehistoric beyond any doubt, and may have worked and worshipped them four thousand years ago. The Phœnicians probably found their descendants on the island, and they became subject to the Semitic traders and their Carthaginian offshoots, who held the Balearic Islands while they were dominant in Spain. Minorca was best known as possessing the most capacious and safest harbour in the Mediterranean, and its name of Port Mahon makes the giver of that name an important factor in the story of the island. ”

“ Here he found the Louisa, Captain Edgcombe, who reported that he had been driven from Minorca by a French fleet of thirteen sail of the line, commanded by Admiral Galissonière, who had landed the Duc de Richelieu on the island with fifteen thousand men. Byng demanded a battalion of infantry from General Fowke, the Governor of Gibraltar, to reinforce the Minorca garrison. ”

“ The Master of the Templars in Majorca, Friar Ramon Serra, was the first to suggest to the King that his galleys should be sent to Minorca, demanding immediate submission and threatening that the King would himself come with a large army to punish any disobedience. The three knights, Torrella, Maza, and Serra himself, were accordingly ordered to proceed to Minorca with an interpreter, and the King’s demand written in Arabic. The Moorish Alcaide and headmen of the town received the knights with much respect. ”

“ As may be imagined, a cross-country tramp in Minorca is attended with considerable difficulty, and in visiting the talayóts it is essential to have a guide who knows his way about and who can direct one through the maze of obstacles that has to be threaded in attaining some tumulus that rises like a landmark half a mile away. ”

“ On the other hand, the objections to Minorca he deemed irremovable. The same disadvantages which attended the getting out of the harbour of Valetta, applied to vessels getting into Port Mahon; but while fifteen hundred or two thousand British troops might be safely entrusted with the preservation of Malta, the troops for the defence of Minorca must ever be in proportion to those which the enemy may be supposed likely to send against it. It is so little favoured by nature or by art, that the possessors stood merely on the level with the invaders. ”

“ We were then off the south-western corner of Minorca, with the high ground on the northern parts of the sister island standing up clearly against the horizon. Even from that distance we could make out with the glasses a watch-tower on the peninsula which divides Pollensa Bay from Alcudia. Up there the sentinels of those naked slingers who loved wine and women when the world was young had peered over the blue sea for a first sight of Roman or Carthaginian pirate galley.
"Happy times when those men lived," said the anarchist; "there were few laws to trouble them." ”

“ The Minorca is so called from having been imported from that island, and is a larger and more compactly-formed breed, resembling the Spanish in its general characteristics; black, with metallic lustre, but with red face, and having only the ear-lobes white; showing even a larger comb, and with shorter legs. They are better as table fowls than the Spanish, but the Andalusian are superior to either. The Minorca is the best layer of all the Spanish breeds, its chickens are tolerably hardy, and it is altogether far superior to the White-faced breed. ”

“ The valley produces every kind of vegetable in abundance, while the vineyards and fruit gardens yield grapes, oranges, and pomegranates in profusion. One of the very few springs in the island sends down a stream, whence irrigating channels were conducted to every part of the valley. This is one of the most delightful spots in Minorca; but the harbour is full of rocks, and is only safe for small vessels.
Here General Stuart landed his troops and immediately occupied the surrounding heights, the Spaniards retreating to Ciudadela and Port Mahon. ”

“ Bradshaw and Murray ought, without delay, to make reparations for their past neglect; for truly there are no parts of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea—no isles on its bosom—more attractive to the tourist than these Spanish dependencies. Irrespective of the beauties and interest of Majorca, one would think the fact that the island of Minorca had for a certain period been connected with the history of [Pg 247] England would be sufficient to warrant the bestowal of more attention on the Balearic Isles. Port Mahon, too, one of the finest harbours in the world, is situated in Minorca. ”

“ The rocks abound in caves, some natural, but many excavated in prehistoric times. There is one vast stalactitic cave near the western coast, with smaller branch caverns, and several other caves of the same kind on a smaller scale.
One of the principal features of interest in Minorca is the number of prehistoric remains scattered over the southern region. There are a few similar remains in Majorca, but they have been used almost entirely for building materials; and in Minorca they are far more numerous and less injured.
The primitive inhabitants appear to have been cave-dwellers. ”

“ After a brief interchange of courtesies, he was transferred to a very handsome barouche, and conducted forward in the van of a quite formidable-looking procession, demonstrations of every kind increasing as he approached this ancient capital of Minorca, the present residence of many of those who prefer the quiet seclusion of their island home to the more dazzling notoriety incident to many of the older and gayer provinces of the mainland. ”

“ Bishop of Minorca the mystery is solved, as perhaps it has happened in Florida as in Minorca and Minorca in regard to the disturbances{209} of the Catholic religion, the English having been wanting in their promises drawn up in their agreement. So that, as the Vicar-General of Minorca had no expedient in his jurisdiction, the same may have happened to Dr. Campos and Father Casanovas who, in consequence of the determination of the Court of London, cannot proceed in all concerning the education and spiritual care of the Catholics. ”

“ Minorca was the chief gainer by the Peace of Utrecht. She secured many years of good government and freedom from oppression by her connection with her English friends. But England herself derived almost equal advantage. She had become a Mediterranean Power. She had Gibraltar, but it was necessary that she should also have a base within the inland sea where her ships could refit and her sailors could be refreshed; and this need was supplied in full measure by the splendid harbour of Port Mahon. ”

“ But the most humiliating of these events was the loss of Minorca. The Duke of Richelieu, an old fop who had passed his life from sixteen to sixty in seducing women for whom he cared not one straw, landed on that island, and succeeded in reducing it. Admiral Byng was sent from Gibraltar to throw succours into Port-Mahon; but he did not think fit to engage the French squadron, and sailed back without having effected his purpose. The people were inflamed to madness. A storm broke forth, which appalled even those who remembered the days of Excise and of South-Sea. ”

“ Minorca continued to share the fortunes of the larger island under her own kings, under the Kings of Aragon, and under the Austrian dynasty of Spain. The form of government was the same as that granted to Majorca by En Jayme.
The smaller island suffered equally with Majorca from the raids of Barbary pirates, who carried off many unfortunate people into slavery. All the islanders rejoiced at the campaign against Tunis, led by the Emperor Charles V. in person, who liberated several thousands of Christian slaves in 1535. ”

“ In homes endeared to them by centuries of occupation, and surrounded by their wives and children, they were living in peace and comparative prosperity, and enjoying the hard-earned fruits of their toil. The land tax, paid in kind, was the regular source of revenue in all Muhammadan countries. In Minorca the Almojarife, or collector, appears to have been the hereditary chief of the island. ”

“ Nevertheless, it was not till the spring of 1782 that the Spaniards were cheered by the news that the Duke of Crillon was on his way to join them with the army which had conquered Minorca.
In April De Crillon arrived, and was followed by the Spanish and French troops from Minorca. From eighteen to twenty thousand men were added to the army already encamped before the place, and the most able engineers were engaged from almost all countries of Europe, at extravagant salaries, and great rewards were offered for inventions which might demolish the formidable works of the English on the rock. ”

“ That is why they died of hunger. On April 28th we left Mahon and went to Ciudadéla on the west coast, the town which formed the capital of Minorca up to the time of the English occupation. The two towns are connected by a splendid road that runs through the very centre of the island; and as the distance is little more than thirty miles the journey can easily be accomplished by carriage in a day. We started at nine o’clock in our galaréta of the previous day ”

“ Mounting our galaréta we bumped and crashed away over the worn paving of the town and emerged by the Barbarossa gate into the open country. The surroundings of Mahon are not beautiful; flat, windswept, and practically treeless, save where a stunted olive-tree hunches its back to the blast, the most conspicuous feature of the 147landscape is its countless miles of stone walls. If we had thought Majorca stony, it was only because we had not seen Minorca. Majorca is a land of fields intersected by walls—Minorca a land of walls interspersed with fields. ”

“ The mistaken resentment of a deluded populace was stimulated to the utmost. The loss of Minorca was due quite as much to the neglect of Ministers in not taking earlier steps for its defence as to the misconduct of Admiral Byng. ”

“ In England the blow followed on that of the capture of Minorca, for which Byng was made a scapegoat. 'Minorca is gone, Oswego gone, the nation is in a ferment,' wrote Horace Walpole; and again, 'Oswego, of ten times more importance even than Minorca, is so annihilated that we cannot learn the particulars.'7 It was in truth a great success for France, the result of a plan boldly conceived and brilliantly executed. The garrison had been taken completely by surprise ”

“ It was also visited by the British fleet in the Mediterranean, which always received a cordial welcome in memory of the good old times. The Spanish Government undertook stupendous works of fortification at Cape Mola, on the eastern side of the entrance of Port Mahon. The introduction of steam reduced the importance of the harbour, which became less and less frequented. The garrison was withdrawn and the works at Cape Mola were abandoned, all sources of wealth to the islanders. Minorca has indeed fallen from its high estate. There is stagnation and poverty. ”

“ He returned at once and proceeded to repair the fortifications of Ciudadela, bringing several families to re-people the place from Majorca and Valencia. The castle of San Felipe at Port Mahon was also repaired and strengthened.
The piracies continued until well into the eighteenth century, and kept the people in a constant state of terror and alarm; but confidence slowly returned, and Minorca had long been free from actual invasion when the War of the Succession broke out, after the death of Charles II., the last of the Austrian Kings of Spain. ”

“ PORT MAHON
Mahon, so named from Mago, the brother of Hannibal, is the chief town of the island of Minorca. It is beautifully situated at the northwest extremity of one of the most secure and spacious harbours in the world. This port, since the first introduction of a U. S. naval force in the Mediterranean, subsequent to the war with the free-booters of Barbary, has, with few exceptions, been the winter rendezvous of our squadrons stationed in that sea. ”

“ It is a matter of Spanish history that Minorca for many years groaned under English rule; and as prosperity has steadily decayed since the native article has been substituted for this reign of tyranny, it is not wonderful that the average Minorcan has a hankering to groan again. Indeed, he says as much with a candour that would be refreshing to haters of Victoria R et I's expansive raj. But the Carabinero who guards the public morals holds (in the bulk) different opinions. He has no wish to be, like Othello, the possessor of a gone occupation ”

“ While the regiment was stationed at Minorca, the undetermined limits of the British and French territory in North America, occasioned a war between the two kingdoms; and early in 1756, the French monarch prepared a powerful armament for the capture of the island of Minorca.
The French expedition, commanded by Marshal Duke of Richelieu, arrived at Minorca in April, and effected a landing at Ciudadella; and no part of the island being fortified to resist so powerful a force, excepting Fort St. ”

“ I thought it proper in this situation to call a council of war, before I went again to look for the enemy. I desired the attendance of General Stuart, Lord Effingham, and Lord Robert Bertie, and Colonel Cornwallis, that I might collect their opinions upon the present situation of Minorca and Gibraltar, and make sure of protecting the latter, since it was found impracticable either to succour or relieve the former with the force we had. So, though we may justly claim the victory, yet we are much inferior to the weight of their ships, though the numbers are equal ”