The king duly recompensed the brave defenders. The governor was made
Chevalier of the Order of Santiago and received a money grant of 2,000
ducats. Captain Amezquita received 1,000 ducats, and was later
appointed Governor of Cuba. Captain Botello also received 1,000
ducats, and others who had distinguished themselves received
corresponding rewards.
Puerto Rico's successful resistance to this invasion encouraged the
belief that, provided the mother country should furnish the necessary
means of defense, the island would end by commanding the respect of
its enemies and be left unmolested. But the mother country's wars with
England, France, and Holland absorbed all its attention in Europe and
consumed all its resources. The colonies remained dependent for their
defense on their own efforts, while privateers, freebooters, and
pirates of the three nations at war with Spain settled like swarms of
hornets in every available island in the West Indies.
CHAPTER XX
DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER--BUCCANEERS AND FILIBUSTERS
1625-1780
The power of Spain received its death-blow during the course of the
war with England. The destruction of the Armada and of the fleets
subsequently equipped by Philip II for the invasion of Ireland were
calamities from which Spain never recovered.
The wars with almost every European nation in turn, which raged during
the reigns of the third and fourth Philips, swallowed up all the
blood-stained treasure that the colonial governors could wring from
the natives of the New World.
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