Efforts to dislodge him were
in vain and negotiations only elicited from him the promise to act on
the defensive alone, which was equivalent to an indefinite truce. The
number of negro slaves had in the meantime increased, and the
treatment given them was as harsh as that which had been accorded the
aborigines. As a result an insurrection, the first negro uprising in
the new world, began near Santo Domingo City on December 27, 1522.
Several Spaniards were murdered, but the troops overpowered the
mutineers and a number were hung.
Diego Columbus continued in his efforts to promote the welfare of the
colony, but became involved in a quarrel with the royal audiencia and
found himself obliged in March, 1524, to return to Spain where he died
two years later. The new governor, Bishop Sebastian Ramirez de
Fuenleal, was appointed president of the royal court, and the offices
of governor and president of the court were thenceforth consolidated.
Both he and his successor used their best efforts to promote
immigration into the colony which was beginning to suffer on account
of the draughts of men that left for the mainland.
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