Cuba
and the
Fight ^r Freedom
A powerful and thrilling history of the "Queen of the Antilles," the
Oppression of the Spanish Government, the Insurrection of
1868 and the Compromise of 1878, and a full and
vivid account of the present struggle of the
people for Liberty and Independence.
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.
WRITTEN AND EDITED BY
James Hyde Clark,
The well known author, assisted by one of the Gttbati Patriots of the •« Ten Years' War.$'
PUBLISHED BY
GLOBE BIBLE PUBLISHING
723 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1896,
By D. B. SHEPP, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at V. ashingfon, D. C.
All rights reserved.
rite
PRESS OF
ALFRED M SLOCUM CO
PHILADA.
PREFACE.
[s a history
Nations have won their liber_- ties with the sword, and with the sword they have maintained them. This is the story of all time. Thermopylae and Marathon and Sala- mis record it, and Bunker Hill and Yorktown repeat it with reduplicated force. Tyranny exerts jts sway by force, and forcejrruist be used to break that sway. One of these days the age of universal peace may dawn, such as was seen in vision by the poet,
" When the war-drums throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled In the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World."
But that time has not yet come. Until it does, we must expect to see peoples fighting against tyranny, and standing in armed guardian- ship over their hard-won rights.
Such is the case with Cuba. That most beautiful of all earth's islands has long suffered the misgovernment of selfish and cruel masters.
(5)
6 PREFACE.
Its people have been oppressed. Its resources
have remained undeveloped. Its history for a century has been a tale of wrongs. Its people have protested and petitioned in vain. They have vainly sought redress by peaceful means. They have been driven at last to open ajid armed revolt. Such revolt, indeed, they have made before the present time, again and again ; but never with success. Their oppressors have been too strong for them, and other nations have been unready to interfere in their behalf.
At this time, however, they have struck a more valiant blow than ever before, and with greater promise of success. Their heroism com- mands the admiration of the world, and may compel mediation in their behalf. Their foes are desperate, and savage in their desperation. But the cause of "Cuba Libre" is gaining day by day, and no power that Spain can marshal seems to be able to prevail against it.
If, as an ancient writer has observed, the spectacle of a good man contending with adver- sity is one upon which the gods look with sym- pathy, with what feelings must humane men and women everywhere regard the sight of their fellow
PREFACE. 7
beings struggling in a death-grapple with oppres- sion and injustice ! Surely every American heart must throb in sympathy with those of the Cuban patriots, who are fighting to-day for freedom and independence, just as our own ancestors did in 1776. To every true American mind the story of Cuba, of its weary years of oppression, and of its gallant fight for liberty, must be intensely in- teresting. Nor can one regard with indifference the character and disposition of a people who are our own near neighbors, and who may one of these days become our fellow-citizens and their island a State of the American Union.
Such record and such portrayal are given in this book. The story begins with the discovery by Christopher Columbus of what he pronounced the most beautiful land human eyes had ever seen. It leads us through the years of cruel force and rapine, when the native inhabitants were all but exterminated, and their places filled by alien tyrants and imported slaves. The story is told of that early loyalty which won for Cuba the now strangely-inappropriate name of the Ever Faithful Isle ; and the wrongs and oppressions which drove the people to revolt and made that
8 PREFACE.
name a mockery. A record is given of the various uprisings for freedom, of the Ten Years' War and its mingled heroism and savage inhu- manity, and of the present greater and more promising revolution. Moreover, a picture is drawn of the island and its people, their manners and customs, and all their ways of life.
To introduce and to commend to public notice such a work, must be at once a grateful and a most superfluous task. No eulogy could be too strong for such a theme. Yet the theme is its own best introduction and commendation to the reader. Necessarily, it is not yet complete. Cuba has not yet fully taken her place among the Nations of the world. Yet even as we write these lines, the roar of the patriot guns is heard within the palaces and fortresses of Havana itself, and before the reader has finished the last chapter of this book, the last blow may be struck, and Cuba may be free.
Indeed, Cuba must be free ; or must al- together perish. There is no middle course. In the world-famous siege of Londonderry, when the beleaguered inhabitants were dying by hun- dreds from plague and famine, when men's eyes
PREFACE.
had the wolfish glare of maddening hunger in them, when all hope of relief seemed dead, and there was nothing left but suffering and death, the peopled gathered in the cathedral, and before the high altar decreed, in the name of God, a traitor's death to anyone who should so much as speak the word " Surrender." That spirit ani- mates the Cubans of to-day. There is a decree of the Cuban Government, drawn up in the Ten Year's War by Tomas Estrada Palma, and re- affirmed in the present war by Jose Marti and Maximo Gomez, and promulgated by the Presi- dent of the Republic. It declares that any person who shall suggest within the Cuban ranks a settle- ment of the war on any grounds less than that of absolute independence shall be immediately shot without a court-martial. Moreover, Article II. of the Cuban Constitution explicitly provides that "The treaty of peace with Spain, which must necessarily have for its basis the absolute inde- pendence of the island of Cuba, must be ratified by the Government Council and by an assembly of representatives convened expressly for this purpose." That is the spirit of the Cuban patriots to-day. Literally, it is "Independence or
1O PREFACE.
Death!" In such a struggle, the end cannot be doubtful. Cuba ought to be free. Cuba must be free. Cuba will be free.
If the present work might conduce to such an end, its mission would be glorious. But if it shall do less than that, if it shall serve to make its readers better acquainted with that lovely island and its brave inhabitants, if it shall pro- mote appreciation of their valor, of their patience, of their patriotism, if it shall increase American sympathy with them in their fight for freedom, and make warmer the American welcome which shall be given to them when they are at last triumphant and their blood-consecrated home takes rank among the sisterhood of independent States, it will not have been written in vain.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Map of Cuba. Frontispiece.
1. Panorama of Havana 2
2. Morro Castle, Havana 19
3. Boat Landing, Havana 25
4. Palace of the Captain-General, Havana 35
5. The Cathedral, Havana 45
6. Columbus' Tomb 55
7. Columbus Memorial Chapel, Havana 65
8. The Indian Statue on the Prado, Havana .... 75
9. Obispo Street, Havana 101
10. Royal Lottery Ticket Seller, Havana in
IT. Bull Fight, Havana 137
12. Avenue of Royal Palms, Havana 147
13. Cuban Family at Home 173
14. Sugar Plantation, Cuba 183
15. Execution of a Political Prisoner by the Garrote . . 209
1 6. Panorama of Matanzas, Cuba 219
17. The Butchery of the Crew of the "Virginius" —
Scene at the Slaughter-house the Moment before the Execution. Captain Frey bidding his Companions Farewell 245
18. The "Virginius" Butchery — Spanish Horsemen
Trampling the Dead and the Dying Victims into the Slaughter-house Trench at Santiago de Cuba 255
00
12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
19. After the Shooting of the Crew of the " Virginius."
Negroes of the Chain-gang Tumbling the Dead Bodies of the Victims into Mule-carts .... 281
20. The "Virginius" Outrage — Shooting of Four Promi-
nent Cuban Patriots 291
21. General D. Valeriano Weyler, Captain- General and
Spanish Commander-in-Chief in Cuba. . . 317
22. Maximo Gomez, the Chief of the Insurrection . . 327
23. General Calixto Garcia 353
24. General Antonio Maceo 363
25. Staff Officers of General Maceo 389
26. Papal Benediction of Spanish Troops leaving Vit-
toria for Cuba 399
27. Transport of Troops from Spain 425
28. Morro Castle, Santiago de Cuba 435
29. Battalion of Spanish Troops before the Governor-
General's Palace, Havana 461
30. Cubans Fighting from the Tree- tops 471
31. An Insurgent Attack near Vuelt as 497
32. A Spanish Advanced Post, Outside Remedies . . . 507
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Columbus in Cuba — The Second Visit— A Chief's Exhortation — Settlement and Slaughter — Las Casas and his Work — Extinction of the Natives — De Soto — The British Conquest — Progress and Prosperity . . .21
CHAPTER II.
General View of the Island — The Lay of the Land — The Climate — Mineral Resources — Animal Life — Vege- table Life — Cuban Scenery — A Natural Garden — American Visitors to Cuba 39
CHAPTER III.
The Industries of Cuba — A Coffee Plantation — Prepar- ing Coffee for Market — Havana Cigars — A Cigar Factory — Sugar Plantations and Mills — How Sugar is Made — Commercial Interests — Some Annoying Tricks — A Plucky Captain 60
CHAPTER IV.
The Unsavory Harbor — First Impressions of Havana — At the Opera — The Lottery — Cathedral and Custom House — Danse du Ventre in Cuba — The Bull Ring — The Tomb of Columbus — Among the Pawn-Shops — A Hard Bargain — Matanzas — A Wonderful Cave — A Modern City — Traveling in Cuba — Santiago Harbor — A Town of Ancient Dirt — Cuban Rail- roads— One Clean Town — A Vile Hotel 91
1 4 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
The People of Cuba — Classes of the People — The Women of Cuba — In the Cities — Social Occupa- tions — Beggars — Picturesque Scenes — A Thrifty Churchman — At a Cuban Hotel — The Rooms and their Occupants — The Order of the Day — Among the Vx Lepers — The Evening Promenade — The Cigarette — Shopping Street Scenes — Cripples — How Cuban Ladies Dress — Virtue and Vice — Education, Reli- gion, and Literature , . 128
CHAPTER VI.
How the Island is Governed — The Captain-General — Freedom of the Press — Local Governments — Elec- toral Trickery— "No Cubans Need Apply" — The Spanish Senate— Discrimination Against Cubans^ Carpet-Baggers to the Fore — In the Local Offices — Squeezing the Orange — The Awful Burden of Debt — Treatment of Native Industry — Bad Com- mercial Laws — Cuba Ruined for the Sake of Spain — Salaried Carpet-Baggers — Government by Plunder — Exposure of Frauds — No Punishment for Rascals — No Personal Safety for Cubans — The Paradise of Bandits — No Security for Property — Industries Driven to Bankruptcy — No Public Instruction — The Annual Budget 157
CHAPTER VII.
The "Ever Faithful Isle" Driven to Revolt — Early Patriotism — Spanish Oppression — The Party of Reform — Persistent Misrule — A Story of Wrongs — Cuba's Material Prosperity — Bourbon Rule — Adding Injury to Insult — Early Discontent — Lopez and his
CONTENTS. 1 5
Raids — The Killing of Pinto — Notes on Spanish Tyranny — Trouble over the Tariff — Suppressing Freemasonry — A Characteristic Proclamation — Tacon's Administration — Cultivating the Slave Trade — Creole Pride , 203
- CHAPTER VIII.
Attitude of the United States toward Cuba — Adams on Annexation — Jefferson to Monroe — Views of Henry Clay — A British View — American Interests in Cuba — Daniel Webster — The Question of Purchase — An Uneasy Feeling in Cuba — Further Discussion of Purchase — Later Expressions of Opinion. ! . . . . 235
CHAPTER IX
/<5ul
utbreak of the Ten-Years' War in 1868— The Declara- tion of .Independence — The Spanish Reply — War - in Earnest — Proclamation of Freedom — Regular Government Formed — Valmaseda's Bloody Orders — American Sympathy Expressed — A Special Mes- sage ^ 254
CHAPTER X.
Savage Methods of Spanish Soldiers — Spanish Testimony — Meagre News in Havana — A Reign nf f!mp]tv — Character of the War — Safety of Havana — The Spanish Mistake — Strength of the Patriots — Effects of the War upon the Island — Ruined Towns — Little Fighting — Much Destruction — Tactics of the Two Armies — The Spaniards Half-Hearted — Slaughter in the Five Towns — Outrages upon Women — Atrocities of Camp Followers 269
1 6 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL
Arrogant Conduct of the Spanish Toward Americans and English — The " Virginias" Outrage — Shooting Four Cuban Patriots — American Citizens Murdered in Cold Blood — Wild Demonstrations of Joy — Sur- render of the "Virginius" — The Formal Transfer — How an English Captain Prevented One Massacre. 303
CHAPTER XII.
Close of the Ten-Years' War — General Campos' Own Story — Communication with the Insurgents — Rebel Dissensions — Suspending Warfare — Progress toward Peace — Coming to the Point — Campos' Motives — Interview with Garcia — An Anxious Moment — At Zanzon — The T^rms Accepted — The End at Last — A Review of the Situation — What the War Meant — How the End was Reached — Campos' Appeal for Justice — The Cost of the War 322
CHAPTER XIII.
Resentment of the Betrayed Cubans — Trouble with the United States— The Case of the " Merritt"— Other Outrages — Redress Demanded — Spanish Treachery — Blundering as well as Plundering — No Popular Liberty — Cuban Appeals for Justice — The Mockery of Home Rule — The Final Arraignment — The Ap- peal to Arms 350
CHAPTER XIV.
Beginning of the Revolution of 1895 — Where the Plot was Hatched — Famous Men who Organized the Rebel- lion— Arrival of the Leaders in Cuba — How Gomez
CONTENTS. 1 7
Reached Cuba — Callejas' Attempts to Secure Peace by Heroic Measures — The First Skirmishes — Ironical Gratitude — Spread of the Rebellion — Reso- lute Spirit of the Patriots — Complaints of the Con- sul-General— Tragedies in Cuba 373
CHAPTER XV.
Campos to the Rescue — Some Account of "Spain's Greatest General" — The Man who put the Present Dynasty Back upon the Throne — His Departure from Madrid and his Arrival in Havana — Expectations of a Speedy Crushing of the Revolt 393
CHAPTER XVI.
The Patriots too much for Campos — Attitude of Other Countries — The Insurgents Organize — Who the Leaders were — Battle of Sao del Indio — Battle of Peralejo — A Spanish Force Wiped Out 408
_ CHAPTER XVII.
Methods of Warfare — The Deadly Machete — A Fearful Charge — Sugar-Growers Warned — The Censorship — Gomez Calls a Halt — The Cuban Flag — Spanish Pursuit — Death of Marti — Horrors of the Garrote. . 418
CHAPTER XVIII.
Aid and Comfort from Abroad — A Canadian Expedition —The "Horsa" Affair— The Arrest of Captain Wiborg — Filibusters Wrecked — Over Goes the Ammunition — The "Bermuda" Affair — A Traitor in the Camp — The Arrest — Prisoners Placed U Guard — In Cuba at Last
1 8 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
The News in Cuba — The New Commander — Weyler's Arrival — First Words to Cuba — No Neutrality — Non- Combatants Menaced — Call for Surrender — To End the War in Thirty Days — The Telegraph Lines — Weyler's Proclamations — Must Praise Spain — Pass- ports and Credentials — Stores to be Seized — Fate of Prisoners — More Troops for Weyler — The Massacre of Guatao — Prisoners Killed — Very Near Havana — The Towns Deserted — Weyler Calls a Halt — Powers of Life and Death — More Proclamations — For Extermination — Fifteen Days' Grace — Threats — Offer of Amnesty — To Report on the Suspects . . . 449
•CHAPTER XX.
The Cuban Cause in the United States — Neutrality Pro- claimed— Showed American Colors — Senor Palma — Appeal for Recognition — A. Long Debate — Action by Congress" 478
CHAPTER XXI.
The Latest from the Scene of Conflict — The Spanish Vievr — Spain's Great Task — Gomez Issues a Manifesto — Gomez in Santa Clara — Successes of Filibusters — Senor Palma's Letter — The Cuban Military Organ- ization— The Civil Government — Treatment of Prisoners — The Movement Deep-Rooted — The Peti- tion for Belligerency 488
CHAPTER I.
COLUMBUS IN CUBA — THE SECOND VISIT A CHIEF'S
EXHORTATION SETTLEMENT AND SLAUGHTER
LAS GALAS AND HIS WORK EXTINCTION OF THE
NATIVES DE SOTO THE BRITISH CONQUEST
PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY.
HE HISTORY of Cuba begins with the discovery of the western world by Christopher Columbus. It was on Sep- tember 25, 1492, that Martin Alonzo Pinzon, standing on the high quarter deck of the Admi- ral's ship, shouted " Land ! land ! Senor, I claim the reward!" It was on October 12 that land was actully reached. And it was on October 28 that Cuba was discovered. Columbus, as we know, was in quest of the fabled Cipango, the golden land of the East Indies, where Kublai Khan reigned. What he actually first reached was one of the Bahamas, called by the natives Guanahani. Columbus called it San Salvador, and the British have since named it Cat Island.
Columbus soon discovered the land he had reached to be a small island, and accordingly set sail for the main land, which he reckoned 2 (21)
2 2 CUBA.
to be somewhere near. He passed many beauti- ful islands, visiting three of them, and was enrap- tured with their loveliness. "I know not," he wrote in his diary, "where first to go. Neither are my eyes ever weary of gazing upon the beau- tiful verdure. The song of the birds is so sweet that it seems as if one would never desire to depart hence. There are flocks of parrots that obscure the sun, and other birds of many kinds, large and small. There are majestic trees of a thousand species, each having its particular fruit, and all of marvelous flavor."
These, however, were mere islands. Nor did he find oft them the gold and gems and spices of which he was in quest. But the natives told him of a great land lying to the south, which they called Cuba. It was, they said, rich in gold and pearls and other precious things, and Colum- bus felt sure it was the country of the Great Khan, of which Marco Polo had written. So he pressed on toward it, and on October 28th came to its shores. On that day he wrote in his diary: "This is the most beautiful land ever beheld by human eyes."
Columbus in Cuba.
As he approached the island he believed it was the main land. He noted with admiration its lofty mountains, its deep, clear rivers, its fine harbors, and the attractive appearance of all the
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 23
country. Then he cast anchor in the bay of a river just west of Nuevitas del Principe, and went ashore, taking formal possession of the land in the name of Spain. He spent many days in exploring the coast, landing here and there and visiting the native villages. The inhabitants were a race of Indians of gentle demeanor. They lived in a state of happy tranquillity among themselves, and possessed a religion devoid of rites and ceremonies, but inculcating a belief in the existence of a great and beneficent Deity and in the immortality of the soul.
Columbus went along the coast toward the northwest, until he reached a great headland which he called the Cape of Palms. Beyond this he was told there was a river up which it was only four days' journey to " Cubanacan." By this the natives meant merely the interior of the island. But Columbus thought they meant the land of Kublai Khan, and was thus convinced that he was at last on the main land of Asia, near the rich realms of Cathay. He accordingly sent an embassy into the interior, to visit the Prince who ruled over those regions. The embassadors
o
returned to the ship, however, after going inland twelve leagues, and reported that they had found no city and no prince and nothing but Indian villages. Neither did they find any gold. But they observed that the natives practiced a curious
24 CUBA.
habit, of rolling up the dried leaves of a certain herb, setting fire to one end of the roll, putting the other end in their mouths, and alternately inhaling and puffing out the smoke. Such a roll they called a tobacco. The Spaniards were astonished at this strange practice, but soon found it pleasant and themselves adopted it, calling the plant from which the rolls were made by the name which the Indians gave to the roll itself.
The explorer was disappointed in not finding the Court of Kublai Khan, and now turned to the east and south, and after some days sailing he reached the end of the island, now known as Cape Maysi. Supposing it to be the extreme end of the Asian continent, he called it Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, and then set sail for Hayti.
The Second Visit.
Columbus's second voyage was directed to the further exploration of Cuba, which he still believed to be the Asian continent. He reached Cape Maysi on April 29, 1494, and proceeded along the southern coast. Here and there he put in at harbors, and inquired of the natives for the land of gold. They all directed him to the southwest, telling him another great land lay there, rich in gold and gems. Doubtless they meant the South American continent. So, on
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 2 7
May 3, Columbus turned thither, but discovered nothing but the Island of Jamaica, and on May 18 he returned to Cuba. He arrived at a great cape, to which he gave the name of Cabo de la Cruz or Cape of the Cross, by which it is still known. Then he ran into a beautiful archipelago and called it the Queen's Garden. Every day re- vealed new beauties of land and sea. The delighted voyager believed that he had surely reached ''Summer Isles of Eden, lying in dark purple spheres of sea."
League after league he sailed along the coast toward the west, more and more convinced that he had found the land of the Great Khan. He proposed to keep on and circumnavigate the globe, returning by way of Africa. But his ships were out of repair and his crews weary, so at last he had reluctantly to turn back. Before he did so he had every one of his officers and men sign a declaration of their belief that Cuba was the western extremity of the continent of Asia. This was done while the ships lay in the Bay of Cortes, or Bay of Phillipina. If only some one had taken the trouble at that time to climb to the mast-head, he might have seen the open sea to the northward of the island and thus have discovered that Cuba was nothing but an island. Or had Columbus kept on for two or three days more, he would have reached the western end of the island and
28 CUBA.
thus have learned what it really was. Instead, he returned to Spain still cherishing his delusion.
A Chief's Exhortation.
His last landing was made in Cuba on July 7. At the mouth of a fine river he set up a cross and had the service of the Mass performed. Among the Indians who looked on at this cere- mony in mute amazement was one venerable chief who at the end of the ceremony said to Colum- bus : "I am told that you have come to this country with a mighty force and have subdued many lands, spreading great fear among the people. But do not therefore be vainglorious. Remember that, according to our belief, the souls of men have two journeys to perform after they have departed from the body. One is to a place that is dismal, foul, and covered with darkness, prepared for those who have been unjust and cruel to their fellow-men. The other is to a place full of delight and beauty, for those who have promoted peace on earth. Therefore if you are mortal and expect to die, see to it that you hurt no man wrongfully nor do harm to those who have done no harm to you."
A third short visit was made by Columbus to the southern shores of Cuba at the end of May, 1 503, and that concluded his adventures in that island. In 1511 his son, Diego Columbus, for the purpose of colonizing the island, fitted out an
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 29
expedition, consisting of more than three hun- dred men, under Diego Velasquez, who had accompanied his father on his second voyage. Their first settlement was Baracoa, and in 1514 they founded Santiago and Trinidad. In July, 1515, was planted a town called San Cristoval de la Havana, which was in 1519 named Batabano, and its original title transferred to the present capital of the island. The island itself, by the way, was first named by Columbus Juana, in honor of Prince John, son of Ferdinand and Isa- bella. After Ferdinand's death it was re-named Fernandina. Next it was designated Santiago, for the patron saint of Spain. Still later it was called Ave Maria, in honor of the Holy Virgin. Finally it was called Cuba, that being the name by which it was known among the natives at the time of its discovery.
Settlement and Slaughter.
As we have said the conquest of the island was seriously undertaken in 1511. The expedi- tion was organized in San Domingo, under the command of Diego Velasquez and numbered more than three hundred men. Among them was Hernando Cortez, the future conqueror of Mexico. There also was the celebrated Bartolome Las Casas, known as the Apostle to the Indies.
The harsh and brutal treatment imposed by the Spaniards upon the Indians in San Domingo
3O CUBA.
had caused many of the latter to cross over to Cuba, where they expected to live in security and peace. Among these was the famous chief, Hatuey, whose name stands upon the pages of history as a monument of courage and patriotism in the face of Spanish ferocity and cruelty. As soon as he learned that the Spaniards had landed in Cuba, Hatuey collected his warriors and pro- ceeded to oppose the invaders. But the struggle was a useless one and hopeless from the outset. The weapons of the Indians consisted of arrows pointed with fishbones and of clubs, the ends of which were hardened by fire, while the Spaniards, besides protecting their bodies with heavy cloth- ing which the weak points of the Indian arrows could scarcely penetrate, were provided with ex- cellent swords, powerful cross-bows, some fire- arms and a few horses. After several encounters Hatuey fell into the hands of the Spaniards and was condemned by Velasquez to be burned at the stake. When he was already tied to the stake, and the fagots were about to be lighted, the chief was approached by a priest who began to pray that his soul might be taken to heaven. Hearing this, Hatuey asked to which of the two places the Spaniards would go when they died. He was told that they would all certainly go to heaven. "Then," he exclaimed, resolutely, "let me go to hell !"
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 31
Casas and His Work.
Las Casas, whom we have already mentioned, was the son of one of the companions of Colum- bus on his first voyage of discovery to the new world. In 1498 he accompanied his father in an expedition under Columbus to the West Indies, and in 1502 he went to Hayti, where he was admitted to priestly orders, being the first person to receive such consecration in the new world. In 151 1, the conquest of Cuba having been re- solved on, he went to that island to take part in the work of " population and pacification." He witnessed and vainly tried to check the terrible massacres of Indians which Velasquez soon per- petrated. A year or two later there was assigned to him a large village in the neighborhood of Xagua, inhabited by many Indians, as his share of the new colony. Here, like the rest of his countrymen, he sought to make the most of his opportunity of growing rich, though he continued occasionally to preach and celebrate Mass. Soon, however, having become deeply convinced of the injustice and other moral evils of the system of rule adopted by the Spaniards, he began to preach against it, at the same time giving up his own slaves. Then he went to Spain to speak in behalf of the oppressed natives, and the result of his representations was that in 1516 Cardinal Jimenez sent over a commission for the reform
32 CUBA.
of abuses — Las Casas himself, with a salary and the title of " Protector of the Indians," being ap- pointed a member of it. He soon found, how- ever, that the other members of the commission were altogether indifferent to the cause which he had so much at heart and he accordingly returned to Spain where he developed his scheme for the complete liberation of the Indians. This scheme not only included facilities for emigration from Spain, but was intended to give to each Spanish resident in the colonies the right of importing twelve negro slaves. The emigration movement proved a failure, and Las Casas lived long enough to express his sorrow and shame for having been so slow to perceive that the African negroes were as much entitled to the rights of man as were the American Indians.
Extinction of the Natives. Velasquez was thus the founder of Indian slav- ery, and Las Casas of negro slavery, in America. The Indians who were not distributed among the Spaniards as slaves were compelled to pay a tribute in gold dust, and as gold never abounded in Cuba this was a difficult thing to do. Although the Indians were physically well developed, they were not accustomed to continuous and hard labor. The tasks imposed upon them by their ruthless Spanish masters caused so great a mor- tality that in about half a century the whole native
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 33
population of the island had disappeared. Some of the estimates placed the number of inhabitants of the country originally at 80,0000. Others place it at no more than 400,000. But even tak- ing the latter figure as correct, what a frightful destruction of human life there was in a few years !
The discovery and conquest of Mexico and Peru, with their immense wealth, caused the Spanish to look upon Cuba with indifference, and for nearly 300 years it was almost forgotten. Nothing but the geographical position of Havana saved the island from utter neglect and oblivion in Spain. It was a convenient stopping-place for ships plying between Spain and the American continent, but so little was known in Spain about Cuba that not infrequently, even as late as the latter part of the last century, official dispatches were addressed to the Island of Havana. Even after the country was yielding to the Spanish treasury millions of dollars of revenue every year, the Spaniards remained so ignorant about Cuban matters that in the laws enacted for Cuba at Madrid in 1856 a reward was offered for the killing of "foxes, ferrets, wolves and other wild beasts of prey." Of such animals not a trace had ever been discovered in the island. The only wolves and other wild beasts of prey known to the Cubans have been the Spanish office-holders.
34 CUBA.
I>e Soto.
Havana was frequently attacked by the ships of powers hostile to Spain. In 1538 it was almost entirely destroyed by a French privateer. To prevent a similar disaster in future the Castillo de la Fuerza, a fortress which still exists, was built by Fernando de Soto, who was then Gover- nor of Cuba. This was the same de Soto who afterward became famous for his explorations in the southern and western regions of the United States and for the discovery of the Mississippi River. When he went on his last expedition to North America, on which he lost his life, he left his wife and fafhily behind him at Havana, where his wife died of a broken heart three days after receiving news of his death.
The British Conquest.
Despite this fortress, in 1554, the French again attacked and partly destroyed Havana. The early settlers of Cuba devoted themselves chiefly to the rearing of cattle, but about 1580 the cultivation of tobacco and the sugar cane was commenced, and this led to a vast development of the system of negro slavery. Previous to 1 600 two more forts were built for the defence of Havana. These were the Punta and the Morro Castle, which are still in existence. For a century and a half after this date the island was kept in a state of almost perpetual fear of invasion from the
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 37
French, English, Dutch, and other raiders. It also suffered much from the pirates and freeboot- ers who infested those seas. About 1665 the building of strong walls around the city was commenced. In 1762 Havana was captured after a desperate struggle by an English fleet and army under Lord Albemarle. The fleet consisted of more than two hundred vessels of all classes manned by more than fourteen thousand men, while the Spanish army of defense numbered more than twenty-seven thousand. The assault began on June 6th. On July 3oth Morro Castle was surrendered, and on August i4th the city itself capitulated. The spoil divided among the conquerors amounted to more than $3,600,000. By a treaty concluded at Paris in the following year Cuba was restored to the Spaniards and thereafter its' progress was rapid. Indeed, that was the beginning of the island's real importance and prosperity.
Progress and Prosperity. Another Las Casas arrived in 1 790 as Cap- tain-General of the island and his administration was a brilliant time in the history of Cuba. He promoted with indefatigable perseverance a great and useful series of public works. He also intro- duced the culture of indigo, which became an important industry. He extended the commer- cial importance of the island by removing as far
38 CUBA.
as possible the trammels imposed upon it by the old system of monopoly, and also made noble efforts for the emancipation of the slaves. It was owing to his wise administration that the island remained peaceful during the time of the revolu- tion in Hayti, although the latter was closely watched by the negroes in Cuba and a con- spiracy for revolt was actually formed among them by French agents. Many of the French who were driven out of Hayti by the negro revo- lutionists came to Cuba in 1795 and settled there. The news that Napoleon had deposed the royal family of Spain reached Cuba in July, 1808. It caused great excitement and aroused much patriotic enthusiasm. All the officers of the island at once took oath to preserve Cuba for the deposed sovereign and declared war against Napoleon. It was partly from this fact, and partly from the fact that it remained loyal to Spain when, a dozen years later, all the South American colonies revolted, that Cuba received the name of "The Ever Faithful Isle."
CHAPTER II.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ISLAND THE LAY OF THE
LAND THE CLIMATE MINERAL RESOURCES
ANIMAL LIFE VEGETABLE LIFE CUBAN SCE- NERY A NATURAL GARDEN AMERICAN VISI- TORS TO CUBA.
UBA EXTENDS from Cape Maysi, on the east, to Cape St. Antonio, on the west, in a curved line of 790 miles. It lies between 19° and 23° north latitude, and 74° and 85° west longitude. It is 117 miles wide in the broadest part ; from Cape Maternillos point on the north, to the western point of Mota Cove, on the south twenty-one miles east of Cape Cruz — the Cape of the Cross.
The narrowest part of the Island is twenty- two miles, from the mouth of Bahia del Mariel, on the north of Cove of Mavana on the south. From Havana to Batabano, it is twenty-eight miles ; near the centre of the Island, the breadth north and south is about seventy-five miles. The periphery of the Island, following a line the less tortuous and cutting the bays, parts and coasts at their mouths, is 1,719 miles, of which
(39)
40 CUBA.
816 are on the north and 903 on the south. Its area is about 55,000 square miles ; and taking into the estimate the adjacent islands, or keys which belong to it, it is 64,000 square miles. The form of the Island is exceedingly irregular, ap- proaching that of a long, narrow crescent, the convex portion of which looks toward the Arctic pole. Her situation in regard to that pole is nearly from east by south to west by north- west. It is the most westerly of the West India Islands, and the western part is placed advantage- ously in the mouth of the Mexican gulf, leaving two spacious entrances ; the one of the north- west, 124 miles* wide, between Point Hicacos, the most northerly of the Island, and Point Tancha, or Cape Sable, the most southerly of East Florida. The other entrance into the Gulf to the southwest, is 97 miles in its narrowest part, between Cape St. Antonio, of Cuba, and Cape Catoche, the most salient extremity of the Penin- sula of Yucatan ; from Cape Mola, or St. Nicho- las, in the Island of St. Domiugo, the eastern extremity of Cuba, or Maysi Point, is separated by a channel forty-two miles wide. From Maysi to Great Enagua, the nearest of the Lucayas, or Bahama Islands, the distance to the northeast is forty-five miles. From Point Lucrecia, in Cuba, the most easterly point of the great bank of Bahama, in the old Bahama Channel, called St.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 41
Domingo's key, thirty-four miles. From Punto del Ingles, on the South of Cuba, to the nearest point of the northern coast of Jamaica, the dis- tance is seventy five miles.
Cuba contains the following ports on the North, viz. : Guardiana, Bahia Honda, Cabana, Mariel, Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas, Sagua la Grande, San Juan de los Remedios, Guanaja, Nuevitas, Nuevas Grandes, Manati Puerto del Padre, Puerto del Mangle, Jibara, Jururu, Bariai, Vita, Naranjo, Salma Banes, Nipe, Leviza Cabo- nico, Tanamo, Cebollas, Zaquaneque, Zaragua, Taco, Cuyaguaneque Navas, Maravi, Baracoa and Manta — thirty-seven in all. On the South, Bati- queri, Puerto Escondido, Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Mota, Manzanillo, Santa Cruz, Ver- tientes, Masio, Casilda, Jagua, Ensenada de Cor- tez and Ensenada de Cochinos — thirteen in all.
The r,ay of the I*ancl.
Low as the coast lands are, the island is plentifully supplied with hills and mountains. The highest part of the island is in the southeast portion, the loftiest peaks here reaching a height of more than 7,600 feet. From these mountains a ridge of somewhat less general elevation follows closely to the central line of the island westward, rising to a height of 2,530 feet at the extreme west. A considerable group of hills also rises immediately behind the harbor of Trinidad, near
3
42 CUBA.
the centre of the southern coast. The summits of the mountains are mostly rocky and naked, though occasionally smooth and covered with soil and vegetation. The internal structures of the
o
mountains consist of chalk, limestone, sandstone, and gypsum. There are also numerous masses of serpentine and syenitic rocks. In some places petroleum is found in considerable quantities among the serpentine, and abundant springs of the same oil are also found in the eastern part of the island.
The rivers of Cuba are necessarily short, and their course is generally toward the north or south. The largest is the Cauto, which is about 150 miles long, and navigable for sixty miles. Several others are navigable for from five to fifteen miles each. At the northeast of Guantanamo is the hill of Moa, in which is a huge cavern, and in that cavern the river Moa descends in a superb cascade more than 300 feet high. The Climate.
Cuba lies near the northern edge of the tropical zone and its climate is therefore largely torrid. On the high ground of the interior, how- ever, it is fairly temperate. As in other tropical and semi-tropical countries, the year is divided into two seasons, known as the wet and the dry, the former being the hotter of the two. The wet season extends from May to October, although
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 43
rain falls in every month of the year. Spring- begins in May, and thenceforward thunder storms are of almost daily occurrence until fall. Almost every day is exceedingly warm except on the mountain-tops. From November to April is the dry season, when the temperature is somewhat more moderate. The average rainfall at Havana in the wet season is about 27 8-10 inches and in the dry season 12 7-10 inches, making a total of 40 5-10 inches for the year. At Havana in July and August the average temperature is 82° Fah- renheit, varying between a maximum of 88° and a minimum of 76°. In December and January the maximum is 78° and the minimum 58°, the average being 72°. The average temperature at Havana the year round is 77°. In the interior of the Island, at elevations more than 300 feet above the sea, the mercury occasionally falls to the freezing point in winter. Light frosts are not uncommon and thin ice is sometimes formed. Snow, however, is never known to fall in the Island. The prevailing wind is from the east, but from November to February the north wind occa- sionally blows for not more than two days at a time, especially in the western part of the island. As a rule the hottest hours in the day are from ten o'clock to noon. In the afternoon a refresh- ing breeze almost always sets in from the sea. From August to October is the hurricane season.
44 CUBA.
These storms are sometimes extremely severe and destructive, though not so much so as in other West Indian Islands. Sometimes five or six years pass without a single hurricane. Earthquake shocks are occasionally felt, but are seldom so severe as to be destructive.
No serious diseases are known to be in- digenous to the island. Yellow fever, which rages every year on all the coast lands, was im- ported many years ago by vessels engaged in the slave trade. It is probable that its contin- uance and annual recurrence has been due to the indescribably foul condition of the harbors, espec- ially that of Havana. This plague causes great loss of life every year, especially among visitors and naturalized residents of the island. It attacks comparatively few of the natives and its ravages are exclusively confined to the lowlands along the coast.
Mineral Resources.
The mineral resources of the island have not yet been developed nor even explored to any considerable extent. Gold and silver have, un- doubtedly, been found on the island in various places, but never in quantities sufficient to pay for the working of mines. The early settlers sent gold to Spain from the island, but they obtained it from the aborigines who had accu- mulated it for centuries and had probably im-
a
a,
2
IBBHIMMHHMHBI
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 47
ported it from other islands and from Mexico and the South American continent. Traces of gold-
o
bearing" sand are found in several of the rivers, and attempts have been made at two or three places to secure the metal in paying quantities, but without success. Early in the present cen- tury silver and copper were discovered in the Province of Villa Clara, and some of the first ores found yielded no less than seven ounces of pure silver to the quintal, a quintal being 107^ pounds. The mines have never been properly worked, however, and thus have been regarded as unprofitable. Near Santiago, in the eastern part of the island, are some copper mines of great extent and richness. A considerable town has grown up about them and a railroad has been built to carry their product to the sea. More than fifty tons of very rich ore have been taken out daily, the best of it being shipped direct to Europe for reduction. The poorer part of it is retained and smelted on the island. These mines were worked with considerable success during the seventeenth century, but during the eighteenth century were entirely neglected.
Coal is found in almost inexhaustible quanti- ties. It is of a highly bituminous character, giv- ing out much heat, and leaving very little ashes or cinders. In some places it degenerates into semi-liquid form, resembling asphaltum, and in
48 CUBA.
some places naphtha or petroleum. There are ex- cellent quarries of slate near Havana, the product of which is used for floors and pavements. In many parts of the island of Cuba, and more par- ticularly in the Isle of Pines, marble and jasper, of various colors and fine quality, are found. Iron is believed to exist in considerable quantities, es- pecially among the highest mountain peaks, but because of the difficulty of access, the scarcity of fuel, the want of capital, and perhaps, above all, lack of enterprise and energy, no considerable mining operations have ever been undertaken.
Animal L,ife.
The aboriginal animal life of Cuba varied but little from that of other islands. Savage wild beasts were unknown. The only quadruped pe- culiar to the island is the hutia. This is an animal somewhat resembling a rat in form, and from twelve to eighteen inches in length, exclusive of the tail. It is pure black in color, lives among trees, and feeds on leaves and fruit. Its flesh is sometimes used as an article of diet. A few deer have been found in various parts of the island, but they are supposed to have been introduced from Florida. Plenty of wild dogs and cats are found in the woods, but they are merely the de- generate descendants of tame creatures.
The chief domestic animals are the ox, the horse, and the pig, and these form a large pro-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 49
portion of the wealth of the island. Sheep, goats and mules are less numerous. The manatee is found along the coasts, but no attempt has ever been made to domesticate it. Domestic fowls in- clude geese, turkeys, peacocks and pigeons. The wild birds are notable for the beauty of their plumage, and more than 200 different species are found on the island. There are very few birds of prey. The principal ones are the vulture and the turkey buzzard, and these are protected from destruction by law, on account of their services as scavengers. The waters in and about the island are plentifully supplied with fish. Oysters and other shell fish also abound, but are of infe- rior quality. Numerous turtles are found on the coast and reefs, some of them attaining enormous size. They and their eggs form an important article of diet. Crocodiles and enormous lizards are common. Land-crabs are frequently seen in large numbers. These cross the island from north to south every spring, at the beginning of the rainy season. There are comparatively few snakes. The largest is the maja, which attains a length of twelve or fourteen feet, but is quite harmless. The most venomous snake is the juba, which grows to a length of about six feet.
Among the insect life of Cuba the most no- table creature is the firefly. These flies are very large and luminous and exist in enormous num-
5O CUBA.
bers. They are much used among the poorer people instead of lamps or candles. A dozen or more of them confined in a bottle or even an empty gourd pierced with holes will serve to illu- minate a room fairly well. Bees are exceedingly abundant throughout the island. The poisonous insects are the jigger, one species of ant, the mosquito, the sandfly, the scorpion, and spiders. Vegetable I, lie.
A considerable portion of the area of Cuba is covered with forests, some of them being so dense as to be almost impenetrable. It was estimated a few years ago that of nearly 20,000,- ooo acres of land still remaining wild and uncul- tivated, about 13,000,000 were covered with uncleared forest. Among the valuable woods are mahogany, ebony, cedar and grandilla. These are valuable for manufactures, cabinet work and ship-building, and form a considerable article of export. The most valuable tree on the island, however, is the palm, which abounds everywhere.
The fruits and vegetables of Cuba are such as are found elsewhere in the tropics. Most esteemed of all are the banana and plantain, the pineapple, the orange and the cocoa. The sweet- and-bitter cassava, the sweet potato, or yam, and other farinaceous roots are common, and Indian corn and rice are extensively cultivated.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 51
Cuban Scenery.
Travelers coming to Cuba for the first time usually see what they have expected to see, and fall temporarily into ecstasies over tropical scen- ery and semi-saracenic architectural effects. It is imagination fired by overheated books of travel that lends to the view greater enchantment than distance in a foreign land. When the eye becomes accustomed to the contrasts with familiar scenes offered in town and country, disenchantment quickly follows. Then the truth is discerned that the woods, foliage, plants, flowers, landscape ef- fects and suburban drives are incomparably more beautiful in the temperate zone than in the tropics. Raptures over Cuban scenery are transitory va- garies in Havana. The harbor, with a long line of high-bastioned fortifications flanking the low peninsula upon which the city stands, is an impos- ing pageant, especially under a moonlit sky ; but the country about the city is flat and unimpressive. A railway ride across the island from Batabano, or westward to Matanzas, discloses vistas of undulating levels and moors under poor cultiva- tion, relieved only by sentinel palms of the royal guard, or by encampments of palmettos, or by straggling cabins with palm-leaf roofs. The plazas have an ill-nourished and stunted look. The Bishop's Garden in Tulipan was once a lovely re- treat, but it is now neglected ground.
52 CUBA.
The finest drives in Havana are those to the Cerro and to Vedado, but there are few luxuriant tropical trees to be seen by the wayside, and not many orange trees and banana clumps. The Botanical Gardens and the grounds about the Captain-General's country seat offer the only really satisfactory glimpse of tropical foliage to be obtained in Havana. There is a noble alley of royal palms ; they are fine specimens of the gorgeous fan-palm, almonds, the coral tree and the star cactus ; low-growing flowers of the temperate clime are here seen as trees, such as the mignonette and garland of the night ; and there are rose*, campaniles, jasmine, oleanders, heliotrope and exotic flowers in profusion. On the Marinao Railway there are some excellent effects of rural scenery. The Toledo sugar plantation lies in a district where palmettos and cocoanut palms abound, and near by are pine- apple plantations, with laborers' cabins constructed entirely of palm, and overshadowed by wide- spreading mangoes — the best substitute to be found in the tropics for the Northern oak and elm.
A Xatural Garden.
If Cuban scenery be disappointing from nakedness of hillsides and lack of variety in foliage and farming lands, it is not through any fault of Nature. There is no other garden in the
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, 53
West Indies like this highly favored island. There is no defect either of climate or soil. It is human foolishness that is responsible for the meagre de- velopment of the agricultural resources of the island. Every fruit that can grow in the tropics will thrive here. Not even Southern California has a wider range of fruits than Cuba, with its oranges, pineapples, lemons, limes, citrons, ban- anas, plantains, tamarinds, figs, breadfruit, pome- granates, zapotas, mangoes, cocoanuts, sapodillas, custard-apples, mammees, guava and rose-apples. It is a fruit region, capable of enormous develop- ment, and is accessible to all the centres of popu- lation on the North Atlantic coast. Here is a soil of varied qualities and so rich that it only needs to be scratched with a plough or hoe to be made to yield a hundred-fold. There is an abund- ance of red earth impregnated with iron, which is the natural bed for a coffee farm. There are broad levels of black soil, where sugar-cane will flourish as in no other quarter of the world. If the choicest lands for tobacco are of limited area on the plain watered by the Cuyagnetejo, there are most extensive belts where leaf of fine color can be raised. Corn, while growing to half-size, can be made to bear all the year. There are rice and cotton lands which could be cultivated on a large scale most productively. There is no limit to the agricultural resources of Cuba. The track-
54 CUBA.
less forests are rich, not only in mahogany, rose- wood, ebony and cedar, but also in dye-woods, like fustian ; and in the south and east the moun- tain ranges are stocked with iron and manganese. All these resources are made available by undu- lating plains, where railways can be cheaply built and by a coast-line of 2,000 miles, bordered with capacious harbors for shipping.
American Visitors in Cuba.
Mr. Froude, when he visited Cuba a few years ago, described the island as a riviera for Ameri- can tourists. Having a strong dislike for that particular breed of the Anglo-Saxon race, he was harassed by thfeir high nasal volubility and dis- tracted by the unceasing piano-playing of the women, and by the free manners and abrupt in- quisitiveness of the men, one of whom had the hardihood to solicit a moment after introduction his opinion of Cardinal Newman. Finding no rest day or night from the American invaders, he was compelled to take refuge in a French sum- mer hotel at Vedado, where he could listen to the music of the breakers on the coral reefs. Mr. Froude's diatribe against American tour- ists has not had the effect of checking the mi- gratory movement during the winter months, although, possibly, it may have corrected their manners. From the east, west, and south they come in increasing swarms every season. The
Columbus' Tomb.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 57
steamers are crowded with incoming travelers bent upon seeing a civilization essentially differ- ent from their own, and enjoying themselves heartily while they are about it.
"During my stay in Cuba," says an Ameri- can correspondent, " I have met with Americans from Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, Ken- tucky, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and some of the far Western States. The native Cuban makes no discrimination, but accepts them all without reference to State, section or social condition, as fair game to be bagged and more or less plucked. Whether an Englishman having a less sensitive organization than Mr. Froude's is dazed and well- nigh crazed by the visitors, I cannot determine ; but I find it hard to believe that either the wildest piano outbreak or the shrillest Yankee dialect can be heard above the ceaseless clangor of the Havana church bells and the fusilade of chatter in the Spanish cafes.
"The journey to Cuba is perhaps the pleas- antest and most interesting short outing which Americans can make during the winter. Those who dread sea-sickness can reduce the risks to a voyage of twenty-four hours by going and return- ing by the Tampa steamers. The best route from New York is by the steamers, either by the direct line to Havana or by the Nassau and Southern
58 CUBA.
Coast line. To tourists desiring- to see as much of Cuba as possible in three weeks or a month, the latter route offers superior attractions. A delightful day can be spent in Nassau ; the high mountainous coast of Eastern and Southern Cuba is a most- beautiful one ; Santiago Harbor is one of the most picturesque bays on the continent, rivalling in some degree that of Rio ; and Cien- fuegos is the commercial centre of the best equipped sugar plantation in the island. American visitors are spared all the incon- veniences of want of familiarity with the Spanish language. At the hotels in Cienfuegos inter- preters are at hand to order their meals and carriages, to conduct them to the sugar plantations and to minister to their wants most intelligently. When they are ready to go, runners from the Havana hotels take charge of their baggage and convey them either by railway or steamer. The water route to Batabano is the better one, owing to the frequent changes of cars which must be made on the railway through the interior. Once in Havana the visitor finds a swarm of fellow- Americans, among whom he is certain to meet with acquaintances to his taste. The principal hotel employs three interpreters to make plain the crookedness of Cuban currency, to defend travelers against the extortions of hackmen, and to plan excursions to Matanzas, the caves of
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 59
Bellamar, the sugar plantation of Toledo, the tobacco estates of Western Cuba, palmetto groves and pineapple farms and other points of interest. There are at least two hotels in Havana where excellent breakfasts and dinners are served ; and there are English waiters in attendance for those who need them. The sanitary conditions of the hotels are not good, and great care has to be taken in the choice of rooms. This would be a very serious drawback if the winter months were not healthful in Cuba. The climate in January is perfect. It is warm without being either hot or sultry, and the evenings are so cool as to make a light overcoat necessary. If the hotel charges are high, hack-fare is low; and American gold or cur- rency commands so great a premium that the traveler is encouraged to think himself rich until the desire to clear his pockets of the foulest and most ragged paper money ever printed seizes possession of him, as it does as soon as he con- cludes his first transaction with the brokers."
CHAPTER III.
THE INDUSTRIES OF CUBA A COFFEE PLANTATION
PREPARING COFFEE FOR MARKET HAVANA
CIGARS A CIGAR FACTORY SUGAR PLANTA- TIONS AND MILLS HOW SUGAR IS MADE COM- MERCIAL INTERESTS SOME ANNOYING TRICKS —
A PLUCKY CAPTAIN.
HE PRINCIPAL agricultural products of Cuba are sugar, coffee and tobacco. In fortner years indigo was extensively cultivated, but that industry has greatly declined. The sugar industry has also been injured by the development of beet sugar production in various other countries. Still, the sugar plantations and mills, which include both refineries and distilleries for the production of rum, are the most important industrial establishments of the island. The bulk of the sugar is shipped to the United States. Next in importance is the coffee industry, which was established in 1748, the seeds having been brought from San Domingo. Tobacco is indig- enous to Cuba, and is famous over the world for its fine quality. Hundreds of millions of cigars are exported every year, beside many million pounds of leaf tobacco.
(60)
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The other industries of Cuba comprise cattle farms, cotton plantations, fruit and vege- table farms, chocolate plantations, and bee farms, devoted to the production of honey and wax. Generally speaking, it may be said that' these industries have been conducted in a rather slip- shod manner. The best establishments are now those conducted by Americans, largely with Chinese labor. At the same time, contact with American progress has considerably improved the character and disposition of the natives, and under a proper government the industrial condi- tion of the island would be vastly improved, and would contain a considerable measure of that prosperity for which nature evidently designed it. The saying that " if you tickle the earth with a hoe it laughs with a harvest" is to no country more applicable than to Cuba.
Four centuries have been nearly rounded out since the discoveries of Columbus, yet Cuba to-day is, with the single exception of Brazil, the least- developed country in the New World. Out of a total area of 43,000 square miles barely more than one-tenth is under cultivation. At the west- ern end of the island there is a population exceed- ing 1,000,000, but the remaining districts, of which Puerto Principe and Santiago are the capitals, are practically unsettled, having between them less than 500,000 whites, negroes and Chinese. Only 4
62 CUBA.
within five years has iron-mining- begun in earnest. The forest areas are unexplored. There are vast tracts of unreclaimed lands available for future in- dustry. There are broad savannas, now aban- doned to tropical thickets, where sugar, tobacco and corn could be cultivated. If there are now 1 500 sugar plantations, large and small, on the island, there could be 15,000. If there are 15,000 tobacco-planters of every degree, the number might be multiplied. If coffee-farming has de- clined and is now restricted mainly to the moun- tain slopes of Guantanamo, it could be restored to its old-time efficiency and prosperity. A trans- formation of administration and economic condi- tions are needed in order that there may be a new and reinvigorated Cuba. Spanish rule has been like the wild Indian fig of the island that winds about the monarch trees of the forest and para- lyzes and kills them with its serpentine embrace. The destroying fig must first be uprooted before the tree can have soil, light, air and moisture needed for its normal growth.
A Coffee Plantation.
Any person desiring to make a coffee estate chooses for his plaza, or plantation, high and steep ground, if possible facing east and west ; altitude above sea-level from 1,000 to 3,000 feet. Experience has proven that ground lower than 1,000 feet is too apt in the dry season to parch
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 63
and give the plant insufficient moisture, whereas on the mountain side in the altitude mentioned the dews are always heavier, and the morning fogs settle longer and give the soil time to absorb the moisture it needs to sustain the plant during the hot hours of the day. For these reasons, and also to avoid the direct rays of the noonday sun, steep hillsides are chosen, facing east and west, as said above, if possible. As a general thing the planter, never having studied the chemical proper- ties of coffee-producing land, looks for ground where lance-wood, redwood and olive-wood grow as a never failing proof that the land is adapted for the cultivation of coffee. The land must be virgin soil. On this the planter puts his laborers to the work of clearing. The larger trees are burned out and the smaller trees and brush chopped down with ax and machete. The cost of clearing the land is about $500, Spanish, per caballeria (thirty-three and one-third acres).
The land is lined out, the lines running from the top to the bottom of the hill, four feet apart. In these lines five or six coffee berries, three and one-half feet from each other and two inches from the surface, are planted. In other words, one cabel- leria contains, where the whole space can be util- ized, 100,000 plants. The coffee is planted during the rainy season — in March or September. In thirty-five or forty days the seeds begin to sprout.
64 CUBA.
These sprouts are allowed to grow for six months, after which the healthiest alone are left, the others being pulled out. The remaining sprout is left growing for eighteen or twenty months. In the meanwhile the planter, desiring that his land shall yield something, plants corn, plantains, and all kinds of vegetables ; also, at intervals between the rows, cacao, which, however, does not yield a full crop until the coffee plant is exhausted, say, in ten or twelve years. As soon as the coffee plant reaches a height of four feet it is stunted and trimmed, all young sprouts thereon, being killed off in order to force all the strength into the fruit. For the first two years the plant pro- duces nothing ; the third year it yields a half crop ; on the fourth year a full crop, which runs from 10,000 to 60,000 pounds of coffee, ready for the market, according to the condition of the soil, per cabelleria of thirty-three and one-third acres. This production continues for ten or more years, and the planter can gather his crop of cacao, planted as above.
The coffee plant blooms in January to April, then the berry forms and is ripe for picking from August to December. The negro is paid for picking and delivering the berry at the "seca- dero" (a large platform made of stone, covered and smoothed with cement) fifty cents per bag. It is calculated that one hundred pounds of
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 67
berries yield fifteen pounds of marketable coffee. Each bag of berries delivered at the "secadero" must contain 200 to 300 pounds, and a good workman can pick three bags per day.
Preparing Coffee for Market.
The berry is then spread on the "secadero" and exposed to the sun to dry. How long this takes depends wholly on the weather — under ordinary circumstances, say seventy-two hours. The berries while drying are repeatedly raked or turned over to quicken the process. During this process great watchfulness is required, as the slightest rain would ruin the berry. To prevent this covers are always ready for the "secadero." These are cone-shaped, and when the berries are raked into heaps these covers completely protect them from rain and dew.
When the berries are completely dried they are put into the "molina de pilar," which is a circular trough, usually cemented, in which a heavy wheel made of hard wood, the rim plated with metal, revolves. This wheel crushes the berry and leaves the bean. Ox or mule power is employed. The bean is then put into the blower to remove all particles of the outside shell. When the coffee is clean it is again put into the "molina de pilar" to receive a polish. If the color is too light a little charcoal is put into the trough with the coffee.
68 CUBA.
The coffee, after this process, is ready to be put into bags and conveyed to market, which is done on mule-back.
Another process, not so much in use now, owing to the fact that the coffee is exported, is washing. The berry, as it comes from the playa, is put into a crusher to press out the bean. The bean falling into a stone basin is left therein over night to rid it of the gum adhering to it. The next morning the basin is filled with water and the bean washed. This process is repeated two or three times, when the coffee is spread out on the " secadero " to dry.
The coffee is conveyed to market on mule- back, in bags of about 102 pounds each, a mule carrying two bags and traveling ten leagues per day. The cost of carrying to market in this man- ner runs from 75 cents to $i per load. Havana Cigrars.
There is a popular theory that since the choicest cigars come from Cuba, Havana is the best place in the world to buy them. American visitors when they come here expect to revel in the luxury of smoking the most delicate brands and of paying very little for them. Cigars are cheap, but not so good, in Havana. " I have sampled all brands in various stores," says an American traveler, " and have not found anything better than an ordinary Key West cigar that is sold in
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 69
New York. Exception must be made in favor of a handful which I received at a cigar factory as a present. These were very good. The cigars sold over the counter even in the best restaurants are not worth buying. The visitor who wants a fine brand cannot do better than to visit one of the best factories and make his purchases there, throwing himself upon the mercy of the pro- prietors and paying well for them.
"The truth is that the world smokes too much to enjoy any longer the luxury of the pure Havana of other days. The district where the choicest leaf is produced in the Vuelta de Abajo is of limited area. It is surrounded by belts in which leaf of excellent color, but lacking in delicacy of aroma, is produced. It is soil rather than climate that regulates the quality of tobacco, and while the plant grows readily throughout Western Cuba, and in certain districts near Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Santiago, it is only from a comparatively small area that the best leaf can be obtained/ and then only when the plants are trimmed after budding. The demand for well-known brands is very great, and it has to be met in some way. I was told in Santiago and Cienfuegos that much of the tobacco raised there was sent to Havana and made up as cigars pass- ing under the best names. The depreciation in the quality of Cuban cigars imported into the
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New York market during recent years is un- doubtedly to be accounted for by the artificial widening of the Vuelta de Abajo preserves so as to include various "hot" tobaccos, similar in color, but inferior in -aroma. Heavy fertilizing, moreover, while increasing the productiveness of the land, injures the quality of the leaf.
A Cigrar Factory.
" No visitor ought to neglect to visit at least one of the many large cigar factories of the city. I saw at the Corona works a force of 800 men, women and children employed in the various processes of grouping wrappers according to color, making cigars by hand, putting paper labels on them, sorting cigars and manufacturing cigarettes. This force is increased to 2000 in busy times. This fac- tory produces many millions of cigars in the course of a year, and about 2,000,000 cigarettes every forty-eight hours. The expense of cigarette- making is greatly reduced by ingenious machinery for filling and packing the paper-holders with to- bacco, closing them at both ends and finally emp- tying the trays in which the shells were placed before the delicate mechanism was brought to bear upon them. This machinery enables six men to do the work of 300, and turns out 600,000 cigarettes a day. Apparently there is some ap- prehension felt lest this intricate mechanism may be reproduced in detail in the United States, for
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the inventor, whose rights are controlled by the Corona, will not allow any visitor with a camera to enter the room. Wonderful as the improvement in machinery for tobacco-working has been, it has not emancipated children from this unhealthy and laborious employment.
"In one of the departments I saw groups of sallow-faced children under ten years making cheroots and leaf-cigarettes. One was a little thing, with a pale, wizened face, bending over the table, with strained eyes, and working nervously with her tiny fingers as rapidly as the two strong women between whom she was sitting. Rarely have I seen a more pathetic figure than this child, so preoccupied with her work that she could not spend time to look at the visitors pausing before her with pitying eyes. I asked her age. She was barely six years old, and could make 3000 of these cheroots a day — almost as many as her mother. American visitors will do well to avoid that corner of the Corona. Cigars may never have the same flavor for them again if they see a child of six bending and straining over a work-table in order to make them for the pleasure of the grand cabal- leros of the gay world."
Sugar Plantations and Mills.
Matanzas is one of the largest sugar-pro- ducing centres in Cuba. Last year it exported about 160,000 tons to the United States and 60,000
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tons of molasses. More molasses is made here than in Cienfuegos, but there is never anything wasted by the Cuban planters anywhere by any process of the manufacture of sugar. The cen- trifugating machines separate the syrup into sugar and molasses, each of the first grade. This molasses is then worked over a second time with more syrup, and the centrifugators divide the combination into sugar and molasses, each of the second grade. This second grade of molasses is carried through a distillery and converted into rum of various grades. In these hard times sugar-planters cannot afford to lose anything at all sweetish that^ comes from the cane. They sell their sugar, molasses and prime rum in New York, and their worst rum is worked off in the Mexican trade. The refuse cane makes the engines go.
The processes and machinery employed here closely resemble those found elsewhere. There is one plantation, owned by the Count de Ybanex, which is operated differently. The cane instead of being ground by milling machinery is cut up into small sections and the sugar is worked out of it by water, by a process of diffusion similar to that employed in the manufacture of beet sugar. This method has been tested with satisfactory results during the last year at this plantation, and has been adopted tentatively at one other
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Cuban factory. More labor is required and coal is necessary, but it is asserted that the increased expense is more than made up by the larger per- centage of sugar obtained from the cane. One of the most prominent planters here has furnished me with a table showing the percentage obtained by seven processes of diffusion by water, the aggregate result being the extraction of over 992 parts of the thousand. The proportion is twelve to ten in favor of the diffusion against the or- dinary milling process. About 143 tons a day are produced by diffusion on the plantation to which I have referred, and this is done with machinery which has not been perfected.
It would be a singular result if the diffusion process by which the cultivation of European beet sugar has been largely developed and en- abled to crowd out cane sugar were adopted generally in Cuba as a means of cheapening and enlarging the product. One manufacturer, who has made sugar by the grinding method for many years, believes that this will happen. He admits that the change of method will involve the aban- donment of an extensive plant and the substitu- tion of much new machinery ; but he contends that a revolution in the current processes of making cane sugar is impending. The Spanish Govern- ment now blocks the way by imposing a duty of one to two dollars a ton on coal. The diffusion
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process involves the necessity of using coal, and the duty materially increases the cost of pro- duction. This is an apt illustration of the burdens imposed upon Cuba by a tariff system which does not protect any of its industrial and productive
interests.
Mow Sugar is made.
Soledad has the reputation of being the best managed sugar plantation in Cuba. It produced last year 12,000,000 pounds of sugar, and this year it will probably send to market 14,000,000 pounds. Other plantations largely exceed it in cultivated area and mechanical resources, Con- stancia having a product of 40,000,000 pounds, but Soledad is conducted on scientific principles and with American thoroughness, system, and or- ganization, so that there is the greatest saving in the cost of production and the largest margin for profit on the investment. All the improved ma- chinery is here ; every time-saving and labor- dispensing device is employed, and the maximum amount of sugar is obtained from the cane at the lowest possible cost. Soledad is largely owned by Americans.
Soledad lies near a picturesque little river flowing into the bay of Cienfuegos. It is reached from the town after a delightful sail on a steam yacht across the bay and up the river, and a short railway ride from the wharf to the sugar works
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and plantation house. When the train draws up before the door the manager is at hand with genial smile and graceful hospitality to welcome his guests, and to conduct them personally over the works. With his explanations the intricate pro- cesses of converting cane into sugar are speedily revealed. Then follows a plantation breakfast served in the airy dining-room of his house with lavish hospitality and refinement of courtesy. The dining-room adjoins the parlor or reception room, which is furnished in characteristic Cuban style with cane settees and rocking-chairs — a spacious, high-studded room on the second floor, with windows overlooking the sugar works, and a lovely plantation garden. The floors are bare, carpets never being used on the island, but no Yankee housewife with a mania for sweeping, dusting, and polishing can have a more scrupu- lously neat parlor than what the manager face- tiously describes as the bachelor's hall of Soledad. An afternoon passed in a planter's house is some- thing to be treasured in memory as one of the de- lightful experiences of a lifetime.
The first sugar plantation in Cuba was established about a hundred years after the dis- covery of the island. For three centuries the chief industry of the island has been the cultiva- tion of cane and its conversion into sugar. For a long period the processes of manufacture were
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crude, inexpensive and wasteful, oxen being employed in grinding cane, and the machinery being of the roughest and simplest design. It is no longer either practicable or profitable to raise cane, and make sugar on a small scale. Steam has taken the place of the ox and mule, not only in the grinding mills, but to a large extent in the fields. At Soledad the cane is carried to the works by long trains running on narrow-gauge railways through the estate. It is unloaded from the cars by negroes and thrown upon a broad carrier traveling up a long incline to the rollers of the first mill. As many as fifteen men are employed in Handling this moving mass of cane. When it reaches the first mill it is ground by rollers weighing fifteen tons and set close to- gether. The cane is broken up and about sixty per cent, of the liquor which it contains is drawn off underneath the mill. Under the old process there was only one grinding and much of the liquor was wasted. Now the cane is ground twice and an additional fifteen per cent, of the juice is obtained. Streams of liquor from the vats of the two mills unite and pass through a strainer, one workman being employed in rak- ing off floating refuse and preventing obstruc- tions. The liquor is then ready to be pumped into the boiling works.
The refuse of the cane after the two grind-
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ings is the only fuel used in the works. It is carried by moving conductors to the furnaces and dumped automatically, being dried by the intense heat and consumed as rapidly as it is fed. Wood was used as fuel when the steam engine was introduced in sugar works, and subsequently bagasse, or refuse cane, was put with it. Boilers have been invented to facilitate the employment of bagasse as fuel. Those used here are the Porcupine boilers of the Stillwater pattern. Ordinarily, when the furnaces are fed with bagasse, a force of eighty laborers is constantly occupied in transferring it from the mills to the boiler-house. At Soledad two men do the work of eighty ; or, to speak more accurately, the automatic action of the mechanical conductors dispenses with the labor of seventy-eight men. Indeed, a close approach is made -here to the solution of the old problem of perpetual motion. The cane, when fed to the conductors, serves to keep all the complex machinery of the works in operation; the broken and crushed fragments of bagasse are carried to the furnaces and furnish the power by which not only the grinding, but also the pumping and boiling are done ; all that is not juice, but sheer waste, goes into the pro- duction of force by which the mills are kept grinding and the liquor clarified, boiled and crys- tallized into sugar.
80 CUBA.
From the grinding-mill the cane-juice is pumped into large tanks located in the upper story of the boiling works. In these tanks it is treated with lime which neutralizes the acid. The albumen coagulates when cracked by steam and brought to the boiling point. From the tanks the liquor is pumped into the first of three great boilers, or vacuum pans. In order that boiling may take place at low temperatures the air in the pans is exhausted by steam pumps. In the first boiler the temperature is 200 degrees, in the second 180 degrees and in the third 150 degrees, with corresponding vacuums in each, the heat from the boifing liquor being an agency in the process. This is known as the triple effect of boiling. The liquor is boiled to a syrup contain- ing fifty per cent, of water and fifty per cent, of sugar. The sugar crystallizes in two large strike- pans, where the most delicate work of the factory is done. The most expert operatives are in charge of the strike-pans, from which the contents are constantly sampled and tested in the labora- tory, conducted here by a most intelligent American. The sugar is rapidly cooled and carried into a series of centrifugators. In these the sugar is separated from the molasses by the centrifugating process. As the contents revolve about the centre, the sugar gradually begins to whiten and the molasses is expelled through holes
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in the sides. When the process is completed eighty-five per cent, is sugar and fifteen per cent, molasses as the result of two boilings. The sugar is collected by machinery, carried to the bagging and weighing rooms, and transported by railroad and steam lighter to the wharves of Cienfuegos for shipment to New York.
Without attempting to describe in detail the complex steam mechanism by which the various processes of sugar-making are effected, we may briefly state that these works are equipped with all the improved machinery that has been invented for saving either time or labor. There is, more- over, the perfection of organization and manage- ment. WTith five or six Americans in charge of the work, and with expert Chinamen employed in the most delicate processes, leakages which ordi- narily reduce the planter's profits to a deficit are stopped, and sugar-making is conducted in the most economical and profitable way. At Soledad the manager always knows what the works are doing day by day, what percentage of sugar he is getting out of the cane, and how his product will be graded and rated in the New York market. The work is not done at random, but with accurate knowledge, A tour through the works reveals the cleanest and tidiest factory depart- ments to be seen in or out of New England. Every workman knows what he has to do. There
5
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is the ceaseless rumbling of the machinery, but there is no talking anywhere, no idling of time, no confusion.
The works are in operation at Soledad day and night from December to May, and are then closed until the next grinding season. This is the period when the cane is ripe and when the juice must be expressed with the least possible delay. Cane that is left too long in the field deteriorates in quality and yields less juice. The cane bears one crop a year, and stands for twelve years. When it is ready for harvest it is cut close to the ground with knives and carried to the tramway cafrs. The next season the cornlike stalk grows to its full height, and is ready to be cut again and to have its juice expressed. The grinding season is a short one, and there is great danger lest the cane be spoiled by heat or rain. The most intelligent supervision is required in the fields, and the most rapid transportation of the cane to the mills. Both of these conditions are supplied at Soledad. The cane is cut when it is ripe and carried by train to the mills, where it is converted into sugar in a single day.
The struggle between cane and beet sugar will inevitably be one of the sharpest industrial conflicts known in the history of manufacture. Whether Cuban cane can hold its own against European and American beet is a question which
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not even experts in the business venture to answer. But one thing is certain : If the cane- sugar industry of this island is to keep its ground against the destructive competition of the bounty- fed beet, it can only be through processes of economical production and with the improved machinery employed in plantations like Soledad. Not only is the American market needed for Cuban sugar, but American capital, system and habits of organization are required as well.
Commercial Interests.
The commerce of Havana is almost wholly with the United States and largely under the American flag. Two steamers supply a tri- weekly mail service via Tampa, and there are two steamers each way every week between New York and Havana, the vessels of the direct and Mexican lines alternating. There is also a New Orleans line. There is an excellent mail and passenger service, offering superior facilities for the transportation of freight to Gulf ports and New York. There are more American sailing vessels to be seen in the harbor of Havana than in any other foreign port. The bulk of the sugar is carried to New York by the Ward steamers and by sail under the American flag. The sharp- est competitors are the Spanish companies, one of which is heavily subsidized in Madrid, with branch lines to New York, La Guayra, Colon and Vera
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Cruz. Another Spanish line runs to Liverpool, being virtually owned there. There are no steam- ers here under the English flag. A French line dispatches two steamers and a German line one every month. The communications with Europe are mainly under the Spanish flag. No return freights can be carried in that direction, since the
o
sugar goes in bulk to the United States ; and hence few steamers come out except those that are subsidized by Spain and tramps knocking about the West Indies for cargoes to New York. At Matanzas, the Spanish steamers and Norwe- gian and English sailing vessels are actively com- peting for freights, so that_nQt-jnore than half of
i. ^5 ^? ^ :
the 160,000 tons of sugar and the 60.000 tons of molasses annually exported is carried north under the American flag. At Cardenas and Sagua, sim- ilarcbnditions prevail. The steamers stop at these three ports, but not with such frequency as to control the shipping business, as they do at Havana.
A commercial agreement based upon equality of privilege for the flags of Spain and the United States was concluded in February, 1884. The non-enforcement of that compact in Cuban ports has been a constant source of complaint on the part of American shipping and exporting in- terests. Consul-General Williams directed the attention of the State Department to several in-
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stances in which American vessels were compelled to pay tonnage dues when Spanish vessels were exempt, and to other cases in which higher rates of duties were levied upon cargoes carried under the American flag than were imposed upon the cargoes of Spanish vessels. A long diplomatic cor- respondence respecting discriminations founded on the trans-shipment of cargoes in American and Spanish vessels ensued, and President Cleve- land in 1886 gave notice of the revocation of the agreement of 1884, and the imposition of a dis- criminating duty of ten per cent, against cargoes in Spanish vessels entering American ports. This decisive action brought Spain to its senses. An agreement between Secretary Bayard and the Spanish Minister provided for the equalization of tonnage and import dues so far as American and Spanish vessels were concerned. The Presi- dent restored the modus vivendi, which has con- tinued in operation, subject to several amendments. While various controversies have arisen respect- ing exemptions from tonnage dues, the principle has been established that so far as the customs law is concerned vessels under the two flags must be treated on terms of equality in American and Spanish ports.
Some Annoying1 Tricks.
Spanish rapacity has devised an ingenious \ method of harassing American shipping interests
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by a system of fines imposed for clerical errors and shortages of camo in which there is no
o o
intent to defraud the Government of the island. For example, a Ward steamer in loading cargo recently at the New York wharf left ashore two ploughs. The error was discovered and a dis- patch sent to the custom house at Matanzas announcing that the ploughs called for on the manifest would be sent by the next steamer. The telegram was received before the steamer arrived, but a fine of $400 was imposed, although the ploughs were shipped the next week. An- other steamer was fined $Soo for a shortage of four tierces of Tard under similar circumstances. These instances might be multiplied indefinitely. Then there is another class of trivial errors which furnish opportunities for the exaction of penalties. The steamer "Cienfuegos" was heavily fined for having in the manifest a generic word "drugs," instead of a specific term. Other vessels have been fined for the most trivial cler- ical errors. One of the captains of a leading steamship line says that he seldom makes a voyage to Cuba without having a fine imposed upon his ship. At the first port which he enters he employs and pays a custom house official to examine the manifest critically and find out if it be correct in form ; but notwithstanding this pre- caution fines are levied for incorrect translations
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and clerical errors. Each custom house has its own system of. interpretation and special phrase- ology, and a manifest that will pass inspection at one will not at another. Spanish vessels enter- ing Cuban ports are not subjected to these harassing annoyances. American vessels alone are fined for technical errors.
The files of the State Department at Wash- ington are crammed with correspondence relating to fines of this character, and the question has been repeatedly raised at Madrid. In the United States penalties are never imposed when there has evidently been no breach of good faith on the part of the shipper ; but in Cuba advantage is taken of every technical irregularity. The moiety system by which the informer receives a portion of the fine stimulates the zeal of custom-house operators. One collector levies a penalty and it is confirmed by the Council of Administration. The Captain-General, when appeal is made to him, refers the case to the Colonial office in Madrid. When the papers are returned after long delay with a recommendation that the fine be remitted, it is too late to refund it. The in- former has received his share and cannot be com- pelled to give it up. A new Collector of Customs confesses his inability to revise and reverse a de- cision of his predecessor. Diplomatic corres- pondence has been carried on for years in relation
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to these cases without effect. The customs offi- cials have their living to make by their wits at the expense of American shipowners. They ply their trade with unceasing industry.
This system of fining is virtually a discrimi- nation against American vessels in Spanish ports, and is contrary to the principle of equality of flags on which the modus vivendi is based. The State Department has taken this ground, but seems to be powerless to obtain redress for the just grievances of American ship-owners. It will have an opportunity, however, if a reciprocity treaty be negotiated, for incorporating in the ex- isting commercial agreement provisions for the protection of American interests against these exactions. Two stipulations are requisite — one furnishing means for a prompt appeal for the remission of fines for trivial offences, and the other requiring payment of the penalty in full into the treasury, so that the informer cannot get his share of it. These provisions of treaty law are needed in order to enforce the principle of non-discrimination between the flags embodied in the existing modus vivendi.
A Plucky Captain.
A good story is told of Captain Colton, one of the most aggressive Americans on the coast. Owing to bad weather at Nassau he was com- pelled to leave port without landing a portion of
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his cargo. When he arrived at the Cuban ports he reported the case and announced that he would land the cargo on the return trip and send by mail a certificate from the Spanish Consul at Nassau that the goods had been put ashore there. The custom house officials would not listen to him, but refused to clear his ship because a cargo not intended for Cuba had been brought in. He allowed them half an hour in which to come to a decision. He told them that in order to protect the lives of his passengers and to save his ship he had been compelled to leave Nassau without landing a portion of his cargo, and announced that if they refused to clear the vessel he would abandon it where it lay at anchor, hold them responsible for the consequences and take his crew in a body to Havana before the Consul- General to protest against their conduct. It was a bold stroke, but Captain Colton knew the men with whom he was dealing. They promptly cleared his ship.
The Consulate-General of Havana is one of the most laborious and exacting offices in the American service. Not only is the volume of commercial exchanges with the United States very great, but there is also a mass of diplomatic work to be done here, requiring experience, in- tellectual resources and knowledge of interna- tional and Cuban law. Not only are cases of
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customs exactions similar to those already des- cribed constantly arising, but the rights of Ameri- can citizens are assailed in many other ways. Mr. Atkins, of Boston, at one time chartered a line of steamers to carry sugar from Cienfuegos, and subquently abandoned the enterprise. Sev- eral years after the withdrawal of his vessels a claim was brought against him for $12,929.30, alleged balances of tonnage due. This was dis- puted and on October 22, 1890, an attachment of $4,000 was placed on one of his plantations at San Jose, near Cienfuegos. The Consul-Gen- eral at once took up the case, contending that the responsibility for any mistake made when the steamers were cleared lay with the customs officials ; that they could not invalidate their own clearance papers by bringing suit eight years after blunders of their own were committed ; that under the treaties of 1795 and 1815 the pro- ceedings must be conducted by a court, and that the customs officials had no right to deprive the defendant of the privilege of hearing the charges made against him and employing counsel, and that the period had expired by limitation during which any claim could legally be filed. This is an illustration of the work which the Consul- General is constantly called upon to do.
CHAPTER IV.
THE UNSAVORY HARBOR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF
HAVANA — AT THE OPERA — THE LOTTERY —
CATHEDRAL AND CUSTOM HOUSE DANSE DU
VENTRE IN CUBA THE BULL RING THE TOMB
OF COLUMBUS AMONG THE PAWN-SHOPS A
HARD BARGAIN MATANZAS A WONDERFUL
CAVE A MODERN CITY TRAVELING IN CUBA
SANTIAGO HARBOR A TOWN OF ANCIENT DIRT
CUBAN RAILROADS ONE CLEAN TOWN — A VILE
HOTEL.
IF THE traveler leaves New York at one o'clock, Saturday afternoon, and is favored with fine weather, he will find himself within a few hours of the Cuban capital early on the morning of the following Wednesday. As the steamer enters the harbor, sailing by the Morro Castle, built on a natural foundation of solid rock and bristling with guns (which would probably burst at the first discharge) the scene is wonderfully pretty. Havana itself, with its Moorish architec- ture, its irregular and picturesque streets, its numerous plazas, or squares, whose palm and Indian laurel trees raise their green branches high above the low buildings of the city ; its
(90
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houses of white stone decorated liberally with blue, red, green or pink, having roofs of brown tiling, present an enchanting picture.
Passengers and freight are landed by means of small sailboats which ply between the steamers and the dock. One sits in the stern of the craft, under an awning which succeeds in keeping out what little breeze may be stirring, and speculates as to the probability of ever seeing one's luggage again, while listening to a torrent of Spanish pro- fanity which the captain distributes impartially among the crew.
The Unsavory Harbor.
As the boat approaches the dock, Havana sends her greeting to you in the shape of a select and varied assortment of vile odors. Less than one-eighth of the city is sewered, and that is so badly done that practically she has no system of drainage. It is said on the authority of a local doctor, that there is not known to be in existence even to-day a chart or map showing the layout or location of the drains, which are constructed of the soft, porous stone of the country.
In most of the houses the waste and refuse matter is thrown into a cesspool in the patio, or court-yard ; these are cleaned out at infrequent intervals and the contents dumped into the har- bor. As the rise and fall of the tide in the bay is only a matter of eighteen inches, there is of
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course but little movement below the surface of the water, and as almost all the filth of the city ultimately finds its way there, where it sinks to the bottom and remains, the condition of the harbor of Havana is simply horrible.
It is true that the government makes some little attempt to clean it, but that amounts to nothing. Many of the sewers empty directly under the docks, where they can not be got at easily ; consequently there is much sickness at all seasons in that part of the town, especially among the sailors, who come here from foreign ports.
Havana is so situated that it might be per- fectly drained and be, therefore, one of the healthiest and most delightful cities in the world, but while it remains in the hands of the present government things will continue as they are. since for every thousand of dollars legitimately expended for improvement, as much more will find its way into the pockets of the officials, and the people are already overburdened with taxation. This is no secret, for the matter is freely discussed in the cafes and shops.
First Impressions of Havana.
An American's first impressions of Havana are strongly colored by current literature of travel, which needs thorough revision. Most of the popular books on Cuba were written either during the slavery period or immediately after
94 CUBA.
the insurrection. A great deal has happened during the last decade to which the book-writers do not bear testimony. One comes to Havana, says a recent writer, with a strong feeling of sympathy for a people lying bound and fettered in the outer darkness of political despotism, overawed by a foreign garrison of 60,000 soldiers, despoiled of their liberties, denied the rights of public meeting and a free press, subjected to unceasing police espionage and the risks of arbitrary arrest, plundered by tax-gatherers and lawless bandits, gloomy, unhappy and despairing. Before a day has passed he finds out that much of his sympathy is misplaced. Cuba is some- thing very different from what he has imagined it to be.
''There is fullness of life in this Cuban capital, with exuberance of animal spirits and light-hearted gayety. There are few care-worn faces to be seen in the crowded streets, the busy arcades and the spacious plazas. The cafes and restaurants are thronged day and night with a pleasure-loving, rollicking population. Around the shabby little statue of Isabella gathers nightly a motley concourse, joyous in mood and mercurial in temper, to listen to the feeble murmur of a Spanish band, or to traffic in lottery tickets and to laugh and chatter by the hour over frivo- lous jests. What Paris is to France, Havana is
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to Cuba. It is the centre of the island's life, activities and recreation. The times may be hard, but to the Lydian measures of their favorite and characteristic city, Cubans disport themselves with intensity of enjoyment. Here are the only good theatres of the island, and two opera com- panies can draw crowded houses on the same night. Here are the best Spanish club-houses, and play runs high in gilded gaming-houses. Here is the bustle caused by the daily movement of a population of 250,000, and under the flare of electric light the city loses the aspect of faded grandeur and is again the most brilliant and gay- est capital of Spanish America. There is more of genuine Spanish blood in Havana than in Buenos Ayres, Mexico, Santiago, Montevideo or Lima. Mr. Froude has estimated that there are in Cuba alone ten times as many Spaniards as there are English and Scotch in all the West Indies. The porter handling your baggage in the custom house, the hackman driving you to the hotel and the shop-keepers who stare at you from the arcades, are either Spanish emi- grants themselves, or their parents were born in the historic Peninsula. Spanish voices may be heard in the streets, and at the adjoining table in the hotel dining-room there will be perfect types of Spanish faces. One family I have never wearied of watching at noon and at night — a rich
96 CUBA.
planter's son, tall, erect, with handsome face, courtly bearing and eyes with a keen suggestion of hardness and treachery ; his wife, with a re- fined face of delicate beauty, with eyes large and lustrous, and with voice soft and caressing as the airs of her native Castile ; and two lovely children, with oval faces and silky hair, in good discipline under the parents' eyes, but rebelling boisterously against the usurpation of an English governess. Cuba is essentially Spanish in its blood, its customs, its vices, its pleasures and its life. Whatever else the Spaniard may do, he never mopes ; and Cuba, with all the evils of misgovernment .and all the hard pressure of economic reverses, is cheery, bright and over- flowing with good nature.
At the Opera.
"The Tacon Theatre is the largest auditor- ium in the city. It may have been an impressive interior when the frescoes were fresh and the gilding and decorations bright and untarnished, but it is now a dingy barn, remarkable only for its seating capacity — between 3,000 and 4,000. I attended a performance of " Lohengrin" one Saturday night, when the lattice-work boxes were filled with ladies in full dress, and the parquette crov/ded, with the four upper tiers half empty. There was a fair orchestra, but the chorus was weak, and only one of the singers acted her part
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with any spirit. The Cubans, while passionately fond of music, are accustomed to intensity of action, violent gesticulation and excessive pos- turing in every-day life ; and they cannot forgive even a good singer who neglects to throw her- self into her part. The contralto, who sang badly, but showed signs of intensity of feeling, was rapturously applauded. Poor Elsa, who could only sing like a bird, with unaffected simplicity, was barely tolerated. The Havana ladies in their dress affect violent and startling contrasts of vivid coloring, and make a lavish use of powder and rouge. The intermission between acts is a protracted one, and the lobbies and cafes are filled with a cloud of cigarette smoke and a loud uproar of excited conversation. If action be lacking on the stage, it is amply supplied in the lobbies, where every man energetically illustrates and emphasizes the most trivial remark or the stalest joke by an astonishing play of facial ex- pression and gesticulation.
"The bull-ring remains, as in former years, the favorite amusement of the Cubans, but the performances are less frequent and the sport is poorer. The cock-pits are the cheapest and most popular entertainment, and Sunday would be incomplete and dull without many of these revolting exhibitions. The spectators become fairly delirious with excitement as the battle pro-
6
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ceeds. Betting on the result runs high, and many a poor montero has all that he has in the world staked upon one bird or the other. A passion for gambling is the heritage of the Spanish blood -*— like administrative corruption. The popularity of the lottery is explained by the same race instinct. In other Spanish-American countries the lotteries are conducted for the benefit of churches and hospitals ; but here the Government monopolizes the business as a permanent source of revenue. There is public faith in the honesty of the drawings an4 methods of administering the Havana lottery, and certainly the Government has no reason for acting otherwise, since it profits handsomely by the enterprise." The lyOttery.
The Royal Havana Lottery is well known over a large part of the world, and was for many years the most important and best regulated lottery in existence. It is, or was, entirely under the control and management of the Government, and was conducted on a perfectly upright and honest principle. The Government, however, like many other agencies, deducted a very large commission for its trouble. The system was for the Government to issue tickets to the amount of $500,000. These tickets each bore a number and were in the form of coupons, and each could be divided into sixteen parts, each having the number
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 99
upon it. The price of a full ticket was an ounce of gold, which was valued at $17. But as the ticket could be divided into sixteen parts, a six- teenth part of a ticket was sold for $1.12^. The prizes awarded were as follows : One prize of $100,000, one prize of $50,000, five prizes of $20,000 each, ten prizes of $5,000 each, and twenty-five prizes of $2,000 each, amounting in all to $250,000. The Government had, therefore, on each drawing, a profit of $150,000. A draw- ing was held every month. The Government retained all tickets or parts of tickets not sold, and, of course, drew what prizes fell to them. As a rule all the tickets were sold out some time before the day of drawing, and sometimes the demand was so great that special drawings had to be organized.
This institution was very popular in Havana. The poorest families would take their sixteenth part of a ticket, attaching great importance to some particular number which they regarded as lucky. Others, according to their means and station in life, took larger parts of tickets or whole tickets. Of course each portion of a ticket entitled the holder to a corresponding proportion of the prize. Many merchants took regularly every month one or more whole tickets, devoting a special account book to their lottery investments. A few of these books showed a balance on the
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side of profit, but more of them had balances on the side of loss. It was, however, regarded as a way of paying taxes. If the Government had not made as much money as it did out of the lottery it would have had to impose heavier taxes upon the people. It afforded, moreover, a little pleasing excitement, and the poorer people always cherished a hope of some day drawing a big prize and becoming rich. Certain lands and properties were looked out to be bought, certain businesses were to be commenced, old homes in Spain were to be visited, and many other objects were to be attained "when I draw in the lottery," 'and of course every month the fame spread around of a stroke of fortune to some one.
The lottery was also the means of providing employment for a large number of poor people as ticket-sellers. These people must be known to be really poor, deserving and well-behaved. When they got the appointment they were pro- vided with brass badges inscribed with the num- bers of their licenses. Each was assigned to a certain district and was required to appear perfectly clean and well-dressed with the brass badge shining brightly. They were allowed to call out their numbers in soliciting trade, but always to be respectful and civil and never importunate.
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Cathedral and Custom House.
Some 300 years ago, when Spain held dominion over the greater part of the New World, and the city of Havana was rising up as a central station and key to these possessions, a magnificent cathedral was erected, fronting the sea, inside of the beautiful bay which now forms the harbor, and just about the centre of the front of the walled city. This cathedral was said to be the finest in the New World, and was held in great veneration. When Havana was captured by the British in 1762, a considerable force was landed to garrison the place, a part of which was cavalry with little regard for the sacredness of the edifice, the conquerors used the cathedral as a stable for their horses. A year later the city was restored to Spain by the treaty of peace signed at Paris, and the cathedral was restored to its rightful owners. In consideration of the use to which it had been put by the British, it was declared to be defiled and desecrated and entrance to it was strictly forbidden. For a period of 100 years the stately building was condemned to be closely shut up in darkness. When that period had elapsed, the building was reopened but never again was used as a place of wor- ship. It was converted into a custom house and devoted to the secular purposes of the Gov- ernment.
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The Oanse du Ventre in Cuba.
" I attended," says a recent visitor, "a dra- matic performance at the Alhambra one night. Three zcirzuelas, or short one-act plays, are pre- sented, and after each one a baile, or dance resem- bling the Cancan, is performed (in this instance) by three women and three men. The dancers are very graceful, and although the tempo of the music is disconcerting to my ear, they manage to keep perfect time, which is perhaps the most re- markable feature of it.
"But the dance of the evening is given by a slender and rather pretty Spanish girl, very modestly costumed and accompanied by soft, voluptuous music. She is assisted by a nimble male dancer, who circles about her with simple, yet graceful steps, advancing wildly toward her at intervals as if about to embrace her ; she escapes him, however, and he himself seems to think better of it on reflection, retiring discreetly to the back of the stage where he gesticulates madly to some mysterious personage in the flies, appearing to give up the whole business as a bad job. The dance of la senorita has so far been similar to that given by Carmencita, but now her movements become nothing more than a series of wrior°fles and contortions of the abdomen and
oo
hips — it is, in fact, the danse du ventre exactly as seen in the Midway Plaisance, only more suggest-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 105
ive and indecent than the Chicago article and infinitely more graceful.
"Amid a final discordant crash on the part of the orchestra and howls of delight from the audience, the curtain descends, when the Ameri- can visitor betakes himself to the cafe to escape the inevitable encore and to enjoy his cigarette and lemonade in peace."
The Bull Rin?.
The most famous popular amusement in Havana is, however, bull-fighting, especially on Sundays.
As early as 2 o'clock the people begin to gather at the ring, although the sport will not be- gin until 4. In the meantime a vast quantity of lemonade, water sweetened with panales, cheap wine and cognac, is disposed of by the hot and thirsty crowd. In the palcos (boxes) many senoras are to be seen with fan and mantilla, attended by dandies smoking cigarettes or big black cigars.
Everybody is talking, the band plays gay music and occasionally you hear the bulls bellow- ing in their pens outside the ring.
The latter is about eighty feet in diameter and surrounded by a board fence some four feet high, over which the fighters vault when hard pressed by the bull. At 4 o'clock exactly the president enters his palco, signals with his hand- kerchief for the slaughter to begin, and from, the
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opposite side the bull-fighters enter the enclosure, marching in pairs across to the president, whom they salute before taking their several positions about the arena.
The trumpet sounds and as the bull bounds into the ring, a rosette of colored paper fastened to a sharp piece of metal is driven into his shoulder. This is unpleasant for the bull, and, snorting with anger, he charges on an offensive partisan, called a capeador, who gently waves a red cloak before him. Just as the animal reaches him, he steps nimbly aside, escaping by a hair's-breadth.
For ten or fifteen minutes the bull is teased in this manner by the gentlemen with gaudy cloaks, when at another signal from the president the trumpet sounds again and a banderillero enters armed with banderillas — short sticks ornamented with colored paper, having wicked-looking barbs or darts in the ends.
The banderillero, taking one of these pleasant toys in either hand, approaches his enemy, raising himself on tiptoe and waving his arms up and down. The eyes of the bull have a dangerous gleam, as he faces the fighter, pawing the ground and bellowing with rage. Suddenly he lowers his head and rushes straight at the banderillero, who calmly awaits the onset, until the bull is within three feet of him, when, like lightmqgf, he hurls
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the darts into the animal's neck and escapes with
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nothing worse than a tumble. Sometimes these banderillas have bombs affixed to them, which explode under the bull's skin, causing him to feel very ill, and amusing the audience beyond expression. This act, when cleverly executed, calls forth rapturous applause and showers of silver coin and cigars, while some throw their hats into the ring — wearing old ones there for the purpose.
El Toro, who up to this time has been fight- ing with great courage, is streaming with blood and begins to lose confidence in his " rushes." The people, too, are impatient and clamor for the deathstroke, and at a final signal from the presi- dential box the matador, carrying a red flag and a long, slender sword, makes a salute and takes his position. The business of the other fighters now is to tease and madden the bull while endeavoring to direct his attention to the matador. The latter waves his red banner, advances, retreats, while the audience yells and the band plays. The poor victim is fairly blind with rage by this time, and steadying himself for a moment for a last mighty effort, makes a dash toward the matador, who, with a deft and vigorous stroke, pierces the heart of the bull and the butchery is finished.
A brutal sport, you say ? Well, it may be so ; yet, as a Cuban friend puts it, how much more refined and elevating is it to see two per-
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fectly developed human animals beat each other's heads to a jelly with two-ounce gloves ?
The Tomb of Columbus.
One of the first conventional duties which an American visitor feels called upon to perform is to pay his tribute to the discoverer of America by visiting- the Cathedral and reading the Spanish doggerel inscription near an altar with porphyry pillars. If he be uncertain whether it was the great Christopher who was really buried there, and not Brother Die^o. who was disinterred in
o '
Santo Domingo and brought over by mistake, he needs to hasten back to the hotel and not to make a short detour in order to glance at the wretched little Columbus Chapel erected where the discoverer is reputed to have attended the first Mass ever celebrated in Havana — one of the most bare-faced fictions ever repeated by priest or layman. Before going more than three blocks he will be in the centre of one of the most inter- esting trading-places of Havana. In Compostela and adjoining streets he will be among the pawn- shops, wherq the best bargains in the West Indies are to be made. These shops are stocked with old furniture, plate, china, jewelry, clocks, watches, firearms, fans, laces, medals and orna- ments, with everything of value on which bank- rupt or spendthrift planters, soldiers and gamblers have been able to borrow money. Three months
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only are allowed for the redemption of the goods. Long ago the time expired and now everything is at the disposal of the Yankee pur- chasers eager to obtain curios or anything that is very old and at the same time very cheap.
Among; the Pawn-Shops. There is no more unerring sign of the ex-
O O
haustion of Cuban resources than the revelations of these pawn-shops, which monopolize the trade of foreign visitors. In these shops are to be found heirlooms that were handed down from one generation to another ; medals of honor for bravery in the field ; engagement rings, neck- laces, diamonds, antique lace that has been worn by heiresses, and costly fans behind which have shone the dark eyes of the belles of Havana ; furniture of the colonial period, of which the New England stock was long ago exhausted by the demands of curiosity-hunters, and silver and china of antiquated patterns, which would be marked up to the highest figures in fashionable New York stores. The pressure of hard times caused by the losses of the patriotic war and by the stupendous folly and supreme selfishness of Spanish economic law have brought all this wealth of bric-a-brac into the cheapest of cheap markets. The pawnbroker names his price, and it is a low one ; but if he be offered one-half or one-third as much, he will drive a bargain rather than see an
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American customer with gold in hand leave the
shop.
A Hard Bargain.
It may be well to warn American travelers against venturing into this quarter until the sights of the town have been "done," the drives taken, and the excursions made ; for otherwise they may leave Havana without seeing anything except the railway station, their hotel, and the pawn-shops. A New Yorker and his charming wife got into the pawn-shops soon after their arrival, and they remained there almost continuously until the Tampa steamer was ready to sail. The husband started out early each morning for Compostela Street ; in the afternoon his wife accompanied him to temper his ardor, and in the evening he returned alone to clinch the bargains. Sunday brought with it some scruples of conscience, and'the wife succeeded in carrying him off to high Mass at the Cathedral ; but after the noon-breakfast he was overpowered by the fatal fascination and crept back to the pawn-shops for more bargains, re- turning with a guilty conscience, but laden with booty.
On the following day the interpreter was fairly compelled to drive him out of the pawn-shops in order to get him on board the steamer before the sailing hour. Retribution for Sabbath-breaking met him on deck in the person of the medical
I
s
2
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officer employed by the United States authorities to protect the health of Florida.
This stern official refused to allow a tall colonial clock, which had been bought at a pawn- shop, boxed and carried like a coffin to the ship to be received as private baggage. He remarked sententiously that it was an old clock, and might have germs of yellow fever concealed under its antique dial-plate. A long parley proved ineffect- ual, and the suspected clock was sent ashore to the medical officer's house to be quarantined. Two days afterwards it was sent to Florida by the next steamer. What precautions had been taken to disinfect the clock, and to render its shipment safe is not known ; but there was a fee of two dollars paid for the quarantine. Private baggage containing fabrics which might more reasonably be supposed to be disease carriers was not over- hauled ; but Florida was protected with inflexible purpose against the risks of contagion through an old clock.
Matanzas.
The decadence of a once prosperous and beautiful city is a melancholy spectacle. Matan- zas in its best days was a luxurious centre of wealth and fashion, as well of profitable industry and commerce. Surrounded with sugar, coffee and tobacco plantations, it ranked after Havana as the busiest hive in flowering Cuba. All the indus-
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tries of the island were carried on with success on the verdant hillsides and undulating plains encircling its spacious and picturesque harbor. The Yumuri Valley was dotted with country seats, where rich planters entertained their guests with prodigal hospitality. Their massive town houses were miniature palaces built with showy colonnades and stone verandas, and fur- nished with lavish expense. On the coast were their summer cottages, where their families could enjoy the refreshing northern sea-breeze in seasons of inclement heat. The San Carlos Paseo was blocked with carriages in the after- noon, and the evenings were filled with gayety and sumptuous entertainment. All is now changed. Emancipation and the insurrection impoverished the rich planters. Many of the finest estates passed into the hands of Spanish immigrants and adventurers, who have been con- demned to maintain an exhausting and ruinous struggle against a system grounded upon viola- tions of economic law. Planters who have escaped confiscation and conformed to the con- ditions of free labor have witnessed the gradual shrinkage of the profits of their industries and the collapse of their fortunes. Costly residences which were once valued at $150,000 are now offered, without purchasers, at $25,000. Depreciation of values is even greater here than in Havana.
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Country seats which were conspicuous for ele- gance and social festivity are now bare, silent and fallen to decay. The seaside villas are shabby and tenantless. The famous San Carlos drive is a neglected and unfrequented road. Matanzas is a centre of unremunerative, labor- ious and unsatisfactory commerce, a city haunted with memories of its former prosperity.
All is changed save the beauty of the land- scape setting of the city and the unrivalled splendor of the marine views from hillside and headland. No grander prospect can be had in Cuba than that which opens from the Chapel of Monserrate back of the town. The Yumuri flows through a gorge four miles in length, which is walled off to the right and left by abrupt and picturesque hillsides. There is a wide-reaching vista beyond with plantations of sugar, coffee and tobacco, groves of palmettos, pineapples, cocoa- nuts and orange trees, thickets of almond trees and limes, fields of corn and patches of potatoes, and here and there a stately royal palm. From one of the highest coigns of vantage near the city may be seen plantations and farms on which every fruit and product known in Cuba is under cultivation ; and the landscape is fringed with dense woods, wherein ebony, mahogany, cedar and even rosewood, flourish. From Monserrate it is a short drive to the Plaza de Armas, with its
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fine display of tropical flowers, to the Govern- ment buildings and club houses and the water front ; but it is on a moonlit evening that the bay roads offer superior scenic attractions. The vivid sunlight lays bare mercilessly the faded glories of the town and the ravages of commercial ruin. By moonlight, one needs to be told of the neglected condition of these once famous drives and promenades ; and the pathos of faded gran- deur and exhausted fortunes makes only a transi- tory impression upon a sympathetic mind. San Severino Castle and the ruined fortifications are enveloped with silvery radiance. The San Juan River, with its dingy lines of crumbling ware- houses, is softened and transfigured. The broad bay, with its sparkling shipping lights and the ocean beyond, foaming upon a coral ledge, are silhouettes to be seen and never forgotten.
A Wonderful Cave.
The visitor has also at Matanzas a natural phenomenon which cannot be rivalled in Cuba. This is the subterranean passage through a for- mation of carbonate of lime, known as the caves of Bellamar. The road follows the shore of the bay and then over the rocky hillside for a distance of five miles. The old-fashioned volante, a vehicle which has been displaced in Havana by the Victoria, is here required. It has two great wheels, on which rest the thills, with seats for
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three above them suspended by straps. The pony between the thills is accompanied and partly preceded by another, which the driver rides like a postilion. It is a hard, jolting drive to the caves, and a laborious descent by steps, bridges, and cavernous passages underground. Guides are in advance with long bees-wax tapers, which light up here and there recesses and corners of the high-vaulted chambers. The ceiling is hung with crystals, and the sides are buttressed with stalactites and stalagmites of bewildering beauty and lustre. The passage underground is many hundred feet in length and offers a succession of spectral lace-work combinations of crystal archi- tecture in amber, pink, and gray. The largest of the chambers is fancifully named the Gothic Temple, and is provided with a jeweled altar, near which hangs the Virgin's cloak, embroidered with resplendent lace, and heavy with glistening pendants. The garrulous guides see all these wonders if the visitors do not, and photographs are available at the entrance, if doubts are to be removed. The tapers furnish streaks of light that are utterly inadequate to illumine these wonderful caves. This is one drawback upon the visitor's enjoyment, but not the only one. The heat in the subterranean vaults is intolerable. If one could pass through the caves in the same airy costume which the little negro 7
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boys and girls affect in the poorer quarters of Havana and Matanzas — that is, in brass ear-rings, and nothing else — the excursion would be fairly comfortable. That is hardly practicable, and an involuntary Turkish bath with clothes on, and a subsequent drive in the sea-breeze, are the penal- ties paid for a visit to Bellarnar. Admission to a laboratory where nature's refined processes of crystallization are revealed in the drops of water hanging from the dripping stalactites ought to cost something in addition to the expensive fees
of the guides.
A modern City.
Cienfuegos, the terminus of one line of steamers, and of the Western railway system of Cuba, is a modern town built since the present century opened. It has a fine harbor and a grow- ing trade, and is the commercial centre of thirty of the largest sugar plantations of the island. While having only one-half of the population of Santiago, it is a cleaner, more cheerful and more interesting town. It has excellent hotel accom- modations for this latitude, and with the sugar plantations near-by, offers much entertainment to strangers.
"From the balcony upon which the window of my room opens," says a visitor, "can be seen the graceful outlines of the Trinidad Mountains, very pleasant to look upon after the level, monoto-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. I 19
nous stretch of country I had been riding through for a week at the bottom of the calle, the shining waters of the harbor, its docks lined with two- masted sailing vessels which run between this port and Havana, and the wharves piled high with merchandise from Europe and America. In the neighborhood of 1 15,000 tons of sugar were shipped from this port last season, and some of the largest and best equipped ingenios in Cuba are within a few hours' ride of it." Travelling: in Cuba.
From Cienfuegos there are two routes to Havana. One is by railway, involving an early start, four changes of cars and a full day's ride. The other is by steamer to Batabano, requiring a night and a morning on the sea, and a two hours' journey by rail across the island. The second is preferable on many accounts, and especially because the steamer scenes are characteristic of the country, and therefore especially interesting to strangers. Each steamer carries cattle in the lower deck, and a motley company of Spanish soldiers and noisy Cubans. The soldiers camp out on deck, and lie mummied in their blankets while they sleep, and in the morning they are fed from kettles, the spoon psssing from man to man, very much as the pipe of peace is smoked in an Indian camp. There are a noisy rabble, shouting, gesticulating and singing when they are not
1 20 CUBA.
sunning themselves on deck with their blankets wrapped about their heads like clumsy hoods. The Cubans do not fraternize with the soldiers, but remain at the other end of the boat, singing, gambling in the saloon and lingering affection- ately over their cocktails. A dozen nuns are among them, watching the roystering scenes with unaffected interest, and cautiously retiring to a quiet corner when the uproar becomes scandalous. As the steamer approaches the wharf at Batabano there is a medley of singing, shouting and swear- ing, with the accompaniment of accordions, guitars and fifes. Cubans, like all Spanish-Americans, are passionately fond of noise and excitement. It is what makes their life worth living.
A train is already drawn up to carry the passengers of the crowded steamer to Havana ; but it is a long, dreary time before it is in motion. There are two engines at hand and switches con- veniently placed for the rapid making up of trains ; but neither one nor the other is used. A pair of oxen is employed in hauling one car after another into place, while the engines stand motionless on the track. Why the engines are not brought into use to facilitate the operation and to start the train on time the most ingenious Yankee will be unable to find out. Possibly it is because Columbus used oxen for making up his trains when he first visited Cuba, and the Spanish ruling class
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does not favor radical reforms. As for the rolling- stock to be seen on this railway, there can be no question respecting its identity. It was used in taking the live stock out of the Ark and has never been painted nor oiled.
Santiago Harbor.
The Southern coast of Cuba opens at Cape Maisi with barren highlands and heavily-wooded mountains, and ends in the west with level plains sentinelled by palms with waving plumes. There is one Caribbean seaboard that rivals it in bold- ness and beauty — the mountainous coast of Venezuela ; but there are no harbors on the Spanish main to be compared with those of Guantanamo, Santiago, and Cienfuegos. Santi- ago harbor seen at daybreak is a glorious spec- tacle which stirs the pulses of the most sluggish traveler, and remains in the memory a silhouette of entrancing beauty. The rock-bound coast sul- lenly opens its granite gates and jealously guards the entrance to a spacious bay flanked by moun- tains. One of the giant cliffs, sloping abruptly seaward, is crowned with a gray and yellow fortress. So narrow is the entrance that the ship seems to pass directly under the antique battle- ments and Moorish turrets, and sentinels on the stone terraces and the prisoners behind the barred windows are almost within call, save that the breakers underneath the green bank are filling
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with uproar the cavernous depth of the rocky buttresses. The harbor opens and widens as the ship sails on until it is a placid expanse of sheltered water with blue mountains encircling it, and the city a long way in the distance trans- figured in the golden light of a tropical morning. Like Rio, it lies among hills with mountains encamped about it, with islands bristling with for- tifications and with seaward defences which could be made impregnable, even with meagre engi- neering skill. Like Rio, also, it is a foul and shabby town, unworthy of its magnificent sur- roundings.
A Town of Ancient Dirt. Santiago was founded by Velasquez in 1514, and its streets have never been swept to this day. There are incrustations of mould on the Cathe- dral walls and there is the dust of ages on the low-browed tiled roofs of the crumbling, dilapi- dated, tiled houses. In other Spanish-American towns dirt is painted over or whitewashed at least once in a decade ; but here it passes for time-stain and is considered quaint and venerable. The streets are padded with slime and filth, and the city, with its population of 45,000, is in the worst possible sanitary condition. There is a dingy plaza where on Sunday evenings a band plays and young and old walk briskly up and down for two hours. During the week it is de-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 123
serted and has an untidy, neglected aspect. The Cathedral is a large but unsightly structure, filled with tawdry decorations and cheap statues. The Government buildings are antiquated and shabby; the shops are uninteresting ; and the houses are low-built structures, remarkable chiefly for the absence of glass in the windows and for the advanced stages of decay which the cracked, sunken and bungling walls disclose. There is a good club-house for foreigners — one of the re- deeming features of this unfortunate town — and a few of the American and English sugar mer- chants have clean and comfortable offices ; but these are almost the only signs of civilization. The horses which drag the cumbrous volantes over the broken cobblestones are skeleton hacks looking much the worse for wear. The very dogs in the alleys have lean cadaverous faces. The bookwriters, I am aware, draw a very differ- ent picture of Santiago from this ; but I saw nothing in it that was bright and cheerful except the genial face of the American Consul, in his comfortable and well-furnished offices.
Santiago is a city rich in traditions and memories of nearly four centuries of Spanish rule on the island. It was a stronghold against the buc- caneers and privates who made Guantanamo their rendezvous, and it was also the base of operations against the insurgents in the long and disastrous
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Civil War. The picturesque Morro, at the entrance of the harbor has been for many gener- ations a dungeon where political offenders have been confined and tortured, and among the low buildings adjoining the barracks the men of the " Virginius " were put to death. A short distance up the coast, on the line of one of the mining railways, was the hiding place of Tweed when he escaped from New York in a yacht and was transferred to a ship heading for Spain. There is a cabin pointed out to travelers as the one where he enjoyed the hospitality of a burly mulatto ; but it is only a substitute for it, fur- nished for the s"ake of perpetuating a tradition interesting to American tourists. The cabin in which he slept and played a mild game of poker to while away the time caught fire not long ago from sparks from a passing engine, and was burned to the ground. The mulatto still lives and has embellished the original tale of the rescue of the refugee Tammany statesman until it can hardly be recognized by those who first listened to the recital. Tweed presented him with a drinking cup on the eve of sailing for Spain, and this he exhibited for a long time with an air of conscious superiority. Mercenary motives finally proved irresistible, and he was induced to sell the cup to a relic hunter, who has carried it back to New York.
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Cuban Railroads.
" From Cardenas," says the traveller already quoted, "my journey took me through the green and fertile sugar-cane country, in an easterly direction from Havana, stopping at Sagua la Grande, Caibarien, Camajuani and Cienfuegos on the southern coast. The ' vestibuled limited' has not made its appearance here yet, but the rates are about three times as high as those charged in the States. Perhaps the traveler's comfort will be looked after in the sweet by-and- by; at present the first-class coaches are inferior in every way to the ordinary smoking cars in use on our American roads, while the second and third class passengers occupy plain box cars with hard, narrow seats, ill-smelling and dirty ; smok- ing is permitted in all the cars, as your true Cuban would be entirely at sea without a cigar or cigarette between his teeth two-thirds of the time.
" No trains are run during the night, and stops are made at every little village on the line ; and as one station is exactly like another, a long trip by rail becomes very monotonous. At every stop your ear is invaded by venders of fruit, the daily papers, and lottery tickets. The venders call out the numbers of the tickets they have for sale, adding that such a number is 'very nice,' 'sure to win,' etc.
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" It is surprising to note the quantities of men, women and children that gain a fair living by the sale of government lottery tickets. In many cases a child of eight or ten years will earn enough to support the head of the family in idle- ness ; meantime the poor little ones are growing up in an atmosphere of vice and ignorance, instead of being educated and fitted to earn an honest, respectable living. The government makes a good thing out of its lottery, however, and that settles the matter.
One Clean Town.
"Sagua is perhaps the cleanest of all the towns I have seen — the only point of difference between it and any other place. It has the usual Plaza d' Armas facing the hotel ; on the opposite side is the Casino, flying the Spanish flag of red and yellow; to the east is the familiar old yellow Iglesia, and on the west a few stores and a cafe. Nearly every block has its cafe and barber shop, and they are generously patronized. The signs above the stores rarely bear the names of the proprietors, but instead inform the passer-by that their respective shops are 'Without Rivals,' 'Without Competition/ 'The Elegant,' 'Golden Lion,' and so on. I think it was in Sagua that I passed 'The White Horse Inn'; and I half expected to find within an English barmaid dis- pensing 'alf an' 'alf to her thirsty customers.
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A Vile Hotel.
"In the seaport city of Caibarien, about 150 miles east of the capital, the Hotel Internacional was recommended to me by a person whom I had never wronged, and I found it the vilest inn I had ever put up at. My room — a den some fifteen feet by twelve — contained a small, hard bed, one chair, a tin wash basin, and a comb, which latter I judged had found much favor with former occu- pants of the apartment. The door was but little over a foot in width, and upon inquiry I found that it was so made for the purpose of keeping- out the joyous mosquito, which attains-a luxuriant growth in this climate and is equipped with a large bass voice. The office and bar-room were full of tough-looking characters, some of whom kindly accompanied me to the cafe and watched me while I ate, a delicate attention which was keenly appreciated.
" I found the coolest and most comfortable spot in the office of our consular agent, who gave me a very cordial welcome and a glass of gin, which he assured me was much safer to drink than the water."
CHAPTER V.
THE PEOPLE OF CUBA CLASSES OF THE PEOPLE
THE WOMEN OF CUBA IN THE CITIES SOCIAL
OCCUPATIONS — BEGGARS — PICTURESQUE SCENES
A THRIFTY CHURCHMAN AT A CUBAN HOTEL
THE ROOMS AND THEIR OCCUPANTS THE OR- DER OF THE DAY AMONG THE LEPERS THE
EVENING PROMENADE THE CIGARETTE SHOP- PING STREET SCENES CRIPPLES HOW CUBAN
LADIES DRESS VIRTUE AND VICE EDUCATION,
RELIGION, A£TD LITERATURE.
UBA, while the most accessible, is also the most representative foreign country which Americans can visit, at least in the West Indies, or on their own continent. Havana, whether more or less Cuban than it is Spanish, is a city utterly unlike any large Ameri- can centre of population. There are vivid con- trasts of architecture, foliage, and customs. From the moment of passing the grim Morro, the Cabanas fortifications, and the battery at the Punta, the visitor is conscious of being among an alien race, whose sympathies, manner of life, ideas of morals and religion, and habits of recreation are not in accord with his own. The experience
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cannot be anything less than an agreeable one, even if the traveler be so fortunate as to have had a wide range of Europe. Those who find the un- ceasing activity of American life wearing upon the nerves are refreshed by the contemplation of a race that neither hurries nor frets, but basks in the atmosphere that is not too enervating to be positively enfeebling. To watch a Cuban unroll and re-make a cigarette and then deliberately light it and lazily smoke it is to get a new idea of the refinement to which the sweets of indolence can be carried. To see a drove of cows milked early in the morning from door to door, at the leaky dust-carts filled with street-sweepings by garru- lous gangs of lazy workmen ; to hear a hand-bell rung up and down the station platforms as the signal for the starting of the train, or to spend an hour in inspecting the fatiguing process of hauling and switching cars by ox-teams ; to see the mon- teros in the markets playing dice while waiting for customers, or the shopkeepers in Obispo Street taking a midday siesta in their chairs, indifferent to the chances of trade ; to feel the thrill of ex- citement that passes through a Cuban audience when an opera singer acts out her part, even if she sings indifferently well, or to hear the chorus of bravos at a bull-fight or in a cock-pit at the crisis of revolting exhibitions from which an Anglo-Saxon turns away in horror and disgust ;
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CUBA.
to observe the languid, pulsating movement of life in Havana from the opening of the cafes in the early morning to the abandonment of the paseos at midnight by the lottery venders, the Chinese peddlers and the somnolent hackmen — these are experiences which convince an Ameri- can that a miniature Spain, with a Castilian capital, has gone adrift from the peninsula, and been moored off the Florida coast.
Classes of the People. The people of Cuba comprise four distinct classes. First, there are the Spaniards, natives of Spain, who have come to Cuba for various rea- sons. Some ha^ve "left their country for their country's good." Some have come to amass a fortune. Most of them have come to hold office. They are proud and arrogant as a rule, and re- gard the native Cubans as their inferiors, though some of them have loyally adopted Cuba as their home, and cast in their lot with the patriots. There are, in all, about 200,000 of them.
Next come the Creoles, or native Cubans. These are pure-blooded Spaniards, descended from the original settlers of the island. They are the real Cuban people. Physically they are fully the equals, perhaps the superiors, of the Spaniards ; as they are intellectually and morally. They num- ber nearly 1,000,000 strong.
The negroes, now happily all free, form the
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third class, numbering about 600,000. They are not much different from the negroes of our own Southern 'States. As a rule they are strongly attached to the Cubans, and hate the Spaniards.
Finally, there are a few descendants of the Indians, who inhabited the island at the time of its discovery by Columbus, but they are so few as scarcely to be worth mention.
Of the Spaniards a small, but not incon- siderable fraction, although not taking an active part in the war, sympathize with and are support- ing it in various ways. Of the Cubans, whether negro or white, all are in sympathy with the revolution, with the exception of a few individuals who hold positions under the Spanish Government or are engaged in enter- prises which cannot thrive without it. All of the Cubans who have had the means and the oppor- tunity to join the revolutionary army have done so, while those who have been compelled for one reason or another to remain in the cities are co operating to the best of their abilities.
The Women of Cuba.
Notwithstanding the decline in the fortunes of the planters, their houses are very agreeable interiors and their hospitality is unaffected and charming. It is difficult for a foreigner to break the ice and to establish confidential relations with the planters ; but, when this has been done, invi-
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tations follow and there are frequent glimpses of Cuban home-life. So rigid are the requirements of custom and etiquette that it is only at home and in the presence of members of the household that well-born daughters are to be seen at all. They are not suffered to go out alone before mar- riage. It is even considered indecent for them to walk in the streets, so that they are always in car- riages and attended by chaperones when they have calls to make or shopping to do. It is only when they are at home in the conventional recep- tion-rooms, furnished with long rows of cane- seat rocking-chairs, that their acquaintance can be made, aryi then only under the watchful supervision of the senoras. After marriage they are supposed to be able to take care of themselves.
They are little women ; short in stature, plump, and well-rounded in figure ; graceful and supple in movement, with dark eyes that flash at night and melt by day. Like the beautiful wild flowers of the Cuban woods, they mature very early and they fade as rapidly. The prettiest girl will be plain long before she is thirty. Hand- some women in middle life are never seen in the tropics, but only in the temperate zone. The beauty and charm of Cuban women is evanescent, but real and irresistible while it lasts.
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In the Cities.
Cuban cities are so much alike in appear- ance that having seen one you have seen all. In the centre of the town you will find the Plaza, with its gardens of flowers, a small statue or two, and three or four tall, straight palm trees. The houses extend clear to the narrow sidewalk ; their walls adjoining their neighbors on either side, so that each street presents a long, low, irregular line of buildings without a break from one end to the other. You may stand on the walk, thrust your arm through the iron-barred window of any of the dwellings and shake hands with the proprietor, if you happen to know him. The family carriage is driven in and out through the front entrance of the house, which is high and wide enough to admit a circus chariot ; the carriage being left in the hall by the side of the staircase (if the house has two stories), while the horses are stabled just beyond against the wall. In some of the best houses in Havana one may look in through the open door and see a handsome coach in the hall and the horses calmly eating their oats, while the coachman sits by a little table rolling cigarettes, for which some factory pays him so much a hundred.
Social Occupations.
In the smaller towns of a Sunday evening the entire population puts on its best attire and
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spends several hours in the Plaza greeting acquaintances and gossiping with friends. Pos- sibly at 10 o'clock there may be a ball at the Casino or a concert at the theatre ; if not, the square is soon after deserted, and the quiet of a country church-yard descends on the town.
Social life is very simple ; there are no dances or social functions of any kind in the private houses, as everything of that nature is held in the Casino or club. In the evenings the men visit their club, or gather at the cafes smok- ing and consuming dulces and sweet drinks, while their women for the most part sit at home by the grated widows»rocking and fanning themselves ; not a very exciting life, surely ! There seems to be no small social gatherings so common among our people, and as a Cuban lady once said to me, " A Cuban girl has nothing but marriage to look forward to " — there is nothing for her absolutely except or beyond that.
Beggars.
Beggars abound and flourish everywhere, some crippled, others blind or enfeebled by age, not a few unable to walk by reason of natural and cultivated laziness; but the most unpleasant per- sons of this favored class are the ones that stop by the open window of the cafe, when you are breakfasting or dining, and hold up the stump of a shriveled arm for your inspection, or carefully
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remove the bandages from a sore toe ! You are glad to give up a few coppers to rid yourself of such a nuisance. The Cubans are very kind and generous to the unfortunate, and on Saturdays most of the stores and cafes have a supply of fruit, bread, food of various kinds, and matches, from which the poor and needy are allowed to help themselves — a curious custom, and one that is observed all over the island, even in the small- est village.
Picturesque Scenes.
The artist will find Cuba a rich field for the exercise of his talents. He will find such sights as will fill his soul with joy ; types of strange people ; lovely blue and crushed strawberry one- storied houses ; curious old cathedrals, gray and worn with age ; priests in long black cassocks, and severe of countenance ; pretty Cuban girls with great, dark eyes ; turbaned negro women black as their African ancestors ; old women and children selling lottery tickets on the streets ; beggars picturesque in their dirt and rags ; queer carriages and carts of ancient style and build ; and bull-fighters strutting proudly up the Prado.
For a real, yonder negress, carrying on her head an immense basket of white linen fresh from the wash, will pose for you. She is puffing at a cigarette, and has just stooped to pick up a
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half-burned cigar, which she tucks away behind her ear for future use.
A Thrifty Churchman.
There is in Havana an ancient church where for a peseta you may be allowed to secure so1 me views that are not to be purchased at the shops. The sacristan is very jealous of his charge, but is not above earning an extra coin now and then, since the world is so full of foolish people with things they call kodaks — and then, por Dios ! one must live ! He speaks a rare and wonderful English, too, and will show you some relics of the saints that have worked strange miracles in days past.
"I made a visit to this church," says a cor- respondent, "in the. company of an American commercial traveler ; a skeptical fellow and with- out a proper regard for serious things. The old sacristan had led us from one relic to another without arousing a spark of enthusiasm or interest in my friend, and at last paused before a case with a show of much importance.
"I go-a to show you," he said impressively, " some wonderful ting ; is bone of Colon ! Some- time man ver sik, he come here and one kiss zis bone and go vey some more all right ! Yo no likee kiss him, eh ? "
" Well, I guess no ! " said our American, "it's much too musty; besides," tapping the guide
DO, Cr-
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knowingly on the shoulder, "between you and me, I don't believe Christopher ever owned this bone. Why, man, they have got a hip-bone or a lock of hair or a couple of back teeth in every other church on the island, all belonging to Columbus ! He is too badly scattered, see? Why don't you collect the remnants and give him a decent burial like a Christian?"
" The sacristan locked up his precious relic and with a shrug and a sigh opened the great door of his church and we passed out again into the bright sunlight ; but as he turned the key in its lock he detained me a moment saying : " I no like zat man, he muy malo; but you, si, you come other time and I show you many interestings ! " At a Cuban Hotel.
An American lady gives the following account of her experiences at Havana hotels :
"There was but one clerk at the desk, and he did not pay the slightest attention to the crowd of would-be guests. He chatted with an acquaintance, wrote a few notes, called up some one on the telephone, and continued to smoke all the time.
"At the end of three-quarters of an hour pa- tience became a crime. Our leader leaned over the desk, clutched the clerk's arm, and said : 1 Can you and will you listen to me ? I have several ladies in my party. They are tired, and
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it isn't pleasant for them to wait all day in this office. What rooms can you give us ? '
"The clerk apparently woke up. He yawned, smiled blandly, and murmured : ' Rooms ? Oh, we have no rooms. They are all occupied.'
"For a few minutes the air was tremulous with good, substantial American swear-words. Two priests, who had been waiting patiently for some evidence of attention from the clerk, touched our spokesman's arm.
"'Sir,' said one of them, 'your language, reprehensible as it might be ordinarily, is per- fectly excusable now ! '
"Then we drove to another hotel and got ex- cellent rooms."
The Rooms and their Occupants.
Most of the hotels are three stories high. The first or ground floor is given over to dining- rooms, offices, etc. The second and third floors are devoted to sleeping apartments. The third floor is always the one to choose, because, being farthest from the ground, it is comparatively free from insects and dirt. In our ignorance we chose front rooms on the second floor at first ; but we soon changed them. The dust was thick on the floors, and our comfort was disturbed by mammoth cockroaches scampering hither and thither. We spoke to the hotel manager about the animals, but he shrugged his shoulders and
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laughed as he replied, "The good animal ; he no hurt you." Fleas, of course, are everywhere ; but one soon gets used to them.
The rooms are large and well ventilated. The floors are of tile or marble, the walls of stone. The doors are wooden, painted light blue or pink. There is no glass in the windows, but there are two sets of shutters, one of lattice-work, the other of iron. There are no carpets on the floors, but there is a rug at the side of each bed, and there are frequently several beds in a room. There are no bureaus. The bedsteads are very high ; they are made of iron and have square lace canopies, partially for ornament and partly to protect one from flying cockroaches. The bed- ding is of the sofest old linen, and one lonely blanket is given to each guest.
The Order of the Day.
When you are in Cuba, you should do as the Cubans do ; that is, if you have any regard for your health and comfort. Therefore it is in order to arise at six, eat a light breakfast of fruit and coffee, do your shopping and sight-seeing imme- diately afterward, and return to your hotel for a second and heartier breakfast at ten o'clock. At noon every one retires. Some people actually go to bed and stay there all the afternoon, but as a rule, Americans simply shut themselves up with a book and a fan, clothe themselves in the lightest
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and easiest of dressing-gowns, and idle away the hours that intervene between almuerzo and dinner.
Nearly all tourists in Havana drive around the city and its outskirts at about five o'clock ; and if sight-seeing is the object in view, this is the best time. But those who drive for driving sake, wait until nine or ten o'clock in the evening, when the air is cool and pleasant. The charges for carriage hire vary with the customer's nation ality. Americans pay more than any one else. They rre invariably charged $1.50 by the hour, other foreigners pay $1.25, and natives never give over ninety cents for the same length of time. You can drive to any given point in the city limits for twenty cents, unless you cross a street called Belascoin avenue, when the rates are doubled. The hackmen take advantage of strangers by driving across this avenue and then they are legally entitled to the extra fare. Among the Lepers.
An unpleasant feature of one of the most popular drives is the nauseating odor which im- pregnates the air near the hospital of San Lazaro. As the streets of Havana are very narrow, one often comes within five feet of the hospital in driving by it. It is a huge, gloomy-looking build- ing devoted to lepers. On the ground floor there is a large courtyard, opening on the street in front
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and divided from it by an iron grating. Dozens of lepers in the first stages of the disease wander around this courtyard or gather near the grating, conversing and even shaking hands with friends outside.
Tne Evening: Promenade.
Sunday is the gala-day of the week, as is customary in Spanish-American towns. The clergy are so accommodating as to have the last service in the Cathedral over by nine or ten o'clock in the morning. This leaves nearly a full day for cock-fights, horse-races, and the evening promenade in the Plaza, which has a broad stone walk lined at the sides with benches for the ac- commodation of chaperons. It is a handsome square, well lighted by electricity and bordered by the best buildings of the town — the Cathedral, theatre, public library, a large club-house and a popular cafe.
The Cigarette.
Contrary to the general supposition, Cuban ladies never smoke in public though they indulge in cigarettes at home. The only women that smoke in the streets are negresses, and they are addicted to thick, black cigars. The men, Cubans, Spaniards, colored and Chinese smoke continually everywhere, except in church. You hire a car- riage; before the driver picks up his reins he lights a cigarette. You enter a shop ; the clerk
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puffs smoke in your face as he shows you his wares.
In certain departments of the cigarette factories, very young children are employed. They seem perfectly happy and contented. They are not over cleanly in appearance, but they all have beautiful dark eyes. Most of them smoke as they work. It seems strange to see an eight- year-old girl with a cigarette in her mouth, but one gets used to the sight.
One of the largest cigar factories in the city occupies the palace which once belonged to Aldama, the revolutionist leader. With all the rest of his property, it was confiscated by the Spanish Government, and is now owned by the factory proprietors. The ceilings are all frescoed with the exquisite designs of cupids, nymphs and flowers. The stairways and floors are of the finest marble, and there is the inevitable court- yard, with a fountain in the centre. Shopping:.
The famous shopping street in Havana is the Calle Obispo, and the shop that is most attractive to Americans is that of Manuel Carranza. All the Havana tradesmen are courteous, but Car- ranza, who is a Mexican, outdoes any of them in this respect. Learning that an American woman desired to purchase some typical Cuban music, he left his shop at the busiest part of the day, escorted
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her to a music store, aided her in selecting songs, and when she had made her purchase, informed her that he would accompany her on any shopping excursion she might desire to make.
Cuban and Spanish tradesmen are very different. Cubans do not care whether you buy or not ; they set a price, and if you do not care to pay it you must do without the desired article. They will not condescend to bargain with you. Spaniards, on the contrary, invariably ask a dollar or two more for their wares than they expect you to pay.
Most of the shops are open on the street in front ; that is to say, no wall divides them from the sidewalk. Marble or stone pillars replace the absent partition, and in many cases these pillars are decorated with rough paintings of the articles sold in the shops they ornament.
The joys of shopping are known to Cuban women only in a restricted way. Bargain count- ers are unheard of, and such shops as there are would be accounted third-rate in an American town. There are no set prices. The shopman asks for his wares whatever he thinks he can get, doubling his price if he perceives that his cus- tomer is an American. He extols the merits of his goods in a frantic outburst of Spanish with a pantomime of gesture, and reduces his price only after a heated argument, if it becomes evident
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that there is a serious risk of losing his customer altogether. The principal objection to shopping in Cuba is that there is nothing to buy. There are no manufactures characteristic of the country. Everything is imported, the grade of goods is low, and the prices are much higher than in New York. The shops are very small ; they are all on the ground floor, and few have more than one room. Until recently the pawn-shops have offer- ed the most attractive opportunities to travelers for the purchase of souvenirs in treasure-trove of old silver, antique jewelry, fans and laces at low
prices.
*Street Scenes.
To an American visitor the streets of a Cu- ban town present an endless succession of curious pictures. They are different in every respect from what one is accustomed to see at home. They are so narrow that two vehicles can hardly pass each other. They are paved with rough stones ; the sidewalks average about eighteen inches in width ; and pedestrians have to walk single file, and in order to pass any one are forced to step into the road. In the streets are seen clumsy carts, broad and heavy, yet drawn by a single mule whose defective locomotive power is compensated for by excessive decoration. The mule's harness is studded with brass ornaments. Over his forehead is a sort of head-dress of wool,
Avenue of Royal Palms, Havana.
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and on each side hang large tassels of scarlet. To complete his costume there is a huge bunch of bells fastened between his shoulders. The negroes who drive these carts wear clothes of linen, orig- inally white, and caps of red woolen stuff. For drawing timber oxen are yoked to a pair of great wheels. From the axle the timbers are suspended, projecting over the heads of the oxen and trailing on the ground behind. Every omnibus is hung with curtains along the sides, and a gong is con- stantly ringing. Coach hire is cheap, the charge being twenty cents for a double fare for ordinary distances. The coaches are small victorias, and are drawn by thin little horses at a furious pace. Some really handsome private carriages with fine horses and liveried coachmen and footmen are sometimes seen. Negroes carry all burdens on their heads, generally in large open shallow bas- kets. Laundresses may be seen balancing on their heads a load of freshly ironed linen, and they are followed, by women bearing market supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables, with a live chicken peeping from the basket. Droves of cows with calves bleating behind them are driven from door to door and milked to order. Strings of pack mules straggle along, laden with fodder corn tied in so huge a bundle on each side of the animal that only the nose and feet are to be seen, and each mule's halter is fastened to the tail of the
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one next in front. A common sight is the large flexible basket of rushes hung panier-like across the back of a mule, the driver going on foot. The venders of street wares carry them on their heads with an appliance that looks like a plank a foot wide and four feet long, with an oblong box in the centre. In the box are the smaller articles, while everything that can be hung is suspended along the sides. Gay colored handkerchiefs, rib- bons, laces and embroideries flutter in the breeze, concealing the head and shoulders of the vender.
Cripples.
Whoever loses a limb or is otherwise injured in Cuba immediately turns his misfortune to account as a matter of business by exhibiting himself and begging in the streets. These maimed and deformed creatures are to be seen everywhere. They sit at the doors of churches, patrol the ferries and railway stations, and thrust their loathsome deformities into sight in the cafes and hotel dining-rooms. I even saw in front of a theatre after an evening performance a hideous, misshapen child in a rolling chair drawn so close to the door that one could not help but pass her. The dogs are as numerous as the beggars. Not one well-bred, intelligent dog have I seen in Cuba, but scores of curs of all sizes and degrees. They invade the hotel dining-rooms and beg at the tables unmolested.
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Havana is one of the noisiest of cities. Night and day an uproar of loud talk arises from cafes and restaurants, and there is ceaseless bustle in the streets. Little bands of militia are con- stantly marching about accompanied by shrill bands of music. Their uniform is of a narrow blue and white striped linen goods, and they wear panama hats. There are military guards on every side, lounging in front of the official palaces and in the dusty little parks. At night the Central Park is filled with strollers, the en- trances of the places of amusement are blocked with seat-speculators crying their numbers, and the lottery-boys are plying their trade at every street corner. Havana has an atmosphere of its own, and it is utterly unlike that of any American city. This is its chief charm for the American visitor. It is essentially foreign, and conse- quently full of entertainment.
Ho\v Cuban L,adies Dress.
The mild climate makes it possible for women to wear light, airy costumes all the year round. Indeed, a dress of woolen material or any heavy fabric seems unknown. Black lace is the favorite material for dresses among the upper classes. Cuban ladies are seen in the shops or in the streets in dresses of black lace, the waist cut half- low both back and front ; and the sleeves reaching only to the elbow. A mantilla is thrown grace-
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fully over the head, and draped loosely about the shoulders. The mantilla is the prevailing head- dress for rich and poor alike, varying from the finest Spanish lace of silk to the coarsest cotton imitation, but invariably black for the street, church or driving — white being reserved for full- dress. White lawns with showy colored figures are popular, as well as challies, veiling and grenadines. These are generally made up with one skirt and a fancy waist, and are often elab- orately trimmed with ribbons. Lavender is the most popular color, and is worn in all its numer- ous shades without regard to the clearness of the complexion. 'J'his may be because Cuban women do not allow the natural tint of the skin to be seen, so thickly do they powder their faces, which gives them an unnatural, chalky look. The colored people display their innate love of dress to advantage. A favorite device is to dress from head to foot in one tint. " I saw one negress as black as ink attending Mass at the Cathedral in Havana with a complete costume of salmon color," says an American correspondent. "The dress, of some clinging stuff, was simply made in long flowing lines, entirely without trimming, and there was a long scarf of the same goods wound around her head and shoulders. Another negress at the same service was similarly arrayed, in white, even to her shoes. She had a handsome
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face, and the contrast of her white muslin scarf against her dark skin was most effective.
"Only the lower classes of Cuban women can go about unattended. It is an invariable rule that a lady must have an escort, either a relative or a servant. Little girls must be escorted to school, or to their music-lessons. Ladies must be attended to church, to the shops, and in making visits."
Virtue and Vice.
The seclusion in which Cuban women are kept has the natural result. A girl or unmarried woman is kept under strict guardianship. But after she is married, she manages to make up for it. Probably not even the women of Paris and Vienna are gayer than those of Havana, or more given to flirtations, more or less innocent. Some- times too often, indeed, they " kick over the traces," altogether, and go to the bad. There is a considerable quarter of Havana practically given up to houses of ill-fame, many of which are occupied by pure-blooded Creole women and girls, some of tender age. The most of them are oc- cupied, however, by negroes, mulattoes, and quadroons. As a rule, these women remain in- doors, or at any rate on the streets in their own part of town. You seldom find them in the Park. Nor is there any reason why they should go from home. Their quarter of the city is perfectly well
9
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CUBA.
known and easily accessible to all who wish to
visit it.
The morality of the Cubans, both men and women, is probably about the same as in any similarly situated country. The worst sinners against the moral code are the Spaniards who have come over for a time, to hold office or to make money. It is common, and thought not at all disgraceful, for a man to have a family of mulatto children, in addition to his own legitimate white family. Indeed, the morals of the Spanish element, on the whole, are about what they were in olden times, when Cervantes wrote of Cuba : " The island i» the refuge of the profligates of Spain, a sanctuary for murderers, a skulking-place for gamblers and sharpers, and a receptacle for women of easy virtue — a place of delusion to many, of amelioration to few."
Education, Religion and literature.
From the beginning education has been sadly neglected in all parts of Cuba. It is estimated by careful observers that not more than one child in ten among the white population receives instruc- tion of any kind. Even among the higher classes of society liberal education is only scantily dif- fused. There are, of course, a few literary and scientific men, most of them educated abroad, and before the great Ten Years' War, the question of establishing an adequate system of public instruc-
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tion was widely discussed among the Creole population. At Havana and Santiago there were formed learned societies whose object was to promote the cause of popular education and popular industry. But the Ten Years' War checked this movement, and since that time mat- ters have gone on much as before.
The chief institution of learning is the Royal University at Havana, which comprises schools of medicine and law. There is also an institution called the Royal College of Havana. A similar institution to the latter is to be found at Puerto Principe. There are theological schools, also, at Havana and Santiago. In each of the principal cities there are one or more private schools. But none of these are accessible to the mass of the people. Accordingly illiteracy and ignorance are generally prevalent throughout the island.
In such a state of affairs it is not to be sup- posed that any literary or journalistic activity worthy of consideration has been manifested. The island has almost no literature. In Havana there are published a few daily and weekly pa- pers. Several lesser journals are elsewhere printed on the island. But their means of obtaining in- formation of the affairs of the world are most meagre. They are, moreover, under a rigid po- litical censorship, which absolutely prevents any- thing like freedom of speech. At times, of course,
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when the island has been tranquil, a considerable latitude of expression has been allowed. But as there has generally been some political disturb- ance somewhere on the island, such periods of grace have been few and brief. The slightest in- surrection, or even manifestation of political dis- content, has always been sufficient, practically, to suppress all freedom of speech and of journalism. Practically, the only religion on the island is that of the Roman Catholic Church. At first there was only one diocese, which included not only all Cuba, but also Louisiana and Florida. In 1 788, however, Cuba was divided into two dio- ceses, each embracing about half of the island. The eastern diocese, that of Santiago, was in 1 804 erected into an archbishopric, while that cf Havana still remains under a bishop. In early years there was no such thing known as religious toleration, and the Inquisition flourished in its fullest severity. Even as late as the early part of the present century every visitor's baggage was carefully searched for heretical books, which, if found, were invariably confiscated and destroyed. At present a fair amount of religious freedom ex- ists, but no Church beside the Roman Catholic has made any material progress on the island.
CHAPTER VI.
HOW THE ISLAND IS GOVERNED THE CAPTAIN- GENERAL FREEDOM OF THE PRESS LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS ELECTORAL TRICKERY "NO
CUBANS NEED APPLY" THE SPANISH SENATE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CUBANS CARPET-BAG- GERS TO THE FORE IN THE LOCAL OFFICES
SQUEEZING THE ORANGE THE AWFUL BURDEN
OF DEBT TREATMENT OF NATIVE INDUSTRY
BAD COMMERCIAL LAWS CUBA RUINED FOR THE
SAKE OF SPAIN SALARIED CARPET-BAGGERS
GOVERNMENT BY PLUNDER EXPOSURE OF
FRAUDS NO PUNISHMENT FOR RASCALS NO
PERSONAL SAFETY FOR CUBANS THE PARADISE
OF BANDITS NO SECURITY FOR PROPERTY
INDUSTRIES DRIVEN TO BANKRUPTCY NO PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION THE ANNUAL BUDGET.
ORRUPT and incapable administration has always been a Spanish character- istic. Cuba has been reduced to its present extremities largely through the rapacity of the governing class in former years. If there has been a marked improvement during recent years so that the Captain-General now expects to return to Spain only with what he has saved from his salary, and the burden of direct taxation has been decreased rather than increased, it is be- cause the industrial resources of the island have
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been exhausted through old-time methods of plundering the population and systematic viola- tion of the economic laws of exchange. The orange has been pressed dry ; even Spanish ad- ministration does not attempt to squeeze the seeds remaining on the spongy pulp. For this reason sugar planters and tobacco farmers are now frank in admitting that the direct taxes on their land and industries are not unduly high. It is the burden of indirect taxation by which the cost of living and of production is heavily in- creased and the exchangeable value of sugar and tobacco correspondingly reduced that is over- whelming this wonderfully fertile island with ruin. The country is poor and impoverished ; the palaces of the nobles are deserted ; there has been an extraordinary shrinkage of real estate valuations ; the treasury is exhausted with ex- travagant payments for an inefficient and corupt civil service and the interest on the war debt, which is held in Spain ; and the municipalities are without means for ordinary public improvements and enforcing sanitary regulations. Havana is capable of becoming what Humboldt found it in his day — one of the most brilliant and imposing capitals of the world. The old city was well built of enduring stone, which only grows harder with the lapse of time. The Cathedral, churches and public buildings were fashioned at a time
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when severe and simple architecture without meretricious ornamentation was in vogue in Spain. Even the great prison, which is the most prominent object from the harbor, is not without good lines. The newer portions of the town are well laid out with broad shaded avenues, fre- quent squares and breathing places, a spacious alameda and a fine botanical garden adjoining the Captain-General's country seat. Even in its ruined estate, where public grounds are neglected, street pavements in great need of repair, and the whole town fairly perishing for lack of fresh paint, poor, faded Havana has an air of distinction and even grandeur.
With good administration the city could be transformed in a decade. A canal constructed so as to let the tides into the back bay would flush out a harbor that is now a cesspool and restore the healthfulness of the town. Moderate expen- ditures could restore the crumbling plaster of the public buildings, replace the broken lines of shade trees in the avenues, and restore the bright- ness and glory of the Cuban capital. Havana now awaits, like a queen in tattered, patched and soiled robes, the turn of the wheel which shall re- invest her with the dignity of her prosperous days of power and wealth. So long as Spanish ad- ministration and a ruinous economic policy con- tinue in force, it is a lottery with blanks.
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The Captain-General.
The chief of the Cuban Government is a Captain-General, the representative of the Crown, appointed by the home Government and account- able only to that body. By a royal edict issued June 9th, 1878, his prerogatives are defined as follows: He is the commander of the army and navy, as well as the highest authority in Cuba, and is em- powered to overrule any decision at a meeting of the superior authorities, including the courts of judicature under his presidency, and also to with- hold the execution of any order, resolution or law issued by the home Government whenever he deems it advisable to do so. Practically, he has the powers of life and death in his hands and is as absolute as a Czar.
As a rule, this office is highly coveted by Spaniards, and, generally speaking, after a short rule, which rarely exceeds a term of three or four years, the majority of its incumbents return home to enjoy the fruits of the harvest, as the emolu- ments are considerable. The Captain-General has a salary of $50,000 a year, a winter palace and a country-seat, horses, carriages, attendants, a retinue of servants, and almost everything, pro- vided for him at the expense of the Government. It is a military office, usually filled by distin- guished generals, who have won their laurels in the Spanish army.
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Next in rank to the Captain-General is the General of Marine or Admiral of the Port, who occupies a handsome palace, also provided by the Government, and who has carriages, horses and attendants from the same source. Then follows the Segundo Cabo, who is Captain- General pro tern, during the absence of that functionary from the capital. The Civil-Governor has charge of the civil administration of Havana. The generals of artillery, cavalry, engineers, infantry and gendarmes are also provided with quarters suitable to their ranks.
The Commandant of the Navy Yard is next in rank to the Admiral of the Port, and he has a handsome residence at his post. From twelve to twenty men-of-war are stationed in the waters of Cuba, and the standing army on the island usually numbers 22,866 officers and men. Besides these military rulers there are the Governor of the Morro, of La Cabana, El Principe and other strongholds.
The chief of police of Havana is an officer of the regular army, and the divisions and subdivi- sions under his control consist of commissaries, aladores, constables and sergeants, who are civil- ians ; the police force of Havana numbers 767 men, taken from the ranks of the regular army, soldiers of or den publico (public order) and guar- dia civiles (gendarmes).
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Freedom of the Press.
At the close of the rebellion, or ^o-called Cuban insurrection in 1878, freedom of the press was established, as well as freedom of speech, but in 1 88 1 this freedom was modified by an edict requiring every editor or manager of a newspaper to send, duly signed, two copies to Government headquarters and submit two others to the District-Attorney as soon as printed, who shall determine whether they contain any objec- tionable matter. By the press law the royal family and the form of government under the Spanish Constitution are tabooed subjects. Ed- itors are often fined and the publications of their journals is suspended for going beyond the cir- cumscribed limits.
By a royal edict issued June 9, 1878, Cuba is entitled to elect to the Spanish Cortes one repre- sentative for every 40,000 white and colored inhabitants. By another decree, issued shortly after, the island was divided into six provinces. Still another, issued June 21, 1878, provided municipal laws, supplemented with requisite elec- tion laws. In each province the administration of affairs is committed to an Assembly, elected by the people, and a Governor sent out from Spain, the incumbent being an officer of the Spanish army. The province is entitled to three representatives for every one of its judicial dis-
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tricts, except that no province shall elect more than twenty or less than twelve representatives. As soon as the provincial representatives are elected they meet and nominate by ballot three candidates from among themselves, one of whom is chosen president by the Captain-General, who may, in accordance to the same law, discard their candi- date and choose another to preside over it. The Provincial Governor selects five Assemblymen as members of the Provincial Committee and submits their names to the Captain -General for ratification. This committee serves as arbiter or counsellor when called on in reference to any municipal election, and performs various duties during the recess. The vice-president of this committee is appointed from among the members by the Captain-General, at the suggestion of the Pro- vincial Governor, who, when it suits him, may preside over any sitting, with the right to vote.
lyocal Governments.
Provincial representatives are elected for four years, but one-half are replaced every two years by new ones. Their biennial election occurs during the first fortnight of September. The assemblies meet at the capital of their pro- vinces on the first working day of the fifth and tenth months of the fiscal year. If during that period anything should happen to render discus- sions or debates dangerous, the Provincial Gov-
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ernor is obliged to prorogue the Assembly and advise the Captain-General of that fact imme- diately. He is likewise authorized to suspend any Provincial Assembly in a body when the preservation of public order may so require.
According to the municipal law, the smallest number of inhabitants entitled to self-government is 500, who may elect five Aldermen, at every meeting of whom the Provincial Governor is entitled to preside. The board levies municipal taxes.
Cuba possesses two judicial divisions, those of Puerto Principe, with jurisdiction over the adjoining province of Santiago de Cuba, and of Havana, with jurisdiction over the remainder. First comes the high court, called Tribunal Su- premo ; then provincial courts, "Audiencias Territoriales"; country magistrates, "Tribunales de Partido"; court of first instance, " Juggado de Instruccion"; municipal courts, Tribunales Muni- cipales, and justices of the peace, "Jueces de Paz." By a decree issued in January, 1891, the civil and criminal courts are incorporated into one, a.nd this measure has been highly displeas- ing to Cubans.
Electoral Xriclcery.
In order to render the native Cuban power- less in his own country, Spain, legislating for Cuba without restriction, as it does, and only to
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give him an electoral law so artfully framed as to accomplish two objects : First, to reduce the num- ber of voters ; second, to give always a majority to the Spaniards, that is, to the European colo- nists, notwithstanding that the latter represent only nine and three-tenths per cent, of the total population of Cuba. To this effect it made the electoral right dependent on the payment of a very high poll tax, which proved the more burden- some as the war had ruined the larger number of Cuban proprietors. In this way it succeeded in restricting the right of suffrage to only 53,000 in- habitants in an island which has a population of 1,600,000 ; that is to say, to the derisive propor- tion of three per cent, of the total number of in- habitants.
In order to give a decided preponderance to the Spanish-European element, the electoral law has ignored the practice generally observed in those countries where the right to vote depends on the payment of a poll tax, and has afforded all the facilities to acquire the electoral privilege to industry, commerce, and public officials, to the detriment of the territorial property (the owner- ship of real estate). To accomplish this, while the rate of the territorial tax is reduced to two per cent., an indispensable measure, in view of the ruinous condition of the land-owners, the ex- orbitant contribution of $25 is required from those
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who would be electors as freeholders. The law has, moreover, thrown the doors wide open for the perpetration of fraud by providing that the simple declaration of the head of a commercial house is sufficient to consider all its employees as partners, having, therefore, the right to vote. This has given us firms with thirty or more partners. By this simple scheme almost all the Spaniards re- siding in Cuba are turned into electors, despite the explicit provisions of the law. Thus it comes to pass that the municipal district of Guines, widi a population of 13,000 inhabitants, only 500 of which are Spaniards and Canary Islanders, shows on its electoral list the names of thirty-two native Cubans and of four hundred Spaniards — only 0.25 per cent, of the Cuban to 80 per cent, of the Spanish population.
>»o Cubans Xeed Apply.
But, as if this were not enough, a so-called Permanent Commission of Provincial Deputations decides every controversy that may arise as to who is to be included in or excluded from the list of electors, and the members of this Commis- sion are appointed by the Governor-General. It is unnecessary to say that its majority has always been devoted to the government. In case any elector considers himself wronged by the decision of the Permanent Commission, he can appeal to the "Audiencia" (higher court) of
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the district; but the "Audiencias" are almost en- tirely made up of European magistrates ; they are subject to the authority of the Governor- General, being mere political tools in his hands. As a conclusive instance of the manner in which those tribunals do justice to the claims of Cuban electors, it will be sufficient to cite a case which occurred in Santa Clara in 1892, where 1,000 fully qualified liberal electors were excluded at one time, for the simple omission to state their names at the end of the act presented by the elector who headed the claim. In more than one case has the same " Audiencia" applied two dif- ferent criteria to identical cases. The "Au- diencia" of Havana, in 1887, ignoring the explicit provisions of the law, excused the employees from the condition of residence, a condition that the same tribunal exacted before. The same ''Audiencia" in 1885 declared that the contribu- tions to the State and to the Municipality were accumulative, and in 1887 decided the opposite. This inconsistency had for its object to sponge from the lists hundreds of Cuban electors. In this way the Spanish Government and tribunals have endeavored to teach respect for the law and for the practice of wholesome electoral customs to the Cuban colonists !
It will be easily understood now why on some occasions the Cuban representation in the
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Spanish Parliament has been made up of only three deputies, and in the most favorable epochs the numbei of Cuban representatives has not exceeded six. Three deputies in a body of 430 members ! The genuine representation of Cuba has not reached sometimes 0.96 per cent, of the total number of members of the Spanish Con- gress. The great majority of the Cuban depu- tation has always consisted of Spanish Peninsu- lars. In this manner, the ministers of "Ultramar" (ministers of the Colonies), whenever they have thought necessary to give an honest or decent appearance to their legislative acts by an alleged majority of Cuban votes, could always command the latter, that is, the Peninsulars.
The Spanish Senate.
As regards the representation in the Senate, the operation has been more simple still. The qualifications required to be a Senator have proved to be an almost absolute prohibition to the Cubans. In fact, to take a seat in the higher house, it is necessary to have been president of that body or of Congress, or a minister of the crown, or a bishop, or a grandee of Spain, a lieutenant-general, a vice- admiral, ambassador, minister plenipotentiary, counsellor of State, judge or attorney-general of the Supreme Court, of the Court of Accounts, etc. No Cuban has ever filled any of the above positions, and scarcely two or three are grandees.
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The only natives of Cuba who can be Senators are those who have been deputies in three differ- ent Congresses, or who are professors and have held for four years a university chair, provided that they have an income of $1500 ; or those who have a title of nobility, or have deputies, provin- cial deputies, or mayors in towns of over 20,000 inhabitants, if they have in addition an income of $4000, or pay a direct contribution of $800 to the treasury. This will increase to one or two dozen the number of Cubans qualified to be Senators.
In this manner has legislative work, as far as Cuba is concerned, turned out to be a farce. The various governments have legislated for the island as they pleased. The representatives of the peninsular provinces did not even take the trouble of attending the sessions of the Cortes when Cuban affairs were to be dealt with ; and there was an instance when the estimates (budget) for the Great Antilles were discussed in the pres- ence of less than thirty deputies, and a single one of the ministers, the minister of "Ultramar," (session of April 3, 1880).
Discrimination Against Cubans.
Through the contrivance of the law, as well as through the irregularities committed and con- sented in its application, have the Cubans been deprived also of representation in the local cor- porations to which they were entitled, and in
10
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many cases they have been entirely excluded from them. When, despite the legalized obstacles and the partiality of those in power, they have obtained some temporary majority, the Govern- ment has always endeavored and succeeded in making their triumph null and void. Only once did the home-rule party obtain a majority in the Provincial deputation of Havana, and then the Governor-General appointed from among the Spaniards a majority of the members of the Per- manent Commission. Until that time this Commission has been of the same political com- plexion as the majority of the Deputation. By such proceedings have the Cubans been gradually expelled, even from the municipal bodies. Suffice it to say that the law provides that the derramas (assessments) be excluded from the computation of the tributary quotas, notwithstanding that they constitute the heaviest burden upon the municipal taxpayer. And the majorities, consisting of Spaniards, take good care to make this burden fall with heavier weight upon the Cuban pro- prietor. Thus the latter has to bear a heavier taxation with less representation.
This is the reason why the scandalous case has occurred lately of not a single Cuban having a seat in the "Ayuntamiento " (Board of Alder- men) of Havana. In 1891 the Spaniards pre- dominated in thirty-one out of thirty-six "Ayunta-
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mientos " in the province of Havana. In that of Guines, with a population of 12,500 Cuban inhab- itants, not a single one of the latter was found among its councillors. In the same epoch there were only three Cubans deputies in the Provincial Deputation of Havana ; two in that of Matanzas, and three in that of Santa Clara. And these are the most populous regions in the island of Cuba.
Carpel- Bankers to the Fore.
As, on the other hand, the government of the Metropolis appoints the officials of the colony, all the lucrative, influential and representative of- ficers are secured to the Spaniards from Europe. The Governor-General, the regional and the pro- vincial governors, the "intendentes," comptrollers, auditors, treasurers, chiefs of communications, chiefs of the custom-houses, chiefs of administra- tion, presidents and vice-presidents of the Spanish bank, secretaries of the government, presiding judges of the "Audiencia," presidents of tribu- nal, magistrates, attorneys-general, archbishops, bishops, canons, pastors of rich parishes, all, with very rare exceptions, are Spaniards from Spain. The Cubans are found only as minor clerks in the government offices, doing all the work and re- ceiving the smallest salaries.
From 1878 to this date there have been
•venty governors in the province of Matanzas.
Eighteen were Spaniards and two Cubans. But
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one of these, Brigadier-General Acosta, was an army officer in the service of Spain, who had fought against his countrymen ; and the other Senor Gonzales Munoz, is a bureaucrat. During the same period there has been only one native Cuban acting as governor in the province of Havana, Senor Rodriguez Batisa, who spent all his life in Spain, where he made his administrative career. In the other provinces there has never probably been a single governor born in the country.
In 1887 there was created a council or board of Ultramar under the Minister of the Colonies. Not a single Cuban has ever been found among its members. On the other hand, such men as Generals Arminan and Pando have held positions in it.
In the Local Offices.
The predominance of the government goes further still. It weighs with all its might upon the local corporations. There are deputations in the provinces, and not only are their powers re- stricted and their resources scanty, but the Governor-General appoints their presidents and all the members of the permanent commissions. There are " Ayuntamientos" elected in accord- ance with the reactionary law of 1877, restricted and curtailed as applied to Cuba by Senor Cano- vas. But the Governor-General appoints the
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to
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f
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mayors, who may not belong to the corporation, and the governor of the province appoints the secretaries. The government reserves moreover the right to remove the mayors, of replacing them, and of suspending the councillors and the " Ayuntamientos," partly or in a body. It has frequently made use of this right, for electoral purposes, to the detriment always of the Cubans. As may be seen, the crafty policy of Spain has closed every avenue through which redress might be obtained. All the powers are centered in the government of Madrid and its delegates in the Colony ; and in order to give her despotism a slight varnish of a representative regime, she has contrived with her laws to secure complaisant majorities in the pseudo-elective bodies. To accomplish this purpose she has relied upon the European immigrants, who have always sup- ported the government of the Metropolis, in exchange for lasting privileges. The existence of a Spanish party, as that of an English party at one time in Canada, has been the foundation of Spanish rule in Cuba. Thus, through the instrumentality of the laws and the government a regime of castes has been enthroned there, with its outcome of monopolies, corruption, im- morality and hatred. The political contest there, far from being the fruitful clash of opposite ideas, or the opposition of men representing different
:
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tendencies, but all seeking a social improvement, has been only a struggle between hostile factions, the conflict between infuriated foes, which pre- cedes an open war. The Spanish resident has always seen a threat in the most timid protest of the Cuban — an attack upon the privileged posi- tion on which his fortune, his influence and his power are grounded ; and he is always willing to stifle it with insult and persecution.
Squeezing: the Orange. What use the Spanish Government has made of this power is apparent in the three-fold spolia- tion to which it has submitted the island of Cuba. Spain has not, iff fact, a colonial policy. In the dis- tant lands she has subdued by force, Spain has sought nothing but immediate riches, and these it as wrung by might from the compulsory labor of the natives. For this reason Spain to-day in Cuba is only a parasite. Spain exploits the island of Cuba through its fiscal regime, through its commercial regime and through its bureatic regime. These are the three forms of official spoliation ; but they are not the only forms of spoliation.
When the war of 1878 came to an end, two- thirds of the island were completely ruined. The other third, the population of which had remained peaceful, was abundantly productive ; but it had to face the great economical change involved in
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the impending abolition of slavery. Slavery had received its death-blow at the hands of the insur- rection, and Cuban insurrectionists succeeded at the close of the war in securing its eventful aboli- tion. Evidently it would have been a provident policy to lighten the fiscal burdens of a country in such a condition. Spain was only bent on making Cuba pay the cost of the way. The Metropolis overwhelmed the colony with enormous budgets, reaching as high a figure as $46,000,000, and this only to cover the obligations of the State ; or, rather, to fill up the unfathomable gulf left by the wastefulness and plunder of the civil and military administration during the years of war, and to meet the expenses of the military occupation of the country. Here follow a few figures : The budget for the fiscal year of 1878 to 1879 amounted to $46,594,000; that of 1879 to 1880 to an equal sum; that of 1882 to 1883, to $35, 860,000 ; that of 1883 to 1884, to 34,180,000; that of 1884 to 1885 to the same sum ; that of 1885 to 1886, to $34,- 169,000. For the remaining years, to the present time, the amount of the budget has been about $26,000,000, this being the figure for 1893 to 1894, and to be the same by prorogation for the current fiscal year.
The gradual reduction that may be noted was not the result of a desire to reduce the over- whelming burdens that weigh upon the country ;
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it was imposed by necessity. Cuba was not able by far to meet such a monstrous exaction. It was a continuous and threatening deficit that imposed these reductions. In the first of the above-named years the revenue was $8,000,000 short of the budget or appropriations. In the second year the deficit reached the sum of $20,000,000. In 1883 it was nearly $ 1 0,000,000. In the following years, the deficits averaged nearly $4,500,000. At pres- ent the accumulated amount of all these deficits reaches the sum of $100,000,000.
The Awful Burden of Debt.
As a consequence of such a reckless and senseless financial course, the debt of Cuba has been increased to a fabulous sum. In 1868 it owed $25,000,000. When the present war broke out the debt, it was calculated, reached the net sum of $190,000,000. On the 3ist of July, 1895, the Island of Cuba was reckoned to owe $295,- 707,264 in bulk. Considering its population, the debt of Cuba exceeds that of all the other Ameri- can countries, including the United States. The interest on this debt imposes a burden of $9.79 on each inhabitant. The French people, the most overburdened in this respect, owe only $6.30 per inhabitant.
This enormous debt, contracted and saddled upon the country without its knowledge; this heavy load that grinds it and does not permit its
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people to capitalize their income, to foster its improvements, or even to entertain its industries, constitutes one of the most iniquitous forms of spoliation the island has to bear. In it are in- cluded a debt of Spain to the United States ; the expenses incurred by Spain when she occupied San Domingo ; those for the invasion of Mexico in alliance with France and England ; the expen- ditures for her hostilities against Peru ; the money advanced to the Spanish Treasury during its recent Carlist wars ; and all that Spain has spent to uphold its domination in Cuba and to cover the lavish expenditures of its administration since 1868. Not a cent of this enormous sum has been spent in Cuba to advance the work of im- provement and civilization. It has not contributed to build a single kilometre of highway or of rail- road, nor to erect a single light-house, or deepen a single port ; it has not built one asylum or opened one public school. Such a heavy burden has been left to the future generations, without a single compensation or benefit.
Treatment of Native Industry.
Let us see now what Spain has done to per- mit at least the development of natural wealth and the industry of a country impoverished by this fiscal regime, the work of cupidity, incompe- tency and immorality. Let us see whether that nation has left at least some vitality to Cuba, in
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order to continue exploiting it with some profit. This economical organization of Cuba is of the simplest kind. It produces to export, and imports almost everything it consumes. In view of this it is evident that all that Cuba required from the State was that it should not hamper its work with excessive burdens, nor hinder its commercial rela- tions ; so that it could buy cheap where it suited her and sell her products with profit. Spain has done all the contrary. She has treated to- bacco as an enemy. She has loaded sugar with excessive imposts ; she has shackled with excess- ive and abusive excise duties the cattle-raising industry ; and, wkh her legislative doings and un- doings, she has thrown obstacles in the way of the mining industry. And to cap the climax, she has tightly bound Cuba in the network of a mon- strous tariff and a commercial legislation which subjects the colony, at the end of the nineteenth century, to the ruinous monopoly of the producers and merchants of certain regions of Spain, as in the halcyon days of the colonial compact.
The district which produces the best tobacco Jy__in the world, the famous Vuelta Abajo, lacks every means of transportation afforded by civili- zation, to foster and increase the value of its pro- ducts. No roads, no bridges, or even ports are found there. The State in Cuba collects the taxes, but does not invest them for the benenTof
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any industry. On the other hand, those foreign countries, desirous of acquiring- the rich tobacco- raising industry, have closed their markets to this privileged product, by imposing upon it excessive import duties while the Spanish government bur- dens its exportation from Cuban ports with a duty of $1.80 on every thousand cigars. Is this not a stroke of actual insanity?
Bad Commercial i<a\vs. Everybody is aware of the tremendous crisis through which the sugar industry has been pass- ing for some years, owing to the rapid develop- ment of the production of this article everywhere. Every government has hastened to protect its own by more or less empirical measures. This is not the place to judge them. What is impor- tant is to recall the fact that they have endeavored to place the threatened industry in the best con- dition to withstand the competition. What has Spain done in order, if not to maintain the strong position held before by Cuba, at least to enable the Colony to carry on the competition with its every day more formidable rivals ? Spain pays bounties to the sugar produced within its own territory, and closes its markets to the Cuban sugar, by im- posing upon it an import duty of $6.20 per hun- dred kilograms. It has been calculated that a hundredweight of Cuban sugar is overburdened when reaching the Barcelona market with 143 per
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cent, of its value. The Spanish government op- presses the Cuba producer with every kind of ex- actions ; taxes the introduction of the machinery that is indispensable for the production of sugar, obstructs its transportation by imposing heavy taxes on the railroads, and winds up the work by exacting another contribution called industrial duty, and still another for loading or shipping, which is equivalent to an export duty.
Cuba Ruined for the Sake of Spain.
Still, if Spain was a flourishing industrial country and produced the principal articles re- quired by Cuba for the consumption of its people, or for developing and fostering its industries, the evil, though always great, would be a lesser one. But everybody knows the backwardness of the Spanish industries, and the inability of Spain to supply Cuba with the products she requires for her consumption and industries. The Cubans have to consume or use foreign goods. The Spanish merchants have found, moreover, a new source of fraud in the application of these anti- quated and iniquitous laws ; it consists in nation- alizing foreign products for importation into Cuba.
As the mainspring of this senseless com- mercial policy is to support the monopoly of Spanish commerce, when Spain has been com- pelled to deviate from it to a certain extent by an
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international treaty, it has done so reluctantly and in the anxious expectation of an opportunity to nullify its own promises. This explains the acci- dental history of the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, which was received with joy by Cuba, obstructed by the Spanish administration and prematurely abolished by the Spanish Govern- ment as soon as it saw an opportunity.
The injury done to Cuba, and the evil effects produced by this commercial legislation are be- yond calculation ; its effects have been material losses, which have engendered profound discon- tent. The " Circulo de Hacendados y Agricul- tores," the wealthiest corporation of the island, in 1894 passed judgment on these commercial laws in the following severe terms :
"It would be impossible to explain, should the attempt be made, what is the signification of the present commercial laws, as regards any eco- nomical or political plan or system ; because, economically, they aim at the destruction of public wealth, and politically they are the cause of inex- tinguishable discontent, and contain the germs jf grave dissensions."
Salaried Carpet-Baggers.
But Spain has not taken heed of this ; her only care has been to keep the producers and merchants of such rebellious provinces as Cata- lonia contented.
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For the latter is reserved the best part of the booty taken from Cuba. High salaries and the power of extortion for the office-holders sent to the Colony ; regular tributes for the politicians who uphold them in the Metropolis. The Governor-General is paid a salary of $50,000 and a fund for secret expenses. The Director-Gen- eral of the Treasury receives a salary of $18,500. The Archbishop of Santiago and the Bishop of Havana, $18,000 each. The Commander-General
7 IT '
of the " Apostadero" (naval station) $16,392. General Segundo Cabo (second in command of the island), and the President of the "Audtencia," $15,000 each. The Governor of Havana and the Secretary of the General Government, $8,000 each. The Postmaster General, $5,000. The Collector of the Havana Custom House, $4,000.
' Tr I *
The manager of Lotteries, the same salary. The Chief Clerks of Administration of the first class receive $5,000 each ; those of the second class, $4,000, and those of the third class, $3,000 each. The majors-general are paid $7, 500; the briga- diers-general, $4,500, and when in command, $5,000; the colonels, $3,450; and this salary is increased when they are in command of a regi- ment. The captains of " navio" (the largest men-of-war) receive $6,300; the captains of frigates, $4,560 ; the lieutenants of " navio" of the first class, $3,370. All these functionaries
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 187
are entitled to free lodgings and domestic ser- vants. Then follows the numberless crowd of minor officials, all well provided for, and with great facilities better to provide for themselves.
Government by Plunder. At the office of the Minister of " Ultramar" (of the Colonies), who resides in Madrid, and to whom $96,800 a year are assigned from the treas- ury of Cuba, — at that office begins the saturnalia in which the Spanish bureaucrats indulge with the riches of Cuba. Sometimes, through incapacity, but more frequently for plunder, the money ex- acted from the Cuban taxpayers is unscrupulously and irresponsibly squandered. It has been demon- strated that the debt of Cuba has been increased to $50,232,500 through Minister Fabie's incapa- city. At the time this Minister was in power the Spanish Bank disposed of $20,000,000 from the Cuban treasury, which were to be carried in ac- count current at the disposal of the Minister for the famous operation of withdrawing the paper currency. Cuba paid the interest on these mil- lions, and continued paying it all the time they were utilized by the bank. Minister Romero Robledo took at one time (in 1892) $1,000,000 belonging to the treasury of Cuba from the vaults of the Bank of Spain, and lent it to the Transat- lantic Company, of which he was a stockholder. This was done in defiance of law, and without any
1 88 CUBA.
authorization whatever. The Minister was threat- ened with prosecution ; but he haughtily replied that, if prosecuted, all his predecessors from every political party would have to accompany him to the court. That threat came to nothing.
Exposure of Frauds.
In June of 1890 there was a scandalous debate in the Spanish Cortes, in which some of the frauds committed upon the Cuban treasury were, not for the first time, brought to light. It was then made public that $6,500,000 had been abstracted from the " Caja de Depositos," not- withstanding that the safe was locked with three keys, and each* one was in the possession of a different functionary. Then it was known that under the pretext of false vouchers for transpor- tation and fictitious bills for provisions, during the previous war, defalcations had been found afterwards amounting to $22,811,516. In the month of March of the same year General Pando affirmed that the robberies committed through the issue of warrants by the "Junta de la Denda" (Board of the Public Debt) exceeded the sum of $12,000.
No Punishment for Rascals.
These are only a few of the most salient facts. The large number of millions mentioned above represent only an insignificant part of what a venal administration, sure of immunity, exacts from Cu-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 189
ban labor. The network of artful schemes to cheat the Cuban tax-payer and defraud the State covers everything. Falsification of documents, embezzlement of revenues, bargains with delin- quent debtors, exaction of higher dues from inex- perienced peasants, delays in the dispatch of judi- cial proceedings in order to obtain a more or less considerable gratuity ; such are the artful means daily employed to empty the purse of the tax- payer and to divert the public funds into the pock- ets of the functionaries.
In August of 1887 General Marin entered the Custom House of Havana at the head of a military force, besieged and occupied it ; investi- gated the operations carried on there and dis- charged every employe. The act caused a great stir ; but not a single one of the officials was in- dicted, or suffered a further punishment. There were, in 1891, 350 officials indicted in Cuba for committing fraud. Not one of them was punished. Xo Personal Safety for Cubans.
We have shown that, notwithstanding the promises of Spain and the ostensible changes introduced in the government of Cuba since 1878, the Spaniards from Europe have governed and ruled exclusively in Cuba, and have continued exploiting it until they have ruined the country. Can this tyrannical system be justified by any kind of benefits that might compensate for the
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deprivation of actual power of which the natives of the colony complain ? More than one despotic government has tried to justify itself with the material prosperity it has fostered, or with the safety it has secured to its citizens, or with the liberty it has given to certain manifestations of civilized life. Let us see whether the Cubans are indebted to the iron government of Spain for any of these compensating blessings.
Personal safety is a myth in Cuba. Outlaws, as well as men of law, have disposed at will of the property, the peace and the life of the inhab- itants of Cuba. The civil guard (armed police), far from being tke guardians, have been the ter- ror of the Cuban peasants. Wherever they pass they cause an alarm by the brutal ill-treatment to which they submit the inhabitants, who, in many cases, fly from their homes at their approach. Under the most trifling pretext they beat unmer- cifully the defenceless countrymen, and very frequently they have killed those they were con- veying under arrest.
The Paradise of Bandits.
While the armed police force were beating and murdering peaceful inhabitants, the highway- men were allowed to escape unscathed to devas- tate the country at their pleasure. Although $3,000,000 are assigned in the budget to the ser- vice of public safety, there are districts, such as
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 191
the Province of Puerto Principe, where its inhab- itants have had to arm themselves and undertake the pursuit of the bandits. The case has occurred of an army of 5000 or 6000 troops being sent to pursue a handful of highwaymen within a small territory, without succeeding in capturing them. Meanwhile a special bureau was established in Havana for the persecution of highwaymen, and fabulous sums were spent by it. The best the government succeeded in doing was to bargain with a bandit, and deceive and kill him afterwards on board the steamer "Baldomero Iglesias" in the bay of Havana.
Nevertheless, the existence of highwaymen has served as a pretext to curtail the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts, and submit the Cubans to the jurisdiction of the courts-martial, contrary to the Constitution of the State, which had already been proclaimed. In fact, the Code of Military Laws (Codigo de Justica Militar) provides that the offenses against persons and the means of transportation, as well as arson, when committed in the provinces of Ultramar (the colonies) and the possessions of Africa and Oceanica, be tried by court-martial.
It is true, however, that an explicit legal text was not necessary for the government to nullify the precepts of the Constitution. This was pro- mulgated in Cuba with a preamble providing that
192 CUBA.
the Governor-General and his delegates should retain the same powers they had before its pro- mulgation. The banishment of Cubans has continued after as before said promulgation. In December of 1891 there was a strike of wharf laborers in the Province of Santa Clara. To end it the Governor captured the strikers and ban- ished them en masse to the island of Pinos.
The deportations for political offences have not been discontinued in Cuba, and although it is stated that no executions for political offences have taken place since 1878, it is because the government has resorted to the more simple expedient of assassination. General Polavieja has declared with utmost coolness that in Decem- ber of 1880 he had 265 persons seized in Cuba, Palma, San Luis, Songo, Guantanamo and Sagua de Tanamo, and transported the same day and at the same hour to the African island of Fernando Po. At the close of the insurrection of 1879- 1880 it was a frequent occurrence for the govern- ment to send to the penal colonies of Africa the Cubans who had capitulated. The treachery of which General Jose Maceo was a victim carries us to the darkest times of the War of Flanders and the Conquest of America.
Cuba recalls with horror the dreadful assas- sination of Brigadier-General Arcadio Leyte Vidal, perpetrated in the bay of Nipe in Septem-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 193
ber of 1879. War had just broken out anew in the Eastern Department. Brigadier General Leyte Vidal resided in Mayari, assured by the solemn promise of the Spanish commander-in- chief of that zone that he would not be molested. One month had not elapsed since the uprising, however, when having gone to Nipe, he was in- vited by the commander of the gunboat "Alarma" to take dinner on board. Leyte Vidal went on board the gunboat, but never returned. He was strangled in a boat by three sailors, and his corpse was cast into the sea. This villanous deed was committed in compliance with an order from the Spanish General Polavieja. Francisco Leyte Vidal, a cousin to Arcadio, miraculously escaped the same tragic fate.
The mysterious deaths of Cubans who had capitulated long before have been frequent in Cuba. To one of these deaths was due the uprising of Tunas de Bayamo in 1879. No Security for Property.
If the personal safety of the Cubans, in a period which the Spaniards would depict with brilliant colors, continues at the mercy of their rulers, who are aliens in the country both by birth and in ideas, have the Cubans' honor and pro- perty any better safeguard ? Is the administration of justice good, or even endurable? The very idea of a lawsuit frightens every honest Cuban.
1 94 CUBA.
Nobody trusts the honesty or independence of the judges. Despite the provisions of the Con- stitution, without warrant and for indefinite time, imprisonments are most common in Cuba. The magistrate can tighten or loosen the elastic meshes of the judicial proceedings. They know well that if they curry favor with the government, they can do anything without incurring respon- sibility. They consider themselves, and without thinking it a disgrace, as mere political tools. The presidents and attorneys-general of the " Audiencias" receive their instructions at the Captain-General's office. Twice have the govern- ors of Cuba aimtd at establishing a special tri- bunal to deal with the offenses of the press, thereby undermining the Constitution. Twice has this special tribunal been established. More than once has a straightforward and impartial judge been found to try a case in which the in- terests of influential people were involved. On such occasions the straightforward judge has been replaced by a special judge.
In a country where money is wastefully spent to support a civil and military bureaucracy, the appropriation for the administration of justice does not reach $500,000. On the other hand, the sales of stamped paper constitute a revenue of $750,000. Thus the State derives a pecuniary profit from its administration of justice.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 195
Is it then a wonder that the reforms that have been attempted by establishing lower and higher courts to take cognizance of criminal cases and by introducing oral and public trials should not have contributed in the least to improve the administration of justice? Onerous services have been exacted from people without proper com- pensation as gratuitous services. The govern- ment, so splendidly liberal when its own expenses are in question, haggles for the last cent when dealing with truly useful and reproductive services.
Is the Cuban compensated for his absolute deprivation of political power, the fiscal extortions and the monstrous deficiencies of judicial admin- istration by the material prosperity of his country ? No man acquainted with the intimate relations which exist between the fiscal regime of a country and its economical system will believe that Cuba, crushed as it is by unreasonable budgets and an enormous debt, can be rich. The income of Cuba in the most prosperous times has been calculated at $80,000,000. The State, provincial and muni- cipal charges take much more than forty per cent, of this amount. This fact explains itself. We need not draw any inferences therefrom. Let us confine ourselves to casting a glance over the aspect presented by the agricultural, industrial, and real estate interests in Cuba at the beginning of the present year.
196 CUBA.
Industries Driven to Bankruptcy.
Despite the prodigious efforts made by pri- vate individuals to extend the cultivation of the sugar cane and to raise the sugar-making industry to the plane it has reached, both the colonists and the proprietors of the sugar plantations and the sugar mills (centrales) are on the brink of bank- ruptcy and ruin. In sellmgjjiejnitput theyjoiew that they would not get sufficient means_to_CQver_ the cost of keeping and repairing their colonies and sugar mills. There is not a single agricultu- ral bank in Cuba. The " hacendado " (planter, land-owner) had to recur to usurious loans and to pay eighteen ancf twenty per cent, for the sums which they borrowed. Not long ago there existed in Havana the Spanish Bank, the Bank of Com- merce, the Industrial Bank, the Bank of St. Joseph, the Bank of the Alliance, the Bank of Maritime Insurances and the Savings Bank. Of these there remain to-day only the Spanish Bank, which has been converted into a vast State office, and the Bank of Commerce, which owes its existence to the railways and warehouses it possesses. None of these gives any aid to the sugar industry.
The cigar-making industry, which was in such flourishing condition a short time ago, has fallen so low that fears are entertained that it may emigrate entirely from Cuba. The weekly " El Tobacco " came to the conclusion that the
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 197
exportation of cigars from Cuba would cease entirely within six years. ^From 1889 to J894 the
ej^ojtationjfrom the port of Havana had de- creasedjjy 116,200,000 cigars.
Cityj*eal estate has ifa.]]eiL-tQ-Qft€ half aftd-itu some cases to one-third the value it had before 1884. A building in Havana which was erected at a cost of $600,000 was sold for $120,000. _
Sto^k§__^jid__hQJlds tell__-the- -same_storv. Almost all of them are jiuotedLJjI Jdayana with heavy discounts.
At the outbreak of the present war, Spain found that, although the appropriations
amounted to nearly $500,000^000, not a— -s4ftgie_ military road had been built, no fortifications, no hospitals, and there was no material of war. The State has not provided even for its own defence. In view of this fact nobody will be surprised to hear that a country 670 kilometres long, with an area of 118,833 square kilometres, has only 246^ linealkilometres of high-roads, and these almost exclusively in the Province of Havana. In that of Santiago de Cuba there are 9 kilometres ; in Puerto Principe and Las Villas not a single one. JTuba hajL^ jo6_jcilomgtres. of_se.a=shof e and fifty -/ four ports ; only fifteen of those are open to merce. In the labyrinth of keys, sand banks and breakers adjacent to our coasts there are only nineteen lighthouses of all classes. Many of our
198 CUBA.
ports, some of the best among them, are filling up. The coasting steamers can hardly pass the bars at the entrance of the ports of Nuevitas, Gibara, Baracoa and Santiago de Cuba. Private parties have sometimes been willing to remedy these evils ; but then the central administration has interfered, and after years of red tape, things have remained worse than before. In the course of twenty-eight years only 139 kilometres of high-roads were built in Cuba ; two first-class light-houses were erected, three second-class, one of the fourth-class, three beacon lights and two port lights ; 246 metres of wharf were built, and a few ports we»e superficially cleaned and their shoals marked. This was all. On the other hand the department of public works consumes unlimited millions in enormous salaries and in repairs.
The neglect of public hygiene in Cuba is pro- verbial. The technical commission sent by the United States to Havana to study the yellow fever, declared that the port of the capital of Cuba, owing to its inconceivable filth, is a perma- nent source of infection, against which it is neces- sary to take precautions. There is in Havana, however, a "Junta de Puerto" (board of port- wardens) which collects dues and spends them with the same munificence as the other bureau- cratic centres.
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IVo Public Instruction.
Does the government favor Cuba more in the matter of education ? It will suffice to state that only $128,000 are assigned to public instruc- tion in the budget. And it may be proved that the University of Havana is a source of pecuniary profit to the State. On the other hand, this in- stitution is without laboratories, instruments and even without water to carry on experiments. All the countries of America, excepting Bolivia, all of them, including Hayti, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guadalupe, where the colored race predominates, spend a great deal more than the Cuban govern- ment for the education of the people. On the other hand, only Chili spends as much as Cuba for the support of an army. In view of this, it is easily explained why 76 per cent, of such an in- telligent and wide-awake people as that of Cuba cannot read and write. The most necessary in- struction, the technical and industrial, does not exist.
The careers and professions most needed by modern civilization are not cultivated in Cuba. In order to become a topographer, a scientific agriculturist, an electrician, an industrial or me- chanical engineer, a railroad or mining engineer, the Cuban has to go to a foreign country. The State in Cuba does not support a single public library.
200 CUBA.
The Annual Budget.
The annual budget of the island, that is, the annual estimate of revenue and expenditure, is as follows :
Revenue, in round numbers, $25,000,000
Expenditures, in round numbers, .... 27,000,000
Apparent deficit, 2,000,000
Real one, from $8,000,000 to 10,000,000
not because the estimated revenue is not col- lected, but because the estimated expenditures are increased.
The sources whence the revenue is derived is a matter of no importance, except from a scien- tific point of view ; but a brief analysis of the ex- penditures will not fail to interest the reader.
In the first place we find an item of $10,500,- ooo for interest on the national debt of Spain. Following in importance we have an item of $6,900,000 for the army and navy. Then an item of $4,036,000 for salaries for civil employes. Next an item of $2,200,000 for pensions to retired mil- itary, civil and judicial officials or the widows. Then an item of $995,000 for the judicial and $708,000 for the Treasuiy Department. Next an item of $558,000 for internal improvements ; that is, for the construction and repairs of roads, of public buildings, of telegraph lines, for harbor improvements, sanitary works, lighthouse expen- ses, etc. Finally, an item of $182, 200 for the higher
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education, as follows : $127,050 for the University of Havana, $16,800 for the school for land sur- veyors, mercantile professors, naval studies, etc. ; $6,550 for the School of Design, painting and sculpture; $15,000 for the Normal School and $16,800 for material for those establishments. We
IT '
find, therefore, that in a yearly expenditure of over $34,000,000 only the insignificant sum of $588,000 is devoted to works of public utility and $182,200 to higher education. There is not one cent applied to primary education. This is taken care of by the municipalities, whose revenue, owing to the fact that the general government ex- hausts all the sources from which they could derive a moderate one, is so exceedingly limited that they have scarcely enough to meet the most urgent needs, and public instruction remains al- most entirely neglected.
Heavy Burden of Taxation. \Ve might well suppose that for a country with 1,600,000 inhabitants an annual taxation of $14,000,000 to $26,000,000 is indeed a heavy burden ; but this does not by any means repre- sent the drainage to which the resources of the island are subjected under the Spanish Govern- ment. For every dollar which goes into the treasury at least another dollar is stolen by the officials. Take, for instance, the item of custom duties. They yield per annum some $12,000,000;
202 CUBA.
but any one who is familiar with the Custom House business in Cuba will tell you that no more than 40 per cent, of the dutiable goods imported into the island has been declared, the remaining 60 per cent, having been smuggled and the duties thereon divided between the importer and the officials in the following proportion : 40 per cent, to the importer, 40 per cent, to the Collector and Appraisers, and 20 per cent, to the minor officials. In all the other branches of the revenue the same system prevails. Instead, therefore, of $24,000,000 or $26,000,000, we have $48,000,000 or $50,000,000. Yet this is not all ; for, as a fesult of the policy adopted by the Government creating the division between the Spanish and native elements of the population, the great majority of the Spaniards only come to Cuba to make a fortune, and as soon as this is accomplished they return to Spain, carrying with them every cent they have earned and leaving behind not even a memento of their residence in the island. In the good old times from $8,000,- ooo to $10,000,000 were so taken away from Cuba every year. Adding the various items, we obtain a total of some $55,000,000 to $60,000,000 as the cost to the people of Cuba of the paternal Government of Spain.
CHAPTER VII.
THE " EVER FAITHFUL ISLE DRIVEN TO REVOLT
EARLY PATRIOTISM SPANISH OPPRESSION THE
PARTY OF REFORM PERSISTENT MISRULE
A STORY OF WRONGS CUBA'S MATERIAL PROS- PERITY BOURBON RULE ADDING INJURY TO
INSULT EARLY DISCONTENT LOPEZ AND HIS
RAIDS THE KILLING OF PINTO NOTES ON
SPANISH TYRANNY TROUBLE OVER THE TARIFF
SUPPRESSING FREEMASONRY A CHARACTER- ISTIC PROCLAMATION TACON's ADMINISTRA- TION CULTIVATING THE SLAVE TRADE
CREOLE PRIDE.
|AR IS A DIRE necessity. But when a people has exhausted all human means of persuasion to obtain from an unjust oppressor a remedy for its ills, if it appeals as a last resource to force in order to repel the persistent aggression which constitutes tyranny, this people is justified before its own con- science and before the tribunal of nations.
Such is the case of Cuba in its wars against Spain. No metropolis has ever been harsher or more obstinately harassing: none has ever ex- ploited a colony with more greediness and less foresight than Spain. No colony has ever been
(2°3)
2O4 CUBA.
more prudent, more long-suffering, more cautious, more persevering than Cuba in its purpose of asking for its rights by appealing to the lessons of experience and political wisdom. Only driven by desperation has the people of Cuba taken up arms, and having done so, it displays as much heroism in the hour of danger as it had shown good judgment in the hour of deliberation.
The history of Cuba during the present cen- tury is a long series of rebellions ; but every one of these was preceded by a peaceful struggle for its rights — a fruitless struggle because of the ob- stinate blindness of Spain.
Ivarly Patriotism.
There were patriots in Cuba from the begin- ning of this century, such as Presbyter Caballero and Don Francisco Arango, who called the met- ropolitan government's attention to the evils of the Colony, and pointed to the remedy by plead- ing for the commercial franchises required by its economical organization, and for the intervention of the natives in its government, not only as a right, but also for political expediency, in view of the long distance between the Colony and the Home Government, and the grave difficulties with which it had to contend. The requirements of the war with the continental colonies, which were tired of Spanish tyranny, compelled the Metropolitan Government to grant a certain
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measure of commercial liberty to the island of Cuba ; a temporary concession which spread prosperity throughout its territory, but which was not sufficient to open the eyes of the Spanish statesmen. On the contrary, prompted by sus- picion and mistrust of the Americans, they began by curtailing, and shortly after abrogated the limited administrative powers then possessed by some of the corporations in Cuba, such as the "Junta de Fomento," (a board for the encour- agement of internal improvements.) Spanish Oppression.
As if this were not enough, the Cubans were deprived of the little show of political interven- tion they had in public affairs. By a simple royal decree issued in 1837 all the powers of the government were concentrated in the hands of the Captain-General, on whom authority was conferred to act as the Governor of a city in a state of siege. This implied that the Captain- General, residing in Havana, was master of the life and property of every inhabitant of the island of Cuba. This meant that Spain declared a per- manent state of war against a peaceful and de- fenceless people.
Cuba saw its most illustrious sons, such as Heredia and Saco, wander in exile throughout the free American Continent. Cuba saw as many of the Cubans as dared to love liberty and declare it
12
206 CUBA.
by act or word, die on the scaffold, such as Joan de Aguero and Placido. Cuba saw the product of its people's labor confiscated by iniquitous fis- cal laws imposed by its masters from afar. Cuba saw the administration of justice in the hands of foreign magistrates, who acted at the will or the whim of its rulers. Cuba suffered all the outrages that can humiliate a conquered people, in the name and by the work of a government that sar- castically calls itself paternal. Is it to be wondered then that an uninterrupted era of conspiracies and uprising, should have been inaugurated ? Cuba in its despair took up arms in 1850 and 1851, con- spired again in» 1885, waged war in 1868, in 1879, in 1885, and is fighting now, since the 24th of February, 1895.
Tlie Party of Reform.
But at the same time Cuba has never ceased to ask for justice and redress. Its people, before shouldering the rifle, pleaded for their rights. Be- fore the pronunciamento of Aguero and the inva- sions of Lopez, Saco, in exile, exposed the dangers of Cuba to the Spanish statesmen, and pointed to the remedy. Other far-sighted men seconded him in the Colony. They denounced the cancer of slavery, the horrors of the traffic in slaves, the corruption of the office-holders, the abuses of the government, the discontent of the people with their state and political tutelage. No attention
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 207
was given to them, and this brought on the first armed conflicts.
Before the formidable insurrection of 1868, which lasted ten years, the Reform party, which included the most enlightened, wealthy, and in- fluential Cubans, exhausted all the resources within their reach to induce Spain to initiate a healthy change in her Cuban policy. The party started the publication of periodicals in Madrid and in the island, addressed petitions, maintained a great agitation throughout the country, and having succeeded in leading the Spanish Govern- ment to make an inquiry into the economical, political, and social condition of Cuba, they pre- sented a complete plan of government which sat- isfied public requirements as well as the aspira- tions of the people. The Spanish Government disdainfully cast aside the proposition as useless, increased taxation, and proceeded to its exaction with extreme severity.
It was then that the ten-year war broke out. Cuba, almost a pigmy compared with Spain, fought like a giant. Blood ran in torrents. Public wealth disappeared in a bottomless abyss. Spain lost 200,000 men. Whole districts of Cuba were left almost entirely without their male population. Seven hundred millions were spent to feed that conflagration — a conflagration that tested Cuban heroism, but which could not touch
208 CUBA.
the hardened heart of Spain. The latter could not subdue the bleeding Colony, which had no longer strength to prolong the struggle with any prospect of success. Spain proposed a compact, which was a snare and a deceit. She granted to Cuba the liberties of Puerto Rico, which enjoyed
none.
Persistent misrule.
On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, throughout which has run a current of falsehood and hypocrisy. Spain, whose mind had not changed, hastened to change the name of things. The Captain-General was called Governor- General. The royal decrees took the name of authorizations. The commercial monopoly of Spain was named coasting trade. The right of banishment was transformed into the law of vagrancy. The brutal attacks of defenceless citizens were called " componte." The abolition of constitutional guarantees became the law of public order. Taxation without the consent or knowledge of the Cuban peple was changed into the law of estimates (budget) voted by the rep- resentatives of Spain, that is, of European Spain.
The painful lesson of the ten-year war had been entirely lost on Spain. Instead of inaugu- rating a redeeming policy that would heal the recent wounds, allay public anxiety, and quench
S,
b* ct
O
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the thirst for justice felt by the people, who were desirous to enjoy their natural rights, the Me- tropolis, while lavish in promises of reform, per- sisted in carrying on unchanged its old and crafty system, the groundwork of which continues to be the same, namely : To exclude every native Cuban from every office that could give him any effective influence and intervention in public affairs ; the ungovernable exploitation of the colonists' labor for the benefit of Spanish commerce and Spanish bureaucracy, both civil and military. To carry out the latter purpose it was necessary to maintain the former at any cost.
A Story of Wrongs.
A full statement of the grievances endured by the Cuban people during the last seventy-five years would fill a volume of no small size. Dur- ing 300 years Cuba was absolutely neglected by Spain. Two centuries after the discovery of the island the population did not exceed 50,000 souls, and one century later it did not reach 175,000.
Up to the beginning of the present century the Cuban people were an agricultural commu- nity, cut off from all intercourse with the rest of the world, except Spain, and producing just enough to satisfy their ordinary wants. The ports of the island being closed to foreign com- merce, and Spain offering only a limited market
2 1 2 CUBA.
for the products of Cuba, there was nothing to stimulate the development of its agriculture. In- tellectually, the great majority of the Cuban peo- ple lived almost in utter darkness. Public educa- tion was entirely neglected by the government ; there were no primary schools, and even as late as 1855, in towns of 2500 and 3000 inhabitants, not one was to be found. In 1851 the total amount appropriated for public instruction was only $29,326, and that very year Cuba was made to contribute over $9,000,000 to pay for the army and navy of Spain. Out of a total of over 100,- ooo children only 3682 attended the public schools ; that was their capacity.
Only a few years ago, Baracoa, with 1365 children had no more than two public schools, with accommodation for 136 children, and costing for teachers' salaries, rent of building and other expenses the yearly sum of $780. Manzanillo, with 3079 children, had four public schools with an attendance of 185, their full capacity, at a yearly expense of $3636 for salaries, rent of buildings, school material, etc. Las Tunas, with 1297 children, had two schools, with 156 children, at an annual total cost of $i 160. The children of the well-to-do families were either educated at home or at private schools, at a cost entirely be- yond the means of the lower classes of the popu- lation.
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Cuba's Material Prosperity.
The material prosperity of Cuba began at the latter part of the first quarter of the present century. By royal decree of July 23d, 1817, the gov- ernment of Spain relinquished the monopoly of the cultivation and manufacture of tobacco, and by another royal decree of February loth, 1818, the ports of the island were opened to foreign com- merce. These two measures were followed by an extraordinary agricultural and commercial de- velopment, which has continued uninterrupted until lately. But Cuba is not indebted to the good-will of Spain for those two beneficial reforms. They were due only to the care and solicitude of Don Francisco Arango, an eminent Cuban states- man and patriot, who devoted his whole life to the service of his country. It was the work of many years of unremitting and persistent effort, and, if he finally succeeded, it was because of his ability to convince the Spanish Government that the immediate result of the adoption of both measures would be a great increase in the reve- nue derived from the island, no matter at what cost to the latter. Nor is this all. While increas- ing the burdens to the extent of absorbing almost the whole net revenue of the country, Spain has invariably discouraged all those enterprises which might have attracted foreign capital and intelli- gence to Cuba, jealous and fearful of the influ-
2 1 4 CUBA.
ence that foreigners might exert in a colony which she desired to hold with an iron grasp in order to extort revenue from it at her pleasure.
Tlie Bourbon Rule.
The National Constitution adopted in 1812 declared that the American colonies were entitled to representation in the Cortes. It was a very restricted one, but at least the right was acknow- ledged, and Cuba sent two deputies. When they reached Spain, however, the Constitution had already been overthrown by the most brutal and stupid of all the Bourbons, Ferdinand VIII. It was restored in 1820, but for a short period only, and in 1836, Ferdinand having died in 1833, the Constitutional regime was again introduced, and Cuba sent the deputies she was entitled to. They reached Spain, presented their credentials, and after long delay, were coolly informed that they could not be admitted to a seat, as the Cortes had passed a resolution to the effect that Cuba should not have representation, but that special laws would be enacted for the government of the Colony. We are yet waiting for those laws.
Up to that moment the Cuban people were generally loyal to Spain. Thenceforward the Spanish Government had, if not an enemy, at least an opponent in every intelligent Cuban, and the antagonism was intensified and deepened by
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.
the policy adopted by the rulers of the island a few years before, and then very diligently pursued for the purpose of creating a division between the resident Spaniards and the Cubans, a policy so effectively promoted by Gen. Tacon that social intercourse between those two elements of the population almost ceased. Increasing dis- content was met by sterner measures of repres- sion, accompanied all the time by heavier and more galling taxation. Until the year 1878 the country was under a reign of terror beyond all exaggeration. On the merest suspicion men were imprisoned, and without even the show of a trial, were executed or deported to the pena'l colonies of Africa for ten, fifteen or twenty years and their estates confiscated.
Adding- Injury to Insult. In 1863 the political atmosphere became so heavy and threatening that the Spanish Govern- ment consented to and directed the election of com- missioners who should proceed to Spain to report about the general condition of the island, and re- commend such political and administrative reforms as they might deem advisable. Sixteen of the most eminent Cubans were elected, and together with the commissioners appointed by the govern- ment they met at Madrid the following year. The whole proceeding was a mere farce. A series of questions were submitted to them, and
2 1 6 CUBA.
they were most carefully considered and answered. Upon this having been accomplished the com- missioners were discharged. Was anything done by the Spanish Government ? Yes ; the taxes were increased, and the report and recommenda- tions were consigned to the archives, there to be forever forgotten. That was all, and it was enough. It filled to the brim the cup of Cuban patience and suffering, and the standard of revolt was raised on the tenth day of October, 1868. The war lasted for ten long years at a cost to the country of over $1,000,000,000 and thousands of lives, while over 150,000 Spanish soldiers left their bones to fertilize the Cuban fields. To Spain, the war cost no money ; all was paid by Cuba. Early Discontent.
In the early part of the present century Cuba began to grow restless under the rule of Spain. Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America, aimed to include Cuba, also, in his work, and make it independent. The project met with little encouragement, however, and Cubans say that its failure was due to the opposition, open or secret, of the United States Government at that time. That Government made it plain to Bolivar that it would not be pleased if he extended his operations north of Panama.
The fire of insurrection broke out fiercely about twenty years afterward, and from 1 848 to
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 217
1854 numerous small insurrections occurred. These were mostly organized by the slaves, and were more attempts to obtain freedom for the slaves than to obtain independence for the island. A few of these rebellions showed plans of a widespread conspiracy, however, and these were countenanced, if not assisted, by the Southern States of this country. There was for some time among Southern statesmen, a definite pro- ject looking to the annexation of Cuba to the Union, and its division into four States. These would, of course, have been slave States and thus would have added greatly to the power of the slave party in Congress. Their eight senators and at least sixteen representatives would have given the balance of power to the South for a long time.
The first serious uprising was that of the "Black Eagle" bands in 1829, which was really incited by the example of Bolivar and the South- American republics. It was readily suppressed by the Spanish Government with great severity and cruelty. A considerable insurrection of the slaves occurred in 1844 and the province of Matanzas was placed for a time under purely military rule. Under the ordinary method of examination no incriminating evidence was ob- tainable against the prisoners taken. The Court, therefore, went back to the horrible practices of
2l8 CUBA.
the Inquisition, and tortured the prisoners in a manner worthy of the days of Torquemada. As a result, many wretched prisoners testified falsely and accused innocent persons, in vain hope of thus securing their own release from torment. This hope was soon dispelled. The ruthless judges generally put their witnesses to death after torturing them. In all, nearly two thousand persons were sentenced to death, to banishment, and to imprisonment at hard labor for various terms, against not one of whom was there any real evidence.
I«opez and His Raids.
A formidifble attack upon Spanish rule was that led by Narcisso Lopez in 1848. He organ- ized a band of 600 men in the United States, and, evading the neutrality laws, made a landing upon the Cuban coast, where he was joined by a con- siderable number of Cubans, both white and col- ored. He was soon driven out of the island by the Spaniards, but returned a second time, and again a third time in 1851. The last landing proved fatal to him. He was captured by the Spaniards and put to death, with a number of his followers. Another American, Crittenden, who was in league with him, remained on the coast, and, hearing of the capture of Lopez, attempted to escape by taking to the sea in a boat. He, too, was captured, with fifty of his men, and
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 221
they were all put to death in Havana in a most brutal manner.
The Killing: of Pinto.
Thereafter the island was quiet for a few years, but, in 1854, Pinto, a Spaniard of revolu- tionist tendencies, again raised the standard of revolt. He was soon captured and put to death.
After Pinto came Estrampes and Aguero, who aimed both at freeing the slaves and throw- ing off the Spanish yoke. They were both cap- tured after a brief struggle and put to death. After them, there were no more serious uprisings until the great war in 1868.
Notes on Spanish Tyranny.
No better idea of the tyranny of Spanish rule in Cuba, of the restlessness of the Cubans under it, of the various attempts to gain indepen- dence, and also of the attitude of other countries toward the island, can be obtained than by glanc- ing at a few items culled from the newspapers of earlier years. Thus in April, 1817, appeared a petition of fourteen Americans confined in prison in Cuba, to the President of the United States. They wrote : " Our vessel being sold for the pur- pose of privateering, we were obliged to take passage in the schooner ' Margaretta,' bound to Jamaica. To our sorrow, after being on our pas- sage two days, the captain brought up his Carthagenian commission and said he was bound
222 CUBA.
on a cruise. Finding ourselves taken in this shameful manner, we concerted to leave her the first opportunity. On September 2d we captured the schooner 'Sophia,' under Spanish colors, bound to Jamaica, with cattle on board ; on the 3d of the same month, we captured a Spanish brig from the coast. The captain and owner ransomed the brig for $1600; we allowed the boat to take the captain on shore at Cuba under a promise that he would return with the money ; the unjust agree- ment of the Spaniards, in place of the money, sent out a King's schooner of superior force and cap- tured us. Now began the inhuman usages of the cruel Spaniards'. Cut and mangled to pieces with cutlasses, bound back to back till the blood ran from under our finger-nails, we are at present in Cuba jail on the allowance of this savage nation, on half a pint of rice and beans, half-cooked, for twenty-four hours, and without clothing."
Privateering was popular in Cuban waters at that time. In March, 1818, the capture of several was reported. On one of these vessels the cap- tain and entire crew were hung at sea. It is noted that the number of slaves imported into Havana in 1817 amounted to 15,534.
In June, 1819, there was published a list of twenty-two prisoners at Havana, who were all American citizens, and who had been captured under the patriot flag of Cuban independence.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 223
Trouble Over the Tariff*.
In September, 1821, appears this record: " In consequence of the progress of things in Mexico and South America, it is said that the people of Cuba begin to talk of independence pretty freely. It is highly probable that the sovereignty of this fine island will soon depart from Spain." At about the same time the Cuban deputies in the Spanish parliament made a strong remonstrance against a new tariff, which Spain proposed to impose upon the island, Parliament was plainly told that if the application of the tariff to Cuba was persisted in, the island would be lost to the mother country. "We require," said the deputies, "the entire abrogation of the prohibited laws as regards the trade' of Cuba. It is for the interest of the Spanish monarchy, at large, that we should be subject to no commercial restrictions." In continuation they said that the island had not a twelfth part of the population it should have, and complained of the scarcity of slaves for agricultural labor.
After the adoption of the new Spanish Con- stitution it became the rule in Havana for the Governor to visit the prisons once in every month, for the purpose of preventing the dread- ful cruelties which had been frequently and per- haps generally practiced in them. In one visit made by the Governor to the prisons of Morro
224 CUBA.
Castle, certain horrible dungeons were found constructed especially for the torture and oppres- sion of their inmates. He at once ordered that" they should be immediately closed up with masonry.
Havana, as well as the rest of the ports of Cuba, were for a time exempted from the opera- tion of the tariff referred to above. The local Government was left to regulate and establish the duties according to its pleasure.
In January, 1822, the Captain-General of the island issued an order regulating the manner in which all persons, whether subjects of Spain or not, arriving as settlers in the island, were to be admitted. Every foreigner so arriving, before he was permitted to land; had to present a me- morial to the Government stating the object of his coming and endorsed by some responsible person who was to be answerable for his conduct during his entire period of residence in the island. Without this, the captain of the ship bringing him was compelled to take him away again under a penalty of two hundred dollars' fine.
At the end of May, 1822, a party of soldiers demolished a printing office in Havana and grossly abused the editor and his workmen for publishing some criticisms on the conduct of the Captain- General. A remonstrance, addressed to the Spanish Government against this abuse of power,
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 227
sense, cannot but irritate the Revolutionists of the adjacent continent, who regard with angry envy our prosperity and wealth, while they are seen bowed down by poverty and anarchy, the inevitable consequence of their rebellion. This happy land, the abode of peace, plenty and loyalty, presents to the world a striking contrast : enjoying under the mild government of her king all the blessings which spring from security of property, the uninterrupted progress of the arts, education and science, while revolutions, factions, discord and anarchy have established their empire in the rebellious provinces, and their natural con- sequence has been immorality, licentiousness and the wretchedness induced by this state of dis- order ; and since these malcontents have spared no means or efforts to disturb your repose, they have not found it difficult to allure to their faction some of the inhabitants of this island. Some of them, ungrateful for the hospitality they have here received, and others uncircumspect, have been mis- led by fallacious theories, ignorant of the irresist- ible arguments based upon a simple comparison between the state of refinement and prosperity oi the ever-faithful isle of Cuba, and the deplorable state of the continent since the moment of its sep- aration from the paternal government of his majesty. Madmen! All men of sense in this island are faithful to the king, our master, from affection,
228 CUBA.
from gratitude, and a conviction that in her loyalty and union to the parent State, they hold the only guarantee which secures her well-being ; and that the day which severs these sacred bonds will be the last of her happiness and even of her exist- ence. The ridiculous conspiracy is discovered, which could only have proved disastrous to the malcontents who projected it. Those who may be convicted of the crime will be punished with all the rigor of our laws, because public venge- ance as well as our safety demands it. Citizens of Cuba, repose entire confidence in your chief magistrate, who, assisted by his colleagues, has done and will do his duty, to sustain you in the enjoyment of all your present benefits, fulfilling the oft-repeated orders of the king, our lord, which are so grateful to his heart that it never throbs with pleasure except when contemplating you as contented and happy.''
This proclamation is worthy of especial note for two things : First, its colossal hypocrisy ; and, second, that in it was first coined and given to the world the now famous phrase, "Ever-faithful Isle."
Tacoii's Administration.
The manner in which Cuba was governed in the middle of the present century, and in which the slave trade was managed, was well described by a writer in 1854, as follows :
•--—.. r
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" So well regulated is the police of Cuba that not a single negro can be landed on its shores without the knowledge or permission of the Captain-General. For this permission he receives a fee of ten dollars per negro, which, on the aver- age of 1 5, ooo annual importations, forms a very large addition to his income of $150,000. Gen- eral Tacon, who was Governor from June, 1834, till April, 1838, is known to have expended the greatest part, if not the whole, of the fees he de- rived from this source in ornamental improve- ments of Havana and its vicinity, from which he had no pecuniary benefit whatever. During the time he swayed the rule in Havana, about 60,000 Africans were imported, and his having expended the whole of the emoluments, amounting to the large sum of $600,000, in public improvements, is a satisfactory proof that, in conniving at the slave trade, and in exacting a fee forso doing, he was actu- ated by no selfish considerations. In this he was honorably distinguished from his predecessors, who not only appropriated to themselves as part of the legitimate emoluments of their office, the fees arising out of the slave trade, but were so amena- ble to the influence of money as to make no scru- ple of screening the most atrocious criminals, pro- vided they could offer a bribe sufficiently high.
Till the time Tacon became Captain-General robberies, assassinations and crimes of every
230 CUBA.
kind were rife in Havana ; the perpetrators well knowing that, as long as they had money to bribe, they were safe from punishment ; but Tacon soon caused a rapid and sanatory change to take place. Energetic and indefatigable in their detec- tion, he punished criminals with a certainty and severity that knew of no remission ; and by doing so, he, in an incredibly short time, effected such an improvement that even throughout the whole island crimes against the person were almost un- heard of ; and in the city of Havana, where it had been unsafe to go out on foot after dark, and where robberies were often committed in the street in open day, there was now perfect security at all hours of the night.
Cultivating: the Slave Trade. Frauds on the revenue also, which had been carried on to a great extent, were speedily de- tected and punished by this energetic officer ; and, in fact, social crime of every degree was followed so certainly, during the whole period of his government, by such prompt and severe punishment, that latterly it seemed as if no temp- tation was strong enough to call it into existence. To this wise and laudable policy the African slave trade alone formed a grand exception. That unhallowed traffic, on the contrary, received a great additional stimulus from the regulations made by Tacon with regard to it. Instead of
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 231
leaving the price paid for connivance to be reg- ulated solely by the cupidity of the governor and his subordinates, on the one hand, and the fears of the slave dealers on the ' other, he fixed the whole amount at one ounce or $17.00: ten of
IT I '
which were to go to the governor, and the rest amongst the subordinates. In this way a security and apparent legality were given to the transac- tions of the slave dealers, which they never previously possessed ; and the consequence was that the number of annual importations rose rapidly from 10,000 to 15,000, and it has con- tinued more or less ever since.
From the line of conduct pursued by Tacon, it is very evident that he did not consider the slave trade in the light of a truly criminal pursuit, and that his private instructions must have been rather to encourage than to suppress it. He promptly and rapidly put down all other crimes and even venal frauds on the revenue, with a celerity and efficiency almost incredible ; and the slave trade alone, the most easily reached, was allowed to be carried on, not only with impunity, but so fostered and protected as to increase by fifty per cent, the number of its annual importa- tions. The only key to his conduct is to be found in the supposition that it was regulated by secret instructions from his own government. Had these instructions been to suppress the trade, it could
232 CUBA.
not have lasted a day — it could not have been
carried on at all.
Creole Pride.
It appears a singular assertion to make, that the natives of Cuba, constituting almost the whole proprietary of the country, were, at that time, for many and various reasons proper to themselves, in favor of the entire abolition of the slave trade ; but although indolent, luxurious, and effeminate, prepared to resist, even to death, any attempt to emancipate their negroes.
Proud, haughty, possessed of much wealth, and masters of a great portion of all the estates or plantations at present in cultivation, the Cre- oles of Cuba hardly deign to call themselves Spaniards, preferring the appellation of Havan- eros, or Creollos de Cuba. Generally speaking, they never went to Spain, but resided constantly either on their estates in the country, or in their town residences in Havana, Saint Jago de Cuba, or Matanzas. They were proud of their native city of Havana, and of the island of Cuba, as the land of their birth and their home ; and looking upon the European Spaniards more in the light of intruders than fellow-countrymen, they held them in little estimation, and as greatly their inferiors in rank and station.
The power of the government was, however, all in the hands of the Europeans, whose enor-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 233
mous exactions and iron rule engendered feelings of the bitterest hatred towards them on the part of the Creoles ; and these feelings were all exag- gerated by the galling reflection that this tyranny was exercised over them by people whom their pride held in supreme contempt.
They were, therefore, anxious to get rid of them and were unwilling that any European should settle or obtain a footing amongst them. The slave trade, however, sadly interfered with them in this respect, by bringing fresh supplies of ne- groes for the formation of new estates. These were established almost entirely by old Spaniards who had resided for a considerable number of years in the island, engaged in the service of government, or in commercial or other specula- tions, and who, having left the mother country early in life, had, while acquiring wealth, engen- dered tastes and habits ill-suited to European manners or customs. Instead, therefore, of return- ing to Spain, they sought for some profitable method of investing their money in the country where they had determined to remain. They naturally enough looked to the purchase of land and the formation of sugar and coffee estates, which the facilities afforded by the slave trade for the purchase of African negroes rendered an easy and by no means unprofitable undertaking. On the other hand, the Creoles, having already an
234 CUBA.
ample supply of negroes to cultivate all their estate, neither wished nor required fresh importa- tions from Africa ; indeed, they considered these importations a positive pecuniary loss to them. The intrinsic money value of their negroes was thereby deteriorated, and the markets being more or less glutted with produce, the value of their crops was much diminished, and their annual in- comes consequently cut down.
The Spanish planter, seldom leaving the island, had generally at the end of the year a handsome surplus revenue over all his expendi- ture ; this surplus j^e devoted to the improvement of his estates, or laid out in some profitable local investment. His town residence was a palace, and all his expenses were retained in the island. Wealth was thus accumulated, and the planters, merchants and artisans all experiencing the salu- tary effects of this system, needed only industry to acquire riches.
CHAPTER VIII.
ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARD CUBA
ADAMS ON ANNEXATION JEFFERSON TO MONROE
VIEWS OF HENRY CLAY A BRITISH VIEW
AMERICAN INTERESTS IN CUBA DANIEL WEB- STER THE QUESTION OF PURCHASE AN UN- EASY FEELING IN CUBA FURTHER DISCUSSION
OF PURCHASE LATER EXPRESSIONS OF OPINION.
IN THE preceding chapter we have indicated in some measure the lively interest which the United States Government took, from the earliest times, in the welfare and destiny of Cuba. The close proximity of the island to our shores, the strategic importance of its position, and its own enormous wealth, led many Americans to desire its annexation to this country and to regard that as " manifest destiny."
Adams on Annexation.
The feelings of American statesmen in early years on this subject are clearly shown in many of their public utterances. For example, Mr. Adams, then Secretary of State, wrote in 1823 to the United States Minister to Spain as fol- lows :
" In the war between France and Spain, now commencing, other interests, peculiarly ours, will
(235)
236 CUBA.
in all probability be deeply involved. Whatever may be the issue of this war, as between those two European powers, it may be taken for granted that the dominion of Spain upon the American continents, north and south, is irrevocably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still re- main nominally, and so far really, dependent upon her, that she yet possesses the power of transferring her own dominion over them, to- gether with the possession of them, to others. These islands, from their local position, are natural appendages to the North American con- tinent, and one ofr them (Cuba) almost in sight of our shores, from a multitude of considerations has become an object of transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our Union. Its commanding position, with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indian seas, the character of its population ; its situation midway between our southern coast and the island of San Domingo ; its safe and capacious harbor of the Havana, fronting a long line of our shores desti- tute of the same advantages ; the nature of its productions and of its wants, furnishing the sup- plies and needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable and mutually beneficial, give it an importance in the sum of our national in- terests with which that of no other foreign terri- tory can be compared, and little inferior to that
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 237
which binds the different members of this Union together. Such indeed are, between the interests of that island and of this country, the geographi- cal, commercial, moral and political relations formed by nature, gathering, in the process of time, and even now verging to maturity, that, in looking forward to the probable course of events for the short period of half a century, it is scarcely possible to resist the conviction that the annexa- tion of Cuba to our Federal republic will be indis- pensable to the continuance and integrity of the Union itself.
"It is obvious, however, that for this event we are not yet prepared. Numerous and for- midable objections to the extension of our ter- ritorial dominions beyond sea present themselves to the first contemplation of the subject; obstacles to the system of policy by which alone that result can be compassed and maintained are to be fore- seen and surmounted, both from at home and abroad ; but there are laws of political as well as of physical gravitation. And if an apple, severed by the tempest from its native tree, cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba forcibly disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union which, by the same law of Nature, cannot cast her off from her bosom.
238 CUBA.
"The transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the interests of this Union. The opinion is so generally enter- tained, that even the groundless rumors that it was about to be accomplished, which have spread abroad, and are still teeming, may be traced to the deep and almost universal feeling of aversion to it, and to the alarm which the mere probability of its occurrence has stimulated. The question both of our right and of our power to prevent it, if necessary by force, already obtrudes itself upon our Councils, and the administration is called upon, in the* performance of its duties to the nation, at least, to use all the means within its competency to guard against and forfend it." Jefferson to Monroe.
A few weeks later in the same year Mr. Jefferson wrote to President Monroe as follows :
" Cuba alone seems at present to hold up a speck of war to us. Its possession by Great Britain would indeed be a great calamity to us. Could we induce her to join us in guaranteeing its independence against all the world, except Spain, it would be nearly as valuable, as if it were our own. But should she take it, I would not immediately go- to war for it ; because the first war on other accounts will give it to us, or the island will give itself to us when able to do so."
Again Mr. Jefferson wrote to President Mon-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 239
roe on this same subject : " It is better to lie still, in readiness to receive that interesting- incorpora- tion when solicited by herself, for certainly her addition to our confederacy is exactly what is wanted to round out our power as a nation to the point of its utmost interest."
Views of Henry Clay.
Mr. Clay, while Secretary of State, in 1825, instructed the Ministers of the United States in the principal European capitals, to announce "that the United States, for themselves, desired no change in the political condition of Cuba ; that they were satisfied that it should remain, open as it now is, to their commerce, and that they could not with indifference see it passing from Spain to any other European power." To this, in another communication, Mr. Clay added: "You will now add that we could not consent to the occupation of those islands (Cuba and Porto Rico) by any other European power than Spain under any con- tingency whatever."
A British View.
Lord Ellenborough, then a Cabinet Minister in the administration of the Duke of Wellington, wrote in his diary under date of February 8th, 1830, as follows:
"It appears, on looking over the papers of 1 825 and 1826, that so far from our having prohibited Mexico and Columbia from making any attack
240 CUBA.
upon Cuba, we uniformly abstained from doing anything of the kind. The Americans declared that they could not see with indifference any State other than Spain in possession of Cuba, and, further, their disposition to interpose their power, should war be conducted in Cuba in a devastating manner, and with a view to the excitement of a servile war."
The British Government suggested, in 1825, to the governments of France and of the United States, the making of a joint declaration by the three governments that they would not permit Cuba to be wresfced from Spain. This was in- tended as an inducement to Spain to acknowledge the independence of the South American States. The United States Government held this under advisement, but France declined it, and it was dropped. Afterward the United States refused to enter into any joint arrangements with foreign powers concerning Cuba.
American Interests in Cuba.
When Mr. Gallatin was the United States Minister at London he tried to impress strongly upon the British Government that it was impos- sible that the United States could acquiesce in the conquest by, or transfer of Cuba to any great maritime power.
Mr. Van Buren, while Secretary of State in 1829, wrote as follows :
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 24!
"The Government has always looked with the deepest interest upon the fate of those islands, but particularly of Cuba. Its geographical po- sition, which places it almost in sight of our southern shores, and, as it were, gives it the command of the Gulf of Mexico and the West- Indian seas, its safe and capacious harbors, its rich productions, the exchange of which for our surplus agricultural products and manufactures constitutes one of the most extensive and valuable branches of our foreign trade, render it of the utmost importance to the United States that no change should take place in its condition which might injuriously affect our political and com- mercial standing in that quarter. Other con- siderations connected with a certain class of our population make it to the interest of the southern section of the Union that no attempt should be made in that island to throw off the yoke of Spanish dependence, the first effect of which would be the sudden emancipation of a numerous slave population, which result could not but be very sensibly felt upon the adjacent shores of the
United States."
Daniel 'Webster.
An interesting contribution to the discussion
of the Cuban question was made by Daniel
Webster when he was Secretary of State in 1843,
in a letter to the American Minister to Spain.
14
242
CUBA.
Commenting on some secret correspondence which had very recently come to his attention, he wrote :
"It is represented that the situation of Cuba is at this moment in the highest degree dangerous and critical, and that Great Britain has resolved upon its rule ; that Spain does not or will not see this intention, and that the authorities of the island are utterly incompetent to meet the crisis ; that although, according to the treaty of 1817, the slave trade ought not to have been carried on by any subject of Spain, it has, nevertheless, been continued in full vigor up to the year 1841, not- withstanding the incessant remonstrances of the British Government, which was better informed, it is said, from month to month, of everything that took place in the island than the Captain- General himself. It is alleged that the British Ministry and abolition societies, finding themselves foiled or eluded by the Colonial and home gov- ernments, have therefore resolved, not perhaps without secretly congratulating themselves upon the obstinacy of Spain, upon accomplishing their object in a different method by the total and im- mediate ruin of .the island. Their agents are said to be now there in great numbers, offering independence to the Creoles, on condition that they will unite with the colored people in effecting a general emancipation of the slaves, and in
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 243
converting the Government into a black military republic, under British protection.
" The local authorities are believed not to be entirely ignorant of the perils which environ them, but are regarded as so torpid as not to be competent to understand the extent and immi- nence of those perils, nor the policy by which Great Britain is guided. The wealthy planters are described as equally blind to the great danger in which they stand of losing their property. They go on, it is said, as usual, buying negroes, clamoring for the continuation of the trade, and denouncing as seditious persons and friends of Great Britain the few who resist the importation of slaves and encourage the immigration of* free whites."
Tlic Question of Purchase.
This alleged plan of the British did not materialize. But the report of it served to quicken the zeal of Americans for the acquisition of Cuba and to strengthen their warnings against interference in the affairs of that island by any other power. The Secretary of State, Mr. Forsyth, wrote to the Minister to Spain in 1840 : "You are authorized to assure the Spanish Government that in case of any attempt, from whatever quarter, to wrest from her this portion of her territory, she may securely depend upon the military and naval resources of the United
244 CUBA.
States to aid her either in preserving or recover- ing it."
Again Mr. Buchanan, when Secretary of State in 1 847, wrote : The United States will not tolerate any invasions of Cuba by citizens of neutral States.
The question of purchasing the island from Spain for cash now became an urgent one. In 1848 President Polk went so far as to propose through the American Minister to Spain, a trans- ference of the island to the United States for the small sum of $1,000,000. Ten years later a similar proposaUwas made in Congress, the sum then named being $30,000,000. That proposition was, however, withdrawn after some discussion. Still later the sum of $100,000,000 was mentioned.
"As to the purchase of Cuba from Spain," writes Mr. Clayton, the Secretary of State, in 1849, "we do not desire to renew the proposition made by the late administration on this subject. It is understood that the proposition made by our late Minister at Madrid, under instructions from this department, or from the late President of the United States, was considered by the Spanish ministry as a national indignity, and that the sentiment of the Ministry was responded by the Cortes. After all that has occurred, should Spain desire to part with the island, the propo- sition for its cession to us should come from her."
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This referred, of course, to President Folk's offer to purchase the island, and indicates the manner in which that offer was received by the Spanish Government.
An Uneasy Keeling: in Cuba.
In his third annual message, in 1852, Presi- dent Fillmore discussed the affairs of Cuba in the following terms :
"The affairs of Cuba formed a prominent topic in my last annual message. They remain in an uneasy condition, and the feeling of alarm and irritation on the part of the Cuban authorities appears to exist. This feeling has interfered with the regular commercial intercourse between the United States and the island, and led to some acts of which we have a right to complain. But the Captain-General of Cuba is clothed with no power to treat with foreign governments, nor is he in any degree under the control of the Spanish Minister at Washington. Any communication which he may hold with an agent of a foreign power is informal and a matter of courtesy. Anx- ious to put an end to the existing inconveniences,, I directed the newly-appointed Minister to Mexico to visit Havana. He was respectfully received by the Captain-General, who conferred with him freely on the recent occurrences, but no perma- nent arrangement was effected. In the meantime the refusal of the Captain-General to allow pas-
248 CUBA.
sengers and the mail to be landed in certain cases, for a reason which does not furnish, in the opinion of this government, even a good presumptive ground for such a prohibition, has been made the subject of a serious remonstrance at Madrid.
" Early in the present year official notes were received from the Ministers of France and England inviting the Government of the United States to become a party with Great Britain and France to a tri-partite convention, in virtue of which the free Powers should severally and col- lectively disclaim, now and for the future, all intention to obtain possession of the island of Cuba, and should bind themselves to discounten- ance all attempts to that effect on the part of any power or individual whatever. This invitation has been respectfully declined. I have, however, directed the Ministers of France and England to be assured that the United States entertain no designs against Cuba, but that, on the contrary, I should regard its incorporation into the Union at the present time as fraught with serious peril." . Mr. Fillmore's reluctance to have Cuba an- nexed to the United States was, of course, due to a fear that it would disturb the social conditions of the Southern States as well as alter the balance of power between the slave and free parties of the Union.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 249
Further Discussion of Purchase.
In the summer of 1854 the United States Ministers at London, Paris and Madrid held a conference to consider the possible adjustment of the relations of the United States with Spain in respect to Cuba. The result of their meeting was a letter to the Secretary of State in which they said:
" Our past history forbids that we should acquire the island of Cuba without the consent of Spain unless justified by the great law of self- preservation. We must, in any event, preserve our own conscious rectitude and our self-respect. Whilst pursuing this course, we can afford to dis- regard the censures of the world, to which we have been so often and so unjustly exposed. After we shall have offered Spain a. price for Cuba, far beyond its present value, and this shall have been refused, it will then be time to consider the question, "Does Cuba, in the possession of Spain, seriously endanger our internal peace and the existence of our cherished Union?" Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power; and this upon the very same principle that would justify an individual in tearing down the burning house of his neighbor if there were no other means of preventing the flames from destroying his own
250 CUBA.
home. . Under such circumstances, we ought neither to count the cost nor regard the odds which Spain might enlist against us."
Pursuing the same subject President Buch- anan, who had been one of the authors and sign- ers of the letter just quoted, said in his second annual message in 1858 :
" The truth is that Cuba, in its existing colonial condition, is a constant source of in- jury and annoyance to the American people. It has been made known to the world by my predecessors that the United States have, on several occasions, endeavored to acquire Cuba from Spain by honorable negotiation. The island of Cuba, fr«\m its geographical posi- tion, commands the mouth of the Mississippi and the immense and annually increasing trade from the valley of that noble river. With that island under the dominion of a distant foreign power, this trade, of vital importance to these States, is exposed to the danger of being destroyed in time of war, and it has hitherto been subjected to perpetual injury and annoyance in time of peace. Whilst the possession of the island would be of vast importance to the United States, its value to Spain is comparatively unimportant. Such was the relative situation of the parties when the great Napoleon transferred Louisiana to the United States."
"FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 251
Again in his third annual message in 1859 President Buchanan said : "I need not repeat the arguments which I urged in my last annual mes- sage, in favor of the acquisition of Cuba by fair purchase. My opinions on that measure remain unchanged. I therefore again invite the serious attention of Congress to this important subject." And in his fourth annual message he said : " I reiterate the recommendation in favor of the acquisition of Cuba from Spain by fair purchase. I firmly believe that such an acquisition would contribute essentially to the well-being and pros- perity of both countries in all future time, as well as prove the certain means of immediately abolish- ing the African slave-trade throughout the world."
I^ater Expressions of Opinion. After Mr. Buchanan's utterances, above quoted, the great Civil War in America came on and of course distracted attention from all other matters. The abolition of slavery in this country also materially changed the feeling of the public and the Government toward Cuba. Then came
' the Ten-Years' War for independence in Cuba, with a vast amount of friction between the
'' United States and Spain. During those ten years the Cuban question was much considered
. by the Government at Washington, both by President Grant in his various messages and by the Secretary of State.
252 CUBA.
Mr. Fish, the Secretary of State, wrote to our Minister to Spain in 1874 that Cuba, "like v the former continental colony of Spain in America, ought to belong to the great family of American Republics. The desire of independence on the part of the Cubans is a natural and legitimate aspiration of theirs, because they are Americans. That the ultimate issue of events in Cuba will be its independence, however that issue may be pro- duced, whether by means of negotiation, or as the result of military operations or of one of those unexpected incidents which so frequently deter- mine the fate of Cations, it is impossible to doubt. It is one of those conclusions which have been aptly termed the inexorable logic of events. En- tertaining these views, the President at an early day tendered to the Spanish Government the good offices of the United States for the purpose of effecting, by negotiation, the peaceful separa- tion of Cuba from Spain, and thus putting a stop to the further effusion of blood in the island, and relieving both Cuba and Spain from the calamities and charges of a protracted civil war, and of de- livering the United States from the constant haz- ard of inconvenient complications on the side either of Spain or of Cuba. But the well-intended proffers of the United States on that occasion were unwisely rejected by Spain, and, as it was then already foreseen, the struggle has continued
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 253
in Cuba, with incidents of desperate tenacity on the part of the Cubans, and of angry fierceness on the part of the Spaniards, unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare.
" Meanwhile this condition of things grows, day by day, more and more insupportable to the United States. The Government is compelled to exert constantly the utmost vigilance to prevent infringement of our law on the part of Cubans purchasing munitions or materials of war, or laboring to fit out military expeditions in our ports ; we are constrained to maintain a large naval force to prevent violations of our sove- reignty, either by the Cubans or the Spaniards ; our people are horrified and agitated by the spec- tacle, at our very doors, of war, not only with all its ordinary attendance of devastation and car- nage, but with accompaniments of barbarous shooting of prisoners of war, or their summary execution by military commissions, to the scandal and disgrace of the age ; we are under the ne- cessity of interposing continually for the protection of our citizens against wrongful acts of the local authorities of Spain in Cuba ; and the public peace is every moment subject to be interrupted by some unforeseen event, to drive us at once to the brink of war with Spain. In short, the state of Cuba is the one great cause of perpetual solici- tude in the foreign relations of the United States."
CHAPTER IX.
OUTBREAK OF THE TEN YEARS* WAR IN 1 868
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THE
SPANISH REPLY WAR IN EARNEST PROCLA- MATION OF FREEDOM REGULAR GOVERNMENT
FORMED — VALMASEDA'S BLOODY ORDERS — AMERICAN SYMPATHY EXPRESSED A SPECIAL
MESSAGE.
HAT ATPEARED to be at last the dawn of deliverance for Cuba came in 1868. On October loth of that year the illustrious patriot Cespedes raised the five-barred and single-starred flag of Cuba at Yara in the District of Bayamo and, with his associates, made public a declaration of inde- pendence. The advance party in Cuba at once cast in their lot with him, and the insurrection quickly assumed formidable dimensions in the Eastern portion of the island. Cespedes was a native Cuban of distinguished ancestry and high culture. He was a lawyer by profession, but owned a considerable estate. He began his work for Cuba by giving his two hundred slaves their liberty, whereupon to a man they enlisted under the banner of the Cuban Republic and
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FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 257
followed him faithfully through many battles. The chief leader of the Cuban armies at that time and during the years that followed was Maximo Gomez, who is now Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary army.
The Declaration of Independence.
The patriots who thus took up arms for Cuba were proud to call themselves laboring men. They were, in fact, known as the " Junta of the Laborers." The following is the proclamation which they made to the public :
" The laborers, animated by the love for their native land, aspire to the hope of seeing Cuba happy and prosperous by virtue of its own power, and demand the inviolability of individuals, their homes, their families, and the fruits of their labor, which it will have guaranteed by the liberty of conscience, of speech, of the press, by peace- ful meetings ; in fact, they demand a Government of the country for and by the country, free from an army of parasites and soldiers that only serve to consume it and oppress it. And, as nothing of that kind can be obtained from Spain, they intend to fight it with all available means, and drive and uproot its dominion on the face of Cuba. Respecting above all and before all the dignity of man, the association declares that it will not accept slavery as a forced inheritance of the past; however, instead of abolishing it as an arm by
258 CUBA.
which to sink the island into barbarity, as threat- ened by the Government of Spain, they view abolition as a means of improving- the moral and _material condition of the working-man, and thereby to place property and wealth in a more just and safe position.
" Sons of their times, baptized in the vivid stream of civilization and therefore above pre- occupation of nationality, the laborers will respect the neutrality of Spaniards, but among Cubans will distinguish only friends and foes, those that are with them or against them. To the former they offer peace, fraternity and concord ; to the latter, hostility and war — war and hostility that will be more implacable to the traitors in Cuba where they first saw the day, who turn their arms against them, or offer any asylum or refuge to their tyrants. We, the laborers, ignore the value of nationality, but at the present moment consider it of secondary moment. Before nation- ality stands liberty, the indisputable condition of existence. We must be a people before becom- ing a nation. When the Cubans constitute a free people they will receive the nationality that be- comes them. Now they have none."
The Declaration of Independence was made n October loth. Ei^ht days later the town of
<j J
Bayamo was captured by the insurgents, and te days after that the whole district of Holguin
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 259
in arms. Early in November the insurgents defeated a Spanish force which had been sent against them from Santiago, and soon after this most of the Spanish American Republics of South America recognized the Cubans as belligerents. The Marquis of Santa Lucia, the present Pres- ident of the provisional government, quickly identified himself with the patriot cause and brought it many recruits. In Decembex^Genjeral ^uesadajanded in Cuba with an expeditionjjom
consignment of
arms and ammunition. So rapidly did the cause prosper that by April ioth/T86^>it was possible to organize a regular government with an elected House of Assembly. Cespedes was President of the goyernment, and General Quesada was made Commander-in-Chief of the army.
jfriie Spanish Reply./
The Spanish Captain-General at Havana real- ized the seriousness of the situation, and strove to stem the tide of patriotic enthusiasm by issuing a proclamation to the people of Cuba, promising all sorts of things if they would only remain loyal to Spain. He said :
" I will brave every danger, accept every responsibility for your welfare. The Revolution has swept away the Bourbon dynasty, tearing up the roots, a plant so poisonous that it putrefied the air we breathed. To the citizen shall be
260 CUBA.
returned his rights, to man his dignity. You will receive all the reforms which you require. Cubans and Spaniards are all brothers. From this day Cuba will be considered as a province of Spain. Freedom of the press, the right of meet- ing in public, and representation in the national Cortes, the three fundamental principles of true liberty, are granted you.
"Cubans and Spaniards! Speaking in the name of our mother, Spain, I adjure you to forget the past, hope for the future, and establish union and fraternity."
This proclamation had no effect whatever upon the Cuban* except to excite their contempt and derision for its bombastic hypocrisy, and to make them all the more resolved to set their country free from the Spanish yoke. War in Earnest.
Seeing that the patriots were resolute, the Captain-General called for troops from Spain and they were quickly sent in large numbers. The freedom of the press throughout the island was summarily abolished and martial law was pro- claimed everywhere. The citizens of Havana were ordered to contribute the sum of $25,000,- ooo for the use of the Government,
By February, 1869, heavy fighting began. The first important victory for the patriots oc- curred at San Cristoval, twenty-two leagues
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 26 1
west from Havana. Another battle took "place at Quanajay, eleven leagues from Havana on the north coast. Nothing but the timely arrival of reinforcements from Count Val- maseda prevented the patriots from capturing Santiago. Havana was soon practically in a state of siege. The telegraph was destroyed and the mails stopped at Trinidad. The Spanish troops on February 7th, burned the town of San Miguel. The Insurgents adopted the method of warfare which they are now again pursuing, namely, to keep moving from one point to another, baffling pursuit and tiring out their enemies. To make the progress of the Spanish armies more difficult they also destroyed bridges and railroads in many places.
Tens of thousands of troops were hurried to the island from Spain and the Commander every- where gave orders that the war should be pur- sued in the most ruthless manner, no quarter being given and no prisoners taken. Yet the Spanish army was able to do no more than to hold its own. They defended the cities and large towns and fortified camps, but the vast bulk of the country had to be surrendered to the Insur- gents. Early in March a considerable battle was fought near Puerto Principe in which the loss of U;he Insurgents was nearly 1,000 killed and rounded. At this time the entire strength of
'5
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the Insurgent forces under Gen. Quesada was not more than 7,000. The Spanish army was three or four times as large. But by clever strategy the Patriots were able not only to main- tain their position, but actually to take the field aggressively against their foes.
Proclamation of Freedom.
The patriot government ifl Marsh, 1869, formally decreed the absolute abolition of slaver)-. It was arranged that the patriots should be in- demnified for the loss of their slaves, while the freedmen might become soldiers or farmers, according to their pleasure.
An address was sent on March ist by Ces- pedes to the President of the United States, explaining the purpose of the insurrection and the causes that led to it and setting forth the reasons why the United States should accord to the Cubans belligerent rights and recognition of their independence. This was an eloquent and impressive document, which strongly appealed to the sympathies of President Grant and of the whole American people. At the same time the magni- tude of the Revolution and the stability of the new Government did not yet appear such as would warrant the recognition asked for. Regular Government Forms.
About a month later representatives from all parts of Cuba met and formed a national
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 263
Congress at Guaimaro, a small town in the central part of the island. Gen. Cespedes re- signed to it his provisional authority as Chief of the Government, but was immediately and unan- imously elected Constitutional President of the Republic. Thereupon he issued the following inaugural address to the people of Cuba :
" Compatriots : The establishment of a free Government in Cuba, on the basis of Democratic ^-principles, was the most fervent wish of my heart. The effective realization of this wish was, therefore, enough to satisfy my aspirations and amply repay the services which, jointly with you, I may have been able to devote to the cause of Cuban independence. But the will of my compatriots has gone far beyond this, by invest- ing me with the most honored of all duties, the supreme magistracy of the Republic.
" I am not blind to the great labors required in the exercise of the high functions which you have placed in my charge in these critical moments, notwithstanding the aid that may be ;: - derived from the other powers of the State. I am not ignorant of the grave responsibility which I assume in accepting the Presidency of our new- born Republic. I know that my weak powers " would be far from being equal to the demand if \left to themselves alone. But this will not occur, .: and that conviction fills me with faith in the future.
264 CUBA.
"In the act of beginning the struggle with the oppressors, Cuba has assumed the solemn duty to consummate her independence or perish in the attempt ; and in giving herself a Demo- cratic Government she obligates herself to become a Republic. This double obligation, contracted in the presence of free America, before the lib- eral world, and, what is more, before our own conscience, signifies our determination to be heroic and to be virtuous. On your heroism I rely for the consummation of our independence, and on your virtue I count to consolidate the Republic."
Two days afterward there appeared a pro- clamation issued to the army by Gen. Quesada, the Commander-in-Chief. It urged the Cubans to wage brave and vigorous warfare against their oppressors and reminded them of the ferocious character of the Spanish leaders. He said :
"I implore you, sons of Cuba, to recollect at all hours the proclamation of Valmaseda. That document will shorten the time necessary for the triumph of our cause. That document is an ad- ditional proof of the character of our enemies. Those beings appear deprived even of those gifts which Nature has conceded to the irrational — the instinct of foresight and of warning. We have to struggle with tyrants, always such — the very same ones of the Inquisition, of the conquest, and of
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 265
Spanish domination in America. We have to combat with the assassins of women and children, with the mutilators of the dead, with the idola- ters of gold. If you wouid save your honor and that of your families, if you would conquer for- ever your liberty — be soldiers."
' Valmasecla's Bloody Orders.
The proclamation of Valmaseda, referred to by General Quesada, was indeed a most infamous document. It was issued by him on April 4th, 1869, and reads as follows :
"Inhabitants of the country ! The reinforce- ments of troops that I have been waiting for have arrived ; with them I shall give protection to the good, and punish promptly those that still remain in rebellion against the government of the metropolis.
" You know that I have pardoned those who have fought us with arms ; that your wives, mothers, and sisters have found in me the unex- pected protection that you have refused them. ^You know, also, that many of those we have par- doned have turned against us again.
" Before such ingratitude, such villany, it is not possible for me to be the man that I have been ; there is no longer a place for a falsified neutrality ; he that is not for me is against me ; and that my soldiers may know how to distinguish, you hear the order they carry :
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" i st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away from his habitation (finca), and who does not prove a justified motive therefor, will be shot.
" 2d. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops.
" 3d. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.
"Women that are not living at their own homes, or at the houses of their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo, where maintenance will be provided. Those who do not present theniselves will be conducted forcibly.
'' The foregoing determinations will com- mence to take effect on the I4th of the present month."
In what manner this order was executed, we shall presently see.
American Sympathy Expressed.
Numerous expeditions of men and cargoes of arms and ammunition were soon conveyed to Cuba from the United States, and many American citizens did admirable work in the patriot army. A number of severe battles were fought during 1869, in which the patriots generally were vic- torious. In October there was an epidemic of cholera which, in a few days, carried off thousands of the Spanish troops, while the Cubans, who
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 267
were not attacked by the disease at all, spent their time in drilling and preparing for further operations. The burning of sugar plantations became general. More than 160 large plantations belonging to Cubans were confiscated by the Spaniards, who hoped to get much money out of the crops. To prevent this, the insurgents raided these plantations and destroyed the cane by fire.
In November the Cuban Junta in the United .States was reorganized at New York, and began doing excellent service for the patriot cause. The sympathy of the American people with the Cubans was very strong and well-nigh universal. It was openly expressed by President Grant in his message to Congress in December. He took, however, the ground that " the contest had at no time assumed the conditions which amount to a war in the sense of international war, or which would show the existence of a political organiza- tion of the Insurgents sufficient to justify a recog- nition of belligerency.
A Special Message.
Six months later, in June, 1870, President Grant deemed the matter of such importance as to require discussion in a special message to Con- gress in which he said : "During the six months which have passed the condition of the insurgents has not improved, and the insurrection itself, although not subdued, exhibits no signs of advance,
268 CUBA.
but seems to be confined to an irregular system of hostilities, carried on by small and illy-armed bands of men, roaming without concentration through the woods and the sparsely populated regions of the island, attacking from ambush convoys and small bands of troops, burning plan- tations and the estates of those not sympathizing with their cause.
" But, if the insurrection has not gained ground, it is equally true that Spain has not sup- pressed it. Climate, disease, and the occasional bullet have worked destruction among the sol- diers of Spain ; and, although the Spanish author- ities have possession of every seaport and every town on the island, they have not been able to subdue the hostile feeling which has driven a con- siderable number of the native inhabitants of the island to armed resistance against Spain, and still leads them to endure the dangers and privations of the roaming life of a guerrilla."
CHAPTER X.
SAVAGE METHODS OF SPANISH SOLDIERS — SPANISH
TESTIMONY MEAGRE NEWS IN HAVANA A
REIGN OF CRUELTY CHARACTER OF THE WAR
SAFETY OF HAVANA THE SPANISH MISTAKE
STRENGTH OF THE PATRIOTS EFFECTS OF THE
WAR UPON THE ISLAND RUINED TOWNS LITTLE
FIGHTING MUCH DESTRUCTION TACTICS OF
THE TWO ARMIES THE SPANIARDS HALF- HEARTED SLAUGHTER IN THE FIVE TOWNS —
OUTRAGES UPON WOMEN ATROCITIES OF CAMP
FOLLOWERS.
HE LETTER and spirit of Valmaseda's proclamation, which we quoted in the preceding chapter, were more than ful- filled. There is in all history no chapter more horrible than that which records the doings of that inhuman monster and his subordinates in Cuba during the Ten Years' War. Neither sex nor age was respected. The honor and lives of the popu- lation were at the mercy of the Spanish soldiery, and that soldiery included thousands of the vilest criminals that could be recruited from the prisons of the Old Country. One brigade of the Spanish army consisted exclusively of negroes of the most brutal character, and became famous, or rather
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infamous, as the "Black Brigade," this name being given to it not merely on account of the color of the men's faces, but still more because of the horrible nature of their deeds.
Humanity and common decency forbid any- thing like a detailed account of the crimes com-
o
mitted by Valmaseda and his chief assistant, Weyler, the present leader of the Spanish forces in Cuba.
Spanish Testimony.
Let us take the testimony of the Spanish officers themselves, as given in their letters. One of them, Jes/is Rivocoba, wrote on Septem- ber 4, 1869 :
" We captured seventeen, thirteen of whom were shot outright : on dying they shouted, 'Hurrah for free Cuba! hurrah for independence!' A mulatto said, 'Hurrah for Cespedes !' On the following day we killed a Cuban officer and another man. Among the thirteen that we shot the first day were found three sons and their father ; the father witnessed the execution of his sons without even changing color, and when his turn came he said he died for the independence of his country. On coming back we brought along with us three carts filled with women and children, the families of those we had shot ; and they asked us to shoot them, because they would rather die than live among Spaniards."
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Pedro Pardon, another officer, writes on September 22, 1869:
" Not a single Cuban will remain in this island, because we shoot all those we find in the fields, on the farms, and in every hovel."
And again, on the same day, the same officer sends the following to his father :
" We do not leave a creature alive where we pass, be it man or animal."
Meagre Xews in Havana.
A shrewd and judicious observer of the war in 1873, says :
" We are indebted to the Diario de la Marina for reminding us that we are in a state of insur- rection. There is a civil war raging somewhere in Cuba. This is the depth of winter, a fact which, with the weather glass at 83° in the shade, we are rather apt to forget ; it is the only season in the year propitious to military operations. The troops are in full march, and official bulletins reporting their progress are forwarded from headquarters and find their way into the daily papers. Such a commanding officer with certain battalions has come up with an insurgent band far away in some spot above Guantanamo in the district of Santiago de Cuba, in the southeastern extremity of the island. To attack the rebels and com- pletely to rout them was for the heroic Spanish troops one and the same thing. They killed many
272 CUBA.
of them, wounded many more and took fourteen horses and one rifle." In another report we hear there were "three rebels killed, seven prisoners, one of these latter wounded ; three muskets were taken, and fifteen small arms ; two able-bodied men surrendered." In another encounter the trophies were " six prisoners and a mule." And again, two prisoners and three fire-arms, with the surrender of forty between women and children personas de familia. These monotonous and some- what meagre accounts constitute the annals of the war. The bulletins are almost stereotyped, one seemingly a j;ranscript of the other. By the people here they are read with a sneer and a shrug of the shoulders. Not that the reports need be altogether disbelieved, or that more credit should be given to the counter-statements circu- lating in whispers among the disaffected, by which the alleged encounters are celebrated as rebel victories. To hear these, the rebels' horses cannot have been taken in open fight, as the in- surgents have no horses, but from the inoffensive and defenceless peasantry upon whom the troops wreak the vengeance of their defeats. As to the killed and wounded, the prisoners, the women and children who surrendered, they are the ill- fated owners of the horses, who are treated as rebels if they venture to raise any complaint about the loss of their property. It little matters
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 273
to which of the conflicting versions we listen, for in point of "imaginative" powers there is not a doit to choose between Creoles and Peninsulars. The phenomenon is that such skirmishing should go on from day to day for four years without more decisive results, and that, while both parties are at the trouble of inventing, they should task our credulity to no greater lengths. A Reign of Cruelty.
"All allowance being made for gross exag- geration on both sides, there can be little doubt about the ruthless character of these Cuban hostilities. So long as I only read printed reports I might be loth to believe that "women and children have been murdered after nameless out- rages ; whole families hacked to pieces, prisoners invariably killed after horrible tortures — roasted alive, or their bodies mutilaced with grotesque indecency ;" but a closer approach to the scene of action has made me somewhat less skeptic, and at all events there can be no doubt that there is a vast deal of shooting in cold blood, as is freely admitted, not without much boasting, on either side. And property fares no better than human life in belligerents' hands. I know from the very best authority that in the district of Trinidad de Cuba, one of the oldest settlements in the central department of the island, about two-thirds of the sugar and coffee estates, and of the potreros, or
274
CUBA.
grazing farms, were either destroyed or aband- oned, and thrown out of cultivation before the end of 1 87 1 . That magnificent valley was turned into a state of desolation from which it is now with difficulty struggling to recover. The same has been the fate of many of these old settlements in the central districts. Of late the movement has taken an easterly direction ; the insurgent bands are more frequently heard of in the neigh- borhood of Puerto Principe, Santiago, and Guantanamo, beyond the Trocha or military cordon, which the Spanish troops have estab- lished at Moron. *
Character of tlie War.
"The nature of this war was determined partly by the conditions of the country and partly by the nature of the combatants. The island of Cuba is divided into three main departments, the Western, of which Havana is the capital, and which, so far as we can depend on the results of the census, had, in 1872, 1,034,616 inhabitants; the Central, capital Puerto Principe, with only 75,725 inhabitants; the Eastern, capital Santiago de Cuba, with 249,096. The Western Depart- ment is the smallest, mostly level, and narrowest from sea to sea; it is in a great measure settled and prosperous, and here are the larg^sugar fac- tories and the tobacco plantations which constitute the enormous wealth of the island. In the Central
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 275
Department, out of the 75,725 inhabitants 30,585 live in the capital, Puerto Principe. If we allow only a few thousands for each of the towns of the department — Trinidad, Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, San Juan de los Remedies, etc. — we must conclude that its rural districts are a mere desert, a large portion of the territory consisting of savannas which are deemed irreclaimable, and of dense forests or mere brushwood which is also looked upon as doomed to unmitigated barrenness. Of whatever was available and brought into culti- vation, not a little has succumbed to the havoc of the civil war. On the eastern side, which boasted the oldest colonies, Santiago, Baracoa, Bayamo, Guantanamo, etc., the valleys up to a certain height had been made fruitful, and the mountains were covered with flourishing coffee estates, but not a little of the interior was left in a state of nature, and the vast tracts are marked, even in recent maps, as 'waste and uninhabited moun- tains,' or 'uncultivated and unexplored regions.' {Monies desiertos e incultos ; terrenos inhabitados e incultos^) The Sierra Maestra, or main chain, running along the whole southern coast from Cabo Cruz to Punta de Mayzi, rises to a height of 8000 feet, i. <?., on a level with the loftiest Apennines. What culture there was in this region is rapidly disappearing. Many of the land-owners, with such wealth as they were able to save from
276 CUBA.
the wreck of their estates, have migrated to the United States, to Jamaica or other British possessions ; others have sold their slaves and cattle to the planters of the western or Havana department; and even in those districts from which, out of sheer exhaustion, the scourge of war has been removed, agriculture and industry find it difficult to revive, owing to the want of public confidence, as well as to the utter absence of capital and labor.
Safety of Havana.
"The Western Department has remained untouched throughout the struggle. Havana has little reason to distress itself about Cuban insur- rection. This prosperous, pleasure-loving city can afford to make itself as easy about Cespedes and his rebels as New York ever was as to the skirmishes with the Modoc or other Red Indians on the borders of the remotest territories, or Milan with respect to Pallavicini's attacks on the brigand fastnesses in the Basilicate. Indeed, as I have before hinted, the Havana people have had not only nothing to lose, but simply too much to gain from the calamities by which two-thirds of the island have been laid desolate. Havana is the centre of an extensive net of railways — about 1000 miles as I learn from the " Guide" — opening an easy and tolerably safe communication with Matanzas, Cardenas, and Sagua la Grande
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 277
on the northern coast, with Villa Clara in the centre and with Batabano and Cienfuegos on the southern coast. Havana has also a regular weekly steam-packet intercourse on the north with. Matanzas, Cardenas, Sagua, Caibarien, Nuevitas, Jibara, and Baracoa ; and, on the south with Batabano, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Las Tunas, Santa Cruz, Manzanillo, Santiago, and Guantan- amo. But away from the wastes, and beyond the lines of railway, there is a vast debatable ground in which the insurrection can run riot, threatening now one. now another district, shifting its quarters according as it can hope to find means of subsistence, avoiding encounters, and escap- ing pursuit by withdrawing to its recesses of im- pervious forests or inaccessible mountains.
" The war which the troops attempt to wage against the insurgent bands, owing to the extreme heat and unhealthiness of the climate, is only practicable in the winter months, between No- vember and May. Even in the immediate neigh- borhood of the cities, say half a mile from Ha- vana itself, the roads are abominable — mere tracks with deep ruts and holes, without the least attempt at macadamization ; such highways as hardly any country in Europe, the Spanish Penin- sula alone excepted, can any longer show. The troops at the opening of the campaign are con- veyed either by land or by sea to the localities 16
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where the railway or the steamer can bring them nearest to the suspected haunts of the insurgents ; and thence, after a few miles, they plunge into the forest, drawn up in two, three or more col- umns, each column cutting its way through the thick of the wood as it advances, until it falls in with the enemy, who, after a few shots from the vantage ground of his ambush, seeks safety in a precipitate retreat to still more tangled thickets and still more arduous mountain fastnesses. In frequent instances the troops, which are but indif- ferently served by spies and which by reason of the nature of the ground and their own paucity of numbers are incapable of deploying, investing or surrounding the enemy, wander for days and weeks without seeing a rebel; and a commissioner of the ' New York Herald ' who, anxious ' to see the fun ' as he said, asked and obtained per- mission to follow one of the columns in an attack on a mountain gorge near Guantanamo, had to come back after a very fatiguing ride which turned out a mere wild-goose chase, the gorge being as silent and solitary as it may have been before it was first trodden by mortal footsteps. The insurrection which first broke out at Yara in the territory of Bayamo, the native place of Cespedes, in the eastern department, spread at first into the central districts and ravaged the territory of the ' Cinco Villas,' threatening each
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of them, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, etc., by turns ; but routed at many points, it again shifted its ground to the eastern department, to that region of ' Montes Desiertos e Terrenes Incultos,' where the troops can make no headway against it. Once only, in the whole course of four years, did the insurrection show any disposition to abandon its defensive attitude, and this was when, by a coup de main, it swooped down upon Holqutn, an inland town above Jibara. But even then the insurgents only held the town for a few hours, and withdrew without awaiting an encounter with the troops, after plundering the helpless inhabit- ants. From other towns the volunteers have hitherto at all times been sufficiently strong to ward off rebel attacks.
The Spanish mistake.
"It is the opinion of competent persons that had the Madrid Government been able and willing to send a force of 30,000 or 40,000 men, choosing its best troops, and at once setting them to carve wide military roads through the bush, sweeping the whole rebel region as if by a grand battle on a well-laid and comprehensive plan, the disturbance would long since have been at an end ; for the fighting powers of the insurgents are absolutely below contempt. But the Spanish Government has always sent its forces by mere driblets — at the utmost 4,000 or 5,000 at a time ;
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it has sent, not unfrequently, volunteer battalions from the cities, raw and unseasoned recruits — in a recent instance 1,000 Carlist prisoners, mere undisciplined and ill-conditioned bandits — and it has limited its efforts to guerrilla operations ; a wayward and desultory mode of warfare in which its opponents were fully able to meet it with equal weapons. Of late the Government has had recourse to a strategy of Trochas, or military cordons, intended not to suppress the insur- rection, but only to hem it in if possible within certain limits. A line of that description has, as I said, been drawn from Moron all across the country to the southern coast ; thereby acknow- ledging the impotence of the troops to occupy and thoroughly subdue the interior of at least one-half of the island. Upon this footing it is reckoned the war has already led to the destruc- tion of 150,000 human lives; though the men actually slain in battle may perhaps be counted by hundreds, while thousands on the part of the insurgents have fallen victims to execu- tions after capture, and on the part of the soldiers to fever and cholera, the consequence of prolonged hardships, bad and scanty food, un- sheltered quarters, and the insalubrity of the climate. Competent military authorities have no great opinion of the tactics by which the Spanish generals now hope to shut in and en-
.
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compass the rebels by their cordons, so as to isolate and localize the war. The scheme, they think, is a mere delusion ; for on the one hand the whole Spanish fleet would be insufficient to blockade the many little bays and inlets with which the extensive coasts of the island are everywhere indented, protected as they are by their numberless cayos, or coral reefs covered with verdure which form a perfect shoal of islets stretching far out to sea and perplexing- naviga-. tion by their endless maze of intricate channels ; and, on the other hand, the forests in these regions are not only impenetrable, but, as ex- experience has proved, actually indestructible by fire, and their growth is so rapid that the tracks made in the winter are almost utterly obliterated before the summer is over, while the mountain ridges, rising one behind the other, enable the guerrilla bands to cross from vale to vale and from glen to glen with a be- wildering rapidity which seems to multiply their forces and invest them with the gift of ubiquity.
Strength of ill e Patriots. " There is a bare possibility that the insur- rection may end in the utter extermination of the insurgents by breaking open and laying bare all their forest lairs and mountain haunts, and inter- secting the most savage districts with nets of roads and railroads, such as neither Cuba nor Spain her-
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self can boast. But an enterprise of that nature would require heroic, gigantic and, above all, sus- tained and unremitting exertions. It could not be achieved by fits and starts — not by a five or six months' campaign, nor by any series of them. As to any possibility of starving, or wearying or dis- heartening the insurgents, that seems out of the question. They appear to be well supplied with arms and money ; they live on the wild fruits of the earth, on the yams, bananas, cocoanuts, and other productions which they, or their families, or the many free negroes enlisted in their ranks, cultivate the small patches of the uninvaded dis- tricts. They have also abundance of game, and they feast especially on a wild rat of a peculiar kind, as large as a cat and "as tender as a kid, the flavor of which they prefer to that of any other meat.
" They rely for recruits, or anything else they may want, on the sympathies of the Creole or na- tive population throughout the island, and in Hav- ana itself ; and where the goodwill of their friends fails, the greed and avarice of their enemies come to their aid ; for there are men in Havana and other cities — Spaniards and others — who, where there is anything to be gained, are as little scru- pulous about dealing with the one as with the other belligerent, and who, while supplying the soldiers, would sell their very souls to the insur-
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gents, if these latter had any occasion for such a commodity, and could afford to pay for it. Nay, more ! I have been assured, though I have great reluctance in believing it, that some of the colonels and other officers in command of the columns of regular troops, manage to prolong hostilities either by ignoring the enemy when they have him in their toils and could compel him to give battle, or by showing great slowness and remissness in the pursuit when they have routed and put him to flight. Their dishonorable conduct seems to be actuated either by a desire to perpetuate a struggle which leads to speedy promotion, or by some other consideration of a baser and more sordid consideration.
Effects of the War upon the island. '''JSJp country in the world was intended for a finer, richer or happier abode of man than this "Pearl of the Antilles," nor could better have withstood the ravages of a four-years' civil war. Yet the results of that civil war begin to tell, at least on the central and eastern departments of the island where the beauty and fertility are more conspicuous. The port of Manzanillo, said the English Consul to me, was visited yearly before the insurrection by thirty to forty British vessels ; since then their number has dwindled down to eight or ten. And the same tale may be told of every harbor in the island, Havana alone, and
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perhaps Matanzas and Cardenas excepted. Man- zanillo, like Cienfuegos, is a comparatively new town. Its level territory, for a distance of ten to twelve leagues from the Sierra Maestra, was cut up into sugar estates, many of which have been burned or abandoned, while the others simply exist at the insurgents' discretion. No man can ven- ture half a league out of town at night ; no man can travel even by day to Bayamo, a few leagues off, without an escort of at least sixty well-armed men. Yet the little seaport itself is considered safe from a coup de main, as it has been hastily surrounded with» petty forts ; it boasts a force of 400 volunteers, besides 200 bomber os, or firemen, all staunch in their loyalty ; and it has, besides, regular troops everywhere quartered in the envi- rons. Every place in these districts, however in- significant, is thus virtually an encampment. At Santiago, where is the chief command of the east- ern department, life and property are somewhat safer ; yet the beautiful coffee plantations estab- lished there and at Guantanamo by French fugi- tives from the negro insurrection of Hayti at the close of the last century have in a great measure disappeared ; and what cultivation still survives depends for safety on the immediate protection of the troops — a protection precarious at the best of times, and in return for which the wants of the soldiers have to be supplied and their comforts
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attended to ; for it is only by cheerfully submitting to be plundered by friends that the proprietor may hope to escape being pillaged by enemies. And even when no immediate danger arises from the approach of the insurgents, the military au- thorities compel the planter either to maintain a large garrison at his own cost for his defense — the ordinary number is sixty men, volunteers or reg- ulars— or else to remove all his movable prop- erty ; to gut and unroof his house, lest it should afford shelter and become a stronghold to the
rebels.
Ruined Towns.
"The prosperity of which Havana and the Western Department of the island show such splendid symptoms, contrasts very sadly with the distress and misery which meet the traveler as he proceeds eastward. You see young towns like Cienfuegos, Manzanillo, Sagua and others, which only ten years ago were rising in import- ance and were laying out promenades, building theatres, concert halls, and casinos, and so ministering to the only luxuries of Spanish life, suddenly stunted in their growth and, as it were, death-stricken. The population of Santiago has indeed increased, but merely by becoming the refuge of the land-owners and of the rural popu- lation whom the Civil War has driven from their homes. At this rate, homestead after home-
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stead, district after district, and eventually a large portion of the island will be dying off surely and not slowly ; and already the United States, the Spanish Republics of Central America and the British colonies swarm with Cuban fugitives. There is a ' Little Cuba ' in Jamaica. From 1,500 to 2,000 exiles have sought a shelter, and many of them have made themselves at home there. Some have brought capital, with what- ever they were able to scrape together out of the wreck of their fortunes. They have purchased land — one of them an estate worth $7,000, and have become naturalized British subjects, although the law in Jamaica allows aliens to possess real estate. They are now pursuing their former vocations as sugar, tobacco and coffee planters with a success which not only bids fair to retrieve their losses, but which has even the effect of stir- ring the somewhat dormant energies of the British Creoles in Jamaica, and thereby contri- buting to the general improvement of that unfortunate island, of which cheering symptoms have been apparent for the last seven or eight years. It is not without great astonishment that these new Cuban settlers become familiar with some of the peculiarities of English law in their new home. One of them was lately involved in a law-suit about the title deeds of an estate he had purchased, against no less a person than the
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Queen of England, as owner of the Crown domains in her good island of Jamaica. The Cuban, with great misgiving, brought his action into Court at the earnest suggestion of his lawyer. The case was tried, and the Cuban — won the suit ! Think of the Government ever allowing itself to be beaten by a private subject, and he an alien, in Spain or in her colonies! Little Fighting;, Much Destruction. " It is painful to think what a mere ' ha'p'orth ' of fighting goes to all this ' intolerable deal ' of ravage and destruction. I traveled from Santiago to San Luis, a distance of thirty-two kilometres, by rail. The line is cut through a deep gorge of the Sierra Maestra, and is flanked all along by little wooden towers, mere huts guarded by de- tachments of regular v Spanish troops, each little garrison from five to fifty men strong. All along the railway line, and beyond it, all the way to Puerto Principe, the headquarters of the Central Department, and to Havana, there are telegraph wires which run across the island throughout the whole insurgent district. These wires are also under the protection of detached military posts ; and so utterly incapable or powerless are the insurgent chiefs, Cespedes, Agramonte, the broth- ers Garcia, Modesto Diaz, Maximo Gomez, and the rest, that any interruption, either to railway trains or telegraphic messages, is an extremely
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rare occurrence. The insurgents, if we are to believe the military authorities here, do not muster more than 3,000 effective combatants. But by the estimate of impartial men their number is estimated at 8,000, most of them well armed. Can it be con- ceived that so strong a force, divided into almost ubiquitous bands, and favored by high mountains and dense forests, should find it so difficult either to stop the railway traffic or to prevent telegraphic intercourse ? A few mounted men with half the spirit of the Prussian Uhlans, or a picked band with some of the dash and determination of Garibaldi's ' thousand,' wou4d long ago have burned half the towers of the Spanish soldiers and overpowered their feeble garrisons ; they would have beaten up the quarters of the volunteers of the town by a coup de main ; at all events they would have dis- tinguished themselves by exploits more heroic than the mere attack on some lonely plantation and the plunder of its contents. To fight, however, even with the odds on their side, to take the initiative against the troops, or even to await their attacks, seems not, at least for the present, to enter into the plans of the insurgents. On the other hand the troops, whenever they come to any knowledge of the position of the insurgents, have to plunge in single file into the thick of pathless forests ; they grope up blindly till warned by a few random shots of the presence of the insurgents, and they
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fire wildly into the bush without aim, till the silence of the enemy's fire assures them that the rebels have decamped, when they take possession of the abandoned field, sing out 'Victory,' and bring back a mule or a couple of naked negro children as spoils and trophies.
Tactics of the Two Armies. "The real truth is that both parties are, from different reasons, interested in avoiding encoun- ters and prolonging the strife. The Cubans are confident that time is fighting their battles. They think, not without reason, that they must in the long run tire out, dishearten and demoralize the troops at present arrayed against them ; and they rely on the incessant and incurable disorders of Spain for a gradual diminution and final cessation of yearly reinforcements. Already this year, they say, not more than 2000 men, and of these many worthless adventurers, have been landed at Nue- vitas. The republic has hardly troops enough to confront the Carlists in Navarre and the Alphon- sists in Catalonia ; hardly troops enough to hold its own in Madrid, even supposing that those troops are bent on supporting it. For months, or perhaps years, anarchical Spain can hardly be- stow a serious thought upon Cuba ; and the com- manding officers here, seeing themselves aban- doned to their own scanty resources, are only anxious to give up the game and resign their
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CUBA.
office. General Morales,who was in command of the Eastern Department while I was in Santiago, left that city for Havana and Spain early in March, and Cevallor, who was Captain-General and Governor of the whole island, followed a few weeks later. Even those who are not eagerly soliciting their recall have neither the means nor the mind for extensive operations, and limit their efforts to that objectless desultory warfare which has hitherto led, and which can lead to no other result than to perpetuate the struggle. Owing either to false view of economy in the payment of spies or to th« disaffection of the people, the Spanish officers are absolutely in the dark as to the movements of their adversaries ; while the insurgents, sure of the sympathy of the Creoles in town and country, keep up a regular inter- course with every part of the island. They have secret committees at work for them here at San- tiago, at Manzanillo, at Puerto Principe, and everywhere else ; and through them communi- cate with Key West, in Florida, with Jamaica and with any point from which arms, ammunition, provisions and fresh auxiliaries may be sent to them. I have alluded to the beauty of the coast of Cuba and of the inlets with which it is indented ; but all along both north and south there are laby- rinths of what are here called cayos, coral reefs and banks covered with bright verdure, still and
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solitary, through which smugglers of every de- scription can thread their way with perfect impu- nity, dodging the coastguards from islet to islet, and choosing their own time and spot to land their cargo. The Spanish cruisers might as well hope to scoop out the Gulf of Mexico with a teaspoon as to put any check upon the Cuban contraband of war.
The Spaniards Half-Hearted.
" But in reality both the land and sea forces of Spain are only half-hearted in the work ; the soldiers especially are so ill -paid, so ill-fed and exposed to such sufferings from the climate that desertions to the enemy are becoming of frequent occurrence, even among the non-commissioned officers, some of whom are to be heard of now among the most skillful and adventurous insur- gent leaders. For their own part, the Spanish commanding officers, anxious to fill vacancies in the ranks, enlist adventurers of every description, and even the despised Chinese coolies are occasionally to be seen clad in Spanish uniforms ; but in the ranks immediately below the supreme commanders there are men, as I have said, to whom the war insures comparatively easy work with exceptionally speedy promotion ; these find their advantage in the indefinite prolongation of hostilities and have means to prolong them at their own discretion. Military men, like other
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officials, have been for centuries, and still are, sent to this unfortunate colony only to make money ; and as they hate both the land and the people, and are over-anxious to accomplish their object and be off, they go to work with a bold- ness and recklessness that know no limits, and which have thoroughly vitiated every rank of the rulers, as well as every class of the subjects. " Robamos todos " — we are all thieves — is the
motto.
Slaughter in the "Five Towns."
"In the region of the Five Towns the Span- iards went to wcyk upon the principle that ' pre- vention is better than cure.' They took the disaffection for granted and determined that it should never ripen into open rebellion. Not only did they shoot all the insurgents whom they caught with arms in their hands, but they slew without mercy many of the unarmed fugitives whom terror of their approach had driven into the woods, and they doomed to the same fate others who had remained quietly at home, but who were suspected of sympathy with the rebel cause. One of the first men who fell into their hands was my Creole host ; the gentleman, who as I said, had incurred their displeasure by pre- suming to employ none but free laborers in his plantations ; the Volunteers of the petty towns in the neighborhood invaded and ravaged his es-
• FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 297
tate and denounced him to the soldiers, who arrested him, shot two of his foremen and several inoffensive countrymen before his eyes in cold blood and without even the pretence of a trial, kept him in a condemned cell for three days, threatening him with the same fate, the officer in command meeting all his protests and remon- strances with the cool remark, ' All I know is that if I shoot you I shall be promoted a step.' The prisoner slipped through his hands, never- theless, and upon clearing himself of all imputa- tions before the Captain-General at Havana, he was reassured as to his personal safety ; but the General at the same time advised him, ' as a friend,' to say nothing about damages for his destroyed property, as, ' under the circumstances, he ought to be only too thankful to have escaped with his life.'
"It could not, of course, be expected that the insurgents on their own side should abstain from fearful reprisals. The practice with them when a prisoner, and especially an officer, falls into their hands, is to tie his feet up to a tree, and to pile up fuel under the dangling head ; thus burning their enemy alive with a slow fire. Indeed, it would not be easy to ascertain on which side the atrocities first began, or are carried to greater lengths. The rule is that all prisoners be shot without discrimination. Nay, the con-
'7
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querors even grudge their powder and shot, and the victims are usually despatched with machetes, a kind of long chopping-knife or cutlass peculiar to a cane-growing country, and to be almost in- variably seen at the side of every combatant as well as in every laborer's hand. Some of the soldiers and Volunteers have acquired such skill in the use of this weapon that they cut off a man's head with all the mastery of a professional exe- cutioner. These men march in the rear of their detachments ; and upon any suspected person being apprehended, the officer in command, after a brief examination, orders the prisoner to the rear,' where he is immediately hacked to pieces by the inexorable Macheteros. As a rule also the bodies of the slain are left unburied on the spot where they fall. The turkey-buzzards swarming everywhere in the island, and whose life is pro- tected by law on account of their usefulness as public scavengers, fatten on the rotting human carcasses ; and it is not without a shudder that one sees these foul birds hovering everywhere in the air, and poising themselves on their wings above the forests where the remnants of their hideous feasts in every stage of decomposition still attract them.
Outrages Upon "Women.
Women fare as badly in the hands of the com- batants as men ; unless their personal attractions
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recommend them to a temporary reprieve and put off their execution till they have endured all conceivable outrages. Houses where scores of young women were hiding have been entered by a licentious soldiery with officers at their head, by whom every woman was first violated, then killed. The Havana and Madrid authorities have before them evidence of some of the most shocking cases of this description in which the crime was both proved and punished ; but how many more might be mentioned, in which it was impossible to bring the offenders to justice ! There have been fre- quent insiances of wives whose husbands were either killed before their very eyes or driven to • the bush in sheer despair, and who presently made friends with the officer who had widowed them, consenting to live with them on any terms. Of this fact I was equally assured by my Creole host and by the Spanish officer who sat with us at the same hospitable board ; with this difference, however, that the latter quoted it as evidence of the innate baseness and depravity of the Creole women, while the former contended that these women, in consenting to live with their captors, did so from a vindictive design to deal with them after the manner of Delilahs — a design which was often carried into execution, the women acting as spies on the movements of their new lovers and leading them into insurgent ambushes. People
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living in the ' Five Towns ' grow very eloquent when they relate the exploits of a handsome girl whom they call 'The Maid of Las Tunas.' This fair adventuress used to ride in arms, Amazon- like, as a scout to the insurgents, with all the zeal and intrepidity of Garibaldi's young Countess at Varese. She fell three times into the hands of the Spaniards, to whom she had become well known. Twice did her charms redeem her from the hands of the officers, but in the third instance she came into the power of a less susceptible warrior, who delivered her over to the brutality of his soldiers, after which he doomed her to the fate of Joan of Arc.
Atrocities of Camp Followers. " As happens in all wars, and especially civil wars, the combatants on either side are not al- ways answerable for the worst deeds perpetrated in their name. The disturbed districts are over- run by camp followers, Bandoleros, and marauders of the worst description, who, hoisting now one flag, now the other, really make war on their own account, and whose hand is against every man. These, when caught, are with great impartiality immediately shot by both parties ; but no readi- ness or activity of summary justice seems greatly to effect their number or to check their audacity. It is mainly on account of them that a ride from one to the other of the five towns, and especially from
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Villa Clara to Trinidad or San Juan de los Reme- dios,cannot be safely undertaken without an escort. To what extent war and its consequences have ravaged these districts may be inferred from the fact already mentioned, that the population of the Central Department, embracing a whole third of the island, is, according to the official statistics, reduced to 75,000 souls, whites and blacks in- cluded. Besides massacres, proscriptions and banishments, mere administrative stupidity con- tributed to turn the country into a desert. By a decree of Cabellero de Rodas, in July, 1869, the whole population of the rural districts was concen- trated— that is, huddled together — in the little town of St. Espiritu, with a view to having it under strict guard and control, where, owing to want of proper accommodation and wholesome food, and indeed of air to breathe, they were soon invaded by cholera, small pox and other deseases, to which, in some cases, one to ten, and in other cases, one to three, rapidly succumbed, the rav- age soon extending to the soldiers and volunteers set to watch over them. I have known families belonging to St. Espiritu who were on that occa- sion driven from the town by that awful mortality, and whom nothing in the world would now induce to go back to their homes, unable as they are to overcome the bare recollection of the sufferings they have witnessed. While the population thus
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perished, the troops achieved a thorough devas- tation of the country, burning the crops, slaugh- tering the cattle, gutting the houses, hoping thus, as their commander said in his order of the day, 'to starve out the rebellion.'
"By such means a great portion of the Central Department has been brought into sub- jection, and ' order ' reigns there. It is not impossible that the application of the same remedy may effect the cure of rebellion in the Eastern districts ; though it must be observed that the region of the Five Towns, from Matanzas to Cienfuegos«and Villa Clara, and all along the southern coast, is almost a dead level, where a few sugar plantations are scattered like vast islands on a surface still encumbered with unfilled savannas and scrubby forests, or, as the natives call them Montes. But beyond Trinidad and throughout the territory of Puerto Principe and Santiago are real Montanas — hilly ridges covered with thick woods, where the insurgents may offer an obstinate resistance, and where, in the opinion of most men, the Civil War may be perpetuated. But even in the districts where every spark of the insurrection has been trodden down, that hatred which prompted it is far from subsiding; it smoulders, on the contrary, more sullenly than ever, and it finds vent in passionate outbursts and in strong appeals to the stranger.
CHAPTER XI.
ARROGANT CONDUCT OF THE SPANISH TOWARD
AMERICANS AND. ENGLISH THE " VIRGINIUS "
OUTRAGE SHOOTING FOUR CUBAN PATRIOTS
AMERICAN CITIZENS MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD
WILD DEMONSTRATIONS OF JOY SURRENDER
OF THE "VIRGINIUS" — THE FORMAL TRANSFER
HOW AN ENGLISH CAPTAIN PREVENTED ONE
MASSACRE.
LL THROUGH the Ten Years' War the Spanish authorities acted in a particu- larly arrogant manner toward Ameri- cans and Englishmen, and indeed toward all foreigners who were suspected of sympathy with the insurgents. Ships were stopped by Spanish cruisers and searched in the most arbitrary fashion. If anything in the nature of arms or ammunition were found aboard it was confiscated, and the captain of the ship was lucky if he was not hanged at his own yard-arm.
The " Virginias" Outrage.
These outrages culminated in the famous "Virginius" affair, which came very near to causing war between the United States and Spain. The " Virginius " was a small side-wheel
(3°3)
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steamer, flying the American flag, commanded by Capt. Frey, of New Orleans, an American citizen and a veteran of our civil war, and manned in part by American and British sailors. The " Virginias " slipped in and out of Cuban har- bors with wonderful success, carrying arms and re-enforcements to the patriot army.
At last, on October 31, 1873, she was cap- tured with all on board by the Spanish gunboat "Tornado." She had 1 70 passengers and crew, who with the vessel and cargo were taken to Santiago de Cuba. The "Tornado," which had been searching . for the "Virginius" since her attempted landing on the south coast of Cuba, came in sight of her at 2.30 p. m. on the 3ist, and immediately gave chase. The filibuster put on all steam and made for Jamaica, hoping to find refuge in British waters. In her flight she threw overboard several horses, and used a portion of her cargo for fuel. But the "Tornado " caught up with her at 10 p. m. near the Jamaica coast, and she surrendered with all on board, not one of whom escaped.
Shooting Four Cuban Patriots.
Among the prisoners were Bernabe Varona, alias Bembetta, Pedro Cespedes, Jesus del Sol, and Gen. Ryan. The tribunal at Santiago de Cuba, before which the prisoners were taken, condemned these four to death. Although
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instructions were sent from the Government at Madrid to await orders from the Home Govern- ment before inflicting penalties on the passengers or men of the " Virginius," the order was probably received too late to be respected. The four prisoners were shot at the place made famous by previous executions and in the usual manner, kneeling close to the slaughter-house wall. All marched to the spot with firmness. Bembetta and Ryan showed marked courage, although the former was slightly affected toward the last. The two others quite broke down before they were bandaged, but Ryan kept up to the last, never flinched a moment, and died without fear or regret. Bembetta and Ryan were killed at the first dis- charge. They were in irons when they were marched against the low, square structure of adobe. Fifteen feet above them the red tile roof projected. At their feet there was a ditch to catch raindrops. They were made to kneel, facing the wall. The wall above them was pitted deep with the bullets that flew over their heads. As they fell into the ditch the cavalry rode over the warm bodies, and military wagons crunched and slipped on the bodies. Negroes cut off the heads and carried them on spikes through the city, and the mutilated bodies were dumped into a pit of quicklime, and the entire affair was soon forgotten by its perpetrators.
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American Citizens Murdered, in Cold Blood.
On November 7, the captain of the "Vir- ginius" and thirty-six of the crew were put to death in the same fashion, and on the next day twelve more of the Cuban volunteers on the vessel were shot. Franchi Alfaro, who was among the latter number, offered the Spanish authorities $1,000,000 if they would spare his life. Captain Frey and thirty-six of his men were taken ashore on the morning of the /th, and taken to the prison, to remain there until their execution, which was ordered for that after- noon. Capt. Frey, a noble-looking old man, fully a head taller than the rest of the crew, when he met his men on the wharf, previous to the march to the prison, saluted them all. The salute was returned with affection. At 4.45 p. m. they were publicly shot, despite the protest of all the competent foreign authorities. The marines were seven minutes killing the wretched prisoners. It seemed as though they would never finish. At last the sailors marched off, and the troops filed past the long row of corpses. Then the dead carts were hurried up and loaded indiscriminately with the mangled remains. The American Con- sul did all that could have been done to prevent the massacre. Indeed it was threatened that his exequatur would be withdrawn for his exertions in behalf of the prisoners. In an interview with
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Gen. Burriel, that officer yelled at him and other- wise treated him disrespectfully. The British Consul also made an ineffectual protest against the execution. Sixteen of the victims were British subjects.
Of the crew who were not killed by the Span- iards at Santiago de Cuba, four were condemned to the chain-gang for life, three to eight years' imprisonment, eight to four years' imprisonment, and three were set at liberty.
Wild Demonstrations of Joy.
On Wednesday, Nov. 5, the tidings of the execution of Gen. Varona, Pedro Cespedes, Jesus del Sol and Gen. Ryan reached Havana, and the inhabitants immediately relinquished all business pursuits and gave themselves up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. Bonfires were kindled, public and private buildings were illuminated, the larger streets were festooned with Chinese lan- terns and even the less important localities were not exempt from the manifestations of joy. Later in the evening the whole population seemed to pour out into the streets and the volunteers paraded through the city. Torchlight processions were numerous, and bands of music inspired new enthusiasm in the breasts of the impulsive Spaniards. The project of raising subscriptions and presenting some testimonial to the officers of the "Tornado," to whom the cap-
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ture of the "Virginius" was due, met with gen- eral approval, and these, officers were regarded with universal gratitude. On the following morning (Thursday, Nov. 6) the general hilarity was renewed, and toward evening another grand demonstration took place. The palace of the Governor was brilliantly illuminated, the public buildings and private residences were extensively decorated, and flags and banners waved above the volunteers, who paraded the streets in full force. The Captain-General and General of the Marine were the recipients of unusual honors, and the serenades «which they received were par- ticipated in by hundreds. The city was again given over to general rejoicing, and grand ban- quets were held in many sections of the city. At that time the enthusiasm was at its height. The outburst of joy occasioned by the reception of the strange tidings was naturally followed by a reaction, and in the few succeeding days the city gradually regained its former composure. The Cuban revolutionists in the city could of course only look on in terror at the demonstrations above described. Many concealed themselves as well as they could, and none dared to express their opinions in public.
The North American continent thrilled with indignation in view of this outrage. The press voiced the demand of the people for apology,
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 309
indemnity, revenge, and the recognition of the Cubans, unorganized as they were, as belligerents. The government seemed to share the popular feeling to a considerable degree. War between Spain and the United States seemed to be immi- nent and unavoidable.
Our poor little navy, consisting of wooden vessels of antiquated models and of iron-clads dusty from disuse, was patched up as quickly as possible and ordered to rendezvous at Key West, whence it might descend upon Cuba in a night.
But a half bluff is worse than no bluff at all. It was soon apparent that the government at Washington did not mean business any further than requiring the surrender of the " Virginius," and of the surviving members of her crew, and an indemnity, trivial in amount, for the blood of those American citizens whose nationality could be proved beyond peradventure. The State Department did not share the belligerent disposi- tion of the Navy Department. Secretary Fish was able, patriotic and incorruptible, but some- how or other the legal representatives of the Spanish Government managed to block the way, and Spanish diplomacy, then as now, was plausi- ble and resourceful.
Whatever the cause, the naval display at Key West was feeble and ineffective. Our flagship, at least, like the British flagship, should have
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gone to Havana. As a matter of fact, Admiral Scott had to make an excuse and get express authority to send over a dispatch boat, and was dependent upon the newspaper correspondents, or one of them, for news of what was going on in his immediate front.
Weeks of diplomatic negotiation and naval bluster ensued, and at last the Spanish Govern- ment agreed to surrender the " Virginius " to the United States authorities, and to salute the American flag. How ungraciously this was done has been well told by Major Handy, the well known correspondent.
Surrender of tlie " Virjjinius."
"The race between the correspondents for news was very hot. Every man as the repre- sentative of his newspaper was on his mettle and enterprise was at a premium. McGahan had the advantage of being ward-room guest on a man- of-war. Fox was paymaster's yeoman on the 'Pinta,' the fastest boat in the navy. When we learned that the ' Virginius ' was to be surren- dered we all realized that that event would end the campaign. The point then was to be in at the death and to obtain the best if not the exclusive story of the ceremony and attendant circum- stances. The lips of the government officials were sealed as to the time and place appointed. In fact the programme was arranged at Washing-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 31 I
ton by the Secretary of State and the Spanish Minister and communicated confidentially to Admiral Scott. However, I managed to get at the secret, and, thus armed, 'stowed away' on the ' Despatch,' which was the vessel appointed to receive the surrender. Capt. Rogers commanded the ' Despatch/ but the receiving officer was Capt. Whiting. The fleet captain and the other officers of the detail were Lieut. Adolph Marix, Master George A. Calhoun and Assistant Engineer N. H. Lambdin. With them were thirty-nine sailor men from the ' Pawnee/ who were to man the surrendered vessel as a prize crew. All of these people except Capt. Whiting were ignorant of their instructions, not even knowing their des- tination, and the pilot taken aboard before leaving Key West had sealed orders.
"We left Key West on Sunday night at 10 o'clock. We were in the open sea before I ven- tured to make my appearance on deck, present myself to the officers, declare myself a stowaway, and verify my information as to their mission. The next morning at 10*0' clock the blue hills of the Cuban coast rose above the horizon and the bow of the 'Despatch' was directed toward Bahia Honda, the obscure little port selected for the function. It was about noon when we passed an old fort called Murillo, commanding the en- trance to the harbor. Speed was then slackened,
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and the vessel crept cautiously along the narrow, but clearly marked channel which leads to the smooth water where the ' Virginius ' was sup- posed to be lying.
" As soon as the ' Despatch ' was sighted from shore, the Spanish flag, bearing the crown, notwithstanding the republic abolishing that monarchical emblem, was flung to the breeze. We discovered a black side-wheel steamship lying about a mile beyond the fort. It was the ' Vir- ginius.' No other craft, except two or three coasting steamers, or fishing smacks, was then visible, and it *vas not until we were about to come to anchor that we discerned a Spanish sloop- of-war lying close under the shore, about two and a haK miles away.
" Very soon a boat from the Spanish man-of- war came alongside of the ' Virginius,' and immediately the Stars and Stripes were raised by Spanish hands, and again floated over the vessel which carried Ryan and his unfortunate comrades to their death At the same moment we saw by the aid of field-glasses, another boat let down from the Spanish vessel. It proved to be the captain's gig, and brought to the ' Despatch' a naval officer in full uniform, who proved to be Senor de la Camera, of the Spanish sloop-of-war ' Favorita.' He stepped briskly forward, and was met at the gangway by Capt. Rogers and
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 313
Capt. Whiting. After an exchange of courteous salutations, Commander de la Camera remarked that he had received a copy of the protocol pro- viding for the surrender of the ' Virginius,' and that the surrender might now be considered to have taken place. Captain Whiting replied that under his instructions the following day was named for the surrender, and that he could not receive it until that time. Meanwhile he would thank the Spanish officer to continue in posses- sion. Nine o'clock on Tuesday morning was then agreed upon as the hour, and after informing the American officer that there was coal enough on board of the ' Virginius ' to last six days, salutes were exchanged and the Spanish officer retired.
"The next morning, half an hour ahead of time, the gig of the ' Favorita' came over to the ' Virginius.' It contained oarsmen and a single officer. As the latter stepped on deck a petty officer and a half dozen men, who had stood watch on the ' Virginius ' during the night, went over the side and remained in a dingy awaiting orders. At 9 precisely by the bells the American flag again flew to the flagstaff of the 'Virginius,' and at the same moment a boat containing Capt. Whiting and Lieut. Marix put away from the 'Despatch.' As they ascended the accommoda- tion ladder of the ' Virginius ' the single man on deck, who proved to be Senor de la Camera,
18
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advanced and made a courteous salute. The offi- cers then read their respective instructions, and Capt. de la Camera remarked that in obedience to the requirements of the government and in execution of the provisions of the protocol, he had the honor to turn over the steamer ' Virgin- ius ' to the American authorities. Capt. Whiting accepted, and learning that a receipt was required, gave one in due form. A word or two more were spoken and the Spaniard stepped over the side, signalled to his oarsmen, and in ten minutes was again upon the deck of his own vessel. Be- side the surrendering and receipting officers, I was the only witness of the ceremony.
The Formal Transfer. "While the Spanish officer was courtesy itself, we were all impressed with the fact that the ceremony was lacking in dignity and that the Spaniards had purposely made that lack as con- spicuous as they dared. It appeared that the ' Virginius ' was towed to Havana by the first- class man-of-war ' Isabella la Catholica,' the commander of which retired immediately and left the surrender to be made by the commander of the ' Favorita,' which had been in the vicinity of Bahia Honda for several months engaged in sur- veying duty. The surrender should have taken place either at Santiago de Cuba or at Havana, and a Spanish officer of like rank with Cap-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 315
tain Whiting should have discharged the duty. A quick survey by our officers showed the 'Virginius' to be in a most filthy condition. She was stripped of almost everything moveable save a few vermin, which haunted the mattresses and cushions in cabin and staterooms, and half a dozen casks of water. The decks were caked with dirt, and nuisances recently committed, combined with mold and decomposition, caused a foul stench in the forecastle and below the hatches. In the cabin, however, the odor of carbolic acid gave evidence that an attempt had been made to make that part of the vessel habitable for the temporary custodians of the ship. Our officers were reluc- tant to put the men into the dirty forecastle and stowed them away into hardly more agreeable quarters afforded by the staterooms of Ryan and his butchered companions. Some attempt seemed to have been made, as shown by the engineering- survey, to repair the machinery, but a few hours' work put the engines in workable order. The ship was leaking considerably and the pumps had to be kept going constantly to keep the water down. After a few hours of hard work we got under way, but had only gone 200 yards when the engine suddenly refused to do duty, and it became necessary for the ' Despatch' to take us in tow. As we passed the fort at the entrance to the harbor the Spanish flag was rather defiantly
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displayed by that antiquated apology for a forti- fication, and there was no salute for the American flag, either from the fort or the surrendering sloop of war.
"We had a hard time that night — those of us who were aboard the 'Virginius.' It seemed hardly possible that we could keep afloat until morning. During the night the navy tug 'Fortune,' from Key West, met us and remained with the convoy. At noon the next day, when we were about thirty miles south-southeast of Dry Tor- tugas, the vessels separated, the 'Virginias' and 'Despatch' going to Tortugas and the 'Fortune' returning, with me as a solitary passenger, to Key West, whence I had the honor of reporting the news to the Admiral and of sending an exclusive report of the surrender.
"It was the general opinion among the naval officers that the ' Sania ' had endeavored to be- little the whole proceeding by smuggling the ' Virginius ' out of Havana, by selecting an ob- scure harbor not a port of entry as the place of surrender and by turning the duty of surrender over to a surveying sloop, while the 'Tornado,' which made the capture, lay in the harbor of Ha- vana and the ' Isabella la Catholica,' which had been selected as convoy, steamed back to Havana under cover of the night. The American officers and American residents in Cuba and Key West
General D. Valeriano Weyler, Captain-General and Spanish Commander-in- Chief in Cuba,
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 319
agreed that our government ought to have re- quired that the ' Virginius ' should be surrend- ered with all the released prisoners on board either at Santiago de Cuba, where the 'Tornado' brought in her ill-gotten prey and where the in- human butcheries were committed, or in Havana where she was afterward taken in triumph and greeted with the cheers of the excited Spaniards over the humiliation of the Americans.
" An attempt was made to take the 'Virgin- ius ' to some northern port, but the old hulk was not equal to the journey. On the way no pump- ing or caulking could stop her leaks, and she foundered in inid-ocean. The government had been puzzled to know what disposition to make of her, and there was great relief in official circles to know that she was out of the way.
"The surrender of the surviving prisoners of the massacre took place in course of time at Santiago, owing more to British insistence than to our feeble representations. As to the fifty- three who were killed, Spain never gave us any real satisfaction. For a long time the Madrid government unblushingly denied that there had been any killing, and when forced to acknowledge the fact they put us off with preposterous excuses. 1 Butcher Burriel,' by whose orders the outrage was perpetrated, was considered at Madrid to have been justified by circumstances. It was
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pretended that orders to suspend the execution of Ryan and his associates were ' unfortunately' received too late, owing to interruption of tele- graph lines by the insurgents to whose broad and bleeding shoulders an attempt was thus made to shift the responsibility. There was a nominal repudiation of Burriel's act and a promise was made to inflict punishment upon ' those who have offended ;' but no punishment was inflicted upon anybody. The Spanish Government, with characteristic double dealing resorted to pro- crastination, prevarication and trickery, and thus gained time until new issues effaced in the American mind the memory of old wrongs unavenged. Instead of being degraded Burriel was promoted. Never to this day has there been any adequate atonement by Spain."
How an English Captain Prevented One Massacre.
There is no doubt that all the rest of the " Virginius' " prisoners would have been butch- ered, had it not been for the prompt and decisive conduct of a British naval officer. This was Sir Lambton Lorraine, commander of the man-of- war " Niobe." As soon as he heard of the cap- ture of the " Virginius " he hastened with his ship to Santiago. He found that fifty-three men had already been put to death, and that the rest were in danger of a like fate. Immediately he had an
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 32!
interview with the Spanish commander and told him the butchery must stop.
"But, Senor," protested the Spaniard, "what affair is it of yours ? There are no countrymen of yours among them. They are all dogs of Americans."
That was a lie. There were Englishmen among them, though Sir Lambton Lorraine did not know it. But that made no difference to the gallant British captain.
" I don't know whether there are any English- men among them or not," he said, "and I don't care. I forbid you to put another one of them to death."
"But, Senor," returned the Spaniard, "permit me to observe that I take my orders from the Captain-General, and not from you."
"Very good," replied the Britisher; "permit me also to observe, and to beg you to observe, that the 'Niobe' is lying in this harbor, with her guns double-shotted, and I am her commander. And, so help me God ! if you so much as harm a hair on the head of one of those prisoners, I will lay your town in ruins ! "
That was his ultimatum, and he went back to his ship. The Spaniard looked at the " Niobe," and saw the big black muzzles of her guns trained squarely upon the city, and — there were no more prisoners massacred in Santiago.
CHAPTER XII.
CLOSE OF THE TEN-YEARS WAR GENERAL CAMPOS
OWN STORY COMMUNICATION WITH THE IN- SURGENTS REBEL DISSENSIONS SUSPENDING
WARFARE PROGRESS TOWARD PEACE COMING
TO THE POINT CAMPOS* MOTIVES INTERVIEW
WITH GARCIA AN ANXIOUS MOMENT AT ZAN-
JON THE TERMS ACCEPTED THE END AT
LAST A REVIEW OF THE SITUATION WHAT
THE WAR MEANT HOW THE END WAS REACHED
CAMPOS' APBEAL FOR JUSTICE — THE COST OF THE WAR.
EN years of fighting practically exhausted the Cubans. When General Martinez de Campos, a humane and merciful man and a man of integrity and honor, came to them with offers of peace, amnesty and reform, they attentively listened to and finally decided to accept his terms. _A treaty was signed,by which Certain liberties weregranted by Spain to the Cubans. retorms_in their administration_prom- ised, and theTreedom recognized of all the slaves jvyho had foughtjn the Cuban army. This treaty was concluded by General Campos himself after considerable negotiations, and was undoubtedly effected because of the faith the Cubans had
(322)
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 323
in that officer and their belief that his prom- ises would be fulfilled. General Campos' own account of the manner in which the negotiations
O
were conducted and brought to a successful ter-
19
mination may be found in the official report which he made to the King of Spain, from which the following passages are taken :
General Campos' Own Story.
"Finding myself on the i8th of December in the Sierra Maestra of Cuba, inspecting the encampments there, which have been so fatal to the fourth brigade of that division, on account of its hygienic conditions, I received a telegram from General D. Manuel Cassola, in which he informed me that the prisoner D. Esteban Duque de Estrada, some time ago liberated, had manifested to him the desire of some important leaders, and some members of the congress, to enter into negotiations with a view to peace.
"Although at some distance from Cuba, I embarked that very night for Santa Cruz in order to speak with Estrada, to communicate with Cas- sola, to decide on the spot and for myself what would be proper.
" I have reported the doings of Mr. Pope in the month of May, the distrust with which he inspired me, and my persuasion that he was an unprincipled adventurer. In spite of this I per- mitted him to go to the enemy's camp, because I
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was confident that with all his untrustworthiness, he would serve to open for us a way to relations which, if leading to nothing immediately, would bear fruit later. I was not mistaken in my reckon- ing ; those unofficial relations procured us the surrender of Don Estiban de Varona, with the permission, as he told me, of the then president, D. Tomas Estrada and the capture of the latter's kinsman, Duque de Estrada.
Communicating; with the Insurgents.
"The moment Varona reached Manzanillo he put himself in communication with the leaders of those bands discouraged by fatigue, and at times by hunger, without resources, and who, desiring peace, did not dare to surrender, not only through fear of the treatment they might receive from us, but throuo-h distrust of each other. A few inter-
o
views and an armistice, which in a narrow neutral ground permitted our soldiers to mix with the in- surgents, and the discovery by the latter in our troops not only the generous character of the Spanish army, but also how well the country peo- ple were treated in the towns, at last broke their resolution, and the desire of peace made itself so manifest that the leaders agreed to send a com-
O
mittee to their government to try for it.
"This committee obtained some guarantees from the president, but the irreconcilables were too strong for the government, and the committee
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 325
were subjected to the law which imposed the penalty of death on all who should treat with us except on the basis of independence.
"In spite of the assurances which Varona gave me, I cherished no hope of result with Camuguey, that I believed that it was not yet time, that his presumption was not sufficiently humbled, but that I was confident that the greater part of the guerrilla parties of Manzanillo, and perhaps of Bayamo, would disband. Rebel Dissensions.
"In spite of the obstacles which arose in the business, the result answered my expectations, though I will not conceal that the government of the insurgents, by its treatment of the committee, contributed not a little to deepen the dissensions that existed among them. But that act of brute violence met with a prompt chastisement in the capture of the president of the executive council, and the death of the speaker of the congress, which delayed more than forty days a meeting for the choice of a new one, and the very active pur- suit to which they were exposed, in spite of the rains which lasted longer than usual. The idea of peace introduced into their camp, which they had the baseness to attribute to me, though they asserted that I proposed it through weakness, began to take root among the masses, and the impulse from below upward reached the
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head, a natural result of assertions disproved by our pursuit.
"This was the state of things when, on the 2 ist of December, I talked with Duque de Estrada, and not trusting in the method, although I had no private or official letter to authorize my conduct, and even feared that another assassina- tion would make the negotiations abortive, I ordered operations to be suspended between the sea, the river Sevilla, and the roads from Santa Cruz to Hato Petrero, and from that point to Brazo ; that is a seventh part of the Center. This was a seriofis measure. I was conscious of the objections to it; nothing positive authorized me to give assurances that this neutrality would be respected. I knew that it would give an opportunity for attacks (on me) by many ; but if I wished to arrive at an understanding it was necessary to run the risk ; and I believe that, holding such a position and command as mine, it behooves not to consider the personal annoyances which may result from failure, but the benefit which may redound to our country from success. The loss would be all my own ; all the advantage my country's.
Suspending: 'Warfare.
" Concert and meeting and consequently agreement were impossible if our troops contin- ued operations. I fixed no period, but limited
Maximo Gomez, the Chief of the Insurrection.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 329
myself to declaring that the termination (of the armistice) should be announced three days be- forehand. I reserved to myself the right of lengthening or shortening it, because to keep fixing periods and then extending them is, in my opinion, discreditable and a kind of higgling un- worthy of soldiers.
" I will not deny that I then expected that at the end of a few days they would tell me that they wished to treat on inadmissible terms. I labored at that time under two mistakes : I be- lieved their number smaller and their presump- tion greater than it was. I had studied the pro and the con, as is commonly said. I was not neutralizing more than a small part of the war (three-hundredths), and it was accordingly prose- cuted with the greatest activity when the matter began to improve, and the soldiers to come out of the hospitals. In the neutralized territory the contract of the insurgents with our soldiers was most advantageous for us, because the meeting of the weak with the strong, of the hungry with him who has resources, of the naked -with the clothed, of him who has no place of shelter, with him who has camps and sutlers' shops, cannot but weaken the resolution of the former. The courteous treatment which had been ordered was sure to underline the officers ; the news of the suspension of hostilities where the congress was,
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CUBA.
and the negotiations with it, must have a decided influence in other departments.
P rogrress toward Peace.
"What was lost, in case these conferences were broken off? On the part of the country nothing, and this is proved by the great number of surrenders which took place at this time. Much was gained for the future by dividing them ; the three tendencies of the hostile camp, peace, autonomy and independence, defined themselves ; for in moments of danger the most opposite wishes unite, and if a respite is given, they reappear again in greater»strength.
"So it happened here. In Sancti Spiritus some begged that the decision of the congress might be waited for, and I granted them a place of meeting, where I furnished them with supplies, and in that encampment cheers were given for peace and for Spain, and they embraced our officers. In Bayamo whole bands surrendered together ; in Holguin and in Tunas they avoided any fighting ; and in Cuba, Maceo made super- human efforts to raise their spirits, summoning all to the last soldier, and attacking with an energy and success worthy of a better cause ; but even in the midst of this desperate effort he did not wish to shut the door of the future, and, what he had not done for ten years, after a bloody advan- tage in which he kept possession of the field, he
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 33!
buries the dead, praises their valor, and sends back to us a few wounded, and prisoners who escaped the fury of the combat.
"The desire to treat having been excited, and having told Estrada my own opinion concern- ing the island, and what I believed that of the government to be, judging by the private corres- pondence which was going on between me and the Minister of Ultramar, I went to Havana to in- form General Jovellar, to put myself in accord with him, and to hear his valuable counsels. That officer was, as he had been since the war began, in full agreement with me, and explained to me the embarrassed state of the treasury, the arrears of pay continually increasing, and the difficulties we should find ourselves in if the war was not ended before June. I made a tour of inspection through Las Villas and Sancti Spiritus, to see for myself the execution of my orders, and was satis- fied that nothing more could be asked of the army. Pancho Jimenez had attempted an effective stroke, but as he had not the means, the destruc- tion of part of his band, and the dispersion of the rest were the consequence.
Coming- to the Point.
"I returned to Principe to bring matters to a head, and because I thought there had been time to come to an understanding and to pass from a purely confidential character to a semi-official one,
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and having had an interview at Chorrillo with Messrs. Lauces and Roa, commissioned from the so-called commander-in-chief of the Centre, Goyo Benitez, to General Cassola, who by my orders had announced to him the renewal of hostilities on the 2oth, I was able to satisfy myself of the well-nigh general desire to come to a definite result, and of the impossibility of it by reason of the dispersion of the bands, and above all because it was not yet known whether Vincente Garcia would accept the presidency, nor what his aspira- tions and projects were. Believing in their good faith, I appointed the loth of February as the day before which terms must be proposed, and permitted a commissioner to start for Sancti Spiritus and another in search of Vincente Gar- cia, but I reduced the neutralized territory to about eight leagues square on the banks of the Sevilla, setting a cordon of posts and sentinels all around it.
"In fixing on the loth of February, I was thinking of the meeting of the Cortes on the 1 5th,. and wished to give definite news to the government of His Majesty, so that they could in the royal message parry the attacks of the op- position, and if they did not approve of my con- duct they could remove me from command, since I had neither consulted them nor given an account of the steps I had taken.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 333
Campos' Motives.
"The reasons I had for acting thus are three : Not to solicit from the government an au- thorization which could not be understandingly given at so great a distance ; second, to assume all responsibility myself, leaving them in entire freedom ; and third, not to give rise in Spain to hopes that might prove illusions.
" Some time before the first steps had been taken toward a conference between Vincente Garcia and General Prendergast, but since the former had been chosen president of the execu- tive council, he thought that he could not be pres- ent at it, and sent his commissioners to Banchuelo (Tunas) , to which place the General came. There, after long debates, I being in direct communica- tion by telegraph, I answered all questions, and fixed as a limit the terms which I reported the same day, 3oth of January, neutralizing the road between Tunas and the camp of the congress, so that messages and reports might pass, because we had unfortunately severely wounded their com- missioner, who bore my safe conduct, which pre- vented the order for meeting from reaching Vicente Garcia in time.
Interview with Garcia.
"On the 5th he asked for an interview with me, which could not take place on the 6th at San Fernando owing to a mistake ; and on the yth he
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came to see me, with seven other leaders and some of his officers, at Chorrilla. He presented himself in a very proper way, and I received him kindly, Generals Prendergast and Cassola being present at the conversation, which lasted seven hours. Those who took part in it manifested their desire for peace ; they agreed that though they might prolong the war it would be the ruin of the country (Cuba) ; that in their present con- dition they could not conquer ; that the happiness of Cuba was possible under the government of Spain ; that the terms were not ample enough ; and, above all, tkat the oath they had taken not to treat except on the basis of independence rendered all agreement null ; that there was no provision in their constitution for such a case, and it was necessary to appeal to the people. All our arguments were unable to convince them.
" Vincente Garcia told me that, in order to facilitate a prompt pacification, he had that day come and taken the oath of office. The result was that I answered them that I did not make the terms more liberal because they had already received the sanction of the government ; that I could not extend the period without receiving at least a moral guarantee that, in case those of the East and of Villas did not agree, the majority of Camaguey would accept ; and we parted with the greatest courtesy.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 335
An Anxious Moment.
"I cannot express the anxiety in which I was left. My presumption was that they were to be trusted ; that the reserve they had shown was due to the character of the natives of this country, and to their want of confidence in Spain, which cannot easily be effaced ; at the same time recog- nizing as one cause the oath they had taken, and the desire not to be accused of treachery by their companions, who still stood to their arms.
" But these were nothing more than my pre- sumptions ; nothing more than my knowledge of the unfortunate state in which they were. There was the conviction that hatred of Spain was rapidly disappearing ; there was the certainty that the favorable movement came from below up- wards with a terrible pressure ; but after all there was nothing but conviction and faith in myself; there was not a proof nor a material fact to con- firm these ; and when I entered on this line of thought doubt took possession of my mind.
" The question was most serious. Should they persist in their choice of a new government by popular election, and I in not conceding a longer delay, then the pacification would be post- poned, the war continued with the fury of despair, and I become an accomplice in the failure of peace. If, in virtue of my convictions, I conceded what they asked, a change of ideas
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might take place in the mass (of insurgents), and I should have lost a month and a half of opera- tions in the best season of the year, equivalent to more than three months in the rainy season, to 3,000 soldiers killed, to $6,000,000 more spent, and to another effort on the part ot Spain.
At Zanjon.
"On the morning of the 9th I removed to Zanjon, the point nearest the enemy's camp, and at twelve next day Messrs. Rosa and Lauces presented themselves with a letter from Vincente Garcia accrediting them in their mission. These gentlemen stated! to me that the executive and congress having met, had informed themselves of the result of the interview we had held on the 7th, and after a long discussion had agreed on the impolicy of continuing the war, and on the im- possibility of treating in which they found them- selves, because they were not empowered to do so, and it would be illegal ; that they were bound to give an account of the whole to the people ; but that, considering the pressure of circum- stances, they would resign and appeal to the people and troops gathered there ; that this took place, and that a committee of seven persons (five of them irreconcilables) was chosen by popular election in order that negotiations might go on. The committee discussed and modified my terms, and submitted the result to the people, who
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accepted it unanimously under condition that the States of the East and Center should be heard. The people being asked if they were for peace, answered almost unanimously in the affirmative. Asked afterward if the war should be continued in case Orienteor Villars would not accept peace, three-quarters were in favor of peace even then, and the other fourth for war.
"In view of this I went on to discuss the questions, and, there being no difficulty except about the first, I consulted General Jovellar by telegraph, in the presence of the commissioners, and had the satisfaction of letting them see the identity of opinion of the two authorities: There remained the question of time to be allowed, which I proposed to leave to the government of his Majesty, and they returned to their camp to submit the modifications.
The Terms Accepted.
" While they were absent I reflected ma- turely, and resolved on my part to concede a delay until the end of the month. The consider- ations which moved me to this were my not wish- ing to compromise General Jovellar, because if, contrary to all appearances, there were a change, he would remain disposable to relieve me in com- mand if the government disapproved of my con- duct, or the opposition and public opinion pro- nounced against me in case of failure. I am not
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considering as such the continuance in the field of Maceo, as I was then inclined to do, having heard of the capture of the convoy of Florida, with 12,000 percussion caps, a case of medicines, and some loads of tinned meat, with a loss to us of one officer and twenty-eight soldiers killed and five wounded, and of the defeat of a column of 200 men of the regiments of Madrid and Asturias in Juan Mulato, with the loss, as was then be- lieved, of loo men, though I know now it was not above fifty, and of the commander, Lieutenant- Colonel Cabezas.
"The commissioners returned in the after- noon of the loth with definite terms, which I ac- cepted, and a copy of which I enclose, and I at once granted the delay, and then to facilitate matters, without their asking it, I ordered the generals in command to suspend offensive hostili- ties in the whole territory of the war.
"The insurgents desire peace so sincerely that the commissioners elected for each state are the most influential and intelligent persons in it : For Cuba, Major-General Maximo Gomez, Brig- adier-General Rafael Rodriquez, Major Enrique Callazo ; for Bayamo, Major Augustin Castel- lanos, Ensign Jose Badraque ; for Las Villas, the deputies Spoturno and Marcos Garcia, Colonel Enrique Mola and Don Ramon Perez Trujillo ; for Tunas and Holguin, Vincente Garcia.
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"These elections are guarantees of good faith. Concerning Sancti Spiritus and Villas, with the exception of the thirty men of Cecilio Gon- zalez, I harbor no doubt, only an outlaw or two and the runaway negroes will be left in the field, isolated, without flag and without arms ; in Principe, possibly, a gathering or so of what are I called planteados, who obey no one, and whom the very insurgents have almost exterminated. The End at Last.
" In Bayamo the leaders who remain have given assurances that they will consult with the commissioners and are calling in their scattered followers. In Tunas and Holguin, Vincente Garcia has every kind of influence. In Cuba, Maceo respects only Maximo Gomez, and all affirm that he will obey the dispositions of his government. I am not confident but he will be left reduced to the last extremity without the bands of Edwardo Marinol, Limbano Sanchez, Martinez Freire, and Leite Vidal, and only a part of the people of his brother Antonio Maceo, Guellermon, and Crom- bet will follow him. In any event parties of banditti will remain in those mountains.
"This is, in conclusion, a loose narrative of what has happened and of my present impressions and hopes. It only remains to set before you a sketch of the motives of my policy, and the reasons on which I have based my conduct in these sixteen
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months. I have not always been right, but I have tried to correct my mistakes the moment I became aware of them.
A Review of the Situation.
" Since the year 1869, when I landed on this island with the first reinforcements, I was preoc- cupied with the idea that the insurrection here, though acknowledging as its cause the hatred of Spain, yet that this hatred was due to the causes that have separated our colonies from the mother country, augmented in the present case by the promises made to the Antilles at different times (i8i2-'3/ and '45), promises which not only have not been fulfilled, but, as I understand, have not been permitted to be so by the Cortes when at different times their execution had been begun.
"While the island had no great development, its aspirations were confined by love of nation- ality and respect for authority; but when one day after another passed without hopes being satisfied, but, on the contrary, the greater freedom per- mitted now and then by a governor were more than cancelled by his successor; when they were convinced that the colony went on in the same way; when bad officials and a worse administration of justice more and more aggravated difficulties; when the provincial governorships, continually growing worse, fell at last into the hands of men without training or education, petty tyrants who
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could practice their thefts and sometimes their oppressions, because of the distance at which they resided from the supreme authority, public opinion, until then restrained, began vehemently to desire those liberties which, if they bring much good, contain also some evil, and especially when applied to countries that have so peculiar a life of their own, and are without preparation for them. A people sometimes vehemently desires what is not best for it — the unknown — and when everything is denied, aspires to everything. So it happened here. I do not blame the captains-general nor the government of that epoch. They thought they were acting for the best ; but they were sep- arated from the people, and had about them only partisans of the status quo, and very few of progress/and even these, persons of heated imag- ination, but cautious, did not make manifest their ideas, and even applauded acts which were carry- ing the ship on the reef, like those inhabitants of England who kindled bonfires to attract ships.
What the War Meant.
"The loth of October, 1868, came to open men's eyes ; the eruption of the volcano in which so many passions, so many hatreds, just and un- just, had been heaped up, was terrible, and almost at the outset the independence of Cuba was pro- claimed. The concessions which General Ler- sandi then made were of no avail ; the triumph
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of Bayamo was not deadened by the heroic resis- tance of the garrisons of Tunas and Holguin ; the army was very small, and they believed vic- tory easy. Many Spaniards believed that auton- omy should be granted ; and who knows what miofht have followed if those masses had been
o
well led, and had not quarreled with the natives of the Peninsula?
"The certainty of triumph blinded them. In its turn public sentiment and patriotism were awakened in us, and the country was divided into two irreconcilable bands, extreme from the first, confiding the triumph of their cause to extermi- nation and the torch ; and although in these nine years there have been attempts at more humane systems, they have been of short duration. Pub- lic opinion was too strong for governments of whatever politics. Hardly was a governor-gen- eral appointed when they weakened his authority by allowing the press to speak of his dismissal ; and these officers, not feeling themselves sustained by the government, tried to find some support in a public opinion continually more and more over- excited, and there were times when the war was on the point of being victoriously ended, when a change of commander came to undo all that had been gained to make the insurgents understand that their constancy would save them ; and a seri- ous succession of feats of arms raised their spirits,
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and by the advantage of ground and their familiar- ity with it, they defeated large columns with hardly a battalion of men. Hunger in the villages swelled the ranks of the enemy. They almost put us on the defensive, and as we had to guard an im- mense property, the mission of the army became very difficult.
"The instability of governments in Spain, the cantonal war first, and the civil war afterward, encouraged our enemies, who began to doubt in proportion as the throne of Don Alfonso became firm, and when they found themselves shut up in villas and unable to carry out their project of extending the war to Matanzas and Cardenas. But public spirit had decayed, and the invasion of Spiritus and Villas marked a fatal period. It was our fortune that the military man who commanded against them had not, because a foreigner and because of his character, in spite of his courage, the sympathy of his subordinates, and that the battle of Palma Sola subdued his energy. But the war went on languidly for want of forces, public sentiment growing weaker, and the army remembering too well its reverses. The principal of authority was strengthened, and I believe that, with more resources, we should have triumphed in 1875 and 1876.
"The insignificant affairs of the railway of Spiritus, the attack on Villa Clara, Ciego de Avila,
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and Moron made a great impression on public opinion, which saw in everything, with frightful exaggeration, to be sure, grave and irremediable evils, and the unfortunate carelessness at Victoria de las Tunas came to stamp the position of affairs at the very time when reinforcements and help were expected from the mother country. General Jovellar was the victim of events, and when per- haps he was about to grasp the laurel of his toils the government decided that I should come.
"These, roughly sketched, are in my concep- tion the facts from 1868 to the end of 1876. How Hie Kncl -was Reached.
" I have come now by slow stages to the question of the day, and perhaps some will ask how I offered the terms which I reported on the 3Oth of January, and will add that better might have been obtained.
"At present, I suppose so, but I understand by advantageous terms for the government what contributes to satisfy the desires and aspirations of the people ; I proposed the first condition, be- cause I believe they must fulfill it. I wish that the municipal law, the law of provincial assem- blies, and representation in the Cortes, should be established. For the present we will make use of the laws now in force, and then with the assistance of the deputies, modifications and arrangements can be made to complete them. Technical details
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will be considered which are beyond my com- petence. The law of labor is to be settled, the question of labor supply, the necessary changes of property are to be studied, the fearful and un- sustainable problem of slavery is to be studied before foreign nations impose a solution of it upon us, the penal code is to be studied and the pro- vince of the courts defined, the form of contribu- tions and assessment of taxes determined, and some attention paid to schools and public works. All these problems whose solution concerns the people must be solved after hearing their repre- sentatives, not by the reports of Juntas, chosen through favoritism or for political reasons. They cannot be left to the will of the captain-general, the head of a department, or the colonial minis- ter, who generally, however competent, does not know the country.
Campos' Appeal for Justice.
"I do not wish to make a momentary peace. I desire that this peace be the beginning of a bond of common interests between Spain and her Cuban provinces, and that this bond be drawn continually closer by the identity of aspirations, and the good faith of both.
" Let not the Cubans be considered as pa- riahs or minors, but put on an equality with other Spaniards in everything not inconsistent with their present condition.
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" It was on the other hand impossible, accord- ing to my judgment and conscience, not to grant the first condition ; not to do it was to postpone indefinitely the fulfilment of a promise made in our present constitution. It was not possible that this island, richer, more populous, and more ad- vanced morally and materially than her sister, Porto Rico, should remain without the advantages and liberties long ago planted in the latter with good results, and the spirit of the age, and the decision of the country gradually to assimilate the colonies to the Peninsula, made it necessary to grant the prorm'sed reforms, which would have been already established and surely more amply if the abnormal state of things had not concen- trated all the attention of government on the extirpation of the evil which was devouring this rich province.
"I did not make the last constitution ; I had no part in the discussion of it. It is now the law, and as such I respect it, and as such endeavor to apply it. But there was in it something conditional, which I think a danger, a motive of distrust, and I have wished that it might disappear. Nothing assures me that the present ministry will continue in power, and I do not know whether that which replaces it would believe the fit moment to have arrived for fulfilling the precept of the constitution.
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11 1 desire the peace of Spain, and tnis will not be firm while there is. war or disturbance in the richest jewel of her crown. Perhaps the insurgents would have accepted promises less liberal and more vague than those set forth in this condition ; but even had this been done, it would have been but a brief postponement, because those liberties are destined to come for the reasons already given, with the difference that Spain now shows herself generous and magnani- mous, satisfying just aspirations which she might deny, and a little later, probably very soon, would have been obliged to grant them, compelled by the force of ideas and of the age.
" Moreover, she has promised over and over again to enter on the path of assimilation, and if the promise were more vague, even though the fulfillment of this promise were begun, these people would have the right to doubt our good faith and to show a distrust unfor- tunately warranted by the failings of human nature itself.
"The not adding another 100,000 to the 100,000 families that mourn their sons slain in this pitiless war, and the cry of peace that will re- sound in the hearts of the 80,000 mothers who have sons in Cuba, or liable to conscription, would be a full equivalent for the payment of a debt of justice."
348 CUBA.
The Cost of tlie War.
What the ten years of war cost the island and cost Spain can never be fully reckoned. In a debate on Cuban affairs in the Spanish Cortes in November, 1876, it was officially stated that in eight years Spain had sent to Cuba 145,000 sol- diers under the command of her ablest generals. The war is known to have cost Cuba more than 45,000 lives. A considerable proportion of these were lost on the field of battle, but the majority of them were murdered in cold blood in prison. More than 13,000 estates belonging to Cubans were confiscated by the Spanish Government. Of these about 1000 belonged to women, whose only crime was that they sympathized with their struggling countrymen. The cost of the war in money has been estimated at nearly $1,000,- 000,000.
During the entire war a professor of lan- guages in Havana, who was an American of Cuban birth, systematically kept a record of the Cuban losses reported in the authorized publica- tions in Havana. He made it in great detail, giving the place and date of each engagement, the number of men on each side, and the Cuban losses in killed, wounded, prisoners, and horses. At the end of the war his totals were as follows : Cuban losses, 395,856 killed, 726,490 wounded, 451,100 prisoners, and a little more than 800,000
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horses killed or captured. Considering that the entire population of the island was only 1,250,000, the ability of the Spanish at lying was certainly extraordinary. According to their figures more Cubans were killed, wounded and captured than there were persons of all classes on the island.
In curious contrast with this are the Spanish figures of their own losses. According to official records they lost 81,098 men, of whom only 6488 died in battle or from wounds. In other words, according to their own statements, ninety-two per cent, of the Spanish losses were from fever, cholera and other diseases. There never was a time during the whole ten years when less than fourteen per cent, of the whole Spanish army was in hospitals. These Spanish figures, however, are known to be very much too low, though per- haps not as much too low as their statements of Cuban losses are too high.
20
CHAPTER XIII.
RESENTMENT OP THE BETRAYED CUBANS TROUBLE
WITH THE UNITED STATES THE CASE OF THE
^MERRITT" — OTHER OUTRAGES — REDRESS DE- MANDED SPANISH TREACHERY BLUNDERING
AS WELL AS PLUNDERING NO POPULAR
LIBERTY CUBAN APPEALS FOR JUSTICE THE
MOCKERY OF HOME RULE THE FINAL
ARRAIGNMENT THE APPEAL TO ARMS.
HE CUBAN patriots soon found out that the Spanish Government had no intention of fulfilling the promises made by General Campos. As soon as the patriot forces had laid down their arms and sur- rendered all the results of the war, Spanish tyranny was resumed in almost as odious a form as ever. The rage and resentment of the Cubans was well-nigh unbounded. They could not hope, how- ever, to renew the struggle in the field at that time. They therefore had recourse to political agitation. They formed what has since been known as the Autonomist party. The principles of this organization were that experience would not justify further attempts tc regain freedom for Cuba by force of arms, and that the island's hope
(350)
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lay in peaceful measures. This party gained a footing very rapidly and soon embraced a con- siderable proportion of the most thoughtful and influential men on the island.
Year after year they worked for political re- form and for the granting of home rule to Cuba. But year after year impressed upon them more clearly the fact that their efforts were in vain. They were cheated by their Spanish rulers in the elections. Their votes were not fairly counted. They were not allowed to send their chosen re- presentatives to the Cortes at Madrid. When they did succeed in sending representative men thither, the appeals to the Spanish Government for justice were in vain.
Then there sprang 'up a strong sentiment in favor of annexation to the United States. Since slavery had been abolished in both countries, it was no longer in the way. The commercial relations between the two countries were closer than ever. Union seemed to be to the interest of both. Even some Spaniards joined this move- ment. They realized that Spain could not much longer retain her grip upon Cuba, and their pride made them prefer to see the island pass under the control of the United States rather that be- come independent.
A considerable portion of the Cubans, however, still cherished a hope of winning freedom
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by force of arms. From time to time small in- surrections occurred, and all the time the leaders of the war party were busy with plans and con- spiracies, in the United States and elsewhere. Matters were finally brought to a crisis in the winter of 1895 anc^ J896, when the Spanish Gov- ernment proposed what it called a " Home Rule" bill. This purported to give home rule to Cuba, but in reality was designed to strengthen the bonds of Spanish tyranny and fasten them more securely and permanently upon the island.
Trouble witli the United States.
Nor did the end of the war end the friction between Spain and the United States, as this pas- sage from a letter to Mr. Evarts, then Secretary of State, to the Minister to Spain, in 1880, will show :
" I have to instruct you to bring to the earnest attention of His Majesty's Government a series of occurrences on the high seas and in waters adjacent to the eastern part of the island of Cuba of such exceptional gravity that this Government cannot but attach the utmost importance thereto, inasmuch as the facts which have been brought to the attention of this Department, if substantiated, involve not only unwarrantable interference with the legitimate pursuit of peaceful commerce by American citizens, but also a grave affront to the honor and dignity of their flag.
General Calixto Garcia.
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"Four separate instances of the visitation and search of American commercial vessels by armed cruisers of Spain have been reported in rapid succession, under circumstances which im- press the mind of the President with the substan- tial truthfulness of the statements, made under circumstances which preclude collusion or wilful deception on the part of those making them.
"The facts of these occurrences, in the order in which they took place, as sworn to by the officers of the several vessels, are as follows :
The Case of the « Merritt.'
"First. The schooner 'Ethel A. Merritt,' one of the fleet belonging to the firm of Warner & Merritt, fruiterers, of Philadelphia, sailed from Port Antonio, Jamaica, on the 2Qth of May last, laden with fruit for Philadelphia. On the next day, May 3oth, she was overhauled by a vessel-of-war under the Spanish flag, which fired a blank shot, upon which the 'Ethel A. Merritt ' displayed the United States flag and kept on her course. The cruiser then bore down upon her and fired a solid shot which glanced and passed through her rig- ging. The master of the schooner, to save the owners' property and the lives of his crew, then hove to and his vessel was boarded by an armed officer, in Spanish uniform, who searched her, and finding nothing on board save legitimate cargo, permitted her to proceed on her course. The
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affidavits of the master and first mate of the schooner fixed her distance from the nearest point of the Island of Cuba at the time she was boarded as between six and seven nautical miles. The name of the boarding cruiser was not ascertained at the time, and through the mistaken impression of one of the schooner's crew, who read the name on her stern indistinctly, she was supposed to be called the ' Nuncio ' or ' Nunico '.
" Second. The schooner ' Eunice P. New- comb,' of Wellfleet, Mass., bound from Port An- tonio, Jamaica, to Boston, with a cargo of bananas and cocoanuts, on or about the i8th of June last, was in like manner overhauled by a gunboat un- der the Spanish flag, which fired a blank shot across her bow. The ' Eunice P. Newcomb' showed the United States flag and kept on her course, being then on the high seas, seven or eight nauti- cal miles from the coast of Cuba. The Spanish cruiser next fired a solid shot across the schooner's stern, when the latter hove to and was boarded by three men from the gunboat, who searched the vessel and left her to proceed on her course. In this case, also, the name of the boarding cruiser was not reported to the Department. Oilier Outrages.
"Third. The schooner 'George Washing- ton,' of Booth Bay, Me., cleared from Baltimore, Md., on the 22d of June last, in ballast, for
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Manchioneal, in Jamaica, for a cargo of fruit. On the 5th of July, when about fifteen miles distant from Cape Maysi, on the eastern extremity of the island of Cuba, she sighted a steamer some ten miles distant. The steamer altered her course and bore down upon the schooner, which hoisted the United States flag. The steamer overtook the schooner, not display- ing the Spanish flag until abreast of her, steamed ahead with guns manned, and lowered a boat which put off to the 'George Washington.' The master of the latter hove to, and the boat, con- taining two officers and two men, heavily armed, ran alongside. The Spanish officers and cox- swain went on board, examined the schooner's papers, searched her hold and ship's stores, inspected all her crew, and left her without explanation. The search took place about fifteen miles easterly of Cape Maysi. The name of the vessel was in this instance also not ascertained, but the concluding letters on her stern, all that could be read as she lay, are said to have been 'Gary,' which leads the department to conjecture that she may have been the 'Blasco de Garay,' the gunboat concerned the following day, in the same neighborhood, in the fourth and last of the cases of visitation and search thus far reported to this Government.
" Fourth. The schooner 'Hattie Haskell,' of
358 CUBA.
New York, sailed from that city on the i8th of June last, with a general cargo for the San Bias coast in the Colombian State of Panama. On the 6th of July she sighted the east coast of Cuba, off Cape Maysi. At two o'clock that day she sighted a side-wheel steamer, which gave chase, and, when near, set the Spanish flag, whereat the 'Hattie Haskell' showed the American colors. At six o'clock the gunboat, which proved to be the 'Blasco de Garay,' ordered the schooner to heave to, and when a cable's length distant sent a boat off to her with an armed crew, her guns being meanwhile manned and crew mustered for action. The boat carried two officers, who examined the schooner's papers and searched her hold, after which she was permitted to proceed. This visit and search occurred about twenty-two miles south- westerly from Cape Maysi, as verified by the affidavits of the master, mate, and all the crew of the 'Hattie Haskell' before the United States Court at Aspinwall.
Redress Demanded.
"As may naturally be supposed, these occur- rences gave this Government much concern, and immediate steps were taken to ascertain the truth of the facts stated. The denial of the pos- sibility of such an event having taken place, which was spontaneously made public through the press of the Cuban authorities, coupled with the circum-
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stances of no vessel bearing a name even remotely like that of 'Nuncio' or 'Nunico' being in the Spanish service, gave rise at first to the conjecture that the attack on the 'Ethel A. Merritt' micrht
o
have been the work of some piratical craft, and the Tennessee,' a war vessel of the United States, was promptly dispatched to Cuban waters to make an investigation.
"Your own dispatch of the i6th of June (No. 33) shows how quick the Spanish ministry was to disavow the act, then only known to it through the press ; and how earnest was the assurance given that if the firing had taken place as reported, it was done contrary to the express orders and wish of the Spanish Government. It was, however, soon learned by the rear-admiral commanding the ' Tennessee ' that the firing upon, boarding, and search of the ' Ethel A. Merritt ' and 'Eunice P. Newcomb' was admitted by the Spanish authorities at Santiago de Cuba, the explanation given by them being that the guarda costas are not permitted to cruise at a greater distance than six miles from the Cuban shore ; that the schoon- ers, when boarded by officers of the gunboat ' Canto,' were at a distance not greater than from two to three miles from the south coast of Cuba, and that the occurrences were immediately re- ported through the captain of the port of Santiago de Cuba to the Spanish admiral at Havana.
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" The reported visitation and search of the ' George Washington ' and ' Hattie Haskell ' has not as yet been in like manner admitted, but from the verification of incidents with respect to the two previous searches, there can be little doubt that the occurrences in their cases will be likewise found to be true, and that the war vessels of Spain off the coast of Cuba have in at least four instances in rapid succession exercised the right of visitation and search upon vessels of the United States flying the American flag, and passing in the pusuit of lawful trade through the commercial highway of nations which lies to the eastward of the island of Cuba. This Government does not lose sight of the exparte declarations made by the Spanish local authorities at Santiago de Cuba, that the two acts thus far verified took place within the three-mile limit. This point is in dis- pute, and evidence as trustworthy as proof can well be in such cases is adduced to show that the vessels were at the time from six to eight miles distant from the shore. In the cases of the two remaining searches the evidence fixes the dis- tance from shore far outside of the limits men- tioned, and in that of the ' Hattie Haskell,' especi- ally, at over twenty miles from the Cuban coast." Spanish Treachery.
What did Spain do to fulfill the promises made by Campos ? She allowed Cuba to send a
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few deputies to the Cortes, who, for sixteen years, vainly protested against Spanish misrule, and as vainly demanded self-government as the only means of saving the country. Their protests were heard with indifference and their demands treated with derision. Finally, Senor Maura unexpectedly came forward with the proposal of a new system of government for the colony, and later Senor Abarzuza, with the same absurdity revised and enlarged. One can scarcely believe that a sane man could have drafted and offered it as a system of self-government. It is no more than a council of administration, composed of thirty members, of which fifteen are elected by the people and fifteen appointed by the government of Spain, presided over by the Captain-General, who has the casting vote, the veto power and the most extraordinary and absurd power of suspending from their func- tions, at any time and without thereby invalidating the proceedings of the council, such members as he might deem expedient. In other words, the government could, whenever it chose to do so, produce an artificial majority. Yet this was not considered a sufficient safeguard, and it is further provided that the decisions of the council shall not be valid until submitted to and approved by the Cortes. Nor is this all. The council has power only to prepare the estimates of expendi- ture and to recommend the appropriation for
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internal improvements ; the other estimates and appropriations, and especially those of the army and navy, are to be prepared and recommended to the Cortes, as heretofore, by the Minister for the Colonies. That is what Senor Abarzuza called self-government.
The news of the scheme was received in Cuba with indignation, and justly so, for such a proposition was not only an insult, but a most provoking mockery. Its acceptance by the Cuban people would have placed their destinies more firmly in the hands of the Spanish Govern- ment, and theif resentment was extended and was .intensified when it was discovered that the immediate object of the plan was to raise a loan of $250,000,000 or $300,000,000 for the Spanish treasury with the -guarantee of Cuba, a guarantee which, without having some apparent representa- tion, she could not give, and which the govern- ment would have easily secured by suspending such members of the Council as opposed it, thus creating a favorable majority.
Under the circumstances there was no alternative for the Cuban people but to shoulder their rifles, grasp their machetes and fight for their rights, their freedom and their independence from a metropolis whose bad faith, rapacity, and insolence have no limit and know no bounds.
General Antonio Maceo.
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Blundering- as 'well as Plundering.
Are the deficiencies of the Spanish regime compensated by the wisdom of its administration ? Every time the Spanish government has under- taken the solution of any of the great problems pending in Cuba, it has only confused and made it worse. It has solved it blindly or yielded to the influence of those who were to profit by the change. It will be sufficient to recall the with- drawal from circulation of the bank notes, which proved to be a highly lucrative transaction for a few persons, but which only embarrassed and impaired the monetary circulation of the island. From one day to another the cost of living be- came forty per cent, dearer. The depreciated Spanish silver entered into circulation to drive out, as was natural, the "centum" (five dollar gold coin), and make small transactions difficult. To reach these results the Spanish government had transformed a debt on which it had no interest to pay a debt bearing a high rate of interest. It is true that, in exchange, all the retail dealers, whose votes it was desirable to keep, derived very large profits from the operation. These dealers are, of course, Spaniards.
No Popular liberty.
In exchange for all that Spain withholds from Cuba, they say that it has given liberties. This is a mockery. The liberties are written in .the Con-
366 CUBA.
stitution, but obliterated in its practical applica- tion. Before and after its promulgation the public press has been rigorously persecuted in Cuba. Many journalists, such as Senores Cepeda and Lopes Brinas, have been banished from the country without the formality of a trial. In No- vember of 1891 the writer Don Manuel A. Balmaseda was tried by court martial for having published an editorial paragraph in El Criteria Popular, of Remedies, relative to the shooting of the medical students. The newspapers have been allowed to discuss public affairs theoreti- cally ; but the moment they denounce any abuse or the conduct of any official they feel the hand of their rulers laid upon them. The official organ of the home-rule party, El Pais, named before El Triunfo, has undergone more than one trial for having pointed in measured terms to some infrac- tions of the law on the part of officials, naming the transgressors. In 1887 that periodical was sub- jected to criminal proceedings simply because it had stated that a son of the president of the Havana Audiencia was holding a certain office contrary to law.
They say that in Cuba the people are at lib- erty to hold public meetings, but every time the inhabitants assemble, previous notification must be given to the authorities, and a functionary is appointed to be present, with power to suspend
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the meeting whenever he deems such a measure advisable. The meetings of the " Circulo de Trabajadores" (an association of workingmen) were forbidden by the authorities under the pre- text that the building where they were to be held was not sufficiently safe. In 1894 the members of the " Circulo de Hacendados" (association of planters) invited their fellow members throughout the country to get up a great demonstration to demand a remedy which the critical state of their affairs required. The Government found means to prevent their meeting. One of the most significant events that have occurred in Cuba, and one which throws a flood of light upon its political regime, was the failure of the "Junta Magna" (an extraordinary meeting) projected by the " Circulo de Hacendados." This corpora- tion solicited the co-operation of the " Sociedad Economica," and of the "Junta General de Comercio" to hold a meeting for the purpose of sending to the Metropolis the complaints which the precarious situation of the country inspired. The work of preparation was already far ad- vanced, when a friend of the Government, Senor Rodriguez Correa, stated that the Governor-Gen- eral looked with displeasure upon m& forbade the holding of the great meeting. This was sufficient to frighten the " Circulo" and to secure the failure of the project. It is then evident that the inhab-
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itants of Cuba can have meetings only when the
Government thinks it advisable to permit them.
Cuban Appeals for Justice.
Against this political regime, which is a sarcasm, and in which deception is added to the most absolute contempt for right, the Cubans have unceasingly protested since it was implanted in 1878. It would be difficult to enumerate the representations made in Spain, the protests voiced by the representatives of Cuba, the commissions that have crossed the ocean to try to impress upon the exploiters of Cuba what the fatal consequences of their obstinacy would be. The exasperation prevailing in the country was such that the "Junta Central" of the home-rule party issued in 1892 a manifesto in which it fore- shadowed that the moment might shortly arrive when the country would resort to "extreme measures, the responsibility of which would fall on those who, led by arrogance and priding themselves on their power, hold prudence in contempt, worship force and shield themselves with their impunity."
This manifesto, which foreboded the mourn- ful hours of the present war, was unheeded by Spain, and not until a division took place in the Spanish party, which threatened to turn into an armed struggle, did the statesmen of Spain think that the moment had arrived to try a new farce,
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 369
and to make a false show of reform in the administrative regime of Cuba. Then was Minister Maura's plan broached, to be modified before its birth by Minister Abarzuza's.
The mockery of Home Rule. This project, to which the Spaniards have endeavored to give capital importance in order to condemn the revolution as the work of impatience and anarchism, leaves intact the political regime of Cuba. It does not alter the electoral law. It does not curtail the power of the bureaucracy. It increases the power of the general government. It leaves the same burdens upon the Cuban tax- payer, and does not give him the right to partici- pate in the formation of the budgets. The reform is confined to the changing of the Council of Ad- ministration (now in existence in the island, and the members of which are appointed by the gov- ernment) into a partially elective body. One half of its members are to be appointed by the govern- ment, and the other half to be elected by the qualified electors, that is, who assessed and pay for a certain amount of taxes. The Governor- General has the right to veto all its resolutions, and to suspend at will the elective members. This Council is to make up a kind of special budget embracing the items included now in the general budget of Cuba under the head of " Fomento." The State reserves for itself all the
21
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rest. Thus the Council can dispose of 2.75 per cent, of the revenues of Cuba, while the govern- ment distributes, as at present, 97.25 per cent, for its expenses, in the form we have explained. The general budget will as heretofore be made up in Spain ; the tariff laws will be enacted by Spain. The debt, militarism and bureaucracy will con- tinue to devour Cuba, and the Cubans will con- tinue to be treated as a subjugated people. All power is to continue in the hands of the Spanish government and its delegates in Cuba, and all the influence with the Spanish residents. This is the self-government which Spain has promised to Cuba, and which it is announcing to the world, in exchange for its colonial system. A far better form of government is enjoyed by the Bahama or the Turks Islands.
The Final Arraignment.
The Cubans would have been wanting not only in self-respect, but even in the instincts of self-preservation, if they could have endured such a degrading and destructive regime. Their griev- ances are of such a nature that no people, no human community, capable of valuing its honor and of aspiring to better its condition, could bear them without degrading and condemning itself to utter nullity and annihilation.
Spain denies to the Cubans all effective powers in their own country.
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Spain condemns the Cubans to a political inferiority in the land where they are born.
Spain confiscates the product of the Cubans' labor, without giving them in return either safety, prosperity or education.
Spain has shown itself utterly incapable of governing Cuba.
Spain exploits, impoverishes and demoralizes Cuba.
To maintain by force of arms this monstrous regime, which brings ruin on a country rich by nature and degrades a vigorous and intelligent population filled with noble aspirations, is what Spain calls to defend its honor and to preserve the prestige of its social functions as a civilizing power of America.
Tlic Appeal to Arms.
The Cubans, not in anger but in despair, have appealed to arms in order to defend their rights and to vindicate an eternal principle, a principle without which every community, however robust in appearance, is in danger — the principle of justice. Nobody has the right of oppression. Spain oppresses them. In rebelling against op- pression, they defend a right. In serving their own cause they serve the cause of mankind.
"We have not counted the number of our enemies," says one of their leaders; "we have not measured their strength. We have cast up
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the account of our grievances ; we have weighed the mass of injustice that crushes us, and with uplifted hearts we have risen to seek redress and to uphold our rights. We may find ruin and death a few steps ahead. So be it. We do our duty. If the world is indifferent to our cause, so much the worse for all. A new iniquity shall have been consummated. The principle of human soli- darity shall have suffered a defeat. The sum of good existing in the world, and which the world needs to purify its moral atmosphere, shall have been lessened.
"The people of Cuba require only liberty and independence to become a factor of pros- perity and progress in the community of civilized nations. At present Cuba is a factor of intran- quillity, disturbance and ruin. The fault lies entirely with Spain. Cuba is not the offender ; it is the defender of its rights. Let America, let the world decide where rest justice and right."
CHAPTER XIV.
BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1895 — WHERE THE PLOT HATCHED FAMOUS MEN WHO ORGAN- IZED THE REBELLION — ARRIVAL OF THE LEADERS
IN CUBA HOW GOMEZ REACHED CUBA CALLE-
JAS' ATTEMPTS TO SECURE PEACE BY HEROIC MEAS- URES— THE FIRST SKIRMISHES IRONICAL GRAT- ITUDE SPREAD OF THE REBELLION RESOLUTE
SPIRIT OF THE PATRIOTS COMPLAINTS OF THE
CONSUL-GENERAL — TRAGEDIES IN CUBA.
|N FEBRUARY 24th, 1895, the flag of the Cuban Republic was raised in the mountains of the province of Santiago in the eastern end of the island.
This was the signal for the beginning of the sixth insurrection that has broken out in Cuba in the present century.
The ten years' civil war in the island from 1868 to 1878 was ended by Marshal Martinez Campos promising a number of reforms. These promises were not kept, and naturally widespread discontent ensued.'
During the last few years, three parties played important parts in the politics of the island. First, the Conservatives, or party of the Con- stitutional Union, who professed themselves satis-
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with the existing state of things ; secondly, the Autonomists, or Liberal Reform party, having a Home Rule program ; and thirdly, the Republi- cans, or Separatists.
Both the Conservatives and Home Rulers had been anxious to maintain the Spanish connection, fearing that Cuban independence would have one of two results, either that the island would be ex- ploited by American adventurers, or that, if left to itself, it would run the risk of becoming another Hayti, coming under the rule of the negroes, half- breeds and mulattoes, who form a large part of Cuba's population.
So strong was this feeling, 'that had the Spanish Government kept its promises and had it made some concessions in the direction of home rule, it is highly probable that the revolution of 1895 would never have taken place.
But the local authorities, by imprisoning Autonomist leaders, drove many of the party into more or less active sympathy with insurgent patriots.
Cuba's earlier revolutions were properly termed insurrections, for in many cases they were without the sympathy of the masses, and hence — hopeless from the start. But, in 1895, the native Cubans allied themselves with the Liberal wing of the Spanish residents to make common cause against the domination of the Spanish monarchy.
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This union of the Autonomists and Republi- cans was an association of two powerful parties, whose one aim was to free Cuba from the tyranny of a government that had made that unhappy country the fairest of promises and had broken those promises without the slightest regard for truth or honor.
The united parties desired to make Cuba a Liberal Republic, which should make its own laws and treaties to suit its economic conditions, and to establish a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."
Where the Plot was Hatched.
While the Autonomist and Republican forces in Cuba were being drawn together and amalga- mated by the power of a common wrong and a common spirit of patriotism, friends of Cuba Libre, in New York, were planning the initial steps of organized rebellion.
Meetings were held, funds were raised and plans of campaign formulated in various cities of the United States, but it was in New York that the leaders of the revolution most often met, it was in New York that the Cuban Junta had its headquarters, and the order which led to the raising of the five-barred patriot flag in the mountains of Santiago was sent from New York.
Cuban leaders in the United States, in league with sympathizers in Mexico and South
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America and with the revolutionists in the island
itself, had long been preparing for the events
which resulted in the now celebrated flag-raising.
Famous Itleu wlio Organized IHe Rebellion.
The names of Marti and Gomez are indis- solubly connected with the beginning of the revolution.
• Jose Marti, who was made president of the party, was then about forty years old. His life history reads like that of some hero in fiction.
At the time of the breaking out of the Ten Years' War,, although he was then merely a boy of fifteen, he \tfas sent to Spain for conspiring against the government. There he was kept confined in a dungeon until he was at the point of death, and was finally set free only on con- dition that he would remain in Spain for the rest
i r
of his life. He studied at Saragossa, and by the time he was twenty-one years old had received the highest degrees the University could bestow. When the Spanish Republic was proclaimed he left the country by the way of France and returned to the United States. The Cuban war was then nearly over. Nevertheless he went to Mexico and there prepared an expedition to aid his countrymen. J It was a failure, but he escaped the clutches of the Spaniards and went to Central America as a University professor.
After the restoration of peace in 1878 he
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 377
returned to Cuba and was permitted to remain there for a time. The Spanish authorities pres- ently suspected him, however, of arousing the patriotic spirit of the Cubans, and accordingly sent him back to Spain. Again he escaped from the country and came to New York, where he attempted to organize, with Calixto Garcia, another revolt in 1879. That attempt was also a failure, but it did not discourage him. Since that time he has worked unceasingly for the cause. He was an author, a poet, and a newspaper man of high attainments. In 1891 he served as the rep- resentative of Uruguay at the International Mone- tary Conference at Washington. He also served as Consul at New York for various South Ameri- can countries, but when Spain complained that he was using his position to promote disaffection in Cuba, he resigned his office and devoted himself more exclusively to the Cuban cause.
The treasurer of the Revolutionary party was Benjamin Guerra, a cigar manufacturer, who had been a Cuban patriot ever since his childhood.
The secretary was Gonzales de Quesada, who had lived in New York since he was sixteen years old, and was a graduate of Columbia College.
Maximo Gomez, of whom we shall hear much more, had been the commander of the eastern wing of the Cuban army in the revolution of 1868.
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Arrival of tbe Readers in Cuba.
During the first month of the rebellion of 1895, the success of the movement was by no means assured. In fact, its continuance was due solely to the firmness, resolution and courage of the leaders in the field, notably Bartolome Masso and William Moncada. Although these men saw that the people did not respond to the call to arms as quickly as it had been thought they would, none of them would listen to any propositions favoring the abandonment of revolutionary plans.
At the beginning of the war Moncada had charge of the forces in the eastern section of the island, including Guantanamo.
Major-General Julio Sanguilly was in com- mand of the insurgent forces at Matanzas, near Ybarra, about sixty-six miles east of Havana, on the west end of the island.
Soon after the first dispatches were received from Cuba announcing an uprising in Ybarra. other despatches arrived telling of trouble in Guantanamo. The fact that simultaneous insur- gent action occurred in parts of the island so widely separated as are these two points, proved conclusively tc all thoughtful people that Cuba was on the brink of another revolution. Still there were many who doubted the success of the movement.,
On March 3ist Gen. Antonio Maceo and his
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 379
brother Jose, with twenty-two others, landed at Duaba, near Baracoa, and as soon as they were able to join others already in arms, and the news of their arrival reached Santiago and other cities, the aspect of things began to change, and men who until then had hesitated to support the move- ment began to join the little army.
On April 1 1 General Maximo Gomez and Jose Marti with two friends landed at the south- eastern extremity of Cuba, and having joined Maceo, a general plan was arranged whereby General Maceo was to remain in the Province of Santiago, and General Gomez was to proceed to Camaguey as General-in-Chief of the army.
Before the landing of Generals Maceo and Gomez, the majority of those in arms were ne- groes, but immediately after the proportion of whites began to increase, and although in the Province of Santiago the negro element always preponderated in the rank and file, the great ma- jority of the officers were whites, while in Cama- guey, on the contrary, the army under Gomez, from the beginning, was composed chiefly of white men.
How Gomez Reached Cuba.
Captain Ronald Lamont, of the steamship "Indianapolis," from Central American waters, brought the first authentic account of the landing of General Gomez and party on the Cuban coast.
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From authorities at the island of Inagua the Captain learned that Gomez and three other in- surgent leaders reached Cuba from this country by a round-about course, by way of Inagua, Jamaica and Hayti. At Inagua they purchased a fourteen-foot, four-oared keel boat, and, em- barking on the German steamer "Nostrand," slung their boat from the davits. Just at daybreak on April 10, when the steamer was two miles off Cape Maysi, General Gomez and the others of his party dropped their boat into the water and quietly landed on the Cuban coast. Thence they made their way through the bush to the interior, where they reached the main body of insurgents. It was known at Inagua that General Gomez had with him fully $50,000 in American gold.
The insurgents knew the time and place of Maximo Gomez's landing, and Perequito Perez, at the head of 600 Cubans, met him soon after disembarkation at Rio Sabana la Mar, about thirty miles east of Guantanamo, on the south coast. The "Conde de Venadito" failed to intercept the insurgents on the sea, and 1,000 Spanish troops failed to head them off on the land.
Particulars about the sinking of a British schooner off the coast of Cuba by the Spanish warship "Conde de Venadito" were also gathered by Captain Lamont from the Inaguan authorities. It appears that twenty-five Cuban insurgent
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 381
sympathizers, exiled in Central America, took passage on the Atlas steamer "Adirondack" for Long Key, on Fortune Island. At Long Key they succeeded through the American consular agent, Mr. Farrington, in buying a small schooner for $1,500. One of the conditions of the pur- chase was that Mr. Farrington should allow his crew and officers to remain on board, their wages to be the same as those paid by Mr. Farrington. The new owners cleared for Inagua. Instead of allowing the captain to proceed to Inagua, they compelled him to steer for Cuba, and they landed at a point on the Cuban coast near Baracoa. Then they told the captain to return to Inagua, or wherever he cared to go.
Calleja's Attempts to Secure Peace by Heroic Measures.
When the insurrection began, the Governor of the island was General Calleja, a Spaniard, who had been in Cuba since 1873. He is said to have been in favor of conciliation, but was hope- lessly hampered by Spanish officials at Havana.
It was originally planned to raise the Cuban flag on the twenty-second of February, the anni- versary of Washington's birthday, being deemed a fitting occasion for the actual beginning of the insurrection. Owing to various delays and dis- appointments, however, the raising of the stand- ard was postponed till February twenty-fourth.
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As soon as news of the uprising reached Governor-General Calleja, he issued a proclama- tion suspending constitutional guarantees. He also put in effect the " Public Order Law," a law which provides for the immediate punishment of anybody taken in a seditious act.
At a special cabinet meeting, called to con- sider Cuban affairs, on the evening of February twenty-fifth, in Madrid, Senor Abarzuza, Spain's Minister of Colonies, authorized Calleja to pro- claim martial law in Cuba.
The forces at Calleja' s disposal were six regiments of infantry, three of cavalry, two battalions of garrison artillery, and a mountain battery. These 'numbered nearly 20,000 men, besides some 14,000 local militia, or over 30,000 men in all. But it is only fair to Calleja to add that when he returned to Madrid in May he declared that half the regular forces existed only on paper, and that the militia were not reliable. He was weak in artillery, but that did not so much matter, as the insurgents had none. He had the great advantage of holding all the large coast towns, with the help of forts, some of them dating from early Spanish days, but all of them strong enough to resist an irregular attack. He had also a squadron of five cruisers and six gunboats with which to further protect the coast towns, cut off supplies coming to the rebels from
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 383
abroad, and secure the safe transport of his troops to any point on the long coast line that might be chosen as a base of operations. With all these advantages it might have been expected that with even 10,000 regulars he would have been able to deal with an insurrection in one corner of the island. But he failed to crush, or, rather, hunt down the bands in the Santiago province, and early in March he reported to Madrid that he could not hold his own unless both the army and navy were largely reinforced.
The First Skirmishes.
The first encounter between the Spanish army and the Cuban forces took place in the Province of Santiago, at Los Negros. The Cubans were led by Jesus Rabi; now a Brigadier- General. In this battle the Cubans, although very poorly armed, routed the Spanish forces. The second encounter was at El Guanabano, the Spaniards being commanded by Santocildes and the Cubans by Gen. Masso. The Spaniards were again routed, with the loss of 206 men. The Cuban loss was thirty-five. The next important move made by the Cubans was the simultaneous attacks on the villages El Cristo and El Caney and on a railroad train carrying arms and ammunition. Both villages were captured by the Cubans and the barracks were destroyed. The train was also captured, together with 200 rifles
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and 40,000 cartridges. These operations were directed by Gen. Maceo. Next came the attack on and capture of the fort of Ramon de las Yaguas, where the Cubans took possession of 150 rifles and 30,000 cartridges. Shortly after they attacked and captured the small port of Campechuela, which they held for two or three days.
On March 27, the Queen Regent of Spain received the resignation of General Calleja. A Cabinet meeting was called to consider the situa- tion ; the Queen Regent presided. Martinez Campos was selected as Calleja's successor and he accepted the commission to go to Cuba at the head of reinforcements. He declared that as soon as he landed on the island he would pro- ceed with operations designed to put down the revolt at once. Subsequent events proved that his intentions were better than his powers of ful- filment.
Ironical Gratitude.
On April 15 the former Governor-General of Cuba, General Calleja, received from Madrid an official dispatch in which the Queen Regent and her Government tendered him their thanks for "the activity, zeal and ability with which he had directed military operations." Warm thanks were also extended for the bravery displayed by the army, the navy and the volunteers.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 385
At the same time, Calleja was ordered to return home on the first steamer sailing from Havana after General Martinez Campos' arrival there. The abruptness of his recall caused much comment. It was understood that the Govern- ment held him to blame for allowing the insur- gents to organize so effectively, but they did not choose to admit publicly that he had weakened their position by his incompetency, hence the dispatch of thanks, which presented so forcible a contradiction to the natural inferences drawn from his hasty recall.
While these events were taking place in governmental circles, news of fresh insurgent victories were being received daily.
Spread of tlie Rebellion.
On April izjth there was a large uprising in the province of Puerto Principe. Laborers, sugar- field hands and others took up arms for the cause.
But a month earlier than this two important battles had been fought, one at Bayamo and one at Holguin. Colonel Santacildes was in com- mand of the Spanish forces, and Masso of the Cuban, at the former place ; and at the latter, Garrich was in command of the Spanish, and Mario of the Cuban force. The insurgents were successful, and had not reinforcements arrived, the Spanish leader and his troops would have fallen into their hands.
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News of insurgent victories penetrated the various parts of the island slowly, owing to Spanish watchfulness ; but as real facts leaked out and the importance and probable success of the revolution was realized by Cubans and liberal Spaniards, uprisings similar to that of April I4th, in Puerto Principe, took place.
Cubans in New York became more and more hopeful about the success of the movement. They felt that the time was ripe. Sugar and tobacco were low, taxes were high. Even the Spaniards on the island wanted a change of government. The struggle was not, at any time, against Spanish residents. The fight was for the estab- lishment of a free republic for Cubans and Span- iards alike, with power to negotiate treaties and to enjoy the freedom which Cuba saw on all sides and in all countries, and which she alone of all the colonies did not enjoy.
Resolute Spirit of the Patriots.
The general feeling was well expressed by one of the revolutionists in New York. Said he :
" We have the population and the resources. The time has come. We have rubbed shoulders for a century with the civilization of Europe and America, and the education of our people is such that we can enjoy freedom without learing an- archy. The young men of the country have traveled everywhere. We are simply fighting for
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 387
liberty as the Americans fought for it or as the Greeks fought for it, and freedom must come.
"There is no going back. It is to conquer or to be driven into the sea. We have no France to help us, no Lafayette. We must fight it out ourselves. For four years the party has been raising money and now it is ready. The men and the spirit were ready long ago, but men must have arms and supplies. There will be no falter- ing this time. The movement will be general, and when the chiefs of the last war who have been in exile set foot in Cuba the country will rally to their support and the island will be free. There will be fighting, it is true, perhaps much of it, but in the end the cause of freedom will triumph
and the Spanish yoke will be cast off forever."
^>i^_- * — • — — i_^_^ //
Manuel Cruz, an intense patriot, was driven from Havana during the first part of the revolu- tion. He arrived in Florida with his family, and expressed himself as confident of Cuba's success if the leaders remained firm. He said that the troops in and around Havana were dying by the hundreds and many of those in the mountains were deserting. Near Santiago, thirty-six Span- ish soldiers lost their way, and, hearing that a band of insurgents were near by, joined them, taking their guns and accoutrements with them.
But of course there was a dark side to all this. The revolutionists in Jaguey Grande with
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Marreo, their leader, were obliged to surrender to the authorities. The result of this step was a dispatch sent by the Governor of Matanzas to the Governor-General, which was an expression of his satisfaction that the seditious movement in the Province of Matanzas was ended. The Governor of the Province of Santiago reported to the Governor-General that the rioters at Buire were disposed to surrender, and a favorable re- sult of pending parleyings with them was expected.
As against this, however, came the following statement, by way of London from Madrid : " Private cipher telegrams from Cuba do not con- firm the official statement that the Rebellion has been virtually crushed. They declare that the insurgents gain strength daily." It was also well known by those in touch with the conserva- tive party that there was great irritation in official circles over reports that Americans were supply- ing the insurgents with money and arms. In view of this irritation the government at Washing- ton instructed its Minister at Madrid to assure the Spanish Government that the United States was taking extraordinary precautions to prevent any infractions of the neutrality laws. The Spanish Prime Minister soon afterward declared that he was fully satisfied with the attitude of the United States toward Cuban affairs, and he issued
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orders to the captains of Spanish war-ships and the colonial officials, to observe international usages regarding maritime jurisdiction and the right of search, with a view to avoiding a conflict with the United States or other powers.
Complaints of the Consul -General.
There soon arose, however, some contro- versy over the conduct of the United States Consul-General at Havana. On the one hand, Americans declared that he was not sufficiently active in protecting their interests. On the other hand, Spaniards complained that his attitude was entirely too favorable toward the insurgents. His position was certainly a difficult one. He was, however, one of the ablest men in the United States Consular service, his tenure of office ex- ceeding in length that of any other member of the corps. He continued, therefore, to retain the confidence of the United States Government, and despite various rumors at the time, no serious effort was made by the Spaniards to secure his recall. His record at the State Department shows that he was remarkably successful in adjusting the numerous little difficulties in customs matters and other complications which arose between the United States and the Spanish authorities. Tragedies in Cuba.
While these occurrences were creating some excitement, Cuba was the scene of many dark
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tragedies. One of these was the execution of Lieutenant Gallegas, of the Spanish army. He had been in command of a party of sixty men in a village near Santiago. It was charged that he became intoxicated and, while in that condition, allowed himself to be surprised by the rebels and some of his men captured. For this he was con- demned to death. The day was 'made a public holiday, and thousands of men, women and chil- dren flocked to the scene of execution. Gallegas was brought out into an open space by the walls of Morro Castle, and a firing party of five men took position in* front of him to shoot him to death. Instead of firing a volley, as usual, the men fired separately. The first shot struck him in the shoulder, merely wounding him. The second struck him squarely in the forehead and killed him. The other three soldiers did not fire, and the show was over.
The Spaniards were now seriously alarmed for the safety of their most cherished colonial possession. Especially were the carpet-bag office- holders in Cuba panic-stricken. A wild cry of distress arose, and an urgent demand for the ablest soldier Spain had produced in this genera- tion to hasten to the field and subdue the insur- rection, as he had subdued its predecessor of 1868-78.
CHAPTER XV.
CAMPOS TO THE RESCUE SOME ACCOUNT OF " SPAIN'S
GREATEST GENERAL " THE MAN WHO PUT THE
PRESENT DYNASTY BACK UPON THE THRONE
HIS DEPARTURE FROM MADRID AND HIS ARRIVAL IN HAVANA EXPECTATIONS OF A SPEEDY CRUSH- ING OF THE REVOLT.
HE MADRID Government now began to admit that the affairs of Cuba were in a desperate plight. The Queen Re- gent herself presided at a Cabinet meeting on March 28, to consider the subject. The resigna- tion of General Calleja was received, together with news from the Spanish Consul in Jamaica that the expedition organized by the rebel leader, Maceo, was expected to reach Cuba in a few days at most. It was thereupon decided to send Field- Marshal Martinez de Campos to be Callejas's suc- cessor. The sum of $2,000,000 was also for- warded that very day to meet pressing demands. Ships were chartered, and arrangements made to hurry all available troops to the seat of war. Speaking to a correspondent, the Prime Minister, Canovas del Castillo, said :
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" It is undeniable that the situation in Cuba is very serious. The Government must use all means to maintain the integrity of the kingdom and crush the rebellion speedily and thoroughly. Seven thousand troops will start for Cuba to- morrow, and 2000 will be ready to follow them. In six months 20,000 more will be ready. Indeed, we are prepared to send 100,000 if need be, for we must end this struggle once for all." Some Account of "Spain's Greatest General."
In sending General Campos, the Spanish Government played its strongest card. We have already seen that it was he who finally ended the great Ten Years' War, in 1878. He had long been known as " Spain's Greatest General." He was also called "The King Maker," since it was he who restored the present dynasty to the throne.
Arsenib Martinez de Campos entered the Queen's Bodyguard in 1849. At twenty-nine he was a Colonel. Thenceforward his rise was rapid. It would be an error to suppose that his early occupation of a professional chair implied a deep devotion to the bookish theoric. "His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures extravagant in color," and he took pains to ensue his visions. In the classic country of pronuncia- mientos regimental duty shuts out opportunity ; a staff officer, on the other hand, has his fingers on
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the pulse of the army. And Martinez de Cam- pos knows — always has known — what that means in Spain.
Nor does he lack political flair: nay, he proves it by lying low at the opportune moment. In 1868 he perceived that Prim must proclaim a Spanish pretender, or introduce a foreign prince, or establish a Republic. In these delicate cir- cumstances Martinez de Campos sought employ- ment in Cuba ; he never showed greater clever- ness. When he returned, a brigadier-general, the situation had cleared. No Spanish pretender being available, Prim produced his Savoyard prince. The expedient failed ; on the day that Amadeo landed, Prim was done to death in the streets of Madrid. Upon Amadeo's abdication, a Republic was proclaimed, with Figueras as a dummy President; and in March, 1873, Martinez de Campos was sent as Military Governor to Gerona with orders to suppress the Carlists. His defeat at Capdevanol has never been ex- plained ; but he survived it. With the expulsion of the Carlists from Berga, he began to take on the airs of a conqueror. The cantonal madness overspread the country, and Salmeron, persuaded that he had at last unearthed a man, appointed the budding Csesar Captain-General of Valencia. It were tedious to chronicle the small beer of his paltry campaigns. A check at Cartagena, a
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check at Alicante, shook official confidence ; Martinez de Campos was relieved of his com- mand and interned in the Balearic Islands. Here he dabbled in the Alfonsist plots for a restoration, till the Republican War Minister, Gonzalez Izcar made him second in command of the army of the North under Gutierrez de la Concha. Despite his defeats and failures, men still believed in him. He had, so they declared, a tremendous future under his hat, and they acted on the faith of their presentiment In the north he was overwhelmed with disaster. At Monte Muro, under Dorrega- ray, the Republicans were routed, and Concha himself fell mortally wounded in the last charge before Arbazuza. At nightfall Martinez de Campos found himself at the head of a dispirited armed rabble : for a moment he thought to rally his troops by proclaiming Alfonso XII. in the presence of Concha's corpse. The staff tittered, and the scheme fell through. Still, the intention leaked out; suspect at Madrid, the General would have been laid by the heels had not the War Minister, Zabala, gone bail for his devotion to the Republic. Henceforth, the game was smartly played. Martinez de Campos wrote to Isabel II. and to Canovas del Castillo, declaring that, in the desperate state of the good cause, he was about to retire into private life at Avila ; he arranged that these letters should fall into Repub-
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lican hands, and, resigning his command, went up to Madrid for the necessary passport. Here he learned that no pronunciamiento was possible till the end of the year. On December 28, 1874, he left the capital in the night, reached next day the cantonment of Sagunto, where his friend Daban commanded three battalions, and ''pronounced" in favor of Alfonso XII. It was precisely the psychological moment. The troops hailed the proclamation with enthusiasm ; the telegraph was set to work, and the armies of the North and Centre accepted the new order. The rotten Republic came down like a house of cards, and the monarchy conquered at a blow.
The Ulan \\lio put the Present Dynasty Back Upon tne Throne.
Martinez de Campos was acclaimed the Saviour of Society. Where others had faltered he had had the nerve to act : and he had his reward in rank, honors, money, and patronage. With the suppression of the Carlists in the Basque Provinces there arose a new question : how to get rid of the Saviour of Society. He had wrought the restoration of the dynasty ; and he had wrought it single-handed against the counsel of the King's chief adviser. Canovas has never forgiven him for being right. In the first place Canovas hated the old system of alternate absolu- tism and anarchy, tempered by pronunciamientos;
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again he objected to Saviours of Society, who might, on occasion, "pronounce" against that heaven-born Minister, Canovas del Castillo. What was needed was an enterprise with small chance of success and many opportunities for failure : a bad climate, a stubborn foe, a mutinous army of boy conscripts, yellow fever, cholera, a stray bullet. Cuba fulfilled all the conditions and, if the Spanish commander failed, Canovas was prepared to sigh as a patriot and to smile as a party chief. To Cuba, then, Martinez de Campos went with a fire-new policy of his own. He declared that Canovas' pious theory, attributing all Cuban troubles to English and Yankee Free- masons, was simply bosh. He introduced a policy of concession, and he succeeded. The rebel leaders came in, and the treaty of Zanjon insured a temporary peace. When Martinez de Campos returned to Spain in the spring of 1879, the forecast of Canovas was accomplished. The statesman was ignominiously shown the door, and the fortunate sold'ar became Prime Minister. But not for long. In the Home Office sat Silvela, who so managed the elections as to secure a Canovist majority. The disgusted Marshal saw that he had been outwitted, and in his dudgeon he joined hands with his ancient foe, Praxedes de Sagasta. Since 1880 Martinez de Campos has made and unmade Ministries at his will. By
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judicious bullying and cajolery he has swayed the see-saw as he wished. He has turned out Sagasta, as a mark of his displeasure ; he has allowed Canovas the title of Minister, but he has covered the old conspirator with humiliation.
Meanwhile we may ask ourselves, Is Marti- nez Campos really the great military hero his country takes him for? In character he is strik- ingly Spanish, courteous and cold, audacious, in- domitable, and despotic. Luck has ruled his ad- venturous career, and the army dearly loves a a lucky commander. He has literally cut his way on the point of his sword, guided by the star of fortune. Until he came to Cuba this last time, he had never failed in anything he had undertaken. It may be that the fine figure he makes on horse- back largely inspires the kind of enthusiasm Bou- langer on his black charger excited in Paris some years ago. The race is so vividly defined in that figure of virile pride, of composed dignity, of un- conquerable and despotic force. He so empha- tically breathes the mediaeval sentiment, "God and my good sword," and withal he retains so much of the Latin spirit of youth and such a fresh martial optimism. The sword for him is still the greater deliverer of mankind ; the camp is still the grand school of all the virtues. His glance, when the soldier's blood is roused, is vi- vacious, scintillating with fervor, and he knows no
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dejection or depression of spirit. He is kind to his men, is impulsive in his behavior to them, and his pulses still can throb to the adventurous measure of youth. He carried with him across the ocean not only the love and admiration of Lis country, but for the moment all its most passion- ate hopes.
His Departure from Madrid and his Arrival in Havana.
Such was the man who was to suppress the Cuban struggle for freedom. It was a fine day in early April when he left Madrid, to embark at Cadiz for Havana. " The weather," says an eye- witness, " was lovely, and the sun lent brightness to the bright scene. A more spontaneous show of enthusiasm I have never seen. For the hour, admiration exalted the illustrious general to the post of Roman victor. Flowers abounded only less than smiles. The hero is a stout, heavy- faced Spaniard, with a charming courtesy of manner, a thick moustache, an imperial, and eyes as sad as the traditional orb of Iberia. The ex- pression is severe and commanding, and the head has a fine military air over the gay uniform of black with scarlet and gold facings.
"All around and about the station were gathered an impassable crowd, as far as the ' Paseo Del Botanico.' At six o'clock Martinez Campos' carriage was in sight, and slowly clove
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a passage through the sombre and brightly appa- relled multitude, the general bowing right and left in response to the roar of applause that greeted him. ' Vivas ' for Martinez Campos, for the little King, for the Queen regent, and for Spain rent the air. The general was accom- panied by his sons, the Gens. Suarez, Valdes, and Echague, his aids-de-camp, and other distin- guished persons — some of these only went as far as Cadiz. When way was made for the party, they took their place on the sleeping-cars, and Martinez Campos stood at the door to receive the numerous deputations and personages come to speed him on his voyage. First came all the high military officials of Spain, beginning with the aged captain-general, the Marquis of La Habana, accompanied by his aids-de-camp Carvagal and Tacon. The generals embraced warmly after the foreign custom, and the specta- tors of the scene made no secret of their demon- strative sympathy. The sympathy was greater because of the infirmities of the captain-general which necessitated frequent pauses for rest on chairs placed for his convenience. The Queen was represented by the Dukes of Medina Sidonin, and Sotomayor, and by the Gens. Alameda and Polacripa, the latter of whom conveyed her Majesty's compliments and best wishes for the voyage and expedition to the illustrious traveller.
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The Infanta Isabel was represented by Don An- tonio Coello, her secretary. German and French regiments were represented, and every grade of civil and military authority was there to add bril- liance of varied uniforms to the brilliant scene, and the government was represented by the pre- sident of the Council, the ministers of war, of mercy and justice, the ministers of marine and Foreign Office. Politicians abounded, and the amiable, self-satisfied countenance of Emilio Cas- telar was a noted face in the crowd.
"A hero feted without women to applaud his triumph were <a sorry scene. The multitude joyously broke a passage for a distinguished group of Spanish ladies come to add the charm of flattery to a public ovation.Among themjyere the well-known writer, <firmlia Pardo Bazan7 Senora Canovas del Castillo7~ancT~manA known aristocrats. Each lady as she approached the general's carriage was frantically cheered, and Martinez Campos beamed in glorified content, as befits a Don publicly rewarded for his prowess in the field by the admiration of the fair.
"At twenty minutes past six the -signal for departure whistled, and the Andalusian express slowly steamed out amid the deafening roar of enthusiastic humanity excited to the point of fever. Cheers followed him as far as the multi- tude could penetrate, and Martinez Campos
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responded by a vigorous cheer for his country and his sovereign. While the train was in sight every head was uncovered. It was an imposing moment even in a life so fortunate and triumph- ant as that of Spain's first living commander."
General Campos was received at Havana with great rejoicings by the Spanish party. The Cubans regarded him with interest, and with some little trepidation. He spent several days in receiving delegations from the Cuban corpora- tions and the army and navy, by all of which he had been assured of hearty co-operation. To these delegations he said he relied upon the co- operation of the public to obtain peace within a very short time. His policy, he said, would be one of strict impartiality. He was satisfied with the army, but said he would severely punish any dereliction of military duties. On landing at Havana he issued a proclamation offering pardon to all who would lay down their arms, and some- what vaguely promising redress of grievances. But it was too late. The insurgents showed no disposition to surrender, and a considerable num- ber of the " loyal volunteers" and local militia began to desert to the rebel camps, some of them it would seem, having enlisted and obtained their arms with this purpose in view from the first.
A brief tour of the provinces showed Gen- eral Campos that he had a bigger job on hand 23
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than he had thought. The fact is, the Spanish Government had so systematically suppressed and distorted news of the war that even he had been deceived, and had imagined it was a small affair that could soon be ended. However, he kept up a brave front, and expressed hope of restoring peace throughout the island within three months.
Expectations of a Speedy Crushing of the Revolt.
About this time Senor Dupuy de Lome, the new Spanish Minister to the United States, vis- ited Cuba, and then came on to New York and Washington. He, too, was hopeful. Speaking to an acquaintance soon after his arrival in this country, he said : "The papers in America have teemed with reports of battles and oppres- sion. You would suppose from newspaper accounts that every inhabitant of Cuba had raised his shackled hands and cried out against Spanish oppression. That is wrong. There is very little interest being taken in the revolt by the people in Havana. I think the uprising will speedily be put down. The arrival of General Martinez Campos has brought order out of chaos : has shown clearly to the people that their interests will be protected, and as a result has caused a general feeling of security."
Senor de Lome spoke highly of the cam-
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paign mapped out by General Campos, and talked freely of Spain's policy toward Cuba. He said : "There is one thing about General Campos — he does not say that he is going to do this or to do that, but he goes right ahead and does it. He is a soldier every inch, and not a toy fighter. He is loyal to his country, but he is humane, and as far as possible he will treat his enemies leniently. In the case of the leaders of the revolt, however severe justice will be meted out. Spain will, before the first of next month, have an army of 24,000 men stationed in Cuba. With such a force the revolution will easily be put down. It is untrue that General Campos was furnished with money for the purpose of buying off the leaders of the revolt. Spain does not fight her battles that way."
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PATRIOTS TOO MUCH FOR CAMPOS ATTITUDE
OF OTHER COUNTRIES THE'lNSURGENTS ORGAN- IZE WHO THE LEADERS WERE BATTLE OF SAO
DEL INDIO BATTLE OF PERALEJO A SPANISH
FORCE WIPED OUT.
ARLY IN MAY, 1895, the insurgent leaders began to feel greatly elated over the progress of the insurrection.
More had been accomplished in the one preceding month than in the first five years of the war of 1868.
The patriots in Puerto Principe had more men, more arms, more horses and better facilities for obtaining subsistence than they had at any time in the ten years' war.
They had forests in their rear, impenetrable to the Spanish troops, and they had mountain re- treats where 100 men could hold their own against 1,000. Maceo's plan was not to risk open battle, but to fall on the Spaniards from ambush, or exhaust them with forced marches. All the efforts of the Spaniards to deliver a telling blow at the head of the rebellion here were futile, and the number of insurgents in the field had
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doubled in three weeks. When Martinez Campos arrived from Spain there were about 3,000 in- surgents under arms. There were now over 6,000, and the latest acquisitions had a larger proportion of white men than was the case at first.
Attitude of Other Countries.
In other countries the neutrality laws were being closely followed.
Great Britain issued imperative orders that the strictest neutrality should be observed. In all West Indian ports the closest watch was kept. Captains of British men-of-war were on the look- out for expeditions.
The United States Government issued simi- lar orders. Nevertheless expedition after ex- pedition was organized, many of which reached Cuba in safety. In one case, a report came from a trustworthy source that while the Spanish ship "Infanta Isabel " was detained in quarantine, at Tampa, Florida, a filibustering expedition left Key West for Cuba.
The Insurgents Organize.
On October ist, it became generally known that the insurgents had taken a most important step in the foundation of a provisional govern- ment. The independence of the island of Cuba was solemnly declared on September igth, at Anton, Puerto Principe province.
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A revolutionary government was organized and the fundamental laws of the republic of Cuba were formally proclaimed.
The government was constituted in the fol- lowing manner :
President, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, of Puerto Principe ; Vice-President, Bartolome Maso, of Manzanillo ; Secretary of War, Carlos Roloff, of Santa Clara ; Vice-Secretary of War, Mario Menocal, of Matanzas ; Secretary of Foreign Relations, Rafael Portuondo y Tamayo, of Santi- ago de Cuba ; Vice-Secretary of Foreign Rela- tions, Fermin Valdis Dominguez, of Havana ; Secretary of Finance, Severo Pina, of Sancti Spiritus ; Vice-Secretary of Finance, Joaquin Castillo Duany, of Santiago de Cuba ; Secretary of the Interior, Santiago Canizares, of Rem- edios ; Vice-Secretary of the Interior, Carlos Du Bois, of Baracoa ; General-in-Chief, Maximo Gomez ; Lieutenant-General, Antonio Maceo.
Jose Maceo, Maso, Capote, Serafin Sanchez and Rodrigues were appointed majors-general. Jose Maceo to lead the operations in Baracoa, Guantanamo, Mayari and Santiago de Cuba ; Maso in Manzanillo, Bayamo and Holguin ; San- chez in the Villas, and Rodriguez in Camaguey.
The headquarters of the new government were established in Puerto Principe province, and a systematic government was to be maintained.
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Who the Leaders Were.
The Spanish Government had taken great pains to convince the world, and especially the people of this country, that the Cuban revolution- ary forces consisted only of some ignorant ne- groes, a few white people of the lowest class of society, some bandits and a few foreign adven- turers. That such was not the case, that it was not a movement in which only the lower classes of the Cuban people were taking an active part, but an uprising supported by the whole Cuban population, a few facts will show.
The President was the ex-Marquis of Santa Lucia of Puerto Principe, a member of one of the most distinguished families of the island for social rank, wealth and talents. During the last seventy- five years you will find more than one Cisneros and more than one Betancourt who has attained distinction as lawyer, journalist, civil engineer, botanist and also in other departments of science and art. The ex-Marquis of Santa Lucia, now President of the Republic, formally renounced his title of nobility when he joined the revolution in 1868, and lost his estates, which were then con- fiscated by the Spanish Government. An insig- nificant part of them was turned over to him after the peace of 1878.
Bartolome Maso, the vice-president, a native of Manzanillo, was a tried patriot, who has
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rendered valuable services to the cause. A sin- cere republican, he has always been highly respected and esteemed for his liberal ideas and his sterling character.
Gen. Carlos Roloff, Secretary of War, was born in Poland, but came to Cuba when a mere youth and established himself at Cienfuegos, where he attained quite a distinguished position for his intelligence, industry and integrity. In 1869, at the head of quite a number of young men from the most prominent families of the city, he joined the revolution, and until the end of the war in 1878 occupied the first rank, both for his bravery and his military talents.
The Assistant Secretary of War, Mario Menocal, belonged to one of the best families of Matanzas, and is a relative of one of the mem- bers of the Corps of Civil Engineers of the United States whose name is so well known in connection with the Nicaragua Canal.
Rafael Portuondo y Tamayo, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, was a distinguished member of one of the most prominent families of Santiago de Cuba, both for social rank and wealth, no less than for the talents of some of the individuals be- longing to it, who have distinguished themselves in the liberal professions.
Fermin Valdes Dominguez, Assistant Sec- retary of Foreign Affairs, was a well-known
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physician of Havana, who, when the students of the university of that city, his companions, were butchered by • the volunteers, was sent to the penal colony of Ceuta, and was set at liberty after the peace.
Severe Pina, Secretary of the Treasury, was a prominent citizen of Sancti Spiritus. He be- longed to an old and wealthy family. Joaquin Castillo Duany, Assistant Secretary of the Treas- ury, was a gentleman not unknown in this coun- try, having been one of the physicians who took part in the Jeannette Relief Expedition to the North Pole. No names stand higher in Santiago de Cuba for wealth and respectability than those of Duany and Castillo. Santiago Canizares, Secretary of the Interior, was a prominent citizen of Remedies.
The General-in-Chief, Maximo Gomez, al- though born in Santo Domingo, was as much a Cuban in feelings, ideas, and aspirations as the best of them. As to his military talents we need say nothing, for they are too well known.
Antonio Maceo, the Lieutenant-General, was a colored man ; a perfect gentleman, and a man of more than common attainments, which he owed to his own efforts. He was in the fullest sense of the term a self-made man of uncommon intellectual powers and of most sterling character. He fought during the ten years' war, and was
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successively promoted for his bravery and remark- able military abilities from a common soldier to a Major-General. As a proof of the former he can show in his body twenty-one wounds by bullet and by sword, while in support of the latter he can refer to the many times that he has routed the Spanish troops, even under the command of Gen. Martinez Campos himself, and to the testimony of this latter and of Gen. Mella, who have been compelled to acknowledge the merit of Maceo as a tactician.
Battle of Sao del imlio.
Thus abotit this time came accounts of an important action which had taken place in August at a place known as Sao del Indio, half way between Santiago and Guantanamo. Colonel Canellas, with a force of 850 men, attacked the camp of Jose Maceo, where the latter had been stationed with about 2000 insurgents for the past two months. Approaching the insurgent camp, Colonel Canellas sent forward a reconnoitering party of twenty-four cavalry. The centre was under the charge of the commanding officer- Captain Garrido, with 300 men, being detailed to attack the enemy's position — whilst the command of the rear guard was in the hands of Lieutenant- Colonel Segura. The reconnoitering party came suddenly on the insurgent outposts, and a well- directed volley from the rebels killed all the horses
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but one, and wounded six of the men. The party at once formed up on foot and opened a return fire, the main body of the troops meanwhile mov- ing up with all speed.
After desultory firing for some time, a light field-gun was brought into action and threw twenty-four shells into the insurgent encampment, creating considerable confusion. Captain Garrido then moved forward and assaulted the positions held by the insurgents to the left and rear of the camp, and after severe resistance forced the rebels to retreat. While this was going on the insurgent cavalry made a detour and charged the Spanish rear-guard, approaching within twenty yards of the troops, but were driven back by the heavy musketry fire. Seeing the enemy dis- lodged from their positions to the left and rear of the camp, Colonel Canellas ordered the centre to fix bayonets and charge up to the camp. This was successfully carried, but an officer and several men were killed by the explosion of a mine before the camp was reached. The insurgents then re- treated, leaving thirty-six men dead on the field, whilst Colonel Canellas reported they carried away not less than eighty wounded. The losses on the Spanish side were severe. They were officially returned as one lieutenant and eleven men killed, and four captains, four lieutenants, and thirty-nine non-commissioned officers and
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men wounded. Colonel Canellas was slightly wounded in the left foot, and had his horse killed under him, whilst his chief of staff also lost his horse. The artillery officer, Captain Gonzalez Go- mez, was severely wounded when changing the po- sition of his guns towards the close of the action, and he died from the effects of his wound. Lieu- tenant Ruiz, another of the wounded officers, suffered amputation of the right leg. Battle of Peralejo.
Another important encounter was that of Yuraguanas, where the Spaniards were routed, leaving on the field seventy-seven dead and much arms, ammunition and baggage. After some other minor encounters the important battle of Peralejo was fought. The Spaniards were com- manded by General Campos himself and the Cubans by General Maceo. The former were utterly routed, losing over 400 men, among them one of their generals. Martinez Campos himself came very near falling into the hands of the Cubans. Next came the capture of Baire by the Cubans, afterwards the battle of Decanso del Muerto, the Spaniards suffering heavily and aban- doned their arms, ammunition and baggage.
The accessions during August and Septem- ber to the army under Gomez in Camaguey and to that in Santa Clara, commanded by Roloff, Sanchez and Rodriguez, encouraged General
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Gomez to plan an important movement toward the west. He announced that by Christmas he would be with his army near Matanzas and Ha- vana. At the same time he issued an order to all the planters of Santa Clara, Matanzas and Havana that they must not grind sugar-cane this year. General Martinez Campos replied that the sugar crop would certainly be harvested this year, and that he would see to it, promising that by December there would not be a single rebel left in Santa Clara province.
A Spanish Force Wiped Out. A terrible combat took place on December 9th, at Minas, in Puerto Principe, between eighty Spanish troops, under Gruesa, and a party of rebels numbering 500 men commanded by Lopez Recio and Rodriguez. The struggle was a sanguinary one, the rebels using machetes with terrible effect. The superior force of the enemy rendered a victory for the troops impossible. Of the Spanish force twenty-three were killed, eight wounded, eighteen were taken prisoners and fourteen missing. Among the rebels killed were Oscar Primelles, Eugenio Recio and Angel Espi- nosa. Commandante Caballeros was wounded. After the combat Lopez Recio sent the mounted troops to the Senado plantation. On the day fol- lowing the fight the Spanish prisoners were set at liberty by their captors.
CHAPTER XVII.
METHODS OF WARFARE THE DEADLY MACHETE
A FEARFUL CHARGE SUGAR-GROWERS WARNED
THE CENSORSHIP GOMEZ CALLS A HALT—
THE CUBAN FLAG SPANISH PURSUIT —
DEATH OF MARTI HORRORS OF THE GARROTE.
|NE OF THE favorite weapons of the Cubans is the machete. This is a cross between a knife and a sword. It is the shape of a knife, and the size of a sword, very thick and heavy. In brief, it is the knife that is used for cutting sugar-cane ; an implement to the use of which all Cubans are accustomed, and which they employ in warfare with dreadful effect. A charge with machetes is more dreaded by the Spaniards than a bayonet charge.
The Deadly machete.
A thrilling and realistic account of one of these charges is given by an American correspond- ent, who was an eye-witness of more than one such scene.
A detachment of the San Quintin battalion, under Col. Constante, was moving along the road from Tejar to Moire. There were 400 men in
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the column, and their weary, shuffling tramp raised a cloud of red dust, which a gentle breeze carried over the canefields. Sometimes the dust would rise high in the air like a huge red plume, if the breeze freshened ; but in the fitful calms it hung with the column, suffocating, blinding, sting- ing the weaned fellows, who had been on the march since early morning.
The sun was near the meridian. It glanced out of a leaden sky upon the parched land, shed- ding the fierce heat of tropical noonday. No one spoke. With every man it was effort enough to keep moving and to watch for the thorns and sharp stones in the road, which might tear open the sores on his bare and bruised feet.
No halt had been made for three hours. The canteens were drained of their last drops. Longing eyes were raised occasionally for some signs of a refreshing stream, but only to drop again to the heels of the man in front, watching the pace and catching the blinding cloud of dust they raised.
Half a league ahead was a thicket of brush and stunted verdure. Except a few towering, solitary royal palms, brandishing their huge ostrich-like plumes as if in remonstrance to the withering south wind, this wooded strip through which the road ran for 200 meters was the first grateful shade that had fallen on their path.
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Half an hour later the column halted within a few hundred meters of the woods. The advance guard approached it cautiously, appre- hending a possible ambush. Satisfied with the reconnoitre, the column advanced, and in a few moments the men were resting in the delicious shadows. Some dropped exhausted. Others sat and rubbed their aching feet. Canteens were again upturned for drops that possibly remained. Few fell to talking, and then only of the weary leagues that remained before Moire should be reached, or of the absence of the rebels, for none had been seen all day, despite the rumor that Delgado's band of 500 had, the night before, gone out from Gomez into the direction of Tejar.
"We are going into Moire empty-handed," said Lieut. Martinez.
"And lucky to do that," grumbled Sergt. Guerra. " Ten leagues is a long day's march under such a sun as this."
And when Martinez did not reply, he added: " It is hard enough on niggers, and if the men drag themselves there before midnight there won't be a blanket or kit left in the outfit. Some of those fellows were loosening their cartuchos (cartridge cases) until I caught them at it. Boys ! boys ! That's what they are sending here to fight these black devils — "
"Listen."
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"Only gusts of wind. These palms are noisy in the dry season. When I was here in the long war we had men, not boys ; and even then the trees seemed to bear two Cubans to every one we killed. Nothing, nothing, only the wind — and we had battles then. Now it is only marches ; to Moire to day, back to Tejar to-mor- row— empty-handed always ; but God knows Cuba's graves are not. A hundred Spaniards die in days like this who haven't shot a Mambi. These days are our Cuban battles, where we suf- fer all the losses. The Mambis never fatigue where they are at home. Why, I've seen — "
A Fearful Charge.
A tumult of voices drowned the rest. With the suddenness of lightning and with an uproar of a tornado the woods seemed to belch forth a mad, plunging, howling throng of horsemen, riding furiously upon the prostrate men. What orders were given were unheard. It was too late for preparation, and impulse alone led every man to throw himself upon the ground and begin firing against the advancing force. But it was too late.
" Machete! Machete ! Machete!" shrieked, as if with the voices of a thousand hyenas, drowned almost the crack of the rifles as the overwhelm- ing and resistless band dashed onward, firing not a shot, but every rider whirled the terrible
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machete with a skill which only a Cuban, its master, can exhibit.
In one instant all was over. They had ridden on to the Spanish line, broken it and gone over it. And as quickly as they had come they were away, still screaming with the voices of Indians :
"Machete!"
The enormous sword-like knives had done their wrork. The dead and wounded lay every- where. Bodies had been cleft in twain. Some had lost arms, some legs, some were pierced through. A few had been trampled to death by the horses. 'When the cries of " Machete ! " ceased, it seemed as if the silence of the dead had settled over the scene as suddenly as de- struction had fallen.
Then, from the direction the Mambis had taken, came scattering shots. It was evident they had made a stand, and the Spanish line which had been formed out of the wreck prepared to charge upon them. The firing quickened as the Spanish moved, but hardly ten paces had been taken when upon their back came another band of horsemen and the trap was sprung.
Voices giving command were drowned in the panic that followed. The sounds that filled the air were the horrifying, blood-curdling choruses of "Machete!" the thunder of hoofs and the cracking of Spanish rifles.
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But again the line was cut through, and a Spanish square was broken. Then, fleeing as rapidly as they had come, the Mambis swarmed onward in the direction the first band had taken.
There was no effort made to follow them. Squares were formed again, and, for what seemed to them an eternity, the men who were left waited for the expected attack. But the time had come when more blood would have to be shed than Cubans ever count on losing in a battle and the attack never came.
Hours after, when the burying of the dead was finished, the remnant of the San Quintin bat- talion moved again toward Moire — not empty- handed. There was one Mambi with the score of Spanish who were carried into the city. Sugar- Growers Warned.
The following is a copy of an order issued from the headquarters of a portion of the insur- gent forces in Santa Clara and Matanzas :
LIBERATING ARMY OF CUBA.
Fifth Corps of the Army, First Brigade.
In accordance with orders of the Provisional Government, and to the end that no one may allege ignorance, I hereby make known to the sugar manufacturers, cane planters (colonos) and proprietors of the zone under my command :
First — The buildings and cane fields of all plantations will be considered and respected pro-
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vided no work is given to any able-bodied laborer, nor the operations of grinding begun.
Second — When there are no fortifications nor forces located in the same for their pro- tection.
Third — A term of ten days is hereby granted for the suspension of all work, the destruction of the fortifications and the withdrawal of troops.
Fourth — Those who contravene this order will be severely punished and their buildings and cane fields reduced to ashes.
FRANCISCO]. PEREZ, Chief of Brigade. Headquarters of Operations, Nov. 8, 1895.
The Censorship.
The government began exercising the strict- est censorship over all dispatches to and from Cuba. Nothing unfavorable to the government was permitted to pass. No cipher messages were sent, unless the key to them was given to the government. Accordingly the early history of the Revolution is as yet shrouded, to a certain extent, in mystery, owing to these efforts to suppress the news. Both in America and Europe official dispatches, or those passed by the censorship, would arrive from Havana, announc- ing great Spanish victories. At the same time, or soon after, there would come other messages smuggled through by Cuban patriots, referring to the same engagements, but declaring them to
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have been victories for the patriots. Neverthe- less, though definite news from the island itself seemed impossible to obtain, the fact that filibust- ering expeditions were being constantly organ- ized in South America, in the West Indies, and in the United States, was well understood and appreciated by those interested in Cuba's struggle for freedom.
Gomez Calls a Halt.
After destroying about one-third of the cane in the field and causing most of the planters to stop grinding, Gomez issued the following procla- mation :
General Headquarters of the Liberating Army of Cuba, sugar estate, " Mirosa" January 10, 1896:
In consideration that the crop has been sus- pended in the western districts, and, whereas, it is not necessary that the burning of the cane fields should continue, I dispose the following :
Article i . The burning of the cane fields is now prohibited.
Article 2. Those that contravene this dis- position, whatsoever be their category or rank in the army, will be treated with the utmost severity of military discipline in behalf of the moral order of the Revolution.
Article 3. The buildings and machinery of the sugar estates will be destroyed, if in spite of
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this disposition they should intend to renew their works.
Article 4. The pacific inhabitants of the island of Cuba, whatsoever be their nationality, will be respected, and agricultural laborers will not be interfered with.
The General-in-Chief, M. GOMEZ. Tlie Cuban Flag1.
In San Cristobal the Spanish flag on the government building was replaced by the emblem of the new republic ; a Mayor and city officials were appointed, resolutions were adopted by the new authorities, and, after all the arms in the town had been collected and forty or fifty mounted recruits had been made, Maceo remained a day to rest his men and horses, and moved on the following morning at daybreak toward Palacios, just north of which lies Banos de San Diego. He took both these places, and the same scenes were repeated, the people decorating their houses and flying white flags from every roof as a token of their allegiance to the cause.
By this time the Spanish saw the trend of Maceo's plans, and Generals Nevarro and Luque were ordered to pursue the insurgent army, rein- forcements at the same time being ordered to Pinar del Rio city. The garrison at Guanajay was strengthened, and an additional force was dispatched from Havana to proceed on a steamer
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along the south coast to Columna, to reach Pinar del Rio, if possible, before Maceo had arrived. Spanish Pursuit.
Nevarro made all haste, but was not out of sight of Guanajay, where he had left the terminus of the railroad, before he came upon burning cane fields, whose owners had disobeyed Gomez's proclamation against grinding. Nevarro and Luque had together 5000 infantry, 200 cavalry and eleven pieces of artillery. They found that the cattle had been gathered up by the insurgents or hidden by their owners, but, learning that Maceo was at least two days' march ahead, they were able to move with freedom, and by forced marches came to the San Juan del Rio sugar es- tate, where the next day General Nevarro met General Arizon's command, which had encoun- tered Maceo's rear guard the previous day. Ari- zon had lost, as nearly as can be learned, five men, and had several wounded, and was waiting there to join Nevarro's division.
Gen. Nevarro had sent a detachment after the smaller body of insurgents moving on the north, but further than a few encounters with some small bands, which may have been either skirmish lines or independent companies of insurgents, their pursuit was fruitless, and they arrived at Cabanas, on the north coast, the day after the insurgents had taken the place, dis-
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armed the volunteer garrison, secured 11,000 rounds of ammunition and retired with the loss of two men. This loss is confirmed by the Spanish official reports.
Death of Marti.
The death of Jose Marti, who was killed in battle, was a sad blow to the patriots. But in- stead of discouraging them it inspired them to greater efforts against the foe. The Spaniards captured his body, and paraded it about in tri- umph, after robbing it of all valuables.
Not only did the men of Cuba take up arms against their Oppressors, but many women did the same. One of the most noted of these was Senorita Matilde Agramonte, of Havana, who, after marching and fighting with Maceo's soldiers, fell dead at last riddled with Spanish bullets.
Matilde was the last representative of one of the most widely known of old stock Cuban families. Her ancestors were among the first Spanish settlers of the island. In every insur- rection that has occurred on the island men of the Agramonte and Variona families have been found in the field. The wealth of the family has been counted by millions.
Horrors of the Garrote.
Prisoners put to death were sometimes shot and sometimes strangled with the garrote. Here is a truthful account of the manner in which five
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men were thus disposed of on March 3ist, 1896, at Havana:
Troops were drawn up in hollow square and in the middle were placed the chair and post. Ruiz, the public executioner, had deputized an assistant to conduct the affair. The condemned men having received the offices of the church were brought into the square to meet their fate. One of them had confessed his guilt and affirmed the innocence of all the others, who also protested that they were guiltless. The first man to die took his seat in the chair calmly ; the iron collar was fixed about his neck and the cap drawn over his face. Then the executioner undertook to apply the screw, but was so excited that his hand slipped repeatedly, with the result that the victim died by slow strangulation, emitting the while the most distressing cries. The second execution was ac- complished with even more distressing awkward- ness and delay, the executioner being almost on the verge of collapse as he performed his horrible function.
The protests of the officers and priests forced Ruiz to undertake the third execution, but he did little better than his assistant had clone. The fourth victim of bungling garroters was likewise tortured, and then Ruiz literally fled from his post, leaving his assistants to put to death the fifth of the unfortunate Cubans, who
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escaped none of the torture experienced by the four other men.
The whole affair has left upon those who witnessed it and upon those to whom it has been described, a feeling of the utmost horror.
When the acting executioner first twisted the lever controlling the garrote he was terribly nervous and this rendered him so weak that his hands slipped repeatedly. There were horrible smothering, choking cries from the scaffold, and only after a long agony for the condemned man and almost torture for the spectators the Cuban was pronouncecfrdead. The executioners, priests, soldiers and prison officials present turned their heads away in horror and became deadly pale as the stifled sounds came from the sufferer. The terrible performance was repeated with the second victim who, until reaching the platform, made an effort to say something to the people surrounding him, but the executioner's hand was placed over his mouth, he was hastily bundled into the deadly chair, and in another moment the iron collar was around his neck, the cap was over his face and the first turns of the lever had been given. The result was slow, fearful strangulation and another horrible ex- perience for the spectators.
By this time all those present had endured so much that they openly denounced the execu-
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tioner and called upon him to get down from the scaffold and let another man take his place. Thereupon the acting executioner feverishly called upon the executioner-in-chief, Valentin Ruiz, who is looked upon as an expert, to come and help him. Ruiz had little better success in sending the third and fourth Cubans out of the world. There was renewed murmuring at the official incapacity, and Ruiz stumbled away from the death-post that his assistant might finish the day's work. The assistant executioner again tried his hand and was as unlucky as before, for there was another scene of horror which caused strong men to faint before the fifth Cuban's life was pronounced extinct. Then the bodies were carted away. The executioners gathered up their frame and its accoutrements ; the priests, prison and other officials hurried away ; the troops were marched back to their quarters, and another chapter had been added to the black history of Cuba.
CHAPTER XVIII.
AID AND COMFORT FROM ABROAD A CANADIAN EX- PEDITION— THE "HORSA" AFFAIR — THE ARREST
OF CAPTAIN WIBORG FILIBUSTERS WRECKED
OVER GOES THE AMMUNITION THE " BERMUDA "
AFFAIR A TRAITOR IN THE CAMP THE ARREST
PRISONERS PLACED UNDER GUARD IN CUBA
AT LAST.
•
HE sympathy felt by the majority of Americans with the Cuban patriots was definitely expressed by the people of New Haven, who dispatched three shiploads of arms and supplies for Cuba.
The aid thus furnished was received in safety and it proved of the greatest material aid in influencing the course of the war. Enough arms were sent to equip half a dozen regiments, and ammunition enough was provided for a couple of engagements.
It was stated that certain prominent citizens of New Haven had sent the supplies to Cuba, and that they believed they were obeying the highest laws of justice and liberty in so doing. They
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stated, furthermore, that so convinced were they of the righteousness of their cause that they would continue to aid the cause till the indepen- dence of the island was recognized or lost. The specific names of the aiders of the belligerents were not given to the government, but the assertion was given that only the highest motives controlled the sympathizers in their expression of sympathy.
A Canadian Expedition.
One filibustering expedition in the interest of the Cuban insurgents, under the command of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Ouesada, landed on the eastern coast of Cuba. The leader is a nephew of General Rafael y Quesada, of Vene- zuela, and a son of the great Cuban patriot who fought his last fight and died gloriously at Yara in 1873, and is also secretary of the Cuban Revolutionary party in America. He is a slender, boyish-looking youth, but of unques- tioned bravery. With him when he landed were 107 men. He also succeeded in carrying into the country 500 Winchester rifles, 400,000 rounds of ammunition, ten cases of material, 250 machetes and a large supply of medicines and food.
The expedition was fitted out in Canada and sailed from there. The reason for going to Canada was embodied in the fact that the
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neutrality laws of the United States were such that the filibusters did not care to strain them.
As Canada had never expressed any sym- pathy for the Cuban cause, it was thought safe to go over there and organize the expedition. The wisdom of this was manifest in the result. It never was disturbed in any manner, and a safe clearing was made by the vessel.
The "Horsa" Affair.
One reason the Cespedes expedition was sent from Canada instead of the United States, besides the reasons already given, was that me- moirs of a most unfortunate expedition impelled the Cubans to even more than ordinary caution.
These unpleasant memories concerned the " Horsa," a Danish fruit-steamer, which sailed from Philadelphia November nth. On board were forty insurgents, twenty of whom embarked in New York on the night of Saturday, Novem- ber gth. They had attended with others a mass- meeting in that city which was held in the interest of the Cuban insurgents, and when this adjourned the men went to the wharf, where they were taken on board a tug which was awaiting their arrival. The utmost secrecy was observed, and every effort was made to elude the vigilance of the Federal authorities. The tug had no lights burning, and a sheet of white canvas was pasted over her name. Shortly after midnight the tug
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dropped down the stream and carried her crew of passengers to a point off Cape Barnegat, where they were taken on board the "Horsa," which awaited them at that place.
The "Horsa" had carried an equal number of insurgents, who had gone aboard at Philadel- phia. These forty, it is asserted, represented the full strength of the expedition. The "Horsa" cleared from Philadelphia for Port Antonio, Ja- maica. Upon her arrival in Cuban waters she attempted to land the members of the expedition upon the eastern coast of the island. It was attempted to put the filibusters ashore in two boats. At the moment that these pulled away from the "Horsa" a Spanish gunboat hove in sight, whereupon the "Horsa" immediately steamed away in the direction of Jamaica with the remainder of the expedition on board.
When she arrived at Philadelphia, November 27th, after her filibustering trip, she was detained pending the formulation in Washington of charges of violation of neutrality laws. The following day, November 28th, Captain Wiborg, of the " Horsa;" his chief mate, Jens P. Pedersen, and his second mate, H. Johansen, were arrested on a warrant issued by United States Commissioner Bell, charging violation of the neutrality laws under Section 5,286 of the Revised Statutes. Bail in the sum of $1,500 was given for each of them
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for their appearance at a hearing on the following morning.
Tlie Arrest of Captain Wiborg.
When Deputy Marshal Myers went to make the arrests, Captain Wiborg asked if the warrant was signed by the Danish Consul, and on being told that it was not, he ordered the Danish flag hoisted on the " Horsa." Deputy Myers told the captain that he would take him dead or alive, and the latter submitted to arrest under protest, claiming that his ship was Danish soil. The captain announced his intentions of bringing a countersuit for* damages against the Spanish Consul.
No action was taken against the steamer, United States Attorney Ingham stating that the circumstances were not such as to warrant any action.
Filibusters Wrecked.
On January 28th there was an abundance of bad news for Cuban sympathizers and patriots in New York, for on that date the following account of the sad fate of an expedition under General Calixto Garcia appeared :
"The old menhaden fishing steamboat, 'J. W. Hawkins,' which had been chartered for the expedition, although she was not fit to put to sea, went to the bottom miles off the New Jersey coast, at noon on Monday, and arms and ammu-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.
441
nition which had involved an outlay of over $200,- ooo were lost.
" It was interesting news to many thousands of people in New York that such a filibustering expedition could get away from that port in defi- ance of the neutrality and revenue laws, and that no information of the fact had been obtained by the authorities until the piratical craft, rotten and unseaworthy as she was, had been wrecked. The information caused a stir in Washington, and there was an investigation. Many of the filibus- ters returned to New York and scattered to their hiding places. General Garcia and his son, bear- ing two satchels of greenbacks, were among them.
"Reports that the 'J. W. Hawkins' had been hired for such an expedition had been in circula- tion for a few days, but few persons dreamed that there was such a wide-spread secret organization of the Cuban revolutionists here as to furnish arms and ammunition costing nearly $250,000, and men enough to man the old tub that was to carry them to Cuba. It was not until the tug- boat 'Fred B. Dalzell' brought back to the city seventy of the 120 filibusters who had been wrecked that the information of the expedition could be obtained. The ' Dalzell ' had sighted and exchanged signals with the schooner 'LeanderV. Beebe,' Captain W. M. Howes, of Boston, and shortly thereafter took from the
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schooner the seventy bedraggled and tempest- tossed filibusters."
The " J. W. Hawkins " was chartered to carry the revolutionists to Cuba, and a large sum of money had been promised to the owners and crew of the boat if the filibusters were carried safely to their destination. A large number of Cubans in New York city had enlisted for the expedition, which was intended to join forces with General Gomez, and there had been several gatherings of the men in the secret to make sure that they would not betray the leaders. The "J. W. Hawking" was fitted up for the expedi- tion in a great hurry. She was commanded by Captain Hall, and the first mate was C. H. Crowell. There was a crew of about seventy-five men.
The arms on the boat consisted of two Hotchkiss rapid-firing guns, 1,200 Remington and Winchester rifles and some revolvers.
There was plenty of ammunition for the Hotchkiss guns, and 1,000,000 cartridges for the rifles. General Garcia also had taken along 3,000 pounds of dynamite and materials for making heavy explosives. A supply of good whiskey to cheer the volunteers on the way to Cuba had not been forgotten, and the boat had a good quantity of rations for the trip. The old steamboat had a snub nose, and her engines were
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 443
not powerful enough to drive her through the water with great rapidity. It was necessary also to proceed with some caution until she was at sea, and she lay to for a while on Sunday at some point on the Long Island shore.
Over Goes tlie Ammunition.
General Garcia was in despair. What was the use of going to Cuba without the Hotchkiss guns, the rifles and the ammunition ? Captain Hall said it was better to save their lives than to sink with the arms and ammunition, and over- board immediately went the guns and cartridges and the dynamite that cost the revolutionists over $200,000. When everything had been cast overboard, however, the water was still running into the boat at a frightful rate, and the sea was fairly boiling about the ill-fated craft. Some of the filibusters were almost crazy with fright, while others were so weak and prostrated with sickness that they did not much care whether they lived or died.
Daylight found them in a most pitiable con- dition. Captain Hall had sent up rockets, but there was no answering signal. It was still early in the morning when the engine-room got so full of water that the fires went out and the steam- boat lost headway with the stopping of the engines. Then the boat drifted at the mercy of the waves.
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At a time when the revolutionists and the crew had about abandoned hope, there came a signal from a schooner- which sailed into sight. Then another schooner, and still a third came into view.
The "Bermuda" Affair.
Although the Government made no arrests in connection with the " Hawkins " expedition, their watchfulness was redoubled and on the night of February 24, by the detention of the British steamship "Bermuda," the arrest of Gen eral Calixto Garcia and a large filibustering expe- dition, and the capture of thousands of dollars' worth of munitions of war, the United States authorities dealt a severe blow to the cause of Cuban independence.
The "Bermuda," after being thoroughly overhauled on a drydock, was floated and anchored off Liberty Island the previous Satur- day. Her mission was succor for Cuba. Com- plete, and it was thought perfectly secret, arrangements had been made for the successful sailing of the expedition. The " Bermuda" had cleared for a Colombian port, and it had been arranged for General Garcia and his followers to come aboard late on Monday night. Steam was kept up and the anchors hove short, so that when the much-needed arms and ammunition had been placed aboard, the ship could quietly steam out
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of the harbor and no one be the wiser. But the Cubans had reckoned without taking into consid- eration the vigilance of the Spanish authorities and the lynx-eyed watchfulness of the horde of detectives in their employ, who, fully aware of the movements of the filibusters, were only patiently waiting the opportune moment to block their game.
A Traitor in the Camp.
The Cubans passionately declared there was a traitor in their camp, but shrewd shipping men said the intended expedition was a foolhardy one. The Spanish authorities were kept informed of their movements, and when the affair was ripe the Spanish Minister called upon the United States authorities to prevent the expedition, and in consequence the filibusters were seized, bag and baggage.
The Cubans thought they had observed greater secrecy about this expedition than any organized during the Revolution, and believed their plans could not fail. Nevertheless, the "Bermuda" had been closely watched by the Span- ish spies for several weeks. The captain of the vessel obtained clearance papers for Santa Marta, Colombia, on Saturday, and according to the plans of the Cubans the steamlighter "J. S. T. Strana- han" would leave the foot of King Street, B rookly n, shortly before midnight with the arms and ammu-
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nition, and the tugs " McCaldin Brothers" and " W. J. McCaldin" would bring out the men. Tlie Arrest.
When it was evident that everything was in readiness, Marshal McCarthy then boarded the " Bermuda" and placed the captain under arrest, and removed the piston-rod, thus disconnecting the machinery. It was at first intended to place the prisoners on Governor's Island, but this plan was abandoned, and, after a consultation with the United States District-Attorney, it was decided only to hold the leaders of the proposed expedi- tion. The " Stranahan" was the only tug held. Two deputy-marshals were put in charge of the " Bermuda," and the crew returned to their vessel. The vessel was detained.
The saddest blow to the Cubans was the capture of General Calixto Garcia, who was to have led the expedition. General Garcia was also the leader of the ill-fated " Hawkins " expe- dition.
Had it not been for -the interference of Mar- shal McCarthy and his men General Garcia would have started with the finest expedition that has as yet been fitted out to aid the patriots in their fight for liberty.
Besides the prisoners and the boats captured the Marshal and his men also got all of the am- munition and firearms that were about to be
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transferred from a tugboat to the " Bermuda." Altogether the work of the United States officers was as complete as possible.
Prisoners Placed Under Guard.
Sixty-nine of the prisoners captured were brought to the Federal building and placed in a room under guard. They were a fine-looking lot of men, most of them ranging between the ages of twenty and thirty years. They were all well dressed, and a Cuban who had called to see one of the number stated that most of those arrested were representatives of the best families in Cuba. All of the prisoners wore gray slouch hats.
Besides the sixty-nine men in the Federal building the Marshal and his men also had sixty others in custody and thirty-two men who composed the crew of the ''Bermuda."
All of the filibusters captured were arraigned before Commissioner Shields. The Commissioner, acting under instructions from Washington, at once released all the prisoners, with the exception of General Garcia, Captain Samuel Hughes, for- merly in command of the "Laurada ;" Benjamin Guerra, treasurer of the "Junta;" Captain Bra- bazon, of the "Bermuda," and J. D. Hart.
The " Bermuda" was not seized by the Fed- eral authorities, as was at first thought. She was technically known as "detained," and the men
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were arrested under Section 5286 of the Federal Revised Statutes, commonly known as the " Neu- trality Law," which Congress passed in 1880. This section reads :
" Every person who, within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States, begins or sets on foot or provides or prepares the means for any military expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominions of any foreign province or State, or of any colony, district or people with whom the United States are at peace, sljall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall be fined not exceeding $3000 and imprisoned not more than three years."
In Cuba at L,ast.
The Cubans were not thus to be baffled, however. It was against the law to send out an armed expedition. But there was no law against the arms and the men being forwarded separately on different ships. Accordingly this was done. On March 1 5th the "Bermuda" sailed away openly, with her cargo of arms and ammunition, but no men save her own crew. General Garcia and his men quietly went out of town by train to a point on the New Jersey coast. There a vessel took them out to intercept the "Bermuda." They got aboard the latter, and despite the vigilance of the Spanish cruisers, effected a safe landing in Cuba.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE NEWS IN CUBA THE NEW COMMANDER
WEYLER'S ARRIVAL — FIRST WORDS TO CUBA —
NO NEUTRALITY NON-COMBATANTS MENACED
CALL FOR SURRENDER TO END THE WAR IN
THIRTY DAYS THE TELEGRAPH LINES WEY-
LER'S PROCLAMATIONS— MUST PRAISE SPAIN
PASSPORTS AND CREDENTIALS STORES TO BE
. SEIZED FATE OF PRISONERS MORE TROOPS FOR
WEYLER THE MASSACRE OF GUATAO PRIS- ONERS KILLED VERY NEAR HAVANA THE
TOWNS DESERTED WEYLER CALLS A HALT
POWERS OF LIFE AND DEATH — MORE PROCLAM- ATIONS FOR EXTERMINATION FIFTEEN DAYS*
GRACE THREATS OFFER OF AMNESTY TO RE- PORT ON THE SUSPECTS.
HE NEWS that the Spanish Government had decided to withdraw General Campos from Cuba was announced in a telegram from Madrid, on January i;th, 1896. It said :
" Independently of the military action, the Gov- ernment has authorized Marshal Campos to re- sign his command to General Marin and return to Spain, in consequence of the conduct of the political parties of Cuba, contrary to the policy of the Commander-in-Chief, asking a change in the system of conducting the war."
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This news aroused much interest both in this country and in Cuba. At Havana a meeting of generals was immediately held at the palace of the Captain-General, at which Marshal Campos announced that he had telegraphed to the govern- ment at Madrid stating the result of his con- ference with the leaders of the political parties, and signifying his intention to abide loyally by any decision the Cabinet might make in the matter. To this dispatch, he said, he had received a reply advising him, in view of the conditions existing, to turn over the civil and military government of the island to Generals Marin and Pando. This he had done so far as was possible, General Pando being in Santiago de Cuba. General Marin had taken over the government tempo- rarily, and his responsibility would be shared by General Pando shortly.
Tlie ]Vc\vs in Cuba.
The news that Marshal Campos had practically been relieved of his command caused little excitement in the city. The matter was discussed in die cafes, restaurants and hotel lobbies, where people gather at night, but there were no signs of alarm displayed. There were many Spaniards who believed that General Cam- pos had been altogether too lenient in his treat- ment of the rebels, and they clamored for a more vigorous policy. The men who were to have
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temporary charge of the civil and military branches of the Government were known to believe in policy that would give no mercy to those who were in arms against the King, and it was expected that vigorous measures would be taken to suppress the insurrection.
The Xe\v Commander.
The successor of General Campos chosen by the Spanish Government was General Weyler, who had been known in the Ten Years' War as "Valmaceda's assistant butcher." He had a rep- utation for the utmost cruelty and ferocity, and his appointment was interpreted as meaning that a reign of terror would forthwith be established in Cuba. "Most men," says Mr. Rappleye, a newspaper correspondent who met him in Havana, " resemble their reputations, and if a life famously spent is in the mind of one who visits a character of world-wide repute, he quite naturally discovers peculiarities of facial expression and physique which appear to account for the individuality of the man — fighter, philosopher, criminal, reformer or whatever he may be. All this is true of Gen. Weyler. He is one of those men who create a first impression, the first sight of whom never can be effaced from the mind, by whose presence the most careless observer is impressed instantly, and yet, taken altogether, he is a man in whom the elements of greatness are concealed under a
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cloak of impenetrable obscurity. Inferior phys- ically, unsoldierly in bearing, exhibiting no trace of refined sensibilities nor pleasure in the gentle associations that others live for, or at least seek as diversions, he is nevertheless the embodiment of mental acuteness, crafty, unscrupulous, fearless and of indomitable perseverance. Weyler's Arrival.
Weyler arrived at Havana on February 10, 1896. The Spanish cruiser Alfonso XIII. arrived off Morro Castle at 9 that morning, and at 10 entered the harbor. She was saluted by the Morro guns, and by thunders of artillery from the Cabanas fortress, and the flags of the ships in the harbor dipped a welcome. With the new Captain-General came Gens. Barges, Arolas and the Marquis de Ahumada, who had been des- ignated second in command. When Weyler disembarked about noon, the civil and military officials escorted him to the palace through streets lined with people and the city was decorated with flags, flowers and red blankets.
Gen. Weyler went on foot to the palace. He took the oath of office, and then he received the leading citizens, some grandees of Spain, heads of commercial bodies, leaders of political parties and the foreign consuls. The Plaza cle Armas, near the palace, was packed with men, women and children, who shouted, while bands of
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music played. The weather was delightful and the populace delighted — apparently. It is a great day — for Weyler.
The prospect for the newcommander-in-chief of the Spanish army in Cuba fulfilling the destiny which had been manufactured for him in Spain was, however, worse than at any time since the war for independence began. The fiasco of the Captain-General pro tem, in his ten days' expedi- tion undertaken with the avowed object of run- ning down Gomez was complete and abject. Gen. Marin got back to Havana the day before Weyler landed. His little campaign had been a complete failure. It had, indeed, been marked by more disasters than the Spanish army had suffered during an equal number of days since the war began.
First Words to Cuba.
On landing Weyler made a brief address to the soldiers about him, saying significantly, "You know me, and my record. Well, I propose to live up to my record." The next clay he issued a formal address to the Spanish army in Cuba, in which he said the following-:
"The addresses which I made, at the moment of my disembarking, to the volunteers and men of the army and navy, will give you an idea of the spirit and policy animating your Governor-General, and similarly the direction of
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general opinion in Spain favoring the bringing of all necessary means to bear upon the suppression of the insurrection. Knowing these and knowing my character, I would add nothing else to recom- mend the line of conduct which you may follow.
" But I think it convenient to add some instructions at present, and to state that the in- surrection and the recent march of the principal leaders thereof without its being possible for the Spanish columns to prevent it, indicates indiffer- ence on the part of the inhabitants and also fear and discouragement. I cannot understand their inactivity while«their property is being destroyed. Spaniards cannot sympathize with insurgents. It is necessary, at any cost, to oppose this state of things and reanimate the spirit of the inhabi- tants.
IVo Neutrality.
"I have come disposed to help all loyal citizens. I am at the same time disposed to make use of all the rigor of the law against those who in any form help the enemy, speak well of them or dis- credit the prestige of Spain, of its army or vol- unteers. All who are with our side must demon- strate the fact with acts, and leave in their attitude no place for doubt in proving that they are Spaniards. Because the defense of the country demands sacrifices, it is necessary that towns should establish their own defenses. They
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should not fail to provide guides for the army, and to give news of the enemy when they are in the vicinity.
' - The case should not be repeated that the enemy be better informed than ourselves. The enemy and the vigor which they employ should serve as an example to show us the line of con- duct which we must follow in all circumstances.
Noii-Coml»atunis Menaced.
" You will detain and put at my disposal, or submit to the tribunals, those who, in any way I have described, show help or sympathy for the rebels. I promise myself that you, by fulfilling these instructions, will give valuable help to the good of the Spanish cause."
Call for Surrender.
In the proclamation to the inhabitants of Cuba Gen. Weyler said :
"I take charge with the confidence which never abandons the cause of preserving the island for Spain. I shall be always generous with those who surrender, but will have the de- cision and energy to punish rigorously those who in any way help the enemy.
" Without having in mind any political mis- sion, I would not oppose the government of his Majesty when in its wisdom, having peace in Cuba, it should think it convenient to give this country reforms with the same spirit of
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love in which a mother gives all things to her children.
" Inhabitants of the island of Cuba, lend me your help. So you will defend your interests, which are the interests of the country."
To End the AVar in Thirty Days.
General Weyler announced, and perhaps ex- pected, that he would end the war in thirty days. On February 15, he told a delegation of sugar- planters who called upon him that by March 15 he would have order and peace restored, so that the planters could begin grinding cane in safety. If successful, thirty days' grinding would be pos- sible, and with the improved machinery generally in use all the cane standing could be saved. As the rebels had burned 20 per cent, of the crop, General Weyler' s promise was practically that $45,000,000 worth of sugar was to be saved, and that prosperity was to return to Cuba at the end of one more month.
Gomez and Maceo meantime announced their intention of remaining in the vicinity of Havana all summer. The wet season had no terrors for them. The other provinces outside of Havana were entirely under control, and the new government was established everywhere except in the few cities held by the Spanish. The seat of operations naturally was near Havana, and the insurgent forces were so near the city that one
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 457
morning a detachment of twenty took a position on the main road leading into Havana from the west, only three miles from the city, and held up the milkmen coming in. They were carrying "food and comfort to the Spanish," as the insur- gent leader expressed it as he dumped the cargoes into the ditch. The victims were perhaps for- tunate to escape with their lives, as the penalty for supplying food to a town held by the Spanish was the destruction of the farmer's property, or, if he had had several warnings previously, he was likely to be shot.
The significance of this occurrence was that it was only three miles from Havana. General Weyler's thirty days' war, therefore would have to begin close to the gates of the city and com- prise the subjugation of the island in that time. The Telegraph i,ines.
Every telegraph line between Havana and the rest of the island was cut off on February 1 4th. Aline to Rincon, ten miles out, was- the extent of communication with the rest of Cuba. The rebels controlled absolutely the telegraph lines of the whole island, and all efforts of the Spanish to preserve communication with the in- terior were unavailing.
W'cvler's Proclamations.
Instead of going out to fight, General Weyler began issuing proclamations. On February i6th
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he published three of them. The first defined the offenders who were made subject to military jurisdiction and trial by court martial as follows :
First — Those who invent or circulate by any means whatever news or information directly or indirectly favorable to the rebellion will be con- sidered guilty of acts against the security ot the country, as defined by Article 223 of the military code, as they thereby facilitate the operations of the enemy.
Second — Those who destroy or damage rail- roads, telegraphs or telephones, or interrupt the operations of the same.
Third — Those who are guilty of arson.
Fourth — Those who sell, carry or deliver arms or ammunition to the enemy or in any other way facilitate their introduction through the cus- tom houses. Parties failing to cause the seizure of such arms or ammunition will incur criminal responsibility.
Fifth — Telegraph operators delivering war messages to other persons than the proper officials.
Must Praise Spain.
Sixth — Those who by word of mouth, through the medium of the press or in any other manner, shall belittle the prestige of Spain, the army, vol- unteers, firemen, or any other forces operating with the army.
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Seventh — Those who by the same means shall praise the enemy.
Eighth — Those who shall furnish the enemy with horses or other resources of warfare.
Ninth — Those who act as spies will be pun- ished to the fullest extent of the law.
Tenth — Those who shall act as guides to the enemy and fail to surrender themselves immedi- ately, and give proof of their loyalty and report the strength of the force employed by the enemy.
Eleventh — Those who shall adulterate the food of the army or alter the prices of provisions.
Twelfth — Those using explosives in violation of the decree of October i7th, 1895.
Thirteenth — Those who shall use pigeons, rockets or signals to convey news to the enemy.
Fourteenth — The offenses above mentioned are punishable by the penalty of death or life im- prisonment, the judges to take summary proceed- ings- Fifteenth — All orders conflicting with the
foregoing are hereby revoked.
Passports and Credentials.
The second proclamation was as follows : First — All the inhabitants of the country within the jurisdiction of Sancti Spiritus and the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago will present themselves at the headquarters of a division, brigade or column of the army, and pro-
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vide themselves with a document proving their identity inside of eight days from the publication of this order in their respective townships.
Second — To go into the country within the radius of the column's operating therein it is now necessary to obtain a pass from the Mayor or military commander. Those failing to comply with this requirement will be detained and sent to Havana, subject to my orders. In case of doubts as to the genuineness of a pass, or if there are reasons to suppose a party to have sympathy with the rebels or giving aid, responsibility for the same will be placed upon the officer issuing the pass. Stores to be Seized.
Third — All stores in the country districts must be vacated at once by their owners. Chiefs of columns must also decide as to the disposition of such property, which, while being unproductive to the country, may at the same time serve as a habitation or hiding place for the enemy.
Fourth — All passes issued prior to this date are hereby canceled.
Fate of Prisoners.
In the third proclamation Gen. Weyler dele- gated full powers to proceed with military trials to the commanders of the First and Second Army Corps and the commander of the Third Division.
Prisoners taken in action were to be subiect to summary court martial.
.11 -
•usu
Battalion of Spanish Troops before the Governor- General's Palace, Havana.
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More Troops for Weyler.
General Weyler soon began to ask for more troops. His first reinforcements arrived on February 26. He at the same time seized one- tenth of all the horses in Havana for the use of his army.
The insurgents were not at all frightened by his fierce words, however. At the very time when the new Spanish troops were landing, a band of rebels made a raid on the stores on the outskirts of Cardenas. The storekeepers were mostly volunteers, and as such had been furnished arms and ammunition by the Government. The rebels seized the rifles and cartridges and then decamped. They met with no resistance.
The Massacre of Guatao.
A dreadful event of the beginning of Wey- ler's administration was the massacre at Guatao, which occurred on February 22d. It followed im- mediately upon the retreat of a small body of rebels, certainly not over forty, who had met a considerable Spanish force at Punta Brara, and had retired after some firing, which both sides admit, had no serious results. The insurgents withdrew along the road to Guatao, only a mile away, but separated before they reached that place and disappeared in the surrounding country.
The Spaniards, however, following along the road, marched straight into Guatao, and, without
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waiting to find any armed men, immediately be- gan firing promiscuously, shooting down unarmed and peaceful citizens in all directions. Then they proceeded to massacre the few inhabitants with- out mercy. A milkman, who was shot at while pursuing his vocation, and fled into his house, was followed and ruthlessly shot down within doors. The town is very small, of only some two-score houses of inferior quality, and was easily run through by the murderous Spaniards. The people started for the woods in terror, knowing that if they met any insurgents they would be well treated, and trusting to conceal themselves ; but men running away were shot in the street. Several men who could not run were killed where they stood.
The troops entered the houses and shot quiet men who were doing nothing. They raided bed- rooms, and a man confined to his bed by erysip- elas was killed as he lay there. In one case a woman came to the door of her house and pleaded with the soldiers for the life of her husband, who lay ill in bed. Their response was the crash of the butt of a musket in the woman's head. They then broke down a door and shot the husband in bed.
Prisoners Killed.
The previous fight had resulted in the capture of five Cubans by the Spaniards. These five were shot dead in the fields. These, with thirteen dead
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 465
found by Red Cross physicians who went to Guatao, make eighteen altogether. There were no wounded, all who did not escape to the woods being made sure of.
Of three cigar-makers of Havana, named Chaves, who ran down to Guatao that afternoon to see their mother, one was killed and the others made prisoners. Every one of the dead in Guatao is recognized as a peaceful non-combatant.
It is credibly asserted that when the troops went back to Mariano, whence reinforcements had been sent, bringing their prisoners with them, the soldiers were drunk. Examination of the houses in Guatao proves that the assertion of the authorities that the insurgent troops took refuge in them and fired on the Spaniards is untrue.
Very Xear Havana.
These terrible scenes took place within a dozen miles from Havana, and the ignorance which Gen. Weyler professed of the actual facts was manifestly not to be believed.
Troops brought the bodies of the dead from the houses and fields and placed them on the ground in front of the main store. The prison- rs who were captured in houses and fields without arms were pinioned and compelled to walk to Mariano. They were bruised and ill-treated on the way, and required medical attendance upon their arrival.
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Among the dead was the gravedigger, making it necessary to obtain a negro to dig the graves.
The facts above related are verified by per- sons who went to Punta Brara and Guatao. The Towns Deserted.
The towns of Guatao and Punta Brara were soon deserted. The residents fled to Havana in fear of their lives. Of 1,710 people in the latter town only fourteen remained. The action of the troops so close to Havana created an intense sensation there.
The only official notice taken by the govern- ment was a telegram of congratulation sent Marquis De Cervera, Alcalde of Mariano. This was in response to his message to Weyler, in which he said: " They have done to-day what your Excellency so gloriously did at Jaina, Santo Domingo, thirty years ago."
Weyler Calls a Halt.
Arrests of civilians under the sweeping pro- visions of General Weyler' s proclamations of February 16 had been made at such a rate and in many cases with so little evidence of guilt that General Weyler was soon compelled to issue instructions to his officers to be more careful, as he required more proof than verbal denunciation. He issued on March 8th a circular in which he stated that absolute proof must be furnished by
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 467
other than interested persons before accused men would be deported, and warning com- manders that they would be held responsible for false answers.
Without doubt General Weyler had in view the effect of this order abroad, for the manner in which Cubans who had never borne arms against Spain were dragged from their homes and thrown into prisons with felons, and after a few days' delay placed on board ship for what is probably the vilest penal colony on the face of the earth, had become a shame which cried aloud for redress. General Weyler, on his arrival, set at liberty a number of these civilian prisoners whom General Pando had taken from their daily occupations. The only evidence against these men was a paper purporting to be a list of the people who were aiding and communicating with the enemy. It was made up by a Spaniard.
Powers of Ufe and Death.
Said a correspondent writing from Havana on March 9 :
" General Weyler has removed the alcaldes of all towns in whom he had not absolute confi- dence, and has appointed the ranking military officers of regular troops of volunteers alcaldes or mayors. These men possess arbitrary powers. Under the proclamation the life or death of any man, woman or child in their zone is in their
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hands. A large proportion of these commanders believe Weyler to be a man who will quickly approve any extreme act on their part. They look for no punishment for summary executions of Cubans who sympathize with the insurgents. They expect praise and promotion for shooting prisoners as soon as taken. General Canella was sent back to Spain by Weyler either for having shot down seventeen prisoners, or for having re- ported ' seventeen bodies were found afterward in another part of the field' ; but the man who confessed to his friends here, and probably to General Weyle'r, to having killed seventeen people in cold blood received no more severe punishment than being deprived of his command. " When the horrible story of the butchery of eighteen peaceable citizens in the little hamlet of Guatao was published in the United States, and telegraphed back here, General Weyler announced that he would make a thorough examination and would severely punish those responsible for the outrage if one had been committed. Two weeks have gone by since the affair occurred, and no official has lost his stripes. Guatao was so near Havana that American correspondents succeeded in demonstrating the absolute truth of the story. Dozens of reports of affairs in which unarmed citizens are killed by Spanish troops have been received here, but the authorities have placed
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such obstacles in the way of correspondents that it is impossible to visit the localities and establish the facts. In a dozen cases refugees from towns where fights have occurred state that after the rebels were driven away citizens who took no part were shot down, and counted in the official reports as dead insurgents. The government officials deny these stories, and while it is common talk in Havana that certain affairs were butcheries, the correspondents are in most cases obliged to accept the Government version."
More Proclamations.
Among the various manifestos published by Weyler on March 8, were the following:
" I have promulgated an order that the teach- ers of divinity of the Provinces of Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, who, confessedly, have taken part in the movements of the rebels, shall be pardoned on making their submission, surrendering their arms and placing themselves under the surveillance of the lawful authority, provided they have not committed other crimes since the issuance of my last pro- clamation.
"The teachers of divinity who, without arms, shall come in under the same circumstances will be immediately transferred to the encampments, forts and towns, where they may be under the immediate vigilance of the troops, and all the
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teachers shall be under the control of the com- mandants in whatever jurisdiction they may be assigned. A record of those so attached to each column, encampment or fort will be kept, and their superiors will make a report every fifteen days concerning the conduct of the teachers, and will determine the time at which they will be per- mitted to reside in whatever place it may be deemed advisable to conduct them, placing them under the supervision of the local authorities, or making any other disposition of them which may be considered proper. In the meantime they will become permarfently attached to the military forces, and will give their attention to the dying, and will be entitled to such rations as troops in the field or traveling.
"These directions will not go into effect in the Provinces of Pinar del Rio and Havana until these provinces have extended to them the pre- vailing law in the case of those who deliver themselves up to the authorities."
For Extermination.
The following proclamation was also issued : "I make known to our harassed troops and to those who attempt to demoralize them as they pursue eastward rebel parties more numerous than those whom they leave in the Provinces of Pinar del Rio and Havana that the time has arrived to pursue with the greatest activity and
Cubans Fighting from the Tree-Tops.
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rigor the little bands, more of outlaws than in- surgents, who have remained in the said provinces, and to adopt whatever measures are necessary for the proper and immediate carrying out of that intention. I hereby order :
"(i) — That the troops be divided into col- umns to operate in both provinces and that the guardia civil be re-established on the lines of that now existing in Pinar del Rio and in a part of Puerto Principe, and that in Havana and a part of the Province of Santiago de Cuba they occupy only the places remote from the present pacified or tranquilized districts until they are able to occupy the positions which they held be- fore (in the districts now in revolt).
"(2) — The commander of each zone, or the corresponding official who may be otherwise characterized in each place, shall be the com- mander of the native army.
"(3) — Each community seeking to do so, and applying to the general staff of the army, may arm a section of volunteers or guerrillas of thirty men, equipped as infantry soldiers, which force will defend the country and in every case operate under orders of the military authorities of the locality.
"(4) — Those who are in possession of arms must be placed in a state of complete defense and enabled to avoid a surprise.
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Fifteen Days' Grace.
"(5) — The military governors of Havana and Pinar del Rio will present reports to the Captain-General.
"(6) — The authorities of the villages who will show themselves friendly within a term of ten days, and those of the vicinity of the same, and all those within its limits that are engaged in the insurrection, are warned to surrender themselves within the space of fifteen days from the publica- tion of this proclamation, otherwise they will be subject to arrest ; and well-disposed persons will be held to their civil responsibilities, and to effect this it will be proposed to the Governor-General to nominate a body which will see to carrying this out.
"(7) — If, in the case of insurgent parties who have sacked, robbed, burned or committed other outrages during the rebellion, any one will give information as to the participation that such per- sons may have had in them, not only those who may have been in the rebel ranks, but also those who have succored them, or who have not remained in their homes, they will be fittingly punished; and, moreover, if any town or other place where robberies have been effected is known to them, they will be required to make identification that proper responsibility may be fixed.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 475
Threats.
"(8) — Rebels, who may not be responsible for any other crime, who, within the term of fifteen days, present themselves to the nearest military authority in both provinces and who will assist in the apprehension of any one guilty of the foregoing offenses, will not be molested, but will be placed at my disposal. Those who have presented themselves at an earlier time will be pardoned; those who may have committed any other crimes, or who obstructed any public cargo proceeding to its destination will be judged according to the antecedents, and their case will be withheld for final determination. He who presents himself and surrenders arms, and, in a greater degree, if there be a collective presenta- tion, will have his case determined by me. All who present themselves after the time mentioned in this warning will be placed at my disposal.
"(9) — All the authorities or civil function- aries, of whatsoever kind, and who do not hold a license for attendance upon the sick, and who are not found at their posts, after the end of eight days, in both provinces will be named to the Governor-General as ceasing to act for the local authorities.
"(10) — The planters, manufacturers and other persons who, within the territory of the provinces warned, shall periodically facilitate, or
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even for a single time shall give money of any kind soever to the insurgents, save and except in the case of their being obliged to yield to superior force, a circumstance which will have to be examined in a most searching manner, will be regarded as disloyal through helping the rebellion, •'(n) — For the repair of roads, railways, telegraphs, etc., the personal co-operation of the inhabitants of the villages will be required, and in the case of the destruction of any kind of prop- erty, the occupants of convenient habitations will be held responsible if they do not immediately inform the nearest authority of such occurrences."
Offer of Amnesty.
He also issued this proclamation, offering amnesty to rebels :
" I have deemed it proper to direct that per- sons presenting themselves in the provinces of Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and San- tiago de Cuba, and who confessedly have been with the rebels will be pardoned, provided they surrender themselves with their arms, and have been guilty of no other crimes. In such cases, however, they will remain under the surveillance of the authorities until further orders from me. Should they surrender themselves in considerable bodies that fact will recommend them to greater consideration. Those who present themselves under similar conditions, but without arms, will
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 477
be assigned to detachments in towns or forts or elsewhere, where they may be subjected to the vigilance of troops. A record of all such persons shall be kept by the commander of arms of the jurisdiction to which they belong, and he shall note upon such record the names of those persons as- signed to each column, detachment or fort.
To Report on the Suspects. "The chiefs of such detachments or forts will then give a fortnightly report of the behavior of such surrendered persons as are under their charge, and acting upon these reports I will determine the localities where they may be per- mitted to reside, or whether they shall be con- ducted elsewhere to be left under the surveillance of the local authorities, or to be disposed of as I may deem proper. While such persons remain with the troops they shall be served with daily rations, which the chief to whom they are detailed will note in his statement. These conditions shall be void in any province as soon as the special edict made applicable to the provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio governing the sur- render of rebels shall also be made similarly applicable to it."
27
CHAPTER XX.
THE CUBAN CAUSE IN THE UNITED STATES NEU- TRALITY PROCLAIMED SHOWED AMERICAN
COLORS SENOR PALMA APPEAL FOR RECOGNI- TION A LONG DEBATE ACTION BY CONGRESS.
ARLY in the war, trouble arose be- tween Spain and the United States, as usual. Spain objected to the sale of supplies of arms to the insurgents. That, how- ever, was perfectly legal.
The impression that munitions of war may not be sold by citizens of the United States to Cubans is declared to be erroneous by author- ities on international law, who declare that the attitude of this government is to-day, as it has always been, to adhere to the policy laid down by Thomas Jefferson in his identical notes to Great Britain and France on May i5th, 1793, and reit- erated constantly in the last 100 years. Mr. Jefferson wrote :
" Our citizens have always been free to make, vend and export arms. It is the constant occupa- tion and livelihood of some of them. To suppress their callings, the only means, perhaps, of their
(478)
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subsistence, because a war exists in foreign and distant countries, in which we have no concern, would scarcely be expected. It would be hard in principle and impossible in practice." At the same time Secretary Hamilton in a Treasury cir- cular informed customs officials that "the pur- chasing within and exporting from the United States, by way of merchandise, articles commonly called contraband, being generally warlike instru- ments and military stores, is free to all the parties at war, and is not to be interfered with."
Secretary Seward informed Minister Romero in 1862 that "transportation of arms or money from the United States to either of the belliger- ents in Mexico is not a breach of neutrality, either under international law or the municipal law of the United States," and Mexico acquiesced in the decision. Secretary Fish in 1874 wrote to the Spanish Government as follows :
"The exportation of arms and munitions of war of their own manufacture to foreign countries is an important part of the commerce of the United States. In time of war their government will expect those engaged in the business to beware of all the risks legally incident to it. No such expectation, however, can be indulged in for a time of profound peace, and indemnification will be asked of any nation which may unneces- sarily or illegally obstruct such trade."
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Neutrality Proclaimed.
President Cleveland, however, thought it best to define the Government's position in the following proclamation :
"Whereas, The island of Cuba is now the seat of a serious civil disturbance, accompanied by armed resistance to the authority of the estab- lished Government of Spain, a Power with which the United States are and desire to remain on terms of peace and amity ; and
"Whereas, The laws of the United States pro- hibit their citizens as well as all others being within and subject to their jurisdiction, from taking part in such disturbances adversely to such established Government, by accepting or exer- cising commissions for warlike service against it, by enlistment or procuring others to enlist for such service, by fitting out or arming or procuring to be fitted out and armed ships of war for such service, by augmenting the force of any ship of war engaged in such service and arriving in a port of the United States, and by setting on foot or providing or preparing the means for military enterprise to be carried on from the United States against the territory of such Government;
"Now, therefore, in recognition of the laws aforesaid, and in discharge of the obligations of the United States toward a friendly Power, and as a measure of precaution, and to the end that citi-
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zens of the United States and all others within its jurisdiction may be deterred from subjecting them- selves to legal forfeiture and penalties :
"I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America, do hereby admonish all such citizens and other persons to abstain from every violation of the laws hereinbefore referred to, and do hereby warn them that all violations of such laws will be rigorously prosecuted ; and I do hereby enjoin upon all officers of the United States charged with the execution of said laws the utmost diligence in preventing violations thereof and in bringing to trial and punishment any offenders against the same."
Showed American Colors.
On March 8th, as the "Allianca " was. pass- ing the eastern end of Cuba, a Spanish gun- boat was seen lying under Cape Maysi. The gunboat steered toward the "Allianca," which at once showed her colors, and saluted the Spanish flag by dipping them. The gunboat acknowl- edged the courtesy by dipping the Spanish flag, which she was flying, and a few moments later fired a blank cartridge from one of her guns as a signal for the American vessel to heave to. Cap- tain Grossman paid no attention to this, and the gunboat fired another blank cartridge. The "Al- lianca" continued her course north, and the gun- boat began to chase her, firing solid shot at her.
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The gunboat chased the American ship for twenty-five miles, but was gradually dropped astern, the American merchant vessel being the faster boat. One of the solid shot fired by the Span- iard came within between an eighth and a quarter of a mile of the "Allianca." Some of the officers judged the first distance, and some the second. The smoke was pouring from the funnels of the gunboat, and she was seemingly trying her best to overhaul the " Allianca." She evidently had no bow-chasers, for every time she fired she had to yaw in order to bring her guns to bear. The "Allianca" slightly increased her speed after the gunboat began to fire, and had no difficulty in getting away from her. As the Spaniard was dropped astern she hoisted a set of signals, but she was too far away at the time for them to be made out.
The United States Government vigorously protested against such conduct, and on April 26th it was finally announced that the "Allianca" affair had been settled, Spain giving to the United States ample and honorable satisfaction, and ad- mitting that the "Allianca" was outside the juris- diction and waters of Spain when she was fired upon.
Senor Palma.
The chief official representative of the Cuban insurgents in this country, Senor Pomas Estrada
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 483
Palma, soon opened headquarters in New York, and began effective work for the cause.
Senor Palma is a lawyer by profession and is a man of broad ideas and great executive ability. He is at present at the head of a large school for boys. He is married and has a family. He was born in 1835, in Bayamo, in the eastern part of Cuba. He was prominently identified with the Cuban insurrection of 1868. He was at one time a Representative in the Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Cuba. He was afterward chosen Secretary of State, and from that office was called to the office of " President of the Republic of Cuba." He has seen active warfare, and in 1877 was taken prisoner by the Spanish authorities, and as he was looked upon as a dangerous mal- content was sent to Spain, where he was placed for safe-keeping in the famous prison in the Castle of Figueros. When peace was declared, in 1878, he was released and went to France. He only remained there a short time, and then came to the United States. After that he went to Hon- duras. He became closely allied with the federal power there, and was chosen Postmaster-General of that State. From Honduras he returned to the United States.
Appeal for Recognition.
Efforts were made during the winter of 1 895-6 to induce the United States Government
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to recognize the Cubans as belligerents and extend to them belligerent rights. Some sincere friends of Cuba doubted the wisdom of this course, but a vast majority of the American people seemed to favor it.
On January 29th the Senate committee on Foreign Relations decided to take some definite action. Two sentiments had divided the com- mittee from the beginning. On the one hand there had been a general desire to .grant the recognition which the revolutionists desired, and thus put an end at once to the highly annoying and embarrassmg conditions under which inter- course between the United States and Cuba had been maintained for the last ten months. With a recognition of the Cuban Revolutionary Government as a belligerent Power, it had been assumed that the annoyances of the neutrality policy would be to a great extent removed, or at least insensibly diminished. On the other hand, there had been an unmistakable feeling that the United States could not with propriety and justice proclaim the belligerency of the insurgent forces on the military showing so far made by them. The precedent set by Secretary Fish in the last Cuban rebellion was felt to have bound this country to a policy of extreme caution in dealing with the present uprising against the Spanish Government.
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A lyong: Debate.
Similar resolutions were introduced in the House of Representatives, and then a long debate ensued, not only in Congress, but in the public press and throughout the country at large. Senor Palma, the Cuban Delegate, addressed a long letter on the subject to Secretary Olney, which was communicated to the Senate and formed the basis of its action.
Senor Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish Minister at Washington, took a hand in this debate through the newspapers — an unusual thing for a Minister to do. He especially protested against some statements made in the Senate concerning the way in which the Spaniards were conducting the war in Cuba. He said :
"I read with the deepest regret the state- ments made in the Senate by some of the most influential Senators of the United States, knowing that the facts which were stated by them were incorrect ; that their good faith, of which I have no doubt, had been imposed upon, and that it would be very easy for me to prove in a little time that the Senators had been misinformed by persons interested in bringing about a misunder- standing between the two countries.
" I cannot understand how all rules of war that have been given by all civilized nations are so criminal, so cruel and so tyrannical when they
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are applied in Cuba. I have before my eyes a summary of charges of inhumanity in connection with the war of the rebellion in the United States against both sides, taken from American history. I am sure that many of them are false, most of them exaggerated, some of them necessary and others unavoidable, but, taking only as an illus- tration and for the sake of argument what I see in that list, I cannot understand how people who are familiar with those necessary evils of war have been able to use such harsh, unjust and offensive language against Spain.
" Nothing *is now done in Cuba that has not been done and has not been deemed necessary in other countries when at war. It would be pos- sible and easy for me to quote many facts not different from those which now arouse public sen- timent against Spain. I will only ask persons wanting an impartial and honest opinion to read what the commanders-in-chief of the American armies of both sides and what the armies of France and Germany have deemed necessary for the protection of their soldiers and the carrying out of war."
To this a vigorous reply was made by some of the Senators, and also by Senor Quesada, of the Cuban legation, who made a damning revela- tion of the numerous atrocities and horrors of Spanish warfare.
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Action toy Congress.
Both Houses of Congress finally adopted their resolutions by overwhelming- majorities. But the resolutions were not identical. Therefore Conference committees were appointed, and fur- ther delay and debate ensued. At last, on March 26, both Houses practically agreed upon identical resolutions, as follows :
"Resolved by the Senate, (the House con- curring therein), That in the opinion of Congress a condition of public war exists between the Government of Spain and the Government pro- claimed and for some time maintained by force of arms by the people of Cuba, and that the United States of America should maintain a strict neu- trality between the contending Powers, according to each all the rights of belligerents in the ports and territories of the United States.
" Resolved, further, That the friendly offices of the United States should be offered by the President to the Spanish Government for the recognition of the independence of Cuba."
These resolutions were ultimately adopted in the midst of great enthusiasm by an over- whelming majority on April 6, and sent to the President for his consideration and action. Being concurrent in form, they were not mandatory upon him, and he was not compelled to do any- thing at all with them.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE LATEST FROM THE SCENE OF CONFLICT THE
SPANISH VIEW SPAIN'S GREAT TASK GOMEZ
ISSUES A MANIFESTO GOMEZ IN SANTA CLARA- SUCCESSES OF FILIBUSTERS SENOR PALMA's
LETTER THE CUBAN MILITARY ORGANIZATION—
THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT TREATMENT OF PRIS- ONERS THE MOVEMENT DEEP-ROOTED THE
PETITION FOR BELLIGERENCY.
jRITING AT THE end of March, 1896, a well-informed English correspondent at Madrid said: "I am able to state that the Madrid Government, since the beginning of the Cuban Insurrection in February, 1895, has obtained the following supplies to carry on the struggle until the end of August next : — From the Bank of Spain, up to the end of January last, two hundred and thirty-three million seven hundred and seventy-five thousand pesetas ; from the Banque de Paris et Pays Bas in 1895, fifty million francs ; from the sale of Cuban bonds on the Spanish markets in 1895, thirty million pesetas. The Government now expects to get eighteen million pesetas from the sale of fifty thousand Cuban bonds to the Bank of Barcelona, and eighty mil-
(488)
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 489
lion pesetas from the Pagares about to be issued with the guarantee of the Cuban and Imperial Treasuries, and a deposit of Cuban bonds, besides that the leading Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Havana banks and the Bank of Spain have agreed to take. In all, therefore, the Cuban war will have cost Spain about $82,500,000 by the end of August next. The Spanish Government has drawn all these supplies from the six hundred and fifty million pesetas of Cuban Five per cent. Bonds of 1890 that Parliament authorized the Minister of the Colonies last year to sell or use as a guarantee of advances for the Cuban war. At present the Minister for the Colonies has only about three million sterling nominal of this stock left to meet any emergency before the time when the Government expects the new Parliament will vote supplies to carry on the war in Cuba after August. It is generally expected that Parliament will be asked to authorize a loan, with the guar- antee of the Spanish Government, and a lien on the Spanish Tobacco Monoply, to raise forty millions sterling, because taxation neither in Spain nor in Cuba could provide the one million sterling required monthly for the Cuban war expenditure." With all this expenditure, and with the dis- patch of more than 150,000 soldiers to the island. Spain has not succeeded in subduing Cuba, nor even in checking the progress of the insurrection.
490 CUBA.
The Spanish View.
Cuba and Porto Rico are the last remnants of the immense colonial empire in the New World which long secured for Spain the first place among the great colonial Powers. Nowadays in Spain no one dreams of recovering what has been irre- trievably lost, but all cling with intense tenacity to the little that remains. Whatever defects the Spaniards may have they still possess in a very high degree the national virtue of patriotism. With regard to administrative abuses and matters in which party interests are concerned, this patri- otism may not be as strong, as clear-sighted, and as practical as could be wished ; but in questions affecting the international status and dignity of their country it is certainly not lacking in in- tensity, and it silences all prudential considera- tions. It would be worse than useless, therefore, for a foreigner to suggest that it might be well to consider carefully and dispassionately whether the sacrifices imposed on the mother country by the possession of Cuba do not more than counterbal- ance the advantages derived from it, and whether the expenditure required for the suppression of successive insurrections may not eventually land both the colony and the mother country in the depths of national bankruptcy. Such suggestions would be summarily repelled with patriotic indig- nation, and would probably awaken a suspicion
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 491
that the person making them must be animated with secret hostility to Spanish interests or some similar sinister motive. Imagine a patriotic Eng- lishman receiving from a Russian friend the sug- gestion that Great Britain might perhaps do well to lighten the burden of her imperial responsibili- ties by abandoning India ! The Englishman's feelings would be very similar to those of the Spaniard who is asked to consider the advisability of allowing Cuba to sever her connection with the Peninsula.
The difficulty for the indifferent spectator to realize that a civilized power is ready to risk national bankruptcy for the sake of retaining a distant possession which seems to cost more than it is worth created in certain quarters the belief that the Spanish Government had under-estimated the strength of the insurrection, and the sacrifices required for its suppression.
Spain's Great Task.
The following condensation of Spanish opinions, as expressed to the English traveler, throws some light on this subject.
"If you imagine that we have not fully realized the magnitude of the task imposed on us you are mistaken. We have despatched a well- equipped force of 60,000 men and we are despatching another contingent of 20,000. If more are required, they will be sent without hesi-
492 CUBA.
tation. This force has been placed under the command of Marshal Martinez Campos, who is justly regarded as our best general, and who is not a man to conceal disagreeable facts. The country has approved of our efforts, and has shown itself ready to make any sacrifices which may be necessary. The reserves which we have called out have appeared almost to a man, and the Transatlantic Company, according to its con- tract, has supplied us with transports, so that we have not been obliged to charter a single foreign vessel.
" If, in spite of all this, the insurrection has spread over a great part of the island, it is because no military operations on a large scale can be undertaken during the rainy season, when the movement of troops is almost impossible, and the climate is extremely unhealthy. In October the rains will be over, and the campaign will begin. Meanwhile, we are endeavoring to prevent the landinor of men and munitions from the United
o
States, where a revolutionary committee is actively at work. It is no easy matter to guard the long coast-line, surrounded by a fringe of small islands which facilitate the work of smuggling, but we are taking means for strengthening our position also in this respect. We hope, therefore, that during the dry season the insurrection may be effectually suppressed, but we are under no
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 493
illusions as to the magnitude and difficulties of the task."
These explanations sound satisfactory en- ough, but one cannot forget that the last insur- rection, which broke out in 1868, lasted nearly ten years, caused the loss of something like 100,000 men, and created a debt which is still a heavy burden on the island ; and one naturally wishes to know why the present insurrection is likely to be suppressed more quickly. Gomez Issues a manifesto.
Maximo Gomez not long ago played a bold stroke, in the issuance of a manifesto appealing to Spaniards as well as to native Cubans. The manifesto was as follows :
"The representatives chosen by the revolu- tion, which to-day is ratified, without usurping the words and declarations which are the prero- gatives of the majesty of a duly constituted republic, recognize and do their duty in declaring to the country that it shall not be steeped in blood without reason, nor without a just hope of triumph, and of declaring the precise aims of this war, born of judgment and foreign to vengeance, which must reach its logical and victorious con- clusion, because it brings into the field of battle, in the form of a sympathetic and prudent democ- racy, all the social elements of Cuba. The war is not a capricious attempt to found an independence 28
494 CUBA.
more to be feared than useful, but the war is the organized product of the reunion of virile minds which, in the tranquillity born of experience, have decided to once more face the dangers with which they are acquainted.
"Cowardice might seek to profit by a fear under the pretext of prudence — the senseless fear which never has been justified in Cuba — the fear of the negro race. The past revolution, with its martyrs and generous though subordinate soldiers, indignantly denies, as does the long trial of exile, as well as of the respite in the island, the menace of a ft.ce war, with which our Spanish beneficiaries would like to inspire a fear of the revolution. The novelty and crudity of social relations, consequent to the sudden change of a man who belonged to another, into a man who belonged to himself, are overshadowed by the sincere esteem of the white Cuban for the equal soul, the desire for education, the fervor of a free man, and the amiable character of his negro compatriot.
"In the Spanish inhabitants of Cuba, instead of the hateful spite of the first war, the revolu- tion, which does not flatter or fear, expects to find some affectionate neutrality or material aid, that through them the war will be shorter, its disas- ters less, and more easy and friendly the subse- quent peace in which father and son are to live.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 495
We Cubans begin the war; the Cubans and Spaniards together will terminate it. If they do not ill-treat us we will not ill-treat them. Let them respect, and they will be respected. Steel will answer to steel, and friendship to friendship. In the bosom of the son of the Antilles there is no hatred, and the Cuban salutes in death the Spaniard whom the cruelty of a conscript army tore from his home and hearth and brought over to assassinate in manly bosoms the freedom to which he himself aspires. But rather than salute him in death, the revolution would like to welcome him in life.
"To-day, in proclaiming the spirit and doc- trines which produced and encouraged this hu- manitarian war, in which the people of Cuba, invincible and indivisible, unite themselves still more firmly, be it allowed us to invoke that honor which will prohibit the Cubans from wounding by word or deed those who are going to die for them."
This manifesto, inviting Spaniards to espouse the Cuban cause, succeeded in winning valuable support. Miro, who fought Garrich (a Cuban general) in the engagement which took place at Holguin, in March, was among those won over. Gomez In Santa Clara.
"The insurgents are also all over the pro- vinces of Havana and Matanzas, and not a
496 CUBA.
plantation is grinding sugar. Even the Spanish authorities have permitted the news to be sent out of the attacks on and the destruction of towns within twelve miles of the city of Havana itself. General Gomez was reported a few days ago as being dead and buried, the name of the place where his demise occurred even being given. In this morning dispatches from Havana we hear he is in Santa Clara, in the very heart of the island, occupying a camp six miles long. Oh, it is most amusing, these mixed-up dispatches we are treated to from Havana ! Every day there are from 300 to 1,000 insurgents killed, with occasionally a wounded mule on the Spanish side, according to the official emanations from Havana given out here by the Spanish Minister. Still, in spite of all this enormous slaughter and continued overwhelming victories on the part of the Spanish forces, the revolu- tionists continue to hold more than three-fourths of the island under absolute authority, with the officials in charge of the prefectures loyal to the Cuban Republic, and the property-owners, even in the cities held by the Spaniards, themselves paying their taxes to the Cuban collectors.
''This is the condition in the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, to which provinces, by-the-way, the ten-years' war was almost wholly confined. The Spanish troops
Au Insurgent attack near Vueltas.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 499
now in these provinces are virtually prisoners of war in the cities, and it is not strange, therefore, that the official news .promulgators in Havana and their agency at the Spanish Legation here never breathe a word about slaughters and victories in Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba.
Successes of Filibusters. "There is no trouble whatever in landing arms and ammunition and medical stores on the Cuban coast, when once the vessels containing them get beyond the risk of illegal detention by the United States authorities. During the last three weeks General Coldazo, Major Pena and General Calixto Garcia, whom the Spanish Minis- ter vigorously denied having landed, reached Cuba, landing at three separate points almost simultaneously from three different vessels. Be- sides this, in the same time four other vessels took thousands of guns and machetes and countless cartridges safely to Cuba,'and these stores are now in the hands of the revolutionists. This is the way we answer General Weyler's proclamations. He may continue his exalted course of butchering prisoners in the plaza of the Morro, and directing his brave legions to massacre defenceless women and old and decrepit men, but he dares not show his nose outside of Havana. Matanzas is two hours from Havana, and he hasn't moved his
5OO CUBA.
headquarters there yet. Why did I say we had no trouble in landing stores and ammunition ? Because the Spanish gunboats are like the Spanish General-in-Chief — they take good care to stay within the safe protection of a fortified port. "General Weyler's troubles, however, are not confined to the insurgents, nor to the subor- dinate Spanish generals, of whom no less than fifty Have left the island in disgust since the begin- ning of the war. The farce of holding an election in time of war, and when all the island is under martial law, will be enacted on April I2th. Only the rabid Spanish population will take part in this election. The Reform party and the Home Rule party have both decided to have nothing to do with it. We have just received the declarations of these parties to this effect. The Home Rule party declare that the ' perturbation ' now in progress in the island has not lessened in extent and importance, and that therefore they declare against holding elections at a time when the con- ditions make it impossible faithfully to express the opinion of the electoral body. This is from the Home Rule Central Committee. Of course, the America people may expect to hear after the election a resounding declaration from General Weyler to the affect that the Cuban people are unanimously in favor of Spain, but no intelligent person will place reliance on such representations.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 501
" There has been no diminution in the patriotism and loyalty to our cause on the part of our people," said Senor Quesada, in conclu- sion. " We are just as certain now as it is possible for men to be of the ultimate success of our efforts. Spain stands aghast at our re- sources. While she is pleading with all her sisters in the family of nations for money and begging on her knees at the doors of every European pawn-shop, the poor Cubans are making no requests save those of a moral character. All we ask is fair treatment and an honorable and equitable recognition of our rights as men who are struggling for the precious boon of self- government. When Spain imagines we have exhausted all our finances we confront her with the substantial proofs of a replenished treasury."
Senor Palma's L,etter.
Senor Palma's letter to Secretary Olney has already been referred to. It is worthy of more detailed notice, as a careful statement of the Cu- ban situation from the Cuban point of view. Senor Palma urged —
That the only solution of the present revolu- tion is the independence of Cuba or the extermi- nation of those striving for independence. In order that the present movement should be strong from the beginning, and organized, both as to civil and military administration, the Cuban revo-
5OO CUBA.
headquarters there yet. Why did I say we had no trouble in landing stores and ammunition ? Because the Spanish gunboats are like the Spanish General-in-Chief — they take good care to stay within the safe protection of a fortified port. " General Weyler's troubles, however, are not confined to the insurgents, nor to the subor- dinate Spanish generals, of whom no less than fifty have left the island in disgust since the begin- ning of the war. The farce of holding an election in time of war, and when all the island is under martial law, will be enacted on April I2th. Only the rabid Spanish population will take part in this election. The Reform party and the Home Rule party have both decided to have nothing to do with it. We have just received the declarations of these parties to this effect. The Home Rule party declare that the ' perturbation ' now in progress in the island has not lessened in extent and importance, and that therefore they declare against holding elections at a time when the con- ditions make it impossible faithfully to express the opinion of the electoral body. This is from the Home Rule Central Committee. Of course, the America people may expect to hear after the election a resounding declaration from General Weyler to the affect that the Cuban people are unanimously in favor of Spain, but no intelligent person will place reliance on such representations.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 501
" There has been no diminution in the patriotism and loyalty to our cause on the part of our people," said Senor Quesada, in conclu- sion. "We are just as certain now as it is possible for men to be of the ultimate success of our efforts. Spain stands aghast at our re- sources. While she is pleading with all her sisters in the family of nations for money and begging on her knees at the doors of every European pawn-shop, the poor Cubans are making no requests save those of a moral character. All we ask is fair treatment and an honorable and equitable recognition of our rights as men who are struggling for the precious boon of self- government. When Spain imagines we have exhausted all our finances we confront her with the substantial proofs of a replenished treasury."
Senor Palma's Letter.
Senor Palma's letter to Secretary Olney has already been referred to. It is worthy of more detailed notice, as a careful statement of the Cu- ban situation from the Cuban point of view. Senor Palma urged —
That the only solution of the present revolu- tion is the independence of Cuba or the extermi- nation of those striving for independence. In order that the present movement should be strong from the beginning, and organized, both as to civil and military administration, the Cuban revo-
5<D2 CUBA.
lutionary party was founded, with Jose Marti at its head. The principal objects were by united efforts to obtain the absolute independence of Cuba, to promote the sympathy of other countries, to collect funds with this object in view and to invest them in munitions of war. The military organization was completed by the election of Maximo Gomez as commander-in-chief. The time for the uprising was fixed, at the solicitation of the people of Cuba, who protested that there was no hope of autonomy, and their deposits of arms and ammunition were in danger of being discovered and their leaders arrested. A large amount of war material was then bought by Marti and vessels were chartered to transport it to Cuba, where arrangements were made for its reception in the provinces of Santiago, Puerto Principe and Santa Clara. The date fixed for the uprising was February 24th, 1895. The people responded in Santiago, Santa Clara and Matanzas. Other provinces did not respond, owing to a lack of arms.
The revolution rapidly increased in strength. Senor Palma stated that General Campos' first plan of campaign was to confine the revolution to the province of Santiago, to crush the insurgents, establish peace and return to Spain by November of last year. From the very beginning of the up- rising conflicts between the Spanish troops and
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 503
the Cubans were of daily occurrence, and many engagements of importance took place, ports being captured and towns taken.
The Cuban Military Organization.
Senor Palma said that the military organiza- tion of Cuba is ample and complete. Major- General Maximo Gomez is the commander-in- chief of all the forces. He is a veteran of the last revolution, as are nearly all the insurgent generals. The army is divided into five corps, two in Santiago, one in Puerto Principe and two in Santa Clara and Matanzas. These corps are divided into divisions, these again into brigades and finally into regiments. The forces consist of cavalry, infantry and engineers. Lately a corps of artillery and a perfect sanitary corps have been added to the army. The first two corps consist of 26,000 men, mostly infantry ; the third of about 4,000 men, mostly cavalry ; the fourth and the fifth corps of over 20,000 men, chiefly infantry and cavalry. This force has been considerably increased of late. Of the insurgents in the field, more than half are fully armed and equipped. The rest carry miscellaneous weapons.
The work of improving the equipment of the army is proceeding rapidly. Stations for the manufacture of powder and the reloading of cartridges have been established, as well as for the making of shoes, saddles and other equipment.
504 CUBA.
Red Cross societies have offered their co-opera- tion, but the Spanish commander-in-chief has refused to allow them to enter the insurgent lines. The discipline of the army is reported to be strict. The army is composed entirely of volunteers, who serve without pay.
The Civil Government.
As to the Cuban Civil Government, con- cerning which there has been much discussion in the Senate, Senor Palma said that representatives from each of the provinces of Santiago, Puerto Principe, Santa Clara and the western part of the island, comprising the provinces of Matanzas and Havana, making twenty in all, have been elected to the Constituent Assembly, which was organized to establish a civil government, Republican in form. He gives a complete list of the members of the Assembly, which first met at Jimaguay, in the province of Puerto Principe, on September 13 last, together with an account of its organization and subsequent action. The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba was adopted September 16 of the same year. Palma furnishes in the communication a list of officers of the Republic, a brief account of their installation into office, the election of the general-in-chief of the army and the second officer in command ; also of his own election as delegate plenipotentiary and general agent abroad of the Cuban Republic.
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 505
An account of the division of the provinces into prefectures, under the supervision of the Secre- tary of the Interior, the duties which devolve on this department, as well as the duties of the Secretary of the Treasury in connection with the imposition, rates and collection of taxes, the sources of income of the Government, etc., form exhibits attached to the letter.
Sefior Palma says that all moneys collected in accordance with laws of the Republic, as well as those received through voluntary contributions, are delivered to him or his authorized agent, and expended under his supervision, or that of his agent to supply the needs of the Government, which are mainly arms and ammunition. The money so far collected has been sufficient to equip the army, and keep it supplied with ammu- nition, although from the rapid increase and the difficulty of bringing supplies into the island, many new recruits have not yet been armed. The prob- lem of equipping the army is not a financial one, but arises from the caution necessary to blockade running, and above all the preventive measures taken by foreign countries, and the notice which is in all cases given to the enemy of the embarka- tion of ammunition.
Treatment of Prisoners.
Speaking of the treatment of prisoners, Sefior Palma says that from the beginning of the
506 CUBA.
insurrection the conduct of the Cubans as to pris- oners has been in strong contrast to that of the Spaniards. Prisoners taken by the Cubans have invariably been well treated, cared for and libe- rated, officers as well as common soldiers, as soon as it was possible. On the part of the Spaniards he calls attention to the order prohibiting news- paper correspondents from entering the lines of the insurgents, to prevent accurate information being given to the world at large ; the order to shoot all who supply food or medicines to the in- surgents, and the order, which in every instance has been carried out, to shoot all officers of the Cuban army who are captured. He says that at the recapture of Baire old men, women and chil- dren were ruthlessly slaughtered by the Spanish soldiers, and over seventy wounded, defenceless Cubans were killed. On other occasions peace- ful men and women were butchered and outrages were committed by the Spanish troops.
Sefior Palma is emphatic in saying that the present Cuban insurrection is not a negro move- ment. He says that more than one-third of the entire population are of the colored race, and that less than one-third of the army are negroes. Of the generals of corps, divisions and brigades there are but three negroes, and these are mulattoes, whose deeds and victories have placed them far above the generals of those who pretend
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 509
to despise them. None of the members of the Constituent Assembly or of the government are of the colored race. The Cubans and negroes are as friendly in this war as they were in times of peace, and Palma says it would indeed be strange if the colored people were not so, as the whites fought for them and with them in the last revolt, the only successful purpose of which was the freedom of Cuban slaves.
He asks if it be true that this is merely a movement of bandits and negroes and adventurers, as the Spaniards assert, why have they not armed the Cuban people to fight against the outlaws, and why have not the Cuban people themselves vplunteered to crush the handful arrayed against them ? He answers this by saying that the Spaniards know that giving arms to Cubans who do not have them would be to increase the number of insurgents. He says that Spain has sent to Cuba more than 125,000 soldiers, mostly con- scripts, and that she has sent to the island more than forty of her most famous generals. The Movement Deep-Rooted.
The Cuban Navy has also been greatly in- creased. Besides the large regular army, there are 60,000 to 80,000 volunteers organized to pro- tect Cuban towns. These volunteers are native Spaniards, and a branch of the regular army, the service being compulsory. Sefior Palma says it
5IO CUBA.
is not denied that a large number of what the Spaniards term the lower classes are in the Revo- lution. But, he adds, this is only a proof of how deep into the mass of the people have been implanted the seeds of discontent and of republi- canism. He speaks of the surprise which has been expressed that with Spain's immense army in Cuba and her resources at hand, she has been unable to crush the insurrection and prevent its growth. He says of this that aside from the cli- mate, which is deadly to the raw, ill-fed, ill-clothed, badly paid Spanish- soldiers, the National troops are divided into»an army of occupation and another of operation. These necessarily move in considera- ble numbers, because if compelled to flee, without a knowledge of the intricacies of the country, they would be decimated. On the other hand, a Cuban command, on dispersion, is regularly organized, as each man is his own guide. This, he points out, is one of the most valuable of Cuban movements ; to disperse as if routed, to rally at a previously agreed point, and then to fall upon and surprise the seemingly victorious enemy. The Cuban, used to the country and to the climate, marches and rides much faster than the Spaniard ; he can live and thrive on food that is death to the Spaniard. Moreover, in a friendly country, the movements of the enemy are readily ascertained by the commander. He can select his own posi-
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 5 I I
tion or evade an engagement, while the Spaniards are never so well informed and are at the mercy of their guides.
Senor Palma says : " It must be remembered that the Cuban fights for the noblest principle of man, independence ; that he does so without com- pulsion or pay, but spontaneously and enthusias- tically. Nay, he fights the battle of despair, knowing it is better to be killed thus than to bear the tortures of a Spanish prison, or to trust him- self to the tender mercy of a Spanish commander. On the other hand, the Spanish troops fight by compulsion, and for pay. They fight without faith, for their heart is not with their cause. Hun- dreds of Spanish soldiers have, singly or in groups, gone over to the insurgent lines, being satisfied that they would live there under better conditions."
The Petition for Belligerency.
Senor Palma closes his letter to Secretary Olney in these words :
"In view of the history of this Revolution as herein stated, of the causes which led to it, its rapid growth, its success in arms, the establish- ment, operation, and resources of the govern- ment of the Cuban Republic, the organization, number and discipline of its army, the contrast in the treatment of prisoners to that of the enemy, the territory in its control and subject to the
512 CUBA.
carrying out of its decrees, of the futility of the attempts of the Spanish Government to crush the Revolution in spite of the immense increase of the army in Cuba and of its blockade and the many millions spent for that purpose, the cruelties which on the part of the Spaniards have espec- ially characterized this sanguinary and fiercely conducted war, and the damage to the interests of the citizens of the United States under the present conditions, I, as the duly accredited representative, in the name of the Cuban people in arms who have fought singly and alone against the monarchy tof Spain for nearly a year, in the heart of a continent devoted to republican institu- tions, in the name of justice, in the name of humanity, in the name of liberty, petition you, and through you the Government of the United States, to accord the rights of belligerency to people fighting for their absolute independence."
Clark, James Hy
Cuba and the fight for C59 freedom
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