Present condition of Cuba--Secret treaty with France and
England--British plan for the Africanization of the island--Sale of
Cuba--Measures of General Pezuela--Registration of
slaves--Intermarriage of blacks and whites--Contradictory
proclamations--Spanish duplicity--A Creole's view of the crisis and
the prospect.
Cuba is at present politically in a critical and alarming condition, and
the most intelligent natives and resident foreigners live in constant
dread of a convulsion more terrific and sanguinary than that which
darkened the annals of St. Domingo. Those best informed of the temper,
designs and position of Spain, believe in the existence of a secret
treaty between that country, France and England, by which the two latter
powers guarantee to Spain her perpetual possession of the island, on
condition of her carrying out the favorite abolition schemes of the
British government, and Africanizing the island. Spain, it is supposed,
unable to stand alone, and compelled to elect between the loss of her
colony and subserviency to her British ally, has chosen of the two evils
that which wounds her pride the least, and is best calculated to secure
the interests of monarchical Europe. All the recent measures of the
Captain-general Pezuela are calculated to produce the conviction that
the Africanization of Cuba has been resolved upon; and, if his alarming
proclamation of the third of May has been somewhat modified by
subsequent proclamations and official declarations, it is only because
the Spanish government lacks the boldness to unmask all its schemes,
while the Eastern war prevents France and Great Britain from sending
large armaments to Cuba to support it; and because the national vessels
and troops destined to swell the government forces in the island have
not all arrived. But for the existence of the war in the East, the
manifestoes of the captain-general would have been much more explicit.
As it is, they are sufficiently bold and menacing.
A peaceful solution to the question of Cuba, by its sale to the United
States, is not regarded as probable by the best-informed Creoles. They
say that, even if the queen were disposed to sell the island, it would
be impossible to obtain the consent of the Cortes. The integrity of the
Spanish domain, including all the islands, is protected by legal
enactment; and it would require the abrogation of a fundamental law
before it could be consummated.[11] Now, the Spanish subjects well
understand that they would not be likely to be gainers by the sale of
Cuba, however large a sum the United States might be willing to pay for
it, while the monopoly to trade, the bestowal of lucrative insular
offices on Spaniards alone, and other incidental advantages, give them a
direct interest in the maintenance of the present order of things. Those
who take this view of the question say that if Spain has not promptly
rejected the overtures supposed to have been made by our minister at
Madrid, this delay indicates only a conscious weakness, and not any
hesitation of purpose. It is simply a diplomatic trick--a temporizing
policy. Why, they ask, if Spain had any idea of parting with the island,
would she be making naval and military preparations on a grand and
costly scale, at home, while in the island she is making large levies,
and enrolling colored troops, not as militia, as the government has
falsely given out, but as regulars? We are reluctant to abandon the hope
of our purchasing the island, but candor compels us to state the
plausible arguments of those who assert that no success can possibly
attend the plan for its peaceable acquisition.
Within a brief space of time, the administration of General Pezuela has
been signalized by measures of great significance and importance: The
decree of the third of May; the order for the registration of slaves
introduced into the island in violation of the treaty of 1817; the
decree freeing more than fifteen thousand _emancipados_ in the space of
a fortnight; that of May 25th, enrolling and arming negroes and
mulattoes; the project for importing negroes and mulattoes from Africa,
under the name of free apprentices; the institution of free schools for
the instruction of the blacks, while the whites are abandoned to their
own resources; and, finally, the legalization of the intermarriages of
blacks and whites, which last measure has actually been carried into
effect, to the indignation of the Creoles,--all these measures show the
determination of the Spanish government to bring about the emancipation
of slavery, and the social equalization of the colored and white
population, that it may maintain its grasp upon the island, under
penalty of a war of races, which could only terminate in the extinction
of the whites, in case of a revolutionary movement.
The proclamation of the third of May, alluded to above, and disclosing
some of the abolition plans of the government, produced a startling
sensation. In it the captain-general said: "It is time for the planter
to substitute for the rapid but delusive advantages derived from the
sale of human flesh, safer profits, more in harmony with civilization,
religion and morals;" and that "the time had come to make the life of
the slave sweeter than that of the white man who labors under another
name in Europe." The proclamation, coupled with that conferring
exclusive educational advantages on colored persons, roused even the
Spaniards; some of the wealthiest and most influential of whom held
secret meetings to discuss the measures to be adopted in such a crisis,
in which it was resolved to withhold all active aid from the government,
some going so far as to advocate the making of common cause with the
Creoles. The mere hint of a fusion between the Spaniards and Creoles,
whom it has been the policy of the colonial government to alienate from
each other, was sufficient to excite the fears of the captain-general;
and accordingly, on the 31st of May, he published a sort of explanatory
manifesto, designed to allay the alarm of the Spaniards, and
conflicting, in several points, with that of the 3d. "Her Majesty's
government," says the document of the 31st, "is well aware that the
unhappy race (the Africans), once placed among civilized men, and
protected by the religion and the great laws of our ancestors, is, in
its so-called slavery, a thousand times happier than other European
classes, whose liberty is only nominal." If this assertion were true,
what becomes of the famous declaration, in the former proclamation, that
the time had arrived to make the life of the slave happier than of the
white European laborer? If this assertion were true, that "good time"
had not only arrived, but passed away, and his measures for the
improvement of the involuntary bondmen were actually supererogatory. The
owners of slaves are, moreover, assured that they shall not be disturbed
in the possession of their "legitimate property," and that the
government will conciliate a due regard for such property "with the
sacred fulfilment of treaties."
It is very evident that the Creoles are doomed to be the victims of
Spanish duplicity. It is notorious that many thousands of slaves have
been introduced into the island, for a series of years, with the
connivance of the government, when they had it in their power, at any
time, to stop the traffic altogether. The vigilance of the British
cruisers was baffled by the assurance that the Africans thus brought
over were apprentices, Spain never hesitating to deceive an ally; and
now, when compelled to keep faith, in a desperate emergency, she betrays
her own subjects, and throws the penalty of her own bad faith on them.
A gentleman residing in Cuba writes: "No one can be here, and watch the
progress of things, without being convinced that the ultimate object is
the emancipation of the slaves of the island transported subsequent to
the treaty of 1820, which will comprise four-fifths of the whole number;
and no one who is an attentive observer, and with his ears open, but
must be satisfied that there is some other powerful influence brought to
bear on the subject besides Spain. Take, for instance, the late order
for the registration of the slaves. The British consul openly says that
the British government have been, for a long time, urging the measure.
But it is not only in this, but in every other step taken, that the
British finger is constantly seen. A thousand corroborative
circumstances could be cited. Cuba is to-day indebted to Russia for
being free from this calamity. But for the emperor's obstinacy, there
would have been an English and French fleet that would have enabled them
to carry out all the measures they have in contemplation."
With relation to the intermarriage of blacks and whites, our informant
says, "Many marriages have been performed since the date of the
circular,"--that of the Bishop of Havana to the curates of the island,
by the authority of the captain-general.
"The captain-general," says the same authority, "is now exerting his
influence for the admission of blacks into the university, to prepare
them for clerical orders. Should this system be adopted, I fear it will
lead to bad consequences. It will, of course, be strenuously opposed.
The indignation of the Creoles has been difficult to restrain,--at which
you cannot be surprised, when their daughters, wives and sisters, are
daily insulted, particularly by those in uniform. I fear a collision may
take place. If once commenced, it will be terrific."
The decree authorizing the celebration of marriages between blacks and
whites has probably produced more indignation among the Creoles than any
other official acts of the captain-general. It was directed to the
bishop in the form of a circular, and issued on the 22d of May. On the
29th of the same month, the bishop transmitted copies of it to all the
curates within his jurisdiction; and, as we have seen, many of these
incongruous marriages have been already solemnized. Notwithstanding
these notorious and well-authenticated facts, the official organ of the
government, the _Diario de la Marina_, had the effrontery to publish a
denial of the transaction, asserting it to be mere idle gossip, without
the slightest foundation, and ridiculing the idea in a tone of levity
and _persiflage_.
This may teach us how little dependence is to be placed on the
declarations of the Spanish officials; and we shall be prepared to
receive with incredulity the denial, in the name of the queen, of the
existence of a treaty with England, having for its base the abolition of
slavery, as a reward for British aid in preserving Cuba to Spain. The
captain-general says that she relies not on foreign aid to maintain her
rights, but on her powerful "navy and disciplined army; on the loyalty
of the very immense (_inmensisima_) majority of her vigorous native
citizens (Creoles); on the strength imparted to the good by the defence
of their hearths, their laws and their God; and on the hurricanes and
yellow fever for the enemy."
"Here," writes a Cuban gentleman, commenting on the above declaration,
"we must make a pause, and remark, _en passant_, that the name of her
majesty thus invoked, far from giving force to the denial, weakens it
greatly; for we all know the value of the royal word, particularly that
of her majesty Isabella II. In her name a full pardon was offered to
Armenteros and his associates, who raised the cry of independence in
Trinidad, and this document effected the purpose for which it was
designed. Armenteros and the others, who placed reliance in the royal
word, were, some of them, shot, and the rest deported to African
dungeons. No reliance can be placed on the loyalty of the vast majority
of the vigorous citizens (unless the negroes alone are comprehended
under this phrase), when the whites are deprived of arms for the defence
of their country, and men are fined five pesos for carrying canes of a
larger size than can be readily introduced into a gun-barrel, and free
people of color are alone admitted into the ranks of the troops. The
Cubans are not relied upon, since, to prevent their joining Lopez, all
the roads were blockaded, and everybody found on them shot; and the
immense number of exiles does not prove the majority which favors the
government to be so prodigious.
"The value of the powerful navy and well-trained army of the island was
shown in the landing of Lopez, and the victories that three hundred men
constantly obtained over an army of seven thousand, dispersing only when
ammunition failed them. Hurricanes and the yellow fever are most
melancholy arms of defence; and, if they only injured the enemy, the
Spaniards, who are as much exposed as other Europeans to the fatal
influence, would be the true enemies of Cuba."
The following remarks on the present condition and prospects of the
island are translated from a letter written by an intelligent Creole,
thoroughly conversant with its affairs:
"The whites tremble for their existence and property; no one thinks
himself secure; confidence has ceased, and with it credit; capitalists
have withdrawn their money from circulation; the banks of deposit have
suspended their discounts; premiums have reached a fabulous point for
the best of paper. The government was not ignorant that this would be
the result, and prepared to get out of the momentary crisis by the
project of a bank,[12] published in the _Gaceta_ of the 4th (May); but
the most needy class, in the present embarrassed circumstances, is that
of the planters; and it is necessary, to enable them to fulfil their
engagements, that their notes should be made payable at the end of the
year,--that is, from harvest to harvest,--and not at the end of six
months, as provided for in the regulations. But it matters not; we are
pursuing the path which will precipitate us into the abyss, if
instantaneous and efficacious help does not come to save the island from
the imminent ruin which threatens it.
"The cause of the liberty of nations has always perished in its cradle,
because its defenders have never sought to deviate from legal
paths,--because they have followed the principles sanctioned by the laws
of nations; while despots, always the first to exact obedience to them
when it suited their convenience, have been the first to infringe them
when they came into collision with their interests. Their alliances to
suppress liberty are called _holy_, and the crimes they commit by
invading foreign territories, and summoning foreign troops to their aid
to oppress their own vassals, are sacred duties, compliances with secret
compacts; and, if the congresses, parliaments and Cortes of other
nations, raise the cry to Heaven, they answer, the government has
protested,--acts have been performed without their sanction,--there is
no remedy,--they are acts accomplished.
"An act accomplished will shortly be the abolition of slavery in Cuba;
and the tardy intervention of the United States will only have taken
place when its brilliant constellation lights up the vast sepulchre
which will cover the bodies of her sons, sacrificed to the black race as
a reward for their sympathies with American institutions, and the vast
carnage it will cost to punish the African victors. What can be done
to-day without great sacrifices to help the Cubans, to-morrow cannot be
achieved without the effusion of rivers of blood, and when the few
surviving Cubans will curse an intervention which, deaf to their cries,
will only be produced by the cold calculations of egotism. Then the
struggle will not be with the Spaniards alone. The latter will now
accede to all the claims of the cabinet at Washington, by the advice of
the ambassadors of France and England, to advance, meanwhile, with surer
step to the end,--to give time for the solution of the Eastern question,
and for France and England to send their squadrons into these waters.
Well may they deny the existence of secret treaties; this is very easy
for kings, as it will be when the case of the present treaty comes up,
asserting that the treaty was posterior to their negative, or refusing
explanations as inconsistent with their dignity. But we witness the
realization of our fears; we see the Spanish government imperturbably
setting on foot plans which were thought to be the delirium of excited
imaginations; doing at once what promised to be a gradual work; and hear
it declared, by distinguished persons, who possess the confidence of
General Pezuela, that the existence of the treaty is certain, and that
the United States will be told that they should have accepted the offer
made to become a party to it, in which case the other two powers could
not have adopted the abolition scheme. But, supposing this treaty to
have no existence, the fact of the abolition of slavery is no less
certain. It is only necessary to read the proclamation of the
captain-general, if the last acts of the government be not sufficiently
convincing. The result to the island of Cuba and to the United States is
the same, either way. If the latter do not hasten to avert the blow,
they will soon find it impossible to remedy the evil. In the island
there is not a reflecting man,--foreigner or native, Creole or
European,--who does not tremble for the future that awaits us, at a
period certainly not far remote."
FOOTNOTES:
[11] The administration of Bravo Murillo fell in an attempt of this
kind, and did not rise again.
[12] Pezuela's bank is to have a capital of two million dollars; the
government to be a shareholder for half a million. The effect of such an
institution would be to drain the island of specie.