Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Etext transcriber's note:
The use of Spanish accents in this text varies and has not been altered
(ie. both Senor and Señor [tilde n], Senora and Señora [tilde n], José
[acute accented letter e] and Jose appear; both Nunez and Nuñez [tilde
n], Marti and Martí [acute accented i], Carreno and Carreño appear
[tilde n].)
Several typographical errors have been corrected
(Almandares=>Almendares, Donate=>Donato, etc.).]
[Illustration: JOSÉ MARTÍ
The first great apostle and martyr of the Cuban War of Independence,
José Martí, was born in Havana on January 28, 1853, and fell in battle
at Dos Rios on May 19, 1895. He was a Professor of Literature, Doctor of
Laws, economist, philosopher, essayist, journalist, poet, historian,
statesman, tribune of the people, organizer of the final and triumphant
cause of Cuban freedom. He suffered imprisonment in Spain and exile in
Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States, doing his crowning work in the
last-named country as the vitalizing and energizing head of the Cuban
Junta in New York. His fame must be lasting as the nation which he
founded, wide as the world which he adorned.]
THE
HISTORY OF CUBA
BY
WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON
A.M., L.H.D.
Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of
the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations"
Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign
Relations in New York University
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
VOLUME FOUR
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, INC.
156 FIFTH AVENUE
1920
Copyright, 1920,
BY CENTURY HISTORY CO.
_All rights reserved_
ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL
LONDON, ENGLAND.
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I 1
Cuba for the Cubans--Era of the War of Independence--Organization of the
Cuban Revolutionary Party--Vigilance of the Spanish Government--The
Sartorius Uprising--The Abarzuza "Home Rule" Measure--Beginning of the
War of Independence--José Marti, His Genius and His Work--Members of the
Junta in New York--Independence the Aim--Marti's Departure for
Cuba--Association with Maximo Gomez--Death of Marti--His Legacy of
Ideals to Cuba.
CHAPTER II 19
Aims and Methods of the Junta--Efforts to Avoid American
Complications--Filibustering Expeditions--Contraband Messenger
Service--Attitude of the Various Classes of the Cuban People Toward the
Revolution--No Racial nor Partisan Differences--The Spanish Element--The
Mass of the Cuban People United for National Independence.
CHAPTER III 29
The First Uprising--Failure in Havana--Success in Oriente--Response of
the Spanish Authorities--Superior Numbers of the Spanish Forces--Early
Complications with the United States-Seeking Terms with the
Patriots--Grim Reception of an Envoy--Ministerial Crisis at Madrid over
Cuban Affairs--Martinez Campos, "Spain's Greatest Soldier," Sent to
Cuba--His Conciliatory Policy--His Military Preparations--Antonio
Maceo--Uprisings in Many Places--Provisional Government of the
Patriots--Campos's Barricades--Campos Beaten by Maceo.
CHAPTER IV 47
Declaration of Cuban Independence--First Constitutional Convention--The
First Government of Ministers--Founders of the Cuban
Government--Desperate Efforts of Campos--Disadvantages of the
Cubans--Plantation Work Forbidden--Campaigns by Maceo and Gomez--Losses
of the Spaniards at Sea--Reenforcements from Spain Welcomed--Cuban
Headquarters at Las Tunas--Invasion of Matanzas--Defeat and Narrow
Escape of Campos--Action of the Autonomists--Loyalty Pledged to
Campos--State of Siege in Havana--Campos Recalled to Spain.
CHAPTER V 65
General Marin--General Weyler the New Captain-General--His Arrival and
Remorseless Policy--Cuban Elections a Farce--The Trocha--A War of
Ruthless Destruction--Many Filibustering Expeditions--Interest of the
United States Government--Diplomatic Controversies--Efficiency of the
Provisional Government--Strengthening the Trocha--Activity of Maceo--His
Betrayal and Death--Campaigns of Gomez and Others--Calixto Garcia--The
Great Advance Westward--President Cleveland's Significant Message to the
United States Congress.
CHAPTER VI 82
Bad Effects of Maceo's Death--Weyler in the Field Against Gomez--Daring
and Death of Bandera--Dissensions in the Camp of Gomez--Weyler's
Concentration Policy--A Practical Attempt at Extermination--Senator
Proctor's Observations--President McKinley's Message--Crisis in
Spain--Weyler Recalled and Succeeded by Ramon Blanco--Further Attempts
at Reform and Conciliation--Condition of Cuba--The Revolutionists
Uncompromising--The Ruiz-Aranguren Tragedy--Organization of the
Autonomist Government--Attitude of the Spaniards--Visit of the Maine to
Havana--Destruction of the Vessel--The Investigations--Futile Efforts of
the Autonomist Government
CHAPTER VII 103
The Destruction of the Maine not the Cause of American
Intervention--Causes Which Led to the War--Diplomatic
Negotiations--German Intrigue--President McKinley's War Message--His
Attitude Toward the Cuban People--Spanish Resentment--Declaration of
War--American Agents Sent to Cuba--Attitude of Maximo Gomez--Supplies,
not Troops, Wanted--Blockade of the Cuban Coast--Spanish Fleet at
Santiago--Landing of the American Army--Operations at Santiago--Services
of the "Rough Riders"--Naval Battle of Santiago--Surrender of the
Spanish Army--The Armistice.
CHAPTER VIII 118
Departure of the Spanish Forces from Cuba--Treaty of Peace Between the
United States and Spain--Cuba to be Made Independent--The Cuban
Debt--First American Government of Intervention--The Roll of Spanish
Rulers from Velasquez in 1512 to Castellanos in 1899--Relations between
Americans and Cubans--Disbandment of the Provisional Government and
Demobilization of the Cuban Army--A Mutinous Demonstration--Paying Off
the Cuban Soldiers.
CHAPTER IX 139
American Occupation of Cuba--General Wood's Administration at
Santiago--His Antecedents and Preparation for His Great Work--A
Formidable Undertaking--Conquering Pestilence--Organization of the Rural
Guards--American Administration at Havana and Throughout the
Island--Grave Problems Confronting General Brooke--Agricultural and
Industrial Rehabilitation--Reorganizing Local Government--Triumphal
Progress of Maximo Gomez--Unification of Sentiment Among the
People--Finances of the Island--Church and State--Marriage
Reform--Franchises Refused--The Census--Improving the School System.
CHAPTER X 158
General Brooke Succeeded by General Leonard Wood--Favorable Reception of
the Soldier-Statesman--A Cabinet of Cubans--Efficient Attention Paid to
Public Education--Cuban Teachers at Harvard--Caring for Derelict
Children--Public Works--Sanitation--Port
Improvements--Roads--Paving--The Heroic Drama of the Conquest of Yellow
Fever--Work of General Gorgas--A Home of Pestilence Transformed into a
Sanitarium--Reforms in Court Procedure--Cleaning Up the Prisons--The
First Election in Free Cuba--Rise of Political Parties--Taxation and the
Tariff--Increase of Commerce.
CHAPTER XI 185
Preparations for Self-Government--Call for a Constitutional
Convention--The Election--Meeting of the Convention--General Wood's
Address--Organization of the Convention--Framing the
Constitution--Debates over Church and State, and Presidential
Qualifications--Signing of the Constitution--No Americans Present at the
Convention--General Provisions of the Constitution--Relations between
Cuba and the United States--Controversy between the Two
Governments--Origin of the "Platt Amendment"--Attitude of the Cubans
Toward It--Malign Agitation and Misrepresentation--A Mission to
Washington--Final Adoption of the Amendment.
CHAPTER XII 204
Text of the Constitution of the Cuban Republic--The Nation, Its Form of
Government, and the National Territory--Cubans and Foreigners--Bill of
Rights--Sovereignty and Public Powers--The Legislature--The
President--The Vice-President--The Secretaries of State--The Judicial
Power--Provincial and Municipal Governments--Amendments.
CHAPTER XIII 240
Election of the First Cuban Government--Candidates for the
Presidency--Tomas Estrada Palma Chosen by Common Consent--General Maso's
Candidacy--The Election--Close of the American Occupation--A Festal Week
in Havana--Transfer of Authority to the Cuban Government--The Cuban Flag
at Last Raised in Sovereignty of the Island--President Roosevelt's
Estimate of General Wood's Work in Cuba--President Palma's Cabinet--His
First Message--The United States Naval Station--Reciprocity Secured
after Discreditable Delay at Washington.
CHAPTER XIV 259
Admirable Work of the Palma Administration--Rise of Sordid
Factionalism--José Miguel Gomez, Alfredo Zayas and Orestes
Ferrara--Character of the Liberal Party, and of the Conservative
Party--Conspiracy to Discredit an Election--An Abortive
Insurrection--Pino Guerra's Intrigues--The Rebellion of José Miguel
Gomez--President Palma's Unpreparedness and Incredulity--His Faith in
the People--The Crisis--Suggestions of the American
Consul-General--American Intervention sought--Ships and Troops
Sent--Arrival of Mr. Taft--His Negotiations with the Rebels--His
Yielding to Their Threats--Resignation of Estrada Palma--Mr. Taft's
Pardon to the Rebels--Charles E. Magoon Made Provisional
Governor--Estimate of President Palma and His Administration.
CHAPTER XV 283
Mr. Magoon's Administration--Recognition of the Liberals--The Offices
Filled with Liberal Placeholders--Execution of Many Public Works--A New
Census Taken--New Electoral Law--Proportional Representation--New
Elections Held--Split in the Liberal Party--The Presidential
Campaign--Bargain between José Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas--General
Menocal and Dr. Montoro--The Victory of the Liberals--Changes in
Provincial and Municipal Administrations--Revision of Laws--Settling
Church Claims--End of the Second Intervention.
CHAPTER XVI 297
Administration of President José Miguel Gomez--His Cabinet Sketch of His
Career--Sketch of Vice-President Zayas--Army Reorganization--New
Laws--The President's Sensitiveness to Criticism--Officials in
Politics--Charges of Profligacy and Corruption--Clash with the Veterans'
Association--The United States Interested--Quarrels between Gomez and
Zayas--Formidable Negro Revolt Suppressed--Reluctance to Settle
Claims--Outrage Upon an American Diplomat--Amnesty Bill--The Lottery
Established--The "Dragado" Scandal--The Railroad Terminal.
CHAPTER XVII 312
The Fourth Presidential Campaign--Candidacy and Career of Mario G.
Menocal--His Brilliant Work in the War of Independence and in the Sugar
Industry--Sketch of Enrique José Varona--Dr. Rafael Montoro's
Distinguished Career--His Diplomatic Services and Literary
Achievements--President Menocal's Cabinet--His Aims and Plans for His
Administration--First Message to Congress--Factional Obstruction--Paying
Off Old Debts--Trying to Abolish Gambling--The Civil
Service--Controversy Over the Asbert Amnesty Bill--A Small Insurrection.
CHAPTER XVIII 328
Reelection of President Menocal--Features of the Campaign--Liberal
Conspiracy to Invalidate the Election by Revolutionary Means--Disputed
Elections--The Double Treason of José Miguel Gomez--Outbreak of a
Carefully Planned Insurrection--Intrigues of Orestes Ferrara in the
United States--Vigorous Military Action of President Menocal--American
Assistance Wisely Declined--Capture of the Rebel Chieftain--Efforts of
the Insurgents at Devastation--Continuance of the Rebellion by Carlos
Mendieta--Dr. Ferrara Warned by the American Government--Attempts to
Assassinate President Menocal--Clemency Shown to Criminals--Attitude of
the United States Government--Some Plain Talk from Washington.
CHAPTER XIX 346
Cuba's Entry into the War of the Nations--President Menocal's War
Message--Prompt Response of Congress--Sentiments of the Cuban
People--German Propaganda--Attitude of the Church--Liberal Intrigues
with Germans--Seizure of German Ships--Conservation and Increased
Production of Food--Military Services--Generous Subscriptions to Liberty
Loans--Mrs. Menocal's Leadership in Red Cross Work--Noble Activities of
the Women of Cuba--Moral and Spiritual Effect of Cuba's Participation in
the War.
CHAPTER XX 355
Marti's Epigram on the Revolution--How It has been Fulfilled by the
Cuban Republic--The Sense of Responsibility--Progress in Popular
Education as a Criterion--Great Gain in Health--Enormous Growth of the
Sugar Industry--Commerce of the Island--Stable Finances--Sanitary
Efficiency--Military Reorganization--Statesmanship of President
Menocal--Cuba's Unique Situation Among the Countries of the
Globe--Significance of the Record Which She has Made from Velasquez to
Menocal.
ILLUSTRATIONS
FULL PAGE PLATES
José Marti _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
The Prado 16
Maximo Gomez 44
José Antonio Maceo 74
Bay and Harbor of Havana 98
Old and New in Havana 134
Leonard Wood 158
University of Havana 164
Carlos J. Finlay 172
The Capitol 204
Tomas Estrada Palma 248
The President's Home 268
The Academy of Arts and Crafts 288
Mario G. Menocal 312
Enrique José Varona 316
Rafael Montoro 320
Senora Menocal 352
Boneato Road, Oriente 358
TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS
Ricardo del Monte 2
Julian del Casal 6
José Ramon Villalon 13
George Reno 21
La Punta Fortress, Havana 33
Aniceto G. Menocal 50
General Weyler 66
William McKinley 87
Antonio Govin 95
Admiral Cervera 110
Admiral Schley 110
Old Fort at El Caney 112
Theodore Roosevelt 113
Monuments on San Juan Hill 114
Admiral Sampson 115
Peace Tree near Santiago 116
Part of Old City Wall of Havana 122
Gonzalez Lanuza 146
Evelio Rodriguez Lendian 162
Antonio Sanchez de Bustamente 165
Almendares River, Havana 167
Old Time Water Mill, Havana Province 169
Street in Vedado, Suburb of Havana 176
Aurelia Castillo de Gonzalez 192
Scene in Villalon Park, Havana 247
Flag of Cuba 250
Coat of Arms of Cuba 251
William H. Taft 276
José Miguel Gomez 298
Dr. Alfredo Zayas 300
Birthplace of Mario G. Menocal 313
Dr. Juan Guiteras 321
General D. Emilio Nuñez 328
José Luis Azcarata 341
Francisco Dominguez Roldan 357
José A. del Cueto 359
Dr. Fernandez Mendez-Capote 360
General José Marti 360
Eugenio Sanchez Agramonte 362
Academy of Sciences, Havana 364
THE HISTORY OF CUBA
CHAPTER I
Cuba for Cuba must be the grateful theme of the present volume. We have
seen the identification of the Queen of the Antilles with the Spanish
discovery and conquest of America. We have traced the development of
widespread international interests in that island, especially
implicating the vital attention of at least four great powers. We have
reviewed the origin and development of a peculiar relationship,
frequently troubled but ultimately beneficent to both, between Cuba and
the United States of America. Now, in the briefest of the four major
epochs into which Cuban history is naturally divided, we shall have the
welcome record of the achievement of Cuba's secure establishment among
the sovereign nations of the world.
The time for the War of Independence was well chosen. That conflict was,
indeed, a necessary and inevitable sequel to the Ten Years' War and its
appendix, the Little War; under the same flag, with the same principles
and issues, and with some of the same leaders. Indeed we may rightly
claim that the organization of the Cuban Republic remained continuous
and unbroken, if not in Cuba itself, at least in the United States,
where, in New York, the Cuban Junta was ever active and resolute. The
Treaty of Zanjon ended field operations for the time. It did not for one
moment or in the least degree quench or diminish the impassioned and
resolute determination of the Cuban people to become a nation.
We have said that the War of Independence was inevitable. That was
manifestly so because of the determination of the Cubans to become
independent. It was also because of the failure of the Spanish
government to fulfil the terms and stipulations of the Treaty of Zanjon,
concerning which we have hitherto spoken. It must remain a matter of
speculation whether that government ever intended to fulfil them. It is
certain that few thoughtful Cubans, capable of judging the probabilities
of the future by the actualities of the past, expected that it would do
so. We may also regard it as certain that even a scrupulous fulfilment
of those terms, while it might have postponed it, would not and could
not permanently have defeated the assertion of Cuban independence.
[Illustration: RICARDO DEL MONTE
Journalist, critic, poet and patriot, Ricardo del Monte was born at
Cimorrones in 1830, and was educated in the United States and Europe. In
Rome he was attached to the Spanish embassy. In Spain he was a
journalist with liberal and democratic tendencies. He returned to Cuba
in 1847 and edited several papers in Havana, including, after the Ten
Years War, _El Triunfo_ and _El Pais_, the organ of the Autonomists. He
was a writer in prose and verse of singular power and grace, his works
ranking in style with the best of modern Spanish literature. He died in
1908.]
The Cuban Revolutionary Party, which as we have said never went out of
existence, was reorganized for renewed activity in New York in April,
1892; from which time we may properly date the beginning of the War of
Independence. Its leader was Jose Marti, of whom we shall have much more
to say hereafter; but he did not accept the official headship of the
Junta. That place was taken by Tomas Estrada Palma, the honored veteran
of the Ten Years' War, who at this time was the principal of an
excellent boys' school at Central Valley, New York. He was the President
of the Junta. The Secretary was Gonzalo de Quesada, worthy bearer of an
honored name; a fervent patriot and an eloquent orator. The Treasurer
was Benjamin Guerra, an approved patriot, and the General Counsel was
Horatio Rubens. This New York Junta, meeting at No. 56 New Street, New
York City, was the real head of the whole movement. But it was
supplemented by many other Cuban clubs elsewhere. There were ten in New
York, 61 at Key West, Florida; 15 at Tampa, two at Ocala, two in
Philadelphia, and one each at New Orleans, Jacksonville, Brooklyn,
Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and St. Augustine. There were also six in the
island of Jamaica, two in Mexico, and one in Hayti.
The multiplication of these organizations and their increasing activity
did not escape the observation of the Spanish government, which realized
that revolution was in the air, and that it behooved it to do something
to counteract it if it was to avoid losing the last remains of its once
vast American empire. Accordingly early in 1893 the Cortes at Madrid
enacted a bill extending the electoral franchise in Cuba to all men
paying each as much as five pesos tax yearly. The Autonomist party at
first regarded this concession with doubt and suspicion, but finally
decided to give it a trial and participated in the elections held under
the new law. But the result was unsatisfactory; owing, it was openly
charged, to gross intimidation and frauds by the Government. The sequel
was increased activity of the revolutionary organizations.
The Spanish government was vigilant and strenuous. It sent more troops
to Cuba, and it sent a large part of its navy to American waters, to
patrol the Cuban coast, to cruise off the Florida coast, and to guard
the waters between the two, in order to prevent the sending of
filibustering expeditions or cargoes of supplies from the United States
to Cuba. These efforts were so efficient that no important expeditions
got through. But in spite of that fact an insurrection was started in
Cuba in the spring of 1893.
The leaders were two brothers, Manuel and Ricardo Sartorius, of Santiago
de Cuba. On April 24 they put themselves at the head of a band of twenty
men and, at Puernio, near Holguin, they proclaimed a revolution. The
next day they were joined by eighteen more, and by the time they had
marched to Milas, on the north coast, the band was increased to 300,
while other bands, in sympathy with them, were formed at Holguin,
Manzanillo, Guantanamo, and Las Tunas. This movement, however, was
purely a private enterprise of the Sartorius Brothers; in which they
presumably expected to be supported by a general uprising of the Cuban
people. As a matter of fact there was no such uprising. The people
seemed indifferent to it. The juntas and clubs in New York and elsewhere
knew nothing about it. The Executive Committee of the Autonomist Party
in Cuba adopted resolutions condemning it and giving moral support to
the Spanish government, and the Cuban Senators and Deputies in the
Cortes at Madrid took like action.
Meantime the Spanish authorities in the island acted promptly and with
vigor. The Captain-General summoned a council of war on April 27, and
sent troops to the scene of revolt, and directed the fleet to exercise
renewed vigilance to prevent aid from reaching the insurgents from the
United States. The next day martial law was proclaimed throughout the
province of Santiago de Cuba, and four thousand troops, divided into
seven columns, were in hot pursuit of the revolutionists. The numbers of
the latter rapidly dwindled through desertions and in a couple of days
all had vanished save the two brothers and 29 of their followers. On May
2 these all surrendered, on promise of complete pardon, a promise which
was fulfilled, and on May 9 martial law was withdrawn and the abortive
revolt was ended.
This occurrence moved the Spanish government, however, to further
efforts to placate the Cubans, and in 1894 the Minister for the
Colonies, Senor Maura, proposed a bill for the reorganization of the
insular government. The six provincial councils were to be merged into a
single legislature. With this was to be combined an Executive Council,
or Board of Administration, to administer the laws; consisting of the
Governor-General as President, various high civil and military
functionaries, and nine additional members named by Royal decree. This
arrangement was strongly opposed and finally defeated, whereupon Senor
Maura resigned. Later in the same year the Cabinet was reorganized with
him as Minister of Justice and with Senor Abarzuza, a follower of Emilio
Castelar, the Spanish Republican leader, as Minister for the Colonies.
The Prime Minister was Praxedes Sagasta, the leader of the Spanish
Liberals, and a statesman of consummate ability. There was much
complaint by Conservatives that the Captain-General in Cuba, Emilio
Calleja, favored the native Autonomists over the Loyalists or Spanish
party. Despite this, Senor Abarzuza, after taking much counsel with the
Prime Minister and others, planned radical action in behalf of Cuban
autonomy, hoping to establish a new regime which, he fondly hoped, would
allay discontent, abate disaffection, and confirm Cuba in her
traditional status of the "Ever Faithful Isle." Accordingly he entered
into long and earnest consultation with the leaders of the various
political parties in Spain, including the Carlists and Radical
Republicans, and also with representative Loyalists and Home
Rulers--otherwise Spaniards and Autonomists--of Cuba. Never, indeed, was
a more thorough attempt made to secure the judgment of all parties and
thus to frame a measure that would be satisfactory to all. Moreover, an
exceptionally reasonable and conciliatory spirit was shown by all the
leading politicians, of all shades of opinion, so that it seemed for a
time that the resulting bill, framed by Senors Sagasta and Abarzuza,
would be accepted with scarcely a word of criticism and would mark the
opening of a new era in colonial affairs.
[Illustration: JULIAN DEL CASAL
During his brief life, from 1863 to October 21, 1891, Julian del Casal,
invalid and misanthrope though he was, made a brilliant record in the
world of letters, and gave to Cuban poetry its greatest modern impulse.
Most of his life was spent in penury, on the meagre earnings of a hack
journalist, but his memory is cherished as that of one of the foremost
men of letters of his time.]
The bill was drafted. It was in purport a West Indies Home Rule bill.
Its salient feature was the establishment in Cuba of an Insular Council,
which would be the local governing body of the colony. Of it the Spanish
Viceroy, or Captain General, would be the President; and of course he
would continue to be appointed by the Crown. Of the members of the
Council, one half would be appointed by the Crown, from among certain
specified classes of the inhabitants of Cuba; and the other half would
be elected by the suffrages of the Cuban people. This body would have,
subject only to the veto of the Captain-General, control of all insular
affairs, including supervision of provincial and municipal councils. It
would also, subject to the approval of the Madrid government, legislate
for the regulation of immigration, commerce, posts and telegraphs,
revenue, and similar matters. On the face of it the measure promised
great improvement in the government of the island, and the investing of
the people of Cuba with a very large measure of self-government, both
legislative and executive. It was the last and probably the best
voluntary attempt ever made by Spain to give Cuba self-government.
Unfortunately for Spain there were two fatal flaws in the scheme; one
subjective, one objective. The former was the fact that the appointment
of half the members of the Council by the Crown would assure in that
body a constant majority devoted to and subservient to the Crown, and
that circumstance, together with the veto power, would prevent the
possibility of any legislation not entirely pleasing to Madrid. That
made the thing quite unacceptable to all Cubans whose aim was the
independence of the island or even genuine autonomy and home rule. The
other flaw was the fact that while Cuban Loyalists and Autonomists were
called into consultation over the bill, and gave it their approval,
Cuban advocates of Independence were not called; they would not have
entered into conference; and they were irrevocably committed against any
scheme that did not provide for the complete separation of the island
from Spain and the creation of an entirely independent government. The
bill was adopted by the Spanish Chamber of Deputies by a practically
unanimous vote, on February 14, 1895, and was likewise adopted by the
Senate. In Cuba it was regarded by the Autonomists as not satisfactory,
in that it retained too much power for the Crown. As for the party of
Cuban Independence, it looked upon it as unworthy of serious
consideration. Ten days after its passage by the Chamber of Deputies,
the Cuban Revolution was proclaimed.
The reproachful comment has been made by some writers that the Cuban
leaders started the revolution at that date, February 24, 1895, in order
to defeat the beneficent designs of Spain in granting autonomy to the
island, and that if they had not done so, the Abarzuza law would have
been generally accepted and successfully applied, and Cuba would have
remained a colony of Spain, contented, loyal and prosperous. For this
strange theory there is no good foundation. It had been made perfectly
clear for more than two years preceding that no such arrangement--indeed,
that nothing short of complete separation from Spain--would satisfy the
Cuban people. Moreover, preparations had been copiously made for the
revolution, long before the passage of this measure. Cubans in the
United States, of whom there were many, had contributed freely of their
means for the purchase of arms and ammunition. There were considerable
stocks of arms in Cuba which had remained concealed since the Ten Years'
War, and these had been added to by surreptitious shipments from the
United States. It is a matter of record that considerable quantities of
first rate Mauser rifles were obtained from the arsenals of the Spanish
government, being secretly purchased from custodians who were either
corrupt or in sympathy with the revolutionists. Efforts were also made
to land expeditions from the United States. One formidable party was to
have sailed from Fernandina, Florida, a month before the passage of the
Abarzuza law, but it was checked and disbanded by the United States
authorities.
The year 1895 was not inappropriate for the beginning of a war which
should annihilate the Spanish colonial empire and should add a new
member to the world's community of sovereign nations. In almost every
quarter of the globe great things were happening. At the antipodes Japan
was completing her crushing defeat of China and was thus bringing
herself forward as one of the great military and naval powers. The
ancient empire of Siam was establishing an enlightened constitutional
and parliamentary system of government. In Africa the epochal conflict
between Boer and Briton was developing inexorably, and France was about
to achieve the conquest of Madagascar. In Europe, Nicholas II was newly
seated upon the throne of the Czars, and the strange resignation of the
Presidency by Casimir-Perier threw France into such a crisis as she had
scarcely known before since the foundation of the Republic. Nearer home,
Peru and Ecuador were convulsed with revolution, and the controversy
between Venezuela and British Guiana began to loom acute and ominous. In
such a setting was the War of Cuban Independence staged.
The foremost director of that war, its organizer and inspirer, was José
Marti; one of those rare geniuses who have appeared occasionally in the
history of the world to be the incarnation of great ideals of justice
and human right. He was indeed many times a genius: Organizer,
economist, historian, poet, statesman, tribune of the people, apostle of
freedom, above all, Man. In himself he united the virtues, the
enthusiasm and the energising vitality which his countrymen needed to
have aroused in themselves. To his disorganized and disheartened country
he brought a magic personality which won all hearts and inspired them
all with his own irrepressible and indestructible ideal, National
Independence.
Marti was a native Cuban, born in Havana on January 28, 1853. In his
mere boyhood he became an eloquent and inspiring advocate of the ideal
to which he devoted his life and which he did so much to realize; and at
the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, when he was scarcely yet sixteen
years old, the Spanish government recognized in him one of its most
formidable foes and one of the most efficient propagandists of Cuban
independence. For that reason, before he had a chance to enter the ranks
of the patriot army, he was deported from the island and doomed to
exile. He made his way to Mexico, thence to Guatemala, and there, a lad
still in his teens, became Professor of Literature in the National
University of that country--a striking testimonial to his erudition and
culture. After the Treaty of Zanjon he was permitted to return to Cuba,
but he was one of those whom the Spanish government most feared, and he
was therefore kept under the closest of surveillance by the police. It
was not in his nature to dissemble, or to be afraid. He quickly came
before the public in a series of memorable orations, memorable alike for
their sonorous eloquence, their cultured erudition, and their intense
patriotism; in which he set forth the deplorable state in which Cuba
still lay, after her ten years' struggle for better things, and the need
that the work which had been so bravely undertaken by Cespedes and his
associates should be again undertaken and pressed to a successful
conclusion. His orations seemed to have the effect attributed to
Demosthenes in his Philippics: They made his hearers want to take up
arms and fight against their oppressors.
This of course brought upon him the wrath of Spain. He was arrested, and
since he was altogether too dangerous a person to be set free in exile,
he was carried a close prisoner to Spain. But he quickly made his escape
and found asylum in the United States of America; and there his greatest
work for Cuba was achieved. Porfirio Diaz had invited him to make his
home in Mexico, where he might have risen to almost any eminence in the
state, but he declined. "I must go," he said, "to the country where I
can accomplish most for the freedom of Cuba from Spain. I am going to
the United States." In New York City, where he made his home, he engaged
in literary work, and was for some time a member of the staff of the New
York _Sun_. But above all he devoted his time, thought, strength and
means to organizing the Cuban revolution.
He gathered together in the Cuban Revolutionary Party all the surviving
veterans of the Ten Years' War, Cuban political exiles--like
himself--the remnants of Merchan's old "Laborers' Associations," and
welded them into a harmonious and resolute whole. He also traveled about
the United States, in Mexico and Central America, and in Jamaica and
Santo Domingo, wherever Cubans were to be found, rousing them to
patriotic zeal and organizing them into clubs tributary to the central
Junta in New York. In Cuba itself many such clubs were organized, in
secret, which maintained surreptitious correspondence with the New York
headquarters.
We have already mentioned some of those with whom he surrounded himself:
Tomas Estrada Palma, the President of the Junta; Gonzalo de Quesada, its
Secretary, who lived to see the Republic established and to become its
Minister to Germany, where he died; Benjamin F. Guerra, its Treasurer;
and Horatio Rubens, its Counsel, who had been trained in the law office
of Elihu Root. Others of that memorable and devoted company were General
Emilio Nunez, afterward Vice-President of the Cuban Republic; and Dr.
Joaquin Castillo Duany, formerly an eminent physician in the United
States Navy, who had distinguished himself in the relief of the famous
Jeannette Arctic expedition. These two had charge of the filibustering
or supply expeditions which were surreptitiously dispatched from the
United States to Cuba. At first General Nunez had charge of all, but
when Dr. Duany came from Cuba the work was divided, and the former
devoted himself to the coast from Norfolk to the Rio Grande, while the
latter supervised that from Norfolk to Eastport, Maine. Dr. Duany and
his brother had been prominent citizens and officials in Santiago de
Cuba. As soon as the War of Independence began they joined the patriot
forces, and Dr. Duany was made Assistant Secretary of War in the
Provisional Government. As such, he ran the Spanish blockade of the
island, in company with Mr. George Reno, another ardent patriot, and
bore to New York authority from the Provisional Government for the
issuing of $3,000,000 of Cuban bonds. He also carried with him in a
little satchel $90,000 in cash, which had been contributed by various
patriotic residents of Cuba.
Another of Marti's associates in New York was Dr. Lincoln de Zayas, a
brilliant orator, afterward Secretary of Public Instruction of the Cuban
Republic; a man greatly loved by all who knew him. Dr. Enrique
Agramonte, brother of that gallant Ignacio Agramonte who was a leader in
the Ten Years' War and was killed in that conflict, was a member of the
Junta in New York, who inspected and selected all the men who were to
go on filibustering expeditions; a keen judge of the physical, mental
and moral fitness of all the candidates who presented themselves before
him. Colonel José Ramon Villalon was also active in the Junta; and he
has since been Secretary of Public Works at Havana under President Mario
G. Menocal. Nor must Ponce de Leon, a publisher and bookseller, of No.
32 Broadway, New York, be forgotten. His office was frequently the
meeting place of the conspirators, if so we may call the patriots, and
he and his two sons--one a physician, the other in charge of the
archives of the Cuban government--were among the most earnest and
efficient workers for the cause of independence.
[Illustration: JOSE RAMON VILLALON
José Ramon Villalon, Secretary of Public Works, was born at Santiago in
1864. He was sent to Barcelona to be educated and later studied at the
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa., where he graduated as civil engineer
in 1899. On the outbreak of the war he accompanied General Antonio Maceo
on his famous raid in Pinar del Rio province, and was present at the
engagements of Artemisa, Ceja del Negro, Montezuelo, attaining the rank
of lieutenant-colonel of engineers. While serving under Maceo he
designed and constructed the first field dynamite gun, now in the
National Museum in Havana. After the war he was made Secretary of Public
Works under the military government of General Leonard Wood. Col.
Villalon is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the
American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Academy of Sciences
(Havana), and the Cuban Society of Engineers.]
The ideal of Marti and these associates was unequivocally that of Cuban
independence. They had no thought of accepting or even considering mere
autonomy under Spanish sovereignty, or any promises of reforms in the
insular government. They might not have been inexorably opposed to
annexation to the United States, had opportunity for that been offered.
They might have accepted it, in fact, for the sake of getting entirely
away from Spain; for that would at least have meant independence from
Spain. But as a matter of fact, annexation was not considered. It was
never discussed. It formed no part of the programme, not even as an
alternative.
Although a poet and a seer, Marti was one of the most practical of men.
He realized with Cicero that "endless money forms the sinews of war."
One of his first cares, therefore, was to finance the revolution. To
that end he made a direct appeal to Cuban workmen--and women,
too--wherever he could get into contact with them, to give one tenth of
their weekly wages to the cause of Cuban independence. Probably never
before or since in the world's wars has such a system of voluntary
tithing been so successfully conducted. It seemed as though every Cuban
in the United States responded. Wealthy men gave one tenth of their
large incomes, and Cuban girls in cigar factories gave one tenth of
their small wages. In many cases they did more, giving one day's wages
each week. Indeed, this is said to have been the general rule in the
cigar and cigarette factories of the United States. Next to Marti
himself, Lincoln de Zayas was perhaps the most successful money raiser.
Numerous speakers and canvassers went to all parts of the country where
Cubans might be found, soliciting funds. Appeal was also made to
Americans, but not so much for pecuniary aid as for sympathy and moral
aid. But in fact much money was given by liberty loving Americans. John
Jacob Astor, afterward a Colonel in the United States army in the war of
intervention, gave $10,000. William E. D. Stokes, of New York, was also
a large contributor and manifested much interest in the cause,
presumably in part because his wife was a Cuban.
Most of this work of Marti's was done in 1893 and 1894. His original
plan was to launch a vast plan of numerous invasions of the island and
simultaneous uprisings in all the provinces in 1894. He purchased and
equipped three vessels, the _Amadis_, the _Baracoa_ and the _Lagonda_,
only to suffer the mortification and very heavy loss of having them
seized by the American authorities for violation of the neutrality law.
Undaunted and undismayed, he renewed his efforts, and at last had the
satisfaction of seeing the revolution openly begun at Baire, near
Santiago, on February 24, 1895. And then occurred one of the most
lamentable and needless tragedies of the whole war--indeed, of all the
history of Cuba.
It was not in Marti's generous and valiant spirit to remain at the rear
and send others forward to face the fire of the foe. Accordingly, as
soon as the revolution was started, he went from New York to Santo
Domingo to confer with the old war horse of the Ten Years' conflict,
Maximo Gomez, and from that island he issued his manifesto concerning
the purposes and programme of the revolution. Well would it have been
for him and for Cuba had he remained there, or had he returned to New
York, to continue the work which he had been so successfully doing. But
because of a thoughtless clamor in the press and on the part of the
public he was moved to proceed to Cuba with Gomez. They landed in a
frail craft at Playitas on April 11, with about 80 companions, many of
them veterans of the Ten Years' War. They at once joined the cavalry
forces of Perico Perez, and plunged into the thick of the fighting;
Marti showing himself as brave in battle as he had been wise in council.
Meantime a Provisional Government had been formed, by the proclamation
of Antonio Maceo, with Tomas Estrada Palma as Provisional President of
the Cuban Republic, Maximo Gomez as Commander in Chief of the Army, and
José Marti as Secretary General and Diplomatic Agent Abroad. This
appointment was agreeable to Marti, and would have meant the most
advantageous utilization of his masterful talents for the good of Cuba.
But it was not possible for him immediately to begin such duties. He was
with the army in the interior of the island, and his approach to the
coast whence he was to sail on his mission must be effected with
caution.
While Gomez set out for Camaguey, Marti turned toward the southern
coast, intending to go first to Jamaica, whence he could take an English
steamer for New York or any other destination he might select. Marti had
with him an escort of only fifty men, and soon after parting company
with Gomez he was led by a treacherous guide into a ravine where he was
trapped by a Spanish force outnumbering the Cubans twenty to one. The
Cubans fought with desperate valor, Marti himself leading a charge which
nearly succeeded in cutting a way through the Spanish lines. But the
odds were too heavy against them, and without even the satisfaction of
taking two or three Spanish lives for every life they gave, the Cubans
were all slain, Marti himself being among the last to fall. Word of the
conflict reached Gomez, and he came hastening back, just too late to
save his comrade, and was himself wounded in the furious attack which he
made upon the Spaniards in an attempt at least to recover Marti's body.
But his vengeful valor was ineffectual. Marti's body was taken
possession of by the Spaniards, who demonstrated their appreciation of
his greatness, though he was their most formidable foe, by bearing it
reverently to Santiago and there interring it with all the honors of
war.
[Illustration: THE PRADO
Havana's most fashionable residence street and driving thoroughfare
extends from the gloomy Punta fortress along the line of the ancient
city wall, past the Central Park to Colon Park, shaded with laurels and
lined with handsome homes and clubs. In 1907 a hurricane wrecked many of
the great laurels, as well as the royal palms of Colon Park, but in the
genial climate of Cuba the ravages of the elements were rapidly
repaired. The Prado was officially renamed by the Cuban Republic the
Paseo de Marti, in honor of José Marti, but the old name still clings
inseparably to it.]
Thus untimely perished the man who should have lived to be known as the
Father of His Country. But he left a name crowned with imperishable
fame. A Spanish American author has said that the Spanish race in
America has produced only two geniuses, Bolivar and Marti. If that
judgment be too severe in its restriction, at least it is not an
over-estimate of those two transcendent patriots. Marti left, moreover,
an example and an inspiration which never failed his countrymen during
the subsequent years of war. Their loss in his death was irreparable,
but they were not inconsolable; for while he perished, his cause
survived. That cause was well set forth by him in the manifesto which he
issued at Monte Cristi, Hayti, on March 25, 1895, and which read as
follows:
"The war is not against the Spaniard, who, secured by his children and
by loyalty to the country which the latter will establish, shall be able
to enjoy, respected and even loved, that liberty which will sweep away
only the thoughtless who block its path. Nor will the war be the cradle
of disturbances which are alien to the tried moderation of the Cuban
character, nor of tyranny. Those who have fomented it and are still its
sponsors declare in its name to the country its freedom from all hatred,
its fraternal indulgence to the timid Cuban, and its radical respect for
the dignity of man, which constitutes the sinews of battle and the
foundation of the Republic. And they affirm that it will be magnanimous
with the penitent, and inflexible only with vice and inhumanity.
"In the war which has been recommenced in Cuba you will not find a
revolution beside itself with the joy of rash heroism, but a revolution
which comprehends the responsibilities incumbent upon the founders of
nations. Cowardice might seek to profit by another fear under the
pretext of prudence--the senseless fear which has never been justified
in Cuba--the fear of the negro race. The past revolution, with its
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 race war, with which our Spanish beneficiaries would like to
inspire a fear of the revolution. The war of emancipation and their
common labor have obliterated the hatred which slavery might have
inspired. 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, and 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 revolution, which does not flatter nor fear, expects to
find such affectionate neutrality or material aid that through them the
war will be shorter, its disasters less, and more easy and friendly the
subsequent peace in which father and son are to live. We Cubans
commenced 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 us and we will respect them. Steel will answer to steel, and
friendship to friendship."
It may be that not all the generous and altruistic anticipations of this
exalted utterance were fully realized. It may be confidently declared
that all were sincerely meant by their author; and the world will
testify that seldom if ever was a war begun with nobler ideals than
those thus set forth by Jose Marti.