The supreme work of the Government of Intervention, from the political
point of view, was to prepare Cuba for complete self-government and then
to relinquish the control of the island to its own people. It was with
that end in view that General Wood filled all possible offices with
Cubans. It was also to the same end that the municipal election was held
in June, 1900, under a new election law. Soon after that election there
came a call for another, of vastly greater importance. On July 25, 1900,
the President of the United States authorized General Wood as Military
Governor of Cuba to issue a call for the election of a Cuban
Constitutional Convention, which should be representative of the Cuban
people and which should prepare the fundamental law of the independent
insular government which was about to be erected.
General Wood issued the call, fixing September 15 as the date of the
election. This call repeated and reaffirmed the Congressional
declaration of April 20, 1898, concerning the purpose of the United
States not to annex Cuba but to "leave the government and control of the
island to its people." It also called upon the people of Cuba, through
their Constitutional Convention, not only to frame and adopt a
Constitution, but also, "as a part thereof, to provide for and agree
with the Government of the United States upon the relations to exist
between that government and the Government of Cuba." That was a most
significant thing. It made it quite clear that the United States
expected and intended that some special relations should exist between
the two countries, apart from those ordinarily provided in treaties.
Comment, criticism and protest were provoked; some temperate, some
intemperate. Most of the unfavorable comments, and by far the most
severe, came from the United States and were obviously animated by
political hostility to the President. In Cuba the chief objection was
based upon the ground that the island was thus required to do something
through a Constitutional Convention which that body was not intended to
do but which should be done by the diplomatic department of the
government; and also to put into the Constitution something which did
not belong there but which should be determined in a treaty. In this
there was obviously much logical and moral force, and that fact was
appreciated by General Wood, and by the government at Washington, with
the result that assurances were presently given that the order would be
satisfactorily modified. On the strength of this assurance, which was
given in undoubted good faith, Cubans generally prepared for the coming
election and for the great work which lay beyond it. They had been so
disturbed by the original form of the order that many had declared that
they would not participate in the election or serve as delegates to the
Convention. The promise of modification mollified them, and thereafter
all went smoothly and auspiciously.
The call for the election was issued on August 11. The qualifications
for suffrage which were prescribed were the same as those in the
preceding municipal election, and were generally accepted as fair and
just. The election was held on September 15, and it passed off in very
much the same fashion as its predecessor. Only a moderate degree of
popular interest was manifested in it, and the vote cast was not a
large one. The candidates were divided among the three parties already
mentioned, but all save one were elected from the two radical
organizations, the Nationals and the Republicans. Just one, Senor Eliseo
Giberga, of Matanzas province, was returned by the Conservative Union
Democrats. There were a few charges of fraud, but they were vague and
general in terms and were not formulated nor pressed, and in the main
the result of the polling was accepted in good part. The number of
delegates from each province had been prescribed in the call for the
election. The roll of the convention comprised the names of many of the
foremost members of the Cuban nation, distinguished in war, in
statecraft and in science, and was well representative of all parts and
parties of the island.
The convention met for the first time on November 5, 1900, at two
o'clock in the afternoon. All the delegates were present, and a great
multitude of the people gathered in and about the palace to witness the
spectacle and to pay honor to the occasion. They were not alone from the
capital, but from all parts of Cuba. Every province and almost every
important municipality was represented. Expectant optimism prevailed.
There was only one note of uncertainty. That was concerning the promised
modification of the order concerning relations with the United States.
The modification had not yet been announced. There were a few who began
to doubt whether it would ever be; but most put faith in the Military
Governor and were sure that he would keep his word.
He did. At the appointed moment, when all were assembled, General Wood
called the Convention to order and addressed it briefly.
"It will," he said, "be your duty, first, to frame and adopt a
Constitution for Cuba, and when that has been done, to formulate what,
in your opinion, ought to be the relations between Cuba and the United
States. The Constitution must be adequate to secure a stable, orderly
and free government. When you have formulated the relations which, in
your opinion, ought to exist between Cuba and the United States, the
Government of the United States will doubtless take such action on its
part as shall lead to a final and authoritative agreement between the
people of the two countries to the promotion of their common good." He
also reminded the Convention that it had no authority to take any part
in the existing government of the island, or to do anything more than
was prescribed in the order for its assembling. In thus speaking he was
in fact reading to the Convention official instructions from Washington;
in which the order concerning Cuban and American relations was
materially modified. There was nothing in the revised version about
making the agreement a part of the Constitution. The Convention was
merely to express its opinion on the subject, to serve as a basis for
further negotiations. General Wood emphasized this point distinctly, and
it was received with entire satisfaction by the Convention and by the
public.
Having thus delivered to the Convention its instructions and having
expressed his personal good will and wishes for its success, General
Wood retired and the Convention was left to its own counsels and
devices. Thereupon Pedro Llorente, the oldest of the delegates, took the
chair by common consent as temporary president, and Enrique Villuendas,
the youngest delegate, similarly occupied the desk of the secretary. A
fitting oath of office was administered to all by the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of the island; containing a formal renunciation of
all other citizenship and allegiance than Cuban, because several
delegates had become naturalized citizens of the United States and it
was necessary for them thus to resume their status as Cubans. On the
principle that "What was good enough for us when we were struggling in
the field is good enough for us here," the rules of the Cuban
Revolutionary Congress were adopted to govern the Convention. Finally
Domingo Mendez Capote was elected permanent President of the Convention,
and Alfredo Zayas and Enrique Villuendas permanent Secretaries.
There followed the usual experience of such bodies: Divided counsels,
cross purposes, and what not; all gradually working together toward a
common end. A few public sessions were held, at which there was more
speechmaking than work, but after a few weeks private sessions and a
great deal of committee work became the rule. There was no division on
party lines, and there was a lack of dominant leadership; both favorable
circumstances. Much attention was given to studying and analyzing the
constitutions of all other republics in the world, in order to learn
their good features and to avoid their errors and weaknesses. The
constitution of the United States was of course among those studied, but
rather less regard was paid to it than to others, for two reasons. One
was, a desire to avoid even the appearance of making Cuba a mere
appanage to or imitation of its northern neighbor, and the other was the
very practical thought that the constitutions of Latin republics might
be better suited to the Latin republic of Cuba than that of an
Anglo-Saxon republic.
By January 21 the Constitution was drafted in form sufficiently complete
to permit it to be read to the whole convention in a public session,
and thereafter there were daily discussions of its various provisions.
Differences of opinion ranged from mere verbal form to the substance of
the most momentous principles. There was a characteristic passage of
verbal arms over a phrase in the preamble. That paragraph after stating
the purpose of the Convention and of the Constitution, closed by
"invoking the favor of God." When this was read the venerable Salvador
Cisneros, formerly President of the Republic, moved that the phrase be
stricken out. Manuel Sanguilly made a long and dramatic speech, arguing
with much passion that it really did not matter whether the phrase were
included or not, but that it would best be left in, because that might
please some and could hurt nobody. Then the dean of the convention,
Pedro Llorente, made an impassioned appeal for the retention of the
words, to prove to the world that the Cubans were not a nation of
infidels and atheists. In the end the phrase was retained.
Another animated debate arose over the question of religious freedom and
the relations of church and state, which was ended by the adoption of an
article guaranteeing freedom and equality for all forms of religion that
were in accord with "Christian morality and public order," and decreeing
separation of church and state and forbidding the subsidizing of any
church. The question of suffrage was intensely controversial. There were
those who dreaded the result of giving the ballot to tens of thousands
of ignorant and illiterate men. Yet to disfranchise them would mean thus
to debar thousands who had fought for Cuban independence in the late
war, and it was not unreasonably feared that it would also cause
dissatisfaction and resentment which would culminate in disorder and
insurrection. In the end universal equal suffrage was adopted.
The most bitter debate of all, however, was over the qualifications of
the President of the Republic. A strong and persistent effort was made
to imitate the Constitution of the United States by requiring him to be
a native citizen. But that would have debarred Maximo Gomez, who was
born in Santo Domingo. For that reason the proposed restriction was
passionately opposed by all the friends of Gomez, and also by many who
were not his friends and who would have opposed his candidacy for the
Presidency but who felt that it would be disgraceful to put such a
slight upon the gallant old hero of the two wars. On the other hand, the
restriction was urged chiefly for that very reason, that it would debar
Gomez; for, idolized as he was by the great mass of the Cuban people, he
had a number of unrelenting enemies, especially among these politicians
whom he had opposed and overruled in the matter of the Cuban Assembly
and the payment of soldiers at the end of the war. After several days of
acrimonious discussion the friends of Gomez won by a narrow margin, and
the offensive proposal was rejected.
There were many other controversial points, less personal and more
worthy of debate in such a gathering on bases not of personality but of
principle. The governmental powers of the Provinces gave rise to debates
resembling those over state rights in America. The recognition of Cuban
debts was a momentous matter. The method of electing Senators was also
much discussed, as was the principle which the Military Administration
had adopted of having the state and not the provinces or municipalities
control public education. The right of the government to expel
objectionable aliens was the theme of a long and spirited discussion.
With all the animation, sentiment and rhetoric in which Latin debaters
and orators more freely indulge than do the more phlegmatic
Anglo-Saxons, all of these questions were very seriously considered
according to their merits, and were disposed of on that same basis.
There was no haste, and there was no undue delay; while everything was
done "decently and in order." It took the Federal Convention of the
United States four months of secret sessions to frame its Constitution,
and its career was marked with many violent scenes, including the
withdrawal of the representatives of one of the chief states from the
Convention. The Cuban Convention had no incidents so unpleasant as that,
and it completed its work in three months and a half.
[Illustration: AURELIA CASTILLO DE GONZALEZ
Aurelia Castillo de Gonzalez, poet and essayist, was born in Camaguey in
1842, spent much time in European travel, and then settled in Havana.
She first attracted literary attention by her elegy on "El Lugareno" in
1866, and since that time has been an incessant contributor to Cuban
literature in verse and prose. She is the author of a fine study of the
Life and Works of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, of a volume of fables,
and a number of satires. Her complete works (to date) were published in
five volumes in 1913.]
February 21, 1901 was the crowning day. Ten days before the draft of the
Constitution, as yet unsigned, had been published in pamphlet form. On
the date named the Convention was to give it validity by signing it. The
public was admitted to view the scene, the consuls of foreign powers
were in attendance as specially invited guests, and a fine military band
discoursed patriotic and classical music. The Constitution, finally
engrossed, was read aloud, and then one by one the delegates marched up
to the President's desk and affixed their signatures. When the last name
was written, all stood while the band played the national anthem of
Cuba. The President of the Convention, Mendez Capote, made a graceful
address of congratulation and good wishes; and the Convention adjourned,
its work well ended.
We have said that at the opening session, immediately after his
introductory address, the American Military Governor left the hall. He
did not revisit it, and neither he nor any American officer was ever
present at any meeting of the Convention; nor was any American
representative present at the closing function of the signing of the
Constitution. The purpose of that abstention was obvious. It was to
avoid so much as the appearance or the suspicion of American meddling or
dictation in the work of the Convention. General Wood had told the
Convention that it had nothing to do with his government of the island.
Conversely he wished to show that he and his government had nothing to
do with the work of the Convention.
The Constitution thus auspiciously brought into existence declares Cuba
to be a sovereign republic. The powers of government are much more
centralized than those in the United States. The six Provinces have no
such rights as have the states of America, though they have a liberal
measure of local governmental power. They are not states or provinces,
however, but mere departments--fractions of the whole instead of
integral units. Each has a Governor and an elected Assembly. So each
city and town has a mayor and a council. Municipalities have the power
to levy taxes for local needs. The control of railroads and telegraphs
is a national function, and the judicial system is also national. There
is freedom of speech, of press and of worship. No prisoner may be held
longer than twenty-four hours without judicial process. Congress
consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. There are six
Senators from each department, elected by the municipalities for six
years, one third retiring every two years. Representatives are elected
from districts by the people for four years, there being one member to
every 25,000 inhabitants. Senators and Representatives must be
twenty-five years old, and if not native citizens must have been
naturalized eight years. The President and Vice-President are elected
for four years by the people through electoral colleges, with a
provision for minority representation, each citizen voting for only
two-thirds of the number of electors to which his district is entitled.
Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed for life by the President
with the ratification of the Senate. The civil law and constitutional
guarantees can be suspended in case of emergency only by Congress when
it is in session, but by the President when Congress is not in session.
The House of Representatives may impeach the President, when the Senate
may suspend him from office, try him, and upon conviction remove him
permanently. Amendments of the Constitution must be voted by two-thirds
of both Houses and ratified by a popular convention specially called for
the purpose.
There can be no question that this was a highly creditable production,
and one which amply merited the qualified approval which was given to it
by Elihu Root, Secretary of War of the United States, when he said: "I
do not fully agree with the wisdom of some of the provisions of this
Constitution. But it provides for a republican form of government; it
was adopted after long and patient consideration and discussion; it
represents the views of the delegates elected by the people of Cuba;
and it contains no features which would justify the assertion that a
government organized under it will not be one to which the United States
may properly transfer the obligations for the protection of life and
property under international law, assumed in the Treaty of Paris."
The first part of the Convention's work was thus done. There remained
the second part, the expression of Cuban opinion as to what ought to be
the relations between that island and the United States. Over this a
most unfortunate controversy arose, chiefly provoked and fomented,
however, not by Cubans but by the partisan enemies of the President of
the United States and of his policy, who did not scruple to intrigue
against him in the affairs of foreign lands. It will be recalled that
this hatred of him, provoked largely because of his insistence on
fulfilling the pledge of Cuban freedom instead of seeking to serve
certain sordid interests by forcibly annexing the island, culminated in
the assassination of President McKinley at the incitement of his
political foes. The opposition to him and to his policy in Cuba was
continued unabated against his successor, President Roosevelt; and it
was most unfortunate for both countries that the establishment of Cuban
self-government and the determination of her relations to her northern
neighbor, had to be effected in such circumstances.
The United States government had to deal on the one hand with those who
insisted that it should have no more special relations with Cuba than
any other country had; and on the other with those who demanded the
repudiation of the Congressional pledge and the forcible annexation of
the island. In those circumstances it was not strange that many Cubans
were disinclined to make any such arrangement as had been required in
the call for the Convention. They recalled that the United States had
declared that "Cuba is of right and ought to be free and independent,"
and they were not disposed to look beyond that declaration.
Three considerations were too much overlooked on both sides, save by the
thoughtful American and Cuban statesmen who finally solved the problem.
One was that the United States had for nearly a century exercised a
certain degree of protection or supervision over Cuba. It had repeatedly
forbidden European powers to meddle with the island, and had for many
years guaranteed and protected Spain in her possession of it. It was
held to be only reasonable that a similar degree of interest should be
maintained in the island in its independent status. The second point was
that in the Treaty of Paris in 1898 the United States had incurred a
certain moral if not a legal responsibility for the future of Cuba. The
third was the much less specific yet by no means negligible
consideration that the United States had intervened in Cuba to put an
end to conditions which had become intolerably offensive to it, and it
was therefore equitably entitled to take all proper precautions against
a recurrence of such conditions.
In pursuance of the requirements of the call for the Convention, then,
immediately after the signing of the Constitution, a committee was
appointed to draft a project concerning relations with the United
States. It consisted of Diego Tamayo, Gonzalo de Quesada, Juan Gualberto
Gomez, Enrique Villuendas, and Manuel Ramon Silva. These gentlemen
conferred with General Wood, to learn the wishes of President McKinley,
and then drafted a scheme which they presented to the Convention and
which that body adopted on February 27. Unfortunately between the
President's wishes and the committee's project there were radical
differences. The President, through his Secretary of War, Elihu Root,
had on February 9 expressed with much circumstance and detail and a
wealth of argument the relationship which the United States government
regarded as essential. It amounted to this: That the Cuban government
should never make any treaty or engagement which would impair its
independence, nor make any special agreement with any foreign power
without the consent of the United States; that it should contract no
public debt in excess of the capacity of the ordinary revenues of the
island; that the United States should have the right of intervention for
the preservation of Cuban independence and the maintenance of a stable
government; that all the acts of the American Military Administration
should be validated; and that the United States should be permitted to
acquire and to hold naval stations in Cuba at certain points.
The Committee of the Convention reported that in its judgment some of
these conditions were unacceptable, inasmuch as they impaired the
independence of Cuba. So it proposed and the Convention adopted
proposals to this effect: That Cuba should never impair her independence
by any agreement with any power, not excepting the United States; that
she should never permit her territory to be used as a base or war
against the United States; that she accepted the obligations expressed
and implied in the Treaty of Paris; that she should validate the acts of
the Military Government "for the good government of Cuba"; and that the
United States and Cuba should regulate their commercial relations by
means of a reciprocity treaty.
Obviously, there was a wide divergence between the two schemes. It was
unfortunate that the American Congress was about to adjourn, on March
4, and was reluctant to reassemble in special session, and also that the
political passions to which we have referred were raging at so high a
pitch. In more favorable circumstances the matter would have been
settled diplomatically without friction or ill-feeling. There was,
indeed, a very considerable conservative party in Cuba, probably
comprising a majority of the substantial, well informed and orderly
inhabitants, who favored some such scheme of American supervision and
control as that which had been proposed, and if there had been a little
more time for calm deliberation they would probably have won the
Convention and the whole island to their point of view. Unhappily the
government at Washington determined to finish the matter up before
Congress adjourned on March 4, and in the short time which intervened
the passionate voice of faction was much more in evidence man the
thoughtful and measured voice of patriotic counsel.
Senator Orville H. Platt, of Connecticut, one of the ablest and
fairest-minded men in that body, was the Chairman of the Committee on
Relations with Cuba. It was probably he who suggested the modification
which was made in the instructions to the Convention. He now declared
that--which was perfectly true--the United States Congress had no power
to approve, reject, or in any way amend or modify the Cuban
Constitution. Cuba was entitled to establish her own government without
let or hindrance. But he also held that by virtue of the grounds of its
intervention in Cuban affairs the United States possessed certain rights
and privileges in that island above those of other powers, and that it
was in duty bound, for the sake of both Cuba and itself, to provide in
some assured way for the permanent safe-guarding of those special
interests. These views were approved by the best thought of both
countries, and ultimately prevailed.
In accordance with the views thus expressed, Senator Platt prepared as
an addendum to the Army Appropriation bill, on February 25, the historic
measure known as the Platt Amendment. This, consisting of eight brief
paragraphs, embodied the very points which the President had already
made on February 9, with the addition of three more. One of these was,
that the Cuban government should maintain the work of sanitation already
so auspiciously begun, for the protection of its own people and also the
people of the United States from epidemic pestilence; a requirement
which was probably quite superfluous, seeing that the Cubans were as
intent as the Americans upon the elimination of yellow fever and
malaria. The second was, that the Isle of Pines should be omitted from
the proposed constitutional boundaries of Cuba, the title thereto being
left for future adjustment by treaty. This extraordinary demand was a
bad blot upon the measure, and it is difficult to understand how it ever
was permitted to be inserted at the behest of some unscrupulous and
sordid scheme of exploitation. Happily, subsequent treaty agreements and
court decisions defeated its purpose and confirmed Cuba in her title to
the Isle of Pines. The third was the requirement that Cuba should make
this Platt Amendment either a part of her Constitution or an ordinance
under it and appended to it, and should also embody it in a permanent
treaty with the United States.
At this the storm broke. The great mass of the conservative and
thoughtful people of Cuba, while they regretted the need of it,
recognized the necessity of such an arrangement, and earnestly favored
the acceptance of the Platt Amendment, even with the one or two
objectionable features. But the radicals vigorously opposed it, and in
their opposition were greatly encouraged by the factional enemies of the
President in the United States, who broke all bounds of decency, and not
only raged against him there but organized a propaganda in Cuba itself,
to incite Cubans to oppose and resist the United States. In this the
foremost of such agitators were doubly false. They were not only
stirring up a foreign people against their own country, but they were
doing so with the deliberate and malignant hope of precipitating an
armed conflict between the two countries which would result in the
conquest and forcible annexation of Cuba. While pretending to sympathize
with Cuba and to resent the alleged American impairment of her
sovereignty, they were really scheming for the utter destruction of
Cuban independence.
Agitation, discussion, proposals and counter proposals, upon none of
which could the Convention agree, continued week after week. At the end
of March the question arose of sending a Commission to Washington to see
the President. This was opposed violently, chiefly at the incitement of
American emissaries, who busied themselves in Cuba in urging the
rejection of everything that promised a settlement of the controversy.
On April 1 some unscrupulous intriguer caused a message to be
telegraphed from Washington to the effect that if a Commission came it
would not be received; and this was received in Havana just as the
Convention was about to vote to send such a Commission. Naturally, the
Commission was not sent. On April 9, having learned that the message was
unofficial and mischievous, the Convention reconsidered the matter and
by an overwhelming majority voted to send a commission. Again
mysterious dispatches came from Washington, saying that the President
was resolute in refusing to recognize any Cuban envoys, and in
consequence the sending of the Commission was delayed.
Then the proposal was made that the Convention should reject the Platt
Amendment outright, and afterward send a Commission to Washington; and
this was actually carried, though by mistake, some members voting
exactly contrary to the way they intended. Then it was voted to send a
Commission, with special instructions to try to secure the inclusion of
a commercial treaty in the Platt Amendment. With this in view the
Convention on April 15 designated five members of such a Commission.
They were Mendez Capote, the President of the Convention; Diego Tamayo,
Leopoldo Berriel, Pedro Gonzales Llorente, and Rafael Portuondo; but as
Dr. Berriel could not go, General Pedro Betancourt was named in his
place. The Commission sailed for Washington on April 20. General Wood
also sailed on the same day, though on another steamer. The Cubans
reached Washington four days later, and the next day, in contradiction
to the false dispatches which had been sent, they were courteously
received by President McKinley. After a brief interview he introduced
them to the Secretary of War, to whose department Cuban affairs, under a
Military governor, belonged. He received them most cordially. Indeed, he
had strongly wished them to come to Washington for a conference. He told
them frankly that the Platt Amendment must stand, just as it was, and
that it must be accepted and adopted by Cuba before any further steps
could be taken for the establishment of a Cuban government. Then, at
their request, he gave a detailed explanation of what the United States
government conceived to be the meaning, the purpose and the effect of
each of the provisions of that instrument. He especially showed that it
was merely a logical continuation of long established American policy;
that it was intended not for the gain of the United States but for the
protection of Cuba; and that it would in no way interfere with the
domestic self-sovereignty of the Cuban people, or with the rank of Cuba
as an independent nation among the nations of the world.
The Committee returned to Havana and reported to the Convention the
results of its mission, and the Convention resumed consideration of the
American demands in the new light of Mr. Root's exposition of them.
Faction was still furious. Enemies of the President in the United States
went to Cuba or sent word thither, urging the radical element to hold
out to the bitter end against the Platt Amendment, saying that it would
need only a little longer resistance to compel the American government
to abandon it altogether. Counsels were divided in the Convention, and
numerous proposals of substitutes for the Amendment or for parts of it
were made, but upon none of them could the Convention agree. Some of the
most radical members suggested that the Convention adjourn without day.
But on the whole wiser counsels prevailed. The Commission had been much
impressed by Mr. Root's candid and cogent presentation of the case. It
had also become convinced that if the Amendment were adopted a liberal
reciprocity measure would be granted which would be of vast value to
Cuban commerce and industry. Consideration of the subject continued
until the latter part of May. On May 28 the question of adoption of the
Platt Amendment with certain qualifications was presented to the
Convention for a final vote. The Convention divided equally. There were
fourteen ayes and fourteen nays. Thereupon the President, Mendez Capote,
cast the deciding ballot. He voted aye. This caused a renewal of the
storm. Diego Tamayo and Juan Gualberto Gomez were especially outspoken
in their denunciation of all who had voted for the measure, and some of
the former's remarks were so severe that their retraction was required.
The qualified acceptance of the Amendment was not, however, satisfactory
to the Washington government, and the Convention was promptly informed
of that fact. In consequence the matter was reopened, and on June 12,
after a brief and temperate debate, a final vote was taken on
unconditional acceptance and adoption of the Platt Amendment. The result
was sixteen ayes to eleven nays.
That ended the matter. The Amendment had become a permanent addendum to
the Cuban Constitution, and the relations between the island's future
government and the United States was irrevocably determined. There was
little further criticism. The American agitators and speculators who had
been inciting the Cubans to resistance, in order thus to make them
compass their own ruin, abandoned their execrable intrigues for other
ventures elsewhere, while the Cubans who had been their dupes, relieved
of their pernicious influence, soon began to appreciate the
reasonableness of most of the provisions of the Amendment and the very
material benefits which it would bestow upon Cuba.