Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team
PICTORIAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN
A THRILLING ACCOUNT OF THE LAND AND NAVAL OPERATIONS OF AMERICAN
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS IN OUR WAR WITH SPAIN, AND THE HEROIC
STRUGGLES OF CUBAN PATRIOTS AGAINST SPANISH TYRANNY.
INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF CUBA, SPAIN, PHILIPPINE
ISLANDS, OUR ARMY AND NAVY, FIGHTING STRENGTH, COAST DEFENSES, AND
OUR RELATIONS WITH OTHER NATIONS, ETC., ETC.
BY TRUMBULL WHITE,
THE WELL KNOWN AND POPULAR AUTHOR, HISTORIAN AND WAR
CORRESPONDENT.
ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS OF BATTLES,
ON SEA AND LAND, WAR SHIPS, ETC., FROM LIFE.
FREEDOM PUBLISHING CO.
Dedicated To Our American Volunteers
PREFACE.
Information concerning the island of Cuba has been of an
exceedingly unsatisfactory character until the search-light of
American inquiry was thrown upon it from the beginning of the war
for Cuban liberty early in 1895. Although our next-door neighbor
to the south, with a perfect winter climate and a host of
interesting and picturesque attractions for travelers, tourists
had been comparatively few, measured by the numbers that might
have been expected. All of the reasons for this were those which
naturally followed the characteristic Spanish rule of the island.
Publicity was not welcomed, inquiry was not welcomed, travelers
were not welcomed. The cities and the accommodations they offered
were in many ways far behind those of like age and size in the
other countries of the globe. Railway construction and the making
of highways had lagged disgracefully, because the exorbitant taxes
collected were looted by the officers of the government as their
own spoils. No other country so near to the highways of ocean
commerce and so accessible from the United States was so little
known.
A few travelers had journeyed to Cuba and had written books
descriptive of their experiences, which were read with interest by
those who had access to them. But these books were usually simply
descriptive of the people, the manner of life, the scenery, and
the things of surface interest. It is proverbial that Spanish rule
conceals the resources of a country instead of exploiting them.
The person of inquiring mind had no way in Cuba to obtain prompt
information concerning the material facts of the island's wealth
of resource, because the Spanish authorities themselves knew
nothing about it. Spanish statistics are notoriously unreliable
and incomplete. No census of Cuba worthy the name ever has been
taken, and there are few schools and few sources of accurate
information. With all this handicap it was a foregone conclusion
that the casual traveler should confine himself to the things that
were visible and that were near to the usual paths of travelers.
So until the beginning of the Cuban war for liberty no books could
be obtained which told the things which one really cares to know.
Picturesque descriptions there were, more than one, of
considerable interest, but the information was scattered.
Demand always creates supply, even if material is scant. When the
war began, the people of the United States wanted to know
something of the people who were striving for their freedom, of
their characteristics, their conditions and their personality.
Moreover, it was an immediate necessity to know the geography of
Cuba, its history, its natural conditions, its material resources,
and a host of things that unite to make a comprehensive knowledge
of any country. There were men who knew Cuba from years of
residence there in industrial and commercial enterprises. They
were drawn upon for their knowledge. Then the newspapers of the
United States gave another demonstration of their unvarying
enterprise and covered the points of interest in the insurrection
most exhaustively. Their correspondents shared the camps of
insurgent chiefs, witnessed the daring machete charges of the
Cubans, saw every detail of armed life in the field. Others kept
close watch of the movements of the Spanish forces in Havana and
the fortified towns, as well as in the field. One was shot in
action. Another was macheted to death after his capture, by a
Spanish officer who waited only to be sure that the prisoner was
an American before ordering him to death. Others were incarcerated
in Morro and Cabanas fortresses and in the other Spanish prisons
in Cuba because they insisted on telling the truth to America and
the world. They were the ones who told of the horrors of
reconcentration under that infamous order of Captain General
Weyler. They have been the real historians of Cuba.
It is to all of these sources and others that the information
contained in the present volume is owed. The writer takes pleasure
in acknowledging the courteous permission to use salient facts
contained in some volumes of merit published prior to this time.
But more than all the obligation is to the newspaper
correspondents who worked with him in Cuba in the days when the
war was but an insurrection and afterward when the insurrection
became our own war against Spain for the liberty of Cuba. They are
the ones who have gathered the most exhaustive information on the
whole subject of Cuban affairs. They have been able by virtue of
their intimate knowledge of Cuba and the Cubans to be of
invaluable assistance to the commanders of army and navy alike,
not only in advice as to the forming of plans, but in executing
them. One who has seen the things knows that to exaggerate the
horrors of Spanish cruelty and the oppression of Spanish rule in
Cuba is an impossibility. No newspaper could have printed the
plain truth of a score of shocking affairs, simply because the
public prints are no place for the exploiting of such tales of
vicious crime against humanity as have been perpetrated. The most
sensational tales have never reached the limits of the truth.
It is hoped that the reader will find in this volume not only a
comprehensive current history of our war with Spain for Cuba's
freedom, but also much of the other matter that will be of
interest and value in considering the future of the liberated
island. Its history, its people, its resources and other salient
subjects are included, with certain matter on Spain and her own
affairs, with Puerto Rico and the Philippine islands, which
chapters serve to make the volume a work for general reference and
reading on the whole subject of the war.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
I. A War for Liberty and Humanity
II. How Columbus Found the "Pearl of the Antilles"
III. Spain's Black Historical Record
IV. Buccaneering in the Spanish Main
V. Commercial Development of Cuba
VI. Beauties of a Tropical Island
VII. Wealth from Nature's Store in the Forest and Fields of Cuba
VIII. The Cubans and How They Live
IX. Havana, the Island Metropolis
X. The Cities of Cuba
XI. Mutterings of Insurrection
XII. Outbreak of the Ten Years' War
XIII. Massacre of the Virginius Officers and Crew
XIV. Operations of the Ten Years' War
XV. The Peace of Zanjon and Its Violated Pledges
XVI. Preparations for Another Rebellion
XVII. The Cuban Junta and Its Work
XVIII. Key West and the Cubans
XIX. Another Stroke for Freedom
XX. Jose Marti and Other Cuban Heroes
XXI. Desperate Battles with Machete and Rifle
XXII. Filibusters from Florida
XXIII. Weyler the Butcher
XXIV. Cuba Under the Scourge
XXV. Fitzhugh Lee to the Front
XXVI. Americans in Spanish Dungeons
XXVII. Maceo Dead by Treachery
XXVIII. Weyler's Reconcentration Policy and Its Horrors
XXIX. American Indignation Growing
XXX. Outrages on Americans in Cuba
XXXI. McKinley Succeeds Cleveland
XXXII. The Case of Evangelina Cisneros
XXXIII. Work of Clara Barton and the Red Cross
XXXIV. The Catastrophe to the Maine
XXXV. Patience at the Vanishing Point
XXXVI. Events in the American Congress
XXXVII. President McKinley Acts
XXXVIII. Strength of the Opposing Squadron and Armies
XXXIX. Battleships and Troops Begin to Move
XL. Diplomatic Relations Terminate
XLI. First Guns and First Prizes of the War
XLII. Declaration of War
XLIII. Call for the National Guard, Our Citizen Soldiery
XLIV. Blockade of Cuban Ports
XLV. Spanish Dissensions at Home
XLVI. The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Other Colonies of Spain
XLVII. Progress of Hostilities
XLVIII. Sea Fight off Manila, Americans Victorious
XLIX. Hawaii, and Our Annexation Policy
L. Continued Success for American Soldiers and Sailors
LI. The Invasion of Puerto Rico
LII. The Surrender of Manila
LIII. Victorious Close of the War
LIV. Personal Reminiscences
INTRODUCTION.
When, on the 22d day of April, 1898, Michael Mallia, gun-captain
of the United States cruiser Nashville, sent a shell across the
bows of the Spanish ship Buena Ventura, he gave the signal shot
that ushered in a war for liberty for the slaves of Spain.
The world has never seen a contest like it. Nations have fought
for territory and for gold, but they have not fought for the
happiness of others. Nations have resisted the encroachments of
barbarism, but until the nineteenth century they have not fought
to uproot barbarism and cast it out of its established place.
Nations have fought to preserve the integrity of their own empire,
but they have not fought a foreign foe to set others free. Men
have gone on crusades to fight for holy tombs and symbols, but
armies have not been put in motion to overthrow vicious political
systems and regenerate iniquitous governments for other peoples.
For more than four centuries Spain has held the island of Cuba as
her chattel, and there she has revelled in corruption, and
wantoned in luxury wrung from slaves with the cruel hand of
unchecked power. She has been the unjust and merciless court of
last resort. From her malignant verdict there has been no possible
appeal, no power to which her victims could turn for help.
But the end has come at last. The woe, the grief, the humiliation,
the agony, the despair that Spain has heaped upon the helpless,
and multiplied in the world until the world is sickened with it,
will be piled in one avalanche on her own head.
Liberty has grown slowly. Civilization has been on the defensive.
Now liberty fights for liberty, and civilization takes the
aggressive in the holiest war the world has even known.
Never was there a war before in which so many stimulating deeds of
bravery were done in such a short time, and this in spite of the
fact that the public has been restless for more action. It is
almost worth a war to have inscribed such a deed of cool,
intelligent heroism as that of Hobson and his men with the
Merrimac, in the entrance to the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. That
is an event in world history, one never to be forgotten, and in
the countries of Europe quite as generously recognized as by our
own people. There is a word to say for the Spanish admiral. In his
chivalry after that act of heroism, Cervera proved himself a
worthy adversary, who could realize and admire bravery in a foe,
even when it had been directed against himself with such signal
success. Not every commander would be great enough in that
circumstance to send a flag of truce to the opposing admiral, in
order to inform him that his brave men were safe and that they
were honored as brave men by their captors.
Of another sort was the bravery of Dewey at Manila, more notable
in its results but in no other way surpassing that of Hobson and
his men. Dewey went forward in spite of unknown dangers of
torpedoes, to engage an enemy in the place it had selected as most
favorable for Spanish arms, an enemy with more ships, more men,
more guns than had the American. A day later the nation was at the
feet of Dewey and the United States had taken a position among the
powers of the world never before admitted by them. In larger
degree than ever before, from that moment the United States became
a factor in the international history of the world. At this
writing one cannot tell what will be the end of the relations of
the United States to the Philippines and the Orient, but the
solution cannot fail to be of profit to this nation. This was a
holy war for the liberty of Cuba, but like many another good deed
it is bringing its additional rewards. Cuba, Puerto Rico, the
Philippines and the Caroline islands are to be liberated, four
colonies of Spain instead of one, and the direct and indirect
profit, looked at from a purely commercial basis, will be far more
than enough to compensate the United States for the cost of the
war. The annexation of the Hawaiian islands as a war measure must
be credited to the same cause, for the success of that effort
under any other circumstances was problematical.
Yet another sort of bravery was that in the harbor of Cardenas
when the little torpedo boat Winslow lay a helpless hulk under the
rain of fire from the shore batteries, without rudder or engine to
serve, and the Hudson, a mere tugboat with a few little guns on
deck, stood by for forty minutes to pass a hawser and tow the
disabled vessel out of range. Both were riddled, the Winslow had
half her total complement of men killed and wounded by a single
shell, but there was no faltering, and they all worked away as
coolly as if nothing were happening.
If one started to catalogue the instances of personal bravery that
the war brought out in its first few months, the list would be a
cumbersome one. It is enough here to say that there have been a
hundred times when personal courage was needed to be shown, and
never a moment's hesitancy on the part of any man to whom the call
came. Furthermore, in every case in which a particularly hazardous
undertaking was contemplated, and volunteers were called for, the
number offering has been in every instance far more than was
needed. This was eminently notable on the occasion of Hobson's
sinking of the Merrimac, when more than a thousand in the fleet
volunteered for a service requiring but six, and from which it
seemed impossible that any could come out alive.
The public must know all about the war, and the only avenue of
information is the press. Never before has any war been covered as
to its news features with the accuracy and energy which have
characterized this. American journalism has outstripped the world.
The expense of a news service for this war is something enormous,
with little return compensation. Yet the work is done,
metropolitan papers have from ten to twenty correspondents in the
field, and the public has the benefit. Dispatch boats follow the
fleets and are present at every battle. They must be near enough
to see, which means that they are in as much danger at times as
are the ships of the fighting squadron, far more if one remembers
that the former are in no way protected. Some of them are heavy
sea-going tugs and others are yachts. The expense of charter,
insurance and running cost amounts to from $200 to $400 a day
each, and yet some metropolitan newspapers have fleets of these
boats to the number of six.
All the foregoing facts are related in detail in the volume which
these paragraphs introduce. The only object in reiterating them
here is that they are entitled to emphasis for their prominence,
and it is desired to call special attention to them and their
accompanying matter when the book itself shall be read. The number
of those who believe we are engaged in a righteous war is
overwhelming. The records of the brave deeds of our men afloat and
ashore will inspire Americans to be better citizens as long as
time shall last. The country has proven its faith in the cause by
giving to the needs of war hundreds of thousands of young men to
fight for the liberty of others. From every corner of the land
regiments of volunteer soldiers have sprung in an instant at the
call of the President, while as many more are waiting for another
call to include those for whom there was not room the first time.
The country which can show such an inspiring movement has little
to fear in the race of progress among the nations of the world.
OUR WAR WITH SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY.
Again at War with a Foreign Power--Spain's Significant Flag--
Three Years Without an American Flag in Cuban Waters--Visit of the
Maine to Havana Harbor--The Maine Blown Up by Submerged Mine--
Action of President and Congress--Spain Defies America--Martial
Spirit Spreading--First Guns Are Fired--Cuban Ports Blockaded--
Many Spanish Ships Captured--Excitement in Havana--Spain and the
United States Both Declare War--Internal Dissension Threatens
Spain--President McKinley Calls a Volunteer Army.
Civilization against barbarism, freedom against oppression,
education against ignorance, progress against retrogression, the
West against the East, the United States against Spain. In this
cause the flag of freedom was again unfurled in the face of a
foreign foe, and our nation entered war against the people of
another land, carrying the star spangled banner through successive
victories in the name of liberty and humanity.
It is a proud banner, which stands the whole world over for
freedom and right, with few stains of defeat or injustice upon its
folds. The great heart of the nation swelled with pride at the
righteousness of the cause, with an assurance that eternal history
would praise America for the unselfish work. On land and sea the
boys in blue gave new fame to the flag, and their proud record in
the past was more than justified by the honors that they won.
Two wars with Great Britain and one with Mexico were the more
notable predecessors of this conflict with Spain. If to these
should be added the hostilities between the United States and the
Barbary pirates of Algiers, Morocco and Tripoli, and the scattered
brushes with two or three Oriental and South American countries,
the list might be extended. But those affairs are not remembered
as wars in the true sense of the word.
Except for protection against Indian outbreaks, the United States
had been at peace for thirty years, when the war cloud began to
loom in the horizon. It was with a full realization of the
blessings of peace that the American people yielded to the
demands, of humanity and righteous justice, to take up arms again
in the cause of liberty. There was no haste, no lack of caution,
no excited plunge into hostilities without proper grounds. The
nation made sure that it was right. An intolerable condition of
affairs resulting from years of agony in a neighbor island, with
half a dozen immediate reasons, any one sufficient, was the
absolute justification for this holy war.
Spain is the Turk of the West. Spain is an obsolete nation. Living
in the past, and lacking cause for pride to-day, she gloats over
her glorious explorations and her intellectual prowess of the
middle ages when much of Europe was in darkness. Then Spain's flag
led pioneers throughout the world. But her pride was based on
achievements, many of which, to the people of any other nation,
would have been the disgrace of its history. No indictment of
Spain can ever be more severe, more scathing, if its true
significance be considered, than the famous phrase which one of
her proudest poets created to characterize her flag of red and
yellow.
"Sangre y oro," he said, "blood and gold--a stream of gold between
two rivers of blood."
It is almost a sufficient characterization to indicate the whole
national spirit of Spain, to recall that this phrase is the proud
expression used by the Spanish people to glorify their own flag.
That sentiment is in no stronger contrast to the American phrase,
"the star-spangled banner," than are the people of Spain to the
people of the United States.
"REMEMBER THE MAINE."
From the day of the outbreak of the Cuban revolution, early in
1895, until nearly the end of January, 1898, there had been no
flag of the United States seen in any harbor of Cuba except upon
merchant vessels. Always before, it had been the policy of our
government to have ships of war make friendly calls in the harbors
of all countries of the world at frequent intervals, and Cuban
waters had shared these courtesies.
So careful were the officers of the Cleveland administration to
avoid the appearance of offense or threat against the authority of
Spain, with which we were living in amity, that immediately upon
the outbreak of hostilities in Cuba this practice was suspended,
so far as it applied to that island. Our ships cruised through the
oceans of the world and called at all ports where they were not
needed, but the waters of Havana harbor for three years were never
disturbed by an American keel.
Out of deference to the expressed wishes of the local Spanish
authorities in Havana, Dr. Burgess, the splendid surgeon of the
United States Marine Hospital service in Havana, who for thirty
years has guarded our southern ports from the epidemics of yellow
fever and smallpox, which would invade us annually as a result of
Spanish misgovernment in Cuba, except for his watchfulness, ceased
flying the American flag on his steam launch, by means of which he
carried out his official duties in those foul waters. The American
flag was a disturbing influence upon the minds of the Cubans who
might see it flashing in the clear sunlight of the tropic sky,
suggested the Captain General.
It must have been the language of diplomacy that was in mind, when
the satirist explained that "language was intended as a medium for
concealing thought." President McKinley, in his message to
Congress transmitting the report of the naval board concerning the
catastrophe to the Maine, explained that for some time prior to
the visit of the battle-ship to Havana harbor, it had been
considered a proper change in the policy, in order to accustom the
people to the presence of our flag as a symbol of good will. The
decision to send the vessel to that harbor was reached, it was
explained, after conference with the Spanish minister, and,
through our diplomats, with the Spanish authorities at Madrid and
Havana. It was declared that this intention was received by the
Spanish government with high appreciation of the courtesy
intended, which it was offered to return by sending Spanish ships
to the principal ports of the United States.
We are bound to accept this expression from the officials on both
sides as frankly indicative of their feelings. But it is just as
necessary to recognize that to the mass of the people in both
countries, the significance of the Maine's courtesy call was very
different. Americans believed that it indicated a changed policy
on the part of the national government at Washington which would
be more strenuous and more prompt in resenting outrages against
the life and property of American citizens in Cuba. The people of
the Cuban republic believed that the change meant an expression of
sympathy and friendship for their cause, with probable
interference in their behalf, and took courage from that sign.
Finally, the people of Spain resented the appearance of the Maine
in the harbor of Havana as an affront, and a direct threat against
them and in favor of the insurgents. If the policy of making
frequent calls in warships had never been interrupted, they would
not have had this sentiment in the matter, but the resumption of
the practice after three years' cessation, carried a threat with
it in their minds.
TREACHEROUS DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE.
The Maine entered the harbor of Havana at sunrise on the 25th of
January and was anchored at a place indicated by the harbor-master.
Her arrival was marked with no special incident, except
the exchange of customary salutes and ceremonial visits. Three
weeks from that night, at forty minutes past nine o'clock in the
evening of the 15th of February, the Maine was destroyed by an
explosion, by which the entire forward part of the ship was
wrecked. In this frightful catastrophe 264 of her crew and two
officers perished, those who were not killed outright by the
explosion being penned between decks by the tangle of wreckage and
drowned by the immediate sinking of her hull.
In spite of the fact that the American public was urged to suspend
judgment as to the causes of this disaster, and that the Spanish
authorities in Havana and in Madrid expressed grief and sympathy,
it, was impossible to subdue a general belief that in some way
Spanish treachery was responsible for the calamity. With the
history of Spanish cruelty in Cuba before them, and the memory of
Spanish barbarities through all their existence as a nation, the
people could mot disabuse their minds of this suspicion.
One month later this popular judgment was verified by the finding
of the naval court of inquiry which had made an exhaustive
examination of the wreck, and had taken testimony from every
available source. With this confirmation and the aroused sentiment
of the country concerning conditions in Cuba, the logic of events
was irresistibly drawing the country toward war with Spain, and
all efforts of diplomacy and expressions of polite regard
exchanged between the governments of the two nations were unable
to avert it.
For a few weeks, history was made rapidly. Conservative and
eminent American senators visited Cuba in order to obtain personal
information of conditions there, and upon their return, gave to
Congress and to the country, in eloquent speeches, the story of
the sufferings they had found in that unhappy island. The loss of
the Maine had focused American attention upon the Cuban situation
as it had never been before, and though there were no more reasons
for sympathetic interference than there had been for many months,
people began to realize as they had not before, the horrors that
were being enacted at their thresholds.
The sailors who died with the Maine, even though they were not
able to fight their country's foes, have not died in vain, for it
is their death that will be remembered as the culminating
influence for American intervention and the salvation of scores of
thousands of lives of starving Cuban women and children. Vessels
were loaded with supplies of provisions and clothing for the
suffering and were sent to the harbors of Cuba, where distribution
was made by Miss Clara Barton and her trusted associates in the
American National Red Cross. Some of these vessels were merchant
steamers, but others were American cruisers, and Cubans were not
permitted to forget that there was a flag which typified liberty,
not far away. The strain upon the national patience increased
every day, and was nearing the breaking point.
PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS ACT.
After a period of restlessness in Congress which was shared by the
whole country, the President finally transmitted an important
message. It included a resume of the progress of the Cuban
revolution from its beginning and considered in some detail the
workings of that devastating policy of General Weyler, known as
reconcentration. The message related the progress of diplomatic
negotiations with Spain, and disclosed a surprising succession of
events in which the Spanish government had submitted to various
requests and recommendations of the American government. The
message ended with a request that Congress authorize and empower
the President to take measures to secure a full and final
termination of the intolerable conditions on the island of Cuba.
Having exhausted the powers of the executive in these efforts, it
was left to the legislative authority of the American people to
establish such policies as would be finally efficient.
Congress rose to the occasion. The facts were at command of both
houses, their sympathies were enlisted at the side of their reason
and there was little time lost in acting. The House and the
Senate, after mutual concessions on minor details, passed as a law
of the land for the President's signature, an act directing him
and empowering him to require Spain to withdraw her troops and
relinquish all authority over the island of Cuba. The President
was authorized to employ the army and navy of the United States
for the purpose of carrying into effect this instruction and the
interference was directed to be made at once. Best of all, from
the point of view of the Cuban patriots, the act declared that the
people of Cuba are and ought to be free and independent. But a few
days more of diplomacy, and war was to begin.
SPAIN DEFIES AMERICA.
It was hardly to be expected that the Spanish government and the
Spanish people would yield to the demands of the United States
without a protest. So feeble is the hold of the present dynasty
upon the throne of Spain, that it was readily understood that any
concession upon the part of the Queen Regent would arouse Spanish
indignation beyond the limits of endurance. The Queen-mother had
to think of her baby son's crown. If she were to yield to the
superior power of the United States without a struggle, Spanish
revolutionists would overthrow the dynasty before he could come to
the throne. However well she might know that the logical outcome
of a war would be overwhelming defeat to Spanish arms, political
necessities compelled her to take the position dictated by Spanish
pride.
The Spanish Cortes met in special session at Madrid, and on the
20th of April the Queen Regent delivered her speech before that
legislative body and declared that her parliament was summoned in
the hour of peril to defend her country's rights and her child's
throne, whatever sacrifice might be entailed. It was on that same
day that President McKinley presented the ultimatum of the United
States to Spain, in language diplomatic in form, but carrying with
it a definite notice to yield Cuba's freedom and relinquish her
pretense of authority in that island without delay. A copy of the
ultimatum was forwarded to the Spanish ambassador at Washington,
Senor Polo y Bernabe, who responded by asking for his passports
and safe conduct out of the country.
Having reached the point where diplomacy no longer availed, the
Spanish government for the first time made an aggressive move
against the United States. Instead of waiting for the transmission
of the ultimatum by American Minister Stewart L. Woodford, the
ministry forestalled him and dismissed him from Madrid without
affording him an opportunity to present that important document.
It had been transmitted to Madrid by cable from the Spanish
Minister in Washington, and the government felt no need to wait
for formal messages from the enemy's representative in Spain.
Minister Woodford left Madrid without delay, and finally reached
the French frontier, after being subjected to many insults and
attacks upon his train during the journey from the Spanish
capital.
MARTIAL SPIRIT SPREADING.
A wave of national patriotic enthusiasm swept over the United
States. North and South, East and West, there was hardly a
discordant note in the great chorus of fervent applause which rose
when it was understood that at last the forces of the nation were
to be united in the cause of liberty and humanity.
But sentiment could not fight battles, unless backed by material
equipment. The nation was preparing for war. From all parts of the
United States the troops of the regular army were hurried by
special trains southeastward to camps at Chickamauga and Tampa. In
every navy yard work was hurried night and day upon all incomplete
battleships and cruisers. Already the fleets of the American navy
had been concentrated at points of vantage so that little was left
to be done on that score. Congress lost no time in providing the
sinews of war by generous appropriations for the regular channels
of supply, in addition to one passed by unanimous vote of both
houses granting $50,000,000 as a special fund to be at the
disposal of the President. The war appropriation bill and the
naval appropriation bill carried with them emergency clauses.
Preparations were made for the reorganization of the regular army
to more than double its normal size, and the President was
authorized to call for a volunteer army of 125,000 men. Looking to
the future, and the possibility of a long and expensive conflict,
financial measures were prepared which would raise war revenues
through the regular channels of taxation and the issue of bonds.
Americans were ready to put their hands in their pockets and pay
for the privilege of teaching a worthy lesson to the world.
American sense of humor never fails, and even in this period of
stress the people took time to smile over the story of the Spanish
Minister's journey from Washington to Canada. In Toronto, Senor
Polo sought to discredit the assaults that had been made on
Minister Woodford's train in Spain, and related that he himself
had been the victim of assaults at two or three important cities
on his journey through New York, which threatened great danger to
himself and the train on which he was riding.
Upon inquiry it was revealed that the assaults which had aroused
his fear were not quite as hostile as he believed. At the division
stations on the line, the railway employees, according to custom,
passed along the cars, tapping the tires of the wheels with steel
hammers to test them for a possible flaw or break in the wheel,
and it was this that made the Spanish Minister believe that he was
the victim of an American outrage.
FIRST GUNS ARE FIRED.
The United States cruiser Nashville of the North Atlantic
squadron, with headquarters at Key West, had the honor of firing
the first shot in our war with Spain.
Early on the morning of Friday, April 22, the American fleet
sailed from Key West, and, steaming southward across the straits
of Florida, came in sight of Havana and the frowning
fortifications of Morro Castle before six o'clock the same
afternoon.
The sailing of the fleet, as dawn was creeping over the Florida
keys, was a beautiful sight and a significant one, for from the
time the first signals were hoisted until many days after, there
was hardly an hour of inactivity. It was at three o'clock in the
morning that the signal lights began to flash from the New York,
Admiral Sampson's flagship. Answering signals appeared on the
warships all along the line, and in a few moments black smoke
began to belch from the funnels of all the ships and the crews
woke from quietness to activity.
As soon as day began to break, the cruisers and gunboats inside
the harbor hoisted anchors and moved out to join the big
battleships which were already lined outside the bar. At five
o'clock, when all the fleet were gathered around the battleships,
Captain Sampson signaled from the New York to go ahead. The
formation of the line had been agreed upon some time before and
each vessel was in position for line of battle, the New York in
the center and the Iowa and Indiana on either beam. The ships
presented a most beautiful appearance as they swept out on the
ocean without a vestige of anything not absolutely necessary on
the decks. They were stripped of all useless superstructure,
awnings, gun-covers and everything that goes to adorn a ship.
Officers paced the bridge, marines were drawn up on deck and every
man was at his post. They appeared as they were, grim fighting
machines, not naval vessels out on cruise nor a squadron of
evolution and maneuver, but warships out for business.
FIRST SPANISH SHIP CAPTURED.
The fleet had proceeded twelve miles from Sand Key Light, which
lies seven miles southeast of Key West, when the Nashville
signaled the flagship that a vessel flying the Spanish colors had
been sighted. Admiral Sampson signaled from the New York for the
Nashville to go and take it. The Nashville bore down on the
Spanish ship and fired a blank shot from the port guns aft. This
did not stop the Spaniard, and, to give a more definite hint, a
solid shot was fired close over its bows. The Spanish ship
immediately hove to and waited to know its fate.
The vessel proved to be the Buena Ventura, with a crew of about
thirty men, bound from Pascagonla to Rotterdam with a cargo of
lumber, cattle and miscellaneous freight. As soon as possible a
boat was lowered from the Nashville and an officer was sent aboard
the Buena Ventura. When the Spanish captain was informed that his
ship could not proceed, he took his capture gracefully, shrugged
his shoulders, and said he supposed it was only the fortune of
war. It was suggested to him that the capture of a ship bearing
that name, which, translated, means "good fortune," as the first
prize of the American fleet in the war, seemed to be a striking
coincidence. A prize crew of marines under Ensign T. P. Magruder
was placed aboard, and, with the Nashville in the lead, both ships
set out for Key West.
Inasmuch as the Buena Ventura was the first capture by the
American navy in the war, it had a more definite interest than a
success of the same sort would have a few months later. The first
shot was fired by Gunner Michael Mallia of the Nashville, who
therefore has the distinction of firing the first shot in the war.
The prize was a rich one, estimated to be worth, including vessel
and cargo, nearly $500,000, and the prize money resulting became a
tempting amount. Captain Washburne Maynard, commander of the
Nashville, who gained the distinction of making the first capture,
is a native of Knoxville, Tenn. He is a son of former United
States Senator Horace Maynard, and at the time of the capture was
about fifty years old. He entered the Annapolis Naval Academy at
the age of seventeen and graduated at the head of his class. He
was for a number of years stationed in Alaska, and at the time of
gaining his present distinction had been in command of the
Nashville for four years.
BLOCKADE OF HAVANA BEGUN.
After the Nashville left the fleet to return to Key West with its
prize, the remaining vessels of the squadron steamed onward toward
the Cuban coast. Coming within fifteen miles of Morro Castle, the
fleet scattered in a more open line of battle, some of the vessels
turning to the east and others to the west, and making the
blockade of the port complete. No ship could enter or leave the
harbor, and every day brought new prizes to the vessels of the
blockading squadron.
The blockade of the Cuban metropolis was well in progress by the
time the formal notification of it was issued. The President
issued warning to the nations of the world that the Cuban ports
were sealed by the authority of the United States, in the
following formal proclamation:
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, By a joint resolution passed by the Congress and approved
April 20, 1898, and communicated to the government of Spain, it was
demanded that said government at once relinquish its authority and
government in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval
forces from Cuba and Cuban waters; and the President of the United
States was directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval
forces of the United States and to call into the actual service of
the United States the militia of the several States to such extent
as might be necessary to carry said resolution into effect; and
Whereas, In carrying into effect this resolution the President of
the United States deems it necessary to set on foot and maintain a
blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including all ports of said
coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda and the port of Cienfuegos,
on the south coast of Cuba;
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United
States, in order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare
and proclaim that the United States of America has instituted and
will maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including
ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port
of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba, aforesaid, in pursuance
of the laws of the United States and the law of nations applicable
to such cases.
An efficient force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance
and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessel
approaching said ports, or attempting to leave the same, without
notice or knowledge of the establishment of such blockade, will be
duly warned by the commander of the blockading forces, who will
indorse on her register the fact and the date of such warning,
where such indorsement was made; and if the same vessel shall
again attempt to enter any blockaded port she will be captured and
sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against
her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable. Neutral
vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the
establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to
issue therefrom.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this 22d day of April, A. D. 1898,
and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-second.
By the President: WILLIAM McKINLEY.
JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State.
MORE SPANISH PRIZES TAKEN.
The blockade was not a mere paper blockade, but an exceedingly
effective one. Before two days had passed, the prizes taken began
to multiply in numbers and in value. The second capture was the
Spanish freighter Pedro, of Bilboa, which was taken by the New
York in the afternoon of the first day's cruising.
When the fleet approached the Cuban coast and spread out for
patrol duty, the New York turned eastward for her own watch, not
knowing what might be found in the neighborhood. Far off against
the dim, vague background of Cuban hills, half seen, half guessed,
could be traced a faint film of gray smoke, the one visible
evidence of a Spanish freighter striving vainly to race out the
day without being discovered by the great gray monsters that
blackened the sky to the west with a solid mass of black cloud
from their roaring furnaces.
Vainly the Spaniard raced. Charging along at trial test speed, the
New York soon lay across the bows of the Spanish ship, and the
crashing challenge blazed from the deck of the cruiser. A huge
puff of white smoke rolled out from the side of the flagship, and
far off, just in front of the Spaniard, a fountain of white foam
leaped into the air. In a moment the course of the strange
Spaniard was changed, and she hove to.
Shortly after, the New York led her prize further out from shore
and laid her to. Crew and captain could be seen rushing about the
deck of the ship like a nest of ants, hiding their valuables and
striving to avert some impending fate they could only guess at in
their ignorance. As she came around her name could be clearly read
on her stern, Pedro of Bilboa.
As soon as she was laid alongside, the Pedro was boarded by Ensign
Frank Marble of the New York. Ensign Marble led a prize crew,
consisting of a file of marines and seamen. With great formality
the ensign swung aboard and assumed command. A burly, bare-footed
American tar shoved the Spanish quartermaster away from the wheel
and began to set the course of the Spaniard. The Spanish crew
gathered in a terrified huddle near the forecastle and awaited
developments.
Hardly had the prize crew been put on board before another
freighter was seen going down the coast to the eastward. The New
York, leaving the captured Spanish craft in charge of the prize
crew, drew across the bows of the stranger and sent a shot into
the water directly in front of her bows. She paid no attention to
the challenge, but kept steadily on, and a few seconds later
another shot was sent hurtling across the water in front of her.
After this hostile demonstration she hauled up and soon followed
the New York out to sea. It was discovered, however, that she flew
the German flag, and consequently was permitted to proceed.
The prize crew from the New York took the captured vessel into
port at Key West under its own steam. The ship was bound from
Havana to Santiago with a valuable cargo of rice, iron and beer.
On the same day two other captures were made, one by the torpedo
boat Ericsson, which seized a fishing schooner under the very guns
of Morro Castle and by the torpedo boat, Porter, which took the
Spanish schooner, Mathilde, after a lively chase and a number of
shots. Both of these prizes were taken to Key West to join their
unfortunate friends.
EXCITEMENT IN HAVANA.
It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon of that lucky Friday,
when the semaphore by the lighthouse in Morro Castle signaled to
the people of Havana that a fleet had been sighted. It was said to
be without any colors to show its nationality. At that time La
Punta, the fort on the side of the harbor opposite Morro Castle,
was crowded with curious people, including many ladies. In
addition, crowds of people could be seen at various points of
vantage, many of them gathering on the roofs of houses. At 6 p.m.
the semaphore signaled that it was the United States fleet which
was in sight, and at 6:15 p.m. a red flag was run up at the
signal station, warning guns were fired from Morro Castle, and
afterward from Cabanas fortress, adjoining it. This caused
excitement throughout the city, and was the first real note of
war. When the first signal came from the semaphore station a
British schooner which was in the harbor put to sea. She was
immediately followed by the German steamer Remus. Some time
afterward the American steamer Saratoga put to sea.
The cannon shots from the fortresses stirred up the regular troops
and volunteers throughout Havana and its vicinity and there was a
rush to quarters. The signal guns from the fortifications echoed
to the palace and through the streets, causing people to rush from
their houses, with the result that all the thoroughfares were soon
crowded with excited inhabitants. Captain General Blanco heard the
shots while at the palace, to which place the generals and
commanders of the volunteers promptly reported, full of excitement
and warlike enthusiasm. Some time afterward the Captain General,
accompanied by his staff, the generals and others, left the palace
and was warmly acclaimed by the soldiers and populace. The General
then made a brief final inspection of the fortifications and went
to a spot from which he could see the approaching fleet.
There was no sign of alarm anywhere. The Spaniards were confident
that Havana was prepared for any eventuality, and they had great
faith in the strength of their forts, batteries, etc., and in the
effectiveness of their heavy artillery. In fact, there was a
feeling of satisfaction at the warlike tremors which spread
everywhere when it was seen that the hour of battle was apparently
approaching and that the Spaniards were soon to give battle to
their enemies.
As the time passed, more people crowded to the spot from which the
fleets could be most favorably seen. By 8:30 p.m. there was a
great movement of the masses through all the streets and on all
the squares. The coffee-houses and clubs were crowded with excited
people, discussing the arrival of the American war ships. The
Spaniards expressed themselves as anxious to measure arms with the
"invaders," and there was no expression of doubt as to the result.
The civil and military authorities of Havana were in consultation
at the palace, and every precaution possible to the Spaniards was
taken to guard against a night surprise and to resist an attack if
the bombardment commenced.
SPAIN'S DAYS OF GRACE EXPIRE.
When President McKinley sent his ultimatum to Spain, he indicated
that it was to expire at noon on Saturday, April 23, and at that
time the period allowed Spain to give up Cuba peacefully was
ended. Spain, however, had not waited to take advantage of this
time limit, but by her own preparations during the days that had
passed, as well as by her diplomatic actions, had indicated
plainly that war was to come. The action of Minister Polo in
demanding his passport and leaving the United States, and the
action of the Spanish government in ejecting Minister Woodford,
were sufficient notifications of the policy which was to be
pursued. It had been unnecessary, therefore, for the fleet to wait
for a more explicit answer before investing Havana. Not until the
expiration of the time allotted by President McKinley to Spain,
did he take definite action which committed the country to a
distinct war policy in advance of the declaration of war by
Congress. But at noon on Saturday the President issued the
following proclamation calling for 125,000 troops to serve two
years if the war should last so long:
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, by a joint resolution of Congress, approved the 22d of
April, 1898, entitled "Joint resolution for the recognition of the
independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the government
of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of
Cuba, to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban
waters, and directing the President of the United States to use
the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these
resolutions into effect," and,
Whereas, by an act of Congress, entitled "An act to provide for
the increasing of the military establishment of the United States
in time of war and for other purposes," approved April 22, 1898,
the President was authorized in order to raise a volunteer army to
issue his proclamation calling for volunteers to serve in the army
of the United States.
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United
States, by the power vested in me by the constitution and laws,
and deeming sufficient occasion to exist, have thought fit to call
for and hereby do call for volunteers to the aggregate number of
125,000, in order to carry into effect the purpose of the said
resolution, the same to be apportioned, as far as practicable,
among the several States and Territories and the District of
Columbia, according to population, and to serve for two years
unless sooner discharged. The details for this object will be
immediately communicated to the proper authorities through the war
department.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at Washington this 23d day of April, 1898, and of the
independence of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-second.
By the President: WILLIAM McKINLEY.
JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State.
STATES BEGIN TO COLLECT THEIR TROOPS.
Although it was decided that formal notification to the Governors
of the states of the call for volunteers should not be made until
the following Monday, the first step was taken immediately after
the signing of the proclamation, by the issuance of orders to the
organized militia of the District of Columbia. Before dinner time
the drums were beating and the roll was being called within sight
and sound of the White House, and before night the drum beats were
heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico
to the Great Lakes.
There was no interruption in the sequence of captures by the
American fleet around Havana, and two prizes of considerable value
were added to the list. On Saturday the gunboat Helena took the
big steamer Miguel Jover, a vessel of more than 2,000 tons, with a
full cargo of cotton and staves on board. The prize was worth not
less than $400,000. Friday night the Helena left Key West to
follow the main fleet, but instead of sailing directly for Havana,
turned westward toward the west end of the island of Cuba. The
dark, cloudy night had barely broken to a brilliant Cuban sunrise,
when the Helena saw smoke on the western horizon and gave chase.
It was soon evident that the quarry had sighted the hunter and was
making a run for it. The freighter was no match in speed for the
gunboat, however, and the Helena was soon near enough to fire a
shot. Only one blank shot was required. The fugitive steamer shook
out the Spanish flag and hove to. When the Helena came up the
captain tried to talk Captain Swinburne out of his prize. He urged
that he was from an American port, New Orleans, and knew nothing
of a declaration of war. The talk did him no good. He was taken on
board the Helena and a prize crew of a dozen sailors and sixteen
marines, under Ensigns M. C. Davis and H. G. McFarland, was put
aboard the Jover.
The first the fleet knew of the capture was when the Helena came
steaming up with her prize and signaled the flagship. The other
ships cheered and the Helena, started off for Key West, the Jover
being worked by its own men, superintended by the prize crew.
VALUABLE PRIZE CAPTURED.
The most valuable prize yet taken was the transatlantic liner,
Catalina, which was taken by the Detroit. The vessel's tonnage was
6,000, and with its general cargo the prize was considered worth
nearly $600,000. The big ship was bound from New Orleans to
Barcelona, via Havana, with a large general cargo. Twelve miles
before making port the steamer was stopped by two shots, and a
prize crew under Ensign H. H. Christy, consisting of sixteen men
from the Detroit and New York, was put on board to take the vessel
back to Key West.
In addition to these notable captures the torpedo boat, Porter,
took the Spanish schooner, Antonio, laden with sugar for Havana,
and the revenue cutter, Winona, added the Spanish steamer
Saturnine to the list.
If it had not been for the excitement of taking occasional prizes,
the blockading of Havana would have been dull business for the
Jack Tars aboard the North Atlantic squadron. Saturday night they
had to listen to the roar of the guns of Morro Castle and see the
flashes of fire from their muzzles, without a reply from the
fleet. Havana officials have declared that the discharge of those
guns was only for signaling purposes and was not an attack on the
fleet, but it would be difficult to make the sailors believe that
Spanish marksmanship was not responsible for the fact that no
balls fell near them.
SPAIN DECLARES WAR.
The Spanish government did not wait for further aggression on the
part of the United States, but herself made the next formal move
by issuing a declaration of the fact that war existed, and
defining the conditions under which the Spanish government
expected to carry on the conflict. This decree was gazetted in
Madrid on Sunday, April 24, in the following terms:
Diplomatic relations are broken off between Spain and the United
States, and the state of war having begun between the two
countries numerous questions of international law arise which must
be precisely defined chiefly because the injustice and provocation
come from our adversaries and it is they who, by their detestable
conduct, have caused this grave conflict.
We have observed with strictest fidelity the principles of
international law and have shown the most scrupulous respect for
morality and the right of government. There is an opinion that the
fact that we have not adhered to the declaration of Paris does not
exempt us from the duty of respecting the principles therein
enunciated. The principle Spain unquestionably refused to admit
then was the abolition of privateering. The government now
considers it most indispensable to make absolute reserve on this
point in order to maintain our liberty of action and uncontested
right to have recourse to privateering when we consider it
expedient, first by organizing immediately a force of cruisers
auxiliary to the navy, which will be composed of vessels of our
mercantile marine and with equal distinction in the work of our
navy.
Clause 1--The state of war existing between Spain and the United
States annuls the treaty of peace and amity of Oct. 27, 1795, and
the protocol of Jan. 12, 1877, and all other agreements, treaties,
or conventions in force between the two countries.
Clause 2--From the publication of these presents thirty days are
granted to all ships of the United States anchored in our harbors
to take their departure free of hindrance.
Clause 3--Notwithstanding that Spain has not adhered to the
declaration of Paris the government, respecting the principles of
the law of nations, proposes to observe, and hereby orders to be
observed, the following regulations of maritime law:
1. Neutral flags cover the enemy's merchandise except contraband
of war.
2. Neutral merchandise, except contraband of war, is not seizable
under the enemy's flag.
3. A blockade to be obligatory must be effective--viz.: It must be
maintained with sufficient force to prevent access to the enemy's
littoral.
4. The Spanish government, upholding its right to grant letters of
marque, will at present confine itself to organizing, with the
vessels of the mercantile marine, a force of auxiliary cruisers
which will cooperate with the navy according to the needs of the
campaign and will be under naval control.
5. In order to capture the enemy's ships and confiscate the
enemy's merchandise and contraband of war under whatever form, the
auxiliary cruisers will exercise the right of search on the high
seas and in the waters under the enemy's jurisdiction, in
accordance with international law and the regulations which will
be published.
6. Defines what is included in contraband of war, naming weapons,
ammunition, equipments, engines, and, in general, all the
appliances used in war.
7. To be regarded and judged as pirates with all the rigor of the
law are captains, masters, officers, and two-thirds of the crews
of vessels which, not being American, shall commit acts of war
against Spain, even if provided with letters of marque issued by
the United States.
Following is a summary of the more important of the five clauses
outlining the rules Spain announced she would observe during the
war:
THE UNITED STATES MAKES REPLY.
It took the House of Representatives just one minute and forty-one
seconds on Monday to pass a declaration of war which replied to
that of Spain. The Senate acted almost as promptly, and their
respective presiding officers and the President of the United
States signed the Act of Congress immediately, so that it became
at once a law of the land. The declaration of war was passed by
Congress in response to a message from the President requesting
that action in the following terms:
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA:
I transmit to Congress for its consideration and appropriate
action copies of correspondence recently had with the
representative of Spain in the United States, with the United
States Minister at Madrid, and through the latter with the
government of Spain, showing the action taken under the joint
resolution approved April 20, 1898, "for the recognition of the
independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the government
of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of
Cuba and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban
waters, and directing the President of the United States to carry
these resolutions into effect."
Upon communicating with the Spanish Minister in Washington the
demand which it became the duty of the executive to address to the
government of Spain, in obedience to said resolution, the said
Minister asked for his passports and withdrew. The United States
Minister at Madrid was in turn notified by the Spanish Minister
for Foreign Affairs that the withdrawal of the Spanish
representative from the United States had terminated diplomatic
relations between the two countries, and that all official
communications between their respective representatives ceased
therewith.
I recommend to your special attention the note addressed to the
United States Minister at Madrid by the Spanish Minister for
Foreign Affairs on the 21st inst., whereby the foregoing
notification was conveyed. It will be perceived therefrom that the
government of Spain, having cognizance of the joint resolution of
the United States Congress, and in view of things which the
President is thereby required and authorized to do, responds by
treating the representative demands of this government as measures
of hostility, following with that instant and complete severance
of relations by its action whereby the usage of nations
accompanies an existent state of war between sovereign powers.
The position of Spain being thus made known, and the demands of
the United States being denied, with a complete rupture of
intercourse by the act of Spain, I have been constrained, in
exercise of the power and authority conferred upon me by the joint
resolution aforesaid, to proclaim, under date of April 22, 1898, a
blockade of certain ports on the north coast of Cuba lying between
Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and of the port of Cienfuegos on the
south coast of Cuba; and further, in exercise of my constitutional
powers, and using the authority conferred upon me by the act of
Congress approved April 22, 1898, to issue my proclamation, dated
April 23, 1898, calling for volunteers in order to carry into
effect the said resolutions of April 20, 1898. Copies of these
proclamations are hereto appended.
In view of the measures so taken, and with a view to the adoption
of such other measures as may be necessary to enable me to carry
out the expressed will of the Congress of the United States in the
premises, I now recommend to your honorable body the adoption of a
joint resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the
United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, and I urge
speedy action thereon, to the end that the definition of the
international status of the United States as a belligerent power
may be made known, and the assertion of all its rights and the
maintenance of all its duties in the conduct of a public war may
be assured.
WILLIAM McKINLEY. Executive Mansion, Washington, April 25, 1898.
WAR IS DECLARED.
The formal declaration of war as passed by the houses of Congress
was short and pointed, worthy of recollection as a model for such
unpleasant documents. It read as follows:
A BILL DECLARING THAT WAR EXISTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN.
Be it enacted, etc.:
First--That war be and the same is hereby declared to exist and
that war has existed since the 21st day of April, A. D. 1898,
including said day, between the United States of America and the
Kingdom of Spain.
Second--That the President of the United States be, and he hereby
is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces
of the United States and to call into the actual service of the
United States the militia of the several States to such extent as
may be necessary to carry this act into effect.
Diplomacy was still taking a hand in the war. Spain was indignant
at the attack on Spanish possessions and endeavored to arouse
sympathy among her European neighbors. The Queen Regent addressed
telegrams to all the sovereigns of Europe protesting against the
vitiation of the rights of Spain by the United States, and
declaring that her government was firmly resolved never to yield
until crushed. This was a personal communication from one
sovereign to her brother sovereigns of the continental kingdom. At
the same time there was made public Spain's memorandum to all the
European powers which was an official utterance of the Spanish
ministry and signed by Senor Gullon, the Spanish Minister of
Foreign Affairs.
The memorandum began by recording the "moral and material aid the
Cuban rebels have received from the United States" in
filibustering expeditions and the operations of the junta. It
mentioned Spain's repeated and positive denials to the allegations
of cruelty toward the Cubans, and laid great stress upon President
Cleveland's dispatch of Dec. 7, 1896, to the effect that peace
would be possible if Spain gave a sufficient autonomy to Cuba.
The memorandum contended that, in the face of the new liberal
constitution granted Cuba, which "has already borne fruits," it
was difficult to understand why President McKinley, in his message
of Dec. 6, 1897, and General Woodford, in the note of Dec. 20,
1897, should still doubt Spain's loyalty.
The document then spoke at some length of the Maine accident, and
asserted that the Americans, under the pretext of the extra
territoriality of the vessel, never allowed the Spanish
authorities to visit the wreck for purposes of investigation; and
it most solemnly asserted the absolute innocence of Spanish
officials and of Spanish subjects generally.
The fairness and loyalty of Spain were then shown by a reference
to the equitable treatment which American filibusters, more
especially those of the Competitor, received at the hands of
Spain, and in order to show more fully how pacific and correct
have been the attitude of the Spanish government the memorandum
enumerated the four clauses of the Spanish proposals. They were:
PROPOSALS OF SPAIN.
1. An offer to submit all questions arising from the Maine affair
to arbitration.
2. An order to Governor-General Blanco to retire into the western
provinces and to apply 3,000,000 pesetas for the relief of the
agricultural population, with an acceptance by the Spanish
government of relief for Cubans sent by the United States,
provided such relief were sent in merchant vessels.
3. The co-operation of the Cuban parliament in formulating the
extent of the powers to be reserved for the central government.
4. In view of the Cuban parliament not meeting before May 4, the
proclamation of an immediate armistice.
The memorandum proceeded to declare that the United States had not
accepted even these far-reaching concessions, and that the good
offices of the pope had been equally unavailing. It asserted that
the Maine accident was used by political parties in America as a
means of hurling "most gratuitous and intolerable calumnies at the
Spanish government," and yet, the document said, Mr. Olney, in an
official note dated April 4, 1896, to the Spanish minister in
Washington, himself expressed very serious apprehensions lest the
only existing bond of union in Cuba should disappear in the event
of Spain withdrawing from that island. Mr. Olney, as the
memorandum argued, feared at that time that a war of races would
ensue, all the more sanguinary in proportion to the experience and
discipline acquired during the insurrection, and that two
republics would at once be formed--one white, the other black--the
upshot being that one of the two would swallow the other.
The grave view thus taken by Mr. Olney of the future of Cuba freed
from Spain's rule was then enlarged upon, and inevitable racial
wars were foreshadowed, which were "certain to wreck the existence
of Cuba as a state, should Spain be deprived of sovereignty" over
the island. Thus, being convinced, as Spain was, that right and
equity are on her side "she will not and cannot surrender her
sovereignty in Cuba."
TROUBLE FOR SPAIN AT HOME.
Spain's embarrassments at home were multiplying, and threatening
danger only less than that from the hostilities of the United
States. Twenty thousand republicans of all shades of opinion in
Madrid signed and addressed to Senor Castelar, the republican
leader, under the pretext of congratulating him upon his recovery
from recent sickness, but in reality offering him their services
if he would proclaim a republic.
At the same time Don Carlos, the pretender to the Spanish throne,
was a disturbing element, threatening a revolution against the
present dynasty if an opportunity were to offer.
During all these complications, which included at one time even a
threat that the Spanish ministry would resign, there was no
discordant note of any sort in the United States. Secretary of
State John Sherman and Postmaster General Gary resigned from
President McKinley's cabinet because of ill health, in order that
the government might be in no way handicapped during the time of
emergency. Secretary Sherman was succeeded by Assistant Secretary
Judge William R. Day of Canton, Ohio, who had displayed remarkable
aptitude for the office during his term of service, while Mr.
Gary's successor was the Honorable Charles Emory Smith, of
Philadelphia, a newspaper editor and formerly ambassador to
Russia.
ALONG THE CUBAN COAST.
It was the torpedo boats which kept things exciting during the
early blockade of Cuban ports. They are like hornets, which travel
faster than anything that tries to escape them, sting when they
strike, and vanish in an instant. Two of these brisk fighters
distinguished themselves on Sunday, while the diplomats were busy
in the cabinets of the world. The torpedo boat Porter, which is as
fleet as an express train, has a dare-devil crew and an intrepid
commander with an honored name. He is Lieutenant John C. Fremont,
a son of the famous "Pathfinder," who himself never hesitated to
lead the way, whether in wilderness exploration or any other duty
that came before him.
Lieutenant Fremont, with the Porter, made a landing on the north
coast of Cuba with a small force of his men, in search of certain
information which was desired by Admiral Sampson for the guidance
of his plans. It was a dangerous undertaking, for the squad might
have been wiped out in spite of their readiness to fight, if they
had stumbled upon Spanish troops. None were met, however, the
journey was made in safety, and the landing party returned to the
fleet in triumph with the distinction of being the first actual
invaders of the Cuban soil in this warfare.
Earlier in the same day the torpedo boat Foote, in command of
Lieutenant W. L. Rogers, was directed to take soundings of the
approach to the harbor of Matanzas, an important city on the north
coast of Cuba fifty miles east of Havana. The Foote drew the first
fire definitely known to be directed against the blockading
squadron. The little scout was taking soundings within three
hundred yards of shore, when a Spanish masked battery on the east
side of the harbor, commanding the entrance, fired three shots in
quick succession. They all went wide of the mark, striking the
water nearly a quarter of a mile away from the boat. The officers
and men were momentarily startled by the volley, and then
continued their observation. The cruiser Cincinnati, which was not
far away, was hailed by the torpedo boat and Lieutenant Rogers
reported his experience. The orders of Captain Chester, in command
of the Cincinnati, did not permit him to shell Matanzas, so the
fire from the masked battery was not returned.
THE CALL TO ARMS.
It was on Monday, the 25th of April, that the national authorities
notified the governors of each state that they would be expected
to furnish volunteers for our war with Spain. The response was
immediate. In every state of the Union the call to arms was heard
with delight and troops gathered at their armories for prompt
enlistment. The speed and facility with which a trained and
efficient army could be mobilized was an amazement to those who
had not been familiar with the details of the organization of the
National Guard of America. Within twenty-four hours after the
receipt of the order, thousands of troops were moving to the state
encampments where they had been directed to gather. Illinois was
an example of this promptness, in sending nearly 5,000 men out of
Chicago without delay, but this was no more notable than the
record made by many other states in every part of the Union. The
cheers and the blessings of hundreds of thousands of loyal
citizens stimulated those who were to go to the front with the
banner of freedom, and they realized that they were representing
the sentiment of a united nation.
Those days near the end of April were exciting times. The whole
nation was keyed up to a nervous tension of anxiety to know what
would be the next event recorded on land or sea. The armies of the
United States were preparing for the struggle, the coast defenses
were brought to completion, and the government was ready for any
emergency that might arise. Admiral Sampson's splendid North
Atlantic squadron was blockading the ports of Cuba. Admiral
Schley, with the flying squadron at Hampton Roads, was ready for
prompt action in any direction where it might be effective,
whether to protect the Atlantic coast cities from a threatened
assault by Spanish warships, or to descend upon the Spanish fleet
for a naval battle.
Admiral Dewey with the Asiatic squadron had been driven out of
Hong Kong by application of the neutrality laws, and international
obligations might embarrass him unless he took the aggressive, and
made for himself a base of supplies in the Philippine Islands. It
was expected every day that he would make an assault upon Manila,
the capital of the Philippines, and that the first naval
engagement of consequence in the war would be with the Spanish
fleet in those waters. No one doubted that the Asiatic squadron
would be able to give a good account of itself, although the fleet
which was to oppose it did not lack efficient guns and fighting
strength.
The capture of that valuable Spanish colony, in which rebellion
against the government was in progress, would be not only a severe
blow to the Spanish arms, but would also strengthen the position
of the United States in the Orient by the capture of large
supplies of coal and naval equipment, as well as a splendid base
of operations.
But while these preparations were going on for the conflict which
was destined to cost Spain her possessions in the western world,
there were a few individuals who were still making desperate
efforts to induce the administration at Washington to effect a
compromise at any cost. Not even the actual declaration of war,
and the call for volunteers, could bring the members of this
peace-at-any-price party to a realization of the fact that
patience has ceased to be a virtue, that we could no longer turn a
deaf ear to the appeals of an oppressed people, and that the brave
men who went down with the Maine must be avenged.
Every true American felt that the hour had come when we must
defend the honor of our great nation, and it was evident to all
that the time was near at hand when actual warfare was to begin
both on land and sea.
The insurgents in Cuba, who have been struggling against almost
overwhelming odds for so many months, received the glad tidings of
American intervention with unbounded joy, and at once sent
representatives to the United States to arrange for co-operation
in the invasion of Cuba, and to assist in planning a systematic
campaign against the Spanish forces. Every arrangement was
completed for final action and with men and money, munitions of
war and ships, all in ample supply, it was evident that the
crucial test was soon to come, and that war was at last an actual
fact.
CHAPTER II.
HOW COLUMBUS FOUND THE "PEARL OF THE ANTILLES."
In gratitude of Spain to the Great Discoverer Who Gave Her a New
World--How Spain's Evil Colonial Policy Lost the Western
Hemisphere to That Obsolete Nation--Early Settlement of Cuba--
Character of the Natives at the Time of the Discovery--Founding of
the First Cities--Havana Becomes the Island Capital--Docility of
the Natives and Their Extermination by Spanish Oppressors.
Cuba and Columbus are names inseparably connected. This largest
and most fruitful island of the Spanish Main was discovered by the
great navigator himself on the 28th day of October, 1492, only a
short time after his first landing upon the soil of the western
hemisphere on the island of San Salvador. There is a sentimental
association to Americans in the thought that the discovery of our
own continent was due to the pioneer expeditions sent from Spain.
But any regret in one's mind that animosities have risen between
the two nations, may be mollified by the memory that Columbus was
himself an Italian, that it had required years of his efforts to
induce sufficient interest on the part of Spanish monarchs to
father his undertaking, and that his life in the service of Spain
was marred by the basest ingratitude on the part of those whom he
had served.
Upon the handsome monument erected to the memory of Columbus in
Seville by Ferdinand and Isabella, is the simple inscription, "A
Castile y Leon, nuevo mundo dio Colon"--"to Castile and Leon,
Columbus gave a new world."
This was the tardy recognition granted to the discoverer by those
to whom he had made the marvelous gift. Recognition had been
denied him in his life, except after years of persistent urging,
second only to those years he wasted in his effort to arouse
Spanish interest and enterprise. Once he was removed from his West
Indian governorship and returned to Spain in chains. The titles
and honors which had been promised him before, were denied after
he had earned them. He was a victim of foul ingratitude, and no
American need permit sentiment to blind him for the sake of
Columbus.
The splendid new world which Columbus gave to Spain, was the most
marvelous addition of territory that has ever come into the
possession of any nation upon earth. It included the whole of
South America, except Brazil, which was acquired by Portugal, and
the small colonies known as British, Dutch and French Guiana. It
included the whole of Central America and Mexico. It included the
whole of what is now the United States west of the Mississippi
river. It included the whole of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico
and the peninsula of Florida to the southern limit of Alabama and
Georgia, and except for a few scattered islands, it included every
foot of land in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea, all the
coral rocks, as well as the greater islands of the West Indies
and the Antilles. To-day not a foot of all that enormous
possession remains to Spain undisputed, except the islands of Cuba
and Puerto Rico. These hundreds of thousands of square miles are
inhabited by a free and peaceful people, most of them as
republics, and the few exceptions under civilized and liberal
colonial policies. Spain's hold on Cuba has vanished and Puerto
Rico is slipping away. Spain could not preserve the gifts of
Columbus.
SPAINS COLONIAL POLICIES.
The logic of events and the progress of civilization have
commanded that Spain should withdraw from her possessions in the
western hemisphere. Never has there been such a record of ferocity
and barbarity in conquest, as that which blackens the pages of
Spanish history in connection with Spain's acquisition and
subjection of her newly discovered territories. Whether it was the
peaceful Indians of the Antilles, the highly civilized Aztecs of
Mexico, or the Incas of Peru, the policy pursued was always the
same. First, treacherous friendship, then robbery and massacre,
then slavery, and finally extermination, was the unvarying
programme. And so, instead of winning favor and loyalty with their
consequent happiness and prosperity from the native tribes,
Spanish conquerors implanted in the possessors of the country an
over-mastering and ineradicable hatred, which grew with
association, until in colony after colony the bonds were burst by
violence.
When Great Britain lost her American colonies by reason of her
misgovernment and oppression of them, it was a lesson which her
people never forgot. From that day, the colonial policy of the
British government was altered, and the spirit of liberality and
generosity began to dominate. To-day, every colony of Great
Britain that enjoys representative government--Canada, Australia,
Cape Colony and many others, owes to the United States the liberty
which Great Britain grants.
But Spain could learn no such lessons. Her cruelty and
misgovernment aroused colony after colony to rebellion ending in
freedom, but her policies remained unaltered. One by one
possessions of fabulous wealth dropped away until at last this old
crone of nations has been left to shiver alone by her fireside,
abandoned in her misery by all the children whose memory of her is
nothing but that of vicious cruelty. The only pity to which Spain
is entitled, is the pity that is due for her ignorance and her
mistakes, not pity for the penalties that these have brought upon
her.
Spain was once the intellectual leader of the world, as well as
the pioneer of discovery. Spanish universities were centers of
learning long before northern Europe had its intellectual birth.
Spanish mariners sailed every sea and Spanish adventurers explored
every land. If learning and advancement bring obligations, as they
are admitted to do, it was Spain's obligation to be a leader in
strife for liberty of mind and body, but the two most notable
things in her history are the Spanish inquisition against freedom
of thought, and the Spanish ferocities which enslaved a new world
for many a year. Now she has reaped the harvest of her own
misdeeds.
THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF CUBA.
Every one knows that Columbus was not looking for a western
hemisphere, but for the Orient, and that when he found Cuba he
believed he had reached the East Indies and the islands of gold
and spice which had been reported from that mysterious land. His
first island discoveries he believed to be the outlying portions
of that eastern archipelago and when the natives told him of a
greater land near by, which he reached a few days later, he
believed that at last he had reached Cipango, as Japan then was
called.
The first name given to the island was Juana, in honor of Prince
Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella of Aragon and Castile.
After Ferdinand's death, in his honor the name was changed to
Fernandina. Still later it received the name of Santiago, as a
mark of reverence for the patron saint of Spain, and another
change was made a few years afterward, when the inhabitants, as a
proof of their piety, called it Ave Maria, in honor of the Holy
Virgin. In spite of all this effort at establishing a Spanish
name, the original Indian name of Cuba, which it bore when the
great navigator first landed on its shores, has asserted itself
triumphantly through all the centuries and is now ineradicable.
According to the accounts given by Spanish writers who were
contemporary with the discovery, and the century immediately
following, the aboriginal inhabitants of Cuba were a generous,
gentle, hospitable people, by no means energetic, but heartily
cordial and courteous to the strangers who reached their shores.
The mildness of their climate did not stimulate them to much
activity in cultivation of the soil, because tropical fruits and
vegetables came with scarcely an effort on the part of the
natives. Their implements and utensils were crude and their life
simple.
The system of government was by no means complicated. The island
was divided into nine independent principalities, each under a
Cacique, all living in harmony, and warfare being almost unknown.
Their religion was a peaceful one, without human sacrifices or
cannibalism, but the priests had great power through their
pretense of influence with spirits good and evil.
Of all the people discovered by the Spanish in their colonization
of the western hemisphere, the Cubans were the most tractable to
the influences of Christianity so far as their willingness to
accept the doctrines was concerned. Christianity, as practiced by
the Spanish conquerors, was scarcely that of the highest type of
the faith, and the inducements to accept it were somewhat violent.
Nevertheless it must be noted that it is from Spanish sources this
testimony as to the docility of the Cuban natives comes. Under
these circumstances it becomes a magnified crime that the Spanish
conquerors absolutely exterminated the hundreds of thousands of
native Cubans whom they found at the time of the discovery, and
that within little more than a century, there was absolutely not a
trace of native stock to be found anywhere in the island.
When Columbus first rested his eyes on the island of Cuba it
seemed to him an enchanted land. He was charmed with its lofty
mountains, its beautiful rivers, and its blossoming groves, and in
his account of the voyage he said: "Everything is green as April
in Andalusia. The singing of the birds is such that it seems as if
one would never desire to depart. There are flocks of parrots that
obscure the sun. There are trees of a thousand species, each
having its particular fruit, and all of marvelous flavor."
Columbus was first of the opinion that he had found an island, but
after following the shores for many miles he concluded that it was
a continent. He retained the latter belief until his death, for it
was not until 1508 that the island was circumnavigated, when it
was discovered that it was of about the same area as England. In a
subsequent expedition he reached the coast of South America, but
he had no appreciation of the magnitude of that continent, and to
him Cuba was the grandest of his discoveries in the New World.
Cuba was twice visited by Columbus after its discovery, in April,
1494, and again in 1502, and these visits but confirmed his first
opinion regarding the salubrity of the climate and the wealth of
the soil. His sailors wrested from the natives large sums of gold
and silver, and this led to the mistaken belief that mines of
great richness were within their grasp.
SPAIN'S HEARTLESS TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS.
Biography furnishes no parallel to the life of Columbus. Great men
there have been who have met with injustice and disappointments,
but there is perhaps no other instance of a man whom
disappointments and injustice did not dishearten and disgust; who
had his greatness recognized in his lifetime, and yet was robbed
of the rewards that it entitled him to.
It is probable that before his death Columbus confided his belief
in the wealth to be found in Cuba to his son Diego Columbus, for
in 1511 the latter fitted out an expedition for the purpose of
colonizing the island. This company consisted of about 300 men,
under Diego Velasquez, who had accompanied the great explorer on
his second voyage. The first settlement was made at Baracoa, in
the extreme eastern section, and this village was regarded as the
capital of the colony for several years. In the meantime extensive
settlements had been made by the Spaniards in the island of
Jamaica, and in 1514 the towns of Santiago and Trinidad were
founded on the southern coast of Cuba, in order that the
inhabitants of the two colonies might be brought into closer
communication. As immigration increased, other towns of importance
sprung up, and the island became the base for the various
operations against Mexico. Baracoa grew largely in population, and
the towns of Puerto Principe and Sancti Espiritus were established
in the central section, and San Juan de los Remedios on the north
coast. In July, 1515, the city of San Cristobal de la Habana was
planted, deriving its name from the great Discoverer, but this
name was transferred in 1519 to the present capital, and the
original town was called Batabano.
In 1518 the capital was fixed at Baracoa, which had by this time
become a city of considerable importance, and the diocese of the
colony. In 1522 both the seat of government and the bishopric were
removed to Santiago de Cuba. In 1538 Havana was reduced to ashes
by a French privateer; and to prevent a similar disaster in
future, the Castillo de la Fuerza, a fortress which still exists,
was built by Fernando de Soto, governor of Cuba, and afterwards
famous for his explorations in the southern and western portions
of North America, as well as for the discovery of the Mississippi.
Using a modern expression, this great fortress, added to her
almost perfect harbor, gave Havana a wonderful "boom," and the
city experienced a remarkable growth. The Spanish merchantmen were
actively employed in carrying the wealth of Mexico to the
Peninsula, and Havana was a convenient port for them to secure
supplies of provisions and water. In 1549 Gonzales Perez de Angulo
was appointed governor of the island, and he was so impressed with
the beauties of the city, that he chose it as his residence.
Several of his successors followed his example, and in 1589 it was
legally made the capital of Cuba.
EARLY GOVERNMENT OF CUBA.
The early records of the island were kept in so imperfect a manner
that it is not possible to give an accurate account of the early
governors and their lieutenants. It is certain, however, that the
seat of government was at Santiago de Cuba, and that Havana and
other towns of minor importance were ruled by lieutenants. In
1538, Hernando de Soto, adelantado of Florida, and also governor
of Cuba, landed at Santiago, and remained a few days before
proceeding to the mainland. On his departure he left the
government of the island in charge of a lady, Dona Isabel de
Bobadilla, and gave her for a colleague Don Juan de Rojas, who had
at one time been lieutenant governor of Havana. It is from this
date that the gradual transference of the seat of power from
Santiago to Havana may be said to have arisen.
Don Antonio de Chavez assumed the government in 1547, and he it
was who gave Havana its first regular supply of water, bringing it
a distance of about six miles from the river Chorrera.
The early settlers devoted themselves principally to the raising
of cattle, paying very little attention to agricultural pursuits,
or in fact to any means of livelihood that called for manual
labor. Much time and money was wasted in explorations for gold and
silver, but these were invariably unsuccessful, for while the
precious metals have occasionally been found in the island, the
quantity has never been sufficient to repay the labor of the
search.
A LETTER WRITTEN BY COLUMBUS.
Nothing more interesting for the conclusion of this chapter can be
offered than Columbus' own account of his first view of the island
of Cuba. It is as follows
"When I reached Juana, I followed its coast to the westward, and
found it so large that I thought it must be mainland, the province
of Cathay; and as I found neither towns nor villages on the sea
coast, but only some hamlets, with the inhabitants of which I
could not hold conversation, because they all immediately fled, I
kept on the same route, thinking that I could not fail to light
upon some large cities or towns. At length, after the proceeding
of many leagues, and finding that nothing new presented itself,
and that the coast was leading me northwards (which I wished to
avoid, because the winter had already set in, and it was my
intention to move southwards; and because moreover the winds were
contrary), I resolved not to wait for a change in the weather, but
to return to a certain harbor which I had remarked, and from which
I sent two men ashore to ascertain whether there was any king or
large cities in that part. They journeyed for three days, and
found countless small hamlets, with numberless inhabitants, but
with nothing like order; they therefore returned. In the meantime
I had learned from some other Indians, whom I had seized, that
this land was certainly an island; accordingly, I followed the
coast eastward for a distance of 107 leagues, where it ended in a
cape. From this cape I saw another island to the eastward, at a
distance of eighteen leagues from the former, to which I gave the
name of La Espanola. Thither I went and followed its northern
coast, (just the same as I had done with the coast of Juana), 118
full miles due east. This island, like all others, is
extraordinarily large, and this one extremely so. In it are many
seaports, with which none that I know in Christendom can bear
comparison, so good and capacious that it is a wonder to see. The
lands are high, and there are many lofty mountains, with which the
islands of Tenerife cannot be compared. They are all most
beautiful, of a thousand different shapes, accessible, and covered
with trees of a thousand kinds, of such great height that they
seem to reach the skies. I am told that the trees never lose their
foliage, and I can well understand it, for I observed that they
were as green and luxuriant as in Spain in the month of May. Some
were in bloom, others bearing fruit, and others otherwise,
according to their nature. The nightingale was singing, as well as
other little birds of a thousand different kinds, and that in
November, the month in which I was roaming amongst them. There are
palm trees of six or eight kinds, wonderful in their beautiful
variety; but this is the case with all other trees and fruits and
grasses. It contains extraordinary pine groves and very extensive
plains. There is also honey and a great variety of birds, and many
different kinds of fruits. In the interior there are many mines of
metals, and a population innumerable."
CHAPTER III.
SPAIN'S BLACK HISTORICAL RECORD.
Present Men of Prominence Are Types of Those Who Were Infamous
Years Ago--Roman Rule in Spain--Weakness of Spanish Power of
Resistance--Discoveries in America--Horrors of the Inquisition--
Spanish Rule in Holland--Expulsion of the Moors--Loss of American
Colonies--Later History of Spain.
The signal fact that will present itself to the student of
Spanish history is that from the earliest times the country has
been in a continual state of conflict, internal, with its
colonies, and with other nations; and seldom has it been a war of
defense. In almost every instance Spain has been the aggressor.
The Spaniard has ever been perfidious, avaricious, ferocious. In
his veins still flows the blood of Ferdinand, of Torquemada, and
of Philip II. Weyler is a prototype of Alva, and in Blanco we find
another Antonio de Mendoza. Spain is the China of modern Europe.
Her spirit is still the spirit of the inquisition. Her policy is
not to conciliate, but to coerce; not to treat justly, but to rob
and enslave; and her dependence is the ignorance and superstition
of her people.
All reforms wrung from rulers must first be baptized in blood, and
it is possible that the end of the present century may see a new
nation, built on the ruins of the old, which will be a credit to
civilization, instead of a disgrace.
ROMAN RULE IN SPAIN.
Prior to the first war between Rome and Carthage, which ended 241
BC, there is little or no authentic information regarding the
history of the country now known to the world as Spain. To the
ancients it was a land of mystery and enchantment, the home of the
setting sun; and Iberia, as they called it, was but a name for an
indefinite extent of territory in the far west, peopled by
barbarous Celts and Iberians, with a few Phoenician settlements,
for the purposes of trade, on its southern coasts.
At the close of the first Punic war, Hamilcar Barca, at the head
of a Carthaginian host, crossed the strait of Gibraltar and
commenced the conquest which his son Hannibal completed, and which
resulted in the undisputed supremacy of Carthage throughout almost
all of Spain. This brings us to 218 B. C. and marks the beginning
of the second Punic war, when the Roman legions first entered
Spain. After a struggle which lasted for thirteen years the
Carthaginians were completely routed, and the country was
conquered by the arms of Rome. It was many years, however, before
the inhabitants were really subdued, but eventually they became
more completely Romanized than any province beyond the limits of
Italy. When brought under the iron rule of the Empire they were
forced to desist from the intestinal wars in which it had been
their habit to indulge, and adopting the language, laws and
manners of their conquerors, they devoted themselves to industrial
pursuits, and increased remarkably both in wealth and numbers.
Their fertile fields formed for a considerable time the granary of
Rome, and from the metal-veined mountains an immense amount of
gold and silver flowed into Roman coffers. However, these were not
voluntary offerings of the natives. They were compelled to labor
in the mines for the benefit of strangers, and thus Spain, in the
early ages, was the type of Spanish America in the fifteenth and
succeeding centuries, with the difference that in the first case
the Spaniards were the slaves, and in the second they were the
slave-holders.
For more than 300 years Spain remained under Roman rule, until in
409 AD, hordes of barbarians crossed the Pyrenees and swept over
the Peninsula. Suevi, Alani and Vandals ravaged with equal fury
the cities and the open country, and brought the inhabitants to
the lowest depths of misery. They were finally subjugated by a
Visigothic host, and in 415, Walia, a war-like and ambitious
chief, established the West-Gothic kingdom in Spain, on the ruins
of the old Roman province. Walia concluded a treaty with the
Emperor Honorius, and, putting himself at the head of the brave
Goths, in a three-years' war he destroyed or drove the barbarians
from the land. Spain, thus reconquered, was nominally subject to
Rome, but soon became really independent, and began to be the seat
of a Christian civilization. This West-Gothic kingdom lasted for
about three centuries, from 418 to 711, when it fell before the
Moorish invasion.
WEAKNESS OF SPANISH POWERS OF RESISTANCE.
Few things in history are more remarkable than the ease with which
Spain, a country naturally fitted for defense, was subdued by a
mere handful of invaders. The misgovernment of the Visigoths, the
internal factions and jealousies, and the discontent of numerous
classes, notably the Jews, co-operated to facilitate the conquest
and to weaken the power of resistance. These conquerors were of
the Mohammedan faith, but while they were united by religion, they
were of different races. Besides the Moors there were the Arabs,
the Egyptians and the Syrians, and when the task of conquest was
achieved, and the need for unity removed, quarrels arose between
them. So difficult was it to prevent these quarrels, that it was
found necessary to subdivide the conquered territory, and to allot
separate settlements to the different tribes.
During the period of Moorish domination a number of small
independent kingdoms were formed in opposition to Moslem rule.
These comprised Castile, Leon, Navarre and Aragon, and sometimes
separately, sometimes in combination, they were in constant war
with the common enemy. The age of the great crusades came, and all
Christendom was absorbed in the struggle against the infidel, both
in the East and West. Spain, like Palestine, had its crusading
orders, which vied with the Templars and the Hospitallers both in
wealth and military distinction. The decisive battle was fought in
July, 1212, when the combined forces of Castile, Leon, Navarre,
Aragon and Portugal met the Mohammedan army, and gained the most
celebrated victory ever obtained by the Christians over their
Moslem foes, the latter losing, according to the account
transmitted to the pope, 100,000 killed and 50,000 prisoners. The
king of Grenada was speedily forced to become a vassal of Castile,
and from this period all danger from Moorish rule was over.
Following this time until the different kingdoms became as one,
there is nothing in their history deserving a detailed account.
The history of Spain as a united state dates from the union of
Castile and Aragon by the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand, the
respective rulers of those kingdoms, in 1469. Grenada, the last
remaining possession of the Moors, fell before the Spanish forces
in 1492, and Navarre was acquired in 1512.
DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.
The year 1492, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella,
witnessed the discovery of America. Spain had become consolidated
into one empire from the Pyrenees to the strait of Gibraltar, and
civil wars were at an end. Maritime exploration was the task of
the age, and under the patronage of Isabella, Columbus planted the
flag of Spain in the West Indies. This grand achievement led to
the opening of a splendid continent, teeming with riches, for
Spanish adventure and despoliation. In 1498, Columbus landed on
the continent of South America, and in a few years the entire
western coast was explored by subsequent adventurers. In 1512,
Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, and the following year, Balboa
crossed the Isthmus of Darien, and gazed for the first time upon
the Pacific.
The history of Spain, in connection with its discovery and
settlement of the New World, is one long record of revolting
crime. New England was settled by a people who came to turn the
wilderness into a city, but the Spanish invaders went to the
southern shores to turn the cities of the natives into a
wilderness. In Mexico and Peru they found a civilization the equal
and in many respects the superior of their own. With cross and
sword in hand, in the name of religion, but with the lust for gold
in their hearts, their coming was invariably a signal for every
kind of attack that malignity could devise or avarice invent.
Wherever they went, desolation followed them. They looted the
towns, pillaged the cities, murdered the people; they burned alike
the hovels of the poor, and the palaces of the rich.
The value of the treasure that Spain secured from Mexico and Peru
never can be known accurately; but it is certain that within sixty
years from the time of the landing of Columbus she had advanced to
the position of the richest and most powerful nation in Europe.
Victorious in Africa and Italy, Philip II, who was then the
reigning monarch, carried war into France, and ruled in Germany,
as well as in those provinces now known as Belgium and Holland.
The money necessary to carry on these vast wars of conquest was
undoubtedly acquired in the New World. When Cortez approached the
palace of Montezuma, the King's messengers met him, bearing
presents from their lord. These gifts included 200 pounds of gold
for the commander, and two pounds of gold for each of his army.
Prescott, in his "Conquest of Peru," says that when the Spanish
soldiers captured the capital of that country they spent days in
melting down the golden vessels which they found in temples and
palaces. On one voyage a single ship carried to Spain $15,500,000
in gold, besides vast treasures of silver and jewels.
THE HORRORS OF THE INQUISITION.
The Inquisition was a tribunal in the Roman Catholic church for
the discovery, repression and punishment of heresy and unbelief.
It originated in Rome when Christianity was established as the
religion of the Empire, but its history in Spain and her
dependencies has absorbed almost entirely the real interest in the
painful subject.
As an ordinary tribunal, similar to those of other countries, it
had existed there from an early period. Its functions, however, in
those times were little more than nominal; but early in the reign
of Ferdinand and Isabella, on account of the alleged discovery of
a plot among the Jews to overthrow the government, an application
was made to the Pope to permit its re-organization. But in
reviving the tribunal, the Crown assumed to itself the right of
appointing the inquisitors, and of controlling their entire
action. For this reason Catholic writers regard the Spanish
inquisition as a state tribunal, and refer to the bull of the
Pope, Sixtus IV., protesting against it. Notwithstanding this
protest, however, the Spanish Crown maintained its assumption.
Inquisitors were appointed, and in 1483 the tribunal commenced its
terrible career, under Thomas de Torquemada.
The inquisition arrested on suspicion, tortured for confession,
and then punished with fire. One witness brought the victim to the
rack, two to the flames. The prisoner was not confronted with his
accuser, nor were their names ever made known to him. The court
was held in a gloomy dungeon at midnight, a dim light gleamed from
smoking torches, and the grand inquisitor, enveloped in a black
robe, glared at his victim through holes cut in the hood. Before
the examination, the accused, whether man, maid or matron, was
stripped and stretched upon the rack, where tendons could be
strained without cracking, bones crushed without breaking and the
body tortured without dying.
When the prisoner was found guilty, his tongue was cut out, so
that he could neither speak nor swallow. On the morning of the
execution a breakfast of rare delicacies was placed before the
sufferer, and with ironical invitation he was urged to enjoy his
last repast. Then the prisoner was led to the funeral pyre, where
an address was given, lauding the inquisition, condemning heresy,
and commanding obedience to the Pope and the Emperor. Then, while
hymns were sung, blazing fagots were piled about the victim, until
his body was reduced to a heap of ashes.
Some conception of the appalling cruelty of the inquisition under
Torquemada may be formed from the statement that during the
sixteen years of his tenure of office nearly 10,000 persons were
condemned to the flames, and the property of 97,000 others was
confiscated.
SPANISH RULE IN HOLLAND.
Horrible as the atrocities of the inquisition were in the mother
country, it is doubtful if they ever reached the acme of savage
cruelty that they attained during the period when Spain was
seeking to strengthen the fetters with which she nominally held
Holland in her grasp. The Spanish government, from the time when
it first acquired a place among nations, has never been satisfied
with a reasonable tribute from its dependencies. Its plan ever has
been to exact all, and leave nothing to supply more than a
miserable existence. So it was in the middle of the sixteenth
century, when Philip II., greedy of the treasures of Holland,
determined to spoil them of their wealth, and planned to establish
the inquisition among them by the sword.
The duke of Alva, already famous for his harshness and bigotry,
was named commander of the forces, with almost unlimited powers.
He entered the Netherlands with about 20,000 tried troops, ready
for cruelties, and all hopes of peace or mercy fled before them.
There was a great and desperate exodus of the inhabitants;
thousands took refuge in England, Denmark and Germany, and despair
and helplessness alone remained to greet the cold Spaniard and his
train of orthodox executioners. The Council of Troubles--the
"Blood-tribunal"--was immediately established, and the land was
filled with blood. In a short time he totally annihilated every
privilege of the people, and with unrelenting cruelty put
multitudes of them to death.
The more the peasants rebelled, the crueler were the methods of
Alva. Men were tortured, beheaded, roasted before slow fires,
pinched to death with hot tongs, broken on the wheel, flayed
alive. On one occasion the skins of leaders were stripped from
their living bodies, and stretched upon drums for beating the
funeral march of brethren to the gallows. During the course of six
years Alva brought charges of heresy and treason against 30,000
inhabitants, and made the infamous boast that, in addition to the
multitudes killed in battle and massacred after victory, he had
consigned 18,000 persons to the executioner.
This unholy war with the Netherlands lasted with occasional
cessations of hostilities for eighty years, and during its
progress Spain buried 350,000 of her sons and allies in Holland,
spent untold millions in the attempted destruction of freedom, and
sunk from the first power in Europe, an empire whose proud boast
it had been that upon her possessions the sun never set, to the
level of a fourth-rate country, cruel in government, superstitious
in religion, and ever an enemy to progress.
EXPULSION OF THE MOORS.
In addition to the terrible drain upon the country from losses in
war, the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors was productive of the
direst results. In 1609 all the Moriscoes were ordered to depart
from the Peninsula within three days. The penalty of death was
declared against all who failed to obey, and against any
Christians who should shelter the recalcitrant. The edict was
obeyed, but it was a blow from which Spain never recovered. The
Moriscoes were the back-bone of the industrial population, not
only in trade and manufactures, but also in agriculture. The
haughty and indolent Spaniards had willingly left what they
considered degrading employment to their inferiors. The Moors had
introduced into Spain the cultivation of sugar, cotton, rice and
silk. In manufactures and commerce they had shown superiority to
the Christian inhabitants, and many of their products were eagerly
sought for by other countries. All these advantages were
sacrificed to an insane desire for religious unity.
The reigns of Philip III. and Philip IV. witnessed a fearful
acceleration in the decline of Spain by the contests with the
Dutch and with the German Protestants in the Thirty Years' War,
the wars with France, and the rebellion of Portugal in 1640, which
had been united to Spain by Philip II. The reign of Charles II.
was still more unfortunate, and his death was the occasion of the
war of the Spanish succession.
Under Charles III. (1759-1788), a wise and enlightened prince, the
second great revival of the country commenced, and trade and
commerce began to show signs of returning activity. Previous to
his accession to the throne, Spain appeared to be a corpse, over
which the powers of Europe could contend at will. Suddenly men
were astounded to see that country rise with renewed vigor to play
once more an important part on the international stage. Commerce
and agriculture were developed, native manufactures were
encouraged in every way possible, and an attempt was made to
remove all prejudices against trade, among the nobles. Meritorious
as these reforms were, it would give a false impression to
represent them as wholly successful. The regeneration of Spain was
by no means accomplished, and many of the abuses which had been
growing for centuries, survived the attempt to effect their
annihilation. One of the chief causes of this failure was the
corruption and ignorance of the lower officials; and a large
portion of the population remained, to a great extent, sunk in
sloth and superstition, in spite of all that was done in their
behalf.
During the inglorious reign of Charles IV. (1788-1808), who left
the management, of affairs in the hands of the incapable Godoy,
(at once the queen's lover and the king's prime minister), a war
broke out with Britain, which was productive of nothing but
disaster to the Spaniards. Charles finally abdicated in favor of
his son, the Prince of Asturias, who ascended the throne as
Ferdinand VII. Forced by Napoleon to resign all claims to the
Spanish crown, Ferdinand became the prisoner of the French in the
year of his accession, and in the same year, Joseph, the brother
of the French emperor, was declared King of Spain, and set out for
Madrid to assume the kingdom thus assigned him. But Spanish
loyalty was too profound to be daunted even by the awe-inspiring
power of the great Napoleon. For the first time he found himself
confronted, not by terrified and selfish rulers, but by an
infuriated people. The rising on Spain commenced the popular
movement which ultimately proved fatal to his power.
In July, 1808, England, on solicitation, made peace with Spain,
recognized Ferdinand VII. as king, and sent an army to aid the
Spanish insurrection. Joseph invaded the country on July 9,
defeated the Spaniards at Rio Seco, and entered Madrid on the
20th. But the defeat of Dupont at Baylen by the veteran Spanish
general Castanos somewhat altered the position of affairs, and
Joseph, after a residence of ten days in his capital, was
compelled to evacuate it.
Meanwhile Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, at
the head of the British auxiliary force, had landed at Mondego
bay, and began the Peninsular war by defeating the French at
Roliza and Vimiero. In November, 1808, Napoleon, who had been
preceded by Ney with 100,000 men, entered Spain and assumed the
command. For a time his armies were completely successful. In less
than a week the Spanish forces were broken through and scattered,
and Joseph was returned to Madrid. The victory was a short-lived
one, however, for, in April, 1809, General Wellesley arrived in
Portugal and at once commenced operations. By dint of masterly
generalship and bold enterprise he finally succeeded in driving
the French from the country. Napoleon, loth to lose his hold in
the Peninsula, sent Soult, his most trusted general, to stop the
ingress of the British into France, but the battles of the
Pyrenees, (24th July 1st August, 1813), and of the Nivelle,
Orthez, and Toulouse, in the beginning of 1814, brought to a
victorious conclusion this long and obstinate contest.
LOSS OF AMERICAN COLONIES.
After the convulsions it had endured, Spain required a period of
firm but conciliatory government, but the ill fate of the country
gave the throne at this crisis one of her worst rulers. Ferdinand
VII. had no conception of the duties of a sovereign; his public
conduct was regulated by pride and superstition, and his private
life was stained by the grossest dissipations.
For six years Spain groaned under a "Reign of terror," and
isolated revolts only served as the occasion for fresh cruelties.
The finances were squandered in futile expeditions to recover the
South American colonies, which had taken advantage of Napoleon's
conquest of Spain to establish their independence. In his straits
for money, Ferdinand ventured to outrage national sentiment by
selling Florida to the United States in 1819. Louisiana had been
ceded to France in 1803, and when Mexico gained her independence
in 1822, the last of the territory under Spanish rule in North
America was lost to her.
The reign of Ferdinand's daughter, Isabella II., was disturbed by
the Carlist rebellion in 1834-1839, in which England aided the
Queen with an army commanded by Sir De Lacy Evans. Spain, under
Isabella II., presents a dismal picture of faction and intrigue.
Policies of state had forced her into a distasteful marriage with
her cousin, Francis of Assisi, and she sought compensation in
sensual indulgences, endeavoring to cover the dissoluteness of her
private life by a superstitious devotion to religion. She had to
contend with continual revolts, and was finally compelled, in
1868, to abdicate the throne and fly to France for her life.
A provisional government was formed with Serrano as President, and
a new constitution was formed, by which an hereditary king was to
rule, in conjunction with a senate and a popular chamber. The
throne was offered to Amadeus of Aosta, the second son of Victor
Emmanuel, in 1870, and he made an honest effort to discharge the
difficult duties of the office. But he found the task too hard,
and too distasteful, and resigned in 1873. A provisional republic
was then formed, of which Castelar was the guiding spirit. But the
Spaniards, trained to regard monarchy with superstitious
reverence, had no sympathy with republican institutions. Don
Carlos seized the opportunity to revive the claim of inalienable
male succession, and raised the standard of revolt. Castelar
finally threw up the office in disgust, and the administration was
undertaken by a committee of officers. Anarchy was suppressed with
a strong hand, but it was obvious that order could only be
restored by reviving the monarchy. Foreign princes were no longer
thought of, and Alfonso XII., the young son of the exiled
Isabella, was restored to the throne in 1874. His first task was
to terminate the Carlist war, which still continued in the North,
and this was successfully accomplished in 1876. He died in 1885,
and the regency was entrusted to his widow, Christina of Austria.
On May 17th, 1886, a posthumous son was born, who is now the
titular King of Spain.
CHAPTER IV.
BUCCANEERING AND THE WARFARE IN THE SPANISH MAIN.
Spain's Stolen Treasures from Mexico and Peru Tempt Her European
Rivals--The Spanish Main the Scene of Piratical Plundering for
Many Years--Havana and Other Cities Threatened--Great Britain
Takes Santo Domingo--American Troops from the British Colonies
Capture Havana--Victory on Land and Sea Is Saddened by Many
Deaths of Brave Americans from Fever--Lessons of the First Capture
of Havana.
After the acquisition of rich and populous countries in the
western hemisphere had begun, Spain discovered that her new-found
wealth was not to be hers without a struggle. From the harbors of
Mexico and Peru, Spanish galleons sailed with their loads of
treasure, stolen from the Montezumas and the Incas. Year after
year, rich argosies, laden with gold and silver to replenish the
extravagant treasury of the Spanish crown, crossed the seas. The
Atlantic ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea were
furrowed with the keels of Spanish fleets, at a time when the
European nations scarcely maintained the pretense of friendship
with one another.
It was hardly to be expected that these rich prizes should go
unmolested. England and France knew quite well that they were
plundered from the native treasuries of the new world, and no
reason appeared why Spain in turn should not be robbed of her
plunder. So the Spanish Main, the Caribbean sea, the Gulf of
Mexico, and the adjacent waters, became the haunt of buccaneers
and pirates, some under flags of European nations, and others
under the black flag. Desperate fights were the lot of almost
every Spanish galleon that sailed those seas, and fabulous prizes
sometimes were taken under the skull and crossbones. Spanish men
of war sailed back and forth to convoy the merchant fleets, but
their protection was not always sufficient. Pirates could obtain
frigates with guns as good as those of Spain, and with the
temptation of wealth before them they braved conflict whenever it
was necessary.
The harbors of Key West, the Dry Tortugas and others along the
Florida keys, as well as many of those in the Bahamas, the West
Indies and the Antilles, were the haunts of buccaneers and
privateers who careened their ships on shore for repairs, or held
high revel on the beaches after their triumph over some Spanish
treasure fleet. Those were bloody days, full of dramatic
excitement. From them some of the most notable writers of fiction
have drawn their tales, which entertain readers of to-day.
What was done with all the gold thus garnered in sea fights before
it reached the ports of Spain, is hard to know. Sometimes
mysterious strangers appeared in the seaport towns of France and
England and even the American colonies in their younger days, to
spend money lavishly for a short time and then disappear as
mysteriously as they came. These men were reputed to be pirate
chiefs seeking relaxation from their customary life. Others of the
buccaneers hoarded their wealth in hiding places known only to
themselves, the secret of which must have died with them, while
the gold remains undiscovered. All through the Florida keys and
the West India islands, as well as along the coasts of Georgia and
the Carolinas, traditions still exist in relation to these
treasure hoards. Sanguine people are still digging in the sands of
these beaches, in the hope that some day they will unearth a sea
chest full of Spanish doubloons, or the golden ornaments stripped
from Aztec idols. Some finds indeed have been made, but those who
make them are not apt to reveal the secret which might guide
another to a successful search.
PIRATICAL RAIDS TROUBLE HAVANA.
Having discovered the wealth that could be obtained by attacks
upon the Spanish fleets, the pirates began to think of the cities
which were themselves the source of much of this wealth. The
result of this was that they began to make descents upon the
coasts, not only of Cuba, but of the neighboring islands of
Jamaica and Santo Domingo. The expense occasioned by the attempts
to suppress these incursions became so great toward the end of the
sixteenth century, that it became necessary to impose a special
tax to cover it.
Fortresses at all the fortified harbors were improved, and the
power of the military officials increased as their importance
increased, and that of the civil governors diminished. It was as a
direct result of these conditions that the office of Captain
General was created, in which the governor shared military and
civil authority alike. Havana fortifications were hastened to
completion and the preparations for defense began, which never
have been materially improved to this day. The three fortresses of
El Morro, La Punta and La Cabana were built before the end of the
sixteenth century and still were standing as the most effective
defenses of Havana when our war with Spain began.
It was during the same period, that African negroes were first
introduced into Cuba. Slavery had proved so severe upon the
aborigines, that their numbers had almost reached the vanishing
point, and there was a lack of sufficient labor for the cultivation
of tobacco and sugar cane, the chief products of Spanish
agriculture in the island. It was to promote the production of
these new luxuries that the African slave trade was begun. A royal
license from the King of Spain was obtained to guarantee the
privilege of importing negroes.
Then began that foul commerce which was another black stain on the
history of Spanish colonization of the western hemisphere. Spanish
ships descended upon the African coasts and kidnapped thousands of
negroes for service in the Cuban cane and tobacco fields. The
horrors of the trade cannot be magnified and are too distressing
for repetition. It is sufficient to say that in Havana it is
understood that the harbor was free from sharks which now swarm
there, until they followed the slave ships from the African coasts
in multitudes, for the feast of slaves who were thrown overboard
on the long voyage. Scores and hundreds of Africans died during
the journey, from the hardships they were compelled to undergo,
and Havana harbor itself was the last grave of many of these
hapless ones.
GREAT BRITAIN THREATENS SPANISH POSSESSIONS.
It was just after the middle of the seventeenth century and during
the rule of Oliver Cromwell in England, that the Spanish governors
of Cuba began to fear an attack by a British fleet. A squadron
sailed in 1655 with the design of capturing Jamaica, a purpose
which was easily accomplished. That island was taken by Great
Britain, the Spanish forces defending it were utterly defeated,
the governor was killed, and many of the inhabitants removed, in
consequence, to Cuba. From Jamaica the same fleet sailed for
Havana, but the attack was repulsed and the ships abandoned the
attempt. Except for the encroachments of the French upon the
island of Santo Domingo, and the continual piratical incursions of
French and English buccaneers, the Spanish in the West Indies were
not threatened with any more hostilities except by their own
internal dissensions until 1762. At that time Spain and England
were at war, Spain in alliance with the French, and it was decided
by the British government that Cuba was a vulnerable possession
and a valuable one that ought to be taken.
The capture of Havana by forces under the English flag fills
little space in the history of England and Spain, because of the
magnitude of the interests involved elsewhere. It is almost
forgotten in America, in spite of the bearing of all its
contemporary incidents upon the rapidly approaching revolution,
and yet it was an achievement of the colonial troops and
consequently the first assault upon Cuba by Americans.
It was an event of the first importance in its own day and
contained lessons of the first moment for the guidance of those
who had to plan the conduct of the war against Spain in 1898. It
proved that American troops under efficient officers could take
the field with success against double their number of Spaniards
fully provisioned and strongly intrenched. It proved that Havana
could be successfully assaulted by a combined military and naval
force, regardless of her picturesque but obsolete fortifications.
Spain's lack of administrative ability in the later war as well as
in the first, destroying any advantage to be derived from balls
and cannon. On the other side it proved that Americans had to look
forward to a considerable loss of life as a result of climatic
conditions, if they attempted to conduct hostile operations in
Cuba during the summer season.
The utter incapacity for straightforward, pertinacious fighting,
which both Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington found in the
Spanish army during the Peninsular war, was as conspicuous fifty
years before, when the Americans took Havana, and may rightly be
argued as perpetually inherent in the national character; for
though the annals of Spain are filled with instances of individual
courage of the first rank, demoralization sets in as soon as they
come together in numbers in the face of a civilized foe. Their
chief maneuver in the course of a century and a half, has been
just plain running away. The victorious Wellington, seeing his
Spanish allies running for dear life just after he had whipped the
opposing French line in the last battle of the peninsular
campaign, was moved to remark that he had seen many curious things
in his life, but never before 20,000 men engaged in a foot race.
Yet the fight made by the Spaniards in Havana during the attack of
the British and colonial forces in 1762 is the one notable
instance of a prolonged struggle between men who speak English and
men who speak Spanish. History may be searched in vain, either in
the old or new world, for a defense as able in point of
generalship or as stubborn in resistance as the Spaniards made at
the siege of Havana. In all other cases, from the Elizabethan
campaigns in Holland to the war with Mexico, the men educated in
the Spanish school of arms have been content to spend their
energies upon a single assault and then flee, sometimes even when
the odds were greatly in their favor.
The English Armada left Portsmouth on March 5th, 1762, under the
command of the gallant Admiral Pococke and Lord Albemarle, the
force moving in seven divisions. It consisted of nineteen ships of
the line, eighteen frigates or smaller men-of-war, and 150
transports containing about 10,000 soldiers, nearly all infantry.
At the Island of Hayti, then called Hispanola, the British were
joined by the successful expedition from Martinique. Together they
sat down before Havana, July 6th, 1762.
SPAIN'S INTELLECTUAL DRY ROT.
Spain, suffering, as it suffers to-day, from intellectual dry rot,
had known for weeks of the intended beleaguerment. Then, as now,
nothing adequate was done to meet it. The Governor of Havana, the
Marquis de Gonzalez, was a gallant soldier, as he was to prove;
but that ounce of prevention which is proverbially worth more than
the pound of cure, was not taken by him, and the British found the
fortifications in a partially ruinous condition, and the fourteen
ships of the line which were lying in the harbor before the city
in such a state that they could hardly be called in commission.
The Spanish army of defense numbered 27,000 men, and was in better
condition; but the Spanish sailors were utterly demoralized by the
granting of too much shore liberty, and the best use the Spaniard
could put his fighting ships to was by sinking them at the
entrance to the anchorage to prevent the entrance of the British
fleet. Once the enemy was before the city, however, all was
activity. The fortifications, which were too newly erected to be
quite incapable of repair, were set in order, the guns of Morro
Castle and of the fort known as the Puntal, across from it, were
trained on the advancing foe, and the Spanish ships were sunk, as
has been said.
Those familiar with the history of English administrative methods
during this period will find little to choose between them and the
methods of Spain. The season of the year most unwholesome to the
inhabitants of a temperate climate had already set in, with all
its train of pestilences, when the British arrived. Though deluged
by the tremendous rains of the tropics from day to day, the water
supply was wholly insufficient, and the little obtainable was so
tainted as to make its use fraught with danger. There was no pilot
who knew the roadstead in order to lead the ships against the
Morro and the Puntal for many days. In throwing up the parallels
and approaches to the walls of the city on the landward side, the
soldiers found such scarcity of earth, the blanket over the rocks
being of the thinnest sort, that this necessary material for
covering an attack had to be brought from a distance. Then, too,
it was charged with the germs of disease, and all who handled it
suffered extremely. Despite all the precautions of the officers,
the sanitary condition surrounding the camp was horrible, and the
troops died like dogs.
YANKEES IN CUBA.
Meanwhile there was a large force of British regulars in North
America, stationed there ever since the fall of the French empire
in the new world in 1760. Four thousand of these soldiers were
gathered in New York City. To them the colonies of East and West
Jersey added a regiment of 500 men, New York another of 800, while
Lyman raised a full thousand in Connecticut. When these, too, had
been assembled in New York, Lyman was made Brigadier General of
the colonial troops, and his Lieutenant Colonel, Israel Putnam,
was made Colonel of the Connecticut soldiers in his stead. This
was the same Putnam who fought the wolf single-handed in its cave,
and who was to take that breakneck ride a few years later to
escape the very troops with whom he was now associated. The entire
force of 2,300 provincials under General Lyman's command was not a
mere bevy of raw militia. Nearly all of them had seen service
against the French in those well trained and active forces which
were given the general name of "Rangers;" the officers especially,
of whom Putnam was hardly more than a type, being men of extended
experience. The fact that so many men were willing to volunteer in
this arduous and, as it turned out, desperate service for the
King, speaks volumes for what could have been done with such men
had Pitt and not Bute been at the head of the English nation at
that time. The advices from Havana showed that the army there was
in great need of reinforcements, so by great efforts the regulars
and provincials were stowed way in fourteen transports, and with
an escort of a few frigates they set sail for the South about the
middle of May. There were the usual shouts of an admiring populace
and the tears of sweethearts and wives; but it is easy to say that
there would have been no rejoicing if the people of Connecticut,
the Jerseys, and New York could have foreseen that hardly one of
every fifty of their volunteers would see his home again.
AMERICANS WERE WRECKED.
Just before the arrival of these welcome reinforcements on July
20, some English merchantmen had come along with cargoes of cotton
bags, which were pressed into immediate use for the lines which
were now closing around Havana; and in the ships were also found
several pilots. Then the forces from the North came amidst general
rejoicings, but without Putnam and 500 of his Yankees. These, in a
transport which was skirting the dangerous coast much too closely,
were shipwrecked on one of the treacherous shoals thereabouts.
Putnam, with true New England fertility of resource, extemporized
rafts from the fragments of the vessel and got all his men ashore
without the loss of a life. They landed near the City of
Carthagena, threw up breastworks, and were found ready to repel a
force of thousands of Spaniards when the ships from before Havana
arrived for their rescue, their own companions wisely pressing on
and sending aid back from the headquarters.
The American troops went bravely to work, engaging themselves
chiefly with the undermining of one of the walls. To reach this it
was necessary for them to pass along a narrow eminence where they
were in plain view and easy range of the Spaniards. A number were
lost in this dangerous enterprise, but their valor was dimmed
neither by this nor by the still heavier losses which came upon
them through the diseases prevalent in every portion of the
British camp. Though men of such hardiness that they must have
been equal in resisting power to the British, their losses were
comparatively much greater, proving that they occupied positions
of greater danger, either from bullets or the fevers of the
region.
MORRO CASTLE TAKEN.
Five days after the arrival of the reinforcements, Lord Albemarle
judged himself sufficiently strong to assault Morro Castle, and
the word was accordingly given. The sunken ships were blown up
early on the morning of July 25, and the British ships sailed into
the fury of the Spanish cannon, belching shot from all along the
shore. The big guns of the ships could not be elevated
sufficiently to silence the fire from Morro Castle, and this was
accordingly left to be carried by assault. The Puntal was
silenced, troops landed, and after five days of ferocious
fighting, in which the British and American losses were enormous
by reason of their exposed position, and where every one concerned
exhibited the utmost valor, Morro Castle was carried by the
bayonet. The fighting within its walls after an entry had been
made was exceedingly fierce. The Marquis of Gonzalez was killed by
his own cowardly men for refusing to surrender. The cannon from
the other Spanish batteries were turned upon the Morro as soon as
the Spanish flag had been lowered, and the British ensign run up
in its place; and then the slow and disastrous work of the siege
was taken up again.
As the lines grew nearer and nearer, and the last hope of the
Spaniard for relief was given up, there was the usual attempt made
to buy the attacking party off. Though it would have been a
hopeless undertaking at any time, the amount offered for the
ransom of the city was so far below the treasure which was known
to be in the town that the offer was made a subject for derisive
laughter. Fifteen days after Morro Castle had fallen, though the
mortality in the trenches was so great that a few weeks more must
have seen the abandonment of the enterprise, the city fell, the
garrison stipulating for a passage out with all the honors of war,
which was freely accorded them, owing to the climatic predicament
in which Lord Albemarle found himself. It was also stipulated that
private property should be respected. This was strictly observed,
though Spain had set repeated examples of giving a captured city
over to plunder in the face of a stipulation to the contrary.
August 14, 1762, the British entered, the glory of their victory
over such heavy odds even then dimmed by the enormous mortality.
It was reckoned that the few days of August had wrought more
damage to the invading forces than all the weeks of hard labor and
open assault which had gone before. In the city--the Havannah, as
it was then called--treasure was found to the amount of
$7,000,000, much of it in such shape that there had been abundant
time to withdraw it either to Spain or into the interior of the
island, had there been any other than Spaniards at the head of
affairs.
The occupancy of the British and colonial forces lasted but a few
months. Lord Albemarle, with $120,000 of the prize money as his
personal share, received notice of the conclusion of the treaty of
Paris and withdrew his army to Great Britain. A single ship
sufficed to remove the shattered remnant of the soldiers from
Connecticut, the Jerseys, and New York. Twenty-three hundred
sailed; barely fifty returned. It was a part of the good fortune
of America--all of the good fortune, to be exact--which brought
Colonel Israel Putnam safely home again, though the paralysis
which shortened his labors not many years after the Declaration of
Independence was unquestionably due to his exposure to the
vertical sun of Cuba and to the poisons of its pestilential coast.
In the hands of George III., then King of England, all this
suffering and deprivation amounted to virtually nothing. He was a
coward at heart, a man who could not even avail himself of such
hardly gained victories. The peace of Paris was signed, and by its
terms George yielded up Cuba and the Philippines again to the
power that has never ceased to misuse the advantages so obtained.
The belief gained ground in Havana, in 1807, that the English
government again contemplated a descent on the island; and
measures were taken to put it in a more respectable state of
defense, although, from want of funds in the treasury, and the
scarcity of indispensable supplies, the prospect of an invasion
was sufficiently gloomy. The militia and the troops of the
garrison were carefully drilled, and companies of volunteers were
formed wherever materials for them could be found. The French,
also, not content with mere preparations, made an actual descent
on the island, first threatening Santiago, and afterwards landing
at Batabano.
The invaders consisted chiefly of refugees from St. Domingo; and
their intention seems to have been to take possession with a view
to colonize and cultivate a portion of the unappropriated, or at
least unoccupied, territory, on the south side of the island, as
their countrymen had formerly done in St. Domingo. Without
recurring to actual force, the captain-general prevailed on them
to take their departure by offering transportation either to St.
Domingo or to France.
CHAPTER V.
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CUBA.
Efforts of the Early Governors to Encourage Trade--Cultivation of
Sugar One of the First Industries--Decree Defining Powers of the
Captain General--Attempted Annexation to the United States--The
Ostend Manifesto--Its Wonderful Predictions, in the Light of
Later Events--Exports and Imports Between Cuba and Spain--The
Future of Commercial Cuba.
The commerce of Cuba has grown in spite of the limitations that
have been placed upon it and not because of any encouragement that
has been given to it. Columbus called Cuba the most beautiful land
that eyes had ever seen. Its resources, granted by a generous
nature, have enabled it to recuperate after destructive warfare
with a rapidity simply amazing to those accustomed only to the
climate and the soil of the temperate zone. The immense industries
of Cuba have been hampered from the beginning by Spanish
oppression and the fact that they have flourished under such
unfavorable conditions is a striking evidence of what may be
expected under a policy of encouragement and freedom. Sugar,
tobacco, and other tropical products have made fortunes for Cuba
every year, only to have them stolen by Spanish officeholders,
sent there to plunder all they could get their hands upon. With
peace assured, the opportunities for the extension of industries
in the "Pearl of the Antilles" will be enormous.
The commercial development of Cuba has come through centuries of
disturbance, warfare, and oppression. A simple catalogue of all
the evils with which the Cubans have had to contend would fill a
volume. All that can be done here is to indicate briefly some of
the more notable events in the history of the island after the
British conquests and the relinquishment of the prize to the
Spanish authorities upon the return of peace. Near the end of the
last century there came a period which offered more encouragement
to the hope of permanent prosperity in Cuba than had been offered
before. The successive governors appointed varied in character, it
is true, but several of them were liberal minded, public spirited
men who gave to the colony far better administration that it had
been accustomed to. One of these was Luis de Las Casas, who
imparted a new impulse to the agriculture and commerce of the
island. It was under his guidance that trade with the United
States began to assume importance, and to his efforts was due the
transfer of the remains of Columbus from Santo Domingo to their
present resting place in the cathedral at Havana. He encouraged
literature, science, the fine arts and the erection of various
public charitable and educational institutions. He was the founder
of the first public library and the first newspaper which had
existed in the island. He showed his ability as an executive by
restraining the restless population under the excitement which
accompanied the revolution in the neighboring colony of Santo
Domingo, which ended by the loss to Spain of that island.
One of the earliest causes of ill feeling between the islanders of
Cuba and the people of Spain occurred just at the end of the
administration of Las Casas in 1796. In the seventy years prior to
that time a great navy yard grew up on the Bay of Havana, and 114
war vessels were built there to convoy the Spanish treasure ships.
All at once this flourishing industry was closed on the demand of
the ship-builders of Spain that the work should be done in the
mother country. As might have been expected, this aroused great
indignation among a large number of people in Havana who had been
dependent upon the industry.
It was about the same time, or just a hundred years before the
outbreak of our war with Spain, that sugar became an important
article of general commerce. Even then, however, it was not an
article of common consumption, and was held at extravagantly high
prices, measured by the present cheapness of the article. Market
reports of the time show that the price approximated forty cents a
pound, and this at a time when the purchasing power of money was
at least twice as great as it is now. As the price has fallen, the
product and the consumption have increased, until of late years it
has been an enormous source of revenue to the Island of Cuba. When
Napoleon Bonaparte abducted the royal family of Spain and deposed
the Bourbon dynasty in 1808, every member of the provincial
counsel of Cuba took an oath to preserve the island for their
legitimate sovereign. The Colonial government immediately declared
war against Napoleon and proclaimed Ferdinand VII. as king. It was
by this action that the colony earned its title of "The ever-faithful
isle," which has been excellent as a complimentary phrase, but hardly
justified by the actual facts. For some years following this action,
affairs in the island were in an embarrassing condition, owing to the
progress of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, which kept all trade
disturbed and Spain in a constant condition of disorder. If it had not
been for the fortunate election of one or two of the governors things
might have been even worse than they were, and it was considered that
Cuba was enjoying quite as much peace and prosperity as were her
neighbor colonies and the mother governments of Europe. In 1812 a negro
conspiracy broke out and attained considerable success, and as a result
of it the Spanish governors began to be more and more severe in their
administrations.
Under the influence of the spirit of freedom which was spreading
all around them, Cubans became more and more restless. The
revolutionary movements in Spanish America had begun in 1810, and
after fourteen years of guerrilla warfare, European power had
vanished in the Western hemisphere from the Northern boundary of
the United States to Cape Horn, except for the Colonies of British
Honduras and the Guianas, and a few of the West Indian Islands. In
1821, Santo Domingo became independent, and in the same year
Florida came into the possession of the United States. Secret
societies, with the purpose of revolution as their motive, began
to spring up in Cuba, and the population divided into well-defined
factions. There was indeed an attempt at open revolt made in 1823
by one of these societies known as the "Soles De Bolivar," but it
was averted before the actual outbreak came, and those leaders of
it who were not able to escape from Cuba were arrested and
punished. It was as a result of these successive events that the
office of Captain General was created and invested with all the
powers of Oriental despotism. The functions of the Captain General
were defined by a royal decree of May 28, 1825, to the following
effect:
His Majesty, the King Our Lord, desiring to obviate the
inconveniences that might in extraordinary cases result from a
division of command, and from the interferences and prerogatives
of the respective officers; for the important end of preserving in
that precious island his legitimate sovereign authority and the
public tranquillity through proper means, has resolved in
accordance with the opinion of his council of ministers to give to
your Excellency the fullest authority, bestowing upon you all the
powers which by the royal ordinances are granted to the governors
of besieged cities. In consequence of this, his Majesty gives to
your Excellency the most ample and unbounded power, not only to
send away from the island any persons in office, whatever their
occupation, rank, class, or condition, whose continuance therein
your Excellency may deem injurious, or whose conduct, public or
private, may alarm you, replacing them with persons faithful to
his Majesty and deserving of all the confidence of your
Excellency; but also to suspend the execution of any order
whatsoever, or any general provision made concerning any branch of
the administration as your Excellency may think most suitable to
the Royal Service.
This decree since that time has been substantially the supreme law
of Cuba, and has never been radically modified by any concessions
except those given as a last and lingering effort to preserve the
sovereignty of Spain, when after three years' progress of the
revolution she realized that her colony had slipped away from her
authority. The decree quoted in itself offers sufficient
justification for the Cuban revolution in the name of liberty.
ATTEMPTED ANNEXATION TO THE UNITED STATES.
During the present century there have been a number of attempts on
the part of men prominent in public life, both in the United
States and Cuba, to arrange a peaceable annexation by the purchase
by this country of the island from Spain. Statesmen of both
nations have been of the opinion that such a settlement of the
difficulty would be mutually advantageous, and have used every
diplomatic endeavor to that end.
During Thomas Jefferson's term of office, while Spain bowed
beneath the yoke of France, from which there was then no prospect
of relief, the people of Cuba, feeling themselves imcompetent in
force to maintain their independence, sent a deputation to
Washington, proposing the annexation of the island to the federal
system of North America.
In 1854 President Pearce instructed Wm. L. Marcy, his Secretary of
State, to arrange a conference of the Ministers of the United
States to England, France and Spain, to be held with a view to the
acquisition of Cuba.
The conference met at Ostend on the 9th of October, 1854, and
adjourned to Aix-la-Chapelle, where notes were prepared. Mr.
Soule, then our Minister to Spain, said in a letter to Mr. Marcy,
transmitting the joint report: "The question of the acquisition of
Cuba by us is gaining ground as it grows to be more seriously
agitated and considered. Now is the moment for us to be done with
it, and if it is to bring upon us the calamity of war, let it be
now, while the great powers of this continent are engaged in that
stupendous struggle which cannot but engage all their strength and
tax all their energies as long as it lasts, and may, before it
ends, convulse them all. Neither England nor France would be
likely to interfere with us. England could not bear to be suddenly
shut out of our market, and see her manufactures paralyzed, even
by a temporary suspension of her intercourse with us. And France,
with the heavy task now on her hands, and when she so eagerly
aspires to take her seat as the acknowledged chief of the European
family, would have no inducement to assume the burden of another
war."
The result of this conference is so interesting in its application
to present conditions that its reproduction is required to make
intelligible the whole story of Cuba, and we give it here:
THE OSTEND MANIFESTO.
Sir: The undersigned, in compliance with the wish expressed by the
president in the several confidential despatches you have
addressed to us respectively, to that effect, we have met in
conference, first at Ostend, in Belgium, on the 9th, 10th, and
11th instant, and then at Aix-la-Chapelle, in Prussia, on the days
next following, up to the date hereof.
There has been a full and unreserved interchange of views and
sentiments between us, which we are most happy to inform you has
resulted in a cordial coincidence of opinion on the grave and
important subjects submitted to our consideration.
We have arrived at the conclusion, and are thoroughly convinced
that an immediate and earnest effort ought to be made by the
government of the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain at any
price for which it can he obtained, not exceeding the sum of $...
The proposal should, in our opinion, be made in such a manner as
to be presented through the necessary diplomatic forms to the
Supreme Constituent Cortes about to assemble. On this momentous
question, in which the people, both of Spain and the United
States, are so deeply interested, all our proceedings ought to be
open, frank and public. They should be of such a character as to
challenge the approbation of the world.
We firmly believe that, in the progress of human events, the time
has arrived when the vital interests of Spain are as seriously
involved in the sale, us those of the United States in the
purchase, of the island, and that the transaction will prove
equally honorable to both nations.
Under these circumstances we cannot anticipate a failure, unless
possibly through the malign influence of foreign powers who
possess no right whatever to interfere in the matter.
We proceed to state some of the reasons which have brought us to,
this conclusion, and for the sake of clearness, we shall specify
them under two distinct heads:
1. The United States ought, if practicable, to purchase Cuba with
as little delay as possible.
2. The probability is great that the government and Cortes of
Spain will prove willing to sell it, because this would
essentially promote the highest and best interests of the Spanish
people.
Then, 1. It must be clear to every reflecting mind that, from the
peculiarity of its geographical position, and the considerations
attendant on it. Cuba is as necessary to the North American
republic as any of its present members, and that it belongs
naturally to that great family of states of which the Union is the
providential nursery.
From its locality it commands the mouth of the Mississippi and the
immense and annually increasing trade which must seek this avenue
to the ocean.
On the numerous navigable streams, measuring an aggregate course
of some thirty thousand miles, which disembogue themselves through
this magnificent river into the Gulf of Mexico, the increase of
the population within the last ten years amounts to more than that
of the entire Union at the time Louisiana was annexed to it.
The natural and main outlet to the products of this entire
population, the highway of their direct intercourse with the
Atlantic and the Pacific States, can never be secure, but must
ever be endangered whilst Cuba is a dependency of a distant power
in whose possession it has proved to be a source of constant
annoyance and embarrassment to their interests.
Indeed the Union can never enjoy repose, nor possess reliable
security, as long as Cuba is not embraced within its boundaries.
Its immediate acquisition by our government is of paramount
importance, and we cannot doubt but that it is a consummation
devoutly wished for by its inhabitants.
The intercourse which its proximity to our coast begets and
encourages between them and the citizens of the United States,
has, in the progress of time, so united their interests and
blended their fortunes that they now look upon each other as if
they were one people, and had but one destiny.
Considerations exist which render delay in the acquisition of this
island exceedingly dangerous to the United States.
The system of immigration and labor lately organized within its
limits, and the tyranny and oppression which characterize its
immediate rulers threaten an insurrection at every moment, which
may result in direful consequences to the American people.
Cuba has thus become to us an unceasing danger, and a permanent
cause of anxiety and alarm.
But we need not enlarge on these topics. It can scarcely be
apprehended that foreign powers, in violation of international
law, would interpose their influence with Spain to prevent our
acquisition of the island. Its inhabitants are now suffering under
the worst of all possible governments, that of absolute despotism,
delegated by a distant power to irresponsible agents, who are
changed at short intervals, and who are tempted to improve their
brief opportunity thus afforded to accumulate fortunes by the
basest means.
As long as this system shall endure, humanity may in vain demand
the suppression of the African slave trade in the island. This is
rendered impossible whilst that infamous traffic remains an
irresistible temptation and a source of immense profit to needy
and avaricious officials, who, to attain their ends, scruple not
to trample the most sacred principles under foot.
The Spanish government at home may be well disposed, but
experience has proved that it cannot control these remote
depositaries of its power.
Besides, the commercial nations of the world cannot fail to
perceive and appreciate the great advantages which would result to
their people from a dissolution of the forced and unnatural
connection between Spain and Cuba, and the annexation of the
latter to the United States. The trade of England and France with
Cuba would, in that event, assume at once an important and
profitable character, and rapidly extend with the increasing
population and prosperity of the island.
2. But if the United States and every commercial nation would be
benefited by this transfer, the interests of Spain would also be
greatly and essentially promoted.
She cannot but see that such a sum of money as we are willing to
pay for the island would affect it in the development of her vast
natural resources.
Two-thirds of this sum, if employed in the construction of a
system of railroads, would ultimately prove a source of greater
wealth to the Spanish people than that opened to their vision by
Cortez. Their prosperity would date from the ratification of the
treaty of cession.
France has already constructed continuous lines of railways from
Havre, Marseilles, Valenciennes, and Strasburg, via Paris, to the
Spanish frontier, and anxiously awaits the day when Spain shall
find herself in a condition to extend these roads through her
northern provinces to Madrid, Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, and the
frontiers of Portugal.
This object once accomplished, Spain would become a center of
attraction for the traveling world, and secure a permanent and
profitable market for her various productions. Her fields, under
the stimulus given to industry by remunerating prices, would teem
with cereal grain, and her vineyards would bring forth a vastly
increased quantity of choice wines. Spain would speedily become
what a bountiful Providence intended she should be, one of the
first nations of continental Europe--rich, powerful and contented.
Whilst two-thirds of the price of the island would be ample for
the completion of her most important public improvements, she
might with the remaining forty millions satisfy the demands now
pressing so heavily upon her credit, and create a sinking fund
which would gradually relieve her from the overwhelming debt now
paralyzing her energies.
Such is her present wretched financial condition, that her best
bonds are sold upon her own bourse at about one-third of their par
value; whilst another class, on which she pays no interest, have
but a nominal value, and are quoted at about one-sixth of the
amount for which they were issued. Besides, these latter are held
principally by British creditors, who may, from day to day, obtain
the effective interposition of their own government for the
purpose of coercing payment. Intimations to that effect have
already been thrown out from high quarters, and unless some new
sources of revenue shall enable Spain to provide for such
exigencies, it is not improbable that they may be realized.
Should Spain reject the present golden opportunity for developing
her resources and removing her financial embarrassments, it may
never again return.
Cuba, in her palmiest days, never yielded her exchequer, after
deducting the expense of its government, a clear annual income of
more than a million and a half of dollars. These expenses have
increased to such a degree as to leave a deficit, chargeable on
the treasury of Spain, to the amount of six hundred thousand
dollars.
In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, the island is an
encumbrance instead of a source of profit to the mother country.
Under no probable circumstance can Cuba ever yield to Spain one
per cent, on the large amount which the United States are willing
to pay for its acquisition. But Spain is in imminent danger of
losing Cuba without remuneration.
Extreme oppression, it is now universally admitted, justifies any
people in endeavoring to relieve themselves from the yoke of their
oppressors. The sufferings which corrupt, arbitrary and
unrelenting local administration necessarily entail upon the
inhabitants of Cuba cannot fail to stimulate and keep alive that
spirit of resistance and revolution against Spain which has of
late years been so often manifested. In this condition of affairs
it is vain to expect that the sympathies of the people of the
United States will not be warmly enlisted in favor of their
oppressed neighbors.
We know that the President is justly inflexible in his
determination to execute the neutrality laws; but should the
Cubans themselves rise in revolt against the oppression which they
suffer, no human power could prevent citizens of the United States
and liberal-minded men of other countries from rushing to their
assistance. Besides, the present is an age of adventure in which
restless and daring spirits abound in every portion of the world.
It is not improbable, therefore, that Cuba may be wrested from
Spain by a successful revolution; and in that event she will lose
both the island and the price which we are now willing to pay for
it--a price far beyond what was ever paid by one people to another
for any province.
It may also be remarked that the settlement of this vexed
question, by the cession of Cuba to the United States, would
forever prevent the dangerous complications between nations to
which it may otherwise give birth.
It is certain that, should the Cubans themselves organize an
insurrection against the Spanish government, and should other
independent nations come to the aid of Spain in the contest, no
human power could, in our opinion, prevent the people and
government of the United States from taking part in such a civil
war in support of their neighbors and friends.
But if Spain, dead to the voice of her own interest, and actuated
by a stubborn pride and a false sense of honor, should refuse to
sell Cuba to the United States, then the question will arise, What
ought to be the course of the American government under such
circumstances?
Self-preservation is the first law of nature with States as well
as with individuals. All nations have, at different periods, acted
upon this maxim. Although it has been made the pretext for
committing flagrant injustice, as in the partition of Poland and
other similar cases which history records, yet the principle
itself, though often abused, has always been recognized.
The United States has never acquired a foot of territory except by
fair purchase, or, as in the case of Texas, upon the free and
voluntary application of the people of that independent State, who
desired to blend their destinies with our own.
Even our acquisitions from Mexico are no exception to this rule
because, although we might have claimed them by right of conquest
in a just way, yet we purchased them for what was then considered
by both parties a full and ample equivalent.
Our past history forbids that we should acquire the island of Cuba
without the consent of Spain, unless justified by the great law of
self-preservation. We must, in any event, preserve our own
conscious rectitude and our own self-respect.
Whilst pursuing this course we can afford to disregard the
censures of the world, to which we have been so often and so
unjustly exposed.
After we have offered Spain a fair price for Cuba, far beyond its
present value, and this shall have been refused, it will then be
time to consider the question, does Cuba, in the possession of
Spain, seriously endanger our internal peace and the existence of
our cherished Union?
Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then, by
every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it
from Spain, if we possess the power; and this upon the very same
principle that would justify an individual in tearing down the
burning house of his neighbor if there were no other means of
preventing the flames from destroying his own home.
Under such circumstances we ought neither to count the cost, nor
regard the odds which Spain might enlist against us. We forbear to
enter into the question, whether the present condition of the
island would justify such a measure. We should, however, be
recreant to our duty, be unworthy of our gallant forefathers, and
commit base treason against our posterity, should we permit Cuba
to be Africanized and become a second San Domingo, with all its
attendant horrors to the white race, and suffer the flames to
extend to our own neighboring shores, seriously to endanger, or
actually to consume, the fair fabric of our Union.
We fear that the course and current of events are rapidly tending
toward such a catastrophe. We, however, hope for the best, though
we ought certainly to be prepared for the worst.
We also forbear to investigate the present condition of the
questions at issue between the United States and Spain. A long
series of injuries to our people have been committed in Cuba by
Spanish officials, and are unredressed. But recently a most
flagrant outrage on the rights of American citizens, and on the
flag of the United States, was perpetrated in the harbor of Havana
under circumstances which, without immediate redress, would have
justified a resort to measures of war in vindication of national
honor. That outrage is not only unatoned, but the Spanish
government has deliberately sanctioned the acts of its
subordinates, and assumed the responsibility attaching to them.
Nothing could more impressively teach us the danger to which those
peaceful relations it has ever been the policy of the United
States to cherish with foreign nations, are constantly exposed,
than the circumstances of that case. Situated as Spain and the
United States are, the latter has forborne to resort to extreme
measures.
But this course cannot, with due regard to their own dignity as an
independent nation, continue; and our recommendations, now
submitted, are dictated by the firm belief that the cession of
Cuba to the United States, with stipulations as beneficial to
Spain as those suggested, is the only effective mode of settling
all past differences, and of securing the two countries against
future collisions.
We have already witnessed the happy results for both countries
which followed a similar arrangement in regard to Florida.
Yours, very respectfully,
JAMES BUCHANAN. J. Y. MASON. PIERRE SOULE.
HON. WM. L. MAECY, Secretary of State.
Unfortunately for Cuba the suggestions offered by this commission
were not acted upon, although it is not probable that Spain, ever
blind to her own interests, would have admitted the justice or
reason of the argument, had the offer to purchase been made to
her.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.
A table showing the amount of trade between Cuba and Spain during
the year 1894 (the last authentic report), is instructive:
Importations in Cuba from Spain $ 7,492,622
Exportation from Cuba to Spain $23,412,376
-----------
Difference in favor of export $15,919,754
THE FUTURE OF COMMERCIAL CUBA.
Under happier conditions, there can be no doubt that Cuba will
speedily attain a much higher state of commercial importance and
prosperity than it has yet enjoyed. Great as its productiveness
has been in the past, well-informed writers assert that proper
development of its resources will increase the value five-fold,
and a liberal system of government will enable it to take
advantage of its admirable position to gain greater prominence in
the commercial world.
CHAPTER VI.
BEAUTIES OF A TROPICAL ISLAND.
A Delightful Climate--Grand Scenic Surprises--The Caves of
Bellamar--The Valley of the Yumuri--Under Nature's Dome--Gorgeous
Sunsets--The Palm Tree Groves--The Home of Fruits and Flowers--
The Zodiacal Light.
When the little island of Cuba, "The Pearl of the Antilles," was
assigned a place upon the terrestrial globe, Nature must have been
in her most generous mood. Certainly no land beneath the skies was
given a more perfect combination of mountains and rivers, forests
and plains. Situated within and near the border of the northern
tropical zone, the temperature of the low coast lands is that of
the torrid zone, but the high interior of the island enjoys a
delightful climate, and the verdure-clad hills, with the graceful
palm and cocoa tree clear against the pure blue sky, may be seen
at all seasons of the year.
As in other countries on the borders of the tropics, the year is
divided between a hot and wet season, corresponding to the
northern declination of the sun, and a cool and dry period. The
months from the beginning of May to October are called the wet
season, though some rain falls in every month of the year.
With May, spring begins in the island, rain and thunder are of
almost daily occurrence, and the temperature rises high, with
little daily variation. The period from November to April is
called the dry season by contrast.
On a mean of seven years the rain-fall at Havana in the wet season
has been observed to be 27.8 inches, of the dry months, 12.7, or
40.5 inches for the year.
July and August are the warmest months, and during this period the
average temperature at Havana is 82 F, fluctuating between a
maximum of 88 and a minimum of 76. In the cooler months of
December and January the thermometer averages 72, the maximum
being 78, and minimum 58. The average temperature of the year at
Havana on a mean of seven years is 77.
But in the interior, at elevations of over 300 feet above the
level of the sea, the thermometer occasionally falls to the
freezing point in winter. Frost is not uncommon, and during north
winds, thin ice may form, though snow is unknown in any part of
the island.
The prevailing wind is the easterly trade breeze, but from
November to February, cool north winds, rarely lasting more than
forty-eight hours, are experienced in the western part of the
island, to which they add a third seasonal change. Hurricanes may
occur from August to October, but they are rare and sometimes five
or six years pass without such a storm.
GRAND SCENIC SURPRISES.
Many "globe-trotters" who have never included this little corner
of the world in their itinerary, do not appreciate the fact that
nowhere under the sun can be found a more perfect climate, grander
mountain scenery, more charming valleys, more picturesque ruins,
and fertile fields than Cuba offers to their view.
In another portion of this work will be found descriptions of the
cities of Cuba, and brief mention here of some of the beauties of
the country may not be amiss.
One of the grandest bits of scenery in the known world is to be found in
the valley of the Yumuri, rivaling in sublimity the far-famed Lookout
Mountain view and the Yosemite of the Sierra Nevadas. The journey leads
over a winding trail, easily traversed by the native horses, up a steep
hill, until, after a continuous climb of an hour and a half, the road
turns around the edge of a grassy precipice, and the beautiful valley,
with its patches of green and gold, spreads away in the distance. The
little river of Yumuri winds its way through its flower-decked banks
until it reaches the bay beyond, while in the distance rise the mighty
mountains, clod in their coats of evergreen, and over all the fleecy
clouds, and the sky of azure blue.
In this vicinity an opportunity is given the sight-seer to visit a
sugar house and gain an idea of the sugar-making process, though
on a very small scale, and enjoy a half an hour in the study of
the natives, and their home life.
A traveler, in writing of this place, says:
"Our interview with the little black 'ninos' was highly amusing.
On entering the court yard of the negro quarters, a dozen little
black imps, of all ages and sexes and sizes, perfectly naked,
rushed towards us, and crossing their arms upon their breasts,
fell upon their knees before us, and jabbered and muttered, out of
which could be distinguished, 'Master, master, give us thy
blessing,' which we interpreted to mean 'tin;' whereupon we
scattered sundry 'medios' among them! Hey! presto! what a change!
The little black devils fell over one another, fought, tugged, and
scrambled to secure a prize, while anyone who had been lucky
enough to obtain a coin, marched off in a state of dignified
delight, his distended little stomach going before him like a
small beer barrel, while the owner of it kept shouting out,
'Medio, yo tengo medio' (five cents, I have five cents)."
THE CAVES OF BELLAMAR.
One of the most interesting trips that can be made is to the
"Caves of Bellamar," which may be found about two and a half miles
southeast of the city of Matanzas.
The journey takes the traveler up a winding and rugged road to the
top of a hill, where the "Cave house" is reached, a large frame
structure built over the entrance, and containing, among other
objects of interest, a large collection of beautiful crystal
formations found in the cave.
Here the tourist enters his name in the visitors' register, pays
his dollar, and follows the boy guide down the stairs into the
cave. About one hundred and fifty feet from the entrance a small
bridge is crossed, and the "Gothic Temple" is reached. The only
light comes from a few scattered lanterns, and is consequently
very obscure, but one can see the millions of crystals, the
thousand weird forms, and realize that it is surpassingly
beautiful. The temple is about two hundred feet in length and
seventy feet in width, and while it does not equal in size or
solemn grandeur the temple of the same name in the Mammoth cave of
Kentucky, it greatly excels it in the richness and splendor of its
crystal formations and beautiful effects.
The spectator possessed of strongly developed imaginative powers
cannot fail to feel himself in fairy land. From the gloomy corners
come gnomes and demons, and in the crystal shadows he sees sprites
and lovely fairies, keeping gay revel to dreamy airs, played on
invisible strings by spirit hands.
One of the most beautiful objects in the cave is the "Fountain of
Snow," a name given to one of the great pillars, called by the
natives the "Cloak of the Virgin." Others are known as "Columbus
Mantle," "The Altar," and "The Guardian Spirit."
"Who has not seen the Caves of Bellamar has not seen Cuba."
UNDER NATURE'S DOME.
One of the most vivid pieces of descriptive writing, referring to
the beauties of Cuban skies, is from the pen of James M.
Phillippo:
"The splendor of the early dawn in Cuba, as in the tropical
islands in its vicinity, has been referred to. The whole sky is
often so resplendent that it is difficult to determine where the
orb of day will appear. Small fleecy clouds are often seen
floating on the north wind, and as they hover over the mountains
and meet the rays of the sun, are changed into liquid gold and a
hundred intensely beautiful dyes more splendid than the tints of
the rainbow. During the cooler months, the mornings are delightful
till about ten o'clock, the air soon after dawn becoming agreeably
elastic, and so transparent that distant objects appear as if
delineated upon the bright surface of the air; the scenery
everywhere, especially when viewed from an eminence, is
indescribably rich and glowing; the tops of the rising grounds and
the summits of the mountains are radiant with a flood of light,
while the vapor is seen creeping along the valleys, here
concealing the entrance to some beautiful glen, and there
wreathing itself fantastically around a tall spire or groves of
palm trees that mark the site of a populous village.
"The finest and most gorgeous sunsets occur in the West Indian
Archipelago during the rainy seasons. The sky is then sublimely
mantled with gigantic masses of cloud, glowing with a thousand
gorgeous dyes, and seeming to collect at the close of day as
though to form a couch for the sun's repose. In these he sinks,
flooding them with glory, touching both heavens and earth with
gold and amber brightness long after he has flung his beams across
the other hemisphere, or perhaps half revealing himself through
gauze-like clouds, a crimson sphere, at once rayless and of
portentous size.
"The azure arch, which by an optical illusion limits our view on
every side, seems here, and in the tropics generally, higher than
in England, even higher than in Italy. Here is seen, in a
perfection compared to which even Italian skies are vapid and
uninteresting, that pure, serene, boundless sky, that atmosphere
of clear blue, or vivid red, which so much contributes to enrich
the pencil of Claude Lorraine. The atmosphere of Cuba, as
everywhere within the tropics, except when the high winds prevail,
is so unpolluted, so thin, so elastic, so dry, so serene, and so
almost inconceivably transparent and brilliant, that every object
is distinct and clearly defined as if cut out of the clear blue
sky. All travelers agree in praising the calm depths of the
intensely blue and gloriously bright skies of inter-tropical
latitudes. In the temperate zone, it is estimated that about 1,000
stars are visible to the naked eye at one time; but here, from the
increased elevation and wider extent of the vault, owing to the
clearness of the atmosphere, especially as seen from a high
mountain chain, the number is greatly augmented. If, however,
these luminaries may not be seen here in greater numbers, they
certainly shine with greater brilliancy. The different
constellations are indeed so greatly magnified as to give the
impression that the power of the eye is increased. Venus rises
like a little moon, and in the absence of the greater casts a
distinguishable shadow.
"The Milky Way, which in the temperate zone has the appearance of
a luminous phosphorescent cloud, and, as is well known, derives
its brightness from the diffused light of myriads of stars
condensed into so small space that fifty thousand of them are
estimated to pass across the disc of the telescope in an hour, is
here seen divided into constellations, and the whole galaxy is of
so dazzling a whiteness as to make it resemble a pure flame of
silvery light thrown across the heavens, turning the atmosphere
into a kind of green transparency. Besides this, there are vast
masses of stellar nebulae of indefinite diversity and form, oval,
oblate, elliptical, as well as of different degrees of density,
diffused over the firmament, and discoverable through a common
telescope, all novel to an inhabitant of temperate climes, and
recalling the exclamation of the psalmist: 'The heavens declare
the glory of God, ... the firmament showeth forth His handiwork.'
"'The stars
Are elder scripture, writ of God's own hand,
Scripture authentic, uncorrupt by man.'
"An interesting phenomenon sometimes occurs here, as in other
islands of the West Indies, which was long supposed to be seen
only in the eastern hemisphere. A short time before sunrise or
sunset, a flush of strong, white light, like that of the Aurora
Borealis, extends from the horizon a considerable way up the
zenith, and so resembles the dawn as to prove greatly deceptive to
a stranger. As he watches the luminous track he sees it decrease
instead of becoming more vivid, and at length totally disappear,
leaving the heavens nearly as dark as previous to its appearance.
This is the zodiacal light."
CHAPTER VII.
WEALTH FROM NATURE'S STORES IN THE FORESTS AND FIELDS OF CUBA.
The Palm Tree, the Queen of the Cuban Forests--Sugar Cane and Its
Cultivation--The Tobacco Industry--Tropical Fruits and Flowers--
Beauties of a Garden in Cuba--Enormous Shipments to Spain--The
Wealth of the Island.
The forests of Cuba are of vast extent, and so dense as to be
almost impenetrable. It is estimated that of about 20,000,000
acres of land still remaining perfectly wild and uncultivated,
nearly 13,000,000 are uncleared forest. Mahogany and other hard
woods, such as the Cuban ebony, cedar, and granadilla, valuable
for manufactures, cabinet work and ship building are indigenous,
and are exported to a considerable extent.
The palm is the queen of the Cuban forests and is its most
valuable tree. It grows in every part of the island, but
especially in the west, giving at once character and beauty to the
scenery. The royal palm is the most common variety, and frequently
grows to a height of one hundred and twenty feet, the branches
numbering from twenty to twenty-five, in the center of which are
the hearts or buds of the plant, elevating themselves
perpendicularly with needle-like points.
This heart, enveloped in wrappers of tender white leaves, makes a
most delicious salad, and it is also boiled, like cauliflower, and
served with a delicate white sauce. The trunk of the palm is
composed of fibrous matter, which is stripped off and dried,
forming a narrow, thin board, which the natives use for the walls
of their cottages. The boughs are sometimes made to serve for
roofing, though palm leaves are usually used for this purpose, as
well as for the linings of the walls. "El yarey" is another
variety of the palm tree that is of great utility. From it the
native women make the palm leaf hats that are worn by almost all
the villagers and country people of Cuba.
TROPICAL FRUITS IN ABUNDANCE.
The fruits of Cuba are those common to the tropics. Bananas,
pineapples, oranges, lemons and bread-fruit all grow in abundance,
delicious to the taste and delightful to the eye.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., after returning from a vacation trip to
Cuba, wrote a charming description of a fruit garden that it was
his good fortune to visit there:
"The garden contained a remarkable variety of trees, including
some thrifty exotics. Here the mango, with its peach-like foliage,
was bending on the ground with the weight of its ripening fruit;
the alligator pear was marvelously beautiful in its full blossom,
suggesting, in form and color, the passion flower; the soft,
delicate foliage of the tamarind was like our sensitive plant; the
banana trees were in full bearing, the deep green fruit (it is
ripened and turns yellow off the tree), being in clusters of a
hundred, more or less, tipped at the same time by a single,
pendent, glutinous bud, nearly as large as a pineapple. The date
palm, so suggestive of the far east, and the only one we had seen
in Cuba, was represented by a choice specimen, imported in its
youth. There was also the star-apple tree, remarkable for its
uniform and graceful shape, full of green fruit, with here and
there a ripening specimen; so, also, was the favorite zapota, its
rusty coated fruit hanging in tempting abundance. From low, broad
spreading trees depended the grape fruit, as large as an infant's
head and yellow as gold, while the orange, lime and lemon trees,
bearing blossoms, green and ripe fruit all together, met the eye
at every turn, and filled the garden with fragrance. The cocoanut
palm, with its tall, straight stem, and clustering fruit,
dominated all the rest. Guava, fig, custard apple, and bread-fruit
trees, all were in bearing.
"Our hospitable host plucked freely of the choicest for the benefit of
his chance visitors. Was there ever such a fruit garden before, or
elsewhere? It told of fertility of soil and deliciousness of climate, of
care, judgment, and liberal expenditure, all of which combined had
turned these half a dozen acres of land into a Gan Eden. Through his
orchard of Hesperides, we were accompanied also by the proprietor's two
lovely children, under nine years of age, with such wealth of promise in
their large black eyes and sweet faces as to fix them on our memory with
photographic fidelity. Before leaving the garden we returned with our
intelligent host once more to examine his beautiful specimens of
bananas, which, with its sister fruit, the plantain, forms so important
a staple of fruit in Cuba and throughout all tropical regions. It seems
that the female banana tree bears more fruit than the male, but not so
large. The average clusters of the former comprise here about one
hundred, but the latter rarely bears over sixty or seventy distinct
specimens of the cucumber-shaped product. From the center of its large,
broad leaves, which gather at the top, when it has reached the height of
twelve or fifteen feet, there springs forth a large purple bud ten
inches long, shaped like a huge acorn, though more pointed. This cone
hangs suspended from a strong stem, upon which a leaf unfolds,
displaying a cluster of young fruit. As soon as these are large enough
to support the heat of the sun and the chill of the rain, this
sheltering leaf drops off, and another unfolds, exposing its little
brood of fruit; and so the process goes on, until six or eight rings of
young bananas are started, forming, as we have said, bunches numbering
from seventy to a hundred. The banana is a herbaceous plant, and after
fruiting, its top dies; but it annually sprouts up again fresh from the
roots. From the unripe fruit, dried in the sun, a palatable and
nutritious flour is made."
THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.
Cuban tobacco is famous throughout the world, and is one of the
most profitable of all its products. Prior to 1791 the crop was
sent to the national factories in Spain, by the "Commercial
Company of Havana," under government contract, but during that
year the "Factoria de Tobacco" was established in Havana by the
government. The tobacco was classified as superior, medium and
inferior, and was received from the growers at fixed prices. In
1804 these were six, five and two and a half dollars per arrobe (a
Spanish unit of weight, subject to local variations, but averaging
about twenty-seven pounds avoirdupois).
By comparing the different prices with the quantity of each class of
tobacco produced, we find that the "Factoria" paid an average price of
$16 per hundred pounds for the leaf tobacco. With the expense of
manufacture, the cigars cost the government seventy-five cents per
pound; snuff, fine grain and good color, forty-three cents, and common
soft, or Seville, nineteen cents a pound in Havana. In good years, when
the crop amounted to 350,000 arrobes of leaf, 128,000 arrobes were
manufactured for Spain, 80,000 for Havana, 9,200 for Peru, 6,000 for
Buenos Ayres, 2,240 for Mexico, and 1,100 for Caracas and Campeachy.
In order to make up the amount of 315,000 arrobes, (for the crop
loses ten per cent. of its weight, in loss and damage in the
transportation and manufacture) we must suppose that 80,000
arrobes were consumed in the interior of the island; that is, in
the country, where the royal monopoly did not extend. The
maintenance of 120 slaves and the expenses of manufacture did not
exceed $12,000 yearly; but the salaries of the officers of the
"Factoria" amounted to $541,000. The value of the 128,000 arrobes
of tobacco sent to Spain, in the abundant years, either in cigars,
leaf or snuff, at the customary prices there, exceeded the sum of
five million dollars.
It is surprising to see in the returns of the exports from Havana
(documents published by the Consulado), that the exports for 1816
were only 3,400 arrobes; for the year 1823, only 13,900 arrobes of
leaf tobacco; and in 1825 only 70,302 pounds of cigars and 167,100
pounds of leaf tobacco and strips; but we must remember that no
branch of the contraband trade is more active than that in cigars.
The tobacco of the Vuelta de Abajo is the most celebrated, but
large quantities are exported which are produced in other parts of
the island. The cultivation of tobacco has been one of the most
uncertain branches of industry in Cuba. Trammeled by restrictions
and exactions, it was confined almost entirely to the poorer
classes of the population, who were enabled to raise a scanty and
uncertain crop through the advances of capital made them by the
"Factoria." Since the suppression of this monopoly, it has had to
contend with the more popular and profitable pursuit of sugar
planting, which has successfully competed with it for the
employment of the capital, skill and labor of the island.
SUGAR CANE AND ITS CULTIVATION.
Maturin Ballou, in his "Cuba Past and Present," published in 1885,
when the sugar industry was in its best days, writes an
interesting account of cane cultivation:
"Sugar cane is cultivated like Indian corn, which it also
resembles in appearance. It is first planted in rows, not in
hills, and must be hoed and weeded until it gets high enough to
shade its roots. Then it may be left to itself until it reaches
maturity. This refers to the first laying out of a plantation,
which will afterwards continue fruitful for years, by very simple
processes of renewal. When thoroughly ripe the cane is of a light
golden yellow, streaked here and there with red. The top is dark
green, with long, narrow leaves depending, very much like those of
the corn stalk, from the center of which shoots upward a silvery
stem, a couple of feet in height, and from its tip grows a white
fringed plume of a delicate lilac hue. The effect of a large field
at its maturity, lying under a torrid sun, and gently yielding to
the breeze, is very fine, a picture to live in the memory ever
after.
"In the competition between the products of beet-root sugar and
that from sugar cane, the former controls the market, because it
can be produced at a cheaper rate, besides which its production is
stimulated by nearly all of the European states, through the means
of liberal subsidies both to the farmer and to the manufacturer.
Beet sugar, however, does not possess so high a percentage of true
saccharine matter as the product of the cane, the latter seeming
to be nature's most direct mode of supplying us with the article.
The Cuban planters have one advantage over all other sugar-cane
producing countries, in the great and inexhaustible fertility of
the soil of the island. For instance, one or two hogsheads of
sugar to the acre is considered a good yield in Jamaica, but in
Cuba three hogsheads are the average. Fertilizing of any sort is
rarely employed in the cane fields, while in beet farming it is
the principal agent of success. Though the modern machinery, as
lately adopted on the plantations, is very expensive, still the
result achieved by it is so much superior to that of the old
methods of manufacture, that the small planters are being driven
from the market. Slave labor cannot compete with machinery. The
low price of sugar renders economy imperative in all branches of
the business, in order to leave a margin for profit.
"A planter informed the author that he should spread all of his
molasses upon the cane fields this year as a fertilizer, rather
than send it to a distant market and receive only what it cost. He
further said that thousands of acres of sugar cane would be
allowed to rot in the fields this season, as it would cost more to
cut, grind, pack and send it to market than could be realized for
the manufactured article. Had the price of sugar remained this
year at a figure which would afford the planters a fair profit, it
might have been the means of tiding over the chasm of bankruptcy
which has long stared them in the face, and upon the brink of
which they now stand. But with a more than average crop, both as
to quantity and quality, whether to gather it or not is a problem.
Under these circumstances it is difficult to say what is to
become, financially, of the people of Cuba. Sugar is their great
staple, but all business has been equally suppressed upon the
island, under the bane of civil laws, extortionate taxation, and
oppressive rule.
"The sugar cane yields but one crop a year. There are several
varieties, but the Otaheitan seems to be the most generally
cultivated. Between the time when enough of the cane is ripe to
warrant the getting up of steam at the grinding mill, and the time
when the heat and the rain spoils its qualities, all the sugar for
the season must be made, hence the necessity for great industry on
large estates. In Louisiana the grinding lasts but about eight
weeks. In Cuba it continues four months. In analyzing the sugar
produced on the island, and comparing it with that of the main
land, the growth of Louisiana, chemists could find no difference
as to the quality of the true saccharine principle contained in
each.
"The great sugar estates lie in the Vueltra Arriba, the region of
the famous red earth. The face of this region smiles with
prosperity. In every direction the traveler rides astonished
through a garden of plenty, equally impressed by the magnificent
extent, and the profuse fertility of the estates, whose palm
avenues, plantain orchards, and cane fields succeed each other in
almost unbroken succession. So productive are the estates, and so
steady is the demand for the planter's crop, that the great sugar
planters are, in truth, princes of agriculture.
"The imposing scale of operations on a great plantation, imparts a
character of barbaric regal state to the life one leads there.
Looking at them simply as an entertainment, the mills of these
great sugar estates are not incongruous with the easy delight of
the place. Everything is open and airy, and the processes of the
beautiful steam machinery go on without the odors as without the
noises that make most manufactories odious. In the centrifugal
process of sugar making, the molasses passes into a large vat, by
the side of which is a row of double cylinders, the outer one of
solid metal, the inner of wire gauze. These cylinders revolve each
on an axis attached by a horizontal wheel and band to a shaft
which communicates with the central engine. The molasses is ladled
out into the spaces between the external and internal cylinders,
and the axes are set in motion at the rate of nineteen hundred
revolutions a minute. For three minutes you see only a white
indistinct whirling, then the motion is arrested, slowly and more
slowly the cylinders revolve, then stop, and behold! the whole
inner surface of the inner cylinder is covered with beautiful
crystallizations of a light yellow sugar. Watching this ingenious
process, I used to fancy that somewhat in this wise might the
nebulae of space be slowly fashioning into worlds."
HOW CUBA HAS BEEN ROBBED BY SPAIN.
Some knowledge of the enormous wealth that has accrued to Spain
from her Cuban possessions may be gained from the following
quotation from "Cuba and the Cubans," published in New York in
1850 by Raimundo Cabrera:
"Oh, we are truly rich!
"From 1812 to 1826, Cuba, with her own resources, covered the
expenditures of the treasury. Our opulence dates from that period.
We had already sufficient negro slaves to cut down our virgin
forests, and ample authority to force them to work ...
"By means of our vices and our luxury, and in spite of the hatred
of everything Spanish, which Moreno attributed to us, we sent, in
1827, the first little million of hard cash to the treasury of the
nation. From that time until 1864 we continued to send yearly to
the mother country two millions and a half of the same stuff.
According to several Spanish statisticians, these sums amounted,
in 1864, to $89,107,287. We were very rich, don't you see?
tremendously rich. We contributed more than five million dollars
towards the requirements of the Peninsular--$5,372,205. We paid,
in great part, the cost of the war in Africa. The individual
donations alone amounting to fabulous sums.
"But of course we have never voted for our own imposts; they have
been forced upon us because we are so rich. In 1862, we had in a
state of production the following estates: 2,712 stock farms,
1,521 sugar plantations, 782 coffee plantations, 6,175 cattle
ranches, 18 cocoa plantations, 35 cotton plantations, 22,748,
produce farms, 11,737 truck farms, 11,541 tobacco plantations,
1,731 apiaries, 153 country resorts, 243 distilleries, 468 tile
works, 504 lime kilns, 63 charcoal furnaces, 54 cassava-bread
factories, and 61 tanneries. To-day I do not know what we possess,
because there are no statistics, and because the recently
organized assessment is a hodge podge and a new burden; but we
have more than at that time; surely we must have a great deal
more.
"For a very long time we have borne the expenses of the convict
settlement of Fernando Po. We paid for the ill-starred Mexican
expedition, the costs of the war in San Domingo, and with the
republics of the Pacific. How can we possibly be poor? While
England, France and Holland appropriate large sums for the
requirements of their colonies, Spain does not contribute a single
cent for hers. We do not need it, we are wading deep in rivers of
gold. If the fertility of our soil did not come to our rescue, we
must, perforce, have become enriched by the system of protection
to the commerce of the mother country. ... The four columns of the
tariff are indeed a sublime invention.. Our agricultural
industries require foreign machinery, tools and utensils, which
Spain does not supply, but, as she knows that we have gold to
spare, she may make us pay for them very high. And since our sugar
is to be sold to the United States .. never mind what they cost.
When there are earthquakes in Andalusia and inundations in Murcia,
hatred does not prevent us from sending to our afflicted brethren
large sums ... (which sometimes fail to reach their destination.)
"We are opulent? Let us see if we are. From the earliest times
down to the present, the officials who come to Cuba, amass, in the
briefest space of time, fortunes, to be dissipated in Madrid, and
which appear never to disturb their consciences. This country is
very rich, incalculably rich. In 1830 we contributed $6,120,934;
in 1840, $9,605,877; in 1850, $10,074,677; in 1860, $29,610,779.
During the war we did not merely contribute, we bled. We had to
carry the budget of $82,000,000.
"We count 1,500,000 inhabitants, that is to say, one million and a
half of vicious, voluptuous, pompous spendthrifts, full of hatred
and low passions, who contribute to the public charges, and never
receive a cent in exchange, who have given as much as $92 per
capita, and who at the present moment pay to the state what no
other taxpayers the world over have ever contributed. Does anyone
say that we are not prodigiously, enviably rich?"
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CUBANS, AND HOW THEY LIVE.
Life in the Rural Districts--A Cuban Bill of Fare--The Amusements
of the Country People--Sports of the Carnival--Native Dances--An
Island Farm--Fruit Used for Bread--Cattle Ranches and Stock Farms
--Population of the Island--Education and Religion--Railways and
Steamship Lines.
The traveler from the north, landing for the first time on Cuban
shores, will discover his greatest delight in the radical changes
he finds from everything he has been accustomed to in his own
land. If he has read Prescott and Irving, he knows something of
Castilian manners and customs in theory, but as the peculiarities
of the people, their home life, their amusements, their religious
observances, and their business methods are brought before him in
reality, he is impressed with the constant charm of novelty.
In times of peace, the native of Cuban soil in the rural districts knows
nothing of the struggle for existence which faces the majority of
mankind in colder climes. He "toils not, neither does he spin," for the
reason that nature provides so freely that very little exertion is
necessary to secure her gifts. Occasionally he may plow, or sow a little
grain, or even pick fruit, but, as a rule, he leaves the labor to the
negroes. If he lives on a main-traveled road, he may possibly provide
entertainment for man and beast, where he delights in gossiping with all
who come his way, and is ready to drink whenever invited. Neither does
his raiment possess the glory of Solomon's, for it generally consists of
a pair of loose trousers, belted with a leather band, a linen shirt of
brilliant hue, frequently worn outside his pantaloons, a silk
handkerchief fastened about his head, a palm-leaf hat, and bare feet
encased in leather slippers.
He is astute, though frank, boastful, though brave, and
superstitious, if not religious. Gambling is his chief delight,
and his fighting cocks receive more attention than his wife and
family.
His better half is more reserved than her lord, especially with
strangers. She is an adept horse-woman, though she sometimes
shares the animal's back with her husband, riding in front of him,
almost on the neck of the horse. Her dress is the acme of
simplicity (sometimes rather too simple to suit conventional
ideas), and consists of a loose frock, and a handkerchief tied
around her neck. Like her husband she dispenses with stockings,
except on occasions of ceremony. Her pride is her hair, on which
she bestows a great deal of attention, and she delights in
displaying it at every possible opportunity.
A CUBAN BILL OF FARE.
The mode of life among the people of these rural districts is
entirely unlike that of the residents of the cities. This
difference extends even to their food and the manner of preparing
it. In the populous centers, especially among the better classes,
the table service is of the French mode, but among the country
people will be found the real Cuban cuisine.
The morning meal usually consists of fried pork, of which they are
very fond, boiled rice, and roasted plantain, which serves them
for bread. Beef, birds or roast pork are served for dinner,
together with plantains and a stew composed of fresh meat, dried
meat, green plantains, and all kinds of vegetables. These are
cooked in a broth, thickened with a farinaceous root called
malanga, and flavored with lemon juice. Rice is a staple article
of diet, and no meal is complete without it.
RURAL AMUSEMENTS.
It is not in gastronomy alone that the Cubans of the country
districts differ from their city cousins. They have their special
amusements, some of which seem cruel to people of refinement, but
it may be said in their defense that football is not a popular
game on the island.
Cock fighting is the national sport, and men, women and children
will wager their last possession on the result of an encounter
between chickens of fighting blood. The goose fight is another
cruel sport. Two poles are placed in the ground, with a rope
stretched between them, on which a live goose is hung with its
feet securely tied, and its head thoroughly greased. The
contestants are on horseback, and ride at full speed past the
goose, endeavoring to seize its head and separate it from the body
as they pass. The fowl usually dies before the efforts are
successful, but the rider who finally succeeds in the noble
endeavor gains the glory and the prize.
There is a patron saint for every village, for whom there is a
feast day, which is celebrated by masses at the church, and
afterwards by games and dances. A procession is always arranged on
this day, in which a little girl, dressed as an image, rides in a
wagon, decorated with banners and flowers. Men in costumes of
Indians lead the way, followed by others clad as Moors. A band is
a necessary adjunct, and bringing up the rear are the inhabitants,
marching and singing to the music of the band. When the church is
reached, the people gather about the child, and she recites a
composition written for the occasion.
During carnival time, processions of mountebanks, cavaliers,
dressed as knights of old, on horses splendidly adorned, races,
masques, balls and all manner of revelries are indulged in.
Dancing is a universal accomplishment, in which the young and old
find enjoyment in all places and at all seasons. The Zapato, a
dance peculiar to Cuba, is performed to the music of the guitar,
accompanied by the voices of the dancers. It consists of fantastic
posings, fancy marches, and graceful figures, and resembles in
some details the "cake walks" of the negroes of our own country.
AN ISLAND FARM.
In the neighborhood of the larger cities are hundreds of
"Estancias," which correspond to what are known as market gardens
in the United States. These farms usually consist of less than a
hundred acres each, and on them are raised vegetables, chickens,
small fruits and other table delicacies, for the city trade.
Properly looked after, this business might be one of great profit,
but the land is, as a rule, cultivated by tenants, who pay a
rental of about five dollars per acre a year, and who are too
indolent to give it the care necessary to gain lucrative returns.
The principal vegetable raised on these farms is the sweet potato,
of which there are two varieties, the yellow and the white. The
soil and the climate are not favorable to the cultivation of the
Irish potato, and it is necessary to import this luxury, which
accounts for the fact that they are seldom seen outside the
cities.
Plantains are raised in large quantities. This product is to the
Cuban what bread is to us, and may be characterized as the
standard article of food. Though less nutritious than wheat or
potatoes, it is produced in vastly larger quantities from the same
area, and with far less effort. It closely resembles the banana,
and is in fact often regarded as a variety of that fruit. A
fanciful name for it among the natives is "Adam's apple," and the
story is that it was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.
On a number of these places the business of farming has been
entirely abandoned, and kilns built, where the burning of lime is
carried on extensively.
CATTLE RANCHES AND STOCK FARMS.
The raising of cattle is one of the important industries of Cuba,
and as it costs comparatively nothing to fit the stock for the
market, handsome profits are realized. Herds of vast numbers roam
over the prairies, receiving no attention from their owners, and
are sold without any preliminary fattening. Fabulous prices are
received for the fierce bulls which are used for the bull fights
in the cities, and the breeding of these animals brings large
returns.
Hides are one of the principal exports of the island, and bone
black, prepared from the bones, is sold in immense quantities to
the sugar-makers, for use in the manufacture of that article.
The finest horses raised in Cuba come from Puerto Principe, and
magnificent specimens of the noble animal they are. They are noted
for their powers of endurance, and can journey day after day,
covering sixty to seventy miles, at an easy gait, without showing
signs of fatigue. As horses were unknown to the original
inhabitants of the island, it is supposed that the Cuban horse of
to-day comes from Spanish stock, and the fact that it differs so
greatly from those animals, both in appearance and quality, is
explained by the changed climatic conditions in its breeding.
Whatever its origin may be, it is certain that there are no finer
specimens of horse flesh than are to be found in Cuba, and the
natives take great care of them, almost regarding them as
belonging to the family. Like the Irishman who "kept his pig in
the parlor," the Cuban often stables his horse in a room of his
house.
PECULIAR FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
One of the strangest customs that is likely to be observed by the
tourist in the interior sections, is the ceremony attendant on the
burial of the dead. First come small boys, with white linen gowns
over their clothes, short enough to display their ragged trousers
and dirty shoes. A boy in the center bears a tall pole, upon the
top of which is a silver cross, partially draped, while each of
the other boys carries a tall candlestick.
Behind them comes the priest, in shabby attire, in one hand his
prayer book, from which he is chanting from time to time, while in
the other hand, the sun being hot, he carries an umbrella.
Following him, a venerable old man comes tottering along,
personating the acolyth, the bell-ringer, the sacristan, or other
church dignitary, as may be necessary, croning out in his dreary
voice, as he swings the burning censor, the second to the chants
of the priest. The coffin then makes its appearance, made of rough
boards, but covered with black paper muslin, and borne upon the
shoulders of four villagers, a crowd of whom, all uncovered, bring
up the rear.
Here, as in all other Catholic countries, the spectators uncover
their heads at the passing of a funeral cortege. At the church are
ceremonies of reading prayers, burning candles, and sprinkling the
coffin with holy water, after which the priest goes his way, and
the procession takes up its line of march for the newly-made
grave, in the dilapidated and neglected cemetery, where the coffin
is deposited without further ceremony. No females are present
during the whole affair.
A family in mourning in Cuba, not only dress in dark clothes, upon
which there is no luster, but they keep the windows of the house
shut for six months. In fact, by an ordinance of the government,
it is now prohibited to display the corpse to the public through
the open windows, as was formerly done, both windows and doors
being now required to be shut.
AN HOSPITABLE PEOPLE.
The Cuban of the better class is noted for his hospitality. His
door is always open to receive whomsoever calls, be he
acquaintance, friend or stranger. There is a place at his table
for the visitor at all times, without money and without price, and
no one having the slightest claim to courtesy of this kind need
hesitate to accept the invitation. There is little travel or
communication on the island, so even if the guest be an entire
stranger, his host will feel amply repaid for his hospitality by
the news the traveler brings from the outside world. There is a
good old custom among the Danes, that when the first toast is
drunk, it is to the roof of the house which covers everyone in it,
meaning thereby it is all one family. This same custom might
appropriately be kept up amongst the Cuban planters, for when one
takes his seat at the table, he is immediately installed as one of
the family circle.
EDUCATION AND RELIGION.
Education is woefully backward on the island. In the absence of
recent statistics it is estimated that not one-tenth of the
children receive lettered education of any kind, and even among
the higher classes of society, liberal education is very far from
being universally diffused. A few literary and scientific men are
to be found both in the higher and middle ranks, and previous to
the revolution, the question of public instruction excited some
interest among the creole population.
At Havana is the royal university with a rector and thirty
professors, and medical and law schools, as well as an institution
called the Royal College of Havana. There is a similar
establishment at Puerto Principe, in the eastern interior, and
both at Havana and Santiago de Cuba there is a college in which
the branches of ecclesiastical education are taught, together with
the humanities and philosophy. Besides this there are several
private schools, but these are not accessible to the masses. The
inhabitants can scarcely be said to have any literature, a few
daily and weekly journals, under a rigid censorship, supply almost
all the taste for letters in the island.
To show how little liberty of opinion the newspapers of Cuba
enjoy, we quote a decree issued by General Weyler, formerly
Captain-General of the island:
Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, Marquis of Tenerife, governor-general,
captain-general of the Island of Cuba, and general-in-chief of this
army.
Under the authority of the law of public order, dated the 23rd of
April, 1870.
I Order and Command,
1st. No newspaper shall publish any news concerning the war which
is not authorized by the staff officers.
2nd. Neither shall be published any telegraphic communications of
a political character without the authority given by the secretary
of the governor general in Havana, or by the civil officers in the
other provinces.
3rd. It is hereby forbidden to publish any editorials, or other
articles or illustrations, which may directly or indirectly tend
to lessen the prestige of the mother-country, the army, or the
authorities, or to exaggerate the forces and the importance of the
insurrection, or in any way to favor the latter, or to cause
unfounded alarm, or excite the feelings of the people.
4th. The infractions of this decree, not included in Articles
first and sixth of the decree of February 16th last, will make the
offenders liable to the penalties named in Article 36, of the law
of the 23rd of April, 1870.
5th. All persons referred to in Article 14 of the Penal Code of
the Peninsula, which is in force in this Island, will be held
responsible for said infractions in the same order as established
by the said Article.
6th. Whenever a newspaper has twice incurred the penalty of said
offense, and shall give cause for a third penalty, it may be then
suppressed.
7th. The civil governors are in charge of the fulfillment of this
decree, and against their resolutions, which must be always well
founded, the interested parties may appeal within twenty-four
hours following their notification.
VALERIANO WEYLER.
Havana, April 27, 1896.
POPULATION OF THE ISLAND.
Conflicting accounts render it impossible to arrive at anything
like a certainty as to the number of inhabitants in Cuba at the
time of its conquest, but it may be estimated at from 300,000 to
400,000. There is but little doubt, however, that before 1560 the
whole of this population had disappeared from the island. The
first census was taken in 1774, when the population was 171,620.
In 1791 it was 272,300.
Owing to the disturbed condition of the island, no census of the
inhabitants has been taken since that of 1887, when the total
population was 1,631,687. Of this number, 1,111,303 were whites,
and 520,684 were of negro blood. These figures make questionable
the claim that the war for liberty is simply an insurrection of
the colored against the Caucasian race.
CHAPTER IX.
HAVANA, THE METROPOLIS OF THE ISLAND.
Havana and Its Attractions for Tourists--How to Reach Cuba--
Description of the Harbor of Havana--How the Proverbial
Unhealthfulness of the City May Be Remedied--Characteristics of
the Business Quarter--Residences and How the People Live--Parks
and Boulevards--Other Features of Life in the City.
In spite of the little encouragement which American tourists have
had for visiting the city of Havana, for many years it has been a
popular place of resort for the few who have tried it or have been
recommended to it by their friends. With the attractions it has
had during Spanish administration, when an air of constraint and
suspicion marked the intercourse with every American, it will not
be surprising if under changed auspices and in an atmosphere of
genuine freedom, Americans will find it one of the most delightful
and easily accessible places possible for them to visit. It is not
all pleasant, but the unpleasant things are sometimes quite as
interesting as the pleasant ones. If the traveler forms his
judgments according to the actual comforts he may obtain, he will
be pleased from beginning to end of his stay. If the measure of
his good opinion is whether or not things are like those to which
he is accustomed, he will be disappointed, because novelty reigns.
But novelty does not necessarily mean discomfort.
Havana may be reached by a sea voyage of three or four days from
New York, on any one of several excellent steamers under the
American flag, and even in winter the latter portion of the voyage
will be a pleasant feature of the journey. Or the path of the
American invading squadron may be followed, and the traveler,
after passing through Florida by rail, may journey from Tampa by
the mail steamers, and touching at Key West for a few hours, reach
Havana after a voyage of two nights and a day.
The Florida straits, between Cuba and the Florida keys, which were
the scene of the first hostilities of the war, are but ninety
miles wide, and the voyage is made from Key West in a few hours.
The current of the gulf stream makes the channel a trifle
reminiscent of the English channel, but once under the lee of the
Cuban coast the water is still and the harbor of the old city
offers shelter.
In the days before the war, Morro Castle had an added interest to
the traveler from the fact that behind its frowning guns and under
the rocks on which it was built, were the cells of scores of sad
prisoners, some of them for years in the dungeons, whose walls
could tell secrets like those of the inquisition in Spain if they
could but speak. Between Morro Castle and its neighbor across the
way, La Punta, the vessels steam into that bay, foul with four
hundred years of Spanish misrule and filth, where three hundred
years of the slave trade centered, and into which the sewers of a
great city poured their filth. Once inside the harbor, Cabana
Castle frowns from the hills behind Morro, and on the opposite
shore rise the buildings of the city itself.
The harbor always has been a busy one, for the commerce of the
island and of the city has been large. In times of peace, scores
of vessels lie at anchor in the murky waters. The American
anchorage for mail steamers for years has been in the extremest
part of the bay from the city of Havana itself, in order to avoid
the contagion which was threatened by a nearer anchorage. Until
the Maine was guided to her ill-fated station by the harbor
master, it had been long since any American vessel had stopped in
that part of the harbor.
PERFECT SANITARY CONDITION EASILY CREATED.
The shallow harbor of Havana has its entrance from the ocean
through a channel hardly more than three hundred yards wide, and
nearly half a mile long, after which it broadens and ramifies
until its area becomes several square miles. No fresh water
stream, large or small, flows into it to purify the waters. The
harbor entrance is so narrow, and the tides along that coast have
so little rise and fall, that the level of water in the harbor
hardly shows perceptible change day after day.
The result of this is that the constant inflow of sewage from the
great city pouring into the harbor is never diluted, and through
the summer is simply a festering mass of corruption, fronting the
whole sea wall and throwing a stench into the air which must be
breathed by everyone on shipboard. There is one part of the harbor
known as "dead man's hole," from which it is said no ship has ever
sailed after an anchorage of more than one day, without bearing
the infection of yellow fever among its crew.
Along the shores of this very harbor are great warehouses for the
sugar and tobacco shipped into the United States by the thousands
of tons every year. To preserve our national health, our
government has maintained an expensive marine hospital service and
quarantine system along our southern ports which trade with
Havana, in addition to supporting a marine hospital service under
the eminent Dr. Burgess in Havana itself. To the rigid enforcement
of this system, and the untiring vigilance of Dr. Burgess, must be
credited the immunity which the United States has had from annual
epidemics of yellow fever and smallpox.
The guilt of Spain in permitting this shocking condition to
continue, cannot in any way be palliated. For four hundred years
she has had sway in the island, free to work her own will, and
drawing millions of dollars of surplus revenue out of the grinding
taxes she has imposed. The installation of a sanitary system of
sewage, which should discharge into the open sea instead of into
this cesspool which lies at the city's feet, would have been the
first solution of the difficulty. The threat of danger would have
been finally averted by the expenditure of a few hundred thousand
dollars, which would open a channel from the further extremity of
the harbor to the ocean eastward. The distance is but a few miles
and the engineering problem a simple one. This and the
construction of a jetty northwestward from the point on which
Morro Castle stands, would divert a portion of the current of the
noble gulf stream into the harbor entrance, and the foul pond of
to-day would be scoured of its filth by a perennial flood which
could never fail.
Vera Cruz, on the Mexican coast, has proven that it is possible to
exterminate yellow fever, and it is a duty owed to civilization
that Havana shall follow along the same path. If all other excuses
were to be ignored, the United States for years has had ample
cause for intervention in Cuban affairs, as a measure of safety to
the health of her own citizens, as truly as one man may complain
to the authorities if his neighbor maintains a nuisance in the
adjoining yard.
THE BUSINESS QUARTERS OF HAVANA.
Once anchored in the safest place in the harbor, the mail steamers
are surrounded without delay by a fleet of peculiar boats of a
sort seen only in the bay of Havana. For a bit of silver, the
traveler is taken ashore, the journey to the landing stage being a
matter of but a few moments. The journey through the custom house
is not a formidable one, for unless there is suspicion of some
contraband goods, the customs officers are not exacting upon
travelers. At the door of the custom house, or aduana, wait the
cabs, which are cheaper in Havana than in any other city of the
new world, and they serve as a conveyance to the hotels, which are
all grouped in the same neighborhood.
The streets through which the traveler passes are picturesque, but
hardly practical, from the American point of view. Some of them
are so narrow that carriages cannot pass, and all traffic must go
in one direction. Nearly all of the business streets have awnings
extending from one side to the other, between the roofs, as a
protection from the tropic sun. The sidewalks on some of the most
pretentious streets are not wide enough for three persons to walk
abreast, and on others two cannot pass. On every hand one gets the
impression of antiquity, and antiquity even greater than the four
hundred years of Spanish occupancy actually measures. Spanish
architecture, however modern it may be, sometimes adds to that
impression and one might believe himself, with little stretch of
the imagination, to be in one of the ancient cities of the old
world.
The streets are paved with blocks of granite and other stone,
roughly cut and consequently exceedingly noisy, but upon these
narrow streets front some shops as fine as one might expect to
discover in New York or Paris. It is true that they are not large,
but they do not need to be, for nearly all are devoted to
specialties, instead of carrying stocks of goods of the American
diversity. The one who wants to shop will not lack for
temptations. The selection is ample in any line that may be named,
the styles are modern and in exquisite taste, and altogether the
shops are a considerable surprise to one who judges them first
from the exterior. Stores devoted exclusively to fans, parasols,
gloves, laces, jewels, bronzes, silks and the beautiful cloth of
pineapple fiber known as nipe cloth, are an indication of the
variety that may be found. The shoes and other articles of men's
and women's clothing are nearly all direct importations from
Paris, and where Parisian styles dominate one may be assured that
the selection is not a scanty one. Clerks are courteous even to
the traditional point of Castilian obsequiousness, and altogether
a shopping expedition along this Obispo street is an experience to
be remembered with pleasure.
HAVANA HOMES.
You notice that everything is made to serve comfort and coolness.
Instead of having panes of glass, the windows are open and guarded
by light iron railings, and the heavy wooden doors are left ajar.
You see into many houses as you pass along, and very cool and
clean they look. There are marble floors, cane-seated chairs and
lounges, thin lace curtains, and glimpses of courts in the center
of each building, often with green plants or gaudy flowers growing
in them between the parlor and the kitchen.
You find much the same plan at your hotel. You may walk in at the
doors or the dining room windows just as you please, for the sides
of the house seem capable of being all thrown open; while in the
center of the building you see the blue sky overhead. Equally cool
do all the inhabitants appear to be, and the wise man who consults
his own comfort will do well to follow the general example. Even
the soldiers wear straw hats. The gentlemen are clad in underwear
of silk or lisle thread and suits of linen, drill or silk, and the
ladies are equally coolly apparelled.
Havana is a dressy place, and you will be astonished at the
neatness and style to which the tissue-like goods worn there are
made to conform.
But come and see the apartment you are to rest in every night. Ten
to one the ceiling is higher than you ever saw one in a private
house, and the huge windows open upon a balcony overlooking a
verdant plaza. The floor is of marble or tiling, and the bed is an
ornate iron or brass affair, with a tightly stretched sheet of
canvas or fine wire netting in place of the mattress you are used
to. You could not sleep on a mattress with any proper degree of
comfort in the tropics. There is a canopy with curtains overhead,
and everything about the room is pretty certain to be scrupulously
clean. Conspicuous there and everywhere else that you go is a
rocking chair. Rocking chairs are to be found in the houses, and
in regiments in the clubs.
Havana is the metropolis of the West Indies. It has more life and
bustle than all the rest of the archipelago put together. If you
are German, English, Scotch, Dutch, American, French or whatever
you are, you will find fellow countrymen among its 250,000 souls.
There is a public spirit there which is rare in these climes. The
theaters astonish you by their size and elegance. The aristocratic
club is the Union, but the popular one is the Casino Espanol,
whose club house is a marvel of tropical elegance and beauty.
Nearly all these attractions are on or near the broad, shady and
imposing thoroughfare, the Prado--a succession of parks leading
from the water opposite Morro Castle almost across the city.
In one or another of these parks a military band plays on three
evenings of the week, and the scene on such occasions is wholly
new to English eyes. It is at such times that one may see the
beautiful Spanish and Cuban women. They do not leave their houses
in the heat of the day unless something requires them to do so,
and when they do they remain in their carriages, and are
accompanied by a servant or an elderly companion. So strict is the
privacy with which they are surrounded that you shall see them
shopping without quitting their carriages, waited on by the
clerks, who bring the goods out to the vehicles.
But when there is music under the laurels or palms the senoritas,
in their light draperies, and wearing nothing on their heads save
the picturesque mantilla of Old Spain, assemble on the paths, the
seats, the sidewalks and in their carriages, and there the
masculine element repairs and is very gallant, indeed.
Here you will listen to the dreamy melody of these latitudes,
Spanish love songs and Cuban waltzes so softly pretty that you
wonder all the world does not sing and play them. On other nights
the walk or drive along the Prado is very interesting. You pass
some of the most elegant of the houses, and notice that they are
two stories high, and that the family apartments are on the upper
stories, so that you miss the furtive views of the families at
meals and of the ladies reclining in the broad-tiled window sills
that you have in the older one-story sections of the city.
CHAPTER X.
THE CITIES OF CUBA.
The Harbor of Matanzas--Sports of the Carnival--Santiago de Cuba
and Its Beautiful Bay--Cardinas, the Commercial Center--Enormous
Exports of Sugar--The Beauties of Trinidad--Other Cities of
Importance.
The city of Havana may be said to stand in the same relation to
Cuba that Paris does to France, for in it are centered the
culture, the refinement, and the wealth of the island, but there
are several other towns of considerable importance, and many of
them have become places of interest since the struggle for liberty
has attracted the attention of the civilized world.
Chief among these is Matanzas. This city, with a normal population
of about 60,000, is situated fifty miles east of Havana, with
which it is connected by rail and water. Its shipping interests
are second only to those of the capital, as it is the outlet of
many of the richest agricultural districts of the island.
The city is situated on the flats on both sides of the San Juan
river, which brings down large quantities of mud and greatly
impedes inland navigation. As an offset the bay is spacious, easy
of access and sheltered from the violent gulf storms which prevail
at some seasons. This makes the port a favorite with marine men. A
large amount of money has been spent by the government to fortify
and protect the city, and it has been connected by rail with all
the principal towns and producing centers of the provinces. Thus
it is a particularly favorite port of entry for all the supplies
required in the plantations--food staples and machinery. Its
exports consist principally of sugar, coffee, molasses, tobacco,
honey, wax and fruits.
The city is built principally of masonry and in a most substantial
manner, though little effort has been made to secure architectural
beauty. The pride of the city is the new theater, which is pointed
out as the handsomest building in Cuba. The Empresa Academy also
takes rank equal with any for the excellence of its educational
facilities.
There is no more charming spot in Cuba than Matanzas. The bay is
like a crescent in shape, and receives the waters of the Yumuri
and Matanzas rivers, two small unnavigable streams. A high bridge
separates them. On this ridge back of the town stands a cathedral
dedicated to the black virgin. It is a reproduction of a cathedral
in the Balearic Islands. The view from its steeple is magnificent.
Looking backward the valley of the Yumuri stretches to the right.
It is about ten miles wide and sixty miles long, dotted with
palms, and as level as a barn floor. The Yumuri breaks through the
mountains near Matanzas bay something like the Arkansas river at
Canon City. Carpeted with living green and surrounded with
mountains this valley is one of the gems of Cuba.
About ten miles from Matanzas, on the left of the road, stand what
are known as the Breadloaf Mountains. They rise from the plain
like the Spanish peaks in Colorado. These mountains are the
headquarters of General Betancourt, who commands the insurgents in
the province. The Spaniards have offered $1,000 reward for his
head. Several efforts have been made to secure it, but in all
cases the would-be captor has lost his own head.
In accordance with the Weyler edict 11,000 reconcentrados were
herded together at Matanzas, and within a year over 9,000 of them
died in the city. In the Plaza, under the shadow of the Governor's
residence, twenty-three people died from starvation in one day.
The province of Matanzas is not larger in area than the state of
Delaware, yet 55,000 people have perished from starvation and
incident diseases since the order went into effect.
But all the people of Matanzas are not reconcentrados, and even in
the midst of war's alarms they find time for amusement, as the
following description of a carnival ball will prove:
"It was our good fortune to be in Matanzas during the last three
days of the Carnival; and while the whole time was occupied by
noisy processions and grotesque street masqueraders, the crowning
ceremonies were on the last Sunday night. Then the whole town used
every effort to wind up the season in a 'feu de joie' of pleasure
and amusement. In almost every town of any importance there is an
association of young men, generally known as 'El Liceo,' organized
for artistic and literary purposes, and for social recreation. A
fine large building is generally occupied by the association, with
ample space for theatrical representations, balls, etc.; in
addition to which there are billiard rooms, and reading rooms,
adorned, probably with fine paintings. In Matanzas this
association is known as 'El Liceo Artistico y Literario de
Matanzas,' and is a particularly fine one, being composed of the
elite of the city, with a fine large house, to which they made an
addition by purchasing the 'Club,' beautifully situated upon the
Plaza.
"Thanks to our letter of introduction, we were, through the kind
offices of the members, permitted to enjoy the pleasures of their
grand ball, called the 'Pinata,' which was indeed a very grand
affair, attended by the beauty and fashion of Matanzas. The ball
commenced at the seasonable hour of 8 o'clock in the evening; and
at entering, each one was required to give up his ticket to a
committee of managers, who thus had a kind of general inspection
of all those admitted.
"The ball room was a long, large hall, at the other end of which
was a pretty stage for theatrical representations; on each side of
the room was an arched colonnade, over which were the galleries,
where the band was posted. Hanged in double rows of chairs the
full length of the room in front of the colonnade, sat hundreds of
dark-eyed angels, calm, dignified, and appearing, most of them, to
be mere lookers on; not a black coat among them. All of these,
with the exception of a few courageous ones that were facing all
this beauty, were huddled together at the other end of the room,
wanting the courage (it could not be the inclination) to pay their
respects to 'las Senoritas.'
"What is exactly the trouble in Cuba between the gentlemen and the
ladies I never have been able to quite understand. The men are
polished and gentlemanly, as a general thing--sufficiently
intelligent, apparently; while the ladies are dignified and
pretty. And yet I have never seen that appearance of easy and
pleasant intercourse between the sexes which makes our society so
charming.
"I am inclined to believe that it is the fault of custom, in a
great degree, which surrounds women in Cuba with etiquette, iron
bars and formality. This would seem to apply to the natives only,
for nothing can be kinder, more friendly and courteous than the
manners of the Cuban ladies to strangers, at least, judging from
what is seen. It may be as a lady with whom I was arguing the
point said: 'It is very different with strangers, Senor, and
particularly with the Americans, who are celebrated for their
chivalric gallantry to ladies.' Now I call that a very pretty
national compliment.
"Taking the arm of my friend, we walk up and down to see, as he
expresses it, 'who there is to be presented to,' and faith, if
beauty is to be the test, it would seem to be a hard matter to
make up one's mind, there is so much of it, but after a turn or
two around the room, this form is gone through with, and one
begins to feel at home and ready to enjoy one's self.
"When one finds ladies (and there are numbers) who have been
educated abroad, either in the United States or Europe, he finds
them highly accomplished and entertaining. Several that I had the
pleasure of meeting on this and other occasions spoke French
perfectly, some English, and one or two both of these in addition
to their native tongue.
"But let us return to the ball, which is all the time going on
with great eclat. It opens with the advent upon the stage of a
dozen or more young men, under the direction of a leader, in some
fancy costume very handsomely made, who, after making their bow to
the audience, go through some novel kind of a dance. The
performers take this means of filling up the intervals of the
general dance, and amusing the audience.
"It is now getting late, and the rooms are terribly warm. The fans
of the long rows of lovely sitters, who have not moved out of
their places the whole evening, keep up a constant flutter, and
one begins to sigh for a breath of fresh air, and relief from the
discomforts of a full dress suit. But the grand affair of the
evening is yet to come off, we are told, so we linger on, and are
finally rewarded by the grand ceremony of the 'Pinata,' from which
the ball takes its name. This word I can hardly give the meaning
of as applied to this ceremony, which consists in having pendent
from the ceiling a form of ribbands and flowers, the ribbands
numbered and hanging from the flowery the rights to pull which are
drawn like prizes in a lottery. Of these ribbands, one is fastened
to a beautiful crown of flowers, which, when the ribband to which
it is attached is pulled, falls into the hands of the lucky
person, who has the privilege of crowning any lady he may deem
worthy of the honor 'Queen of the Ball,' to whom every one is
obliged to yield obedience, homage, and admiration. There is,
also, the same opportunity afforded to the ladies to crown a king.
The whole ceremony is pretty, and creates much merriment and
amusement.
"This ceremony over, at midnight we sally out into the open air.
But what a sight greets us there! Lights blaze in such profusion
that it seems more than day. Music and dancing are everywhere.
Songs and mirth have taken complete possession of the place, while
people of all ages, sexes and colors are mixed together, in what
seems inextricable confusion, intent upon having a good time in
the open air while their masters and betters are doing the same
thing under cover. This is a carnival sight indeed, and only to be
seen in a tropical clime."
GUANTANAMO, THE HOME OF THE PIRATES.
Approaching Cuba as Columbus did--across the narrow stretch of sea
from San Domingo--you first sight the long, low promontory of the
eastern tip, which the discoverer named Point Maysi. So different
is the prospect from that seen at the other end of the island, as
you come down in the usual route from New York or Florida, that
you can hardly believe it is the same small country. From Maysi
Point the land rises in sharp terraces, backed by high hills and
higher mountains, all so vague in mist and cloud that you do not
know where land ends and sky begins. Coming nearer, gray ridges
are evolved, which look like cowled monks peering over each
other's shoulders, with here and there a majestic peak towering
far above his fellows--like the Pico Turquino, 11,000 feet above
the sea. Sailing westward along this south shore, the "Queen of
the Antilles" looks desolate and forbidding, as compared to other
portions of the West Indies; a panorama, of wild heights and
sterile shores, and surge-beaten cliffs covered with screaming sea
birds. At rare intervals an opening in the rock-bound coast
betrays a tiny harbor, bordered by cocoa palms, so guarded and
concealed by hills, and its sudden revelation, when close upon it,
astonishes you as it did the first explorer.
According to tradition, everyone of these was once a pirate's lair, in
the good old days we read about, when "long, low, suspicious-looking
craft, with raking masts," used to steal out from sheltered coves to
plunder the unwary. Each little bay, whose existence was unknown to
honest mariners, has a high wooded point near its entrance, where the
sea robbers kept perpetual watch for passing merchantmen and
treasure-laden galleons, their own swift-sailing vessels safe out of
sight within the cove; and then, at a given signal out they would dart
upon the unsuspecting prey like a spider from his web. Among the most
notorious piratical rendezvous was Gauntanamo, which our warships are
said to have shelled two or three times of late. In recent years its
narrow bay, branching far inland like a river, has become of
considerable consequence, by reason of a railway which connects it with
Santiago, and also because the patriot army, hidden in the nearby
mountains, have entertained hopes of overcoming the Spanish garrison and
making it a base for receiving outside assistance. Before the war there
were extensive sugar plantations in this city, now all devastated. The
Cobre mountains, looming darkly against the horizon, are the great
copper and iron range of Cuba, said to contain untold mineral wealth,
waiting to be developed by Yankee enterprise. In earlier days $4,000,000
a year was the average value of Cuba's copper and iron exports; but in
1867 6,000,000 tons were taken out in less than ten months. Then Spain
put her foot in it, as usual. Not content with the lion's share, which
she had always realized in exorbitant taxes on the product, she
increased the excise charges to such an extent as to kill the industry
outright. For a long time afterward the ore lay undisturbed in the Cobre
"pockets," until the attention of Americans was turned this way. Their
first iron and copper claims in these mountains were recognized by the
Cuban government about seventeen years ago. Three Yankee corporations
have developed rich tracts of mining territory hereabouts, built
railways from the coast to their works on the hills and exported, ore to
the United States. The oldest of these companies employed 2,000 men, and
had 1,600 cars and a fleet of twenty steamers for the transportation of
its output. The Carnegie Company, whose product was shipped to
Philadelphia, also employed upwards of a thousand men.
SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
At last an abrupt termination of the stern, gray cliffs which mark
this shore line indicates the proximity of Santiago harbor, and a
nearer approach reveals the most picturesque fort or castle, as
well as one of the oldest, to be found on the western hemisphere.
An enormous rounding rock, whose base has been hollowed into great
caverns by the restless Caribbean, standing just at the entrance
of the narrow channel leading into the harbor, is carried up from
the water's edge in a succession of walls, ramparts, towers and
turrets, forming a perfect picture of a rock-ribbed fortress of
the middle ages. This is the famous castle of San Jago, the Moro,
which antedates the more familiar fortress of the same name in
Havana harbor by at least a hundred years. Words are of little use
in describing this antique, Moorish-looking stronghold, with its
crumbling, honey-combed battlements, queer little flanking turrets
and shadowy towers, perched upon the face of a dun-colored cliff
150 feet high--so old, so odd, so different from anything in
America with which to compare it. A photograph, or pencil sketch
is not much better, and even a paint brush could not reproduce the
exact shadings of its time-worn, weather-mellowed walls--the
Oriental pinks and old blues and predominating yellows that give
it half its charm. Upon the lowermost wall, directly overhanging
the sea, is a dome-shaped sentry box of stone, flanked by
antiquated cannon. Above it the lines of masonry are sharply
drawn, each guarded terrace receding upon the one next higher, all
set with cannon and dominated by a massive tower of obsolete
construction.
It takes a good while to see it all, for new stories and
stairways, wings and terraces, are constantly cropping out in
unexpected places, but as it occupies three sides of the rounding
cliff and the pilot who comes aboard at the entrance to the
channel guides your steamer close up under the frowning
battlements, you have ample time to study it. Window holes cut
into rock in all directions show how extensive are the
excavations. A large garrison is always quartered here, even in
time of peace, when their sole business is searching for shady
places along the walls against which to lean. There are ranges
above ranges of walks, connected by stairways cut into the solid
rock, each range covered with lolling soldiers. You pass so near
that you can hear them chattering together. Those on the topmost
parapet, dangling their blue woolen legs over, are so high and so
directly overhead that they remind you of flies on the ceiling.
In various places small niches have been excavated in the cliff,
some with crucifixes, or figures of saints, and in other places
the bare, unbroken wall of rock runs up, sheer straight 100 feet.
Below, on the ocean side, are caves, deep, dark and uncanny, worn
deep into the rock. Some of them are so extensive that they have
not been explored in generations.
The broad and lofty entrances to one of them, hollowed by the
encroaching sea, is as perfect an arch as could be drawn by a skillful
architect, and with it a tradition is connected which dates back a
couple of centuries. A story or two above these wave-eaten caverns are
many small windows, each heavily barred with iron. They are dungeons dug
into the solid rock, and over them might well be written, "Leave hope
behind, ye who enter here!" A crowd of haggard, pallid faces are pressed
against the bars; and as you steam slowly by, so close that you might
speak to the wretched prisoners, it seems as if a shadow had suddenly
fallen upon the bright sunshine, and a chill, like that of coming death,
oppresses the heart. Since time out of mind, the Moro of Santiago has
furnished dungeons for those who have incurred the displeasure of the
government infinitely more to be dreaded than its namesake in Havana.
Had these slimy walls a tongue, what stories they might reveal of crime
and suffering, of tortures nobly undergone, of death prolonged through
dragging years and murders that will not "out" until the judgment day.
Against that old tower, a quarter of a century ago our countrymen
of the Virginius were butchered like sheep. Scores of later
patriots have been led out upon the ramparts and shot, their
bodies, perhaps, with life yet in them, falling into the sea,
where they were snapped up by sharks as soon as they touched the
water.
The narrow, winding channel which leads from the open sea into the
harbor, pursues its sinuous course past several other
fortifications of quaint construction, but of little use against
modern guns--between low hills and broad meadows, fishing hamlets
and cocoanut groves. Presently you turn a sharp angle in the hills
and enter a broad, land-locked bay, inclosed on every side by
ranges of hills with numerous points and promontories jutting into
the tranquil water, leaving deep little coves behind them, all
fringed with cocoa-palms. Between this blue bay and a towering
background of purple mountains lies the city which Diego
Velazquez, its founder, christened in honor of the patron saint of
Spain, as far back as the year 1514. It is the oldest standing
city in the new world, excepting Santo Domingo, which Columbus
himself established only eighteen years earlier. By the way, San
Jago, San Diego and Santiago, are really the same name, rendered
Saint James in our language; and wherever the Spaniards have been
are numbers of them. This particular city of Saint James occupies
a sloping hillside, 600 miles southeast from Havana, itself the
capital of a department, and ranks the third city of Cuba in
commercial importance--Matanzas being second. As usual in all
these southern ports, the water is too shallow for large vessels
to approach the dock and steamers have to anchor a mile from
shore. While waiting the coming of health or customs officials,
these lordly gentlemen who are never given to undignified haste,
you have ample time to admire the prospect, and if the truth must
be told, you will do well to turn about without going ashore, if
you wish to retain the first delightful impressions--for this old
city of Spain's patron saint is one of the many to which distance
lends enchantment.
Red-roofed buildings of stone and adobe entirely cover the
hillside, with here and there a dome, a tower, a church steeple
shooting upward, or a tell palm poking its head above a garden
wall--the glittering green contrasting well with the ruddy tiles
and the pink, gray, blue and yellow of the painted walls. In the
golden light of a tropical morning it looks like an oriental town,
between sapphire sea and turquoise mountains. Its low massive
buildings, whose walls surround open courts, with pillared
balconies and corridors, the great open windows protected by iron
bars instead of glass, and roofs covered with earthen tiles--are a
direct importation from Southern Spain, if not from further east.
Tangiers, in Africa, is built upon a similar sloping hillside, and
that capital of Morocco does not look a bit more Moorish than
Santiago de Cuba. On the narrow strip of laud bordering the
eastern edge of the harbor, the Moro at one end and the city at
the other, are some villas, embowered in groves and gardens,
which, we are told, belong mostly to Americans who are interested
in the Cobre mines. The great iron piers on the right belong to
the American mining companies, built for loading ore upon their
ships.
CARDINAS.
Fifty miles east of Matanzas is the city of Cardinas, the last
port of any consequence on the north coast of the island. It has a
population of 25,000, and is the capital of a fertile district. It
is one of the main outlets of Cuba's richest province, Matanzas,
and is the great railroad center of the island, or, more properly
speaking, it ought to be, as the railroads of the country form a
junction fifteen miles inland, at an insignificant station called
Jouvellenes.
In time of peace Cardinas enjoys a thriving business, particularly
in sugar and molasses, its exports of the former sometimes
amounting to 100,000 tons a year. To the west and south stretch
the great sugar estates which have made this section of Spain's
domain a prize to be fought for. The water side of the town is
faced with long wharves and lined with warehouses, and its
extensive railway depot would do credit to any metropolis.
There are a few pretentious public buildings, including the
customs house, hospital and college. Its cobble paved streets are
considerably wider than those of Havana, and have two lines of
horse cars. There is gas and electric light, and more two-story
houses than one is accustomed to see on the island.
But, notwithstanding the broad, blue bay in front, and the Paseo,
whose tall trees seem to be touching finger tips across the road,
congratulating each other on the presence of eternal summer,
Cardinas is not an attractive town. One misses the glamor of
antiquity and historic interest which pervades Havana, Matanzas
and Santiago, and feels somehow that the town is new without being
modern, young but not youthful.
OTHER CITIES OF IMPORTANCE.
Puerto Principe, or to give it its full name in the Spanish
tongue, Santa Maria de Puerto Principe, is the capital of the
Central department, and is situated about midway between the north
and south coasts, 305 miles southeast of Havana, and forty-five
miles southwest of Nuevitas, its port, with which it is connected
by railroad. Its population is about 30,000 and it is surrounded
by a rich agricultural district, the chief products of which are
sugar and tobacco. The climate is hot, moist and unhealthy. It was
at one time the seat of the supreme court of all the Spanish
colonies in America.
One of the most attractive cities of Cuba is Trinidad, which lies
near the south coast, three miles by rail from the port of
Casildas. It is beautifully situated on high land overlooking the
sea, and on account of its mild and very equable climate it is a
favorite resort for tourists and invalids.
Nuevitas, Sancti Espiritu, Baracoa and Cienfuegos are all centers
of population with many natural advantages, and with a just form
of government, and the advent of American enterprise and capital,
they might become prosperous, attractive, and of great commercial
importance.
CHAPTER XI.
MUTTERINGS OF INSURRECTION.
Slavery in Cuba--Horrible Tortures Inflicted--The Conspiracy of
Lopez--The United States Interferes--Lopez Captured and Executed
--Seizure of American Ships--Our Government Demands and Secures
Indemnity From Spain--Enormous Salaries of Cuban Officials--
Oppressive Taxation.
Slavery was a demoralizing influence to Cuba as it has been, to
every other country in which the system has existed, and to its
presence was traced one of the most sensational episodes in all
the sensational history of the unhappy island. It is impossible to
know to what extent the suspected insurrection of slaves on the
sugar plantations about Matanzas was an actual threat. So horrible
were the charges made by the accusers that it is almost impossible
to believe them. At any rate, such an insurrection was
anticipated, and the authorities took measures to crush it out,
more severe than any such governmental movement has been since the
days of the Spanish Inquisition itself. It was impossible to
obtain witnesses by ordinary methods, so the most shocking forms
of torture were employed. Those who refused to confess whatever
charges happened to be brought against them were tortured till
they did confess, and then probably executed for the crimes which
they admitted under such circumstances. By such "judicial"
processes, 1,346 persons were convicted, of whom seventy-eight
were shot and the others punished less severely in various ways.
Hundreds of others died from the tortures to which they were
subjected, or in the foul prisons in which they were confined, and
of these we have no record. Of those convicted and punished under
the alleged forms of law, fourteen were white, 1,242 were free
negroes, and fifty-nine were slaves. The negroes of Cuba have
never forgotten the barbarities to which their parents were
subjected in that trying year.
The most notable outbreak of Cuban insurrectionary forces prior to
that of the Ten Years' war, which began in 1868, was that known as
the conspiracy of Lopez.
As early as May, 1847, Narcisso Lopez and a number of his
associates who had planned an insurrection in the central part of
the island, were pursued to the United States by Spanish agents,
who had kept track of their conspiracy. The Lone Star Society was
in close sympathy with these refugees, and to a certain extent the
two were co-existent. Lopez, in 1849, organized a military
expedition to invade Cuba. By the exertions of the officers of the
United States government the sailing of the expedition was
prevented. Notwithstanding the activity of the government,
however, Lopez, in the following year, got together a force of 600
men outside of the United States, shipped arms and ammunition to
them from this country, and on May 19, 1850, made a landing at
Cardenas.
The United States authorities had put the Spanish government in
Cuba on the alert for this expedition. President Taylor had issued
a proclamation warning all citizens of the United States not to
take part in such an expedition or to assist it in any way. The
expedition was driven out to sea from Cardenas a few days after it
landed, sailed for Key West, and there disbanded. Meantime there
were a number of uprisings in the island between groups of unhappy
natives who had not the wisdom to co-operate in the effort to
resist the oppressive hand of the Spaniards.
In August of 1851, Lopez eluded the United States authorities at
the port of New Orleans, and sailed out into the Gulf of Mexico
with an expedition 450 strong. His lieutenant on this expedition
was a Colonel Crittenden, a native of the State of Kentucky. They
landed near Bahia Honda, about thirty miles west of Havana, and
found the government forces waiting for them. Colonel Crittenden,
with a subdivision of 150 men, was compelled to surrender, and the
rest were scattered. Lopez, with fifty others, was captured, taken
to Havana, and there executed.
The circumstances attending the Lopez failure, and several Spanish
outrages against American citizens and vessels, aroused deep
feeling in the United States, and the sentiment was growing
rapidly that it was a national duty to our own peace, to do
something that would make the troublesome neighbor a pleasant one.
It was fifty years before action was taken, but, once begun, it
was well done.
It was in 1848, prior to the Lopez invasion, that President Polk
made the first approaches to the Spanish government with a
suggestion to purchase the island for $100,000,000, but was
refused with scant consideration. A few years later came the
succession of attacks on American merchant vessels by Spanish
ships of war, on the pretext that the intercepted craft were in
filibuster service. Some of these were fired on, and the American
mail bags opened, the steamships Falcon and Crescent City being in
this list. The most flagrant case was that of the Black Warrior, a
large steamer in coasting trade between New York and Mobile. In
February, 1850, while in the harbor of Havana, she was stopped,
her cargo confiscated, and a fine of twice its value declared. Her
captain hauled down the colors, and taking them with him, left the
vessel as a Spanish capture. After five years of "diplomacy,"
Spain paid an indemnity of $300,000 for the outrage.
It was in 1852 that the governments of Great Britain and France
tried to draw the United States into an agreement on the question
of Cuba, which was happily refused on genuinely American grounds.
It was suggested that all the parties should be bound not to
acquire Cuba themselves, nor to permit any other power to do so.
Our government gave the proposal respectful consideration, but
declined to enter into any such arrangement, on the ground that we
prefer to avoid entangling foreign alliances, that it would be
unwise, if not unconstitutional, to tie our hands for the future
regardless of what might happen, and that on geographical grounds,
while England and France were making very slight concessions, we
were asked to make a very important one.
The United States came as near to the purchase of Cuba in 1854 as
it ever was, but Spain gave the plan little encouragement. Three
American ministers to European countries, Messrs. Buchanan, Mason
and Soule, met at Ostend and formulated a plan for the purchase,
signing and issuing what came to be known as the Ostend manifesto.
They recommended the purchase of the island for $120,000,000, and
that in no event should it be allowed to come under the power of
any other European government than the one by which it was held.
At this time, and afterward, while filibustering expeditions were
frequent and disorder constantly threatening in Cuba, the subject
of the acquisition of Cuba was discussed in Congress, but no
headway was made in the matter. At last, conditions in the island
became intolerable to the patriots there, and the Ten Years' war
began.
It is necessary at this point to relate some of the causes of the
frequent disorders and uprisings in the island of Cuba. Some of
the features of Spanish misgovernment in the colony have been
named, but the catalogue is far from complete.
The most judicial writers, however bitterly they condemn Spain,
admit that that peninsular kingdom has itself suffered and that
the people have suffered almost beyond endurance themselves. Cuba
is not the only land with which we may share a little of our
sympathy. But sympathy for Spain must come from other things than
oppression from without. Her oppression is within her own borders,
and her authorities have tried to shift the burden of it to the
colonists across the sea. The debt of Spain has reached enormous
proportions, and having fallen from her high estate as a
commercial nation, it has become impossible for the great interest
charges on her floating debt to be paid by ordinary and correct
methods. Says one writer: "To pay the interest necessitates the
most grinding oppression. The moving impulse is not malice, but
the greed of the famishing; and oppressor and oppressed alike are
the objects for sympathy."
The annual revenue raised in the island of Cuba had reached nearly
$26,000,000 by the time of the outbreak of the Ten Years' war, and
preparations were in progress for largely increasing the
exactions. The large revenue raised was expended in ways to
irritate the Cubans or any one else who had to help pay it. The
annual salary of the captain general was $50,000, when the
president of the United States was getting only $25,000 a year.
Each provincial governor in Cuba got a salary of $12,000, while
the prime minister of Spain received only half that.
The bishop of Havana and the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba each
received a salary of $18,000. All offices, civil, military and
ecclesiastical, were productive of rich perquisites, except in
those cases where stealing was simpler. Wholesale corruption in
the custom houses was generally known and admitted by all. The
thefts in the custom houses in Havana was estimated at forty per
cent, and in Santiago at seventy per cent of the entire revenue.
All offices except the very lowest, in church and state alike,
were filled by men sent from Spain, with the frank understanding
that as soon as he could, each new appointee could garner a
fortune by fair means and foul combined, he should retire and let
another be sent over to have a turn at the plunder. The result of
this was that strangers were always in authority, men with no
sympathy for local need, and no local reputation to sustain. It is
perfectly obvious what sort of a public service such conditions
would create.
As might have been expected, the result was the growth of two
parties, one the native-born Cubans, and called the insulares, the
other of those from Spain, and their adherents, known as the
peninsulares. The line between them has been sharply drawn for
many years, and they are on opposite sides of everything. It is
from the ranks of the continentals that the volunteer corps of
Cuba has been drawn, one of the most aggravating and threatening
of all influences against peace in Cuba.
Spain imposed differential duties in such a way as to virtually
monopolize the trade of the island. At the same time the prices of
all imports to Cuba were forced, to an unnatural figure, to the
great distress of the people. Petty oppression in postage and in
baptismal fees multiplied, so that instead of petty it became
great. The increase in taxation of Cuba for use in Spain in two
years prior to the outbreak of the Ten Years' war was more than
$14,000,000, and the next year it was proposed to increase it
still more. The cities were hopelessly in debt and unable to make
the most ordinary and most necessary public improvements. What few
schools there had been were nearly all closed. Lacking insane
asylums, the unfortunate of that class were kept in the jails. The
people saw a country separated from them but by a narrow stretch
of water, where freedom reigned. They saw that they were being
heavily oppressed with taxation for the benefit of the people of
Spain, and that, in addition, they were being robbed mercilessly
for the benefit of the authorities who were placed over them
temporarily. If the money collected from them had been expended
for their benefit in the island, or had been expended honestly,
the case might have been different. As it was, however, an
intolerable condition had been endured too long, and they rose
against it for the struggle known to history as the Ten Years'
war.
CHAPTER XII.
OUTBREAK OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR
Cuba Again Stirred to Turmoil--The Taxes of the Island Increased
--A Declaration of Independence--Civil Government Organized--
Meeting of the Legislature, and Election of Officers--The Edict of
a Tyrant.
Before the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, the reform party in
Cuba, which included all the most enlightened, wealthy and
influential citizens of the island, had exhausted all the
resources at their command to induce Spain to establish a more
just and equitable administration of affairs, but all to no avail.
It was proposed that Cuba receive an autonomist constitution. The
abolition of the supreme power of the Captain General, the freedom
of the press, the right of petition, the regulation of the chief
frauds by which elections were so arranged that no Cuban could
hold government office, the right of assembly, representation in
the Cortes, and complete local self-government were among the
reforms asked for. The plans were considered in Spain and were
reconsidered, and considered again, and that was about all that
ever came of them, except that in June, 1868, Captain General
Lersundi was permitted to raise the direct taxes on the island ten
per cent.
Finally, driven to a point where they could endure it no longer,
they made the start for freedom, and began to fight for it, as
brave men should do and have done through the history of the
world.
Several months before the revolution in Spain and the abdication
of Isabella, measures had been taken to prepare for the effort to
achieve independence. At last matters progressed so rapidly in the
mother country that the Cubans dared not wait for the completion
of their plans, but on October 10, 1868, began the hostilities. On
that day, Carlos M. de Cespedes, a lawyer of Bayamo, took the
initiative with 128 poorly armed men, and issued a declaration of
independence at Yara. This declaration justified itself by
referring in the following terms to the grievances that have been
outlined:
"In arming ourselves against the tyrannical government of Spain,
we must, according to precedent in all civilized countries,
proclaim before the world the cause that impels us to take this
step, which, though likely to entail considerable disturbances
upon the present, will ensure the happiness of the future. ... And
as Spain has many a time promised us Cubans to respect our rights,
without having fulfilled her promises; and she continues to tax us
heavily, and by so doing is likely to destroy our wealth; as we
are in danger of losing our property, our lives and our honor
under Spanish dominion," etc.
Within a few weeks Cespedes was at the head of 15,000 men, ill-prepared
for war, so far as arms and equipment were concerned, but well provided
with resolution, bravery and a just cause. A civil government was
organized, and a constitution drawn up, providing for an elective
president and vice-president, a cabinet, and a single legislative
chamber. It also declared the immediate abolition of slavery. This
constitution was promulgated at Guaimaro in Central Cuba, on the 10th of
April, 1869. The legislature met soon after, and elected Cespedes
president, and Francisco M. Aguilero vice-president.
This insurrection soon assumed formidable dimensions, and the
following edict was issued by General Balmaceda:
Inhabitants of the country! The reinforcement of troops that I
have been waiting for have arrived. With them I shall give
protection to the good, and punish promptly those that still
remain in rebellion against the government of the metropolis.
You know that I have pardoned those who have fought us with arms;
that your wives, mothers and sisters have found in me the
unexpected protection that you have refused them. You know, also,
that many of those we have pardoned have turned against us again.
Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me
to be the man I have been; there is no longer a place for a
falsified neutrality; he that is not for me is against me; and
that my soldiers may know how to distinguish, you hear the order
they carry.
1st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away
from his habitation (finca), and who does not prove a justified
motive therefor, will be shot.
2nd. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops.
3rd. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a
signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.
Women that are not living in their own homes, or at the houses of
their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo,
where maintenance will be provided. Those who do not present
themselves will be conducted forcibly.
The foregoing determinations will commence to take effect on the
14th of the present month.
EL CONDE DE BALMACEDA.
Bayamo, April 4, 1869.
Even Weyler, the "Butcher," has never succeeded in concocting a
manifesto that surpassed this in malicious excuses for the ancient
Spanish amusements of pillage, incendiarism and murder.
THE CAUSE A JUST ONE.
It is now conceded by high Spanish authorities that the insurgents
had just grounds for this revolt, and Senor Dupuy de Lome,
formerly the Spanish minister to the United States, admits in a
letter to the New York Herald that a very large majority of the
leading citizens of the island were in sympathy with the struggle
for liberty.
The new government received the moral support of nearly all of the
South American republics, but as many of them were troubled with
internal dissensions, and uncertain of their own security, they
were not in a condition to furnish assistance of a more practical
nature, and the revolutionists were left to work out their own
salvation.
In an exhaustive review of the trouble between Spain and her Cuban
possessions, published in 1873, the Edinburg Review said:
"It is well known that Spain governs the island of Cuba with an iron and
bloodstained hand. The former holds the latter deprived of civil,
political and religious liberty. Hence the unfortunate Cubans being
illegally prosecuted and sent into exile, or executed by military
commissions in time of peace; hence their being kept from public
meeting, and forbidden to speak or write on affairs of state; hence
their remonstrances against the evils that afflict them being looked
upon as the proceedings of rebels, from the fact that they are bound to
keep silence and obey; hence the never-ending plague of hungry officials
from Spain to devour the product of their industry and labor; hence
their exclusion from public stations, and want of opportunity to fit
themselves for the art of government; hence the restrictions to which
public instruction with them is subjected, in order to keep them so
ignorant as not to be able to know and enforce their rights in any shape
or form whatever; hence the navy and the standing army, which are kept
in their country at an enormous expenditure from their own wealth, to
make them bend their knees and submit their necks to the iron yoke that
disgraces them; hence the grinding taxation under which they labor, and
which would make them all perish in misery but for the marvelous
fertility of their soil."
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MASSACRE OF THE VIRGINIUS OFFICERS AND CREW.
Excitement in the United States over a Spanish Outrage of Twenty-five
Years Ago--The Virginius a Blockade Runner--Severity of the Spanish
Court Martial--Insolence to the American Consul--Indignation in the
United States--Negotiations Between Washington and Madrid--Settlement an
Unsatisfactory One to Most People--No Just Retribution Ever Made.
It was less than twenty-five years before the destruction of the
Maine, that another vessel whose crew met its fate in a Spanish
port in Cuba was the subject of as intense public interest in the
United States as that created by the catastrophe of 1898. The
hopeful progress of the Cuban revolution of 1868-78 had stimulated
their friends in the United States to aid the insurgents in every
way possible, by money, men and the munitions of war.
Filibustering was constant and scarcely discouraged by the people
of the United States, in spite of the protest of Spain. It was as
a result of this condition that the terrible affair of the
Virginius occurred.
The case of the Virginius had in it elements of tragedy that made
it more spectacular and dramatic than that of the Maine, and
American spirit was worked to an even higher tension than it is
now, before diplomacy and caution averted a war between the United
States and Spain. In the case of the Virginius the facts of
Spanish aggression were in no way denied, but, on the contrary,
avowed for a time with pride, until the authorities at Madrid
subdued their people, who were making a settlement more difficult
by their talk. The only controversy was as to whether or not
Spain's action in the matter was within its rights. But the
settlement, however it might have left the rights of the vessel
still unsolved, was a rebuke to Spain, and for its execution of
American citizens with scarcely a formality of law Spain has never
been forgiven by those who remember it, whatever diplomacy decided
as to being satisfied.
The Virginius was originally an English-built sidewheel steamer
called the Virgin, and during the war between the States was one
of the most famous of blockade runners until captured by a vessel
of the United States. In 1870 she was sold in Washington to an
agent of the Cuban Junta at New York, her name was changed to
Virginius, and she cleared for Curacoa in the West Indies. From
that time till her unhappy fate she was never in United States
waters. At Aspinwall and in the ports of Venezuela and the West
Indies she was known for three years as the most daring and the
most successful of filibusters, making repeated landings on the
Cuban coast with supplies of arms, ammunition, food and clothes
for the insurgents who were then fighting the Ten-Years' war. In
all her filibustering it was claimed, however, that the Virginius
never lost her character as an American ship, though the Cuban
flag was kept at the masthead whenever that practice served any
good purpose.
The vessel sailed on the fatal voyage from Kingston, Jamaica,
October 23, 1873, having cleared at the United States consulate as
a United States vessel bound for Port Simon, Costa Rica. The
commander was Captain Joseph Fry, a citizen of the United States.
The cargo was made up of munitions of war for the Cuban
insurgents, and the crew was part of Cuban and part of American
citizens. There were also on board a number of enlisted men on
their way to join the insurgent army.
It was not until October 31 that the Virginius approached the
coast of Cuba to make her landing, and was intercepted by the
Spanish gunboat Tornado. The Tornado had been built by the same
English firm that constructed the Virginius, also for blockade
running, but in the race that followed the Virginius was unable to
equal the speed of her Spanish pursuer. The chase lasted eight
hours. Finally, at 10 o'clock at night, the Virginius was stopped
and surrendered in response to the cannon shots of the Tornado,
which had come in range. The captain protested that his papers
were regular and that the Virginius was "an American ship,
carrying American colors and papers, with an American captain and
an American crew." In response he was told that he was a pirate,
his flag was lowered and trampled upon, and the Spanish flag was
hoisted in its place.
During the chase after the Virginius, the passengers and crew of
the fated vessel were in a state of panic. The cargo, which was
made up of war material, was thrown overboard, and all persons on
the vessel emptied their trunks of whatever might be considered
suspicious. Almost from the instant of the capture the fate of the
unfortunate men was assured, and they soon realized the extent of
the danger that threatened them.
VERDICT OF THE SPANISH COURT-MARTIAL.
When the Tornado and the Virginius reached Santiago de Cuba the
next day the 155 men captured were placed in close confinement and
a court-martial was convened at once. The various courts-martial
condemned most if not all of the prisoners to death, this summary
proceeding being, as was alleged, in accordance with Spanish laws,
so far at least as the character of the court and the nature of
the judicial forms were concerned. The first executions were on
the morning of November 4, when four men were shot, one of them
being Brigadier Washington Ryan, who claimed British citizenship,
as a Canadian, although he had served in the Union army during the
late war. The victims were shot in the back, and their bodies were
afterward beheaded, the heads displayed on spikes and the trunks
trampled by horses. George W. Sherman, the correspondent of the
New York Herald, tried to sketch the scene and was imprisoned for
four days for his attempt. A guard kept the American consul in his
house, so he could not appear to protest.
As the Virginius had displayed the American colors and was
chartered and cleared as an American vessel, she had a prima facie
claim to protection as such, until her right should be disproved.
Hence Mr. E. G. Schmitt, the American vice-consul at Santiago, was
prompt and urgent in demanding access to the prisoners, with a
view to protecting the rights of the vessel and any on board who
might be American citizens. He was treated with great discourtesy
by the provincial governor, who told him in effect that it was
none of his business, and persisted in declaring that they were
all pirates and would be dealt with as such. Mr. Schmitt was even
refused the use of the submarine cable to consult with the consul
at Kingston, Jamaica. He would thus have been left entirely
helpless but for the friendly aid of the British and French
consuls.
On the 8th of November twelve more men were executed, and on the
13th thirty-seven were executed, this last batch including the
officers and crew of the Virginius and most of the American
citizens. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the condemned men were
marched to the place of execution, passing and saluting the
American consulate, where the flag was not flying from its staff.
Captain Fry was shot first, and was the only man, though the
soldiers stood but ten feet away, who fell dead at the first
volley. The majority of the poor fellows, as the firing continued,
were wounded, and killed as they lay on the ground by the usual
Spanish fashion of firing rifles in the mouths of those who were
disabled. The second engineer of the Virginius was among those
executed. He had made a declaration to the Spanish that he had
tampered with the engines and cut down the speed of the vessel so
that she could be captured, and was marched with the rest to
prevent his comrades from knowing that he was to be spared. He was
shot by mistake while making frantic protests and explanations,
but, as he was a traitor in one way or the other, his death was
the only one of all that was never regretted.
PROTESTS WERE UNHEEDED.
During all this time the consuls at Santiago were not idle, but
they were helpless. E. G. Schmitt, the American vice-consul, and
Theodore Brooks, the British vice-consul, made all sorts of
protests that were unavailing. Schmitt was not permitted to see
the prisoners before or after the court-martial, until the very
end, when he reached Captain Fry and signed his protest with him.
He was not permitted the use of the telegraph in order to
communicate with the government at Washington by way of Kingston,
Jamaica.
He wrote repeated notes to Gen. Burriel, the Spanish commander at
Santiago, getting no answer to them, until at last an answer came
that was more irritating than silence. Burriel told him that he
should have known that the previous day was a day of religious
festival, during which he and all his officers were engaged in
"meditation of the divine mysteries," and could not consider
temporal affairs. He also informed the consul that he might be
expelled from the island for trying to embroil the United States
and Spain in difficulties if he were not careful.
Then came the only bright spot in the whole affair. News of what
was going on reached Jamaica, and the British gunboat Niobe,
Captain Sir Lambton Lorraine, left for the scene of massacre,
sailing in such a hurry that he left some of the crew ashore. The
Captain landed at Santiago before his ship was anchored, and
demanded that the slaughter be stopped instantly. He declared that
he represented the United States as well as England, and that he
would bombard the city if there was another American citizen
executed. Ninety-three men were under sentence of death, many of
whom were Americans, but the sentences were immediately suspended
and the lives were saved. The Spanish afterward asserted that the
executions were stopped because of orders received from Madrid.
The next time Sir Lambton Lorraine was in New York he was offered
a reception, which he declined. He was presented, however, with a
silver brick, on which were engraved the words: "Blood is thicker
than water." A resolution of thanks to him was laid on the table
in the House of Representatives and never passed.
AMERICAN DEMANDS FOR VENGEANCE.
When the news of all this reached the United States, public
indignation rose rapidly. Mass-meetings were held demanding
vengeance on Spain. President Grant sent special messages to
Congress, and the state department began diplomatic negotiations.
Hamilton Fish, secretary of state, declared that the Virginius,
having been registered as an American vessel carrying official
documents regular upon their face and bearing the United States
flag, was entirely beyond the jurisdiction of any other power on
the high seas in the time of peace; that if she had secured
fraudulent entry or committed any other fraud against the laws of
the United States it was for her to be turned over to the United
States courts for punishment, and not for her to be captured and
punished by some other power.
The Spanish minister of foreign affairs at that time was Admiral
Polo de Bernabe, father of the new Spanish minister who succeeded
Dupuy de Lome. He wanted to submit the matter to arbitration, and
Secretary Fish replied to him that the "United States was ready to
refer to arbitration all questions properly subjects for
reference, but that the question of an indignity to the flag of
the nation and the capture in time of peace on the high seas of a
vessel bearing that flag and having also the register and papers
of an American ship, is not deemed to be one referable to other
powers to determine. A nation must be the judge and custodian of
its own honor."
Most of the men were executed after protests to Madrid began to be
made. Madrid mobs made a demonstration against the American
minister, General Sickles. November 4, Secretary Fish cabled
Sickles: "In case of refusal of satisfactory reparation within
twelve days from this date close your legation and leave Madrid."
Ten days later, when the executions were over, he telegraphed: "If
Spain cannot redress these outrages, the United States will." Ten
days after that he wired: "If no settlement is reached by the
close of to-morrow, leave." Next day Spain became tractable and
war was averted.
By his conduct in Madrid at that time General Sickles made many
friends of those Americans who wanted to see energetic action, and
many enemies among those who wanted peace at any price. It was
alleged afterward that the latter influence became dominant, and
that his recall from that post was the result of their work to
punish him for his energy that was not always diplomatic in its
forms.
SETTLEMENT OF THE TROUBLE.
The terms of settlement of the trouble were that the Virginius should be
surrendered to an American warship, with the survivors of those who had
been captured with her, and that on December 25 the United States flag
should be saluted by the Tornado. The surrender was made in the obscure
harbor of Bahia Honda, December 16, the Spanish having taken the
Virginius there to avoid the humiliation of a surrender in Santiago or
Havana, where it should have been made. Captain W. D. Whiting, the chief
of staff of the North Atlantic Squadron, was appointed to receive the
surrender of the Virginius, and the gunboat Dispatch was sent to Bahia
Honda with him for that purpose. Lieut. Adolph Marix was the flag
lieutenant of the Dispatch, the same who was afterwards the
judge-advocate of the court of inquiry on the Maine disaster. The
Virginius was delivered with the flag flying, but she was unseaworthy,
and, struck by a storm off Cape Hatteras, was sunk on her way to New
York. The salute to the flag that had been arranged was waived by the
United States because the attorney-general gave an opinion that the
Virginius had no right to fly the American flag when she was captured.
Major Moses P. Handy, afterwards famous as a journalist, was
present at the surrender of the Virginius to the American men of
war in the harbor of Bahia Honda, and gives a graphic account of
the circumstances attending that ceremony. In concluding the tale
he says: "The surrender of the surviving prisoners of the massacre
took place in the course of time at Santiago, owing more to
British insistence than to our feeble representation. As to the
fifty-three who were killed, Spain never gave us any real
satisfaction. For a long time the Madrid government unblushingly
denied that there had been any killing, and when forced to
acknowledge the fact they put us off with preposterous excuses.
'Butcher Borriel,' by whose orders the outrage was perpetrated,
was considered at Madrid to have been justified by circumstances.
It was pretended that orders to suspend the execution of Ryan and
his associates were 'unfortunately' received too late, owing to
interruption of telegraph lines by the insurgents, to whose broad
and bleeding shoulders an attempt was thus made to shift the
responsibility.
"There was a nominal repudiation of Borriel's act and a promise
was made to inflict punishment upon 'those who have offended,' but
no punishment was inflicted upon anybody. The Spanish government,
with characteristic double dealing, resorted to procrastination,
prevarication and trickery, and thus gained time, until new issues
effaced in the American mind the memory of old wrongs unavenged.
Instead of being degraded, Borriel was promoted. Never to this day
has there been any adequate atonement by Spain, much less an
apology or expression of regret for the Virginius massacre."
The amount of money paid to the United States government for
distribution among the families of American sufferers by this
affair was $80,000. And that is the extent of the reparation made
for the shocking crime.
The Virginius, although the most conspicuous, was not the only
American victim of Spanish misgovernment in Cuba during the Ten
Years' war. In 1877 the three whaling vessels, Rising Sun, Ellen
Rizpah, and Edward Lee, while pursuing their legitimate business
under the American flag, outside of Cuban waters, were fired upon
and detained for days, with circumstances of peculiar hardship and
brutality. The United States government investigated the outrage
with care, and demanded of Spain an indemnity of $19,500. The
demand, however, was not enforced, and the sum of $10,000 was
accepted as a compromise settlement.
CHAPTER XIV.
OPERATIONS OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR.
The Two Wars Compared--The Havana Volunteers--The Slaughter at
the Villaneuva Theater--The Court Martial of the Students--A
Holiday in Havana--The Close of the War--The Treaty of Zanjon.
The reader who has watched closely the struggle in Cuba for the
past three years need not be told that Spain has had every
advantage in men, money, arms and ammunition. The same state of
affairs existed during the Ten Years' War. In fact, the inequality
was even greater, for the Spanish army was then composed of
experienced soldiers who were well fed, well clothed and paid
regularly. In the present conflict many of them are boys who have
been sent from home to make targets for insurgent bullets. They
know comparatively nothing of military tactics, they have not been
paid for months, and they lack food and clothing. The equipment of
the insurgent forces in the former rebellion was even more limited
than it has been in this one. While they did not experience
serious difficulty in obtaining food, the implements of war in any
quantities were beyond their reach. But the same spirit that gave
courage to our American heroes in revolutionary times was in them,
and for ten years they struggled bravely against overwhelming
odds.
It is not possible to tell in detail of the monstrous cruelties
practiced by the Spanish army during those years of carnage. Here
is the testimony of one officer:
"We captured seventeen, thirteen of whom were shot outright; on
dying they shouted, 'Hurrah for Free Cuba, hurrah for
independence.' A mulatto said, 'Hurrah for Cespedes.' On the
following day we killed a Cuban officer and another man. Among the
thirteen that we shot the first day we found three sons and their
father. The father witnessed the execution of his sons without
even changing color, and when his turn came he said he died for
the independence of his country. On coming back we brought along
with us three carts filled with women and children, the families
of those we had shot, and they asked us to shoot them, because
they would rather die than live among Spaniards."
Another wrote:
"Not a single Cuban will remain in this island, because we shoot
all that we find in the fields, on the farms and in every hovel.
We do not leave a creature alive where we pass, be it man or
animal. If we find cows we kill them, if horses, ditto, if hogs,
ditto, men, women or children, ditto. As to the houses, we burn
them. So every one receives his due, the men in balls, the animals
in bayonet thrusts. The island will remain a desert."
In the cities, outrages equally barbarous were committed.
THE HAVANA VOLUNTEERS.
The Havana volunteers, made up of the Spanish-born residents, in
whose favor the government of the island has always been arranged,
took possession of Havana, and put it under mob rule. In May,
1870, they marched out in front of the Villaneuva theater and
fired volleys into the crowds that were entering. They had reason
to believe, some of them said, that the performance to be given
there was to raise funds for the insurgent cause.
So powerful was this organization that shortly after this outrage
they placed the Captain-General of the island under arrest, and
finally shipped him to Spain, sending word to the home government
that he was not severe enough in his rule to suit their views, and
suggesting that in case there were no Peninsulars who had the
necessary stamina to govern Cuba according to their ideas, they
might feel it advisable to assume command themselves.
On another occasion the dead body of one of these volunteers was
placed in a public tomb in Havana, and the repository was found to
have been defaced by scurrilous writing on the glass of the door.
For no known reason, except a blood-thirsty desire for vengeance
on someone, no matter whether guilty or innocent, it was claimed
that the outrage was committed by some of the students of the
university, and on complaint of the volunteer corps, forty-three
of these young men were arrested.
They were arraigned before the military tribunal, and so
manifestly unjust was the accusation that an officer of the
regular army of Spain volunteered to defend them. There was
absolutely no proof against them, and they were acquitted. But the
volunteers were determined that their victims should not escape,
and taking advantage of the fear in which they were held, even by
the Havana officials, they forced the Governor-General to issue an
order for a second courtmartial. At this examination they
manipulated matters so that two thirds of the members of the trial
board were connected with their organization, and a verdict of
guilty was quickly rendered against all of the prisoners. Eight of
them were sentenced to be shot, and the others to long terms of
imprisonment at hard labor.
The day of the execution was a holiday in Havana. Bands of music
paraded the streets, followed by the volunteers, 15,000 strong,
while behind them, bound in chains, and under military guard, came
the eight boys who had been condemned to die. Conscious of their
innocence of any crime, they did not falter, but marched bravely
to the place of execution, where they faced their murderers and
fell, riddled by bullets from the rifles of the volunteers. The
report of this affair sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole
of the civilized world, and the perpetrators of the outrage were
severely censured by the Spanish Cortes, but there was no attempt
at punishment, nor were the ones who had been imprisoned released.
Meantime the war was being carried on in the provinces with
varying success, but dissensions finally arose between the civil
and military authorities of the republic of Cuba, and as "a house
divided against itself cannot stand," the effectiveness of the
campaign was destroyed, and, in 1878, concessions were offered by
the Spanish government, which were accepted by the revolutionists,
and the struggle was abandoned.
What the outcome of the contest might have been, could it have been
continued with the leaders united for its success, is an open question.
As the years went by the rank and file of the Cuban army seemed to be
more determined than ever to throw off the yoke, and the government in
Spain became less prompt in sending supplies of men and money to carry
on the war. They eagerly seized the opportunity to bring it to a close,
and the treaty of Zanjon, which was signed by General Martinez Campos,
the Spanish Governor-General of the island, and General Maximo Gomez,
Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban army, promised many reforms, and gave
amnesty to all who had taken part in the rebellion.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PEACE OF ZANJON AND ITS VIOLATED PLEDGES
Spanish Hypocrisy and Deceit--Cubans Denied Representation--
Increase of Taxation--The Royal Edicts--A Plausible Argument,
Which Is Not Borne Out by Facts--Spain's Promises Always Broken.
If Spain had been sincere in the promises of reform she made her
Cuban colony when the treaty of Zanjon was signed, it is probable
that the present war would have never occurred. For while a few of
the leaders--notably General Maceo--refused to become pacified,
the great majority of the better classes were glad to accept a
peaceful settlement on terms that gave them, in fact, if not in
name, nearly every concession for which they had fought.
But it did not take them long to learn that they had been duped.
Spain granted to Cuba the liberties of Puerto Rico, which had
none. On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, through
which ran a current of falsehood and hypocrisy. Spain, whose mind
did not change, hastened to change the name of things. The
captain-general was called the governor-general. The royal decrees
took the name of authorizations. The commercial monopoly of Spain
was named coasting trade. The right of banishment was transformed
into the law of vagrancy. The brutal attacks of defenseless
citizens were called "componte." The law of constitutional
guarantees became the law of public order. Taxation without the
consent or knowledge of the Cuban people was changed into the law
of estimates (budget) voted by the representatives of Spain.
The painful lesson of the Ten Years' War was entirely lost on
Spain. Instead of inaugurating a redeeming policy that would heal
the recent wounds, allay public anxiety, and quench the thirst for
justice felt by the people, who were desirous to enjoy their
natural rights, the Peninsula, while lavish in promises of reform,
persisted in carrying on, unchanged, its old and crafty system,
namely: to exclude every native Cuban from every office that could
give him any effective influence and intervention in public
affairs; the ungovernable exploitation of the colonists' labor for
the benefit of Spanish commerce and Spanish bureaucracy, both
civil and military. To carry out the latter purpose it was
necessary to maintain the former at any cost.
Mr. Clarence King, a recognized authority on political subjects
connected with Cuban affairs, says:
"The main concession for which the insurgents accepted peace was the
promise of constitutional reform. As a matter of fact, there promptly
followed four royal edicts as follows: June 9, entitling Cuba to elect
deputies to the Cortes, one for each 40,000 people; June 9, dividing the
island into the present six provinces; June 21, instituting a system of
provincial and municipal government, followed on August 16 by the
necessary electoral regulations. But the system was immediately seen to
be the shadow without the substance of self-government. The Provincial
Assembly could nominate only three candidates for presiding officer. It
was the inevitable governor-general who had the power to appoint, not
necessarily one of the three nominees, but any member of the Assembly he
chose. But all this provincial machinery is in reality an empty form,
since expressly by law the governor-general was given the power to
prorogue the assemblies at will. The deputies have never been able to
accomplish anything in the Cortes. Moreover the crux of the whole
financial oppression--tariff, taxes, and absolute control and
expenditure of the revenue--remained with Spain."
The loyal Spaniard insists that every agreement entered into by
his government was faithfully carried out; that the Cubans were
given from time to time even greater liberties than the treaty
promised them; and that in several matters of importance,
immunities have been granted them that the people of the mother
country did not share.
The Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain concludes a voluminous
defense of the policy of his government in Cuba as follows:
There is thus no reason in Cuba to complain of the illiberality of
the laws. If there has been any shortcoming in respect to morals,
the nation is not to blame; none but the colonial provinces are to
blame for this; if we proposed to seek comfort in comparisons, it
would not be necessary to look for them in South America, in the
countries that have emancipated themselves from the Spanish
mother-country, because examples (some of them very recent) of
acts of violence, anarchy and scandalous outbreaks could be found
in the States of the Union itself.
In respect to another matter, a great deal of foolish talk is
indulged in. From the statements of some people it would appear
that Cuba does nothing but contribute, by the taxes which it pays,
to alleviate the burdens of the peninsular treasury, whereas, in
reality, just the contrary is the truth. The nation has, of late,
guaranteed the conversion of Spanish debts in Cuba, which took
place in 1886 and 1890. Owing to these operations, and to the fact
that all taxes which did not have to be met directly by its
government have been rigorously eliminated from the budget of
Cuba, it was possible to reduce the Cuban budget from forty-six
and one-half million dollars, which was its amount at the close of
the former war (for the fiscal year of 1878-79) to a little more
than twenty-three millions of dollars, as appears from the budget
of 1893.
The financial laws have been assimilated, and if the system of
taxation has not been entirely assimilated, this is because of the
fact that direct taxes are very repugnant to the popular feeling
in Cuba, especially the tax on land, which is the basis of the
Peninsular budget. It appears, however, that our Cuban brethren
have no reason to complain in this respect. The direct tax on
rural property is two per cent, in Cuba, whereas in Spain it is
seventeen, and even twenty per cent. It is evident that every
budget must be based on something; in Cuba, as in all other
countries in which the natural conditions are similar, that
something must necessarily be the income from customs duties.
Notwithstanding this, it may be remarked that in the years when
the greatest financial distress prevailed, the Spanish Government
never hesitated to sacrifice that income when it was necessary to
do so in order to meet the especial need of the principal
agricultural product of Cuba. Consequently the Spanish commercial
treaty with the United States was concluded, which certainly had
not been concluded before, owing to any fault of the Spanish
Government. Under that treaty, the principal object of which was
to encourage the exportation of Cuban sugar, which found its chief
market in the States of the Union, many Spanish industries were
sacrificed which have formerly supplied the wants of the people of
Cuba. That sacrifice was unhesitatingly made, and now that the
treaty is no longer in force, is due to the fact that the new
American tariff has stricken sugar from the free list.
Attention may also be called to the fact that the colonial
provinces alone enjoy exemption from the blood tax, Cuba never
having been obliged to furnish military recruits.
The disqualifications of the Cubans to hold public office is
purely a myth. Such disqualifications is found on the text of no
law or regulation, and in point of fact there is no such
exclusion. In order to verify this assertion it would be
sufficient to examine the lists of Cuban officers, especially of
those employed in the administration of justice and in all
branches of instruction. Even if it were desired to make a
comparison of political offices, even of those connected with the
functions which are discharged in the Peninsula, the proportion
would still be shown in which Spaniards in Cuba aspire to both.
The fact is that a common fallacy is appealed to in the language
habitually used by the enemies of Spain, who call persons
"Peninsulars" who were not born in Cuba, but have resided there
many years and have all their ties and interests there, and do not
call those "Cubans" who were born there and have left the island
in order to meet necessities connected, perhaps, with their
occupation. This was done in the Senate, when the advocates of the
separation of Cuba only were called "Cubans," while those only who
refused allegiance to the Spanish mother-country were called
patriots.
In conclusion, I will relate a fact which may appear to be a joke,
but which, in a certain way, furnished proof of what I have just
said. When Rafael Gasset returned from Habana, he came and asked
me for some data showing the proportion of Cubans holding office
under our Government. I asked him, as a preliminary question, for
a definition of what we were to understand by "Cuban" and what by
"Peninsular." He immediately admitted that the decision of the
whole question was based upon that definition, and I called his
attention to the fact that here, in the Ministry of the Colonies,
at the present time, there are three high governmental
functionaries. One is a representative from Habana, being at the
same time a professor in its University, and another, viz., your
humble servant, is a Spaniard because he was born in Habana
itself. Is the other man a Peninsular, and am I not a Cuban?
GUILLERMO. Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain.
This is the argument from the Peninsular standpoint, and it is
probably made in good faith. But while the Spanish rule in Cuba
may seem to be just and equitable in theory, it is oppressive and
tyrannical in fact. While the government may have partly carried
out the letter of its promises, there has been no effort to
fulfill the spirit of the compact in the slighest degree, and the
violated pledges of the treaty of Zanjon only add new chapters to
the long record of Spanish treachery and deceit.
CHAPTER XVI.
PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REBELLION.
Spain's Policy of Distrust--The Cost of the Ten Years' War--Work
of the Cuban Exiles--Revolutionary Clubs in the Western
Hemisphere--An Expedition Checked--Heroism of Cuban Women--The
Struggle Begun.
Ever since Spain lost her colonies on the American continent the
Cubans have striven to gain their independence. The Ten Years War
cost the mother country 300,000,000 pesetas and 100,000 men, most
of them victims of yellow fever. When slavery was abolished in
1880 fresh disturbances ensued. The majority of slave holders, who
received no compensation, joined the party of independence.
Spain, adhering to her old policy of distrust, retained a large
army in Cuba and a navy round about her shores, the expenses of
which caused the budget to amount to $46,594,000 at a time when
two-thirds of the island was nothing but a mass of ruins, and when
Cuba was beginning to feel the effects of the competition with
other sugar-producing countries.
While the European manufacturers received important bounties those
of Cuba had to pay export duties on their sugar, and the
importation of all agricultural and industrial implements was
subjected to a tariff almost prohibitive.
Two laws were enacted in 1882 to regulate commerce between Cuba
and Spain. By the provisions of these laws the import duties on
all Spanish products were to be gradually diminished until their
importation in Cuba became entirely free, while the Cubans had to
pay on their imports to Spain duties which practically closed the
Spanish market to all their products.
Spanish goods, as a rule, are much inferior to those of English,
French or American manufacture, but the Cuban consumer was forced
to buy Spanish goods or pay an exorbitant price for those which he
would have preferred to buy at a fair price. An instance will
suffice to illustrate this: When the present war began in 1895 the
duty on a hundred kilogrammes of woolen cashmere was fifteen
dollars and forty-seven cents if Spanish, three hundred dollars
if foreign. These differential duties opened a reign of prosperity
for industry in Spain, where foreign goods were imported or
smuggled, to be later sent to Cuba as Spanish.
The injustice of these commercial laws was so evident and so
detrimental to the interests of Cuba that in 1894 the Planters'
Association, the president of which, the Count de Diana, was a
Spaniard, referred to them as "destructive of our public wealth, a
source of inextinguishable discontent and the germ of serious
dissensions."
The insular budgets could never be covered, and the result was
that the public debt was kept on the increase. The expenditures
were classed as follows: For army and navy, 36.59 per cent of the
budget's total; for the debt, 40.89; for justice and government,
19.77, and for public works, 2.75. No public work of any kind was
begun in the seventeen years which intervened between the two
wars.
The Cuban Treasury, between 1823 and 1864, sent to Spain
$82,165,436 in gold. This money entered the Spanish Treasury as
"Colonial surplus," but as a Spanish writer (Zaragoza) says in his
book, "Las Insurrecciones de Cuba," it was absurd to speak of a
surplus when not even the opening of a bad road was undertaken.
Politically, the condition of the Cubans after the restoration of
peace in 1878, was as bad as it had been before. Laws existed
which might lead unobserving persons to believe that the Cubans
enjoyed every liberty, but as a matter of fact the Cubans were
kept under the most unbearable vassalage. The Spaniards in Cuba
before this war numbered only 9.30 per cent of the island's
population, but, availing themselves of a law which gave to them a
majority in the electoral census, they were to return twenty-four
of the thirty deputies which the island then sent to the Spanish
Cortes.
So restrictive was the electoral law that only 53,000 men were
qualified to vote in the entire island, although its population
was 1,762,000. In the municipal district of Guines, with a
population of 12,500 Cubans and 500 Spaniards, the electoral
census included 400 Spaniards and thirty-two Cubans. This is one
among many similar instances. The Board of Aldermen in Havana, the
capital city of the island, has for years been made up entirely of
Spaniards, and the same may be said of Cienfuegos and other
important cities.
Despite all constitutional provisions the governor-general of the
island had the power to deport from the island, without a trial,
any person whose presence there he considered dangerous to the
security of the State. The island was at peace when Cepeda, Lopez
de Brinas and Marquez Sterling, all journalists, were deported.
The liberty of the press was and still is a myth. El Pais, the
Autonomist organ, was criminally prosecuted in 1889 because it
denounced the appointment of one of the sons of the president of
the Havana Court of Appeals to a place which he could not lawfully
hold.
What liberty of association the Cubans enjoyed may be judged from
the fact that a delegate of the government had to be present at
their meetings, with power to dissolve them whenever he saw fit to
do so.
No Cuban was able to obtain a place in the administration unless
he was rich enough to go to Madrid and there become acquainted
with some influential politician. Even so, Cubans seldom succeeded
in being appointed to places of importance.
The Cuban exiles in Key West, New York and other cities in the
United States, and in Costa Rica, Honduras, Santo Domingo and
other parts of Spanish America, had been planning a new uprising
for several years. The desire of the Cubans for national
independence was quickened by what they suffered from Spain's
misgovernment. For two or three years the exiles in the United
States and Spanish American countries, veterans of the war of
1868-78, and younger champions of free Cuba, organized clubs,
collected a war fund, purchased munitions of war and laid plans
with their compatriots in Cuba for a new struggle for
independence. There were 140 revolutionary clubs in North and
South America, Cuba and other West India islands, affiliated under
the name of the revolutionary party, ready to support an uprising
with financial and moral aid. Cuban workingmen in the United
States promised to contribute a tenth of their earnings, or more
if necessary. There were firearms on the island that had remained
concealed since the former war, some had been bought from corrupt
custodians of the government arsenals, who, finding it impossible
to get pay due them from Spain, took this method of securing what
was rightfully theirs.
AN EXPEDITION CHECKED.
An expedition that planned to sail in the yacht Lagonda from
Fernandina, Fla., on January 14, 1895, was broken up by the United
States authorities. General Antonio Maceo, its leader, with Jose
Marti, the political organizer of the new government, went to
Santo Domingo, where they could confer with the revolutionist
leaders living in Cuba. There Marti found Maximo Gomez, the
veteran of a dozen struggles and a brave and able soldier, and
offered him the command and organization of the army. Gomez
accepted and began at once to arrange his programme.
The plan of the revolutionists was to rise simultaneously in the
six provinces on February 24. The leaders on the island and the
organizers abroad had a thorough understanding.
HEROISM OF CUBAN WOMEN.
The men of Cuba were not alone in their plans for independence,
for their wives and sisters, mothers and sweethearts, were
enthusiastic and faithful allies. The island was full of devoted
women reared in indolence and luxury who were tireless in their
successful efforts to get word from, one scattered rebel band to
another, and to send them food, medicines and clothing. These
women were far better conspirators than their fathers and
brothers, for Cuban men must talk, but the women seem to know the
value of silence.
Beautiful and delicate senoritas would disguise themselves in
men's attire and steal out at night to the near-by haunts of lover
or brother in the "Long Grass," as the insurgents' camps are
called, with food secreted in false pockets, or letters, whose
envelopes had been dipped in ink, hidden in their black hair.
Medicines were carried in canes, and cloth for clothes or wounds
was concealed in the lining of coats. One girl, disguised as a
vender, frequently carried to the woods dynamite in egg shells
deftly put together.
She had many thrilling experiences, but her narrowest escape was
when a Spanish soldier by the roadside insisted on taking from the
basket an egg, to let its contents drop in a hot and ready pan. He
was with difficulty persuaded to forego the meal. The dynamite was
made by another woman, who carefully obtained the ingredients at
various times and at widely scattered drug stores.
And so, with almost every Cuban man, woman and child united in a
fixed determination to make the island one of the free and
independent nations of the earth, the final struggle was begun.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK.
Organization Which Has Represented the Insurgents in the United
States--Splendid Work Done by Senor Tomas Estrada Palma and His
Staff--Sources of the War Funds--Generosity of Cuban Cigar Makers
Who Have Supported the Revolution--Liberal Gifts from Americans--
Some Inside Facts about Filibustering--American Sailors Do Not
Like to Capture Insurgent Supplies--Palma's Address to the
American People.
From the moment of the first outbreak of insurrection in Cuba, in
February, 1895, the name of the Cuban Junta has been a familiar
phrase to everyone in the United States, and yet its functions and
its organization have been by no means well understood. There have
been those in Congress and elsewhere who have spoken of it
slightingly as an organization banded together for its own profit
in some way, not realizing that its members were the trusted
representatives abroad of the whole Cuban people.
The parallels between the Cuban insurrection and that of the
American colonies against Great Britain in 1776, are far more
numerous than has been recognized. The Cuban army has been poorly
clothed and scantily fed at times, and equipped with all sorts of
obsolete weapons of offence. But these things are m> disgrace, and
indeed are the basis of much of the pride that Americans take in
the splendid work which their ancestors did in that other
insurrection, which, having resulted successfully, is now known as
the American Revolution. There have been sneers at the government
of the Cuban republic because its officers have had to move from
place to place at various times, in order to avoid threatened
capture by the Spanish forces. But was there ever a more
peripatetic national government than that of the American colonies
during the Revolution, when the legislature and its officers sat
successively in Philadelphia, Germantown, Princeton, New York and
several other places, driven out of each in turn by the same fear
of capture by British troops?
Finally, it ought to be remembered, though it may not be, that the
colonies maintained an organization exactly similar to that of the
Cuban Junta in New York, for the purpose of securing money and
support from the people and the governments of Europe, to whom
they were accredited. The only country which gave them welcome
encouragement was France. But Benjamin Franklin's position in
Paris as the head of what was virtually the American Junta, was
then and is now an honor to his name and his countrymen. It
enlisted the same aid from France and French citizens that the
Cuban Junta in New York has enlisted from the United States and
American citizens, and there is no reason to form any less
creditable judgment of the latter enterprise than the former.
CHARACTER OF THE WORK OF THE JUNTA.
The Junta is the organization through which Cuba's friends reach
the Cubans in the field. In many places these friends are banded
together and work for the Cuban cause as organizations. In the
United States and Europe there are 300 Cuban revolutionary clubs,
with a membership of more than 50,000. These clubs were the
outcome of a suggestion originating with Jose Marti, and their
organization has been accomplished by the delegation, with whom
they are all in closest touch, to whom they all account, and
through whom they all make contributions in money, clothing,
provisions, arms, and munitions for those who are enduring the
hardships of the war. Before the revolution began these clubs had
$100,000 in bank as a war fund.
These most vital contributions must reach the army in the field,
and it is the business of the delegation to see that they get
there. And they have been getting there under most adverse and
trying circumstances, and amid perils of land and sea where
enemies are watching and where a friendly government has had to
guard against the violation of neutrality laws.
For accomplishing its work the Junta has in no way been restricted
in authority, the Cuban government having even granted special
authority allowing Mr. Palma to issue a limited amount of bonds,
coin money, and grant letters of marque.
It has further been the business of the Junta--attended by risk of
life to its agents--to keep in communication with the insurgents.
This has been done by secret agents who come and go from New York
to Key West, from Key West to Havana, from Havana into Spanish
cities of Cuba and through the provinces of the island.
The headquarters of the Junta bears no outward sign except that
the stars and stripes and the single starred flag of Cuba wave
from the third-story window, where is Mr. Palma's office. A narrow
hall and tortuous stairs lead to the office of the delegate, where
on every side are signs of active business, with shelves, tables,
and desks holding heaps of letters, books of accounts, and
documents of various sorts. Here the delegate works, receives his
friends, coworkers, and agents.
Off the main room is a private office, where secret agents report
and are instructed, and where councils of moment are held and
decisions of vital import to the Cuban cause reached, to be
followed by orders that are of immense importance to the army of
liberation.
The Cuban Junta, with its headquarters, represents the legation of
the Cuban republic abroad, and the head of the Junta, as it is
called, is T. Estrada Palma. Properly speaking he is the delegate,
and with the members of his ministerial and diplomatic household
constitutes the delegation of the Cuban republic.
The term "Junta" has been applied because such a body or council
was attached to the diplomatic department of Cuba during the Ten
Years' war. As the authority of the Junta frequently restricted
the action of the delegate, the promoters of the present
revolution decided to eliminate it; yet the name remains, and is
used and accepted to designate Mr. Palma and his associates.
AUTHORITY OF THE JUNTA.
This Junta, as the representative of the Cuban republic, acts on
high authority, for the delegation was appointed on September 19,
1895, by the Constituent Assembly that formed the government and
commissioned Maximo Gomez chief commander of the Cuban army. At
the same time it made Mr. Palma delegate and Cuban representative
abroad, with authority to appoint ministers to all governments and
to have control of all of Cuba's diplomatic relations and
representatives throughout the world. Besides this, Mr. Palma is
the duly accredited minister from Cuba to the United States, and
in the event of the Cuban republic being recognized would be
received as such.
Under his authority Mr. Palma has appointed sub-delegates, or
diplomatic agents, in France, Italy, Mexico, and the Central and
South American republics. Cuba's independence not being
acknowledged by these nations, her ministers are not officially
recognized, but are often unofficially received at the "back
door," and exert an influence for the benefit of Cuba in the
countries to which they are appointed.
Mr. Palma is in reality the head of the Cuban revolutionary party
abroad, which is one of the three departments of the Cuban
revolutionary government, the two others being the civil
government and the army of liberation.
This Cuban revolutionary branch was founded by Jose Marti, who is
regarded by the Cubans as the apostle and master mind of the Cuban
revolution.
Mr. Palma is not only the head and front of the Junta, but he is
the one person in whom its authority is centered. He was born in
Cuba about sixty years ago, and in his tender youth imbibed the
spirit of liberty for the island, a spirit which grew with him
until it influenced his every word and act, and finally received
his entire devotion. So direct, gentle, yet determined are his
methods, and so unassuming and plain is he in speech and manner
that he soon became known as the "Cuban Franklin," and more firmly
has the name become attached to him since the potent influence of
his policy has been felt throughout the world.
During the Ten Years' war Mr. Palma was President of the Cuban
republic; was made prisoner by Spanish troops, and sent to Spain,
where he was imprisoned until the close of the conflict. While in
Spain, absolutely suffering under the hardships of imprisonment,
he was offered freedom if he would swear allegiance to the Spanish
crown.
"No!" was his answer. "You may shoot me if you will, but if I am
shot it will be as the President of the Cuban republic."
Besides Mr. Palma, the only members of the delegation appointed by the
Cuban government are: Dr. Joaquin D. Castillo, the sub-delegate;
Benjamin J. Guerra, treasurer of the republic abroad, and Gonzalo de
Quesada, charge d'affaires at Washington.
Dr. Castillo is vice-delegate and would take Mr. Palma's place in
case of his death or inability to act.
SOURCES OF THE WAR FUNDS.
The Junta, whose duty it has been to provide the funds for the
carrying on of the war, has had various sources of income, all of
them distinctly creditable, both to the integrity of the Cuban
authorities and to the sentiments of those who have contributed
the money. The larger portion of the cash has come in small
contributions from Cubans living in the United States. The
cigarmakers of Key West, Tampa, Jacksonville, New York and other
cities where large Cuban colonies have congregated, have proven
their patriotism and their adherence to the cause by giving more
generously of their earnings than has ever been done before by the
people of any country struggling for freedom. There is scarcely an
exception to the assertion that every Cuban in America has shared
in contributions to the war fund.
The minimum contribution has been ten per cent of the weekly
earnings, and this has brought an enormous sum into the coffers of
the Junta for war purposes. It is true that a war chest of $50,000
or $100,000 a week would be hardly a drop in the bucket for the
conduct of the war after the established methods of organized
armies. But this has been a war for liberty, and the conditions
have been unique. No soldier in all the armies of Cuba Libre has
ever drawn one dollar of pay for his service. Thousands of them
have been fighting from the first outbreak of insurrection,
without receiving a cent of money for it. If the pay of an army be
deducted from the expenses of a war, the largest item is saved.
Nor has it been necessary to purchase many clothes, owing to the
mildness of the Cuban climate, which fights in favor of those who
are accustomed to it. The commissary department, too, has been
almost non-existent, and the soldiers in the field have lived by
foraging and by collecting the vegetables and fruits saved for
them by the women and children, whose hearts are as deep in the
conflict as are their own. The principal demand for money has been
to procure arms, ammunition and medical and surgical supplies.
In addition to the contributions which have come from patriotic
Cubans, another large source of income to the Junta has been the
silent liberality of many American citizens, who have proved their
practical sympathy to the cause of freedom by giving of their
wealth to aid it. Outside of these sources, the only income has
been from the sale of bonds of the Cuban republic, a means of
obtaining money which has been used conservatively, so that the
infant republic should not be saddled with a heavy debt at the
outset of its career as an independent nation.
Aside from the contributions of money to the Cuban powers,
enormous quantities of medical and surgical supplies and hospital
delicacies have been offered by the generous people of the United
States, organized into Cuban Auxiliary Aid Societies in the
various cities of the country. American women have taken a
prominent part in this movement and have won thereby the undying
gratitude of the Cubans.
SOME FACTS ABOUT FILIBUSTERING.
The sailing of vessels from New York and other ports with cargoes
of supplies for the Cuban revolutionists has been a frequent
occurrence, far more so than has been known to the public.
Filibustering is a phrase that has gained honor during these three
years, such as it never had before. Carried on in the cause of
humanity and liberty, its motives justified its irregularities,
and there have been few to condemn the practice. In the fogs of an
early morning, some fast steamer would slip away from an Atlantic
port, loaded with arms, ammunition, quinine, and all sorts of
hospital, medical and surgical supplies, accompanied usually by a
band of Cuban patriots, seeking the first opportunity to return to
their beautiful island and take up arms for its liberation. There
have been a few such expeditions captured, but for everyone
captured a score have reached their destination on the Cuban coast
without interruption, and have landed their cargo in safety in
insurgent camps.
The United States government, in recognition of its diplomatic
obligations, spent millions of dollars prior to the outbreak of
our war with Spain, in carrying on a patrol service of the
Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, to prevent the sailing of
filibustering expeditions. Now that the day of such patrol service
in the aid of Spain is ended forever, there can be no harm in
telling some of the details that might have been compromising
before.
American cruisers and gunboats were stationed in the harbors
around the coast, from New York to New Orleans, and particularly
on both sides of the Florida peninsula. To one of these vessels
would come the news that a suspected filibustering craft was
likely to sail from a certain place at a certain time, and orders
would be given to intercept the rover if possible. To one who did
not know the temper and the spirit of American sailors from
highest to lowest in the service of the navy, the actions that
followed might have been puzzling. In spite of the proverbial
alacrity and readiness with which an American vessel can make
sail, there was always a delay at such times. It was almost
certain that something would be wrong that would require some time
to correct before the anchor could be weighed. It might be
necessary to buy provisions or to take on coal before sailing, and
then, more than once after the anchor was weighed and the actual
start begun, it would be discovered that some minor accident had
occurred to the machinery, which would require another halt to
repair it. Finally at sea, the cruiser would steam away at full
speed in the direction of the reported filibuster, until her hull
and even her smoke disappeared far down in the horizon.
CAPTURING OF FILIBUSTERING VESSELS.
What happened after that no one ashore could know. But more than
once there were grave suspicions that other delays occurred as
goon as the vessel was well out of sight, or that the course was
changed in pursuit of some other passing vessel, until after a few
hours' chase it would be discovered to be an unoffending craft,
and the course would be resumed towards the goal, as first
ordered.
However these things may be, it is certain that the capture of a
filibustering vessel before her cargo was discharged was an almost
unknown event, and that the capture of such a craft after her
cargo was discharged could in no way be disastrous to the Cuban
cause when nothing could be proved against the boat or her men.
Certain it is that no officer or sailor in the American navy ever
wanted to capture a filibuster. To an American it was a blot on
the honor of the ship that it should be used to intercept arms and
ammunition on their way to an oppressed people struggling for
their freedom. It is safe to say that the two or three captures
which were made of filibusters at such a time that their
confiscation and the conviction of their officers could not be
avoided, was a distinct grief to every man who participated in the
chase and the punishments that followed.
No one can deny the integrity or the ability of the men who are
enlisted in the cause of Cuba as the New York Junta, who knows the
facts as to their personality and the work they have done. Some of
the diplomatic and state papers which have been issued by Senor
Palma are worthy to take rank with the utterances of any American
who has gained fame in national history for similar work. A
notable instance of the dignity and the eloquence with which he
speaks, is found in the proclamation to the people of the United
States which he issued but a few weeks before the outbreak of our
war with Spain. He said:
SENOR PALMA ON THE SPANISH CONCESSIONS.
"The persistency with which the American press has during the last
few days been treating of supposed administrative reforms to be
introduced in Cuba by the government of Spain, compels me to
request the publication of the following declarations, which I
make in behalf of my government, of the army of liberation of
Cuba, and of the Cuban revolutionary party.
"The question of the proposed reforms is not a matter which at all
concerns those who have already established an independent
government in Cuba and have resolved to shrink from no sacrifice
of property or life in order to emancipate the whole island from
the Spanish yoke. If the Spanish residents of the island who are
favored by the Spanish government with all sorts of privileges and
monopolies, and if the handful of Cubans, too pusillanimous or too
proud to acknowledge their error, or a few foreigners guided only
by selfish interests, are satisfied that Cuba should remain under
Spanish domination, we who fight under the flag of the solitary
star, we who already constitute the Republic of Cuba, and belong
to a free people with its own government and its own laws, are
firmly resolved to listen to no compromise and to treat with Spain
on the basis of absolute independence for Cuba.
"If Spain has power to exterminate us, then let her convert the
island into a vast cemetery; if she has not and wishes to
terminate the war before the whole country is reduced to ashes,
then let her adopt the only measure that will put an end to it and
recognize our independence. Spain must know by this time that
while there is a single living Cuban with dignity--and there are
many thousands of them--there will not be peace in Cuba, nor even
hope of it.
"All good causes must finally triumph, and ours is a good cause.
It is the cause of justice treated with contempt, of right
suppressed by force, and of the dignity of a people offended to
the last degree.
"We Cubans have a thousandfold more reason in our endeavors to
free ourselves from the Spanish yoke than the people of the
thirteen colonies had when in 1776 they rose in arms against the
British government.
COMPARISONS WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES.
"The people of these colonies were in full enjoyment of all the rights
of man; they had liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, liberty of
the press, the right of public meeting and the right of free locomotion;
they elected those who governed them, they made their own laws and, in
fact, enjoyed the blessings of self-government. They were not under the
sway of a captain-general with arbitrary powers, who at his will could
imprison them, deport them to penal colonies, or order their execution
even without the semblance of a court-martial. They did not have to pay
a permanent army and navy that they might be kept in subjection, nor to
feed a swarm of hungry employes yearly sent over from the metropolis to
prey upon the country.
"They were never subjected to a stupid and crushing customs tariff
which compelled them to go to the home markets for millions of
merchandise annually, which they could buy much cheaper elsewhere;
they were never compelled to cover a budget of $26,000,000 or
$30,000,000 a year, without the consent of the tax-payers, and for
the purposes of defraying the expenses of the army and navy of the
oppressor, to pay the salaries of thousands of worthless European
employes, the whole interest on a debt not incurred by the colony,
and other expenditures from which the island received no benefit
whatever; for out of all those millions only the paltry sum of
$700,000 was apparently applied for works of internal improvement
and one-half of this invariably went into the pockets of the
Spanish employes.
"We have thrown ourselves into the struggle advisedly and
deliberately; we knew what we would have to face, and we decided
unflinchingly to persevere until we should emancipate ourselves
from the Spanish government. And we know that we are able to do
it, as we know that we are competent to govern ourselves.
"Among other proofs which could be adduced of the ability of the
Cuban white and colored to rule themselves, is the strong
organization of the Cuban revolutionary party in America. It is
composed of more than 20,000 Cubans, living in different countries
of the new world and formed into clubs, the members of which
yearly elect their leader. This organization has been in existence
over five years, during which every member has strictly discharged
his duties, has respected without any interruption the regulations
and obeyed the elected delegate loyally and faithfully. Among the
members of the clubs there are several Spaniards, who enjoy the
same rights as the Cubans, and who live with them in fraternal
harmony. This fact and that of the many Spaniards incorporated
into our army, fully demonstrate that our revolution is not the
result of personal hatred, but an uprising inspired only by the
natural love of liberty and free institutions. The war in Cuba has
for its only object the overthrow of Spanish power, and to
establish an independent republic, under whose beneficent laws the
Spaniards may continue to live side by side with the Cubans as
members of the same community and citizens of the same nation.
This is our programme and we strictly adhere to it.
"The revolution is powerful and deeply rooted in the hearts of the
Cuban people, and there is no Spanish power, no power in the
world, that can stop its march. The war, since General Weyler took
command of the Spanish army, has assumed a cruel character. His
troops shoot the Cuban prisoners, pursue and kill the sick and
wounded, assassinate the unarmed, and burn their houses. The Cuban
troops, on their part, destroy, as a war measure, the machinery
and buildings of the sugar plantations and are firmly resolved not
to leave one stone upon another during their campaign.
"Let those who can put an end to this war reflect that our liberty
is being gained with the blood of thousands of Cuban victims,
among whom is numbered Jose Marti, the apostle and martyr of our
revolution. Let them consider that before the sacred memory of
this new redeemer there is not a single Cuban who will withdraw
from the work of emancipation without feeling ashamed of
abandoning the flag which on the 24th of February, 1895, was
raised by the beloved master.
"It is time for the Cuban people to satisfy their just desire for
a place among the free nations of the world and let them not be
accused if to accomplish their noble purpose they are obliged to
reduce to ashes the Cuban land.
Tomas Estrada Palma."
CHAPTER XVIII.
KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS.
Cuban Refugees in Key West--Their Devotion to the Cause--
Peculiarities of the Town--Odd Sights and Sounds--Filibusters and
Their Work--The First Authorized Expedition--It Is a Failure--The
Second More Successful--Landing Supplies for the Insurgents--
Captain Jose Lacret, and Some of His Adventures.
The island of Key West lies sixty miles south of Cape Sable, the
most southerly point of the mainland of Florida, and is seven
miles long and from one to two miles broad. The city covers nearly
one-half of the island and has a population of about 25,000. Key
West has been described as being "to Cuba what Gibraltar is to
Ceuta, to the Gulf of Mexico what Gibraltar is to the
Mediterranean." It is one of the chief naval stations of the
United States and is strongly fortified.
The most important industry is the making of cigars, which gives
employment to thousands of Cubans, who make up a large majority of
the population, and many of whom are refugees, charged with
political crimes, with a price set upon their heads. One of the
most important divisions of the Cuban Junta of the United States
has its headquarters here. Almost every Cuban in Key West gives
regularly a portion of his earnings to the cause, and many cargoes
of arms, ammunition and supplies have been sent to the insurgents
by their brethren on this little island. The city is unique in
many respects. It is made up of innumerable little wooden houses,
without chimneys, but crowded in irregular groups. Many of the
houses have wooden shutters in place of glass windows.
On most of the streets there are no sidewalks, but people stumble
over the jagged edges of coral rock. There are a great number of
public vehicles, and one can be hailed at any corner and engaged
for 10 cents. Some of these carriages are quite respectable in
appearance. They are generally double-seated affairs, which have
been discarded in the north. The horses are wrecks, and they show
by their appearance that fodder is dear and that they are not half
fed.
One of the sounds of Key West is the whacking of the horses which
draw the carriages and the mules which move the street cars from
place to place.
The street cars look as if they had been dug up from the
neighborhood of the pyramids. Ropes are used for reins, and the
only substantial thing about the whole outfit is the great rawhide
whip, with which the street-car driver labors incessantly. The
people, as a rule, are opposed to excessive exertion, but they
make an exception in the case of labor with a whip.
JOURNALISM, CLIMATE AND DOGS.
The town has one struggling newspaper, which is worthy of a better
support. It is told of the editor that he came to Key West a
barefooted boy from Georgia, and worked his way up to his present
eminent position of instructor in etiquette and ethics to the four
hundred.
Hundreds of dogs, cats, roosters, goats, and "razorbacks" run at
large through the streets, and the three former combine to make
night hideous. In the early evening the sound of negro meetings
and jubilations predominates. Then the cats begin where the
shouters leave off. Later, the dogs, sneaking and sore-eyed, and
more numerous than any other species, take up the refrain. They
howl and bark and keep on howling and barking, until sleep seems
impossible. At last, when the wakeful man thinks the row is over,
the roosters, the meanest, skinniest, loudest-mouthed roosters in
the world, continue the serenade until death seems a welcome,
especially the death of the roosters.
NEGROES ALONE ARE PATRIOTIC.
There is a strange mixture of races at Key West, but the negroes
are the most patriotic class. They alone celebrate the Fourth of
July and other national holidays. While the town has its
enlightened and respectable people, it also has a shoddy class,
whose ignorance of the rest of the world carries them to grotesque
extremes in their efforts to proclaim their greatness.
Even in its schools Key West is peculiar. The schoolhouses are
built like cigar factories, and each has mounted upon the roof the
bell of an old locomotive. When the school bells are ringing it is
easy to close your eyes and imagine yourself in one of the great
railway depots of the north.
THE FIRST AUTHORIZED EXPEDITION.
Prior to the commencement of our war with Spain the United States
authorities kept a close watch on the Cubans in Key West, and made
every effort to prevent the shipment of supplies to the
insurgents. But as soon as the conflict was begun there was a
change in the policy and the government assisted the work in every
possible way. The first expedition was a failure. Under command of
Captain Dorst of the United States army the transport steamer
Gussie sailed from Key West with two companies of infantry on
board, in charge of 7,000 rifles and 200,000 rounds of ammunition,
intended for the insurgents of Pinar del Rio. The supplies were to
be conveyed to General Gomez by a force of insurgents encamped
three miles back from the coast.
But the cargo was not landed, for the reason that the insurgents
were unable to meet the landing party at the rendezvous, and
Captain Dorst was compelled to return to Key West with his cargo.
The second attempt was more successful. Nearly 400 men, with a
pack train and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, sailed on
the Plant line steamer Florida from Key West, on the night of May
21. These men and the equipment constituted an expedition able to
operate independently and to defend itself against any body of
Spanish troops which might oppose it.
The expedition was under the command of Captain Jose Lacret,
formerly insurgent commander in Matanzas province. He assumed the
direction of affairs immediately on the landing of the expedition.
Until then General Joaquin Castillo was in control.
In the landing of the expedition the United States army was
represented by Captain J. A. Dorst, and Tomas Estrada Palma was
represented by J. E. Cartaya, who has been the landing agent of
nearly every filibustering expedition for more than a year.
Messrs. Castillo, Cartaya and Dorst returned to Key West. General
Julio Sanguilly, on his way to report to General Maximo Gomez, was
also on the boat.
MOST POWERFUL OF THEM ALL.
This was the most powerful anti-Spanish expedition sent to Cuba up
to that date. About 300 of the men were Cubans, the others
Americans. The engineer corps of the expedition was composed
entirely of Americans under Aurelian Ladd.
The men were dressed in canvas uniforms furnished by the United
States government, and the commissary department had rations
enough to last fifteen days after the landing. The pack train
consisted of seventy-five mules and twenty-five horses. The
expedition carried 7,000 rifles and 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition
for General Calixto Garcia.
GENERAL SANGUILLY'S RETURN.
General Sanguilly's return to Cuba is a remarkable incident in his
extraordinary career. His gallant services in the Ten Years' War,
his arrest in Havana at the beginning of the present insurrection,
his sentence to death and his release at the intercession of
Secretary Sherman on a promise to remain outside of Cuba have made
him a conspicuous man.
The expedition was convoyed by the cruiser Marblehead, the
torpedo-boat destroyer Eagle and other warships. Two younger
brothers of the late General Nestor Aranguren are with the
expedition.
SOME OF LACRET'S ADVENTURES.
When the present revolution in Cuba began General Jose Lacret
Morlot, by which title he is popularly known, secured passage on
the steamer Mascotte for Jamaica on his way to Cuba. The English
government had information regarding Lacret's movements and
prevented his sailing for Cuba from Jamaica. He then went to
Mexico and later to New York. At the latter place he consulted
with the junta and returned to Tampa. Here he embarked on the
steamer Olivette for Havana in the garb of a priest.
Still in this disguise he boarded a train for Sagua la Grande.
Accompanying him were a large number of Spanish soldiers. His
being highly educated, a man of good presence and a "padre" were
sufficient to give him entrance into the best Spanish society of
Sagua la Grande. Lacret stopped at the finest hotel, and when in
the cafe sat at the alcalde's right hand.
After communicating with the insurgents the "padre" suddenly
disappeared from the hotel. He joined the insurgents, and,
throwing off his priestly disguise, has since performed valorous
service for the cause of Cuban freedom. He was transferred to the
province of Matanzas soon after his arrival, and his career there
will form an interesting chapter in the history of Cuba. From
Matanzas province he was sent to the eastward as a delegate to the
assembly held in Puerto Principe last February, at which the new
government was formed. From this assembly he was directed to come
to this country as a bearer of dispatches to the junta.
When the Florida, escorted by the Osceola, drew up close to the
shore at the place selected for the landing, she sent scouts to
see if all was clear. These scouts were greeted by Generals Feria
and Rojas, with about 1,500 armed insurgents. Therefore, far from
there being any hostile demonstration upon the part of the
Spaniards, the landing of the expedition was in the nature of a
triumphal invasion. The Cubans, who were in waiting for the party,
had a brass band and welcomed the newcomers with national airs.
The work of unloading the cargo of the Florida was promptly begun
and carried on by the 432 men composing the expedition. There was
nothing in the nature of interruption and the work was soon
finished.
HAD IT ALL THEIR OWN WAY.
While the cargo was being unloaded the Osceola, an auxiliary
gunboat, with her guns ready for action, scouted about the
vicinity looking for an enemy. But the Spaniards apparently had no
suspicion of what was taking place. So easily was the dangerous
mission accomplished that while some members of the party were
getting the supplies ashore others were providing themselves with
fruit, sugar and other products of the landing place, a large
stock of which was brought back for Key West friends.
The moment the work was concluded the Florida and the Osceola slipped
away, leaving the insurgents to convey their re-enforcements into the
interior, which was done without any casualty.
The returning members of the Florida party brought with them
several hundred private letters, which give a complete insight
into the conditions prevailing in the blockaded island.
CHAPTER XIX.
ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM.
The Beginning of the Revolt--Martial Law Declared in Santiago and
Matanzas--Arrival of Campos--The Blacks as Soldiers--No Caste
Prejudices--General Santocildes Killed--A Story of Maceo--Campos'
Campaign Fails--He Returns to Spain.
It was the intention of the insurgents to begin operations in the
six provinces on the same date, but at the appointed time three of
them failed to carry out the plan, and in only one was the aspect
at all threatening. In Havana and Matanzas the Spanish officials
had no difficulty in suppressing the insurrectionists, and the
leader in the former province, the editor of a newspaper, accepted
a pardon and returned to his work.
In Santiago, however, which is thinly settled, the movement gained
ground steadily. The landing of a party of revolutionists from San
Domingo aroused the patriots, and were welcomed warmly, being
supplied with re-enforcements wherever they appeared. The
government professed to be merely annoyed, nothing more, and
pretended to look upon the patriots as mere brigands. Calleja
became alarmed at last when the determination of the insurgents
became known, and proclaimed martial law in Santiago and Matanzas,
and sent forces to both provinces. He could put only nine thousand
men in the field, however, and had only seven gunboats for coast
duty at his command. The commissary arrangements were miserable,
and frequently caused the interruption of important movements. The
insurgents were most ubiquitous, and would appear here and there
without the slightest warning, making raids on plantations, which
they plundered, and from which they enticed away the laborers,
disappearing in the swamps, where pursuit was impossible, and
appearing again in a day or so in some unexpected spot, and
repeating the same maneuvers. In this manner they terrorized the
loyalists, and ruined their prospects of raising a crop, and as
many depended solely upon the soil for their living this method of
warfare struck them a vital blow.
At the end of March, 1895, Antonio Maceo, with sixteen comrades,
sailed from Costa Rica and landed at Baracoa, on the eastern end
of the island. They were surprised by a Spanish cavalry, but kept
up an intermittent fight for several hours, when Maceo managed to
elude his enemies and escape. After living in the woods for ten
days, making his way westward, he met a party of rebels, was
recognized and welcomed with great enthusiasm. He took command of
the insurgents in the neighborhood and began to get recruits
rapidly. He engaged in several sharp encounters with the Spanish
and did such effective service that the moral effect was noticed
immediately. He and his brother Jose were made generals.
About the middle of April Maximo Gomez and Jose Marti landed from
San Domingo at about the same point where the Maceos had landed.
For days they were obliged to secrete themselves in a cave on
account of the presence of the enemy's pickets, but they finally
reached an insurgent camp, and Gomez entered upon his duties as
commander-in-chief. The insurgents now had an experienced leader
at their head, re-enforcements poured in, and they soon had a
force of six thousand men.
ARRIVAL OF CAMPOS.
The government had issued new calls for troops, and in April no
less than twenty-five thousand men were raised. Martinez Campos
came over from Spain, arriving at Santiago on April 16, and went
at once to Havana, where he relieved Calleja as captain-general.
Campos was a veteran, and expected to crush the insurrection at
once, but day by day his task grew more difficult.
Gomez and Maceo, instead of being driven hither and thither, led
Campos a dance, and he was prevented from solidifying the two
trochas he had formed. Gomez never attempted pitched battles or
sieges, but harassed the enemy in every way possible, cutting off
their convoys, picking them off in detail, getting up night
alarms, and in every way annoying them. His hardened soldiers,
especially the negroes, could stand hardships and still keep in
good fighting condition, but with the Europeans, what between
yellow fever and the constant alarms of war, it was a different
story. No European soldier could live under the hardships and
exposures which seemed to put life into the negro soldiers.
NO CASTE PREJUDICES.
It must be understood that there is no caste feeling between the
negro and the pure-blooded Cuban. They march, eat and sleep side
by side. Moreover, the negroes make excellent soldiers, with finer
physique than the Cubans themselves, and equal powers of
endurance.
The Cuban is small in stature compared to the American soldier,
but he is well set up, wiry, and apparently has unlimited staying
powers. He frequently lives on one meal a day, and that a poor
one, but he shows no signs whatever of being ill-fed; in fact, he
seems to thrive on it, and he has an uncomfortable habit of
marching six hours in the morning on an empty stomach, which would
be fatal to the ordinary Anglo-Saxon.
About the first of July, Maceo, still in the province of Santiago,
concentrated the forces in the Holguin district and moved against
Bayamo, capturing one provision train after another that were en
route to that place. Campos took fifteen hundred men, with General
Santocildes second in command, and went to the relief of Bayamo.
About the middle of July he was attacked several miles from Bayamo
by Maceo with twenty-seven hundred rebels. He and his entire staff
narrowly escaped capture, and only the bravery of General
Santocildes averted this catastrophe. The brave general lost his
life and the Spaniards were forced to fly, after having fought for
five hours, surrounded on all sides by the rebels. They finally
made their escape to Bayamo, the rear guard covering their retreat
with great difficulty.
Flor Crombet had fallen in battle several weeks before this fight
and Marti had been killed in an insignificant fight at Dos Rios.
Gomez had passed into Camaguay to add fire to the insurrection and
Maceo had been left in command in the province of Santiago. To him
was Campos indebted for his defeat. He escaped capture as if by
intuition. A new snare had been spread for him by Maceo after the
death of Santocildes, and he was already within its meshes, when,
intuitively divining the situation, he came to an about face and
fled to Bayamo by an unused road, covered by impassable thickets
in the rear of Maceo's victorious troops.
The Spaniards were rapidly re-enforced after the escape to Bayamo,
and Maceo, with Quintin Bandero, began to fall back to his
impregnable mountain retreat at Jarahuica. This was in the heart
of Santiago de Cuba, over a hundred miles east of Bayamo and
twenty-five miles northeast of the port of Santiago. His war-worn
army needed rest, recruits, and supplies. Once in his mountain
fastness, he was perfectly secure, as no Spanish army would trust
itself in the rocky range. News of his movements had reached
Santiago and a strenuous effort was being made to head him off at
San Luis, a railroad town fifteen miles north-west of that city.
Nothing, however, escaped the observation of the Cuban general.
With wonderful prescience he anticipated the movements of the
Spaniards. His troopers were armed with machetes and the infantry
with rifles and ammunition captured at Paralejo. Bandera commanded
this band of blacks. The march had been terrific, and horses and
men were nearly fagged. With sparse supplies the pace had been
kept up for hours. The sun had gone down and the moon was flooding
the fronds of the palms with pale, silvery light. Maceo held a
short conference with Quintin Bandera, and not long afterward the
blacks wheeled in column and disappeared.
Meantime the Cuban cavalry continued its course. By midnight it
had reached Cemetery Hill, overlooking the town of San Luis. The
moon was half way down the sky. Maceo sat upon his horse surveying
the scene below him long and silently. The little town was aglow
with electric lights and the whistle of locomotives resounded in
the valley. Over three thousand Spanish troops were quartered in
the town and their movements were plainly discernible. Trains were
arriving hourly from Santiago, bearing strong re-enforcements.
Through a field-glass Maceo watched the stirring scene. He turned
the glass beyond the town and gazed through it patiently,
betraying a trace of anxiety. Finally he alighted and conferred
with Colonel Miro, his chief of staff. A moment afterward came the
order to dismount. Three hundred troopers obeyed and were about to
tether their horses when they were called to attention. A second
order reached their ears. They were told to stand motionless, with
both feet on the ground, and to await further orders with their
right hands' on their saddles. In the moonlight beneath the
scattered palms they stood as silent as if petrified.
A STORY OF MACEO.
Among them there was a newspaper correspondent who had known Maceo
many years, and who had parted with him at Port Limon, in Central
America, a few months before. He had joined the column just after
the battle of Paralejo. In obedience to orders he stood with his
arm over the back of his horse, blinking at the enlivening scene
below him. Exhausted by the day's march, his eyes closed and he
found it impossible to keep awake. A moment later he fastened the
bridle to his foot, wrapped himself in his rubber coat, placed a
satchel under his head, and fell asleep in the wet grass. The
adjutant soon awoke him, telling him that he had better get up, as
they were going to have a fight. He thanked the adjutant, who told
him there were over three thousand Spanish soldiers in San Luis
and that it was surrounded with fourteen blockhouses. The
correspondent soon curled himself on the grass a second time and
was in a sound slumber, when he was again aroused by the adjutant,
who told him he was in positive danger if he persisted in
disobeying the order of General Maceo. A third time his heavy
eyelids closed and he was in a dead sleep, when startled by a
peremptory shake. Jesus Mascons, Maceo's secretary, stood over
him. "Get up this instant," said he. "The general wants to see you
immediately."
In a few seconds the correspondent was on his feet. The whistles
were still blowing and the electric lights still glowing in the
valley, and the moon was on the horizon. He went forward in some
trepidation, fancying that the general was going to upbraid him
for disobeying his orders. He was surprised to find him very
pleasant. Maceo always spoke in a low tone, as he had been shot
twice through the lungs.
"Are you not hungry?" he asked.
"No," the correspondent replied, wondering what was in the wind.
"I thought possibly you might want something to eat," General
Maceo said, with a smile. "I have a boiled egg here and I want to
divide it with you." As he uttered these words he drew out his
machete and cut the egg straight through the center. Passing half
of it to the correspondent, he said: "Share it; it will do you
good." The newspaper man thanked the general and they ate the egg
in silence. He said afterward that the incident reminded him of
General Marion's breakfast with a British officer. He had read the
incident in Peter Parley's history of the revolution, when a
schoolboy. Marion raked a baked sweet potato out of the ashes of a
camp fire and divided it with his British guest. The officer
regretted the absence of salt, and the correspondent said he
experienced the same regret when he ate his portion of General
Maceo's egg.
After munching the egg both men sat for some time observing the
stirring scene in the valley below them. The moon had gone down,
but in the glow of the electric lights they could see that the
activity among the Spaniards was as great as ever. Suddenly Maceo
turned to the correspondent and said abruptly: "Were you asleep
when Jesus called you?"
"Oh, no," the correspondent replied, "I was not asleep; I was only
just tired--that was all."
The general looked at him searchingly and then said: "Don't worry;
it is all right. We are going through that town in a few minutes.
There may be a fierce fight, and you will need a clear head. The
egg will give you strength."
Within twenty minutes the little columns of three hundred men were
on the move. They led their horses down the hill about an hour
before daybreak, with the general in the lead. Silently and
stealthily they entered the outskirts of the town. The columns
passed two blockhouses without being observed and at the break of
day were beyond the town on the main road to Banabacoa. Meantime
the Spaniards had discovered them. The town was aroused and a
hundred and fifty Spanish cavalry headed the pursuit. The road
wound through fields of cane. A strong column of Spanish infantry
followed the cavalry. Maceo held his men in reserve and continued
his march, the Spanish troopers trailing after them like so many
wildcats.
Suddenly, to their astonishment, Quintin Bandera's infantry arose
on either side of the road and almost annihilated the pursuing
column. Those who escaped alarmed the columns of infantry, who
returned to San Luis to fortify themselves. Maceo and Bandera
camped on the estate of Mejorana, about six miles away. It was
here that Marti, Gomez, the two Maceos, Crombet, Guerra, and Rabi
met not long before this to inaugurate the new revolution. Bandera
and Maceo found plenty of provisions at the estate, but no bread.
A small Cuban boy was sent to the Spanish commander at San Luis
with a note requesting him to be so kind as to send some bread to
visitors at the Mejorana plantation. The boy delivered the note
and the Spanish commander asked who sent him. Without a moment's
hesitation he replied: "General Maceo." The Spanish official
laughed and replied: "Very well, a supply of bread will be sent.
It will not be necessary for Maceo to come after it." What is more
remarkable is the fact that Maceo told the correspondent
beforehand that the bread would be sent, as the Spaniards had been
so frightened by Bandera on the previous day that they did not
want to invite another attack. That very evening the boy returned,
conveying many bags of bread. The Spaniards remained within the
town until Maceo had rested his army and departed for Jarahuica.
CAMPOS' CAMPAIGN FAILS.
Before the end of the year Campos' campaign was admitted to be a
failure. He could not depart from his humane policy, however, and
at the beginning of the year 1896 he returned to Spain. The rabid
Spaniards of Havana, having compelled Campos to tender his
resignation, demanded from Canovas a captain-general framed in the
old iron cast of the Spanish conquerors, not to fight battles and
risk his life in the field, but to exterminate the native
population. In their belief, women, children, everyone born in
Cuba, should be held responsible for the situation. They did not
like a soldier with a gallant career and personal courage. They
wanted an executioner. Canovas satisfied them and appointed Don
Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau to succeed Martinez Campos.
The question may be asked why the insurgents after so many
victories did not invest the city of Havana, and end therewith the
Spanish dominion. The answer is very clear. After the battle of
Coliseo General Gomez reviewed his troops and found that each
soldier had only three cartridges. The Cubans in the United States
were making vain efforts to send a big expedition to the
insurgents, but the policy of our government was non-interference,
and they were checked in their plans. At Guira de Helena, on
January 4, 1896, the Cubans had to fight with their machetes to
enter the Province of Havana.
If history does not afford a parallel of the stern resolution
displayed by the Cubans to die or to win in a struggle with all
the odds against them, neither does it present a case of stubborn
resistance to justice and human rights, and of barbarous cruelty,
which equals the record of Spain in Cuba.
CHAPTER XX.
JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES.
A Cuban Patriot--A Life Devoted to the Cause--First Work for
Cuba--Banished From His Native Land--He Returns to Fight for
Freedom--His Death--Maximo Gomez, General-in-Chief of the Cuban
Forces--His Methods of Warfare--Antonio Maceo, the Colored
Commander--Other Military Men of Note in the Cuban Army.
When the day comes that Cuba shall take her place among the free
and independent nations of the earth, Jose Marti, who probably did
more than any other one man to arouse the insurgents to make the
final struggle for liberty, will not be among them to share their
triumphs. Struck down, by a Spanish bullet, almost at the
commencement of the last revolution, he sleeps beneath the,
southern skies, and neither the clash of swords nor the thunder of
the cannon over his grave can disturb his rest.
Born in Havana, the son of a Spanish army officer, he was taught
from his childhood days that the friends of Cuba's cause were
rebels, deserving of death. But as he grew older he commenced to
think for himself, and the more he learned of Spanish robbery,
injustice and cruelty, the more determined he became to devote his
life to the cause of his native land.
While yet a mere boy, he began the work. He published clandestine
circulars, he wrote a play in which he depicted the wrongs
inflicted upon the island people; "Free Cuba" was his thought by
day, his dream at night. Through imprisonment and exile, in Spain,
Mexico and the United States, every action of his life was guided
by the one ambition.
On April 14th, 1895, in company with Maximo Gomez, Marti landed on
the coast of Cuba, at Cobonico. His coming gave the insurgents new
courage, and their numbers increased rapidly. He was made a Major
General of the army, and in company with Gomez, who had seen
service in the previous campaign, he led a number of successful
attacks against detachments of the Spanish forces.
After organizing an expedition that was to march to Puerto
Principe under Gomez's command, Marti intended to go to the
seacoast in order to return abroad and continue his work there in
favor of the secessionist revolution.
About this time a man named Chacon was captured by Colonel
Sandoval, of the Spanish forces, and letters from the rebels were
found in his possession, and some money with which he was going to
make purchases for the insurgent chiefs. This man gave information
regarding the enemy's location, and acting upon this knowledge,
Colonel Sandoval, on the 19th of May, brought his army to La
Brija. The Hernan Cortez squadron, under Captain Capa, was in
vanguard, and attacked a band commanded by Bellito, which had come
to meet the column.
When Colonel Sandoval heard of it, he advanced up to the plain of
Dos Rios, and ordered his infantry to open fire. A spirited combat
ensued, with fatal results to the insurgents, as the Spanish
guide, Antonio Oliva, running up to help a soldier who was
surrounded by a large group of the enemy, fired his rifle at a
horseman, who fell to the ground, and was found to be Jose Marti.
Captain Enrique Satue was the first to recognize him. A fight took
place upon the spot, the rebels trying hard to carry the corpse
away, but they were repulsed. Maximo Gomez was wounded in the
encounter, which for some days led to the belief that he too was
dead. According to one narrative, Gomez was in the midst of the
battle from the beginning, and while hurrying to recover the
corpse of Marti, he was slightly wounded. Others say that the
famous chief, had already taken leave of Marti to go to Camaguey,
when, passing at some distance from Dos Rios, he heard the report
of musketry. He imagined what was happening, and ran to rescue the
civil chief of the revolution, but when he arrived, Marti had been
killed. Gomez being wounded, Borrero took him on his own horse,
and in this manner carried him to a place of safety. The
Spaniards, after their victory, moved to Remanganagaus, where the
corpse of Marti was embalmed. From the latter town it was taken to
Santiago de Cuba, and while on the way there, the troops had to
repel an attack from the rebels, who intended to carry off the
coffin. On arriving at the city, the remains of Marti were
exhibited at the cemetery. Colonel Sandoval presided over the
funeral ceremonies, and the dead leader was given a decent resting
place. Here are Sandoval's words on the occasion:
Gentlemen:--In presence of the corpse of him who in life was Jose
Marti, and in the absence of any relative or friend who might
speak over his remains such words as are customary, I request you
not to consider these remains to be those of an enemy any more,
but simply those of a man, carried by political discords to face
Spanish soldiers. From the moment the spirits have freed
themselves of matter they are sheltered and magnanimously pardoned
by the Almighty, and the abandoned matter is left in our care, for
us to dispel all rancorous feelings, and give the corpse such
Christian burial as is due to the dead.
MAXIMO GOMEZ, THE GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.
The General-in-Chief of the Cuban forces is Maximo Gomez, a man of
scholarly attainments, great intellect, and long experience in
military affairs. Formerly an officer of Spain, he explains his
present position in the following words:
"When I gave up, in 1868, my uniform and rank as a Major of the
Spanish Army, it was because I knew that if I kept them. I would
have some day to meet my own children in the field, and combat
against their just desire for liberty. Now, with my many years, I
have come to lead and counsel the new generation to ultimate
victory."
Of his methods in war, Thomas Alvord says:
"General Gomez never has more than 300 or 400 men with him. His
favorite camp is near Arroyo Blanco, on a high plateau, difficult
to approach, and covered with dense thicket. He posts his outer
pickets at least three miles away, in directions from which the
enemy may come. The Spaniards, whenever possible, march by road,
and, with these highways well guarded, Gomez sleeps secure. He
knows that his pickets will be informed by some Cuban long before
the Spanish column leaves or passes the nearest village to attack
him. A shot from the farthest sentry causes little or no
excitement in Gomez's camp. The report throws the Spanish column
into fears of attack or ambush, and it moves forward very slowly
and carefully. Two pickets at such a time have been known to hold
2,000 men at bay for a whole day. If the column presses on, and
General Gomez hears a shot from a sentinel near by, he will rise
leisurely from his hammock and give orders to prepare to move
camp. He has had so many experiences of this kind that not until
he hears the volley-shooting of the oncoming Spaniards will he
call for his horse, give the word to march, and disappear,
followed by his entire force, into the tropical underbrush, which
closes like curtain behind him, leaving the Spaniards to discover
a deserted camp, without the slightest trace of the path taken by
its recent occupants.
"Sometimes Gomez will move only a mile or two. The Spaniards do
not usually give chase. If they do, Gomez takes a keen delight in
leading them in a circle. If he can throw them off by nightfall,
he goes to sleep in his camp of the morning, happier than if he
had won a battle. The Spaniards learn nothing through such
experiences. Gomez varies the game occasionally by marching
directly towards the rear of the foe, and there, reinforced by
other insurgent bands of the neighborhood, falling upon the column
and punishing it severely. While his immediate force is but a
handful, the General can call to his aid, in a short time, nearly
6,000 men."
A COLORED COMMANDER.
As soon as the rebellion had assumed such proportions as to make
it possible to arrange a regular military organization among the
insurgents, Antonio Maceo was made the second in command, under
General Gomez, with the title of Lieutenant General. He had risen
from the ranks to the position of Major General in the Ten Years'
war, where, notwithstanding his colored blood, he had shown
unusual ability as a leader of men. Sons of the first families of
Cuba were proud to enlist under his banner, and to recognize him
as their superior officer. Space is devoted in another part of
this volume to an account of the treacherous manner of his death.
The following letter, written by him to General Weyler, soon after
the arrival of the latter named in Cuba, shows that he could fight
with his pen as well as with his sword:
Republic of Cuba, Invading Army. Second Corps, Cayajabos, Feb. 27,
1896.
General Valeriano Weyler, Havana:
In spite of all that the press has published in regard to you, I
have never been willing to give it belief and to base my judgment
of your conduct on its statements; such an accumulation of
atrocities, so many crimes repugnant and dishonoring to any man of
honor, I thought it impossible for a soldier holding your high
rank to commit.
These accusations seemed to me rather to be made in bad faith, or
to be the utterances of personal enmity, and I expected that you
would take care to give the lie in due form to your detractors,
rising to the height required of a gentleman, and saving yourself
from any imputation of that kind, by merely adopting in the
treatment of the wounded and prisoners of war, the generous course
that has been pursued from the beginning by the revolutionists
towards the Spanish wounded and prisoners.
But, unfortunately, Spanish dominion must always be accompanied by
infamy, and although the errors and wrongful acts of the last war
seemed to be corrected at the beginning of this one, to-day it has
become manifest that it was only by closing our eyes to invariable
personal antecedents and incorrigible traditional arbitrariness
that we could have imagined Spain would forget forever her fatal
characteristic of ferocity towards the defenseless. But we cannot
help believing evidence. In my march during the period of this
campaign I see with alarm, with horror, how the wretched
reputation you enjoy is confirmed, and how the deeds that disclose
your barbarous irritation are repeated. What! must even the
peaceful inhabitants (I say noticing of the wounded and prisoners
of war), must they be sacrificed to the rags that gave the Duke of
Alva his name and fame?
Is it thus that Spain, through you, returns the clemency and
kindness with which we, the redeemers of this suffering people,
have acted in like circumstances? What a reproach for yourself and
for Spain! The license to burn the huts, assassinations like those
at Nueva Paz and the villa El Gato, committed by Spanish columns,
in particular those of Colonels Molina and Vicuna, proclaim you
guilty before all mankind. Your name will be forever infamous,
here and far from here, remembered with disgust and horror.
Out of humanity, yielding to the honorable and generous impulses
which are identified with both the spirit and the tendency of the
revolution, I shall never use reprisals that would be unworthy of
the reputation and the power of the liberating army of Cuba. But I
nevertheless foresee that such abominable conduct on your part and
on that of your men, will arouse at no distant time private
vengeances to which they will fall victims, without my being able
to prevent it, even though I should punish hundreds of innocent
persons.
For this last reason, since war should only touch combatants, and
it is inhuman to make others suffer from its consequences, I
invite you to retrace your steps, if you admit your guilt, or to
repress these crimes with a heavy hand, if they were committed
without your consent. At all events, take care that no drop of
blood be shed outside the battle field. Be merciful to the many
unfortunate citizens. In so doing you will imitate in honorable
emulation our conduct and our proceedings. Yours, A. MACEO.
This letter could have been written by none but a brave and
honorable soldier, resolved to present the cause of the oppressed
non-combatants, even when he probably knew that his appeal was
powerless to lessen their sufferings in the slightest degree.
LOVE AND WAR.
Among the many brave leaders of the insurgents there is perhaps
none who has shown more heroism than young De Robau. After the
breaking out of the revolution he was one of the first to join the
standard of independence. At that time he was engaged to be
married, yet with him the call of duty was paramount over every
selfish consideration. After having served for some months with
conspicuous credit, he was sent with his command into the
neighborhood of his fiance.
The men hitherto, it may be imagined, had not paid much attention
to their appearance, but now there was a regular conventional
dress parade. A barber was requisitioned, accoutrements were
furbished up, and weather-beaten sombreros were ornamented with
brilliant ribbons. When the metamorphosis was complete, De Robau
placed himself at the head of his dashing troop, and went in
state to call upon the lady of his affections.
His march was a triumph, as everywhere he was attended by crowds
of enthusiastic people, who had long known him, and who now hailed
him as a distinguished champion. How he sped in his wooing may be
gathered from the fact that an orderly was soon dispatched for the
villa cura, and that there was a wedding which fairly rivaled that
of Camacho, so often and so fondly recalled by the renowned
Sancho. Since then the Senora de Robau has accompanied her husband
throughout the campaign, sharing the hard fare and the dangers of
the men, and adding another to the noble band of patriotic Cuban
women, who vie with their husbands and brothers in fidelity to
their native land.
OTHER COMMANDERS OF NOTE.
The cause has many other brave leaders, among whom may be
mentioned General Calixto Garcia, General Serafin Sanchez,
Francisco Corrillo, and Jose Maria Rodriguez. They are all
veterans of the war of 1868-1878, and are ready to sacrifice their
lives in the struggle for liberty.
CHAPTER XXI.
DESPERATE BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE.
The Sword of Cuba--Battle Cry of the Revolutionists--Cavalry
Charges--The Strategies of War--Hand-to-Hand Encounters--Maceo at
the Front--Barbarities of the Spanish Soldiers--Americans in the
Cuban Army--A Fight for Life--A Yankee Gunner--How a Brave Man
Died.
There is a story told of a great Roman General who, after having
conquered in many battles, beat his sword into a plowshare, and
turned from war's alarms to the peaceful pursuit of agriculture.
The Cuban has reversed the story. When he left his labors in the
forests and fields to fight his oppressors, he carried with him
the implement with which he had cut the sugar cane on his
plantation, and made paths through dense tropic vegetation. The
machete is the sword of the Cuban soldier, and it will be famous
forever. Its blade is of tempered steel, curved slightly at the
end, with one edge sharp as a razor. It has a handle of horn, and
is carried in a leather scabbard, attached to a narrow belt.
The weapon in the hands of one who understands its use is terribly
effective. Instances have been known where rifle barrels have been
cut in two by it, and heads have been severed from their bodies at
a single stroke. Its name, shrieked in a wild ferocious way, is
the battle cry of the insurgents, and when shouted from an hundred
throats, it carries with it so awe-inspiring a sound, that it is
little wonder that the enemy is stricken with fear, for it means
in reality "war to the knife."
CAVALRY CHARGES.
The Cubans are among the most skillful and daring rough riders of
the world, the equals of the cowboys of our western States, and
the far-famed Cossacks of Russia. The horses' backs have been
their cradles, and here they possess a decided advantage over
their Spanish foes, who know as little of the equestrian art as
they seem to understand of other's rights, or the amenities of
war. A mounted band of insurgents, rushing down on a detachment of
the enemy, waving aloft the terrible machete, will carry with them
terror and death, and conquer twice their number.
The heroic mulatto brothers, Antonio and Jose Maceo, adopted this
manner of fighting on every possible occasion, and it is a
coincidence worthy of note that they both met their death while
leading machete charges against their hated foes.
LACK OF AMMUNITION IN THE CUBAN RANKS.
The lack of ammunition is one of the weaknesses of the insurgents.
Courage, ability and men they possess in abundance, but the lack
of cartridges has interfered with many of their best laid plans,
and has often prevented them from availing themselves of favorable
opportunities. Three or four rounds a man is nothing in action,
especially when the Spaniards are always so abundantly supplied.
However they are determined, and as Spanish incapacity becomes
daily more apparent, they feel that it is only a question of a few
months until the cause for which they have so long and bravely
fought will be gloriously won.
MACEO AT THE FRONT.
Within three months of the time that Gomez and Maceo landed at
Baracoa they had all Santiago and Puerto Principe in a state of
insurrection. They started out with comparatively a handful of
men. The most reliable sources agree that there were not more than
300, but they were quickly joined by thousands of Cubans, who
brought out from hiding places arms and ammunition which they had
been collecting and concealing for years.
General Campos, the Spanish commander, had declared that Puerto
Principe would never rise against Spain, and he proposed at once a
plan to make it doubly sure. He procured special concessions from
Madrid for the foreign railroads, permitting them to import iron
bridges to replace their wooden structures, and pledging them
$20,000 a month until they had extended their lines and made
connections to complete a continuous road through the country,
using the money to employ the natives. This was to insure the
peace of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, both considered
conservative, and to prevent the people joining the revolutionary
party.
After the plan was announced, the revolutionists burned out the
wooden bridges, tore up the tracks in many places, and the roads
have been, for all practical purposes, in their hands ever since.
Campos, meantime, to prevent Gomez moving eastward, placed 10,000
troops on the border between the provinces of Puerto Principe and
Santiago, but Gomez crossed the line on May 19th, after a battle
at Boca del Dos Bios, where a loss was suffered in the death of
General Marti, which was so great a blow to Cuba that Campos
announced that the "death blow to the bandits had been struck."
In Puerto Principe Gomez captured every town he attempted to take,
among them Alta Gracia, San Jeronimo and Coscorro. He took Fort El
Mulato, and in all the places secured large quantities of
ammunition. So enthusiastic was his reception in the provinces of
Puerto Principe and Santa Clara that in the latter 400 Spanish
volunteers joined him with their arms.
The most important battle of the summer occurred at Bayamo in
July, just as Gomez was near the Spanish line between Santa Clara
and Puerto Principe, where, in an engagement between the two
armies, with about 3,000 men on either side, the Spanish forces
were completely routed.
From that time on through the summer and far into the autumn,
every day was marked by skirmishes, the taking of important
places, and the threatening of the larger towns. It kept the
Spanish columns moving constantly, and the exposure in the rainy
season killed thousands.
Maceo now separated his forces from Gomez's command, and marched
westward, fighting as he went, and everywhere meeting with
success. He established the new government in the cities and towns
of Mantua, San Cristobal, Remates, Palacios, Paso Real de San
Diego, Guane, Consolacion del Sur, Pilotos, Alonso de Rojas, San
Luis, San Juan y Martinez, and others of less importance.
Pinar del Rio City, the capital of the province, was the only city
of importance that held out, but it was cut off with communication
with its port, Colon, and was short of provisions. One supply sent
by the Spanish for its relief, 100,000 rations, fell into Maceo's
hands.
In San Cristobal the Spanish flag on the government building was
replaced by the emblem of the new republic, a mayor and city
officials were appointed, resolutions were adopted by the new
authorities, and, after all the arms in the town had been
collected, Maco remained a day to rest his men and horses, and
moved on the following morning at daybreak.
Generals Navarre and Luque were ordered to crush the insurgent army at
all hazards. Their combined forces consisted of 5,000 infantry, 200
cavalry, and 11 pieces of artillery. After a two-days' march they were
joined by General Arizon's command, which had encountered Maceo's rear
guard the previous day, with disastrous results.
Near Quivera Hacha, Navarre's skirmishers encountered a small band
of insurgents, and fearing that all of Maceo's army was near,
lines of battle were quickly formed. The engagement lasted for
less than half an hour, when the insurgent forces withdrew,
without serious losses on either side. General Navarro finally
discovered that the principal part of Maceo's forces was at the
Armendores estate, and the seat of operations was changed. General
Luque succeeded Navarro in command, and several days now passed
without any conflict of note. Finally Luque led a charge upon
Maceo's vanguard, in the vicinity of Pinar del Rio, but the moment
the attack was made he found himself under fire from the top of
low hills on both sides of the road, where the insurgents were
well protected, and he sustained severe losses without inflicting
much injury upon the enemy. So hot was the encounter that Luque
withdrew and prepared to charge upon two points where the enemy
were making a stand. He held the road with one battalion, sending
a detachment to the right, and another to the left. The attack was
successful. The Spanish made a magnificent effort under withering
fire, and swept Maceo's forces before them, not, however, until
they had left the field scattered with their own dead and wounded.
For some reason the cavalry had not been used. The artillery was
just coming up when the action had reached this point. The Spanish
found that the enemy had, instead of being routed, simply fallen
back and taken a position on another hill, and scattered firing
went on for a considerable time, while Luque prepared to attack
again. Then, against 2,000 of Maceo's men, was directed all of
Luque's command, over 4,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and eleven
pieces of artillery.
At least half of Maceo's army, certainly not less than 2,000
cavalry, had been moving up to Luque's rear and came upon him,
surprising him just as this second attack was being made.
For a time it was a question whether Luque's command would not be
wiped out. They were practically surrounded by Maceo's men, and
for fully an hour and a half the fighting was desperate. It is
impossible to unravel the stories of both sides so as to arrive at
a clear idea of the encounter.
When the cannonading ceased, four companies of infantry charged up
the hill and occupied it before the insurgents, who had been
driven out by the artillery, could regain it. Shortly the hill on
the left of the road was taken in the same way, and Luque,
although at a great loss, had repelled Maceo's attack from the
rear.
The battle had lasted for a little over two hours. Maceo had about
forty of his men wounded and left four dead on the field, taking
away ten others. Twenty or more of his horses were killed. The
Spanish reported that he had 1,000 killed, the next day reduced
the number to 300, and finally to the statement that "the enemy's
losses must have been enormous," the usual phrase when the true
number is humiliating. Luque's losses have never been officially
reported, but it is variously estimated at from seventy-five to a
hundred men.
THE WORK OF FIENDS.
The Cubans give horrible details of a battle at Paso Heal, between
General Luque's army and a division of Maceo's forces under
Bermudez. Witnesses of the encounter claim that the Spaniards
invaded the hospital and killed wounded insurgents in their beds,
and that, Bermudez, in retaliation, formed a line, and shot
thirty-seven Spanish prisoners.
Luque says in his report of this engagement: "The rebels made a
strong defense, firing from the tops of houses and along the
fences around the city. The Spanish vanguard, under Colonel
Hernandez, attacked the vanguard, center and rear guard of the
rebels in the central streets of the town, driving them with
continuous volleys and fierce cavalry charges into the outskirts
of the town. Up to this point we had killed ten insurgents."
The people of Paso Real say this report is true, as far as it
goes, but that Luque neglects to add that he then attacked the
hospital, and murdered twenty-eight wounded men, firing at them as
they lay on their cots, through the windows, and finally breaking
down the door, and killing the rest with the bayonet.
Under date of February 8th we have an account of the operations of
the Spanish General Sabas Marin, who left Havana a short time
before. His campaign in search of General Gomez was disastrous,
and the official reports of Spanish victories were misleading.
There were losses on both sides, but Marin accomplished absolutely
nothing of what he intended to achieve.
The first misfortune which overtook the Spaniards was the rout of
Carnellas, on the very day on which Marin left Havana, Gomez sent
a detachment under Pedro Diaz to intercept him, and this force
reached Saladrigas in the early morning. In this section the
country is cut into small fields, divided by stone fences, and
facing the road there is a high fence, with a ditch in front of
it. Diaz placed 400 infantry behind this fence, and waited himself
with 1,000 cavalry back of a hill close by. When the Spanish
forces appeared, the advance guard was allowed to pass, and as
soon as the main body was fairly in the trap, volleys were poured
into them, literally mowing them down. At the sound of the first
gun, Diaz led his thousand horsemen upon the enemy's flank and
rear. The charge was irresistible. Half of Diaz's men did not even
fire a shot, but yelling "machete," they rode furiously upon the
Spanish lines, cutting their way through, and fighting with
terrible effect.
The Spanish issued no official report of this battle. So far as
the records show, it never occurred. One of the Spanish officers,
who fought in it, conceded a loss of 200 men, but it is probable
that twice that number would be nearer the correct figure.
AMERICANS IN THE CUBAN ARMY.
Colonel Frederick Funston, who returned to New York in January,
1898, told an interesting story of brave Yankee boys serving under
General Gomez and General Garcia in Eastern Cuba, and also gave an
account of the sad death of W. Dana Osgood, the famous football
player, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania.
Colonel Funston was with Gomez's army when they attacked Guimaro.
They had with them a twelve-pound Hotchkiss rifle and four
American artillerymen, Osgood of Pennsylvania, Latrobe and Janney
of Baltimore, and Devine of Texas.
They attacked Guimaro in the morning, at ranges of from 400 to 600
yards, the infantry being protected by a breastwork of earth, in
which openings were left for the guns.
The Spanish garrison consisted of 200 men in eleven forts, and
they maintained a hot fire all day. Gradually, however, the
Hotchkiss rifle, the fire of which was directed by Osgood, made
the largest and nearest fort untenable, and it was abandoned by
the garrison. No sooner had the Spanish forces left it than a band
of the insurgents took possession, and from this point of vantage
the fighting was continued with renewed vigor. As soon as darkness
came on one of the Cuban guns was moved forward and stationed in
this fort, and on the following day a storm of shot and shell was
directed at the other forts.
Naturally the rifles of the garrison were trained most of the time
upon the man sighting the Hotchkiss in the captured fort, and
there, leaning over his gun in the early morning, the intrepid
Osgood was shot through the head. He was carried off by his
comrades under fire, and died four hours later. The death of this
gallant young soldier was universally lamented, and the Cubans
honor his memory as one of the first Americans to give his life
while fighting for their cause.
With Gomez, with Garcia, and with Maceo, in every insurgent camp,
there were brave men, American born, who fought for the flag of
Free Cuba, side by side with the native soldier, and who gave
their lives in the war against Spanish tyranny and misrule.
CHAPTER XXII.
FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA.
First Expeditions--Expense to the United States--President Pierce's
Action--The Uprising in 1868-The Patrol of the Coasts--An Expedition on
the "Three Friends"--Arms and Ammunition for the Insurgents--Desperate
Chances--A Successful Landing.
The record of the last fifty years is the clearest and most
convincing evidence that can be offered against the Spanish
contention that the United States is not concerned with the
question of government in Cuba, and has not been tremendously
injured by the inability of Spanish administration to furnish the
Cubans with a peaceful and satisfactory government. The first bit
of evidence to be submitted comes from away back in 1848, when
President Polk, on behalf of the United States, announced that
while the United States was willing that Cuba should be continued
under Spanish ownership and government, it would never consent to
the occupation of the island by any other European nation.
It was pointed out at that time by the American government that
were the United States to admit that Cuba was open to seizure by
any government that was able to throw Spain out the fact that it
was nearly surrounded, in Central and South America and in other
West Indian islands, by territory belonging to twelve other
nations would make it the ground of interminable squabbles. And
these squabbles were not matters which would be without interest
and damage to the commerce and peace of the United States. This
was followed by an offer of $100,000,000 to Spain for the island
of Cuba. The offer was promptly declined, and the United States
was informed that Cuba was not on the market.
FIRST FILIBUSTERING EXPEDITION.
Nevertheless, there was formed in the United States the Lone Star
Society, which had as its object "the acquisition of the island of
Cuba as part of the territory of the United States."
The "Conspiracy of Lopez," which is fully treated of in previous
pages of this work, was the first filibustering expedition that
attracted particular attention from the authorities, and it was
hoped that its disastrous end would deter others from like
attempts. But the hope was a vain one, for within two years a
similar expedition, led by General Quitman of Mississippi, was
organized in the United States. Many men were enlisted and vessels
chartered, but the expedition was suppressed by the government of
the United States.
EXPENSE TO UNITED STATES.
It will thus be seen that the fact that Spain had not been able to
govern Cuba peaceably has caused the United States great expense
and irritation for a much longer period than is usually taken into
consideration in these days. It is not the fault of the United
States that its citizens have been stirred to sympathy with the
victims of the Spanish policy of government by robbery and murder.
It is not the fault of the United States that this country has
been the refuge of men who have been outlawed from the country of
their birth because their presence there meant the irrepressible
working in them of a desire for freedom, a desire intolerable to
Spanish institutions.
It is not the fault of the United States that these refugees,
living in the land of civil liberty, should desire to return to
their native country and drive out those who made it miserable.
But it would have been the fault of the United States, under
international law, if these exiled Cubans were permitted to carry
out their very natural and laudable desire in concert with the
Americans whose sympathy had been stirred by the story of Spanish
wrongs. To ferret out the plans for expeditions conceived with
such determination and perseverance was not only a task requiring
tremendous expenditure of money and energy, but it was a miserably
disagreeable and unpopular work for the government to engage in.
On the 31st of May, 1854, President Pierce issued a proclamation
instructing citizens of the United States as to their duties in
refraining from encouragement, aid, or participation in connection
with the Cuban insurrections.
THE UPRISING IN 1868.
In the fall of 1868, after scattering uprisings and several
battles during the preceding year, plans for a concerted
insurrection were arranged. The plan was discovered and the
insurrection was started prematurely. There followed a campaign in
which Spanish forces, amounting to 110,000 men, were unable to
hold in check the Cuban force of about 26,000. In May the
filibustering expeditions, that were to prove such an immense
expense and annoyance to the United States, began again. The
Spanish navy co-operated with the United States government in the
efforts to suppress these expeditions, but many of them eluded the
authorities, and aided the insurgents with arms and provisions.
This was irritating to Spain and the United States alike, because
it cost just as much to keep up an unsuccessful anti-filibustering
patrol as it did actually to catch filibusters, and, moreover,
every successful expedition weakened the authority of the Federal
government. That authority in the Southern States just after the
war was none too strong, and it was not a good thing that the
spectacle of defiance to the United States should be flaunted
along the Southern coast.
From 1878 until 1895, when the present insurrection gained
strength to become openly active, the island is supposed to have
been at peace, but in the latter year the open war and
filibustering expeditions began again. The name of President
Cleveland was added to the list of Presidents whose duty it was to
interfere with efforts to aid Cuban liberty. He issued appropriate
proclamations on June 12, 1895, and July 30, 1896. Revenue cutters
and warships constantly patrolled the Florida coast and, indeed,
all the waters of the gulf, and sometimes New York harbor, to head
off filibustering expeditions. It is said to have cost more to
suppress the natural desire of citizens of the United States to
relieve the political distress in Cuba than it has cost to enforce
customs regulations from the same territory.
THE VOYAGE OF THE "THREE FRIENDS."
As evidence of the fact that Cuban sympathizers have been
successful in escaping the patrol on American coasts and the
enemy's battleships in Cuban waters, we give the report of one of
many expeditions that have been made during the past three years.
The steamer "Three Friends," of Jacksonville, Florida, in command of
Captain Napoleon B. Broward, returned to Jacksonville on March 18th,
having succeeded in landing in Cuba, General Enrique Collazo, Major
Charles Hernandez, and Duke Estrada, besides fifty-four men taken off
the schooner "Ardell" from Tampa, and the entire cargo of arms and
ammunition of the schooner "Mallory" from Cedar Key. It was by long odds
the most important expedition that has set out from this country, and
the Cubans at Jacksonville, when they learned that the "Three Friends"
had safely fulfilled her mission, shouted "Viva Cuba!" until they were
hoarse.
They declared that it would change the character of the whole war,
as the unarmed men would now be armed, and that Maceo, who had
before been wary and cautious, would be more aggressive than he
had ever been before. The cargo of arms landed by the "Three
Friends" and the "Mallory" was as follows: 750,000 rounds of
cartridges, 1,200 rifles, 2,100 machetes, 400 revolvers, besides
stores, reloading tools, etc.
The "Three Friends" met the "Mallory" at Alligator Key. The
"Ardell" had just finished transferring the men to her. While they
were rendezvoused there behind the pines in a deep coral-walled
creek, three big Spanish men-of-war steamed slowly by, but they
did not discover that there was anything suspicious looking in
shore, although with a glass men could be seen in their look-outs
scanning the horizon, as well as searching the shore. Sunday,
about noon, no vessels being in sight, the "Three Friends" took in
tow the "Mallory" and steamed southward under a good head of
steam.
The "Three Friends" is a powerful tug, and by Monday night was
close enough to the Cuban shore to hear the breakers. Several
shiplights to the west were seen, one of which was evidently a
Spanish man-of-war, for she had a search-light at her bow, and was
sweeping the waves with it, but the "Three Friends" was a long way
off, and had no light, and so was out of the neighborhood of the
Spaniard.
A SUCCESSFUL LANDING.
At ten o'clock that night, by the aid of a naphtha launch and two
big surf boats, which had been taken out of Jacksonville, the
"Three Friends" landed the men and ammunition from her hold, and
from that of the "Mallory." It took four and a half hours to
complete the job. There were hundreds of men on shore to assist,
and they did it silently, appreciating the peril of the position.
The Cubans on shore recognized General Collazo immediately, and no
words can describe their joy on seeing him. He is a veteran of
Cuban wars, and one whom Spain fears. In fact, it is known that
during his sojourn in Florida he was shadowed by detectives, who
had been instructed to spare no expense to keep Collazo from
reaching Cuba. When it was whispered that Collazo was really among
them, they seemed not to believe their ears, but came forward and
looked, and, seeing that there was really no mistake, threw up
their arms and wept for joy. Major Charles Hernandez and Duke
Estrada were also enthusiastically welcomed.
It was reported that night that Maceo had received the arms of the
first expedition that set forth three days before the "Three
Friends" landed. They were not from the "Commodore," for they
reported that they were now on the lookout for that vessel. They
said, too, that at the end of the week four expeditions were
afloat. Two, including the "Three Friends," had landed, and two
more were on the way. Tuesday morning, as the "Three Friends" was
returning, she sighted a steamer that answered to the description
of the "Commodore." She was headed southward, and pushing along
apparently at the rate of fifteen knots an hour.
Here is the story of the capture of an expedition, by Commander
Butron, of the Spanish gunboat "Mensagera":
"The 'Mensagera' was directed to watch the coast between Cayo
Julia and Morrillo, about one hundred miles. It was heard on the
afternoon of April 25 that a suspicious schooner had been seen
near Quebrados de Uvas. The gunboat followed, and found the
'Competitor.' The usual signals were made, but the schooner tried
to get closer in shore, so as to land a rapid-fire gun.
"The 'Mensagera' was then moved forward and fired a shot, which
struck the schooner and exploded a box of cartridges which the men
were trying to take ashore. Several occupants of the schooner
became alarmed, and threw themselves into the water, fearing an
explosion of dynamite. The gunboat's crew seized rifles and began
shooting, killing three men. Several others reached shore.
"Three men were aboard the schooner when it was overhauled, and
they surrendered without resistance. Among them was Owen Milton,
editor of the Key West Mosquito. Sailors were sent ashore to
capture the arms landed. In the skirmish, two men, supposed to be
filibusters, and a horse were killed. They secured several
abandoned cases of cartridges. A body of insurgents had come to
watch the landing of the boat's crew. The 'Mensagera' came to
Havana with the arms and prisoners, who were very seasick. The
schooner was towed to Havana by the gunboat 'Vicente Yanez.' It is
regarded as an object of great curiosity by the crowds. It had the
Spanish flag floating when captured. It is a neat, strong boat,
and looks fast. One of the prisoners captured steadily refuses to
give his name."
An account of the trial, as sent from Havana, May 8th, reads as
follows:
"The court opened at the Arsenal. The prisoners were Alfredo
Liaborde, born in New Orleans; Owen Milton, of Kansas; William
Kinlea, an Englishman, and Elias Vedia and Teodore Dela Maza, both
Cubans. Captain Ruiz acted as president of the court, which
consisted of nine other military and naval officers. The trial of
the five filibusters captured aboard the 'Competitor' was
proceeded with against the formal protest presented by Consul
General Williams, who declared that the trial was illegal and in
violation of the treaty between Spain and the United States.
"The prisoners were not served with a copy of the charges against
them and were not allowed to select their own counsel, but were
represented by a naval officer appointed by the government. They
were not permitted to call witnesses for their defense, the
prosecution calling all the witnesses. Owen Milton, of Kansas,
testified through an interpreter that he came on the expedition
only to correspond for a newspaper. William Kinlea, when called,
was in his shirt sleeves. He arose and said in English, 'I do not
recognize your authority, and appeal for protection to the
American and English consuls.'"
Fortunately for these prisoners, the United States government
interfered, and they were eventually released.
CHAPTER XXIII.
WEYLER THE BUTCHER.
His Ancestry--A Soldier From His Youth--He Succeeds General
Campos--A Master of Diplomacy--A Slave of Spain--His Personal
Appearance--His Interview With a Woman--His Definition of War--
His Resignation.
Early in 1896, when the Spanish government began to realize that
the insurrection was assuming serious proportions, arrangements
were made for the recall of General Campos, then Governor-General
of the island, and General Weyler was sent to assume the duties of
the office. It was the opinion in Spain that Campos was too mild
in his treatment of the rebels, and as Weyler was known to have no
lamb-like qualities, he was regarded as the ideal man for the
position. That he did not succeed in putting down the rebellion
was certainly not due to any lack of extreme measures on his part.
He is known as the "Butcher," and his management of affairs in
Cuba certainly gives him every right to the title.
Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, to give him his full name, is only half a
Spaniard. His father was a Prussian, though Weyler himself was born in
Cadiz in 1839. His parents were in very moderate circumstances and not
of noble birth. What Weyler has won he has acquired through his own
efforts. He has made his way single-handed. He graduated from the
infantry school at Toledo in 1857 and was at once sent to Cuba as a
subaltern. He was quickly made a captain and his first work was to
subdue a small revolt in San Domingo.
He rose rapidly in rank, and during the first Cuban revolt he was
in command in the province of Santiago, where he earned the title
that has since made him famous in the eyes of his supporters, but
infamous from a civilized point of view. But he put down the
revolt. He was rewarded with the appointment of captain general of
the Canary islands. His administration was so successful that he
was created Marquis of Tenerife. He was then barely thirty-nine
years old. He distinguished himself in the Carlist war and at its
conclusion he was made captain general of the Philippines, where
he quelled an insurrection and admittedly gave the islands the
best administration they had ever known. He returned to Spain in
1889 and was in command at Barcelona until the present Cuban
revolution began.
Here is a mental photograph of him by a newspaper correspondent:
"Most men resemble their reputations, and if a life famously spent
is in the mind of one who visits a character of world-wide repute,
he quite naturally discovers peculiarities, of facial expression
and physique which appear to account for the individuality of the
man, fighter, philosopher, criminal, reformer or whatever he may
be.
"All this is true of General Weyler. He is one of those men who
create a first impression, the first sight of whom can never be
effaced from the mind, by whose presence the most careless
observer is impressed instantly, and yet, taken, altogether, he is
a man in whom the elements of greatness are concealed under a
cloak of impenetrable obscurity. Inferior physically, unsoldierly
in bearing, exhibiting no trace of refined sensibilities nor
pleasure in the gentle associations that others live for, or at
least seek as diversions, he is nevertheless the embodiment of
mental acuteness, crafty, unscrupulous, fearless and of
indomitable perseverance.
"I have talked with Campos, Marin and Weyler, the three Captain-Generals
to whom Spain has intrusted (thus far unsuccessfully) the reconquest of
Cuba. Reconquest seems an ill-chosen word, but one of General Weyler's
staff has so denominated this war, and Cuban revolutions can be settled
only by conquests, Campos was an exceptional man. Marin was commonplace.
Weyler is unique. Campos and Marin affected gold lace, dignity and
self-consciousness. Weyler ignores them all as useless, unnecessary
impediments, if anything, to the one object of his existence. Campos was
fat, good natured, wise, philosophical, slow in his mental processes,
clear in his judgment, emphatic in his opinions, outspoken, and, withal,
lovable, humane, conservative, constructive, progressive, with but one
project ever before him, the glorification of Spain as a mother-land and
a figure among peaceful, enlightened nations.
"Weyler is lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality,
irrespective of its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain, for
the glory of sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving,
exalted, and doubtless justly, in self-esteem, because he is unmistaken
in his estimation of his value to his Queen. His passion is success, per
se, foul or fair consequences or the conventional ideas of humanity
notwithstanding.
"He is a little man. An apparition of blacks--black eyes, black
hair, black beard, dark, exceedingly dark, complexion, a plain
black attire, black shoes, black tie, a very dirty shirt and
soiled standing collar, with no jewelry and not a relief from the
aspect of darkness anywhere on his person.
"It is not remarkable that I momentarily hesitated to make certain
that this was actually Weyler. Doubt was dispelled with a look at
his face. His eyes, far apart, bright, alert and striking, took me
in at a glance. His face seemed to run to his chin, his lower jaw
protruding far beyond any ordinary sign of firmness, persistence
or willpower. His forehead is neither high nor receding, neither
is it that of a thoughtful or philosophic man. His ears are set
far back, and what is called the region of intellect, in which are
those mental attributes that might be defined as powers of
observation, calculation, judgment, and execution, is strongly
developed. The conformation of his head, however, is not one that
is generally accepted as an indication of any marked possession of
philoprogenitiveness or its kindred emotions and inclinations. His
nose is aquiline, bloodless and obtrusive; When he speaks it is
with a high nasal enunciation that is not disagreeable, because it
is not prolonged, and his sentences justify every impression that
has already been formed of the man. They are short, crisp,
emphatic and expressive.
"'I have an aversion to speech,' he said. 'I am an enemy of
publications. I prefer to act, not to talk. I am here to restore
peace. When peace is in the land I am going away. I am a soldier.
When I am gone, politicians will reconstruct Cuba, and probably
they will upset things again until they are as bad as they are
now. I care not for America, England, anyone, but only for the
treaties we have with them. They are the law. I observe the law,
and every letter of the law. I have my ideas of Cuba's relation to
Spain. I have never expressed them. Some politicians would agree
with them, others would not. No one would agree with all of them.
I know I am merciless, but mercy has no place in war. I know the
reputation which has been built up for me. Things that are charged
to me were done by officers under me, and I was held responsible
for all things in the Ten-Years' war, including its victorious
end. I do not conceal the fact that I am here solely because it is
believed I can crush this insurrection. I care not what is said
about me, unless it is a lie so great as to occasion alarm. I am
not a politician. I am Weyler.'"
A WOMAN'S INTERVIEW WITH WEYLER.
The following interview with the "Butcher" is by Mrs. Kate
Masterson, who bearded the lion in his den for an American
newspaper:
"His Excellency, Captain-General Weyler, graciously gave me an
audience to-day. He received me with most charming courtesy,
escorted me through his apartments and presented me with a bunch
of roses from his own table. Before I left he had honored me with
an invitation to dine with him at the Palace.
"'Your Excellency,' I said to him through my interpreter, 'the
American women have a very bad opinion of you. I am very much
afraid of you myself, but I have come to ask the honor of an
interview with you, in order that I may write something which will
reassure the women of America that you are not treating women and
children unmercifully.'
"'I do not give interviews,' he said. 'I am willing, however, to
answer any question you wish to ask.'
"'In the United States,' I said, 'an impression prevails that your
edict shutting out newspaper correspondents from the field is only
to conceal cruelties perpetrated upon the insurgent prisoners.
Will your Excellency tell me the real cause?'
"'I have,' replied the General, 'shut out the Spanish and Cuban
papers from the field, as well as the American. In the last war
the correspondents created much jealousy by what they wrote. They
praised one and rebuked the other. They wrote what the prisoners
dictated, instead of facts. They even created ill-feeling between
the Spanish officers. They are a nuisance.'
"'Then I can deny the stories as to your being cruel?'
"The General shrugged his heavy shoulders as he said carelessly:
'I have no time to pay attention to stories. Some of them are true
and some are not. If you will particularize I will give direct
answers, but these things are not important.'
"'Does not your Excellency think that prisoners of war should be
treated with consideration and mercy?'
"The General's eyes glinted dangerously. 'The Spanish columns
attend to their prisoners just as well as any other country in
time of war,' he replied. 'War is war. You cannot make it
otherwise, try as you will.'
"'Will not your Excellency allow me to go to the scene of battle
under an escort of soldiers, if necessary, that I may write of the
situation as it really is, and correct the impression that
prevails in America that inhuman treatment is being accorded to
the insurgent prisoners?'
"'Impossible,' answered the General. 'It would not be safe.'
"'I am willing to take all the danger, if your Excellency will
allow me to go,' I exclaimed.
"General Weyler laughed. 'There would be no danger from the
rebels,' he said, 'but from the Spanish soldiers. They are of a
very affectionate disposition and would all fall in love with
you.'
"'I will keep a great distance from the fighting, if you will
allow me to go.'
"The General's lips closed tightly, and he said: 'Impossible!
Impossible!'
"'What would happen,' I asked, 'if I should be discovered crossing
the lines without permission?'
"'You would be treated just the same as a man.'
"'Would I be sent to Castle Morro?'
"'Yes,' he replied, nodding his head vigorously. That settled it.
I decided not to go.
"'Why,' I asked him, 'is the rule incommunicado placed upon
prisoners? Is it not cruel to prevent a man from seeing his wife
and children?'
"'The rule incommunicado,' said the General, 'is a military law.
Prisoners are allowed to see their relatives as a favor, but we
exercise discretion in these cases.'
"'There are stories that prisoners are shot in Castle Morro at
daybreak each morning, and that the shots can be plainly heard
across the bay. Is this true?'
"The General's eyes looked unpleasant again. 'It is false!' he
said shortly. 'The prisoners go through a regular court-martial,
and no one could be shot at Morro without my orders, and I have
not given orders to shoot anyone since I have been here.'
"'Do you not think it very cruel that innocent women and children
should be made to suffer in time of war?'
"'No innocent women and children do suffer. It is only those who
leave their homes and take part in battle who are injured. It is
only the rebels who destroy peaceful homes.'
"'It is reported,' I said, 'that thirty women are fighting under
Maceo. Is this true?'
"'Yes,' replied the General. 'We took one woman yesterday. She was
dressed in man's clothes and was wielding a machete. She is now in
Morro Castle. These women are fiercer than men. Many of them are
mulattoes. This particular woman was white.'
"'What will be her fate?'
"'She will go through the regular form of trial.'
"'Will no mercy be shown her?'
"'Mercy is always shown to a woman. While the law is the same for
both sexes, there is a clause which admits of mercy to a woman.'
"'There are several Cuban women insurgents in Morro and the
Cabanas. Would your Excellency,' I asked, 'allow me to visit
them?'
"'No,' he said. 'There is a law that no foreigner shall enter our
fortresses. It is a military law. We can make no exceptions. You
understand that I do not wish to be discourteous, senorita.'
"'Some of these women,' I continued, 'are said to be imprisoned
for merely having Cuban flags in their homes. Is this possible?'
"'Treason,' exclaimed the General, 'is always a crime, punishable
by imprisonment.'
"'There is a newspaper correspondent at present in Morro. What was
his crime?'
"The General shrugged his shoulders again. 'I know nothing about
him,' he said. 'I think he has been freed.'
"'Do you not think the life of a newspaper correspondent in Havana
is at present a most unhappy one?'
"'I think it must be, for they make me unhappy. If they were all
like you it would be a pleasure.'
"'Is it true that thumbscrews are used to extort confessions from
prisoners?'
"'Not by the Spaniards. Rebels use all these things, similar to
those that were used in the Inquisition tortures.'
"'What does your Excellency think of the Cubans as a race? Do you
not think them progressive and brave?'
"'With the progress of all nations the Cubans have progressed,' he
replied. 'There are many Cubans in sympathy with Spain, but this
insurrection is a blot upon the Cuban race which nothing can ever
erase. It is a stain made with the blood of the slain and the
tears of the women. It injures the Cubans themselves more than any
other.'"
In spite of Weyler's boasts when he assumed command of the Spanish
forces in Cuba that he would quickly put down the insurrection,
his failure was as complete as that of General Campos had been,
and his recall was finally demanded. In his letter of protest to
the home government he said:
"If the functions with which the government had entrusted me had
been merely those of Governor General of Cuba, I should have
hastened to resign. But the twofold character of my mission and my
duty as commander-in-chief in the face of the enemy prevent my
tendering a resignation.
"Nevertheless, although I can rely upon the absolute,
unconditional support of the autonomist and constitutional
parties, as well as upon public opinion, this would be
insufficient without the confidence of the government, now more
than ever necessary to me after the censure of which I have been
made the object by the members and journals of the Liberal party
and by public opinion in the United States, which latter is
largely influenced by the former. This confidence would be
necessary to enable me to put an end to the war, which has already
been virtually concluded from our lines at Jucaro to Cape
Antonio."
Senor Sagasta replied: "I thank you for your explanation and value
your frankness, I wish to assure you that the government
recognizes your services and values them as they deserve, but it
thinks a change of policy. In order to succeed, requires that the
authorities should be at one with the ministry."
CHAPTER XXIV.
CUBA UNDER THE SCOURGE.
The Civil Guards and Their Crimes--Horrible Murder of Eight
Innocent Men--A Man After Weyler's Own Heart--How the Spanish Gain
"Victories"--Life, Liberty and Property Sacrificed--The War Not a
Race War--Resistance to the Bitter End.
Cuba has been under martial law for over fifty years, and its
enforcement by the Civil guards (as the officers appointed by the
Spanish government are called) has been responsible for
innumerable outrages against the lives and property of the
inhabitants. These officials have been guilty of every crime in
the calendar, but protected by their positions they have escaped
legal punishment, and it has only been on occasions when, driven
to desperation, the people have acted as judges and executioners
by taking the law into their own hands that any redress has been
possible.
If for any reason these guards wish to persecute a man, the fact
that he is a non-combatant is no protection to him, nor to his
family. They have been the means of adding to the ranks of the
insurrectionists, for frequently the man who has seen his
relatives and friends shot before his eyes, to satisfy some
personal spite, or in order that some officer may get credit for a
battle, has left his fields and gone to strike a manly blow for
his country and his home.
The story of eight peaceable white men, who were shot without
trial, at Campo Florida, near Havana, will serve as an example of
the work of these fiends.
These poor fellows were arrested, their arms were tied, and they
were taken to the police station. One of them had just completed a
coffin for a woman, and he was dragged to the station with a rope
about his neck. The next day, without even the pretense of a
trial, they were taken two at a time into a ravine near the fort,
where a trench had been lately dug, and in spite of the most
pitiful pleas for mercy, they were shot down in cold blood by the
cruel guards, who seemed to take fiendish delight in their work of
blood.
The following statement was seat by Cuban, patriots, with the
request that it be given the widest publicity possible, among the
people of the United States:
"If the government that unhappily rules the destinies of this
unfortunate country should be true to the most rudimentary
principles of justice and morality, Colonel Jull, who has been
recently appointed Military Governor of Matanzas province, should
be in the galleys among criminals. It is but a short time since he
was relieved by General Martinez Campos of the military command at
Cienfuegos, as he had not once engaged any of the insurgent
forces, but vented all his ferocious instincts against innocent
and inoffensive peasants.
"In Yaguaramas, a small town near Cienfuegos, he arrested as
suspects and spies Mr. Antonio Morejon, an honest and hard-working
man, and Mr. Ygnacio Chapi, who is well advanced in years, and
almost blind. Not being able to prove the charge against them, as
they were innocent, he ordered Major Moreno, of the Barcelona
battalion, doing garrison duty at Yaguaramas, to kill them with
the machete and have them buried immediately. Major Moreno
answered that he was a gentleman, who had come to fight for the
integrity of his country, and not to commit murder. This
displeased the colonel sorely, but, unfortunately, a volunteer
sergeant, with six others, was willing to execute the order of the
colonel, and Morejon and Chapi were murdered without pity.
"The order of Jull was executed in the most cruel manner. It
horrifies to even think of it. Mr. Chapi, who knew the ways of
Colonel Jull, on being awakened at three o'clock in the morning,
and notified by the guard that he and Morejon had to go out,
suspected what was to come, and told his companion to cry out for
help as soon as they were taken out of the fort. They did so, but
those who were to execute the order of Jull were neither moved nor
weakened in their purpose.
A HORRIBLE SIGHT.
"On the contrary, at the first screams of Chapi and Morejon they
threw a lasso over their heads, and pulled at it by the ends. In a
few moments they fell to the ground choked to death. They were
dragged on the earth, without pity, to the place where they were
buried. All this bloody scene was witnessed by Jull from a short
distance. Providence had not willed that so much iniquity should
remain hidden forever. In the hurry the grave where these two
innocent men were buried was not dug deep enough, and part of the
rope with which they were choked remained outside. A neighbor,
looking for a lost cow, saw the rope, took hold of it, and, on
pulling, disinterred the head of one of the victims. He was terror
stricken, and immediately gave notice to the judge, who, on
ascertaining that the men had been killed by order of Colonel
Jull, suspended proceedings.
"The neighbors and all the civil and military authorities know
everything that has been related here, but such is the state of
affairs on the island that General Weyler has no objection to
appointing this monster, Colonel Jull, Military Governor of
Matanzas. Such deeds as those enumerated are common. The people of
the town of Matanzas, with Jull as Governor, and Arolas at the
head of a column, will suffer in consequence of their pernicious
and bloody instincts.
"That the readers may know in part who General Arolas is, it may
be well to relate what has happened in the Mercedes estate, near
Colon. It having come to his knowledge that a small body of rebels
was encamped on the sugar estate Mercedes, of Mr. Carrillo,
General Arolas went to engage them, but the rebels, who were few
in numbers, retreated. Much vexed at not being able to discharge
one shot at them, he made prisoners of three workmen who were out
in the field herding the animals of the estate and without any
formality of trial shot them. When the bodies were taken to the
Central they were recognized, and to cover his responsibility
somewhat, General Arolas said that when he challenged them they
ran off, and at the first discharge of musketry they fell dead."
LIFE, LIBERTY AND PROPERTY SACRIFICED.
Life, liberty and property have all been sacrificed by these
determined patriots for the sake of the cause they love. Their
towns have been burned, their homes pillaged, their wives and
children starved, and in many sections of the island nothing but
ruin and waste meets the eye. Even their sick and wounded are not
safe from the oppressor's sword, and wherever the insurgents have
a hospital, they have a garrison to protect it. Each of the six
provinces has an insurgent hospital, with a staff of physicians and
nurses, and a detachment of the army.
The largest of these lies in that part of Santa Clara called the
Isthmus of Zapata. It is a wild, swampy region, through which the
natives alone can distinguish those precarious tracks, where the
slightest deviation means being engulfed in the treacherous
morass.
A DETERMINED RESISTANCE.
A prominent Cuban, who may be said to speak for his entire race,
makes this declaration:
"The population of the island is, in round numbers, 1,600,000, of
which less than 200,000 are Spaniards, some 500,000 are colored
Cubans, and over 800,000 white Cubans. Of the Spaniards, a small
but not inconsiderable fraction, although not taking an active
part in the defense of our cause, sympathize with, and are
supporting it in various ways. Of the Cubans, whether colored or
white, all are in sympathy with the revolution, with the exception
of a few scattered individuals who hold positions under the
Spanish government or are engaged in enterprises which cannot
thrive without it. All of the Cubans who have had the means and
the opportunity to join the revolutionary army have done so, while
those who have been compelled for one reason or another to remain
in the cities are co-operating to the best of their abilities. If
the people of the small section of the western part of the island,
which yet remains quiet, were supplied with arms and ammunition
they would rise, to a man, within twenty-four hours.
"This revolution of the whole Cuban people against the government
of Spain is what the Spanish officials are pleased to describe as
a disturbance caused by a few adventurers, robbers, bandits, and
assassins! But they have a purpose in so characterizing it, and it
is no other than to justify, in some way, the war of extermination
which the Prime Minister of Spain himself has declared will be
waged by his government against the Cuban people. They are not yet
satisfied with the rivers of human blood with which in times past
they inundated the fields of Italy, of the Low Countries, of our
continent of America, and only a few years ago, of Cuba itself.
The Spanish newspaper of Havana, 'El Pueblo,' urges the Spanish
soldiers to give no quarter, to spare no one, to kill all, all
without exception, until they shall have torrents of Cuban blood
in which to bathe themselves. It is well. The Cubans accept the
challenge, but they will not imitate their tyrants and cover
themselves with infamy by waging a savage war. The Cubans respect
the lives of their Spanish prisoners, they do not attack
hospitals, and they cure and assist with the same care and
solicitude with which they cure and assist their own, the wounded
Spaniards who may fall into their hands. They have done so from
the beginning of the war, and they will not change their humane
policy.
"The Spanish officials have also attempted to convince you that
the Cuban war is a war of races. Of what races? Of the black
against the white? It is not true, and the facts plainly show that
there is nothing of the kind. Nor is the war waged by Cubans
against the Spaniards as such. No. The war is waged against the
government of Spain, and only against the government of Spain and
the officials and a few monopolists, who, under it, live and
thrive upon the substance of the Cubans. We have no ill feeling
against the thousands of Spaniards who industriously and honestly
make their living in Cuba.
"But with the Spanish government we will make no peace, and we
will make no compromise. Under its rule there will be nothing for
our people but oppression and misery. For years and years the
Cuban people have patiently suffered, and in the interests of the
colony, as well as in the interests of the metropolis, have
earnestly prayed for reforms. Spain has not only turned a deaf ear
to the prayers, but instead of reforming the most glaring abuses,
has allowed them to increase and flourish, until such a point has
been reached that the continuation of Spanish rule means for the
Cuban people utter destruction."
CHAPTER XXV.
FITZHUGH LEE TO THE FRONT.
Importance of the American Consulate at Havana in a Critical
Time--General Fitzhugh Lee the Man for the Place--Sketch of the
Life of Lee--A Nation's Confidence in Its Popular Hero--How He
Left Havana and How He Promised to Return Wife and Family of
General Lee--His Place During the Early Period of the War.
Never was there a more genuine and typical American gentleman in a
difficult position where a genuine and typical American gentleman was
needed, than Fitzhugh Lee, the American consul-general at Havana during
the most critical time prior to the outbreak of our war with Spain. The
Cuban consul generalship is an office of much greater importance than
others of the same name in other countries where diplomatic
representatives are maintained. It includes the obligations of diplomacy
as well as those of commerce, and Lee was the man for both.
His predecessor in the office, Ramon Williams, had held the
position for many years and it was recognized by him as well as by
the authorities at Washington that a change should be made because
of the unusual demands upon the office. His long and faithful
service in the tropical country had undermined his health so that
his energies were lessened thereby, at a time when they were most
needed for the safety of American interests.
It was in the spring of 1896 that President Cleveland, believing
that a man of unusual ability should represent the United States
at Havana, chose Fitzhugh Lee for the post. The selection was
approved from the first by everyone who knew him, and not many
months had passed until General Lee became an idol and a hero of
the whole American people.
His Havana record has been no surprise to those who knew of his
exploits during the war, or of his family. Blood will tell, and it
has told in the case of General Lee. His family has always been
famous in American history. How could the grandson of "Lighthorse
Harry, the Revolutionary hero," or the nephew of Robert E. Lee, be
anything else but courageous and possessed of tact and common
sense?
The son of a naval officer, he preferred the army as a career.
Graduating from West Point, he fought on the frontier for six
years before the opening of the Rebellion, and was engaged in
several desperate encounters with the Comanche Indians in Texas.
On one of these occasions he was pierced through the lungs by an
arrow, but he lived to tell the story. On another occasion he
grappled with a big Indian in a hand-to-hand encounter, threw his
antagonist on the ground and killed him.
Though only twenty-seven years of age, Lee was an instructor in
cavalry tactics at West Point when the war broke out. He "followed
his State" into the secession movement. His war record is a matter
of pride to every Virginian. The dashing young officer was an
ideal trooper, fearing nothing and loved by his men. He was
modest, too. After some brilliant movement of personal valor his
brigade formed in a body and determined to serenade him at his
headquarters, expecting, of course, a speech. But Lee got an
inkling of the matter, and when he saw them coming he slipped out
of his tent and hid in the bushes. After the disappointed troopers
had called for him in vain and dispersed he peeped furtively from
his hiding place, and in a subdued tone asked, "Have they gone?"
COMPOSURE IN BATTLE.
General Lee possessed remarkable composure in battle. He never got
the least rattled under the most trying conditions, except at
Saylor's Creek, on the retreat from Petersburg; he never betrayed
anxiety, and, though often under a rattling fire, no one ever saw
him dodge. This cannot be said of many of the bravest men.
Sometimes a bullet will unexpectedly whizz close to one's head,
and the impulse to dodge is almost irresistible, though it never
did anybody any good.
One of the officers with him said once that the only time he had
been moved by the enemy's fire was at the battle of Winchester. He
and General Early met under an apple tree near the summit of a
hill and in a very exposed place. There was no firing at the time,
but while the two generals, still on their horses, were intently
examining a map, one shot was fired. It fell short and they paid
no attention to it. But lo! another came, struck the apple tree
just above their heads, and as the apples rained down on them they
concluded the map could be better examined in a less exposed
position--a conclusion in which all others agreed with remarkable
unanimity. And nobody stopped to get any apples.
General Lee is a superb horseman. He rode a splendid mare named
Nellie. She had the form, the strength, the nimbleness of limb,
the tapering neck, the alert poise of the head, the bright and
intelligent eyes that made her a model worthy to bear any master.
She was all grace and beauty. When the confederate columns were
broken in the same battle and the rout began, for it was little
less, General Lee was at a very exposed point. The fire of thirty
pieces of artillery was directed against it. The air was full of
exploding shells; horses were plunging about on three legs,
neighing piteously for a place of refuge; others were disemboweled
by the furious shot; others were loose, running to and fro,
bewildered by the terrible havoc, while the mutilated bodies of
men could be seen on every hand; numbers who were crippled were
hobbling away, and all seemed doomed to death. It was here that
the beautiful Nellie was gored by one fragment of shell and her
master's leg torn by another.
He was noted for his geniality and jollity. He loved humor and
fun, and got all there was to be had in those trying times. But
his cheerfulness failed at Appomattox. There he cried.
After the war had ended, General Lee settled in Stafford County as
a farmer and miller. His life was the quiet and uneventful one of
a country gentleman, caring for nothing but his wife, whom he
married in 1871, and his children. About 1875 he began to take an
active part in politics, and he attended the national convention
of 1876 as a delegate. In 1885 he was elected governor of
Virginia. It was then that he again became conspicuous. General
Lee headed the southern division of the inauguration parade, and
his handsome presence and splendid horsemanship forced the men on
the sidewalks to cheer him with more vim than they did anyone
else. A similar demonstration occurred when, four years later,
General Lee led the Virginia troops in the Washington centennial
parade in New York to the stirring tune of "Dixie." On both of
these occasions he sat in the identical saddle which his uncle,
General Robert E. Lee, had used on his familiar gray war horse,
Traveler. Who could occupy it more worthily? Any one who has seen
"Fitz" Lee mounted like a centaur on a Virginia thoroughbred is
certain to have in memory ever afterward an ideal figure of a
knightly "man on horseback." Afoot he is not so imposing, being
only of medium stature, and, of late years, quite portly. He has a
fine head and face, with frank steel blue eyes and a ruddy
complexion, set off by his now almost white hair, mustache and
imperial. His bearing is alert and military. Altogether, he does
not look, and probably does not feel, his sixty-two years.
During Mr. Cleveland's second term he was made collector of
internal revenue at Lynchburg, Va.
THE MAN FOR THE PLACE AT HAVANA.
Once settled in his position in Havana, General Lee's fame began
to multiply. The American opinion of him was voiced immediately
after the destruction of the Maine, by L. P. Sigsbee, the brother
of the commander of that ill-fated ship, when he said: "There's a
man down there looking after the interests of this country who
cannot be blinded. He has more sand than anybody I know of, and if
there's anything treacherous in this explosion we'll know of it
without delay. The man I mean is General Fitzhugh Lee."
The same thought occurred to every American who had watched his
career. From first to last everybody had confidence in his
Americanism, his bravery and his cool-headedness. He held his
office through merit alone, no politician gaining any success in
the effort to win from him that position of distinction and
profit, after the change of administration when President McKinley
assumed the executive chair. The nation recognized that he was
first an American and an interference with him on partisan grounds
would not have been tolerated.
Jealous of American honor, and firm in insisting upon the rights
of his countrymen, he has always kept cool. Courteous and polite
as well as courageous, he has never blustered and he has won the
respect and admiration of the Spaniards as well as their fear.
Throughout his service in Cuba, General Lee's figure was a
familiar one in Havana, and even by those most antagonistic to him
because of their official position, he was heartily admired. No
matter what the threat of violence from hot-headed Spaniards, when
the relations were most strained between the two countries,
General Lee never admitted the slightest danger to himself and
refused to accept any guard except that which he himself was able
to maintain for himself. Upon the streets and in the hotels and
cafes he was exempt from disrespect by the sheer force of his
splendid personality. And never until the last day of his stay in
Havana when all diplomatic relations were severed, did the Spanish
authorities in that city omit any of the forms of courtesy.
GENERAL LEE PROMISES TO RETURN.
On that day, when in company with the British Consul General he
went to bid farewell to Captain General Blanco, the latter refused
to see him upon the excuse that he was too busy. When the homeward
voyage was actually begun, in the little boat that carried to the
steamer the Consul General and the last newspaper correspondents
who remained in Havana till the end, the malice of the Spanish
onlookers at the docks could restrain itself no longer. With
imprecations and scornful and insulting epithets they raised their
voices against him. With proper dignity General Lee ignored it
all, except to say in one definite last message, that he would be
back again before long with troops to stand by him.
In his office in the consulate at Havana, General Lee gained the
admiration and the confidence of every American who had occasion
to meet him. Brave as an American should be, and equally gentle
and tender-hearted, he was the man for the place. The Spanish
outrages upon American citizens roused in him but two sentiments.
One was sympathy and grief for those who suffered. The other was
indignation and enmity against those who were guilty. To the
extent of all his power he guarded and aided those for whom that
first sentiment was roused. He left Cuba with an accumulation of
detestation for Spanish outrages in that unhappy island against
Americans and Cubans, that would stimulate to deeds of valor
through whatever warfare might follow in which he should be a
leader. With a great heart, a brilliant mind and a magnificent
physique, General Lee combined all the qualities which made him
worthy of the American pride which was centered upon him.
CHAPTER XXVL
AMERICANS IN SPANISH DUNGEONS.
Spanish Hatred of the American Nation--Instances of Injustice--
The Case of Dr. Ruiz--His Death in a Dungeon--Julio Sanguilly--
Action of the United States Senate in His Behalf--A Correspondent
in Morro Castle--Walter Dygert's Experiences--General Lee Shows
His Mettle in the Case of Charles Scott.
Not content with their cruel and inhuman treatment of Cuban
patriots, the Spanish officials have seemed to take special
satisfaction in imprisoning and even murdering American citizens
on the slightest pretext. The object of their most bitter hatred
is the insurgent, but if they are to be judged by their deeds, it
would appear that the American occupies a close second place in
their black-list.
Time and again our government has been compelled to interfere to
save the lives of its citizens, and unfortunately this
interference has on several occasions been too late. It is not
possible to present a list of all the men and women of American
birth who have lost life, liberty and property by Spanish
authority, from the massacre of the crew of the Virginius to the
wrecking of the Maine, but a few instances may be mentioned, which
will prove conclusively that the retribution, of which the
glorious victory in Manila bay was but the commencement, came none
too soon.
THE CASE OF DR. RUIZ.
One of the most flagrant of these outrages was the imprisonment of
Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, a Cuban by birth, but a naturalized citizen of
the United States. He was a dentist by profession, having studied
in a Pennsylvania dental college, and after receiving his diploma,
he returned to his native country to practice his profession.
He was accused of being in sympathy with the revolutionists,
arrested and kept in prison for two years, when he died, probably
from violence. In the following letter, written from Havana,
regarding the case, will be seen the reasons for this supposition:
"Ruiz died, according to the surgeons, from congestion of the
brain, caused by a blow or blows. When General Lee and Mr. Calhoun
visited the jail in Guanabacoa, they were shown the cell in which
the Spanish say that Ruiz died. The guard explained to General Lee
and Mr. Calhoun that he heard thumping on the inside of the door,
and when he opened it and went in, Ruiz was running at the heavy
door and butting it with his head. Ruiz had only one wound on the
top of his head. Had he butted this door, as the jailer says, his
scalp must necessarily have been lacerated in several places."
Julio Sanguilly is another American citizen who was tried for
treason, and sentenced to life imprisonment. This case attracted a
great deal of attention in the United States, and a resolution was
passed by the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, making
a demand on the Spanish government for his release. During the
debate on this resolution, Senator Daniel, of Virginia, said:
"Two years ago yesterday, Julio Sanguilly, an American citizen,
was thrown into prison. Two years have gone by and this government
has done practically nothing for this citizen. Great Britain would
have released him as soon as one of her battleships could reach
Havana. He has been brutally treated and condemned on unsworn
testimony before military tribunals. This country and all
civilization have been disgraced by the treatment meted out to
this unfortunate man. Every citizen of this country would have
patriotically applauded the President if he had sent a fleet of
American battleships and compelled the release, of this American
citizen, whose country has been insulted by the treatment accorded
to him and to our representative in Cuba."
The Prime Minister at Madrid, realizing that trouble of a serious
nature was likely to come from this affair, cabled Weyler to
discharge the prisoner from custody, and banish him from the
island.
Sanguilly immediately came to the United States, where he was
warmly received by his friends, and he has since been actively
engaged in work for Cuba's freedom.
Charles Scott, an employe of the American Gas Company, was
arrested at Regla, charged with having Cuban postage stamps in his
possession. He was in solitary confinement, in a damp, empty cell,
five feet by eleven, for fourteen days. Once during his
imprisonment he was left for two days without even a drop of
water. General Lee, then United States Consul at Havana, cabled to
Washington, asking that arrangements be made to send war vessels
to Havana, in case of necessity, and declaring that unless his
requests were complied with, he would leave the island. In this
affair, as in many others, General Lee proved that he was the
right man in the right place, for it was due to his efforts in
Scott's behalf that he was finally given his liberty.
Mr. Charles Michaelson, a newspaper correspondent, and his
interpreter, were imprisoned, in Morro Castle as suspects. It
required fine detective work to discover this fact, for they were
missing for some time before it was definitely known that they
were in the clutches of Weyler, but the "Butcher" finally admitted
it, and after a short delay was persuaded by the United States
Consul to release them. Mr. Michaelson's treatment was almost
brutal in its nature.
The interior of the castle is like a dungeon, and he was compelled
to sleep on the floor, as a hammock sent to him by friends outside
was not given to him till the day of his release. His food was
thrown to him through the bars of the door, and meals sent in to
him were eaten by the guards. Rats were his constant companions,
and when, occasionally, he would sink into a light slumber, he
would be suddenly awakened to find one of the animals in his hair,
another burrowing under his coat, and still another making a meal
on his shoes. On one occasion he threw a shoe at a rat, which
struck the door of his cell, whereupon the guard threatened to
punish him for a breach of prison discipline, the noise being
against the rules.
Walter Dygart relates his experience while the enforced guest of
the Spanish government. It is evident that the keeper of a prison
in Cuba has a profitable occupation.
"A child may weep at brambles' smart,
And maidens when their lovers part;
But woe worth a country when
She sees the tears of bearded men."
"These lines by the poet, Scott, recurred to me when I saw aged
men weeping and heart-broken at being separated from their
families and shut up in this hell. But why does the Spanish
government shut up helpless cripples and non-combatants? This is a
question that puzzled me for some time, but I finally solved it,
and will answer it after I have described the food and water.
"A little after six in the morning we were, each of us, given a
very small cup of coffee. The first meal of the day, if it could
be called a meal, came after nine o'clock. It consisted of a
little rice, which was generally dirty, a few small potatoes,
boiled with their skins on, and often partly rotten, a little
piece of boiled salt beef, or beef cut up in small bits, with
soup, just about half enough, and of the poorest quality. The meat
was often spoiled and unfit for anything but a vulture to eat. The
second and last meal of the day came about four in the afternoon,
and was the same as the first.
"I had no opportunity to count the prisoners, but I learned that
there were about 180 on the average confined there. I learned as
definitely as I could, without seeing the contract, that a certain
party had the contract to feed these prisoners at twenty-five
cents each per day. Thus he gets $45 a day, and I learned that the
food costs him only $7 to $8 a day, and, as some of the prisoners
did the cooking, his profit can be readily seen. On such a
contract he could afford to divide with the judge and army
officers to keep the prison full."
A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN MORRO CASTLE.
The Southern Baptist Missionary Society has a mission in the city
of Havana, and it was formerly in charge of Rev. Alberto J. Diaz,
whose home is in the United States. Ever loyal to his flag, and
believing in the institutions of his country, he lost no
opportunity to preach civil as well as religious liberty, and
though often warned to desist, by the Spanish authorities, he
continued the course which he regarded as his solemn duty. He
gives particulars of his arrest as follows:
"About three o'clock one morning I was aroused by a knock at the
door of my house, and when I opened it I saw some fifty or sixty
Spanish soldiers, with their guns leveled at me. I quickly shut
the door and talked through it. The captain said he must search
the house, and I consented to let three men come in. They spent
seven hours looking through two trunks full of sermons, and other
papers, and when the search was completed they had found no
incriminating documents."
Nevertheless, both Dr. Diaz and his brother were imprisoned in
Morro Castle. They were tried for treasonable utterances and
sentenced to death. Fortunately one of the sentries of the prison
was a member of Dr. Diaz's church, and through his kind offices, a
message was sent to the president of the Southern Baptist
Missionary Society in Atlanta. He communicated with the
authorities at Washington. This resulted in the execution being
postponed, and the brothers were accorded more humane treatment
than they had received heretofore.
Dr. Diaz now addressed a telegram to our Secretary of State,
giving the particulars of the arrest, trial and conviction, and
appealing to him to demand their immediate release. The message
was smuggled on board a boat bound for Key West, and Weyler,
hearing of it, at once cabled to Washington that Diaz had been
released. He, with his brother and his family, was compelled to
leave the island by the first steamer, and they returned to the
United States.
In our treaty with Spain, which was in force up to the time of the
declaration of war, was the following clause:
"No citizen of the United States, residing in Spain, her adjacent
islands, or her ultramarine possessions, charged with acts of
sedition, treason, or conspiracy against the institutions, the
public security, the integrity of the territory, or against the
supreme government, or any other crime whatsoever, shall be
subject to trial by any exceptionable tribunal, but exclusively by
the ordinary jurisdiction, except in the case of being captured
with arms in hand."
This treaty was supposed to protect American citizens from trial
by martial law, but it was disregarded by Spanish officials in
Cuba time and again, and, in fact, up to the time of General Lee's
arrival in Havana, an American citizen had very little advantage
over a Cuban insurgent, when the safety of his property or his
person was concerned.