THE BEGINNINGS OF THE REBELLION.
The difficulties of governing a colony blessed with so heterogeneous a
population as Cuba, are, as may well be conceived, great and manifold.
The ordinary newspaper reader is apt to conclude that his favourite
daily fully instructs him as to the Hispano-Cuban question, and takes
the Spaniards for a set of damnable inquisitors, who harry, torture, and
starve the angelic Cubans out of sheer devilry, precisely as the unlucky
Abd'ul' Hamid is supposed to have given his personal supervision to the
Armenian massacres. The Cuban business, like all other great political
and social questions, is a very complex one, and, in order to gain even
a general idea of its intricacies, some knowledge of its origin must be
obtained.
Spain's greatest mistake has been the persistent obstinacy with which
she has attempted to govern her colonies by the sword and the crozier--a
combination of military and ecclesiastical methods which, successful as
it may have been in the earlier periods of her history, has proved
ominously fatal in our times, and especially so in Cuba, where, since
the end of the last century, education has made considerable strides,
and the better class of colonists have watched, with rising enthusiasm,
the great revolutionary wave which has swept over Europe and America
alike.
The youth of Cuba entered heartily into the spirit of the times. Yet,
when the Great Revolution affected Spain, and spread to her colonies,
which, for the most part, rose in open rebellion against her, Cuba
remained faithful to the mother country,--in spite of her keen sympathy,
expressed and actively testified, for the United States in their late
struggle for independence. At the same time, Cubans were beginning to
realise the fact that they themselves were none too well governed; and
indeed for over a century and a half the Spanish islanders had been
chafing against official exactions, and against the obsolete form of
government established in the island. The famous colonial code, _Las
leyes de Indias_, already mentioned, was still in force, and unmodified,
as yet, to suit the exigencies of a newer civilization. In 1766 there
had been a distinct movement against the then Captain-General,--so the
Governor of the island was called,--who had taken upon himself to levy a
tax on all slaves imported, which tax he was accused of applying to his
own benefit. Then came the incident in the reign of Charles III., when
Spain afforded active assistance to the American insurgents, and a
number of Spanish and Cuban volunteers started from Havana, where they
had assembled, to join the rebellion against Great Britain. The words
"freedom and independence" were thus early rendered familiar to Cuban
ears. A little later, following the example of the great Anglo-Saxon
colony of the North, all the Spanish settlements in South America broke
into open revolt, and clamoured for their liberty. The name of Bolivar
was soon to set men's pulses beating under the Southern Cross, even as
that of Washington had lately stirred all hearts in the Northern
Hemisphere. The Spanish empire in the New World was tottering to its
fall. One by one Spain's colonies were torn from her feeble grasp. The
long-drawn revolution in Mexico, which, after fermenting for nearly half
a century, tossed the unhappy country to and fro from 1810 to 1824, had
a definite effect on the destiny of Cuba, which for over three centuries
had been partially dependent on the government of that once opulent
colony.
In a Catholic country, when priestly influence becomes apparently
paramount, it is frequently opposed by an under-current of surreptitious
free-thought. This condition of things began, in the case of Cuba, quite
early in the present century. A number of secret societies were then
formed, the majority of them affiliated to the great Masonic
Brotherhood, which has worked so mightily to undermine Spanish dominion
in the Southern Americas. For the Cuban lodges, like those of Italy and
France, have always occupied themselves with the religious and political
questions so rigorously avoided by English Masons. Their influence has
always been opposed to that of the clergy, and therefore to that of a
Government which has ever encouraged the interference of the Church in
temporal matters. For many years, Cuba has been covered by a network of
mysterious revolutionary associations, such as the _Rationales
Caballeros_, _Soles de Bolivar_, _Aguila Nigra_, and a host of others,
too numerous to mention. But these, for a considerable time, showed no
prominent activity--a circumstance accounted for by a sudden change in
the fortunes of the island. I have said that, until 1800, Cuba had been
dependent upon the Vice-royalty of Mexico, which was bound to pay all
the expenses of the maintenance of her public institutions, ports, and
roads. As the Spanish power in Mexico declined, the island, as may be
imagined, suffered; her ports soon fell into a deplorable condition,
and, owing to absolute monopolies imposed upon her trade,--held partly
by the Mexican Government, and partly by a chartered company established
at Seville,--the visits of merchantmen to her harbours grew few and far
between. The Revolution, which set a Bonaparte on the Spanish throne,
temporarily removed this incubus, and in 1805 the Cuban ports were
thrown open to general commerce, with the result that, whereas in 1804
less than a dozen ships, all belonging to the Seville company, passed
the Morro Castle at Havana, in 1806 over a thousand vessels from all
parts of the world cast anchor in the harbour. And further, the French
emigrants who had fled, twenty years earlier, from the San Domingo
massacres, had persuaded their Cuban hosts to devote their attention to
the sugar trade. Cane planting had for some years increased, in all
directions, and so rapidly, that travellers declared they scarcely
recognised the country, once so beautiful with its scores of dainty
green coffee plantations,--so exquisitely lovely when the star-like
blossoms scent the air,--now replaced by far-stretching acres of
unsightly cane. Be this as it may, sugar and tobacco were soon grown in
great abundance, and Cuba, with her ports freed from all the mediaeval
trammels which had hitherto shackled her commercial capacities, was soon
able to supply more than half the total amount of sugar then consumed in
Europe. This commerce resulted in an era of exceptional prosperity,
which lasted until 1825. Meanwhile the Cubans proved their passionate
affection for their mother country by refusing to acknowledge the
Napoleonic supremacy, and even by openly joining the enemies of their
deposed sovereigns. Every member of the Cuban National Assembly took the
oath to preserve his country for his former king. Such ardent patriotism
won the island the proud title of "Cuba la sempre Fiel!"--"Cuba the ever
Faithful."
The restoration of the Spanish monarchy, in 1814, was hailed with the
utmost enthusiasm by the colonists. Nevertheless, even at this time,
feuds between the Spaniards and the Cubans were frequent, the latter
lampooning the former as Godas or Goths; and it is even said that when
the Spanish ladies wore their hair long, the Cuban Sen[=o]ras cropped
theirs short--whence the name of pelonas (croppies) given them by their
rivals to this day. Well would it have been for Spain had she availed
herself of this outburst of loyalty in the richest corner still left to
her of her once prodigious empire! But insensate counsels prevailed, and
the mother country, by her ruthless abuse of Cuban confidence, gave
fresh and lamentable proof of her incapacity for colonial government.
It must be admitted that, whether at home or abroad, the Spaniards have
never been an easily governed people. The renowned Guicciardini,
Florentine ambassador to Ferdinand the Catholic, reports a very
interesting conversation with that monarch concerning his subjects.
"Ah!" said the father of our Katherine of Aragon, "the Spaniards were
ever essentially a nation of warriors, and also most undisciplined!
Everybody wants to be at the top of the tree, and nobody consents to
obey. The soldiers are better than their officers. Every Spaniard knows
how to fight, but none knows how to command either himself, or others."
Whereupon the Florentine historian adds, by way of rider--"This, in all
probability, is because discord is natural to the Spaniards,--an
illustrious, but arrogant, irritable, and turbulent, though generous,
race!"
If they were unmanageable in the days of their grandeur, when they had
all the wealth of the Indies at command, we may easily conceive what
they must be now, when they have fallen from the position of the
richest, to that of the poorest, nation in Europe.
The Cubans, the descendants of Spaniards, have inherited the Spanish
tendency to anarchy. When the army in Spain--as was of almost yearly
occurrence, earlier in this present century--made a Pronunciamento,
their Cuban brethren forthwith raised an insurrection, on some pretext
or another, of their own; and, as M. Charles Benoit says in his deeply
interesting work, _L'Espagne, Cuba, et les Etats-Unis_, "this natural
tendency on the part of the Spanish population in Cuba has been, if
anything, augmented by the influx of emigrants from all parts of the
world, who have brought with them all kinds of ideas and theories on the
subjects of morals and politics, and have thereby rendered the existing
confusion tenfold greater than in the good old times, when there were
only Cubans--that is to say, Spanish and negroes--on the island, and
everybody thought more or less alike." For all this, deep in his heart
the Cuban retains an intense love of the mother country,--a passionate
affection, indeed, which, should the Americans be victorious in the
present war, may eventually cause them considerable trouble.
In spite of the high sounding but empty title of "Faithful Cuba,"
bestowed on her generous island sons, Spain subtly reverted to her old
methods, and used their country as a sort of conquered El Dorado, the
quickly developed resources of which she was determined to turn to her
selfish account, regardless of possible consequences. The Cubans,
however, who had learnt many things since the opening of the century,
soon showed a distinct disinclination to submit to this process. The era
of prosperity already alluded to had attracted numbers of emigrants to
the island, from every quarter of the world,--more especially from the
United States; and constant contact with different races and varied
religions, added to the influence of the secret societies previously
mentioned (which had by this time become both wealthy and flourishing),
soon made their impression upon the better educated and more intelligent
classes, and therefore upon the masses, who, losing that extreme respect
for religious authority, ordinarily so characteristic of the Spanish
race, learnt to despise a feeble Government, which openly used its
clergy for its own ends and purposes.
Fortunately for Spain, and also for her Cuban subjects, the island was
administered, during the early years of the nineteenth century, by
Tacon, a man of exceptional ability and energy, who recognised the
immense capabilities of the country, and did his utmost to develop them.
He passed many laws of a beneficent and useful nature, and, in a word,
covered himself with honour, his name being even yet synonymous,
throughout the island, with ideas of justice and good government. Even
in his days some feeble attempts at insurrection were made, and a
certain Lorenzo placed himself at the head of some 3000 rebels, mostly
escaped negroes. Tacon had not much difficulty in routing him and his
ill-disciplined troops. The Havana of that period was by no means a safe
place of residence. It had become the gambling hell of the Americas, and
it was dangerous to walk its darksome streets at night, without a
considerable escort. Tacon availed himself of the opportunity created by
the great fire of 1802 (April 25-26) to rebuild the quarter of the city
then destroyed in a more regular style, and prohibited the future
erection of wooden houses, as dangerous to the public safety. He lighted
the city, suppressed the gambling saloons, prohibited the national game
of _Monte_, and established a well-organized police force and a fire
department. To sum it up, he proved, even in those far-off times, that
under a firm hand and common-sense administration, Cuba can be as well
and as easily governed as any other country under the sun. The great
Governor was guilty, however, of one dark deed: he encouraged the slave
trade. Hands were needed all over the Colony, on account of the
marvellous impetus which had been given to the sugar industries, and the
unfortunate Africans were used, so to speak, to pay the piper. In less
than ten years, over a hundred thousand negroes were imported into Cuba;
and as the masters never seriously attempted to civilize their field
hands, the present descendants of these slaves have added not a little
to the general anarchy now existing in the troubled island.
In 1812, the Cubans, still faithful to Spain, notwithstanding her many
sins of omission and commission, assisted in putting down a revolt among
the slaves in the neighbourhood of Bayamo, captured Aponte, the rebel
chief, and hanged him, together with eight of his associates. Hundreds
of negroes were massacred, or else driven into the forest, to die of
want.
The era of prosperity, which for nearly a quarter of a century, staved
off open revolt, began to decline between 1822 to 1837. The United
States had consolidated, and their increasing trade interfered
considerably with that of the whole West Indian Archipelago. Spain,
meanwhile, had gradually settled back into her old mediaeval
ways--enlivened by palace scandals and military _Pronunciamentos_. The
series of governors who succeeded Tacon were, with but few exceptions, a
worthless set, and the crowd of minor officials who accompanied them
were mere leeches, whose sole object was to seize every possible
opportunity, legitimate or illegitimate, for lining their own pockets.
Ridiculous taxes, unreasonable dues and fees, were invented and imposed.
When the unfortunate Cubans raised an outcry against this wholesale
robbery, they were treated as rebels, and not a few,--chiefly members of
the various secret societies,--were arrested and imprisoned, and even
executed, without trial.[9]
In 1835 the Cubans claimed to have their interests represented in the
National Cortes by native members. The request was treated with a
contempt that will never be forgotten nor forgiven. From that day, a
feeling of bitter hatred and distrust has utterly severed the Cuban
population from its Spanish brethren. Ties of blood have been torn
asunder, and the sad truth that a family feud exceeds all others in
bitterness, has received fresh and inevitable confirmation. The earlier
insurrections of the century were invariably accompanied by the same
cruel reprisals on both sides. But they brought about no permanent
improvement in the condition of the people. Spain continued her obsolete
and selfish policy; Cuba never ceased to rebel.
The revolutionary period of 1848 did not, as may well be imagined, pass
without leaving its mark on the island. Strange as it may seem, the
starting point of the fresh series of rebellions was the pretty
Filarmonia Theatre, at Santiago de Cuba, where, some forty years ago,
the fascinating Adelina Patti made her dA(C)but. In the winter of 1850
General Lopez led a filibustering expedition from the United States,
with the object of seizing Cuba, and proclaiming her independence. That
his attempt was favoured, and even financially assisted, by many
Americans, is an undoubted fact; but, unfortunately for its promoters,
it was a signal failure. A number of hot-headed young men,--some of them
belonging to the best families in the island--suspected of favouring
Lopez and his companions, were arrested, and several were shot, without
form of trial. As may well be imagined, the impression produced in the
ancient capital of the Eastern Province, and indeed throughout the
island, by this violent action on the part of the Spanish authorities,
was profound, and the feeling soon reached such a pitch that no
native-born Cuban would be seen speaking to a Spaniard. The Carnival
gaieties were suspended, and the city was thrown into deep mourning.
The Spaniards, resolved to mark their contempt for the islanders, gave
a ball at the Filarmonia. Groups of young Cubans forced their way
through the terrified dancers, and proceeded to insult and disfigure a
portrait of Queen Isabella II. The confusion was terrible, and many
ladies were severely hurt. Yet the incident was allowed to pass without
any attempt being made to discover and punish the offenders, who,
by-the-way, were masked. A few weeks afterwards, a Cuban lady of high
rank and great wealth, hoping to cast oil on troubled waters, hired the
same hall, and sent out invitations for a _tertullia_, to which she bade
representatives of both the belligerent parties. The consequences were
ghastly. The Spanish officers and the Cuban _jeunesse dorA(C)e_ found
themselves, suddenly and unexpectedly, face to face. An unlucky jest, at
the expense of an old Spanish officer, fired the mine, and in a moment
the ball-room was in an uproar, and the scene of gaiety changed to one
of combat. Ladies fainted, and were trampled under foot, chandeliers
fell smashing to the ground, and the most awful and horrible confusion
ensued. Five or six people were killed--amongst them a Spanish lady of
distinction--and nearly a hundred persons were seriously hurt. As to the
luckless hostess, she betook herself to Europe at the earliest possible
opportunity, and there remained; but from that day to this the incidents
at the Filarmonia Ball have never been forgotten in Cuba. Some of the
young brawlers were arrested, and certain of them,--youths belonging to
the richest families in the city,--were imprisoned in the Morro Castle,
and thence transported to Ceuta, the Spanish penal station in Morocco,
whence they never returned.
For some years after this gloomy event, Cuba went from bad to worse, _de
mal em peyor_. But it would be useless, and, indeed, merely confusing,
at this date, to enter into the details of what is, after all, merely
the local history of a bye-gone time. The weak Government of Queen
Isabella, which lacked even the faintest sense of providence, continued
to exploit Cuba in every possible manner, and to send out needy
generals, and pauper nobles, to act as Governors. In the meantime, as it
may be interesting, at this juncture, to recall, the United States had
already cast longing eyes on the fair Queen of the Antilles. An almost
forgotten episode of this period was brought to light, but the other
day, in the pages of the _Fortnightly Review_. In a most interesting
article, Mme. Colmache, the venerable and distinguished widow of
Talleyrand's last secretary, gives a terse and singularly interesting
account of an intrigue, all the details of which are in her personal
recollection. It seems that fifty years ago, Louis Philippe, seized with
a desire for territorial aggrandisement, took advantage of Spain's
poverty to make overtures for the purchase, not only of Cuba, but of
Puerto Rico and the Philippines. As a matter of fact, the deal would
have been actually concluded, but for the French monarch's parsimony.
Queen Christina's representative in Paris, SeA+-or Campanuzo, was
instructed to ask 30,000,000 reals for Cuba, and 10,000,000 for Puerto
Rico and the Philippines. The terms for the purchase of Cuba and Puerto
Rico having been agreed, the treaty was to have been signed at the
Tuileries. But at the last moment, the Bourgeois King demanded that the
Philippines should be thrown in free; and so firmly did he insist, that
the Spanish representative could only declare that the treaty had better
be thrown into the fire. This course was actually pursued.
Twenty years later another offer for the purchase of Cuba, and a far
more offensive one, was made by the United States. In the year 1860,
President Buchanan greatly alarmed the Spanish Government, by a message
as threatening in its nature as that recently despatched by President
M'Kinley to the advisers of Queen Christina, at Madrid. Its purport may
be expressed as follows, although, to be sure, the matter was not quite
so plainly couched, but the inference could not be misunderstood.
"Circumstances and destiny absolutely require that the United States
should be masters of the island of Cuba. That we should take it by
filibustering or violence is not in accordance with our national genius.
It will suit our character and honesty much better to obtain it by
purchase. Let us therefore offer a fair price for it. If that fair
price[10] shall be refused, we, of course, shall have a _casus belli_.
Spain will have injured us, and we may declare war. Under these
circumstances, we should probably obtain the place without purchase, but
we will hope for better things."
This domineering proposal to annex Cuba by purchase was indignantly
refused at Madrid; but Mr Anthony Trollope, who happened to be in the
island at the time the proposition was made, tells us it elicited the
greatest possible enthusiasm there. "The plea," he writes, "under which
Mr Buchanan proposes to quarrel with Spain, if she will not sell that
which America wishes to buy, is the plea under which Ahab quarrelled
with Naboth. A man is individually disgusted that a President of the
United States should have made such an utterance. But looking at the
question from a broader point of view, one can hardly refrain from
rejoicing at any event which will tend to bring about that which in
itself is so desirable." After all, California had been purchased from
Spain by the United States, and Texas had been annexed by filibustering
incursions. There can be no question that both these States, though
peopled by Spaniards, precisely as Cuba was, had flourished exceedingly
under the star-spangled banner. Mr Trollope gives us a picture of the
public mind in Cuba in 1860, which convinces us the local opinion has
undergone very little change since his day. That which he wrote
thirty-eight years ago reads exactly as if it had been penned yesterday.
He says--"From such information as I could obtain, I am of opinion that
the Cubans themselves would be glad enough to see the transfer well
effected. How, indeed, can it be otherwise? At present they have no
national privilege, except that of undergoing taxation. Every office is
held by a Spaniard. Every soldier in the island--and they say there are
25,000--must be a Spaniard. The ships of war are commanded and manned by
Spaniards. All that is shown before their eyes of brilliance, and
power, and high place, is purely Spanish. No Cuban has any voice in his
own country. He can never have the consolation of thinking that his
tyrant is his countryman, or reflect that, under altered circumstances,
it might possibly have been his fortune to tyrannize. What love can he
have for Spain? He cannot even have the poor pride of being slave to a
great lord. He is the lackey of a reduced gentleman, and lives on the
vails of those who despise his manners. Of course the transfer would be
grateful to him."
"But no Cuban will himself do anything to bring it about. To wish is one
thing, to act is another. A man standing behind his counter may feel
that his hand is restricted on every side, and his taxes alone
unrestricted, but he must have other than Hispano-Creole blood in his
veins if he do more than stand and feel. Indeed, wishing is too strong a
word to be fairly applicable to his state of mind. He would gladly
consent that Cuba should be American, but he would prefer that he
himself should lie in a dormant state while the dangerous transfer is
going on."
The United States, whose hands were soon busied by the outbreak of their
own Civil War, dropped the Cuban proposal, and the whole question
remained in abeyance for some considerable time. Meanwhile matters had
reached an unendurable pitch. It was almost impossible for a Cuban to
obtain justice, and the Governor and his Spanish satellites continued
their systematic methods of bribery and corruption. Yet money was
plentiful in the island, where the commercial class had been immensely
swelled by numerous American and English fortune-hunters, who had
purchased large estates from impoverished Cubans, and had started sugar
and tobacco-growing on an improved system in various parts of the
island. In 1865, the Cubans, driven to despair by the vexatious
treatment of their rulers, addressed a petition to Queen Isabella II.,
which bore not less than 20,000 signatures, and implored Her Majesty to
consider the pitiable condition into which Spain's most splendid
possession had fallen, and to send out a Commission to inquire into the
abuses which rendered their lives unendurable, and prevented them from
earning an honest living for themselves and their children. Not the
least of these abuses were capricious and questionable management of the
Banca Espan[=o]l, the only bank in the island. In answer to this
petition, the Junta created a body of twenty-two Cuban commissioners and
twenty-two Spanish, which original number, however, was unjustly
increased by the admission of a perfect army of Spanish nobles and
officials. The Cuban members, thus left in a minority, were not very
hopeful of obtaining much benefit from the Commission. They made a
sensible proposal for the gradual diminution of the taxes, especially
those connected with the export trade, and submitted a plan for the
gradual emancipation of the slaves. One of their principal schemes for
diminishing taxation,--by the substitution of a direct tax on the total
revenue, instead of the existing vexatious system of indefinite and
capricious taxes on the export and import trades,--was rejected, or
rather it was turned against their real interests. The Custom House
duties were cunningly diminished, and the tax on the total revenue of
the island raised from five to ten per cent,--a clear case of robbing
Peter to pay Paul, which exasperated the island population beyond
measure. The arrangement of the question of the abolition of negro
slavery was also eminently unsatisfactory. A decree provided that
newly-born slave children should be considered free, and that all slaves
over fifty years of age should be immediately emancipated. I have
elsewhere pointed out the unfortunate results of this system. The slave
trade continued in Cuba up till 1886, and during that time,
notwithstanding all the treaties signed between England and Spain,
several hundred thousand African negroes are said to have been imported
into Cuba, and sold with the connivance of the officials, who levied a
private tax of a gold doubloon, or about AL3, on every woolly head so
purchased. To quote Mr Trollope once more--"The bribery and corruption
that goes on in Cuba is known to everyone, and best known to the
Government of Spain. Under these circumstances, who can feel sympathy
with Spain, or wish that she should retain her colonies? Does she not
daily show she is unfit to hold them? There must be some stage in
misgovernment which will justify the interference of bystanding nations,
in the name of humanity. That rule in life which forbids a man to come
between a husband and wife is a good rule. But, nevertheless, who can
stand by quiescent, and see a brute half murder the poor woman whom he
should protect?"
At last the insurrection broke out in earnest at Yara, in the Eastern
District. A number of determined men, assisted, undoubtedly, by the
secret societies to which I have drawn attention in an earlier part of
this chapter, commenced a systematic propagation of the theory that
unless force were used, and the assistance of the United States and of
the already emancipated States of South America secured, there was no
chance of justice for Cuba. At the head of the movement was a man of
very remarkable character, Carlos Manuel Cespedes. He was no penniless
adventurer, but a Cuban gentleman of large means,--one of the wealthiest
planters in the island. He was not at first inclined to sever the island
from the mother-country, for he was, by nature, essentially loyal. Even
before embarking upon his undertaking he warned the Spanish Government
of his intention, and of the danger it ran by persisting in its old
methods. A sincere Catholic, he refused to join in any of the overt
anti-religious propaganda then so greatly in vogue among revolutionists.
He desired to remain on friendly terms with the clergy of the island,
but at the same time he hoped that, under a more liberal form of
government, the Cuban clergy would administer the Catholic Church in the
same progressive spirit which has made her so respected and powerful in
the United States. To these fine qualities of heart and head Cespedes
added the advantages of a noble presence and of an extraordinary
oratorical talent.
In the beginning of 1865--the year of the petition to Queen
Isabella,--Cespedes' plans were nearly matured, but for various reasons
he did not intend the rebellion should break out before the autumn
season. Unfortunately, the individual to whom the funds destined for the
insurrection had been entrusted made off with the money, and betrayed
the secrets of the organization to the Spaniards on condition that he
was allowed to keep his booty. This act of treachery forced Cespedes'
hand, and he was obliged to move earlier than he had originally
intended. He found himself, not only without funds, but without arms.
When his troops inquired what weapons they were to use in the coming
struggle, he replied, with something of the spirit of an ancient Roman:
"With those of our enemies" ("_Con las de nos enemigos_.") The few guns
in his possession were distributed among his followers, and he, with his
band of some 500 men of all degrees and, indeed, of all colours, started
for Puerto de Buniatos, in the vicinity of Santiago. On the way they
seized all the fire-arms they could find in every plantation they came
across. For two months they remained encamped outside the city walls
without being attacked by the handful of Spanish troops which composed
the garrison. As a matter of fact, there were exceedingly few Spanish
troops in Cuba at that moment--barely enough to keep order in the
island. At the end of December, however, 30,000 troops were landed, and
presently augmented by a body of volunteers collected from various parts
of the island, among them a number of Catalan Cubans, who shortly proved
themselves absolute savages. A number of Spanish warships also arrived
in the ports of Havana and Santiago. Orders were sent from Madrid to use
the sternest measures for the immediate suppression of the
insurrection. The first step taken in this direction was the burning of
the vast plantation owned by Cespedes himself. This was the signal for a
series of massacres and reprisals all over the island. As if by magic,
the absentee Spanish grandees' great plantations were set ablaze. Then
the Spaniards fired the Cuban plantations, and in a few weeks a quarter
of the island lay in ashes, and thousands of slaves and workmen wandered
about idle, homeless, and starving. The insurgents, who were almost
without arms, were obliged to take refuge in the interior of the island,
where they raised the Cuban flag--the American stripes with one solitary
star--and were soon joined by men, women, children, and slaves, all
flying before the Spanish soldiery. The rebels installed themselves in
the city of Bayamo, which for several weeks they contrived to hold
against the enemy. A conspiracy on the part of certain Catalans, who had
joined their forces, being discovered, the traitors were put to death.
On learning this the Spaniards, who had encamped some miles from the
city, suddenly appeared before its walls. Seeing resistance was
hopeless, Cespedes, with the consent of the inhabitants, set the city on
fire, rather than see it fall into the hands of the enemy. An awful
massacre ensued, in which the Spanish soldiers spared neither man,
woman, nor child. On the other hand, the rebels, it must be confessed,
were guilty of the most horrible atrocities. In vain did Cespedes and
his lieutenant, Ignacio Agramonte, implore their followers to remember
that those who fought for liberty and progress must set the example of
mercy. The rebel bands were not men like unto their leaders, gently
born and carefully educated, but a horde gathered together out of every
social class and every race, indeed, for thousands of plantation hands
had fled their burning hovels, and taken up arms in a cause which they
believed would lead them to liberty. Words fail to describe the scenes
of horror which ensued. The dogs of war were let loose upon the unhappy
island. Up and down it, from one end to the other, the plantations
flamed. Towns and villages were laid in ruins, and to add to the terrors
of the situation, famine and pestilence stalked the land, even as at the
present moment. Hundreds of young Cubans, suspected of favouring the
revolution, were arrested on the most flimsy pretexts. A jest, the
wearing of a certain coloured flower, the whistling of a popular tune,
were sufficient to work a man's ruin. The prisoners were shot in dozens,
and shipped off by hundreds into penal servitude. By the end of 1868,
the Spanish garrison consisted of not less than 80,000 men, all well
armed, and whose officers, in their mad desire to stamp out the
rebellion which had now assumed formidable proportions, laid no
restraint on their subordinates' licence. In April of the following year
a proclamation was issued by the Spanish Commander-in-Chief at Bayamo,
which decreed that any individual over fifteen years of age found beyond
the limits of his property and unable to give an account of himself,
should be forthwith shot. All deserted houses, or all houses over which
a white flag of truce did not float, in sign of peace and devotion to
the Government, were to be immediately reduced to ashes. This order
only increased the horrors of the situation. Scores of planters who were
ignorant of its existence, and who were going peaceably on business
intent between their plantations and the neighbouring towns, were shot
by the soldiers, who were only too delighted to display their zeal and
rob their victims, and hundreds of houses were pillaged.
At this juncture Cuban affairs began once more to attract universal
attention in the United States. The interest taken in the rebellion and
the rebels by our American cousins was not, in all probability,
exclusively platonic. Whether this was the case or not, they contrived
to supply the insurgents, not with money only, but with men and arms, so
that the insurgent army rose in a short time to 55,000 well-armed men,
mainly entrenched in the mountainous districts, whence they were able to
make successful raids. On the 10th of April 1869, at the city of
Guaimaro, in the very heart of the island, the first Cuban Chamber of
Deputies was opened by Cespedes, and the new assembly forthwith
proclaimed Cuban independence and the establishment of a republic.
General Cespedes was unanimously elected President, and his
brother-in-law, Manuel de Quesada, who had served under Juarez, of
Mexican fame, assumed the name of commander-in-chief of the Cuban army.
Slavery was formally abolished. Freedom of worship was established, and
equality of all in the eyes of the law affirmed. The young Republic even
ventured to send envoys to the three countries which had shown her most
sympathy,--England, France, and the United States. The Envoy
Extraordinary of Cuba to the United States of America, Morales Lumus,
was, however, received with great coolness by General Grant, who
steadfastly refused to recognise the new Government. As a matter of
fact, whilst Cuba had been fighting for her independence, Spain had
dethroned the kindly Queen Isabella, and replaced General Prim at the
head of the Iberian Republic. The great Republic of the New World had
naturally hailed the chief of a revolution which had driven Isabella II.
from one of the oldest thrones in the Old World; while Prim, who was
anything but the visionary he is generally supposed to have been, had
arrived at the conclusion that Cuba cost the mother country far more
than she was worth, and had actually proposed--through Hamilton Fish,
then Secretary of State--the sale of the island of Cuba to the United
States Government for a sum of 100,000,000 pesetas! It is only fair to
add that, by the suggested agreement, America was to grant the island
its independence, abolish slavery, and proclaim an armistice, pending
the proclamation of peace. Poor Lumus' heart sank within him, for he
knew the Spanish character by heart, and was perfectly well aware of
what Prim was driving at. If he himself remained in power, the United
States would be allowed to do with Cuba pretty much as they thought fit.
Otherwise, if the ex-Queen or her son were restored, the Marshal hinted
an intention of securing the island for himself. With a heart like lead,
Lumus returned to Cespedes. The outlook was of the darkest, for the fate
of the mother country as well as that of the newly-born island Republic
hung in the balance.
General Sickles proceeded at once to Madrid, with full powers from the
United States Government, to conclude the proposed sale of Cuba to the
American Republic. The negotiations proved much more difficult than
President Grant had believed possible, Prim placing a thousand obstacles
in the way of the final conclusion of the bargain. Many believed that he
had been won over to the pro-slavery party. After a wearisome and
fruitless mission, Sickles was recalled. Later on an incident
occurred--that of the _Virginius_--too lengthy to recapitulate here,
which resulted in the capture by the Spaniards of that filibustering
vessel, which was proceeding from the United States to assist the rebels
with arms, ammunition, and men. The _Virginius_ was taken to Havana, and
sixty-one prisoners, including several Englishmen and twenty-two
Americans, were ultimately shot. On November 5th, 1869, the leaders of
the adventure, Navaro, Ryan, Jesus del Sol, and Pedro Cespedes--the
President's brothers--were put to death by the Spaniards, and their
heads carried in triumph through the streets. All this is far-off
history nowadays,--interesting, nevertheless, if only as a record. The
indignation excited throughout the United States by the _Virginius_
business was indescribable, and very nearly ended in a declaration of
war. Spain eventually thought it wise to make, through SeA+-or Castelar,
an abject apology, and granted an indemnity to the families of the
unfortunate men who had been executed. The _Virginius_ was formally
handed back to the Americans, but the luckless vessel, which had been
severely damaged, began to leak, and sank on her way home from Bahia de
Honda to New York. This closed, and somewhat tamely, an incident which
was within an ace of bringing about, some thirty years earlier, the
events now taking place.
Whilst the negotiations for the release of the disabled _Virginius_ were
dragging their slow length along--they were conducted by the Spaniards
with all the dilatoriness which distinguish them--that nation underwent
a weird series of political changes and intrigues. The Republican party,
although flattered by Prim, who wished in his heart to be the first
President of the Iberian Republic, was evidently distasteful to the
majority of Spaniards, accustomed to the pageantry of the solemnest and
most stately of European Courts. It was therefore deemed necessary to
establish an interregnum with Marshall Serano as Regent, and to cast
about for some Catholic prince to place upon the vacant throne of the
Bourbons. Choice fell upon Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen--a
most luckless selection, since, by offending the susceptibilities of
France, it led to the Franco-Prussian war. King Victor Emmanuel's son,
Amedeo, was now offered the crown of Spain, and accepted it, swearing to
observe the Constitution over the body of Prim, who had been
assassinated on December 28, 1870, by an unknown hand. How Amedeo failed
to satisfy his new subjects, and finally was compelled to resign his
ill-fitting crown and return-to Italy; how an abortive attempt to
establish a Republic failed, and degenerated into anarchy; how Don
Carlos and his followers caused useless shedding of blood in the
Northern Provinces; and how, finally, Queen Isabella's son was restored
in 1874, under the title of Alfonzo XII., are matters of history
doubtless well-known to every reader of this book, and therefore only
need to be recorded as reflecting upon Cuban affairs. When the Cespedes'
Republic fell, the victorious Monarchy reappeared. But rebellion, overt
and covert, still disturbed the distracted island until 1874, when the
tragic death of Cespedes broke down the revolutionary spirit and brought
about a temporary lull.
The adherents of Cespedes had by this time dwindled to a mere handful;
and, driven desperate by hunger and despair, the forlorn but still
bold-spirited band took refuge in a fastness on the Eastern coast,
whence they hoped to escape to Jamaica. A slave betrayed their
hiding-place to the Spaniards. A fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued.
Cespedes fought like a lion against overwhelming odds. His friends fell
dead or wounded at his feet; but still he battled on, slaying seven of
his opponents with his own hand, and wounding many others. At last,
seeing all hope was lost, he fought his way through the Spaniards, and,
mortally wounded as he was, flung himself over the rocks, and thus
escaped his hated captors. His mangled body was recovered, carried to
Santiago, and there secretly buried. The dead man was mourned, and is
mourned even to this day, by all true Cubans. The stage on which he
played his part was, it may be said, a little one. His life and doings
may be forgotten beyond the limits of the country he strove to serve.
But such qualities of head and heart, such fervour of self-sacrifice and
steadiness of purpose, as marked the career of Carlos Manuel Cespedes,
must surely entitle him to an honoured place on the golden roll of the
world's true heroes. May he rest in peace!