[Illustration: TOWER OF LA FUERZA
_Havana_]
CUBA
OLD AND NEW
BY
ALBERT G. ROBINSON
1915.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. OLD CUBA
II. NEW CUBA
III. THE COUNTRY
IV. THE OLD HAVANA
V. THE NEW HAVANA
VI. AROUND THE ISLAND
VII. AROUND THE ISLAND (_Continued_)
VIII. THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA
IX. CUBA'S REVOLUTIONS
X. INDEPENDENCE
XI. FILIBUSTERING
XII. THE STORY OF SUGAR
XIII. VARIOUS PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES
XIV. POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMERCE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Tower of La Fuerza, Havana
The Morro, Havana
A Planter's Home, Havana Province
Iron Grille Gateway, El Vedado, suburb of Havana
Watering Herd of Cattle, Luyano River, near Havaria
Royal Palms
Custom House, Havana
Balconies, Old Havana
Street in Havana
Street and Church of the Angels, Havana
A Residence in El Vedado
The Volante (now quite rare)
A Village Street, Calvario, Havana Province
Street and Church, Camaguey
Cobre, Oriente Province
Hoisting the Cuban Flag over the Palace, May 20,1902
A Spanish Block House
Along the Harbor Wall, Havana
Country Road, Havana Province
Street in Camaguey
Palm-Thatched Roofs
A Peasant's Home
CUBA
OLD AND NEW
I
_OLD CUBA_
Christopher Columbus was a man of lively imagination. Had he been an
ordinary, prosaic and plodding individual, he would have stayed at home
combing wool as did his prosaic and plodding ancestors for several
generations. At the age of fourteen he went to sea and soon developed an
active curiosity about regions then unknown but believed to exist. There
was even then some knowledge of western Asia, and even of China as
approached from the west. Two and two being properly put together, the
result was a reasonable argument that China and India could be reached from
the other direction, that is, by going westward instead of eastward.
In the early autumn of the year 1492, Columbus was busy discovering islands
in the Caribbean Sea region, and, incidentally, seeking for the richest
of the group. From dwellers on other islands, he heard of one, called
Cubanacan, larger and richer than any that he had then discovered. A
mixture of those tales with his own vivid imagination produced a belief
in a country of wide extent, vastly rich in gold and gems, and already a
centre of an extensive commerce. Cruising in search of what he believed to
be the eastern coast of Asia, he sighted the shore of Cuba on the morning
of October 28, 1492. His journal, under date of October 24, states: "At
midnight I tripped my anchors off this _Cabo del Isleo de Isabella_, where
I was pitched to go to the island of Cuba, which I learn from these people
is very large and magnificent, and there are gold and spices in it, and
large ships and merchants. And so I think it must be the island of Cipango
(Japan), of which they tell such wonders." The record, under date of
Sunday, 28th of October, states: "Continued for the nearest land of Cuba,
and entered a beautiful estuary, clear of rocks and other dangers. The
mouth of the estuary had twelve fathoms depth, and it was wide enough for a
ship to work into." Students have disagreed regarding the first Cuban port
entered by Columbus. There is general acceptance of October 28 as the
date of arrival. Some contend that on that day he entered Nipe Bay, while
others, and apparently the greater number, locate the spot somewhat to the
west of Nuevitas. Wherever he first landed on it, there is agreement that
he called the island Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, taking possession "in
the name of Christ, Our Lady, and the reigning Sovereigns of Spain."
His record of the landing place is obscure. It is known that he sailed some
leagues beyond it, to the westward. While on board his caravel, on his
homeward voyage, he wrote a letter to his friend, Don Rafael Sanchez,
"Treasurer of their most Serene Highnesses," in which the experience is
described. The original letter is lost, but it was translated into Latin
and published in Barcelona in the following year, 1493. While the Latin
form is variously translated into English, the general tenor of all is the
same. He wrote: "When I arrived at Juana (Cuba), I sailed along the coast
to the west, discovering so great an extent of land that I could not
imagine it to be an island, but the continent of Cathay. I did not,
however, discover upon the coast any large cities, all we saw being a few
villages and farms, with the inhabitants of which we could not obtain any
communication, they flying at our approach. I continued my course, still
expecting to meet with some town or city, but after having gone a great
distance and not meeting with any, and finding myself proceeding toward
the north, which I was desirous, to avoid on account of the cold, and,
moreover, meeting with a contrary wind, I determined to return to the
south, and therefore put about and sailed back to a harbor which I had
before observed." That the actual landing was at or near the present port
of Nuevitas seems to be generally accepted.
Columbus appears to have been greatly impressed by the beauty of the
island. In his _Life of Columbus_, Washington Irving says: "From his
continual remarks on the beauty of scenery, and from his evident delight in
rural sounds and objects, he appears to have been extremely open to those
happy influences, exercised over some spirits, by the graces and wonders
of nature. He gives utterance to these feelings with characteristic
enthusiasm, and at the same time with the artlessness and simplicity of
diction of a child. When speaking of some lovely scene among the groves, or
along the flowery shores of these favored islands, he says, "One could
live there forever." Cuba broke upon him like an elysium. "It is the most
beautiful island," he says, "that ever eyes beheld, full of excellent ports
and profound rivers." A little discount must be made on such a statement.
Granting all that is to be said of Cuba's scenic charms, some allowance is
to be made for two influences. One is Don Cristobal's exuberance, and the
other is the fact that when one has been knocking about, as he had been,
for nearly three months on the open sea and among low-lying and sandy
islands and keys, any land, verdure clad and hilly, is a picture of
Paradise. Many people need only two or three days at sea to reach a similar
conclusion. In his letter to Luis de Santangel, Columbus says: "All these
countries are of surpassing excellence, and in particular Juana (Cuba,),
which contains abundance of fine harbors, excelling any in Christendom, as
also many large and beautiful rivers. The land is high, and exhibits chains
of tall mountains which seem to reach to the skies and surpass beyond
comparison the isle of Cetrefrey (Sicily). These display themselves in all
manner of beautiful shapes. They are accessible in every part, and covered
with a vast variety of lofty trees which it appears to me never lose their
foliage. Some were covered with blossoms, some with fruit, and others in
different stages according to their nature. There are palm trees of six or
eight sorts. Beautiful forests of pines are likewise found, and fields of
vast extent. Here are also honey and fruits of thousand sorts, and birds of
every variety."
Having landed at this indefinitely located point, Columbus, believing that
he had reached the region he was seeking, despatched messengers to the
interior to open communication with some high official of Cathay, in which
country he supposed himself to be, the idea of Cipango apparently having
been abandoned. "Many at the present day," says Washington Irving, "will
smile at this embassy to a naked savage chieftain in the interior of Cuba,
in mistake for an Asiatic monarch; but such was the singular nature of this
voyage, a continual series of golden dreams, and all interpreted by the
deluding volume of Marco Polo." But the messengers went on their journey,
and proceeded inland some thirty or forty miles. There they came upon a
village of about fifty huts and a population of about a thousand. They were
able to communicate only by signs, and it is quite certain that the replies
of the natives were as little understood by the messengers as the questions
were by the natives. The messengers sought something about which the
natives knew little or nothing. The communications were interpreted through
the medium of imagination and desire. Nothing accomplished, the commission
returned and made its disappointing report. Washington Irving thus
describes the further proceedings: "The report of the envoys put an end to
the many splendid fancies of Columbus, about the barbaric prince and his
capital. He was cruising, however, in a region of enchantment, in which
pleasing chimeras started up at every step, exercising by turns a power
over his imagination. During the absence of the emissaries, the Indians
had informed him, by signs, of a place to the eastward, where the people
collected gold along the river banks by torchlight and afterward wrought it
into bars with hammers. In speaking of this place they again used the words
Babeque and Bohio, which he, as usual, supposed to be the proper names of
islands or countries. His great object was to arrive at some opulent and
civilized country of the East, with which he might establish commercial
relations, and whence he might carry home a quantity of oriental
merchandise as a rich trophy of his discovery. The season was advancing;
the cool nights gave hints of approaching winter; he resolved, therefore,
not to proceed farther to the north, nor to linger about uncivilized places
which, at present, he had not the means of colonizing, but to return to the
east-south-east, in quest of Babeque, which he trusted might prove some
rich and civilized island on the coast of Asia." And so he sailed away for
Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) which appears to have become, a little later,
his favorite West Indian resort.
[Illustration: THE MORRO _Havana_]
He began his eastward journey on November 12th. As he did not reach Cape
Maisi, the eastern point of the island, until December 5th, he must have
made frequent stops to examine the shore. Referring to one of the ports
that he entered he wrote to the Spanish Sovereigns thus: "The amenity of
this river, and the clearness of the water, through which the sand at the
bottom may be seen; the multitude of palm trees of various forms, the
highest and most beautiful that I have met with, and an infinity of other
great and green trees; the birds in rich plumage and the verdure of the
fields, render this country of such marvellous beauty that it surpasses all
others in charms and graces, as the day doth the night in lustre. For which
reason I often say to my people that, much as I endeavor to give a complete
account of it to your majesties, my tongue cannot express the whole truth,
nor my pen describe it; and I have been so overwhelmed at the sight of so
much beauty that I have not known how to relate it."
Columbus made no settlement in Cuba; his part extends only to the
discovery. On his second expedition, in the spring of 1494, he visited and
explored the south coast as far west as the Isle of Pines, to which he gave
the name _La Evangelista_. He touched the south coast again on his fourth
voyage, in 1503. On his way eastward from his voyage of discovery on the
coast of Central America, he missed his direct course to Hispaniola, and
came upon the Cuban shore near Cape Cruz. He was detained there for some
days by heavy weather and adverse winds, and sailed thence to his unhappy
experience in Jamaica. The work of colonizing remained for others. Columbus
died in the belief that he had discovered a part of the continent of Asia.
That Cuba was only an island was determined by Sebastian de Ocampo who
sailed around it in 1508. Baron Humboldt, who visited Cuba in 1801 and
again in 1825, and wrote learnedly about it, states that "the first
settlement of the whites occurred in 1511, when Velasquez, under orders
from Don Diego Columbus, landed at Puerto de las Palmas, near Cape Maisi,
and subjugated the Cacique Hatuey who had fled from Haiti to the eastern
end of Cuba, where he became the chief of a confederation of several
smaller native princes." This was, in fact, a military expedition composed
of three hundred soldiers, with four vessels.
Hatuey deserves attention. His name is not infrequently seen in Cuba today,
but it is probable that few visitors know whether it refers to a man, a
bird, or a vegetable. He was the first Cuban hero of whom we have record,
although the entire reliability of the record is somewhat doubtful. The
notable historian of this period is Bartolome Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa.
He appears to have been a man of great worth, a very tender heart, and an
imagination fully as vivid as that of Columbus. His sympathies were aroused
by the tales of the exceeding brutality of many of the early Spanish
voyagers in their relations with the natives. He went out to see for
himself, and wrote voluminously of his experiences. He also wrote with
exceeding frankness, and often with great indignation. He writes about
Hatuey. The inference is that this Cacique, or chieftain, fled from Haiti
to escape Spanish brutality, and even in fear of his life. There are other
translations of Las Casas, but for this purpose choice has been made of one
published in London about the year 1699. It is given thus:
"There happened divers things in this island (Cuba) that deserve to be
remarked. A rich and potent Cacique named Hatuey was retired into the Isle
of Cuba to avoid that Slavery and Death with which the Spaniards menaced
him; and being informed that his persecutors were upon the point of landing
in this Island, he assembled all his Subjects and Domestics together, and
made a Speech unto them after this manner. "You know, (said he) the Report
is spread abroad that the Spaniards are ready to invade this Island, and
you are not ignorant of the ill usage our Friends and Countrymen have met
with at their hands, and the cruelties they have committed at Haiti (so
Hispaniola is called in their Language). They are now coming hither with
a design to exercise the same Outrages and Persecutions upon us. Are
you ignorant (says he) of the ill Intentions of the People of whom I am
speaking? We know not (say they all with one voice) upon what account they
come hither, but we know they are a very wicked and cruel People. I'll tell
you then (replied the Cacique) that these Europeans worship a very covetous
sort of God, so that it is difficult to satisfy him; to perform the Worship
they render to this Idol, they will exact immense Treasures of us, and will
use their utmost endeavors to reduce us to a miserable state of Slavery,
or else put us to death." The historian leaves to the imagination and
credulity of his readers the task of determining just where and how he got
the full details of this speech and of the subsequent proceedings. The
report of the latter may well be generally correct inasmuch as there were
Spanish witnesses present, but the account of this oration, delivered prior
to the arrival of the Spanish invaders, is clearly open to a suspicion that
it may be more or less imaginary. But the historian continues: "Upon this
he took a Box full of Gold and valuable Jewels which he had with him, and
exposing it to their view: Here is (said he) the God of the Spaniards, whom
we must honor with our Sports and Dances, to see if we can appease him and
render him propitious to us; that so he may command the Spaniards not to
offer us any injury. They all applauded this Speech, and fell a leaping and
dancing around the Box, till they had quite tired and spent themselves.
After which the Cacique Hatuey resuming his Discourse, continued to speak
to them in these terms: If we keep this God (says he) till he's taken away
from us, he'll certainly cause our lives to be taken away from us; and
therefore I am of opinion it will be the best way to cast him into the
river. They all approved of this Advice, and went all together with one
accord to throw this pretended God into the River."
But the Spaniards came and encountered the resistance of Hatuey and his
followers. The invaders were victorious, and Hatuey was captured and burned
alive. Las Casas relates that while the poor wretch was in the midst of the
flames, tied to a stake, "a certain Franciscan Friar of great Piety and
Virtue, took upon him to speak to him of God and our Religion, and to
explain to him some Articles of Catholic Faith, of which he had never
heard a word before, promising him Eternal Life if he would believe and
threatening him with Eternal Torment if he continued obstinate in his
Infidelity. Hatuey reflecting on the matter, as much as the Place and
Condition in which he was would permit, asked the Friar that instructed
him, whether the Gate of Heaven was open to Spaniards; and being answered
that such of them as were good men might hope for entrance there: the
Cacique, without any farther deliberation, told him that he had no mind to
go to heaven for fear of meeting with such cruel and wicked Company as
they were; but he would much rather choose to go to Hell where he might be
delivered from the troublesome sight of such kind of People." And so died
the Cacique Hatuey. Four hundred years later, the Cuban Government named a
gunboat _Hatuey_, in his honor.
The Velasquez expedition, in the following year, founded Baracoa, now a
small city on the northern coast near the eastern extremity of the island.
It is a spot of exceeding scenic charm. It was established as the capital
city, but it held that honor for a few years only. In 1514 and 1515,
settlements were established at what is now Santiago, at Sancti Spiritus,
Trinidad, and Batabano. The latter was originally called San Cristobal de
la Habana, the name being transferred to the present city, on the north
coast, in 1519. It displaced the name Puerto de Carenas given to the
present Havana by Ocampo, who careened his vessels there in 1508. Baracoa
was made the seat of a bishopric, and a cathedral was begun, in 1518. In
1522, both the capital and the bishopric were transferred to Santiago, a
location more readily accessible from the new settlements on the south
coast, and also from Jamaica which was then included in the diocese.
Cuba, at about this period, was the point of departure for an important
expedition. In 1517, de Cordoba, with three vessels and 110 soldiers,
was sent on an expedition to the west for further and more northerly
exploration of the land discovered by Columbus in 1503. The coast from
Panama to Honduras had been occupied. The object of this expedition was to
learn what lay to the northward. The result was the discovery of Yucatan.
Cordoba returned to die of wounds received in a battle. A second and
stronger expedition was immediately despatched. This rounded the peninsula
and followed the coast as far as the present city of Vera Cruz. In 1518,
Hernan Cortez was _alcalde_, or mayor, of Santiago de Cuba. On November 18,
of that year, he sailed from that port in command of an expedition for
the conquest of Mexico, finally effected in 1521, after one of the most
romantic campaigns in the history of warfare. All that, however, is a story
in which Cuba has no place except that of the starting point and base of
the expedition. There is another story of the same kind, a few years later.
The first discovery of Florida is somewhat uncertain. It appears on an old
Spanish map dated 1502. Following the expedition of Ponce de Leon, in 1513,
and of Murielo, in 1516, Narvaez headed an expedition from Cuba in 1528
with some three hundred freebooters. They landed in Florida, where almost
the entire band was, very properly, destroyed by the Indians. In 1539, de
Soto sailed from Havana, with five hundred and seventy men and two hundred
and twenty-three horses, for an extended exploration. They wandered for
three years throughout what is now the southern part of the United States
from Georgia and South Carolina westward to Arkansas and Missouri. After a
series of almost incredible experiences, de Soto died in 1542, on the banks
of the Mississippi River at a point probably not far from the Red River.
These and other expeditions, from Cuba and from Mexico, to what is now
territory of the United States, produced no permanent results. No gold was
found.
Of the inhabitants of Cuba, as found by the Spaniards, comparatively little
is recorded. They seem to have been a somewhat negative people, generally
described as docile, gentle, generous, and indolent. Their garments were
quite limited, and their customs altogether primitive. They disappear
from Cuba's story in its earliest chapters. Very little is known of their
numbers. Some historians state that, in the days of Columbus, the island
had a million inhabitants, but this is obviously little if anything more
than a rough guess. Humboldt makes the following comment: "No means now
exist to arrive at a knowledge of the population of Cuba in the time of
Columbus; but how can we admit what some otherwise judicious historians
state, that when the island of Cuba was conquered in 1511, it contained a
million inhabitants of whom only 14,000 remained in 1517. The statistical
information which we find in the writings of Las Casas is filled with
contradictions." Forty years or so later the Dominican friar, Luis Bertram,
on his return to Spain, predicted that "the 200,000 Indians now in the
island of Cuba, will perish, victims to the cruelty of the Europeans." Yet
Gomara stated that there was not an Indian in Cuba after 1553. Whatever the
exact truth regarding numbers, it is evident that they disappeared rapidly,
worked to death by severe task-masters. The institution of African slavery,
to take the place of the inefficient and fast disappearing native labor,
had its beginning in 1521. Baron Humboldt states that from that time until
1790, the total number of African negroes imported as slaves was 90,875.
In the next thirty years, the business increased rapidly, and Humboldt
estimates the total arrivals, openly entered and smuggled in, from 1521 to
1820, as 372,449. Mr. J.S. Thrasher, in a translation of Humboldt's work,
issued in 1856, added a footnote showing the arrivals up to 1854 as
644,000. A British official authority, at the same period, gives the total
as a little less than 500,000. The exact number is not important. The
institution on a large scale, in its relation to the total number of
whites, was a fact.
It is, of course, quite impossible even today to argue the question of
slavery. To many, the offence lies in the mere fact; to others, it lies in
the operation of the system. At all events, the institution is no longer
tolerated in any civilized country. While some to whom the system itself
was a bitter offence have found much to criticize in its operation in Cuba,
the general opinion of observers appears to be that it was there notably
free from the brutality usually supposed to attend it. The Census Report of
1899, prepared under the auspices of the American authorities, states that
"while it was fraught with all the horrors of this nefarious business
elsewhere, the laws for the protection of slaves were unusually humane.
Almost from the beginning, slaves had a right to purchase their freedom or
change their masters, and long before slavery was abolished they could own
property and contract marriage. As a result, the proportion of free colored
to slaves has always been large." Humboldt, who studied the institution
while it was most extensive, states that "the position of the free negroes
in Cuba is much better than it is elsewhere, even among those nations which
have for ages flattered themselves as being most advanced in civilization."
The movement for the abolition of slavery had its beginning in 1815, with
the treaty of Vienna, to which Spain was a party. Various acts in the same
direction appear in the next fifty years. The Moret law, enacted in 1870 by
the Spanish Cortes, provided for gradual abolition in Spain's dominions,
and a law of 1880, one of the results of the Ten Years' War, definitely
abolished the system. Traces of it remained, however, until about 1887,
when it may be regarded as having become extinct forever in Cuba.
For the first two hundred and fifty years of Cuba's history, the city of
Havana appears as the special centre of interest. There was growth in other
sections, but it was slow, for reasons that will be explained elsewhere.
In 1538, Havana was attacked and totally destroyed by a French privateer.
Hernando de Soto, then Governor of the island, at once began the
construction of defences that are now one of the special points of interest
in the city. The first was the Castillo de la Fuerza. In 1552, Havana
became the capital city. In 1555, it was again attacked, and practically
destroyed, including the new fortress, by French buccaneers. Restoration
was effected as rapidly as possible. In 1589, La Fuerza was enlarged, and
the construction of the Morro and of La Punta, the fortress at the foot of
the Prado, was begun. The old city wall, of which portions still remain,
was of a later period. Despite these precautions, the city was repeatedly
attacked by pirates and privateers. Some reference to these experiences
will be made in a special chapter on the city. The slow progress of the
island is shown by the fact that an accepted official report gives the
total population in 1775 as 171,620, of whom less than 100,000 were white.
The absence of precious metals is doubtless the main reason for the lack of
Spanish interest in the development of the country. For a long time after
the occupation, the principal industry was cattle raising. Agriculture, the
production of sugar, tobacco, coffee, and other crops, on anything properly
to be regarded as a commercial scale, was an experience of later years. The
reason for this will be found in the mistaken colonial policy of Spain, a
policy the application of which, in a far milder manner, cost England its
richest colony in the Western Hemisphere, and which, in the first quarter
of the 19th Century, cost Spain all of its possessions in this half of the
world, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico.
II
_NEW CUBA_
While there is no point in Cuba's history that may be said to mark a
definite division between the Old Cuba and the New Cuba, the beginning of
the 19th Century may be taken for that purpose. Cuba's development dragged
for two hundred and fifty years. The population increased slowly and
industry lagged. For this, Spain's colonial policy was responsible. But it
was the policy of the time, carried out more or less effectively by all
nations having colonies. England wrote it particularly into her Navigation
Acts of 1651, 1660, and 1663, and supported it by later Acts. While not
rigorously enforced, and frequently evaded by the American colonists, the
system at last proved so offensive that the colonists revolted in 1775.
Most of Spain's colonies in the Western Hemisphere, for the same reason,
declared and maintained their independence in the first quarter of the
19th Century. At the bottom of Cuba's several little uprisings, and at the
bottom of its final revolt in 1895, lay the same cause of offence. In those
earlier years, it was held that colonies existed solely for the benefit
of the mother-country. In 1497, almost at the very beginning of Spain's
colonial enterprises in the New World, a royal decree was issued under
which the exclusive privilege to carry on trade with the colonies was
granted to the port of Seville. This monopoly was transferred to the port
of Cadiz in 1717, but it continued, in somewhat modified form in later
years, until Spain had no colonies left.
While Santiago was the capital of the island, from 1522 to 1552, trade
between Spain and the island could be carried on only through that port.
When Havana became the capital, in 1552, the exclusive privilege of trade
was transferred to that city. With the exception of the years 1762 and
1763, when the British occupied Havana and declared it open to all trade,
the commerce of the island could only be done through Havana with Seville,
until 1717, and afterward with Cadiz. Baracoa, or Santiago, or Trinidad,
or any other Cuban city, could not send goods to Santander, or Malaga, or
Barcelona, or any other Spanish market, or receive goods directly from
them. The law prohibited trade between Cuba and all other countries, and
limited all trade between the island and the mother-country to the port of
Havana, at one end, and to Seville or Cadiz, according to the time of the
control of those ports, at the other end. Even intercolonial commerce was
prohibited. At times, and for brief periods, the system was modified to
the extent of special trade licences, and, occasionally, by international
treaties. But the general system of trade restriction was maintained
throughout all of Spain's colonial experience. Between 1778 and 1803, most
of Cuba's ports were opened to trade with Spain. The European wars of the
early years of the 19th Century led to modification of the trade laws, but
in 1809 foreign commerce with Spanish American ports was again prohibited.
A few years later, Spain had lost nearly all its American colonies. A new
plan was adopted in 1818. Under that, Spain sought to hold the trade of
Cuba and Porto Rico by tariffs so highly favorable to merchandise from
the mother-country as to be effectively prohibitive with regard to many
products from other countries. This, in general outline, is the cause of
Cuba's slow progress until the 19th Century, and the explanation of its
failure to make more rapid progress during that century.
Naturally, under such conditions, bribery of officials and smuggling became
active and lucrative enterprises. It may be said, in strict confidence
between writer and reader, that Americans were frequently the parties of
the other part in these transactions. In search through a considerable
number of American histories, I have been unable to find definite
references to trade with Cuba, yet there seems to be abundant reason for
belief that such trade was carried on. There are many references to trade
with the West Indies as far back as 1640 and even a year or two earlier,
but allusions to trade with Cuba do not appear, doubtless for the reason
that it was contraband, a violation of both Spanish and British laws. There
was evidently some relaxation toward the close of the 18th Century.
There are no records of the commerce of the American colonies, and only
fragmentary records between 1776 and 1789. The more elaborate records of
1789 and following years show shipments of fish, whale oil, spermaceti
candles, lumber, staves and heading, and other articles to the "Spanish
West Indies," in which group Cuba was presumably included. The records of
the time are somewhat unreliable. It was a custom for the small vessels
engaged in that trade to take out clearance papers for the West Indies. The
cargo might be distributed in a number of ports, and the return cargo might
be similarly collected. For the year 1795, the records of the United States
show total imports from the Spanish West Indies as valued at $1,740,000,
and exports to that area as valued at $1,390,000. In 1800, the imports were
$10,588,000, and the exports $8,270,000. Just how much of this was trade
with Cuba, does not appear. Because of the trade increase at that time,
and because of other events that, soon afterward, brought Cuba into more
prominent notice, this period has been chosen as the line of division
between the Old and the New Cuba.
Compared with the wonderful fertility of Cuba, New England is a sterile
area. Yet in 1790, a hundred and seventy years after its settlement, the
latter had a population a little exceeding a million, while the former, in
1792, or two hundred and eighty years after its occupation, is officially
credited with a population of 272,300. Of these, 153,559 were white and
118,741 were colored. Several forces came into operation at this time, and
population increased rapidly, to 572,363 in 1817, and to 704,465 in 1827.
In 1841, it was a little more than a million. But the increase in colored
population, by the importation of African slaves, outstripped the increase
by the whites. In 1841, the population was divided into 418,291 whites and
589,333 colored. The importation of slaves having declined, the year 1861
shows a white preponderance, since continued and substantially increased.
Among the forces contributing to Cuba's rapid growth during this period
were a somewhat greater freedom of trade; the revolution in the neighboring
island of Haiti and Santo Domingo, that had its beginning in 1791 and
culminated, some ten years later, in the rule of Toussaint L'Ouverture; and
an increased demand for sugar. One result of the Haitian disorder was the
arrival, in eastern Cuba, of a large number of exiles and emigrants who
established extensive coffee plantations. During the first hundred and
fifty years of Cuba's history, the principal industry of the island was
cattle raising, aside from the domestic industry of food supply. The
proprietors lived, usually, in the cities and maintained their vast estates
in the neighborhood. To this, later on, were added the production of
honey and wax and the cultivation of tobacco. With the period now under
consideration, there came the expansion of the coffee and sugar industries.
The older activities do not appear to have been appreciably lessened; the
others were added on.
Europe and the Western Hemisphere were at that time in a state of general
upheaval and rearrangement. Following the American Revolution, there came
the French Revolution; the Napoleonic Wars; the war of 1812 between the
United States and England; and the general revolt of the Spanish colonies.
The world was learning new lessons, adopting new policies, in which the
Spanish colonial system was a blunder the folly of which Spain did not
even then fully realize. Yet from it all, by one means and another, Cuba
benefited. Spain was fortunate in its selection of Governors-General sent
out at this time. Luis de Las Casas, who arrived in 1790, is credited with
much useful work. He improved roads and built bridges; established schools
and the _Casa de Beneficencia_, still among the leading institutions in
Havana; paved the streets of Havana; improved as far as he could the
commercial conditions; and established the _Sociedad Patriotica_, sometimes
called the _Sociedad Economica_, an organization that has since contributed
immeasurably to Cuba's welfare and progress. He was followed by others
whose rule was creditable. But the principal evils, restricted commerce
and burdensome taxation, were not removed, although world conditions
practically compelled some modification of the commercial regulations. In
1801 the ports of the island were thrown open to the trade of friendly and
neutral nations. Eight years later, foreign commerce was again prohibited.
In 1818, a new system was established, that of a tariff so highly favorable
to merchandise from Spain that it was by no means unusual for goods to
be shipped to that country, even from the United States, and from there
reshipped to Cuba. Changes in the rates were made from time to time, but
the system of heavy discrimination in favor of Spanish goods in Spanish
ships continued until the equalization of conditions under the order of the
Government of Intervention, in 1899.
In his book published in 1840, Mr. Turnbull states that "the mercantile
interests of the island have been greatly promoted by the relaxation of
those restrictive regulations which under the old peninsular system bound
down all foreign commerce with the colonies of Spain, and laid it prostrate
at the feet of the mother-country. It cannot be said that the sound
principles of free trade, in any large or extended sense of the term,
have been recognized or acted upon even at the single port of Havana. The
discriminating duties imposed by the supreme government of Madrid on the
natural productions, manufactures, and shipping of foreign countries, in
contradistinction to those of Spain, are so stringent and so onerous as
altogether to exclude the idea of anything approaching to commercial
freedom. There is no longer, it is true, any absolute prohibition, but in
many cases the distinguishing duties are so heavy as to defeat their own
object, and, in place of promoting the interests of the mother-country,
have had little other effect than the establishment of an extensive and
ruinous contraband." Under such conditions as those existing in Cuba,
from its beginning practically until the establishment of its political
independence, industrial development and commercial expansion are more than
difficult.
One of the natural results of such a system appeared in the activities of
smugglers. The extent to which that industry was carried on cannot, of
course, be even guessed. Some have estimated that the merchandise imported
in violation of the laws equalled in value the merchandise entered at
the custom houses. An official publication (American) states that "from
smuggling on a large scale and privateering to buccaneering and piracy is
not a long step, and under the name of privateers French, Dutch, English,
and American smugglers and buccaneers swarmed the Caribbean Sea and the
Gulf of Mexico for more than two centuries, plundering Spanish _flotas_
and attacking colonial settlements. Among the latter, Cuba was the chief
sufferer." Had Cuba's coasts been made to order for the purpose, they could
hardly have been better adapted to the uses of smugglers. Off shore, for
more than half its coast line, both north and south, are small islands
and keys with narrow and shallow passages between them, thus making an
excellent dodging area for small boats if pursued by revenue vessels.
Thoroughly familiar with these entrances and hiding places, smugglers could
land their goods almost at will with little danger of detection or capture.
Another heavy handicap on the economic progress of the island appears in
the system of taxation. Regarding this system, the Census of 1899 reports
as follows:
"Apart from imports and exports, taxes were levied on real and personal
property and on industries and commerce of all kinds. Every profession,
art, or manual occupation contributed its quota, while, as far back as
1638, seal and stamp taxes were established on all judicial business and
on all kinds of petitions and claims made to official corporations, and
subsequently on all bills and accounts. These taxes were in the form of
stamps on official paper and at the date of American occupation the paper
cost from 35 cents to $3 a sheet. On deeds, wills, and other similar
documents the paper cost from 35 cents to $37.50 per sheet, according to
the value of the property concerned. Failure to use even the lowest-priced
paper involved a fine of $50.
"There was also a municipal tax on the slaughter of cattle for the market.
This privilege was sold by the municipal council to the highest bidder,
with the result that taxes were assessed on all animals slaughtered,
whether for the market or for private consumption, with a corresponding
increase in the price of meat.
"Another tax established in 1528, called the _derecho_ _de averia_,
required the payment of 20 ducats ($16) by every person, bond or free,
arriving in the island. In 1665 this tax was increased to $22, and
continued in force to 1765, thus retarding immigration, and, to that
extent, the increase of population, especially of the laboring class.
"An examination of these taxes will show their excessive, arbitrary, and
unscientific character, and how they operated to discourage Cubans from
owning property or engaging in many industrial pursuits tending to benefit
them and to promote the material improvement of the island.
"Taxes on real estate were estimated by the tax inspector on the basis
of its rental or productive capacity, and varied from 4 to 12 per cent.
Similarly, a nominal municipal tax of 25 per cent was levied on the
estimated profits of all industries and commerce, and on the income derived
from all professions, manual occupations, or agencies, the collector
receiving 6 per cent of all taxes assessed. Much unjust discrimination was
made against Cubans in determining assessable values and in collecting the
taxes, and it is said that bribery in some form was the only effective
defense against the most flagrant impositions."
Some of the experiences of this period will be considered in special
chapters on Cuba's alleged revolutions and on the relations of the United
States to Cuba and its affairs. One point may be noted here. The wave of
republicanism that swept over a considerable part of Europe and over the
Western Hemisphere, from 1775 to 1825 had its direct influence in Spain,
and an influence only less direct in Cuba. In 1812, Spain became a
constitutional monarchy. It is true that the institution had only a
brief life, but the sentiment that lay beneath it persisted and had been
repeatedly a cause of disturbance on the Peninsula. Something of the
same sentiment pervaded Cuba and excited ambitions, not for national
independence, but for some participation in government. A royal decree, in
1810, gave Cuba representation in the Cortes, and two deputies from the
island took part in framing the Constitution of 1812. This recognition of
Cuba lasted for only two years, the Constitution being abrogated in 1814,
but it was restored in 1820, only to cease again three years later.
Representatives were again admitted to the Cortes in 1834, and again
excluded in 1837. The effect of all this was, perhaps, psychological rather
than practical, but it gave rise to a new mental attitude and to some
change in conduct. The effect appears in the numerous recurrences of open
protest and passive resistance in the place of the earlier submission.
Writing in 1855, Mr. J.S. Thrasher stated that "the essential political
elements of the island are antagonistic to those of the mother-country.
While the Cortes and the crown have frequently declared that Cuba does not
form an integral part of the Spanish monarchy, but must be governed by
special laws not applicable to Spain, and persist in ruling her under the
erroneous and unjust European colonial system, the growing wealth and
increasing intelligence of the Cubans lead them to aspire to some share in
the elimination of the political principles under which their own affairs
shall be administered. A like antagonism exists in the economic relations
of the two countries. While the people of Cuba are not averse to the
raising of such revenue as may be required for the proper wants of the
State, in the administration of which they may participate, they complain,
with a feeling of national pride, that fiscal burdens of the most onerous
kind are laid upon them for the expressed purpose of advancing interests
which are in every sense opposed to their own. Thus, Spain imposes taxes to
support a large army and navy, the principal object of which is to prevent
any expression of the public will on the part of the people of Cuba.
Another class of impositions have for their object the diversion of
the trade of Cuba to channels which shall increase the profits of the
agriculturists and mariners of Spain without regard to the interests of the
people of the island."
[Illustration: A PLANTER'S HOME _Havana Province_]
Yet in spite of these severe restrictions and heavy burdens, Cuba shows a
considerable progress during the first half of the century. It is far from
easy to reach fair conclusions from contemporaneous writings. Naturally,
Spanish officials and Spanish writers strove to make the best possible case
for Spain, its policies and its conduct. The press of the island was either
under official control or stood in fear of official reprisals. The Cuban
side, naturally partisan, appears to have been presented chiefly by
fugitive pamphlets, more or less surreptitiously printed and distributed,
usually the product of political extremists. Among these was a man of
marked ability and of rare skill in the use of language. He was Don Antonio
Saco, known in Cuba as the "Immortal Saco." In a letter written to a
friend, in 1846, he says, "The tyranny of our mother-country, today most
acute, will have this result--that within a period of time not very remote
the Cubans will be compelled to take up arms to banish her." That British
observers and most American observers should take the side of the Cubans is
altogether natural. Writing in 1854, Mr. M.M. Ballou, in his _History of
Cuba_, says: "The Cubans owe all the blessings they enjoy to Providence
alone (so to speak), while the evils which they suffer are directly
referable to the oppression of the home government. Nothing short of a
military despotism could maintain the connection of such an island with a
mother-country more than three thousand miles distant; and accordingly we
find the captain-general of Cuba invested with unlimited power. He is, in
fact, a viceroy appointed by the crown of Spain, and accountable only to
the reigning sovereign for his administration of the colony. His rule is
absolute; he has the power of life and death and liberty in his hands. He
can, by his arbitrary will, send into exile any person whatever, be his
name or rank what it may, whose residence in the island he considers
prejudicial to the royal interest, even if he has committed no overt act.
He can suspend the operation of the laws and ordinances, if he sees fit to
do so; can destroy or confiscate property; and, in short, the island may be
said to be perpetually in a state of siege."