are no southern ports to the west until Batabano is reached, immediately
south of, and only a few miles from, the city of Havana. It is a shallow
harbor, of no commercial importance. It serves mainly as the centre of a
sponge-fishing industry, and as a point of departure for the Isle of Pines,
and for ports on the south coast. The Isle of Pines is of interest for a
number of reasons, among which are its history, its mineral springs, its
delightful climate, and an American colony that has made much trouble
in Washington. Columbus landed there in 1494, and gave it the name _La
Evangelista_. It lies about sixty miles off the coast, almost due south
from Havana. Between the island and the mainland lies a labyrinth of islets
and keys, many of them verdure-clad. Its area is officially given as 1,180
square miles. There seems no doubt that, at some earlier time, it formed a
part of the main island, with which it compares in geologic structure and
configuration. It is now, in effect, two islands connected by a marsh; the
northern part being broken and hilly, and the southern part low, flat, and
sandy, probably a comparatively recently reclaimed coralline plain. The
island has been, at various times, the headquarters of bands of pirates, a
military hospital, a penal institution, and a source of political trouble.
It is now a Cuban island the larger part of which is owned by Americans. It
is a part of the province of Havana, and will probably so remain as long as
Cuba is Cuba. My personal investigations of the disputed question of the
political ownership of the island began early in 1899. I then reached a
conclusion from which I have not since seen any reason to depart. The
island was then, had always been, and is now, as much a part of Cuba as
Long Island and Key West have been and are parts of the United States.
Just who it was that first raised the question of ownership, none of us who
investigated the matter at the time of its particular acuteness, was
able to determine satisfactorily, although some of us had a well-defined
suspicion. The man is now dead, and I shall not give his name. Article I,
of the Treaty of Paris, of December 10, 1898, presumably disposes of the
Cuban area; Article II refers to Porto Rico; and Article III refers to the
Philippines. The issue regarding the Isle of Pines was raised under
Article II, presumably referring only to Porto Rico. A slight but possibly
important difference appears in the Spanish and the English versions. The
English text reads that "Spain cedes ... the island of Porto Rico and other
islands now under Spanish sovereignty" etc. The Spanish text, literally
translated runs: "Spain cedes ... the island of Porto Rico and the others
that are now under its sovereignty." The obvious reference of the article
is to Mona, Viequez, and Culebra, all small islands in Porto Rican waters.
But the question was raised and was vigorously discussed. An official map
was issued showing the island as American territory. Americans jumped
in, bought up large tracts, and started a lively real estate boom. They
advertised it widely as American territory, and many put their little
collections of dollars into it. The claim of Spanish cession was afterward
denied in the very document that served to keep the issue alive for a
number of years. Article VI of the Platt Amendment, which the Cubans
accepted with marked reluctance, declared that the island was omitted from
the boundaries of Cuba, and that the title and ownership should be left to
future adjustment by treaty. But no alternative appears between cession and
no cession. Had the island become definitely American territory by cession,
its alienation, by such a step, would not have been possible. When we left
Cuba, in 1902, the official instructions from Washington were that the Isle
of Pines would remain under a _de facto_ American government. President
Palma, accepting the transfer, expressed his understanding that it would
"continue _de facto_ under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Cuba." In
some way, the departing American authority failed to leave any agent or
representative of the _de facto_ government of the United States, and the
Cubans included the island in their new administration, very properly. When
the treaty proposed by the Platt Amendment came before the United States
Senate, it hung fire, and finally found lodgment in one of the many
pigeon-holes generously provided for the use of that august body. There it
may probably be found today, a record and nothing more. Why? For the very
simple reason that some of the resident claimants for American ownership
sent up a consignment of cigars made on the island from tobacco grown on
the island, and refused to pay duty on them. The ground of refusal was that
they were a domestic product, sent from one port in the United States to
another port in the same country, and therefore not dutiable. The case of
Pearcy _vs_ Stranahan, the former representing the shippers, and the latter
being the Collector of the Port of New York, came before the Supreme Court
of the United States, and that final authority decided and declared that
the Isle of Pines was Cuban territory and a part of Cuba. The question is
settled, and the Isle of Pines can become territory of the United States
only by purchase, conquest, or some other form of territorial transfer.
While the American settlers in the Isle of Pines, and the several
real-estate companies who seek purchasers for their holdings, own a large
part of the territory, they still constitute a minority of the population.
Many of the settlers, probably most of them, are industrious and persistent
in their various productive activities. Their specialty is citrus fruits,
but their products are not limited to that line. More than a few have tried
their little experiment in pioneering, and have returned to their home land
more or less disgusted with their experience. Those who have remained,
and have worked faithfully and intelligently, have probably done a little
better than they would have done at home. The great wealth for which all,
doubtless, earnestly hoped, and in which many, doubtless, really believed,
has not come. This settlement is only one of many speculative exploitations
in Cuba. Some of these have been fairly honest, but many of them have been
little better than rank swindles. Many have been entirely abandoned, the
buyers losing the hard-earned dollars they had invested. Others, better
located, have been developed, by patience, persistence, and thrift, into
fairly prosperous colonies. I do not know how many victims have been
caught by unscrupulous and ignorant promoters in the last fifteen years,
principally in the United States and in Canada, but they are certainly
many, so many that the speculative industry has declined in recent years.
Many of the settlers who have remained have learned the game, have
discovered that prosperity in Cuba is purchased by hard work just as it is
elsewhere. In different parts of the island, east, west, and centre, there
are now thrifty and contented colonists who have fought their battle, and
have learned the rules that nature has formulated as the condition of
success in such countries. Whether these people have really done any better
than they would have done had they stayed at home and followed the rules
there laid down, is perhaps another question. At all events, there are
hundreds of very comfortable and happy American homes in Cuba, even in the
Isle of Pines, where they persist in growling because it is Cuba and not
the United States.
In a review of a country including forty-four thousand square miles of
territory, condensed into two chapters, it is quite impossible to include
all that is worth telling. Moreover, there is much in the island of which
no adequate description can be given. There is much that must be seen if it
if to be fairly understood and appreciated.
VIII
_THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA_
IN his message to Congress, on December 5, 1898, President McKinley
declared that "the new Cuba yet to arise from the ashes of the past must
needs be bound to us by ties of singular intimacy and strength if its
enduring welfare is to be assured."
Probably to many of the people of the United States, the story of our
relations with Cuba had its beginning with the Spanish-American war.
That is quite like a notion that the history of an apple begins with its
separation from the tree on which it grew. The general history of the
island is reviewed in other chapters in this volume. The story of our
active relations with Cuba and its affairs runs back for more than a
hundred years, at least to the days of President Thomas Jefferson who,
in 1808, wrote thus to Albert Gallatin: "I shall sincerely lament Cuba's
falling into any other hands but those of its present owners." Several
other references to the island appear at about that time. Two great
movements were then going on. Europe was in the throes of the Napoleonic
disturbance, and for more than twenty-five years both France and England
schemed, sometimes openly and sometimes secretly, for the possession of
Cuba. The other movement was the revolution in Spain's colonies in the
Western Hemisphere, a movement that cost Spain all of its possessions in
that area, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico. The influence of the
revolutionary activities naturally extended to Cuba, but it was not until
after 1820 that matters became dangerously critical. From that time until
the present, the question of Cuba's political fate, and the question of our
relations with the island, form an interesting and highly important chapter
in the history of the United States as well as in the history of Cuba.
In his book on the war with Spain, Henry Cabot Lodge makes a statement that
may seem curious to some and amazing to others. It is, however, the opinion
of a competent and thoroughly trained student of history. He writes thus:
"The expulsion of Spain from the Antilles is merely the last and final step
of the inexorable movement in which the United States has been engaged for
nearly a century. By influence and by example, or more directly, by arms
and by the pressure of ever-advancing settlements, the United States drove
Spain from all her continental possessions in the Western Hemisphere, until
nothing was left to the successors of Charles and Philip but Cuba and Porto
Rico. How did it happen that this great movement stopped when it came to
the ocean's edge? The movement against Spain was at once national
and organic, while the pause on the sea-coast was artificial and in
contravention of the laws of political evolution in the Americas. The
conditions in Cuba and Porto Rico did not differ from those which had gone
down in ruin wherever the flag of Spain waved on the mainland. The Cubans
desired freedom, and Bolivar would fain have gone to their aid. Mexico and
Colombia, in 1825, planned to invade the island, and at that time invasion
was sure to be successful. What power stayed the oncoming tide which had
swept over a continent? Not Cuban loyalty, for the expression 'Faithful
Cuba' was a lie from the beginning. The power which prevented the
liberation of Cuba was the United States, and more than seventy years later
this republic has had to fight a war because at the appointed time she set
herself against her own teachings, and brought to a halt the movement she
had herself started to free the New World from the oppression of the Old.
The United States held back Mexico and Colombia and Bolivar, used
her influence at home and abroad to that end, and, in the opinion of
contemporary mankind, succeeded, according to her desires, in keeping Cuba
under the dominion of Spain."
For a number of years, Cuba's destiny was a subject of the gravest concern
in Washington. Four solutions presented themselves; first, the acquisition
of Cuba by the United States; second, its retention by Spain; third,
its transfer to some power other than Spain; fourth, its political
independence. That the issue was decided by the United States is shown by
all the history of the time. While other factors had their influence in the
determination, it is entirely clear that the issue turned on the question
of slavery. In his book on _Cuba and International Relations_, Mr. Callahan
summarizes his review of the official proceedings by saying that "the South
did not want to see Cuba independent _without_ slavery, while the North did
not want to annex it _with_ slavery." In his work on the _Rise and Fall of
the Slave Power in America_, Mr. Henry Wilson declares that "thus clearly
and unequivocally did this Republic step forth the champion of slavery, and
boldly insist that these islands should remain under the hateful despotism
of Spain, rather than gain their independence by means that should inure to
the detriment of its cherished system. Indeed, it (the United States) would
fight to fasten more securely the double bondage on Cuba and the slave."
From this point of view, unquestionably correct, it is altogether evident
that the United States assumed responsibility for Cuba's welfare, not by
the intervention of 1898, but by its acts more than seventy years earlier.
The diplomatic records of those years are filled with communications
regarding the island, and it was again and again the subject of legislation
or proposed legislation. President after President dealt with it in
messages to Congress. The acquisition of the island, by purchase or
otherwise, was again and again discussed. Popular interest was again and
again excited; the Spanish colonial policy was denounced; and the burdens
and sufferings of the Cubans were depicted in many harrowing tales. For the
policy that led to the imposition of a restraining hand on proposals to
free Cuba, in those early days, the people of the United States today must
blush. The independence movement in the States of Spanish-America may be
said to have had its definite beginning in 1806, when Francisco Miranda,
a Venezuelan, sailed from New York with three ships manned by American
filibusters, although the first land battle was fought in Bolivia, in 1809,
and the last was fought in the same country, in 1825. But the great wave
swept from the northern border of Mexico to the southernmost point of
Spanish possession. When these States declared their independence, they
wrote into their Constitutions that all men should be free, that human
slavery should be abolished forever from their soil. The attitude of the
United States in the matter of Cuba was determined by the objection to the
existence of an anti-slavery State so near our border. The experience of
Haiti and Santo Domingo was, of course, clearly in mind, but the objection
went deeper than that. Those who are interested may read with profit the
debates in the Congress of the United States, in 1826, on the subject of
the despatch of delegates to the so-called Panama Congress-of that year. On
the whole, it is not pleasant reading from any present point of view.
Our cherished Monroe Doctrine was one of the fruits of this period, and in
the enunciation of that policy the affairs of Cuba were a prominent if not
the dominant force. The language of this doctrine is said to have been
written by Secretary Adams, but it is embodied in the message of President
Monroe, in December, 1823, and so bears his name. In April, of that year,
Secretary Adams sent a long communication to Mr. Nelson, then the American
Minister to Spain. For their bearing on the Cuban question, and for the
presentation of a view that runs through many years of American policy,
extracts from that letter may be included here.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, April 28, 1823.
"In the war between France and Spain, now commencing, other interests,
peculiarly ours, will, in all probability, be deeply involved. Whatever may
be the issue of this war, as between these two European powers, it may be
taken for granted that the dominion of Spain upon the American continent,
north and south, is irrecoverably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto
Rico still remain nominally, and so far really, dependent upon her, that
she possesses the power of transferring her own dominion over them,
together with the possession of them, to others. These islands, from their
local position are natural appendages to the North American continent,
and one of them, Cuba, almost in sight of our shores, from a multitude of
considerations, has become an object of transcendant importance to the
commercial and political interests of our Union. Its commanding position,
with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and the West India seas; the character
of its population; its situation midway between our southern coast and
the island of St. Domingo; its safe and capacious harbor of the Havana,
fronting a long line of our shores destitute of the same advantage; the
nature of its productions and of its wants, furnishing the supplies and
needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable and mutually
beneficial,--give it an importance in the sum of our national interests
with which that of no other foreign territory can be compared, and little
inferior to that which binds the different members of this Union together.
Such, indeed, are the interests of that island and of this country, the
geographical, commercial, moral, and political relations, that, in looking
forward to the probable course of events, for the short period of half
a century, it is scarcely possible to resist the conviction that the
annexation of Cuba to our federal republic will be indispensable to the
continuance and integrity of the Union itself."
The communication proceeds to relate the knowledge of the Department that
both Great Britain and France were desirous of securing possession and
control of the island, and to disclaim, on the part of the United States,
all disposition to obtain possession of either Cuba or Porto Rico.
The complications of the situation became increasingly serious, more
particularly with regard to Cuba, and on December 2, of that year (1823),
President Monroe issued his message carrying the "doctrine," which may be
given thus:
"In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we
have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so.
It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent
injuries or make preparations for our defense. With the movements in this
hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected. We owe it,
therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the
United States and those powers (of Europe) to declare that we should
consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion
of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing
colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and
shall not interfere. But with the Governments that have declared their
independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have recognized,
we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or
controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any
other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward
the United States."
From this time onward, Cuba appears as an almost continuous object of
special interest to both the people and the officials of the United States.
Notwithstanding this disclaimer of President Monroe's message, the idea
of the acquisition of the island, by the United States, soon arose. It
persisted through all the years down to the time of the Teller amendment,
in 1898, and there are many who even now regard annexation as inevitable at
some future time, more or less distant. The plan appears as a suggestion
in a communication, under date of November 30, 1825, from Alexander
H. Everett, then Minister to Madrid, to President Adams. It crops up
repeatedly in various quarters in later years. It would be a difficult and
tedious undertaking to chase through all the diplomatic records of seventy
years the references to Cuba and its affairs.
From that period until the present time, the affairs of the island have
been a matter of constant interest and frequent anxiety in Washington. Fear
of British acquisition of the island appears to have subsided about 1860,
but there were in the island two groups, both relatively small, one of
them working for independence, and the other for annexation to the
United States. The great majority, however, desired some fair measure of
self-government, and relief from economic and financial burdens, under the
Spanish flag. The purchase of the island by the United States was proposed
by President Polk, in 1848; by President Pierce, in 1854; and by President
Buchanan, in his time. Crises appeared from time to time. Among them was
the incident of the _Black Warrior_, in 1854. Mr. Rhodes thus describes the
affair, in his _History of the United States_:
"_The Black Warrior_ was an American merchant steamer, plying between
Mobile and New York, stopping at Havana for passengers and mail. She had
made thirty-six such voyages, almost always having a cargo for the American
port, and never being permitted to bring freight into Havana. The custom
of her agent was to clear her 'in ballast' the day before her arrival. The
practice, while contrary to the regulations of Cuban ports, had always
been winked at by the authorities. It was well understood that the _Black
Warrior_ generally had a cargo aboard, but a detailed manifest of her load
had never been required. She had always been permitted to sail unmolested
until, when bound from Mobile to New York, she was stopped on the 28th of
February, 1854, by order of the royal exchequer, for having violated
the regulations of the port. The agent, finding that the cause of this
proceeding was the failure to manifest the cargo 'in transit,' offered to
amend the manifest, which under the rules he had a right to do; but this
the collector, on a flimsy pretext, refused to permit. The agent was at the
same time informed that the cargo was confiscated and the captain fined, in
pursuance of the custom-house regulations. The cargo was cotton, valued
at one hundred thousand dollars; and the captain was fined six thousand
dollars. The United States consul applied to the captain-general for
redress, but no satisfaction was obtained. A gang of men with lighters were
sent to the ship under the charge of the _commandante_, who ordered the
captain of the _Black Warrior_ to discharge her cargo. This he refused to
do. The _commandante_ then had the hatches opened, and his men began
to take out the bales of cotton. The captain hauled down his flag and
abandoned the vessel to the Spanish authorities."
The news of the incident created great excitement in Washington. President
Pierce sent a message to Congress, stating that demand had been made on
Spain for indemnity, and suggesting provisional legislation that would
enable him, if negotiations failed, "to insure the observance of our just
rights, to obtain redress for injuries received, and to vindicate the honor
of our flag."
Mr. Soule, then the American Minister to Madrid, was the official through
whom the negotiations were conducted. He was a man of somewhat impetuous
temperament, and an ardent advocate of Cuba's annexation. He quite
overstepped both the bounds of propriety and of his authority in his
submission, under instructions, of a demand for three hundred thousand
dollars indemnity. This, and Spanish diplomatic methods, led to delay, and
the excitement died out. In the meantime, Spain released the vessel and its
cargo, disavowed and disapproved the conduct of the local officials, paid
the indemnity claimed by the owners of the vessel, and the ship resumed its
regular trips, being treated with every courtesy when visiting Havana. But
the incident gave rise to active discussion, and for a time threatened
serious results. It followed on the heels of another experience, the Lopez
expeditions, to which reference is made in another chapter, and came at a
time when Cuba and Cuban affairs were topics of a lively public interest.
The subject of acquisition was under general public discussion and occupied
a large share of public attention. Some wanted war with Spain, and others
proposed the purchase of the island from Spain. But the immediate cause
of complaint having been removed by the release of the ship, Soule was
instructed to take no further steps in the matter, and the excitement
gradually passed away.