Cuba Past and Present Part 2

Unfortunately, the Inquisition, which had been implanted at an early period everywhere in the Spanish colonies, with the object of compelling the aborigines and the imported slaves to embrace Catholicism, was used as a means of overawing refractory colonists, who were soon made aware that either open or covert disapprobation of the proceedings of their rulers was the most deadly of all heresies. From the middle of the 17th century until the close of the 18th, the annals of the Havanese Inquisition contain endless charges of heresy against native-born Spaniards--charges which were in reality merely expressions of political displeasure, and had nothing whatever to do with religion.

The palace of the Holy Office and its prisons, which stood close to the Church of San Domingo, were destroyed many years ago, and are now replaced by the old market-place of Cristina, once the scene of an unusual number of _autos da fe_--a favourite form of religious entertainment in South America, it would appear, for in a curious old book, dated 1683, which I picked up in Havana for a few pence, the author complains of the dull times, "n.o.body, not even a negro, having been burnt alive for nearly six months." A Havanese _auto da fe_, in the palmy days of Spanish supremacy, must have been quite a pretty sight, including, as it did, an allegorical procession to the place of execution, with children dressed in white as angels, and little n.i.g.g.e.r boys as devils, tails and horns complete, dancing before the condemned, who, of course, wore the traditional _san benito_, a sort of high mitre and s.h.i.+rt, embellished with demoniacal representations of Satan and his imps, capering amid flames and forked lightning. Then came the Governor and his court, the civil and military officials, the clergy, the monks, and the friars singing the seven penitential psalms--in a word, everything "_muy grandiose y espectacolos_."

The early years of the 18th century were exceedingly prosperous for Cuba. The buccaneers and pirates had almost entirely ceased from troubling. The sugar trade was at its zenith, and although the Spanish administration was vile, the governors rapacious, and the taxation preposterous, colossal fortunes were made by the Cuban planters, and the name of the island was synonymous with the idea of wealth and riotous living. The Havanese carnival was almost as brilliant in its way as that of Venice, and public and private gambling was tolerated on a scale which attracted adventurers from all parts of the southern hemisphere.

Those were halcyon days, disturbed in 1762 by the rather unexpected appearance, in the port of Havana, of an English war squadron of 32 sail, with 170 transports, bearing a considerable body of troops under the command of his Grace of Albemarle and Sir George Picknell. This formidable armament, altogether the largest America had yet seen, laid siege to the city, which surrendered after an heroic defence of two months' duration. The British troops were landed and marched on Guanacaboa, from the heights of which place they fired down upon Morro Castle and the city proper. The Spaniards made a fatal mistake--blocking up the harbour by sinking two vessels at its mouth. This they did to exclude the English and prevent the destruction of the Spanish fleet.

But though they did shut out the English they also imprisoned themselves, and the enemy, seeing it was impossible for the Dons to escape, even if they would, directed their whole attention to their land attack. After a gallant struggle, the Spaniards, who numbered some 27,600 men, surrendered, and were permitted to march out of the city with the honours of war, the spoil divided by the British amounting to 736,000. The English troops next took Matanzas, and remained in possession of this portion of the island of Cuba for nine months, when, by the Treaty of Paris, it was restored to Spain, in exchange for Florida. During the British occupation the trade of the country was greatly improved by the importation of slaves from other British possessions and by the newcomers' superior knowledge of agriculture; so that the invasion proved, on the whole, a distinct benefit to the country, opening out a new era of prosperity for the Spaniards and other colonists. It has been said, indeed, that the real prosperity of the islands dates from our occupation, which ended July 18, 1763.

About 1765 there was a remarkable emigration of Frenchmen, partly from Martinique and partly from the mother-country into Cuba. The new colonists brought improved agricultural implements, and not a few of them opened shops in the chief cities, and did a large trade in French goods. Some French missionaries also arrived about the same time. These were mostly Jesuits, who, when they had acquired the language, began to preach practical sermons, which were greatly relished by the inhabitants. The French introduced apiculture, a branch of industry which has flourished ever since, and which has enabled the Cubans to supply the neighbouring islands with wax candles at a much cheaper rate than those hitherto imported from Europe. It is curious to notice, in some of the old log-books still preserved, the numerous entries as to the importation of wax candles made at Havana, to Jamaica, Trinidad, and Na.s.sau. In the log-book of the s.h.i.+p "Royal George," which was in the harbour of Havana on 16th June 1810, I find this entry--"Sent two men over to the town to purchase wax candles, which are very well made in this city, and also 20 bars of French bees-wax, and some soap for friends of mine in the Bahamas."

In 1763, France having ceded Luisiana to Spain, Don Antonio Alloa sailed for New Orleans, to take possession in the name of Their Catholic Majesties. He was so ill received as to be obliged to return forthwith to Havana, where Marshall O'Reilly, an exile of Irish origin, organized an expedition to Luisiana, and seized the capital, which, however, was not held for very long.

A very interesting incident took place in 1776. The United States were struggling for their independence, when their first emba.s.sy, headed by the famous Benjamin Franklin, arrived in Paris in the spring of that year, and solicited authorization from Louis XVI. to proceed to Madrid, to implore Don Carlos III. to grant them the aid and protection of Spain. Two members of the emba.s.sy, Messrs Arthur and Charles Lee, were allowed to present themselves at court, and the king accorded them a most gracious reception, and cordially promised them his support. His Majesty permitted Mr John Jay, a prominent representative of the American Congress, to remain in Madrid to continue negotiations, which resulted in Spain's affording the Americans truly practical a.s.sistance in the shape of money and men, the Spanish Minister for the Interior, Conde de Florida-Blanca, making them several grants of money out of the treasury. Permission was also given them to raise a corps of Spanish volunteers, who proceeded to Cuba, where they were reinforced by Cubans, and embarked thence for the States. These services were rewarded by the Americans with expressions of unbounded grat.i.tude. "The people of America can never forget the immense benefit they have received from King Carlos III.," said Was.h.i.+ngton, and a few years later, in 1780, a messenger was sent from Congress to the Spanish King, carrying with him an illuminated address of thanks and a new bill for 100,000, which they begged him to accept, "in the name of an everlastingly grateful people." But even in those days there were doubts cast upon the "lasting grat.i.tude" of the American people. The Conde d'Aranda, the Amba.s.sador at Paris, wrote a letter to Florida-Blanca containing these significant words:--"This American Republic was born a dwarf, but one day she will become a giant. She will then forget the blessings she received from France and Spain, and only think of her own aggrandis.e.m.e.nt."

The administration of Don Luis Las Casas, who arrived as Captain-General in 1790, was one of the most brilliant epochs of Cuban history. With indefatigable industry he promoted a number of public works of the first importance, introduced the culture of indigo, extended the commercial importance of the island by removing, as far as his authority permitted, the trammels imposed upon it by the old system of ecclesiastical and aristocratic privileges, and has left a glorious name in the long list of Captains-General, only equalled by that of Tacon in our own century.

The great French Revolution produced a prodigious impression throughout the whole of the West Indies. In many of the neighbouring islands, especially in Jamaica and San Domingo, the negroes revolted, and the action of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who had started as a Royalist, but who, on the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves in 1794, went over to the Republic, was a subject of common talk in Havana, where the Spaniards had great difficulty in suppressing a popular rising on the part of the Cubans, who were already heartily disgusted with their maladministration. On many of the plantations the more intelligent negroes, discovering that a decree for the emanc.i.p.ation of slavery had been pa.s.sed in the French colonies, clamoured in vain for a like act of grace from the Spanish Government, and finally rebelled, escaping into the woods, where they formed themselves into bands, which soon became a dangerous nuisance, and were ruthlessly suppressed by the cruel methods which have ever characterised Spanish rule. Throughout the last quarter of the 18th century the Cubans, as distinguished from the Spanish, manifested a strong desire to free themselves from the oppression of the mother-country, and not a few ardent spirits were made to feel the power of the Holy Office, their patriotism being skilfully interpreted as heresy, and punished accordingly. I think I am correct in considering the year 1766 as the date of the commencement of the Cuban Independence movement, which has lately culminated in a breach of the prolonged peace of two continents. But this is a subject which will require another chapter, and this brief history of Cuba must close, for the present, on the threshold of the century which has only two more years to run--years destined, in all probability, to witness the opening of a new era, one, let us hope, of peace and prosperity for the Pearl of the Antilles.

CHAPTER IV.

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 d.a.m.nable 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 ma.s.sacres. 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 cla.s.s 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 a.s.sistance to the American insurgents, and a number of Spanish and Cuban volunteers started from Havana, where they had a.s.sembled, 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 surrept.i.tious 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 a.s.sociations, 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 circ.u.mstance 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 inst.i.tutions, 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 s.h.i.+ps, all belonging to the Seville company, pa.s.sed 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 ma.s.sacres, 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 pa.s.sionate 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 a.s.sembly took the oath to preserve his country for his former king. Such ardent patriotism won the island the proud t.i.tle 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 G.o.das or Goths; and it is even said that when the Spanish ladies wore their hair long, the Cuban Senoras 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 amba.s.sador 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 n.o.body 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 ill.u.s.trious, 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 p.r.o.nunciamento, 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 pa.s.sionate 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 t.i.tle 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 flouris.h.i.+ng), soon made their impression upon the better educated and more intelligent cla.s.ses, and therefore upon the ma.s.ses, 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 pa.s.sed 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 h.e.l.l 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, a.s.sisted 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 a.s.sociates. Hundreds of negroes were ma.s.sacred, 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 _p.r.o.nunciamentos_. 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, pa.s.s 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 debut. 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 a.s.sisted, 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 pa.s.s 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 doree_ 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 smas.h.i.+ng 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 n.o.bles, 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 aggrandis.e.m.e.nt, 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, Senor 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.

"Circ.u.mstances 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 circ.u.mstances, 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, wis.h.i.+ng 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 cla.s.s 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 pet.i.tion 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 Espanol, the only bank in the island. In answer to this pet.i.tion, 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 n.o.bles 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 emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves. One of their princ.i.p.al schemes for diminis.h.i.+ng taxation,--by the subst.i.tution 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 emanc.i.p.ated. 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 3, 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 circ.u.mstances, 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, a.s.sisted, 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 a.s.sistance of the United States and of the already emanc.i.p.ated 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 n.o.ble presence and of an extraordinary oratorical talent.

In the beginning of 1865--the year of the pet.i.tion 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 wars.h.i.+ps 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 ma.s.sacres 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 ma.s.sacre 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 cla.s.s 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 s.h.i.+pped 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 a.s.sumed 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 a.s.sembly 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, a.s.sumed the name of commander-in-chief of the Cuban army.

Slavery was formally abolished. Freedom of wors.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sist 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 Senor 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 Const.i.tution over the body of Prim, who had been a.s.sa.s.sinated 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 t.i.tle 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.