Strangely enough, in view of the number of books that have been written about Cuba, there is no adequate history of the Island in the English language—none that may be justly deemed comprehensive and trustworthy. Many important events in the life of the country have never been properly recorded and much that is of great interest still reposes undisturbed in scattered documents. A candid account could hardly be expected of a Spaniard or a Cuban, but it might be supposed that an American would treat the subject with impartial fairness. None however has done so, thus far. A recent effort by a prominent educator is typical of the books on Cuba which are designed for the use of students in our schools and elsewhere. By the author in question the Spaniards are unstintingly condemned and the Americans unqualifiedly praised. The Cubans are portrayed as heroic embodiments of all the virtues. Our{23} successes in the Spanish American War are described as brilliant victories. In short, the most distorted impression of the facts is conveyed. This condition is regrettable because a true understanding of any people and their country must be based upon intelligent knowledge of their history, and this is peculiarly so in the case of Cuba and the Cubans.
Even though he had the ability to remedy the defect, the limits and design of the present volume would preclude the writer from making the attempt in its pages. The brief historical sketch given here, must be made entirely secondary to the main purpose of presenting a picture of the Island and its inhabitants as they are to-day, and of taking a survey of the economic conditions affecting them. The following account is restricted mainly to such phases of the country’s history as have had permanent influence on the character, customs and welfare of the people.
Upon discovering the Island of Cuba, Columbus named it Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella. On the death of Ferdinand, Velasquez substituted the name Ferdinandina. The Island was subse{24}quently called Santiago, after the patron saint of Spain, and still later, Ave Maria. Through all these changes of official style the natives retained the name Cuba, by which their country had been known before the advent of white men, and the Indian appellation was soon adopted by the aliens.
The Indians whom Columbus found upon the Island were of gentle disposition and peaceful by inclination and practice. The nine divisions of the country were governed without friction by as many caciques, independent of one another and equal in rank. The people rendered them unquestioned obedience and were accustomed to an autocratic rule. Hospitality was an universal trait and the invaders were made free of the land without the slightest opposition. Furthermore, these Indians accepted baptism and the doctrines of Christianity more readily than any others with whom the Spaniards came into contact.
But for one condition, the factors were present for the peaceful subjugation and government of the aborigines. The obstructive element was found in the constitutional aversion of the natives to physical exertion in any unnecessary degree. Their soil responded gen{25}erously to the slightest appeal in the form of casual cultivation, and the materials for their scanty clothing might be gathered without trouble. They had never experienced any need to work and their climate was conducive to careless indolence. No doubt their habit of life had produced weakness and lack of stamina. Thus disinclination grew into disability. Flaccid muscles and unused limbs caused apparently strong and robust men to faint and fall under tasks which we would consider an ordinary day’s labor.
The Spanish adventurers, who found the natives in possession of nuggets of gold and rude ornaments fashioned from the precious metal, set them the onerous task of mining. They perceived the aversion of the Indians to labor, but could not comprehend their inability. El execrable sed d’ore prompted them to the commission of pitiless barbarities in the effort to force the slaves to increased exertion.
Under this treatment the natives died in great numbers. A few feeble attempts at armed resistance hastened the end. In an incredibly short time, if we are to accept the most reliable estimates of the number of the aborig{26}inal population, the male Indians were completely exterminated.
It is impossible to say with any degree of precision how many inhabitants the Island of Cuba contained at the time of its discovery. Las Casas and Peter Martyr are led into exaggeration by their righteous indignation at the cruelties of their countrymen. Their figures are highly improbable. If the native population at the time the Spaniards first settled in the country is estimated at half a million there is little likelihood of undershooting the mark.
Oviado declares that in 1535—less than fifty years after the discovery—there were fewer than five hundred Indians left within the borders of the Island. Among this remnant females were largely in predominence. They had not been subjected to the same extremes of hardships and cruelty as had the males, and many of the Spaniards had taken native women under their protection as concubines. This condition led to the perpetuation of the Indian blood after the last of the pure bred aborigines had disappeared. To-day, one meets, on rare occasions, a Cuban peasant whose appearance suggests Indian ancestry, but the strain practi{27}cally died out long ago, and has left no impression on the Cuban character or customs.
Cases in which the aboriginal stock is suggested are more frequently encountered at the eastern end of the Island than elsewhere, and a plausible explanation might be found in the fact that its wild mountainous recesses would have afforded safe retreat to such of the Indians who may have fled there from the persecutions of the whites. In this way it is possible that a small number of the natives may have survived for a considerable period after official knowledge of their existence had ceased.
Some years ago, at Holguin, a youth was pointed out to me, who exhibited in features, skull formation, and complexion, marked resemblance to an Indian type. The padre, who had drawn my attention to the young man, scoffed at my suggestion of accident, and declared his conviction that it was a pronounced case of atavism.
The first permanent settlement of the Spaniards upon the Island of Cuba was made at Baracoa, in 1512. At its head was Captain Diego Velasquez, who, until his death in 1524, continued to rule Cuba, as Adelantado, under direct responsibility to the Governor and An{28}dencia of Hispaniola, or Santo Domingo. He had five successors in this office. The first governor, appointed by and immediately answerable to the Crown, was Hernando de Soto. The line of captains-general began with Don Gabriel de Lujan, who assumed the post in 1581.
In 1514, Velasquez founded the towns of Trinidad and Santiago, for the purpose of facilitating communication with Jamaica, and established settlements at Remedios, Bayamo, Puerto Principe, Sancti-Spiritus, and San Cristobal de la Habana, the last named being located where the town of Batabano now stands. Five years later, the name of Habana was transferred to a small settlement on the spot where the capital now stands.
Baracoa was the first bishopric and seat of government. In 1522 Santiago became the centre of both civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and in 1552 the capital was established at Habana.
The settlement of Cuba proceeded slowly. During the hundred years following its discovery, only two towns were founded in addition to those which have been mentioned, namely, Guanabacoa and El Cobre. In the seventeenth century but two more of any importance came
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BAYAMO.
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into existence, these being Matanzas and Santa Clara. Nine more were created in the course of the next century. At the close of this period the Island contained about two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, while the development of its natural resources can scarcely be said to have begun.
The backwardness of the colony was not due to lack of energy on the part of the Spaniards, who in the days of the conquistadores displayed that quality in a remarkable degree. A combination of conditions, some of them entirely beyond the control of the settlers, retarded the development of the Island. A large proportion of the first comers were transients, staying for a while, but responding ultimately to the greater allurements of the mainland. Their object was gold, and in this respect Cuba proved disappointing. After a while the large landed proprietors, who had received royal grants, began to raise cattle and to breed horses. For some time large quantities of meat and mounts for the troops were shipped to Terra Firma. But this source of profit expired toward the close of the sixteenth century, when the continental settlements became able to supply their own needs in these respects. At{30} this period the cultivation of tobacco and sugar-cane was introduced. At the outset these industries suffered from a paucity of labor, and a royal license was obtained for the importation of negroes from Africa. The shipment of the blacks in large numbers to the Island continued until, toward the middle of the nineteenth century, their proportional place in the population became a source of grave anxiety to the authorities. The successful revolt of their race in Haiti and the abolitionary agitation throughout the civilized world created unrest among the slaves in Cuba. Although there was no organized uprising, frequent mutinies occurred in different parts of the Island. The most cruel measures of repression were put into force, with the result of cowing the negroes for a while. It is probable however, that only the growth of the revolutionary movement prevented a general uprising of the blacks in Cuba before their emancipation, which was officially decreed in 1887.
The population of the Island in 1846 was about nine hundred thousand. More than half of the number were negroes, three-fourths of them slaves. According to the latest official figures, less than thirty per cent. of the present{31} population are colored. How has the proportion sunk so greatly in sixty-five years? Where have the negroes gone? What has become of their children?
A writer in a volume on “Cuba,” issued by the United States Bureau of the Census, states: “The diminution of the proportion of colored inhabitants during the last half century is doubtless but another illustration of the inability of the colored race to hold its own in competition with the whites, a truth which is being demonstrated on a much larger scale in the United States.”
This is not at all convincing. The negroes have not been to any appreciable degree subjected to competition in Cuba. The climate and latter-day conditions are altogether favorable to their survival and increase. Two official reports indicate that they held their own under the more arduous life of slavery.
We must look for an explanation elsewhere, and the most plausible seems to be that there is a much greater distribution of negro blood in Cuba than the statistics indicate. The enumerators who took the census under our military occupation acknowledged the difficulty of distinguishing among a people whose prevail{32}ing physical characteristics are dark skin and black hair, and expressed their suspicion that a large number of those who returned themselves as “whites” had negro blood in their veins. Those who have lived long and travelled extensively in Cuba, generally entertain the opinion that the proportion of pure whites in population is considerably less than seventy per cent.
The unqualified terms of condemnation in which most of our writers refer to the Spanish rule of Cuba, can only be accounted for on the assumption of ignorance of the history of the Island and the general conditions of the times. Spain had an admirable code of laws for the government of her colonies. This code, called Las Leyes de Indias, was formulated during the reign of Philip the second. It was designed to insure the humane and equitable treatment of the native subjects and, considering the times, was a highly enlightened measure. The laws were frequently violated by colonial governors, but it was hardly in the power of the home government to prevent such abuses. In those days of long distances and slow communication, it was necessary that viceroys should be invested with practically unlimited powers and undi{33}vided authority. The only alternative would have been the adoption of some form of popular government, which no nation had at that period dreamed of applying to its distant possessions. As a matter of fact, a liberal policy prevailed in Cuba during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Public assemblies of citizens were held to elect the members of municipal corporations; no taxation was permitted without the sanction of these bodies;[1] charges were freely lodged and sustained against governors. During the same period, the British colonies in the West Indies were not so well governed as was Cuba and some of their governors were more flagrantly tyrannical and dishonest than the worst of Cuba’s captains-general. Spain’s chief fault and the cause of her downfall as a colonial power, lay in failure to respond to the growth of sentiment in favor of popular rights. She became more autocratic as other nations became more liberal. In truth, she had ineptitude for colonial government, but her sovereigns generally evinced{34} a sincere concern for the welfare of their foreign subjects.
Cuba entered upon an era of development and prosperity following the restoration of the Island to Spain by the British in 1763. For eighty years following the event it was governed by a line of captains-general, almost all of whom were able and well-intentioned. The first of these, Count O’Reilly, devoted his five-year term of office to the organization of a militia force and the execution of other much needed military measures. Don Antonio Bucarely paid special attention to the administration of justice throughout the Island and redressed many popular grievances. Of him was recorded the unparalleled fact that during his administration not a single complaint against him had reached the Court of Madrid. His successor, the Marques de la Torre, gained the affection and esteem of all classes. The benign and talented Las Casas arrived in 1790, and the period of his governorship is recognized by all Spanish writers as one of the most brilliant in the history of the Island. He effected many public improvements and introduced means for the increase of the industrial and commercial prosperity of Cuba. He it was, who founded{35} the institution of Sociedad Patriotica, which became so important an agency in the promotion of agriculture, trade, education, literature, and the fine arts. The recognition of the popular principle in this institution, and the promotion of liberal ideas by it, have been highly influential factors in the development of the people and their country.
To Las Casas, also, the Island is indebted for the establishment of the Casa de Beneficencia, for its first public library, and its first newspaper.
It is frequently stated that under the rule of Spain education among the natives was discouraged. Such was not the case. The facilities of the masses in the country districts for acquiring such education as their classes usually enjoyed at the same period in Europe was, at least, equally as great. The priests maintained parish schools throughout the Island, and received pupils free without the distinction of classes or color. In the capital the opportunities for learning were unusually good. The Jesuits, Dominicans, and other orders, provided thorough classical education and instruction in foreign languages. Almost every religious institution had some sort of college or{36} attached to it. The University of Habana was established in 1721. It became the object of special favor by Las Casas. He increased the endowment and extended the scope of its utility by creating several new professorial chairs, notably one of medicine. He also lent aid and encouragement to the Jesuits, in improving their colleges.
Following Las Casas came several other benevolent governors, of whom the Conde de Santa Clara, the Marques de Someruelos, and the Espeletas, especially left records of wise and useful administration.
The chief features of the history of the Island previous to the opening of the eighteenth century, were the settlements created by the first governor, the usual repartimientos, or distribution of the territory and its inhabitants among the Spanish adventurers who led the early expeditions of the Indians, the introduction of negro slaves, the attacks by buccaneers, and the capture of Habana by the English. The century closed with a notable advance in commerce and industry, and a period of excellent government. This, though essentially despotic, was benevolent and well adapted to the conditions of the time. Under it the Cubans
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THE PRADO, HABANA.
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enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity, despite the short-sighted commercial policy to which they were subjected. That they were generally contented, and well affected towards the mother country can not be questioned. The French and American revolutions impressed them greatly, but did not shake their loyalty. When the news of the abduction of the royal family of Spain by Napoleon reached Habana, the colonial government declared war against France, and the populace approved the act with enthusiasm. The revolt of the colonies on the mainland, and their disseverance from Spain, left Cuba still attached to the Crown with a constancy that gained for her the sobriquet, “ever faithful.”
The political changes which took place in Spain in the first quarter of the nineteenth century were productive of similar changes in Cuba. What was called a constitutional government was given to the Island. The sudden introduction of a democratic system of rule to a population composed of the most discordant elements, and accustomed to autocracy, could not fail of producing something like the disquieting conditions that followed the premature establishment of ultra-free institutions in the{38} countries which had formerly been dependencies of Spain in America. The masonic societies came into vogue in Cuba, as they did in the peninsula. From the discussion of religious and political matters, these associations soon proceeded to the advocacy of revolution. The radical doctrines which were thus disseminated, readily took root in the minds of the educated, among whom translations of the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and their Italian disciples, were widely distributed at this time. In 1823 a conspiracy, which extended throughout the Island, was set on foot by a secret society named “the Sotes de Bolivar.” The drastic measures that were adopted for its suppression created deep and widespread resentment against the government.
Upon the restoration of Ferdinand the Seventh, another sudden swing of the pendulum brought the Cubans again under autocratic rule. Extreme means were resorted to with a view to stamping out the growing revolutionary spirit and reducing the people to their former state of ready submission to authority. None of these measures was so ill-judged, or so lasting in its evil effects, as the Royal Order of 1825. This conferred on the captains-gen{39}eral “the whole extent of power which by the royal ordinance is granted to the governors of besieged towns ... most amply and unrestrictedly authorizes Your Excellency not only to remove from the Island such persons, holding offices from government or not, whatever their rank, class, occupation, or situation in life may be, whose residence there you may deem prejudicial, or whose private or public conduct may appear suspicious to you, employing in their stead faithful servants of His Majesty, who shall fully deserve Your Excellency’s confidence; but also to suspend the execution of whatever royal orders or general decrees in all the different branches of the administration, or in any part of them, as Your Excellency may think conducive to the royal service; it being in any case required that these measures be temporary, and that Your Excellency make report of them for His Majesty’s sovereign approval.”
This order was intended to be observed under the most strict responsibility, “le mas estrecta responsibilidad,” and to be only temporarily in effect. It remained in force, however, and its terrible powers later became the scourge of the land, although they were not immediately felt.{40} The Captain-General upon whom they were first conferred, General Vives, refrained from exercising them, and under the judicious administration of Count Villanueva, as Intendant, the people had no cause to remember the fearful instrument for oppression which their rulers had at command.
The term of General Tacon (1834-1838) ushered in the era of tyranny, spoliation and incapacity that marked the government of Cuba in the remaining period of Spanish domination, during which the revolutionary spark that was ignited earlier in the century grew into an inextinguishable flame.
Long before this period the Spaniards and Cubans had drifted apart. There was nothing essential in common between the latter and the official class or the soldiers, unless we allow for some degree of common origin. The natives had gradually learned to entertain hatred for the Spaniards, who, in their turn, felt the greatest contempt for the Cubans. Neither side took the least pain to dissemble their feelings, except that in Habana friendly relations were, as a rule, maintained between the two classes, and this even during revolutionary periods. The relations and sentiments of the governing{41} class and the people to one another were much like those which existed between Norman and Saxon in the century following the Conquest.
The first Spanish immigration to Cuba commenced early in the sixteenth century, and consisted mainly of adventurers who accompanied the early expeditions, and who settled permanently in the country, after returning to Spain and transplanting their families. These first settlers were mostly of Castilian or Andalusian origin and their descendants furnished the best native blood of the Island. Shortly after, emigrants from the Basque Provinces and from Catalonia began to come in. These belonged to the peasant class, and from them the guajiro, or poor white, of the country districts has sprung. After the abolition of slavery a number of Galegos came over to seek employment in the houses of the wealthy.
Aside from a handful of French refugees, the white population of the Island was almost exclusively composed of Spaniards or people of Spanish descent until a late day. Under such circumstances of racial, religious and political affinity, a practical government might{42} have maintained peace continuously but for conditions which gradually moulded the Cubans into absolute antagonism to the Spaniards.