The History of Cuba Volume II Part 18

On the other hand, if they wanted to return to Santo Domingo, he would insure their being taken thither. But on no account could they remain as inhabitants of Cuba. His persuasions were partially successful and numbers of them peacefully left the country.

For a long time, Spain had paid but meagre attention to her American possessions, save to mulct them for revenue. They had no representation, and their messages to and requests of the mother country received but scanty attention. Spain herself was pa.s.sing through stormy times. The country was in turmoil. Revolution was impending. Napoleon, whose greedy glance embraced almost the whole of Europe, had turned his attention to the Peninsula. In 1808 the royal family of Spain was abducted, and held virtually prisoners by Napoleon, while a new government was set up.

When the news of Napoleon's action reached Cuba, the Cabildo was in session. At once, each and every member took a solemn oath to make every effort to retain the island "for their lawful sovereign." Don Juan de Aguilar arrived in Cuba on the American ship _Dispatch_, and the government at once declared war against Napoleon and reaffirmed the loyalty of Cuba to Spain. On July 20, 1808, they proclaimed King Ferdinand VII as their lawful sovereign. This conduct, so little appreciated and so cruelly repaid by the mother country, won for Cuba the t.i.tle of the "Ever-Faithful Isle."

The internal troubles in Spain naturally had a most disastrous effect upon the Cuban trade and prosperity. The exports to Spain fell off to an alarming degree. The products of the country had, for a time, lost their natural market. Only statesmen of vision were able to understand the causes of the trouble. The common people looked upon the results only, and a strong feeling of unrest was engendered. The colony was practically independent of the mother country at this time, so far as any guidance or aid was concerned. The King was exiled and Joseph Bonaparte held sway in the Spanish capital.

But now a new difficulty showed its head. Not all the French had returned to Santo Domingo or France. There were numbers of French settlers in the rural districts. The people were discontented, and soon a movement arose--on March 21, 1809, it came to a crisis--to endeavor to persuade the French colonists, who had been so easily disposed of by Someruelos, to return. This movement took on almost the aspect of a revolution. It seemed as if France, not content with obtaining control of Spain, was again stretching out a clutching hand to grab Cuba as well.

The heads of the Cuban government were thoroughly aroused. Summary measures were taken, and the uprising, which had bid fair to be so serious, was subdued in two days. It was due, probably, to the firmness, decision and resourcefulness of those at the helm of Cuba at that time, that Cuba did not then and there become the victim of a movement which might have resulted in her becoming subject to France instead of Spain.

The att.i.tude of the United States toward French aggression also lent Cuba moral support, as we shall see.

The encounters which took place in putting down this trouble were practically bloodless. Almost no lives were lost, but much property was destroyed. A more serious result was that dissatisfied colonists, some of them of the most desirable type, to the number of many thousands, were driven to seek their fortunes and find new homes away from Cuba.

Napoleon was not satisfied to leave Spain in possession of Cuba, but soon instigated another effort to get possession of the island for France. In 1810, a young man arrived in Cuba from the United States. He was Don Manuel Aleman. His mission was apparently private business of his own, but the Cuban government had confidential information to the effect that he was an emissary of Napoleon. He was not allowed to land unapprehended, but was arrested on the ship on which he had come, and he was thrust into a none too pleasant Cuban prison. A council of war was a.s.sembled, but this was merely a form. Aleman's fate was predetermined.

On the following morning, July 13, 1810, he was taken to the Campo de la Punta and there publicly hanged as a traitor to Spain.

No account of events in Cuba at this time would be complete without some record of one whom Las Casas called "a jewel of priceless value to the glory of the nation, a protector for Cuba, an accomplished statesman for the monarchy," Don Francisco de Arango, the bearer of the "most ill.u.s.trious name in Cuban annals."

Arango, to whom we have previously made reference, was born on May 22, 1765, at Havana. In early boy-hood he was left an orphan, but he managed the large estate which had been left him with all the skill and judgment of a mature mind. He studied law, and was admitted to practice in Spain, and he there acted, for a number of years, as agent for the munic.i.p.ality of Cuba. He was thoroughly familiar with the wrongs and needs of his country, and it is probable that no one of his time was more suited by nature, training and sympathies to act for Cuba. He succeeded in fact in obtaining from the crown some very valuable concessions for the island.

In Cuba itself he worked hard to bring about an increase of staples. He exerted his influence among the planters to the end that the fertile soil should be worked to its utmost productiveness. It was necessary that not only should Cuba be self-supporting, and be able to pay her enormous taxes, but that there should be a large surplus to feed the royal exchequer. No one realized this more than Arango, whose years at the Spanish court had made him familiar with the greed of the Spanish government. His work was fruitful, and Cuban production at this period came almost up to the wild expectations of the Spanish government, which regarded Cuba as a land of inexhaustible riches. Arango was moreover a humanitarian at heart. The wrongs of the slaves and the evils of the slave trade appealed to his sense of justice. On the other hand, he saw very clearly the difficulty of obtaining the proper amount of labor for the Cuban plantations if the slave trade was abolished, and so his efforts on behalf of the slaves took the form of attempts toward their protection by wise laws.

The att.i.tude of Spain toward her colonies was at this time, as indeed always, grossly illogical. She wanted to take everything and give nothing. She could not foresee that a present of constant depletion meant a future of want; that in order to produce in quality the proper facilities must be provided. Arango, who was a diplomat as well as a statesman, by persuasion and by constant but gentle pressure at last won some of those in authority at the court to his point of view. If Cuba was to be a source of wealth to Spain, she must be endowed with the most efficient equipment to produce that wealth. Through Arango's efforts machinery was allowed to be imported into the island, free of duty.

This, of course, furnished the means for industrial expansion. He also obtained the removal of the duty on coffee, liquors and cotton, for a period of ten years.

But Arango saw as clearly as Las Casas had seen that Cuba to show progress must have facilities for uplift, and for the improvement of the mental and moral status of the inhabitants. He accordingly started a movement which resulted in the formation of the "Junta de Fomento," or Society for Improvement, which was long a power for good in the island, until later the Spanish Captains-General saw in it a means to further their own designs, and it became an instrument for oppression. Its object was avowedly to protect and to promote the progress of agriculture and commerce. The formation of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce was another benefit which Arango conferred upon Cuba. For a long time he was the Syndic of the Chamber of Commerce. There were certain perquisites of this office which Arango steadily refused to accept, and he also declined the salary which the office carried with it. In all his long and useful life he never accepted remuneration in any office which he held under the Cuban government.

Now the real power at the court of Spain at this time was the infamous G.o.doy, the personal favorite of the king and the queen's lover; who seemed to be so firmly entrenched that no one would dare to oppose him.

This creature turned greedy eyes toward Cuba. It was quite the fashion of those times for Spanish courtiers to consider Cuba as a source of revenue to bolster up their own fortunes. So G.o.doy claimed to be protector of the Chamber of Commerce, and demanded that the receipts of the custom house at Havana be turned over to him. He immediately met with the opposition of Arango, who bitterly opposed his every move and stood firmly against his plans for mulcting Cuba; in which conflict it is a pleasure to relate that for once virtue was triumphant. G.o.doy was unable to carry out his designs, and Arango was not only victor but he gained a still further point for Cuba, the relinquishment of the royal monopoly of tobacco.

There is another curious and interesting phase of this matter, which speaks highly for the remarkably forceful personality of Arango.

Although he at all times stood firmly as the inflexible opponent of any schemes which the court at Madrid might father for the oppression of Cuba, he was always an object of respect and esteem in high political circles in Spain, and he was offered a t.i.tle of n.o.bility. Possibly he looked upon this as a bribe. At any rate he declined it. However, when the Cross of the Order of Charles III. was offered him he accepted the decoration.

In 1813 Cuba, by the adoption of the const.i.tution of 1812, became ent.i.tled to representation in the Spanish Cortes, and Arango was unanimously chosen for this office. There was no person in Cuban politics more fitted for the honor. He proved himself worthy, for, as deputy to the Cortes, he achieved the greatest victory of his long fight for the good of Cuba, the opening of Cuban ports to foreign trade. New honors awaited him, for he was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella, and when in 1817 he returned to Cuba, he was accorded the rank of Counsellor of State, and Financial Intendente of Cuba. Arango died in 1837, having lived seventy-two years, and having faithfully served his country for the greater portion of them. He bequeathed a large portion of his considerable fortune for public purposes and charitable objects, all for the betterment of the land that he loved.

In the darkest hours of tyranny, while suffering wrongs that would have inflamed other peoples to rebellion, Cuba remained "The Ever-Faithful Isle" for many years, until forced to rebellion. Against the background of injustice, as contrasted with the Spanish Captains-General who were to follow, and whose sole interest in Cuba was to extract as much as they could from her, acting on the principle of "after us the deluge,"

and caring nothing for her ultimate fate, the figure of Arango, the native Cuban, fighting at home and abroad for Cuba, stands out in bold and happy relief. It is not a matter for surprise that his name has been written on the annals of Cuba, with all the love and respect with which the other South American countries revere Bolivar. Here was a man who could not be tempted by honors, who refused remuneration for his services, and who against the greatest odds stood staunchly for everything which would help his travailing country.

Among Spain's other possessions in America unrest was now beginning to manifest itself. They were sick of Spanish rule, and the period when Spain was occupied with troubles at home seemed to be a good opportunity to thrown off the yoke. Revolution was in the air in those days.

Independence had arisen like a new star on the horizon, and had become the object of popular worship. It was therefore greatly to the credit of Someruelos that in such troublous times he maintained a relatively peaceful government. The better cla.s.s of Cubans recognized his ability.

They realized that he of all men was best fitted to keep Cuba free from disturbances which would hinder her advancement. Consequently when his term of office was ended, a pet.i.tion was sent to the Spanish government, requesting that he be retained for a longer period. We have, however, only to study the dealings, not only of Spain but of all the European nations with the colonies in the New World, to understand that not the good of the subject country, but the supposed interests of the mother country, were what determined the destiny of the colonies. The very fact that Someruelos was so popular in Cuba apparently seemed to those in power in Spain an excellent excuse for his removal. They reasoned that if he had the interests of Cuba at heart, he might not be loyal to the government in Spain. And so, when mult.i.tudes of the best citizens of Cuba pet.i.tioned that he be retained longer in office, not only was the pet.i.tion denied, but the pet.i.tioners were severely reprimanded by a mandate of the Spanish government.

Hurricanes are not unusual in the southern seas, but now and then one of exceptional severity leaves so devastating a trail that it is worthy of chronicle even in a country where the elements are always more or less to be reckoned with. Such a hurricane visited the western coast of Cuba in 1810. Valuable shipping in the harbor of Havana was sunk. Sixty merchant vessels and many ships of war were torn from their anchors and swallowed up by the sea. Property all along the coast was destroyed, and a large number of lives were lost. That same year an uprising occurred among the negro population of the island. It bade fair to be far reaching in effect and occasioned much alarm among the white population. The most drastic and even cruel methods were taken to check it, and finally it was subdued.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ]

On April 14, 1812, Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, afterwards the Conde de Benadito, a.s.sumed the post of Captain-General, in place of the Marquis de Someruelos. His a.s.sumption of power was marked by the gift of additional authority to the office of Captain-General. For the first time, the Captain-General was also the commander of the naval forces.

His initial act was to proclaim the Const.i.tution of Cadiz. This was far from popular in Cuba, but the citizens realized the futility of resistance. His action created a sensation and caused much talk, but it met with no open opposition. De Apodaca's tenure of office was short. He retained the office of Captain-General for only two years, when he was sent to Mexico by the Spanish government.

Next, Lieutenant-General Don Jose Cienfuegos was installed at Havana as Captain-General, on July 18, 1816. It was under his direction, in 1817, that the third census of the island was taken. Cienfuegos was most unpopular with the Cubans. He inst.i.tuted many reforms which did not find favor in the eyes of those he governed.

ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

An economist and statesman of three countries, Alejandro Ramirez was born in Spain in 1777. He began his career in Guatemala as an agricultural reformer and promoter; thence in 1813 went to Puerto Rico as Intendente and saved that island from bankruptcy. In 1816 he became Intendente of Cuba, where he effected great reforms in land-holding and in education. Despite his excellent services he was bitterly attacked, and largely because of grief over the ungrateful injustice thus shown him he sickened and died on May 20, 1821.

The entire policing forces of Havana were revolutionized and put under new rules. We are told that his most unpopular move was to have the streets of that city lighted at night, and that this was "thoroughly resented." Just why such a move should be resented is not told us, but it certainly might be the subject of fruitful and romantic conjecture.

His action is said to have caused "consternation."

A second measure was even more distasteful to the Cubans, and they regarded it as an infringement of personal liberty. Cienfuegos ordered that, as soon as the public services in the churches in the evenings were over, all public thoroughfares be closed. Now this was the time of day when all Cuba was most bent on amus.e.m.e.nt and enjoyment, and this decree of the Captain-General made it impossible for any man to stray far from his own door with hope of returning the same night. The populace was up in arms with indignation. Cienfuegos had intended the command to have a quieting effect, but its result was exactly the reverse. It gave rise to the very disturbances which the Captain-General was endeavoring to restrain.

It would be hard to conjecture what might have been the result of a continuance of Cienfuegos's arbitrary methods. They certainly boded no good for the peace of Cuba. Fortunately before he could resort to any more of what the Cubans termed "these outrages against liberty," he fell ill, and thereupon the administration of the government fell into the hands of Don Juan Maria Echeverria, as a temporary subst.i.tute. This officer had no time to formulate new rules for the government of the Cubans, being kept very busy laboring against the troubles caused by his predecessor's doings. Then, too, his stay was short, for on August 29, 1819, the Spanish ship of war _Sabrina_ brought Cuba a new Captain-General, Don Juan Manuel Cagigal.

In "Cuba and the Cubans," published in 1850, we are told that "The political changes adopted in Spain in 1812 and 1820 were productive of similar changes in the island: and when in both instances the const.i.tution was proclaimed, the perpetual members of the munic.i.p.alities were at once deprived of office, and their successors elected by the people. The provincial a.s.sembly was called, and held its sessions. The militia was organized; the press made entirely free, the verdict of a jury deciding actions for its abuses; and the same courts of justice were in no instance to decide a case a second time. But if the inst.i.tution of the consulate was very beneficial during Ferdinand's absolute sway, the ultra-popular grants of the const.i.tutional system, which could hardly be exercised with quiet in Spain, were ill-adapted to Cuba, though more advanced in civilization, stained with all those vices that are the legitimate curse of a country long under despotic sway.

That system was so democratic that the king was deprived of all political authority. No intermediate house of n.o.bility or senators tempered the enactments of a single elective a.s.sembly. This sudden change from an absolute government, with its usual concomitant, a corrupt and debased public sentiment, to the full enjoyment of republican privileges, served only to loosen the ties of decency and decorum throughout the Spanish community. Infidelity resulted from it; and that veil of respect for the religion of their fathers, which had covered the deformity of such a state of society, was imprudently thrown aside. As the natural consequence of placing the instruments of freedom in the hands of an ignorant mult.i.tude, their minds were filled with visions of that chimerical equality which the world is never to realize.

The rich found themselves deprived of their accustomed influence, and felt that there was little chance of obtaining justice from the common people (in no place so formidable as in Cuba, from the heterogeneous nature of the population), and who were now, in a manner, arrayed against them throughout the land. They, of course, eagerly wished the return of the old system of absolute rule. But the proprietors only asked for the liberal policy which they had enjoyed at the hands of the Spanish monarch; not, most surely, that oppressive and nondescript government, which, by separating the interest of the country from that of her nearest rulers, and destroying all means of redress or complaint, thrust the last offspring of Spain into an abyss of bloodshed and ruin, during the recent disgusting exercise of military rule, in publishing by the most arbitrary and cruel measures, persons suspected of engaging in an apprehended servile insurrection."

This not altogether coherent statement gives an idea of how the rule of the Spanish Captains-General of this period, and how the so-called reforms which were inst.i.tuted during the early part of the nineteenth century, were regarded thirty-five or forty years afterward.

Senor Cagigal was accompanied by troops, ostensibly to supply the local garrison, and it would be strange if they were not also imported to fill the native hearts with respect for the government and to help in quelling any threatened uprisings. History furnishes strange paradoxes, and so in 1820 we have the spectacle of Cagigal's own troops rising in revolt against him and compelling him to proclaim the const.i.tution of 1812. It is true that he soon quelled this rebellion, set aside his proclamation, and restored the old order, but that does not detract from the grim humor of the situation in which he for a time found himself.

But Cagigal was a diplomat of a high order, and he did make efforts to accomplish well the difficult task of governing Cuba. His decisions and decrees were generally impartial. He had a charming social manner, and a delightfully conciliatory way; always suave, affable and approachable.

He placated trouble makers, and dispensed justice in an endeavor to give universal satisfaction. He was accordingly held in the highest esteem by the majority of the Cubans. And Cuba apparently found favor in his eyes.

He grew to love the beautiful island, and perhaps his heart was touched by her patience under the galling Spanish yoke. At any rate, he applied to the crown for special permission to spend the rest of his life in Cuba. This request was granted and he made for himself a home at Guanabacoa, where he lived until his death, some years later.

Cagigal was succeeded in 1821 by Nicholas Mahy, an old man, of a distrustful and arbitrary disposition, who was entirely out of sympathy with the liberal movement in Cuba. He could see no way of retaining her for Spain except by keeping her people in subjection under an absolute despotism. He proceeded to carry out his ideas with a high hand, and it is a matter of speculation to what lengths he might have gone, had not death speedily cut short his career. He ruled for only a single year, after which no new Captain-General was sent out from Spain but Sebastian Kindelan, Mahy's subordinate, took command. He was a sterner disciplinarian than even his former master. His sole object seemed to be to reunite the military and civil power in the hands of the Captain-General. He was willing to stoop to any means to accomplish his purpose, and he was backed up by a large body of troops imported from Spain. Feeling ran high between these--as the Cubans termed them--"interlopers and troublemakers" and the local militia, and serious trouble was with difficulty avoided. Then in 1823 Ferdinand VII.

was again in power in Spain; weak, crafty, scheming, malicious, and grasping; and it is needless to say that Cuba was visited with new oppression.

CHAPTER XX

It was on May 2, 1823, that Don Francisco Vives, afterward Conde de Cuba, arrived in Cuba to take over the office of Captain-General. Let us first contemplate the good which he accomplished for Cuba, before scanning the darker pages of his high-handed rule.

Vives reorganized the rural militia, and he caused the construction of a number of important fortresses and the completion of others already begun. He divided the island into three military departments. Under his instructions two asylums for the insane, el Departmento de Dementes, and the Casa de Beneficencia, were constructed. He made an effort to mark the historic spots of the island, and under his auspices a temple was built on the spot in the city of Havana where was reputed to have been celebrated the first ma.s.s. So much for the good done by Vives. Now we come to a different story.

This Captain-General was a despot of the most p.r.o.nounced type, the kind dear to the hearts of the rulers in the mother country. He obtained from his royal master, in 1825, an order placing Cuba under martial law, and giving the Captain-General complete control of her destiny. It reads as follows:

"The King, our master, in whose royal mind great confidence has been inspired by your excellency's proved fidelity, indefatigable zeal in his majesty's service, judicious and well-concerted steps taken since Y. E.

had charge of the government, in order to keep in quietude his faithful inhabitants, confine within the proper limits such as would deviate from the path of honor, and punish such as forgetting their duty would dare commit excesses in opposition to our wise laws; well convinced as H. M. feels, that at no time and under no circ.u.mstances whatever will the principles of rect.i.tude and love toward H. M. royal person be weakened which now distinguish Y. E.; and being at the same time desirous of preventing the embarra.s.sments which under ordinary circ.u.mstances might arise a division in the command, and from the complicated authority and powers of the different officers of government, for the important end of maintaining in that island his sovereign authority and the public quiet, it has pleased H. M., in conformity with the advice of his council of ministers, to authorize your excellency, _fully investing you with the whole extent of power which by the royal ordinances is granted to the governors of besieged towns_. In consequence thereof H. M. most amply and unrestrictedly authorizes Y. E. _not only to remove from that island such persons, holding offices from government or not_, whatever their occupation, rank, cla.s.s or situation in life may be, whose residence there you may believe prejudicial, or whose public or private conduct may appear suspicious to you, _employing in their stead faithful servants of H. M.

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 Y, E. may think conducive to the royal service_; it being in any case required that these measures be temporary, and that Y. E. make report of them for his majesty's sovereign approval.

"In granting Y. E. this marked proof of his royal esteem, and of the high trust your proven loyalty deserves, H. M. expects that in due correspondence to the same, Y. E. will use the most wakeful prudence and reserve, joined to an indefatigable activity and unyielding firmness, in the exercise of your excellency's authority, and trusts that as your excellency shall by this very pleasure and graciousness of H. M. be held to a more strict responsibility, Y. E. will redouble his vigilance that the laws be observed, that justice be administered, that H. M. faithful va.s.sals be protected and rewarded, and punishment without partiality or indulgence inflicted on those who, forgetful of their duty and their obligations to the best and most benevolent of monarchs, shall oppose those laws, decidedly abetting sinister plots, with infraction of them and disregard of the decrees from them issuing. And I therefore, by royal order, inform Y. E. of the same for Y. E.'s intelligence, satisfaction, and exact observance thereof. G.o.d preserve your excellency's life. Madrid, 28 May, 1825."

As a marvel of unconscious irony this is a unique doc.u.ment. Evidently both the King and his minister lacked a sense of humor. Here is a doc.u.ment purporting to be issued "to keep in quietude" "faithful inhabitants." Why the "Ever-Faithful" needed a curb or why if such measures were necessary the insurgents were referred to as "Faithful,"

only a stupid king through the mouth of an equally pig-headed minister could determine. This royal order, we may relate with satisfaction, proved a boomerang. It gave the Captain-General--just why it is hard to decide--absolute power, not only to govern by military force, but to depose from office those who offended him, whether they were the king's minions or not. It also made inoperative all royal decrees unless the Captain-General chose to sanction them. Now Cuba, at this time, was saddled with hosts of fortune seekers, court favorites who were temporarily and voluntarily exiles from the sunshine of the monarch's smiles, that they might line their pockets and return to startle the Spanish grandees with their new splendor. Naturally they were seeking office and emoluments from the Spanish government. But then came their royal master and placed them, their positions, their fortunes, in the hands of a man who, should they offend him, could summarily degrade them, and force them to return home no richer than when they came. Truly the ways of kings are no less inscrutable than those of Providence.

Naturally this royal order found little favor in Cuba. In vain, however, were efforts made to have it suspended, and to prove that it had never been intended to be anything but a temporary measure.