The History of Cuba Volume IV Part 12

The first part of the Convention's work was thus done. There remained the second part, the expression of Cuban opinion as to what ought to be the relations between that island and the United States. Over this a most unfortunate controversy arose, chiefly provoked and fomented, however, not by Cubans but by the partisan enemies of the President of the United States and of his policy, who did not scruple to intrigue against him in the affairs of foreign lands. It will be recalled that this hatred of him, provoked largely because of his insistence on fulfilling the pledge of Cuban freedom instead of seeking to serve certain sordid interests by forcibly annexing the island, culminated in the a.s.sa.s.sination of President McKinley at the incitement of his political foes. The opposition to him and to his policy in Cuba was continued unabated against his successor, President Roosevelt; and it was most unfortunate for both countries that the establishment of Cuban self-government and the determination of her relations to her northern neighbor, had to be effected in such circ.u.mstances.

The United States government had to deal on the one hand with those who insisted that it should have no more special relations with Cuba than any other country had; and on the other with those who demanded the repudiation of the Congressional pledge and the forcible annexation of the island. In those circ.u.mstances it was not strange that many Cubans were disinclined to make any such arrangement as had been required in the call for the Convention. They recalled that the United States had declared that "Cuba is of right and ought to be free and independent,"

and they were not disposed to look beyond that declaration.

Three considerations were too much overlooked on both sides, save by the thoughtful American and Cuban statesmen who finally solved the problem.

One was that the United States had for nearly a century exercised a certain degree of protection or supervision over Cuba. It had repeatedly forbidden European powers to meddle with the island, and had for many years guaranteed and protected Spain in her possession of it. It was held to be only reasonable that a similar degree of interest should be maintained in the island in its independent status. The second point was that in the Treaty of Paris in 1898 the United States had incurred a certain moral if not a legal responsibility for the future of Cuba. The third was the much less specific yet by no means negligible consideration that the United States had intervened in Cuba to put an end to conditions which had become intolerably offensive to it, and it was therefore equitably ent.i.tled to take all proper precautions against a recurrence of such conditions.

In pursuance of the requirements of the call for the Convention, then, immediately after the signing of the Const.i.tution, a committee was appointed to draft a project concerning relations with the United States. It consisted of Diego Tamayo, Gonzalo de Quesada, Juan Gualberto Gomez, Enrique Villuendas, and Manuel Ramon Silva. These gentlemen conferred with General Wood, to learn the wishes of President McKinley, and then drafted a scheme which they presented to the Convention and which that body adopted on February 27. Unfortunately between the President's wishes and the committee's project there were radical differences. The President, through his Secretary of War, Elihu Root, had on February 9 expressed with much circ.u.mstance and detail and a wealth of argument the relationship which the United States government regarded as essential. It amounted to this: That the Cuban government should never make any treaty or engagement which would impair its independence, nor make any special agreement with any foreign power without the consent of the United States; that it should contract no public debt in excess of the capacity of the ordinary revenues of the island; that the United States should have the right of intervention for the preservation of Cuban independence and the maintenance of a stable government; that all the acts of the American Military Administration should be validated; and that the United States should be permitted to acquire and to hold naval stations in Cuba at certain points.

The Committee of the Convention reported that in its judgment some of these conditions were unacceptable, inasmuch as they impaired the independence of Cuba. So it proposed and the Convention adopted proposals to this effect: That Cuba should never impair her independence by any agreement with any power, not excepting the United States; that she should never permit her territory to be used as a base or war against the United States; that she accepted the obligations expressed and implied in the Treaty of Paris; that she should validate the acts of the Military Government "for the good government of Cuba"; and that the United States and Cuba should regulate their commercial relations by means of a reciprocity treaty.

Obviously, there was a wide divergence between the two schemes. It was unfortunate that the American Congress was about to adjourn, on March 4, and was reluctant to rea.s.semble in special session, and also that the political pa.s.sions to which we have referred were raging at so high a pitch. In more favorable circ.u.mstances the matter would have been settled diplomatically without friction or ill-feeling. There was, indeed, a very considerable conservative party in Cuba, probably comprising a majority of the substantial, well informed and orderly inhabitants, who favored some such scheme of American supervision and control as that which had been proposed, and if there had been a little more time for calm deliberation they would probably have won the Convention and the whole island to their point of view. Unhappily the government at Washington determined to finish the matter up before Congress adjourned on March 4, and in the short time which intervened the pa.s.sionate voice of faction was much more in evidence man the thoughtful and measured voice of patriotic counsel.

Senator Orville H. Platt, of Connecticut, one of the ablest and fairest-minded men in that body, was the Chairman of the Committee on Relations with Cuba. It was probably he who suggested the modification which was made in the instructions to the Convention. He now declared that--which was perfectly true--the United States Congress had no power to approve, reject, or in any way amend or modify the Cuban Const.i.tution. Cuba was ent.i.tled to establish her own government without let or hindrance. But he also held that by virtue of the grounds of its intervention in Cuban affairs the United States possessed certain rights and privileges in that island above those of other powers, and that it was in duty bound, for the sake of both Cuba and itself, to provide in some a.s.sured way for the permanent safe-guarding of those special interests. These views were approved by the best thought of both countries, and ultimately prevailed.

In accordance with the views thus expressed, Senator Platt prepared as an addendum to the Army Appropriation bill, on February 25, the historic measure known as the Platt Amendment. This, consisting of eight brief paragraphs, embodied the very points which the President had already made on February 9, with the addition of three more. One of these was, that the Cuban government should maintain the work of sanitation already so auspiciously begun, for the protection of its own people and also the people of the United States from epidemic pestilence; a requirement which was probably quite superfluous, seeing that the Cubans were as intent as the Americans upon the elimination of yellow fever and malaria. The second was, that the Isle of Pines should be omitted from the proposed const.i.tutional boundaries of Cuba, the t.i.tle thereto being left for future adjustment by treaty. This extraordinary demand was a bad blot upon the measure, and it is difficult to understand how it ever was permitted to be inserted at the behest of some unscrupulous and sordid scheme of exploitation. Happily, subsequent treaty agreements and court decisions defeated its purpose and confirmed Cuba in her t.i.tle to the Isle of Pines. The third was the requirement that Cuba should make this Platt Amendment either a part of her Const.i.tution or an ordinance under it and appended to it, and should also embody it in a permanent treaty with the United States.

At this the storm broke. The great ma.s.s of the conservative and thoughtful people of Cuba, while they regretted the need of it, recognized the necessity of such an arrangement, and earnestly favored the acceptance of the Platt Amendment, even with the one or two objectionable features. But the radicals vigorously opposed it, and in their opposition were greatly encouraged by the factional enemies of the President in the United States, who broke all bounds of decency, and not only raged against him there but organized a propaganda in Cuba itself, to incite Cubans to oppose and resist the United States. In this the foremost of such agitators were doubly false. They were not only stirring up a foreign people against their own country, but they were doing so with the deliberate and malignant hope of precipitating an armed conflict between the two countries which would result in the conquest and forcible annexation of Cuba. While pretending to sympathize with Cuba and to resent the alleged American impairment of her sovereignty, they were really scheming for the utter destruction of Cuban independence.

Agitation, discussion, proposals and counter proposals, upon none of which could the Convention agree, continued week after week. At the end of March the question arose of sending a Commission to Washington to see the President. This was opposed violently, chiefly at the incitement of American emissaries, who busied themselves in Cuba in urging the rejection of everything that promised a settlement of the controversy.

On April 1 some unscrupulous intriguer caused a message to be telegraphed from Washington to the effect that if a Commission came it would not be received; and this was received in Havana just as the Convention was about to vote to send such a Commission. Naturally, the Commission was not sent. On April 9, having learned that the message was unofficial and mischievous, the Convention reconsidered the matter and by an overwhelming majority voted to send a commission. Again mysterious dispatches came from Washington, saying that the President was resolute in refusing to recognize any Cuban envoys, and in consequence the sending of the Commission was delayed.

Then the proposal was made that the Convention should reject the Platt Amendment outright, and afterward send a Commission to Washington; and this was actually carried, though by mistake, some members voting exactly contrary to the way they intended. Then it was voted to send a Commission, with special instructions to try to secure the inclusion of a commercial treaty in the Platt Amendment. With this in view the Convention on April 15 designated five members of such a Commission.

They were Mendez Capote, the President of the Convention; Diego Tamayo, Leopoldo Berriel, Pedro Gonzales Llorente, and Rafael Portuondo; but as Dr. Berriel could not go, General Pedro Betancourt was named in his place. The Commission sailed for Washington on April 20. General Wood also sailed on the same day, though on another steamer. The Cubans reached Washington four days later, and the next day, in contradiction to the false dispatches which had been sent, they were courteously received by President McKinley. After a brief interview he introduced them to the Secretary of War, to whose department Cuban affairs, under a Military governor, belonged. He received them most cordially. Indeed, he had strongly wished them to come to Washington for a conference. He told them frankly that the Platt Amendment must stand, just as it was, and that it must be accepted and adopted by Cuba before any further steps could be taken for the establishment of a Cuban government. Then, at their request, he gave a detailed explanation of what the United States government conceived to be the meaning, the purpose and the effect of each of the provisions of that instrument. He especially showed that it was merely a logical continuation of long established American policy; that it was intended not for the gain of the United States but for the protection of Cuba; and that it would in no way interfere with the domestic self-sovereignty of the Cuban people, or with the rank of Cuba as an independent nation among the nations of the world.

The Committee returned to Havana and reported to the Convention the results of its mission, and the Convention resumed consideration of the American demands in the new light of Mr. Root's exposition of them.

Faction was still furious. Enemies of the President in the United States went to Cuba or sent word thither, urging the radical element to hold out to the bitter end against the Platt Amendment, saying that it would need only a little longer resistance to compel the American government to abandon it altogether. Counsels were divided in the Convention, and numerous proposals of subst.i.tutes for the Amendment or for parts of it were made, but upon none of them could the Convention agree. Some of the most radical members suggested that the Convention adjourn without day.

But on the whole wiser counsels prevailed. The Commission had been much impressed by Mr. Root's candid and cogent presentation of the case. It had also become convinced that if the Amendment were adopted a liberal reciprocity measure would be granted which would be of vast value to Cuban commerce and industry. Consideration of the subject continued until the latter part of May. On May 28 the question of adoption of the Platt Amendment with certain qualifications was presented to the Convention for a final vote. The Convention divided equally. There were fourteen ayes and fourteen nays. Thereupon the President, Mendez Capote, cast the deciding ballot. He voted aye. This caused a renewal of the storm. Diego Tamayo and Juan Gualberto Gomez were especially outspoken in their denunciation of all who had voted for the measure, and some of the former's remarks were so severe that their retraction was required.

The qualified acceptance of the Amendment was not, however, satisfactory to the Washington government, and the Convention was promptly informed of that fact. In consequence the matter was reopened, and on June 12, after a brief and temperate debate, a final vote was taken on unconditional acceptance and adoption of the Platt Amendment. The result was sixteen ayes to eleven nays.

That ended the matter. The Amendment had become a permanent addendum to the Cuban Const.i.tution, and the relations between the island's future government and the United States was irrevocably determined. There was little further criticism. The American agitators and speculators who had been inciting the Cubans to resistance, in order thus to make them compa.s.s their own ruin, abandoned their execrable intrigues for other ventures elsewhere, while the Cubans who had been their dupes, relieved of their pernicious influence, soon began to appreciate the reasonableness of most of the provisions of the Amendment and the very material benefits which it would bestow upon Cuba.

CHAPTER XII

The concretion of Cuban history is in the Const.i.tution of the Cuban Republic. In that doc.u.ment are realized the hopes of a patient but resolute people. In it are embodied the ideals for which Lopez fought and died; for which Cespedes strove; for which Marti pleaded and taught and planned; for which Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo battled against desperate odds; for which Estrada Palma gave the ripe statesmanship of a devoted life. There were provisional const.i.tutions before, drafted in mountain camps in the intervals between battles, but they represented aspirations rather than achievements. It was reserved for the time of triumph, when the Spaniard was forever driven from the Cuban sh.o.r.es, and the Pearl of the Antilles was no more made to adorn an alien diadem, for the statesmanship of the island in calm deliberation to frame the instrument which was to confirm and safeguard for all time that which had been won with the blood of innumerable martyrs, and which was to erect the Cuban people into the Cuban Nation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAPITOL

The Capitol, the new government building at Havana, is one of the great public works of the administration of President Menocal. It occupies a fine site in the heart of the city, and will architecturally rank among the noteworthy government buildings of the world. In the contrast between it and ancient La Fuerza, its original predecessor, is suggested the whole span of Cuban history.]

We shall profitably pause for a s.p.a.ce in our narrative, to note what manner of Const.i.tution it was that was thus adopted:

We, the delegates of the people of Cuba, in national convention a.s.sembled for the purpose of framing and adopting the Fundamental Law under which Cuba is to be organized as an independent and sovereign State, and be given a government capable of fulfilling its international obligations, preserving order, securing liberty and justice, and promoting the general welfare, do hereby ordain, adopt, and establish, invoking the favor of G.o.d, the following Const.i.tution:

t.i.tLE I

THE NATION, ITS FORM OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE NATIONAL TERRITORY

ARTICLE 1. The people of Cuba const.i.tute themselves into a sovereign, independent State and adopt a republican form of government.

ART. 2. The island of Cuba and the islands and islets adjacent thereto, which up to the date of the ratification of the treaty of Paris, of December 10, 1898, were under the sovereignty of Spain, form the territory of the Republic.

ART. 3. The territory of the Republic shall be divided into the six provinces which now exist, each of which shall retain its present boundaries. The determination of their names corresponds to the respective provincial councils.

The provinces may by resolution of their respective provincial councils and the approval of Congress annex themselves to other provinces, or subdivide their territory and form new provinces.

t.i.tLE II

CUBANS

ART. 4. Cuban nationality is acquired by birth or by naturalization.

ART. 5. Cubans by birth are:

1. All persons born of Cuban parents whether within or without the territory of the Republic.

2. All persons born of foreign parents within the territory of the Republic, provided that on becoming of age they apply for inscription, as Cubans, in the proper register.

3. All persons born in foreign countries of parents natives of Cuba who have forfeited their Cuban nationality, provided that on becoming of age they apply for their inscription as Cubans in the register aforesaid.

ART. 6. Cubans by naturalization are:

1. Foreigners who having served in the liberating army claim Cuban nationality within six months following the promulgation of this const.i.tution.

2. Foreigners domiciled in Cuba prior to January 1, 1899, who have retained their domicile, provided that they claim Cuban nationality within six months following the promulgation of this const.i.tution, or if they are minors within a like period following the date on which they reach full age.

3. Foreigners who after five years' residence in the territory of the Republic, and not less than two years after the declaration of their intention to acquire Cuban nationality have obtained naturalization papers according to law.

4. Spaniards residing in the territory of Cuba on the 11th day of April, 1899, who failed to register themselves as such in the corresponding register within one year thereafter.

5. Africans who were slaves in Cuba, and those "emanc.i.p.ated" referred to in article 13 of treaty of June 28, 1835, between Spain and England.

ART. 7. Cuban nationality is lost:

1. By the acquisition of foreign citizenship.

2. By the acceptance of employment or honors from another government without permission of the Senate.

3. By entering the military service of a foreign nation without the said permission.

4. In cases of naturalized Cubans, by their residence for five years continuously in the country of origin, except when serving an office or fulfilling a commission of the Government of the Republic.