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diff --git a/32812.txt b/32812.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d8e6bf --- /dev/null +++ b/32812.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6648 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Cuba; or, Notes of a Traveller +in the Tropics, by Maturin M. Ballou + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Cuba; or, Notes of a Traveller in the Tropics + Being a Political, Historical, and Statistical Account of + the Island, from its First Discovery to the Present Time + +Author: Maturin M. Ballou + +Release Date: June 14, 2010 [EBook #32812] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CUBA *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Jane Hyland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOR OF HAVANA.] + + + SIXTH THOUSAND. + + HISTORY OF CUBA; + + OR, + + Notes of a Traveller in the Tropics. + + BEING A + + POLITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE + ISLAND, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE + PRESENT TIME. + + BY + + MATURIN M. BALLOU. + + L'ILE DE CUBA SEULE POURRAIT VALOIR UN ROYAUME. + + _L'Abbe Raynal._ + + ILLUSTRATED. + + BOSTON: + PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY. + NEW YORK: J.C. DERBY. + + PHILADELPHIA: LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & COMPANY. + + 1854. + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by + PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO., + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of + Massachusetts. + + + Stereotyped by + HOBART & ROBBINS, + New England Type and Stereotype Foundery + BOSTON. + + + + + TO + His Friend, + FRANCIS A. DURIVAGE, ESQ., + As a small Token of Regard for + HIS EXCELLENCE IN THOSE QUALITIES WHICH CONSTITUTE STERLING MANHOOD; + AS A TRUE AND WORTHY FRIEND; AS A RIPE SCHOLAR, AND A GRACEFUL AUTHOR, + This Volume + IS + CORDIALLY DEDICATED + BY + THE AUTHOR + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The remarkable degree of interest expressed on all sides, at the present +time, relative to the island of Cuba, has led the author of the +following pages to place together in this form a series of notes from +his journal, kept during a brief residence upon the island. To these he +has prefixed a historical glance at the political story of Cuba, that +may not be unworthy of preservation. The fact that the subject-matter +was penned in the hurry of observation upon the spot, and that it is +thus a simple record of what would be most likely to engage and interest +a stranger, is his excuse for the desultory character of the work. So +critically is the island now situated, in a political point of view, +that ere this book shall have passed through an edition, it may be no +longer a dependency of Spain, or may have become the theatre of scenes +to which its former convulsions shall bear no parallel. + +In preparing the volume for the press, the author has felt the want of +books of reference, bearing a late date. Indeed, there are none; and the +only very modern records are those written in the desultory manner of +hurried travellers. To the admirable work of the learned Ramon de la +Sagra,--a monument of industry and intelligence,--the author of the +following pages has been indebted for historical suggestions and data. +For the privilege of consulting this, and other Spanish books and +pamphlets, relative to the interests and history of the island, the +author is indebted to the Hon. Edward Everett, who kindly placed them at +his disposal. Where statistics were concerned, the several authorities +have been carefully collated, and the most responsible given. The writer +has preferred to offer the fresh memories of a pleasant trip to the +tropics, to attempting a labored volume abounding in figures and +statistics; and trusts that this summer book of a summer clime may float +lightly upon the sea of public favor. + + M.M.B. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + The Island of Cuba--Early colonists--Island aborigines--First + importation of slaves--Cortez and his followers--Aztecs--The law of + races--Mexican aborigines--Valley of Mexico--Pizarro--The end of + heroes--Retributive justice--Decadence of Spanish power--History of + Cuba--The rovers of the gulf--Havana fortified--The tyrant + Velasquez--Office of Captain-general--Loyalty of the Cubans--Power of + the captain-general--Cupidity of the government--The slave-trade--The + British take Havana--General Don Luis de las Casas--Don Francisco de + Arranjo--Improvement, moral and physical, of Cuba, 9 + + CHAPTER II. + + The constitution of 1812--Revolution of La Granja--Political aspect of + the island--Discontent among the Cubans--The example before them--Simon + Bolivar, the Liberator--Revolutions of 1823 and 1826--General + Lorenzo and the constitution--The assumption of extraordinary power + by Tacon--Civil war threatened--Tacon sustained by royal + authority--Despair of the Cubans--Military rule--A foreign press + established--Programme of the liberal party--General O'Donnell--The + spoils--Influence of the climate, 25 + + CHAPTER III. + + Armed intervention--Conspiracy of Cienfuegos and Trinidad--General + Narciso Lopez--The author's views on the subject--Inducements to + revolt--Enormous taxation--Scheme of the patriots--Lopez's first + landing, in 1850--Taking of Cardinas--Return of the invaders--Effect + upon the Cuban authorities--Roncali recalled--New + captain-general--Lopez's second expedition--Condition of the + Invaders--Vicissitudes--Col. Crittenden--Battle of Las + Pozas--Superiority of courage--Battle of Las Frias--Death of Gen. + Enna--The fearful finale of the expedition, 38 + + CHAPTER IV. + + Present condition of Cuba--Secret treaty with France and + England--British plan for the Africanization of the island--Sale + of Cuba--Measures of General Pezuela--Registration of + slaves--Intermarriage of blacks and whites--Contradictory + proclamations--Spanish duplicity--A Creole's view of the crisis and + the prospect, 54 + + CHAPTER V. + + Geographical position of the island--Its size--The climate--Advice to + invalids--Glance at the principal cities--Matanzas--Puerto + Principe--Santiago de Cuba--Trinidad--The writer's first view of + Havana--Importance of the capital--Its literary + institutions--Restriction on Cuban youths and education--Glance at the + city streets--Style of architecture--Domestic arrangements of town + houses--A word about Cuban ladies--Small feet--Grace of manners and + general characteristics, 66 + + CHAPTER VI. + + Contrast between Protestant and Catholic communities--Catholic + churches--Sabbath scenes in Havana--Devotion of the common people--The + Plaza de Armas--City squares--The poor man's opera--Influence of + music--La Dominica--The Tacon Paseo--The Tacon Theatre--The + Cathedral--Tomb of Columbus over the altar--Story of the great Genoese + pilot--His death--Removal of remains--The former great wealth of the + church in Cuba--Influence of the priests, 80 + + CHAPTER VII. + + Nudity of children and slaves--The street of the merchants--The + currency of Cuba--The Spanish army in the island--Enrolment of + blacks--Courage of Spanish troops--Treatment by the government--The + garrote--A military execution--The market-men and their wares--The + milk-man and his mode of supply--Glass windows--Curtains for + doors--The Campo Santo, or burial-place of Havana--Treatment of the + dead--The prison--The fish-market of the capital, 95 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The story of Marti, the smuggler, 108 + + CHAPTER IX. + + The lottery at Havana--Hospitality of the Spaniards--Flattery--Cuban + ladies--Castilian, Parisian and American politeness--The bonnet in + Cuba--Ladies' dresses--The fan--Jewelry and its wear--Culture of + flowers--Reflections--A most peculiar narcotic--Cost of living on the + island--Guines--The cock-pit--Training of the birds--The garden of the + world--Birds of the tropics--Condition of agriculture--Night-time--The + Southern Cross--Natural resources of Cuba--Her wrongs and oppressions, + 116 + + CHAPTER X. + + The volante and its belongings--The ancient town of Regla--The arena + for the bull-fights at Havana--A bull-fight as witnessed by the author + at Regla--A national passion with the Spanish people--Compared with old + Roman sports--Famous bull-fighters--Personal description of Cuban + ladies--Description of the men--Romance and the tropics--The nobility + of Cuba--Sugar noblemen--The grades of society--The yeomanry of the + island--Their social position--What they might be--Love of gambling, + 131 + + CHAPTER XI. + + A sugar plantation--Americans employed--Slaves on the plantations--A + coffee plantation--Culture of coffee, sugar and tobacco--Statistics of + agriculture--The cucullos, or Cuban fire-fly--Novel ornaments worn by + the ladies--The Cuban mode of harnessing oxen--The montero and his + horse--Curious style of out-door painting--Petty annoyances to + travellers--Jealousy of the authorities--Japan-like + watchfulness--Questionable policy--Political condition of Cuba, 145 + + CHAPTER XII. + + Tacon's summary mode of justice, 161 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + Consumption of tobacco--The universal cigar--Lady smokers--The fruits + of Cuba--Flour a prohibited article--The royal palm--West Indian + trees--Snakes, animals, etc.--The Cuban blood-hound--Mode of training + him--Remarkable instinct--Importation of slaves--Their cost--Various + African tribes--Superstitious belief--Tattooing--Health of the + negroes--Slave laws of the island--Food of the negroes--Spanish law of + emancipation--General treatment of the slaves, 171 + + CHAPTER XIV. + + Pecuniary value of the slave-trade to Havana--The slave clippers--First + introduction of slaves into Cuba--Monopoly of the traffic by + England--Spain's disregard of treaty stipulations--Spanish + perfidy--Present condition of Spain--Her decadence--Influence upon her + American possessions--Slaves upon the plantations--The soil of + Cuba--Mineral wealth of the island--The present condition of the + people--The influences of American progress--What Cuba might be, 186 + + CHAPTER XV. + + Area of Cuba--Extent of cultivated and uncultivated + lands--Population--Proportion between the sexes--Ratio of + legitimate to illegitimate births--Ratio between births and + deaths--Agricultural statistics--Commerce and commercial + regulations--Custom-house and port charges--Exports and imports--Trade + with the United States--Universities and schools--Education--Charitable + institutions--Railroads--Temperature, + 201 + + CHAPTER XVI. + + Retrospective thoughts--The bright side and dark side of the + picture--Cuban institutions contrasted with our own--Political + sentiments of the Creoles--War footing--Loyalty of the colony--Native + men of genius--The Cubans not willing slaves--Our own + revolution--Apostles of rebellion--Moral of the Lopez + expedition--Jealousy of Spain--Honorable position of our + government--Spanish aggressions on our flag--Purchase of the + island--Distinguished conservative opinion--The end. 214 + + + + +THE HISTORY OF CUBA. + +CHAPTER I. + + The Island of Cuba--Early colonists--Island aborigines--First + importation of slaves--Cortez and his followers--Aztecs--The law of + races--Mexican aborigines--Valley of Mexico--Pizarro--The end of + heroes--Retributive justice--Decadence of Spanish power--History of + Cuba--The rovers of the Gulf--Havana fortified--The tyrant + Velasquez--Office of captain-general--Loyalty of the Cubans--Power + of the captain-general--Cupidity of the government--The + slave-trade--The British take Havana--General Don Luis de las + Casas--Don Francisco de Arranjo--Improvement, moral and physical, of + Cuba. + + +The island of Cuba, one of the earliest discoveries of the great +admiral, has been known to Europe since 1492, and has borne, +successively, the names of Juana,[1] Fernandina, Santiago and Ave Maria, +having found refuge at last in the aboriginal appellation. Soon after +its discovery by Columbus, it was colonized by Spaniards from St. +Domingo, but was considered mainly in the light of a military depot, by +the home government, in its famous operations at that period in Mexico. +The fact that it was destined to prove the richest jewel in the +Castilian crown, and a mine of wealth to the Spanish treasury, was not +dreamed of at this stage of its history. Even the enthusiastic followers +of Cortez, who sought that fabulous El Dorado of the New World, had no +golden promise to hold forth for this gem of the Caribbean Sea. + +The Spanish colonists from St. Domingo found the island inhabited by a +most peculiar native race, hospitable, inoffensive, timid, fond of the +dance and the rude music of their own people, yet naturally indolent and +lazy, from the character of the climate they inhabited. They had some +definite idea of God and heaven; and were governed by patriarchs, or +kings, whose word was law, and whose age gave them precedence. They had +few weapons of offence or defence, and knew not the use of the bow and +arrow. Of course, they were at once subjected by the new comers, who +reduced them to a state of slavery; and, proving hard taskmasters, the +poor, over-worked natives died in scores, until they had nearly +disappeared, when the home government granted permission to import a +cargo of negroes from the coast of Africa to labor upon the ground, and +to seek for gold, which was thought to exist in the river-courses.[2] +Thus early commenced the slave-trade of Cuba, a subject to which we +shall have occasion more fully to refer. + +Cuba became the head-quarters of the Spanish power in the west, forming +the point of departure for those military expeditions which, though +inconsiderable in numbers, were so formidable in the energy of the +leaders, and in the arms, discipline, courage, ferocity, fanaticism and +avarice, of their followers, that they were amply adequate to carry out +the vast schemes of conquest for which they were designed. It was hence +that Cortez marched to the conquest of Mexico,--a gigantic +undertaking--one a slight glance at which will recall to the reader the +period of history to which we would direct his attention. Landing upon +the continent, with a little band, scarcely more than half the +complement of a modern regiment, he prepared to traverse an unknown +country, thronged by savage tribes, with whose character, habits and +means of defence, he was wholly unacquainted. This romantic adventure, +worthy of the palmiest days of chivalry, was crowned with success, +though checkered with various fortune, and stained with bloody episodes, +that prove how the threads of courage and ferocity are inseparably +blended in the woof and warp of Spanish character. It must be +remembered, however, that the spirit of the age was harsh, relentless +and intolerant; and, that if the Aztecs, idolaters and sacrificers of +human victims, found no mercy at the hands of the fierce Catholics whom +Cortez commanded, neither did the Indians of our own section of the +continent fare much better at the hands of men professing a purer faith, +and coming to these shores, not as warriors, with the avowed purpose of +conquest, but themselves persecuted fugitives. + +As the first words that greeted the ears of the Plymouth colonists were +"Welcome, Englishmen!" uttered by a poor native, who had learned them +from the fishermen off the northern coast, so were the Spaniards at +first kindly welcomed by the aborigines they encountered in the New +World. Yet, in the north-east and south-west the result was the same: it +mattered little whether the stranger was Roman Catholic or Protestant; +whether he came clad in steel, or robed in the garments of peace; +whether he spoke the harsh English, the soft French, or the rich +Castilian tongue. The inexorable laws which govern races were rigidly +enforced; the same drama was everywhere enacted, the white race enjoying +a speedy triumph. There were episodical struggles, fierce and furious, +but unavailing; here Guatimozin, there Philip of Pokanoket--here a +battle, there a massacre. + +The Spanish general encountered a people who had attained a far higher +point of art and civilization than their red brethren of the north-east +part of the continent. Vast pyramids, imposing sculptures, curious arms, +fanciful garments, various kinds of manufactures, the relics of which +still strangely interest the student of the past, filled the invaders +with surprise. There was much that was curious and startling in their +mythology, and the capital of the Mexican empire presented a singular +and fascinating spectacle to the eyes of Cortez. The rocky amphitheatre +in the midst of which it was built still remains unchanged, but the vast +lake which surrounded it, traversed by causeways, and covered with +floating gardens, laden with flowers and perfume, is gone. The star of +the Aztec dynasty set in blood. In vain did the inhabitants of the +conquered city, roused to madness by the cruelty and extortion of the +victors, expel them from their midst. Cortez refused to flee further +than the shore; the light of his burning galleys rekindled the desperate +valor of his followers, and Mexico fell, as a few years after did Peru +under the perfidy and sword of Pizarro, thus completing the scheme of +conquest, and giving Spain a colonial empire more splendid than that of +any other power in Christendom. + +Of the agents in this vast scheme of territorial aggrandizement, we see +Cortez dying in obscurity, and Pizarro assassinated in his palace, while +retributive justice has overtaken the monarchy at whose behests the +richest portions of the western continent were violently wrested from +their native possessors. If "the wild and warlike, the indolent and the +semi-civilized, the bloody Aztec, the inoffensive Peruvian, the fierce +Araucanian, all fared alike" at the hands of Spain, it must be confessed +that their wrongs have been signally avenged. "The horrid atrocities +practised at home and abroad," says Edward Everett, "not only in the +Netherlands, but in every city of the northern country, cried to Heaven +for vengeance upon Spain; nor could she escape it. She intrenched +herself behind the eternal Cordilleras; she took to herself the wings of +the morning, and dwelt in the uttermost parts of the sea; but even there +the arm of retribution laid hold of her, and the wrongs of both +hemispheres were avenged by her degeneracy and fall." + +So rapid a fall is almost without a parallel in the history of the +world. Less than three centuries from the time when she stood without a +rival in the extent and wealth of her colonial possessions, she beheld +herself stripped, one by one, of the rich exotic jewels of her crown. +Her vice-regal coronet was torn from her grasp. Mexico revolted; the +South American provinces threw off her yoke; and now, though she still +clutches with febrile grasp the brightest gem of her transatlantic +possessions, the island of Cuba, yet it is evident that she cannot long +retain its ownership. The "ever-faithful" island has exhibited +unmistakable symptoms of infidelity, its demonstrations of loyalty being +confined to the government officials and the hireling soldiery. The time +will surely come when the last act of the great drama of historical +retribution will be consummated, and when, in spite of the threatening +batteries of the Moro and the Punta, and the bayonets of Spanish +legions, _siempre fiel_ will no longer be the motto of the Queen of the +Antilles. + +The history of Cuba is deficient in events of a stirring character, and +yet not devoid of interest. Columbus found it inhabited, as we have +already remarked, by a race whose manners and character assimilated with +the mild climate of this terrestrial paradise. Although the Spanish +conquerors have left us but few details respecting these aborigines, yet +we know with certainty, from the narratives of the great discoverer and +his followers, that they were docile and generous, but, at the same +time, inclined to ease; that they were well-formed, grave, and far from +possessing the vivacity of the natives of the south of Europe. They +expressed themselves with a certain modesty and respect, and were +hospitable to the last degree. Their labor was limited to the light work +necessary to provide for the wants of life, while the bounteous climate +of the tropics spared the necessity of clothing. They preferred hunting +and fishing to agriculture; and beans and maize, with the fruits that +nature gave them in abundance, rendered their diet at once simple and +nutritious. They possessed no quadrupeds of any description, except a +race of voiceless dogs, of whose existence we have no proof but the +assertion of the discoverers. + +The island was politically divided into nine provinces, namely, Baracoa, +Bayaguitizi, Macaca, Bayamo, Camaguey, Jagua, Cueyba, Habana and +Haniguanica. At the head of each was a governor, or king, of whose laws +we have no record, or even tradition. An unbroken peace reigned among +them, nor did they turn their hands against any other people. Their +priests, called _Behiques_, were fanatics, superstitious to the last +degree, and kept the people in fear by gross extravagances. They were +not cannibals, nor did they employ human sacrifices, and are represented +as distinguished by a readiness to receive the Gospel. + +The capital of the island was Baracoa,[3] erected into a city and +bishopric in 1518, but both were transferred to Santiago de Cuba in +1522. In the year 1538, the city of Havana was surprised by a French +corsair and reduced to ashes. The French and English buccaneers of the +West Indies, whose hatred the Spaniards early incurred, were for a long +time their terror and their scourge. Enamored of the wild life they led, +unshackled by any laws but the rude regulations they themselves adopted, +unrefined by intercourse with the gentler sex, consumed by a thirst for +adventure, and brave to ferocity, these fierce rovers, for many years, +were the actual masters of the gulf. They feared no enemy, and spared +none; their vessels, constantly on the watch for booty, were ever ready, +on the appearance of a galleon, to swoop down like an eagle on its prey. +The romance of the sea owes some of its most thrilling chapters to the +fearful exploits of these buccaneers. Their _coup de main_ on Havana +attracted the attention of De Soto, the governor of the island, to the +position and advantages of the port at which the Spanish vessels bound +for the peninsula with the riches of New Mexico were accustomed to +touch, and he accordingly commenced to fortify it. It increased in +population by degrees, and became the habitual gubernatorial residence, +until the home government made it the capital of the island in 1589, on +the appointment of the first Captain-general, Juan de Tejada. + +The native population soon dwindled away under the severe sway of the +Spaniards, who imposed upon them tasks repugnant to their habits, and +too great for their strength. + +Velasquez, one of the earliest governors of the island, appears to have +been an energetic and efficient magistrate, and to have administered +affairs with vigor and intelligence; but his harsh treatment of the +aborigines will ever remain a stain upon his memory. A native chief, +whose only crime was that of taking up arms in defence of the integrity +of his little territory, fell into the hands of Velasquez, and was +burned alive, as a punishment for his patriotism.[4] It is no wonder +that under such treatment the native population disappeared so rapidly +that the Spaniards were forced to supply their places by laborers of +hardier character. + +We have seen that the office of captain-general was established in 1589, +and, with a succession of incumbents, the office has been maintained +until the present day, retaining the same functions and the same +extraordinary powers. The object of the Spanish government is, and ever +has been, to derive as much revenue as possible from the island; and the +exactions imposed upon the inhabitants have increased in proportion as +other colonies of Spain, in the western world, have revolted and +obtained their independence. The imposition of heavier burthens than +those imposed upon any other people in the world has been the reward of +the proverbial loyalty of the Cubans; while the epithet of +"ever-faithful," bestowed by the crown, has been their only recompense +for their steady devotion to the throne. But for many years this lauded +loyalty has existed only in appearance, while discontent has been +fermenting deeply beneath the surface. + +The Cubans owe all the blessings they enjoy to Providence alone (so to +speak), while the evils which they suffer are directly referable to the +oppression of the home government. Nothing short of a military despotism +could maintain the connection of such an island with a mother country +more than three thousand miles distant; and accordingly we find the +captain-general of Cuba invested with unlimited power. He is, in fact, a +viceroy appointed by the crown of Spain, and accountable only to the +reigning sovereign for his administration of the colony. His rule is +absolute; he has the power of life and death and liberty in his hands. +He can, by his arbitrary will, send into exile any person whatever, be +his name or rank what it may, whose residence in the island he considers +prejudicial to the royal interest, even if he has committed no overt +act. He can suspend the operation of the laws and ordinances, if he sees +fit to do so; can destroy or confiscate property; and, in short, the +island may be said to be perpetually in a state of siege. + +Such is the infirmity of human nature that few individuals can be +trusted with despotic power without abusing it; and accordingly we find +very few captain-generals whose administration will bear the test of +rigid examination. Few men who have governed Cuba have consulted the +true interests of the Creoles; in fact, they are not appointed for that +purpose, but merely to look after the crown revenue. An office of such +magnitude is, of course, a brilliant prize, for which the grandees of +Spain are constantly struggling; and the means by which an aspirant is +most likely to secure the appointment presupposes a character of an +inferior order. The captain-general knows that he cannot reckon on a +long term of office, and hence he takes no pains to study the interests +or gain the good-will of the Cubans. He has a two-fold object in +view,--to keep the revenue well up to the mark, and to enrich himself as +speedily as possible. Hence, the solemn obligations entered into by +Spain with the other powers for the suppression of the African +slave-trade are a dead letter; for, with very few exceptions, the +captains-general of Cuba have connived at the illegal importation of +slaves, receiving for their complaisance a large percentage on the +value of each one landed on the island; for, though the slavers do not +discharge their living freights at the more frequented ports, still +their arrival is a matter of public notoriety, and it is impossible +that, with the present system of espionage, the authorities can be +ignorant of such an event. Nor can we imagine that the home government +is less well-informed upon the subject, though they assume a politic +ignorance of the violation of the law. Believing that the importation of +slaves is essential to the maintenance of the present high revenue, +Spain illustrates the rule that there are none so blind as those who do +not wish to see. It is only the cheapness of labor, resulting from the +importation of slaves, that enables the planters to pour into the +government treasury from twenty to twenty-four millions of dollars +annually. Of this we may speak more fully hereafter. + +In 1760, the invasion and conquest of the island by the British forms +one of the most remarkable epochs in its history. This event excited the +fears of Spain, and directed the attention of the government to its +importance in a political point of view. On its restoration, at the +treaty of peace concluded between the two governments in the following +year, Spain seriously commenced the work of fortifying the Havana, and +defending and garrisoning the island generally. + +The elements of prosperity contained within the limits of this peerless +island required only a patriotic and enlightened administration for +their development; and the germ of its civilization was stimulated by +the appointment of General Don Luis de las Casas to the post of +captain-general. During the administration of this celebrated man, whose +memory is cherished with fond respect by the Cubans, The Patriotic +Society of Havana was formed, with the noble idea of diffusing education +throughout the island, and introducing a taste for classical literature, +through his instrumentality, while the press was also established in the +capital, by the publication of the _Papel Periodico_. + +In the first third of the present century, the _intendente_, Don +Alejandro Ramirez, labored to regulate the revenues and economical +condition of the country, and called the attention of the government to +the improvement of the white population. But the most important +concession obtained of the metropolitan government, the freedom of +commerce, was due to the patriotic exertions of Don Francisco de +Arranjo, the most illustrious name in Cuban annals, "one," says the +Countess Merlin, "who may be quoted as a model of the humane and +peaceful virtues," and "who was," says Las Casas, "a jewel of priceless +value to the glory of the nation, a protector for Cuba, and an +accomplished statesman for the monarchy." Even the briefest historical +sketch (and this record pretends to no more) would be incomplete without +particular mention of this excellent man. + +He was born at Havana, May 22d, 1765. Left an orphan at a very early +age, he managed the family estate, while a mere boy, with a discretion +and judgment which would have done honor to a man of mature age. +Turning his attention to the study of the law, he was admitted to +practice in the mother country, where for a considerable period he acted +as the agent for the municipality of Havana, and, being thoroughly +acquainted with the capabilities of the island, and the condition and +wants of his countrymen, he succeeded in procuring the amelioration of +some of the most flagrant abuses of the colonial system. By his +exertions, the staple productions of the island were so much increased +that the revenue, in place of falling short of the expenses of the +government, as his enemies had predicted, soon yielded a large surplus. +He early raised his voice against the iniquitous slave-trade, and +suggested the introduction of white laborers, though he perceived that +the abolition of slavery was impracticable. It was owing to his +exertions that the duty on coffee, spirits and cotton, was remitted for +a period of ten years, and that machinery was allowed to be imported +free of duty to the island. + +The _Junta de Fomento_ (society for improvement) and the Chamber of +Commerce were the fruits of his indefatigable efforts. Of the latter +institution he was for a long time the Syndic, refusing to receive the +perquisites attached to the office, as he did the salaries of the same +and other offices that he filled during his useful life. While secretary +of the Chamber, he distinguished himself by his bold opposition to the +schemes of the infamous Godoy (the Prince of Peace), the minion of the +Queen of Spain, who, claiming to be protector of the Chamber of +Commerce, demanded the receipts of the custom-house at Havana. He not +only defeated the plans of Godoy, but procured the relinquishment of the +royal monopoly of tobacco. His patriotic services were appreciated by +the court at Madrid, although at times he was the inflexible opponent of +its schemes. The cross of the order of Charles III. showed the esteem in +which he was held by that monarch. Yet, with a modesty which did him +honor, he declined to accept a title of nobility which was afterwards +offered to him. In 1813, when, by the adoption of the constitution of +1812, Cuba became entitled to representation in the general Cortes, he +visited Madrid as a deputy, and there achieved the crowning glory of his +useful life,--the opening of the ports of Cuba to foreign trade. In 1817 +he returned to his native island with the rank of Counsellor of State, +Financial Intendente of Cuba, and wearing the grand cross of the order +of Isabella. He died in 1837, at the age of seventy-two, after a long +and eminently useful life, bequeathing large sums for various public +purposes and charitable objects in the island. Such a man is an honor to +any age or nation, and the Cubans do well to cherish his memory, which, +indeed, they seem resolved, by frequent and kindly mention, to keep ever +green. + +Fostered by such men, the resources of Cuba, both physical and +intellectual, received an ample and rapid development. The youth of the +island profited by the means of instruction now liberally placed at +their disposal; the sciences and belles-lettres were assiduously +cultivated; agriculture and internal industry were materially improved, +and an ambitious spirit evoked, which subsequent periods of tyranny and +misrule have not been able, with all their baneful influences, entirely +to erase. + +The visitor from abroad is sure to hear the people refer to this "golden +period," as they call it, of their history, the influence of which, so +far from passing away, appears to grow and daily increase with them. It +raised in their bosoms one spirit and trust which they sadly +needed,--that of self-reliance,--and showed them of what they were +capable, under liberal laws and judicious government. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF THE IMPERIAL DEL PASEO.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In honor of Prince John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella. Changed to +Fernandina on the death of Ferdinand; afterwards called Ave Maria, in +honor of the Holy Virgin. Cuba is the Indian name. + +[2] "Thus," exclaims the pious Arrati, "began that gathering of an +infinite number of gentiles to the bosom of our holy religion, who would +otherwise have perished in the darkness of paganism." Spain _has_ +liberal laws relative to the religious instruction of the slaves; but +they are no better than a dead letter. + +[3] Here Leo X. erected the first cathedral in Cuba. Baracoa is situated +on the north coast, at the eastern extremity of the island, and contains +some three thousand inhabitants, mixed population. + +[4] The words of this unfortunate chief (Hatucy), extorted by the +torments he suffered, were, "_Prefiero el infierno al cielo si en cielo +ha Espanoles_." (I prefer hell to heaven, if there are Spaniards in +heaven.) + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + The constitution of 1812--Revolution of La Granja--Political aspect + of the island--Discontent among the Cubans--The example before + them--Simon Bolivar, the Liberator--Revolutions of 1823 and + 1826--General Lorenzo and the constitution--The assumption of + extraordinary power by Tacon--Civil war threatened--Tacon sustained + by royal authority--Despair of the Cubans--Military rule--A foreign + press established--Programme of the liberal party--General + O'Donnell--The spoils--Influence of the climate. + + +When the French invasion of Spain in 1808 produced the constitution of +1812, Cuba was considered entitled to enjoy its benefits, and the year +1820 taught the Cubans the advantage to be derived by a people from +institutions based on the principle of popular intervention in public +affairs. The condition of the nation on the death of Ferdinand VII. +obliged Queen Christina to rely on the liberal party for a triumph over +the pretensions of the Infante Don Carlos to the crown, and to assure +the throne of Donna Isabella II., and the _Estatuto Real_ (royal +statute) was proclaimed in Spain and Cuba. The Cubans looked forward, as +in 1812 and 1820, to a representation in the national congress, and the +enjoyment of the same liberty conceded to the Peninsula. An institution +was then established in Havana, with branches in the island, called the +Royal Society for Improvement, already alluded to in our brief notice of +Don Francisco Arranjo. The object of this society was to aid and protect +the progress of agriculture and commerce; and it achieved a vast amount +of good. At the same time, the press, within the narrow limits conceded +to it, discussed with intelligence and zeal the interests of the +country, and diffused a knowledge of them. + +In 1836 the revolution known as that of La Granja, provoked and +sustained by the progressionists against the moderate party, destroyed +the "Royal Statute," and proclaimed the old constitution of 1812. The +queen-mother, then Regent of Spain, convoked the constituent Cortes, and +summoned deputies from Cuba. + +Up to this time, various political events, occurring within a brief +period, had disturbed but slightly and accidentally the tranquillity of +this rich province of Spain. The Cubans, although sensible of the +progress of public intelligence and wealth, under the protection of a +few enlightened governors, and through the influence of distinguished +and patriotic individuals, were aware that these advances were slow, +partial and limited, that there was no regular system, and that the +public interests, confided to officials intrusted with unlimited power, +and liable to the abuses inseparable from absolutism, frequently +languished, or were betrayed by a cupidity which impelled despotic +authorities to enrich themselves in every possible way at the expense of +popular suffering. Added to these sources of discontent was the +powerful influence exerted over the intelligent portion of the people by +the portentous spectacle of the rapidly-increasing greatness of the +United States, where a portion of the Cuban youths were wont to receive +their education, and to learn the value of a national independence based +on democratic principles, principles which they were apt freely to +discuss after returning to the island. + +There also were the examples of Mexico and Spanish South America, which +had recently conquered with their blood their glorious emancipation from +monarchy. Liberal ideas were largely diffused by Cubans who had +travelled in Europe, and there imbibed the spirit of modern +civilization. But, with a fatuity and obstinacy which has always +characterized her, the mother country resolved to ignore these causes of +discontent, and, instead of yielding to the popular current, and +introducing a liberal and mild system of government, drew the reins yet +tighter, and even curtailed many of the privileges formerly accorded to +the Cubans. It is a blind persistence in the fated principle of despotic +domination which has relaxed the moral and political bonds uniting the +two countries, instilled gall into the hearts of the governed, and +substituted the dangerous obedience of terror for the secure loyalty of +love. This severity of the home government has given rise to several +attempts to throw off the Spanish yoke. + +The first occurred in 1823, when the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, offered +to aid the disaffected party by throwing an invading force into the +island. The conspiracy then formed, by the aid of the proffered +expedition, for which men were regularly enlisted and enrolled, would +undoubtedly have ended in the triumph of the insurrection, had it not +been discovered and suppressed prematurely, and had not the governments +of the United States, Great Britain and France, intervened in favor of +Spain. In 1826 some Cuban emigrants, residing in Caraccas, attempted a +new expedition, which failed, and caused the imprisonment and execution +of two patriotic young men, Don Francisco de Agueero, y Velazco, and Don +Bernabe Sanchez, sent to raise the department of the interior. In 1828 +there was a yet more formidable conspiracy, known as _El Aguila Negra_ +(the black eagle). The efforts of the patriots proved unavailing, foiled +by the preparation and power of the government, which seems to be +apprised by spies of every intended movement for the cause of liberty in +Cuba. + +We have alluded to the revolution of La Granja, in Spain, and we have +now briefly to consider its effects on the island of Cuba, then under +the sway of General Don Miguel Tacon. We shall have occasion to refer +more than once, in the course of our records of the island, to the +administration of Tacon; for he made his mark upon Cuba, and, though he +governed it with an iron hand and a stern will, as we shall see, yet he +did much to improve its physical condition, even as Louis Napoleon, +despot though he be, has already vastly beautified and improved the +sanitary condition of the city of Paris. + +The first place on the island which received intelligence of the +revolution of La Granja, and the oath to the constitution of 1812 by the +Queen-Regent of Spain, was Santiago de Cuba, the capital of the eastern +department. It was then commanded by General Lorenzo, who immediately +assembled the authorities, corporations and functionaries, in pursuance +of the example of his predecessors,--who, without waiting for the orders +of the higher authority of the island, had, under similar circumstances, +prepared to obey the supreme government of the nation,--and proclaimed +through his department the Code of Cadiz, without any opposition, and to +the general joy of Spaniards and Cubans. His first acts were to +reestablish the constitutional _ayuntamiento_, the national militia, the +liberty of the press, and all other institutions, on the same footing as +in 1823, when King Ferdinand recovered absolute authority, and made +arrangements for the election of deputies to the new Cortes. + +Tacon, who was not a friend to liberal institutions, and who was fixed +in his idea that the new constitution would convulse the country, +notwithstanding his knowledge of the state of things when this law was +actually in force in Cuba, was quite indignant when he heard what had +transpired. Knowing that he could not compel General Lorenzo to abrogate +the constitution he had proclaimed, he forthwith cut off all +communication with the eastern department, and formed a column to +invade it, and to restore the old order of things by force. This was a +bold, impolitic and dangerous move, because this resolve was contrary to +the wishes of the supreme government and public opinion, which would not +fail to see treason in the act of Gen. Tacon, against the mother +country. + +Although the royal proclamation which announced to Tacon the +establishment of the constitution in Spain intimated forthcoming orders +for the election of deputies in Cuba to the general Cortes, still he +considered that his commission as captain-general authorized him, under +the circumstances, to carry out his own will, and suppress at once the +movement set on foot by General Lorenzo, on the ground of its danger to +the peace of the island, and the interests of Spain. The royal order, +which opened the way for his attacks upon the Cuban people, after a +confused preamble, confers on the captain-general all the authority +appertaining in time of war to a Spanish governor of a city in a state +of siege, authorizing him in any circumstances and by his proper will to +suspend any public functionary, whatever his rank, civil, military, or +ecclesiastical; to banish any resident of the island, without preferring +any accusations; to modify any law, or suspend its operations;[5] +disobey with impunity any regulation emanating from the Spanish +government; to dispose of the public revenues at his will; and, finally, +to act according to his pleasure, winding up with recommending a +moderate use of the confidence evinced by the sovereign in according +power so ample. + +Although the captains-general of Cuba have always been invested with +extraordinary power, we believe that these items of unlimited authority +were first conferred upon Vivez in 1825, when the island was menaced by +an invasion of the united forces of Mexico and Columbia. In these +circumstances, and emanating from an absolute authority, like that of +Ferdinand VII., a delegation of power which placed the destinies of the +island at the mercy of its chief ruler might have had the color of +necessity; but to continue such a delegation of authority in time of +peace is a most glaring and inexcusable blunder. + +Meanwhile Tacon assembled a column of picked companies of the line, the +provincial military and rural cavalry, and placed them, under the orders +of General Gascue, in the town of Guines, hoping by this great parade +and preparation to impose on General Lorenzo, and strike terror into the +inhabitants of the whole island. He also adroitly worked by secret +agents upon the forces at Santiago de Cuba, and thus by cunning and +adroitness brought about quite a reaection in the public sentiment. + +Under these circumstances, if General Lorenzo, master of the eastern +department, with two regiments of regular troops, all the national +militia, all devoted to the new order of things and ready to obey his +will, had marched upon Puerto Principe, the capital of the centre, where +the garrison was not strong enough to oppose him, and had there +proclaimed the constitutional code through the authority of the royal +_Audiencia_, Gen. Tacon would unquestionably have desisted from his +opposition, and relinquished the command of the island. Cuba would then +have enjoyed the same political rights as the rest of Spain, and have +escaped the horrors of tyranny which have since weighed her down. But +Gen. Lorenzo proved weak, let slip the golden opportunity of triumphing +over Tacon, and returned to Spain in the vain hope that the supreme +government would sustain him. In the mean time, Tacon sent his body of +soldiery to Santiago, their arrival being signalized by the +establishment of a military commission to try and punish all who had +been engaged innocently in establishing the fallen constitution. The +commandant Moya presided, and the advocate Miret was held as counsel. + +No sooner had this barbarous tribunal commenced its proceedings, than no +Creole belonging to families of influence could look upon himself as +safe from persecution, since nearly all of them had hastened to obey the +orders of General Lorenzo, and, like him, taken oath to the +constitution. Many men of rank, reputation and education, including +several respectable clergymen, fell under the ban of the military +commission. Some were thrown into the prisons of Santiago de Cuba, some +banished for a given period, and many emigrated to avoid the horrors of +a Spanish dungeon, and the greater part in one way or another were torn +from the bosoms of their families. Of the soldiers who faithfully obeyed +their officers, about five hundred were condemned to work in the streets +of Havana, with their feet shackled. Such are the measures meted out by +despotism to those who have the misfortune to live under its iron yoke. + +Tacon triumphed, yet the Cubans did not utterly despair. They cherished +the hope that the Spanish government would recognize the legality of +their proceedings in the eastern department; but they were doomed to +disappointment. The Cuban deputies presented themselves in the Spanish +capital, and offered their credentials. But they were referred to a +committee of men profoundly ignorant of the feelings, opinions and +condition, of the Cuban people, or deriving what few notions they +possessed from those interested on the side of Tacon. The deputies were +not allowed a seat in the Cortes, and the government decided that the +provisions of the constitution should not apply to Cuba, but that it +should be governed by special laws. Since then, the island has been +ruled by the arbitrary will of the captains-general, without +intervention of the Spanish Cortes, without the intervention of the +island, and, what is almost inconceivable, at first thought, without the +direct action even of the sovereign authority. + +Tacon, now that the royal authority had sustained his action, was more +despotic than ever. It is true that he introduced some legal and +municipal reforms; that he embellished the capital, and improved its +health; but under him the censorship of the press was almost +prohibitory. The local _ayuntamientos_, which, at the most despotic +epoch, had frequently produced happy effects, by representing to the +sovereign the wants of the country, were shorn of their privileges, and +their attributes confined to the collection and distribution of the +municipal funds. Tacon is also charged with promoting the jealousies +naturally existing between Spaniards and Creoles, and with completely +subjecting the civil courts to military tribunals. + +"In a state of agitation in the public mind, and disorder in the +government," says the author of an able pamphlet entitled "_Cuba y su +Gobierno_," to whom we are indebted for invaluable information that +could only be imparted by a Creole, "with the political passions of +Spaniards and Cubans excited; the island reduced from an integral part +of the monarchy to the condition of a colony, and with no other +political code than the royal order, conferring unlimited power upon the +chief authority; the country bowed down under the weighty tyranny of two +military commissions established in the capitals of the eastern and +western departments; with the prisons filled with distinguished +patriots; deprived of representation in the Cortes; the _ayuntamientos_ +prohibited the right of petition; the press forbidden to enunciate the +state of public opinion, closed the administration of General Don Miguel +Tacon in the island of Cuba, the most calamitous, beyond a question, +that this country has suffered since its discovery by the Spaniards." + +The liberal party of Cuba, denied the expression of their views in the +local prints, and anxious to present their wants and their grievances +before the home government, conceived the ingenious idea of establishing +organs abroad. Two papers were accordingly published; one at Paris, +called "_El Correo de Ultramar_" and one at Madrid, entitled "_El +Observador_," edited by distinguished Cubans.[6] It is scarcely +necessary to say that these produced no favorable result, and the people +of the island became convinced that the mother country was resolved to +persevere in the plan of ruling Cuba with a rod of iron, indifferent +alike to her tears and her remonstrances. + +The programme of the liberal party was exceedingly moderate, petitioning +only for the following concessions: 1st, That a special ministry, +devoted to Cuban affairs, should be established at Madrid; 2d, That a +legal organ of communication between Spain and Cuba should be +established in the island, to represent the well-defined interests of +the metropolis and the colony; 3d, That some latitude should be given to +the press, now controlled by a triple censorship; 4th, That efficacious +means should be adopted for the complete suppression of the barbarous +traffic in African slaves; 5th, That the government should permit the +establishment of societies for the improvement of the white inhabitants; +6th, That the island should be relieved of the enormous weight of the +contributions now levied upon her. None of these privileges, however, +have been conceded to suffering Cuba by the home government. + +The first successor of General Tacon ruled Cuba with a spirit of +moderation and temperance, seeking to conciliate the liberals, and +giving hopes of great reforms, which as yet have never been +accomplished. During the administration of the Prince de Aglona, a +superior tribunal, the Royal Pretorial Audience, was established in +Havana, to take cognizance of civil suits in cases of appeal, and to +resolve the doubts which the confused system of legislation produces at +every step in the inferior tribunals. Gen. Valdes was the first and only +official who granted free papers to the emancipated negroes who had +served out their term of apprenticeship, and who opposed the African +trade. He showed, by his example, that this infamous traffic may be +destroyed in the country without a necessary resort to violent measures, +but by the will of the captain-general. + +General O'Donnell, as captain-general,[7] instead of repressing, +encouraged the slave-trade, and a greater number of the unfortunate +victims of human avarice were introduced into the island, during his +administration, than during any like term since the conclusion of the +treaty of 1817. Of course he vacated his post vastly enriched by the +spoils, having doubtless received, as was declared, from one to two +doubloons per head on every slave landed upon the island during his +administration; a sum that would alone amount to a fortune. + +Of events which transpired during the administration of Roncali and +Concha we may have occasion to speak hereafter, but with this more +modern chapter in the history of the island the general reader is +already conversant. It appears almost incredible that an intelligent +people, within so short a distance of our southern coast, constantly +visited by the citizens of a free republic, and having the example of +successful revolt set them, by the men of the same race, both in the +north and south, weighed down by oppressions almost without parallel, +should never have aimed an effectual blow at their oppressors. It would +seem that the softness of the unrivalled climate of those skies beneath +which it is luxury only to exist has unnerved them, and that the +effeminate spirit of the original inhabitants has descended in +retribution to the posterity of the _conquistadores_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] "En su consecuencia da S.M. a V.E. la mas amplia e ilimitada +autorizacion, no tan solo para separar de esa Isla a las personas +empleadas o no empleadas, cualquiera que sea su destino, rango, clase o +condicion, cuya permanencia en ella crea prejudicial, o que le infunda +recelos su conducta publica o privada, reemplazandolas interinamente con +servidores fieles a S.M. y que merezcan a V.E. toda su confianza, sino +tambien para suspender la ejecucion de cualesquiera ordenes o +providencias generales espedidas sobre todos los ramos de la +administracion en aquella parte en que V.E. considere conveniente al +real servicio, debiendo ser en todo caso provisionales estas medidas, y +dar V.E. cuenta a S.M. para su soberana aprobacion."--_From the Royal +Ordinance conferring unlimited powers on the Captains-general of Cuba._ + +[6] "La Verdad," a paper devoted to Cuban interests, established in New +York in 1848, and conducted with signal ability, is distributed +gratuitously, the expense being defrayed by contributions of Cubans and +the friends of Cuban independence. This is the organ of the annexation +party, organized by exiles in this country. + +[7] General Leopold O'Donnell was appointed governor-general in 1843, +continuing a little over four years to fill the lucrative position. His +wife was a singular and most avaricious woman, engaged in many +speculations upon the island, and shamefully abusing her husband's +official influence for the purposes of pecuniary emolument. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Armed intervention--Conspiracy of Cienfuegos and Trinidad--General + Narciso Lopez--The author's views on the subject--Inducements to + revolt--Enormous taxation--Scheme of the patriots--Lopez's first + landing in 1850--Taking of Cardinas--Return of the invaders--Effect + upon the Cuban authorities--Roncali recalled--New + captain-general--Lopez's second expedition--Condition of the + Invaders--Vicissitudes--Col. Crittenden--Battle of Las + Pozas--Superiority of courage--Battle of Las Frias--Death of Gen. + Enna--The fearful finale of the expedition. + + +We have noticed in the preceding chapter, the anomaly of the political +condition of Cuba, increasing in prosperity and civilization, imbibing +liberal ideas from its geographical position, and yet denied +participation in the few shadowy rights which the peninsular subjects of +the enfeebled, distracted and despotic parent monarchy enjoyed. We have +seen that, in later years, the adoption of more liberal ideas by Spain +produced no amelioration of the condition of the colony; and that, on +the other hand, a conformity to the legal enactments of the mother +country was punished as treason. The result of the movement in the +western department, under Tacon, showed the Cubans that they had nothing +to hope from Spain, while the cruelties of General O'Donnell increased +the great discontent and despair of the people. They now became +satisfied that the hope of legal reform was but a chimera; and a portion +of the liberal party, seeing no issue from their insufferable position +but that of revolution, boldly advocated the intervention of arms. + +In 1848 a conspiracy was formed, in Cienfuegos and Trinidad, with the +purpose of throwing off the Spanish yoke; but it was soon discovered, +and crushed by the imprisonment of various individuals in the central +department. The principal leader in this movement was General Narciso +Lopez, who succeeded in effecting his escape to the United States, where +he immediately placed himself in communication with several influential +and liberal Creoles, voluntary and involuntary exiles, and established a +correspondence with the remnant of the liberal party yet at liberty on +the island, at the same time being aided in his plans by American +sympathy. The result of the deliberations of himself, his correspondents +and associates, was to try by the chances of war for the liberation of +Cuba. The disastrous result of the expedition boldly undertaken for this +purpose is already well known. + +Before sketching the principal features of this attempt, we may be +permitted to declare that, although we deplore the fate of those of our +countrymen who perished in the adventure, though we readily concede that +many of them were actuated by lofty motives, still we must condemn their +action, and approve of the vigorous measures adopted by the federal +government to suppress that species of reckless adventure in which the +_flibustiers_ engaged. No amount of sympathy with the sufferings of an +oppressed people, no combination of circumstances, no possible results, +can excuse the fitting out of a warlike expedition in the ports of a +nation against the possessions of a friendly power. The flag which has +waved unstained in peace and war over a free land for more than three +quarters of a century, must remain spotless to the last. The hopes of +every free heart in the world are centred on our banner, and we must see +to it that no speck dims the dazzling lustre of its stars. No degree of +pride at the daring gallantry displayed by the little handful of +invaders of Cuba,--a gallantry inherited from a brave ancestry who +displayed their valor in the holiest of causes,--must blind our eyes to +the character of the adventure which called it forth. We have tears for +the fallen, as brothers and men; but our conscience must condemn their +errors. While, individually, we should rejoice to see Cuba free, and an +integral portion of the Union, nothing will ever induce us to adopt the +atrocious doctrine that the ends justify the means. But let us pass to a +consideration of the recent events in the records of the island. + +Many of the leading patriots of the island undoubtedly believed that the +government of the United States would second their efforts, if they +should decide to unite themselves to our republic, and boldly raise the +banner of annexation. A portion of the Cuban liberals adopted the motto, +"Legal Reform or Independence;" and these two factions of the patriots +did not henceforth act in perfect concert with each other--a most fatal +error to the interests of both. Time and circumstances favored the war +and annexation party; the people were more than ever discontented with a +government which so oppressed them by a military despotism, and by the +enormous weight of the unjust taxation levied upon them. We may here +remark that the increase of the public revenue, in the midst of so many +elements of destruction and ruin, can only be explained by the facility +with which the captain-general and royal stewards of the island invent +and arrange taxes, at their pleasure, and without a shadow of propriety, +or even precedent. + +The _consuming_ population of Cuba amounts to about eight hundred +thousand souls, and the total amount of taxes and contributions of +various forms is more than twenty-three millions of dollars, in specie, +per annum! It is hardly conceivable that such a sum can be extorted from +a population whose wealth is precarious, and whose living is so costly. +With this revenue the government pays and supports an army of over +twenty thousand Peninsular troops in the island; a vast number of +employes, part of the clergy and half the entire navy of Spain; the +diplomatic corps in the United States and Mexico; many officials of rank +at home in Spain; and the surplus is remitted to Spain, and spent on the +Peninsula on matters entirely foreign to the interests of the island +itself. A precious state of affairs! + +The colored population of the island, both slaves and free, hated the +Spaniards, for good reasons. The war party, moreover, reckoned on the +genius of a leader (Lopez) trained to arms,[8] equal in talents to any +of the Spanish generals, and beloved by the Spanish troops, as well as +by the Cuban population; and they relied, also, as we have said, on the +sympathy and ultimate aid of the United States government. It is +undoubtedly true that interested parties in this country, prompted by +mercenary motives, increased this latter delusion by false reports; +while the Cuban conspirators, in turn, buoyed up the hopes of their +friends in the United States, by glowing accounts of the patriotic +spirit of the Creoles, and the extent of the preparations they were +making for a successful revolt. General Lopez was actively arranging the +means for an invasion, when, in 1849, the United States government threw +terror into the ranks of the _flibustiers_, by announcing its +determination to enforce the sacredness of treaty stipulations. This, +for a time, frustrated the intended invasion. + +In 1850 Lopez succeeded in effecting his first descent upon the island. +Having succeeded in baffling the vigilance of the United States +government, an expedition, consisting of six hundred and fifty-two men, +was embarked on board two sailing-vessels and the steamer Creole, which +conveyed the general and his staff. In the beginning of July the +sailing-vessels left New Orleans, with orders to anchor at Contoy, one +of the Mugeres Islands, on the coast of Yucatan; the general followed, +on the Creole, on the 7th. At the time when the troops were embarked on +the Creole at Contoy, fifty-two of the number, who had been deceived as +to the nature of the expedition, refused to follow the general, and were +left on the island, with the intention of returning to the United States +in the two schooners. General Lopez, after gaining some information from +a fisherman he encountered, resolved to land at Cardenas, on the +northern coast of the island, a hundred and twenty miles east of Havana. +He calculated that he could surprise and master the garrison before the +captain-general could possibly obtain intelligence of his departure from +New Orleans. His plan was, to master the town, secure the authorities, +intimidate the Spaniards, and then, sustained by the moral influence of +victory, proceed to Matanzas by railroad. + +Roncali, the captain-general, having received intelligence of the +landing at Contoy, despatched several ships-of-war in that direction, to +seize upon the general and his followers. The latter, however, escaped +the snare, and effected his landing on the 19th. The garrison rushed to +arms, and, while a portion of the troops, after immaterial loss, retired +in good order to the suburbs, another, under the command of Governor +Ceruti, intrenched themselves in the government-house, and gave battle +to the invaders. After a sharp skirmish, the building being set on fire, +they surrendered; the governor and two or three officers were made +prisoners, and the soldiers consented to join the revolutionary colors! +Meanwhile, a body of one hundred invaders seized upon the railroad +station. The engines were fired up, and the trains made ready to +transport the invading column to Matanzas. + +But now came a pause. General Lopez, seeing that the native population +did not respond to his appeal, knew that as soon as the news of the +taking of Cardenas should be circulated, he would be in a very critical +situation. In fact, the governor of Matanzas was soon on the march, at +the head of five hundred men. General Armero sailed from Havana in the +Pizarro, with a thousand infantry, while two thousand five hundred +picked troops, under the command of General Count de Mirasol, were sent +from Havana by the railroad. Lopez saw that it would be madness to wait +the attack of these formidable columns, unsupported save by his own +immediate followers, and accordingly issued his orders for the +reembarkation of his band, yet without relinquishing the idea of landing +on some more favorable point of the island. + +That portion of the garrison which, in the beginning of the affair, had +retreated to the suburbs, finding itself reinforced by a detachment of +cavalry, attempted to cut off the retreat of the invading general; but +the deadly fire of the latter's reserve decimated the horse, and the +infantry, dismayed at their destruction, took to rapid flight. The +Creole accordingly left the port without molestation, and before the +arrival of the government steam-frigate Pizarro. The Spanish prisoners +were landed at Cayo de Piedras, and then Lopez, discovering the Pizarro +in the distance, made for the American continent, where the steamer was +abandoned. General Lopez was arrested by the authorities of Savannah, +but liberated again, in deference to the public clamor. The Creole was +seized, confiscated and sold. The invaders disbanded; and thus this +enterprise terminated. + +A less enterprising and determined spirit than that of General Lopez +would have been completely broken by the failure of his first attempts, +the inactivity of the Cubans, the hostility of the American government, +and the formidable forces and preparations of the Spanish officials. He +believed, however, that the Cubans were ripe for revolt; that public +opinion in the United States would nullify the action of the federal +government; and that, if he could once gain a foothold in the island, +the Spanish troops would desert in such numbers to his banners that the +preponderance of power would soon be upon his side; and, with these +views, he once more busied himself, with unremitting industry, to form +another expedition. + +Meanwhile, the daring attack upon Cardenas, while it demonstrated the +determination of the invading party, caused great anxiety in the mind of +General Roncali. True, he had at his disposal an army of more than +twenty thousand regular troops; but he was by no means sure of their +loyalty, and he therefore determined to raise a local militia; but, as +he suffered only Spaniards to enlist in it, he aroused the jealousy of +the Cuban-born inhabitants, and thus swelled the force of opposition +against the government. General Lopez was informed of this fact, and +based new hopes upon the circumstance. + +The Spanish government, having recalled Roncali, appointed Don Jose de +la Concha captain-general of the island, and the severity of his sway +reminded the inhabitants of the iron rule of Tacon. It was during his +administration that Lopez effected his second landing at Playitas, sixty +miles west of Havana. Several partial insurrections, which had preceded +this event, easily suppressed, as it appears, by the Spanish government, +but exaggerated in the accounts despatched to the friends of Cuba in the +United States, inflamed the zeal of Lopez, and made him believe that the +time for a successful invasion had at length arrived.[9] He was so +confident, at one time, of the determination and ability of the Cubans +alone to secure their independence, that he wished to embark without any +force, and throw himself among them. It was this confidence that led him +to embark with only four hundred ill-armed men on board the little +steamer Pampero, on the 2d of August, 1851. This force consisted mostly +of Americans, but embraced forty-nine Cubans in its ranks, with several +German and Hungarian officers; among the latter, General Pragay, one of +the heroes of the Hungarian revolution, who was second in command to +General Lopez on this occasion. + +Many of the foreign officers spoke little, if any, English, and mutual +jealousies and insubordinations soon manifested themselves in the little +band. They were composed of fierce spirits, and had come together +without any previous drilling or knowledge of each other. It was not the +intention of the commander-in-chief to sail direct for Cuba, but to go +to the neighborhood of St. John's river, Florida, and get a supply of +artillery, ammunition, extra arms, etc. He then proposed to land +somewhere in the central department, where he thought he could get a +footing, and rally a formidable force, before the government troops +could reach him. But, when five days out, Lopez discovered that the +Pampero was short of coal; as no time could be spared to remedy this +deficiency, he resolved to effect a landing at once, and send back the +Pampero for reinforcements and supplies. At Key West he obtained +favorable intelligence from Cuba, which confirmed his previous plans. He +learned that a large portion of the troops had been sent to the eastern +department; and he accordingly steered for Bahia Honda (deep bay). The +current of the gulf, acting while the machinery of the boat was +temporarily stopped for repairs, and the variation of the compass in the +neighborhood of so many arms, caused the steamer to run out of her +course on the night of the 10th; and when the morning broke, the +invaders found themselves heading for the narrow entrance of the harbor +of Havana! + +The course of the steamer was instantly altered; but all on board +momentarily expected the apparition of a war steamer from the channel +between the Moro and the Punta. It appeared, afterwards, that the +Pampero was signalized as a strange steamer, but not reported as +suspicious until evening. The Pampero then made for the bay of Cabanas; +but, just as she was turning into the entrance, a Spanish frigate and +sloop-of-war were seen at anchor, the first of which immediately gave +chase, but, the wind failing, the frigate gave it up, and returned to +the bay to send intelligence of the expedition to Havana. The landing +was finally effected at midnight, between the 11th and 12th of August, +and the steamer was immediately sent off to the United States for +further reinforcements. As it was necessary to obtain transportation for +the baggage, General Lopez resolved to leave Col. Crittenden with one +hundred and twenty men to guard it, and with the remainder of the +expedition to push on to Las Pozas, a village about ten miles distant, +whence he could send back carts and horses to receive it. Among the +baggage were four barrels of powder, two of cartridges, the officers' +effects, including the arms of the general, and the flag of the +expedition. From the powder and arms they should not have separated, +but have divided that, against contingency. + +In the mean time, seven picked companies of Spanish troops of the line +had been landed at Bahia Honda, which force was strengthened by +contingents drawn from the neighborhood. The march of the invading band +to Las Pozas was straggling and irregular. On reaching the village, they +found it deserted by the inhabitants. A few carts were procured and sent +back to Crittenden, that he might advance with the baggage. Lopez here +learned from a countryman of the preparations making to attack him. It +was no portion of his plan to bring the men into action with regular +troops, in their present undisciplined state; he proposed rather to take +a strong position in the mountains, and there plant his standard as a +rallying-point, and await the rising of the Cubans, and the return of +the Pampero with reinforcements for active operations. + +As soon as Lopez learned the news from Bahia Honda, he despatched a +peremptory order to Crittenden to hasten up with the rear-guard, +abandoning the heavy baggage, but bringing off the cartridges and papers +of the expedition. + +But the fatal delay of Crittenden separated him forever from the main +body, only a small detachment of his comrades (under Captain Kelly) ever +reaching it. The next day, while breakfast was being prepared for them, +the soldiers of the expedition were suddenly informed, by a volley from +one of the houses of the village, that the Spanish troops were upon +them. They flew to arms at once, and the Cuban company dislodged the +vanguard of the enemy, who had fired, at the point of the bayonet, their +captain, Oberto, receiving his death-wound in the spirited affair. +General Enna, a brave officer, in command of the Spanish troops, made +two charges in column on the centre of the invaders' line, but was +repulsed by that deadly fire which is the preeminent characteristic of +American troops. Four men alone escaped from the company heading the +first column, and seventeen from that forming the advance of the second +column of attack. The Spaniards were seized with a panic, and fled. + +Lopez's force in this action amounted to about two hundred and eighty +men; the Spaniards had more than eight hundred. The total loss of the +former, in killed and wounded, was thirty-five; that of the latter, +about two hundred men killed, and a large number wounded! The invaders +landed with about eighty rounds of cartridges each; the Spanish dead +supplied them with about twelve thousand more; and a further supply was +subsequently obtained at Las Frias; the ammunition left with Crittenden +was never recovered. In the battle of Las Pozas, General Enna's horse +was shot under him, and his second in command killed. The invaders lost +Colonel Downman, a brave American officer; while General Pragay was +wounded, and afterwards died in consequence. Though the invaders fired +well and did terrible execution, they could not be prevailed upon to +charge the enemy, and gave great trouble to the officers by their +insubordination. The night after the battle, Captain Kelly came up with +forty men, and announced that the Spanish troops had succeeded in +dividing the rear-guard, and that the situation of Crittenden was +unknown. It was not until some days afterwards that it was ascertained +that Crittenden's party, attempting to leave the island in launches, had +been made prisoners by a Spanish man-of-war. They were taken to Havana, +and brutally shot at the castle of Atares. + +About two o'clock on the 14th of August, the expedition resumed its +march for the interior, leaving behind their wounded, who were +afterwards killed and mutilated by the Spaniards. The second action with +the Spanish troops occurred at the coffee-plantation of Las Frias, +General Enna attacking with four howitzers, one hundred and twenty +cavalry, and twelve hundred infantry. The Spanish general attacked with +his cavalry, but they were met by a deadly fire, thrown into utter +confusion, and forced to retreat, carrying off the general mortally +wounded. The panic of the cavalry communicated itself to the infantry, +and the result was a complete rout. This was the work of about two +hundred muskets; for many of Lopez's men had thrown away their arms on +the long and toilsome march. + +The expedition, however, was too weak to profit by their desperate +successes, and had no means of following up these victories. Plunging +into the mountains, they wandered about for days, drenched with rain, +destitute of food or proper clothing, until despair at last seized +them. They separated from each other, a few steadfast comrades remaining +by their leader. In the neighborhood of San Cristoval, Lopez finally +surrendered to a party of pursuers. He was treated with every indignity +by his captors, though he submitted to everything with courage and +serenity. He was taken in a steamer from Mariel to Havana. + +Arrived here, he earnestly desired to obtain an interview with Concha, +who had been an old companion-in-arms with him in Spain; not that he +expected pardon at his hands, but hoping to obtain a change in the +manner of his death. His soul shrank from the infamous _garrotte_, and +he aspired to the indulgence of the _cuatro tiros_ (four shots). Both +the interview and the indulgence were refused, and he was executed on +the first of September, at seven o'clock in the morning, in the Punta, +by that mode of punishment which the Spaniards esteem the most infamous +of all. When he landed at Bahia Honda, he stooped and kissed the earth, +with the fond salutation, "_Querida Cuba_" (dear Cuba)! and his last +words, pronounced in a tone of deep tenderness, were, "_Muero por mi +amada Cuba_" (I die for my beloved Cuba).[10] + +The remainder of the prisoners who fell into the hands of the +authorities were sent to the Moorish fortress of Ceuta; but Spain seems +to have been ashamed of the massacre of Atares, and has atoned for the +ferocity of her colonial officials by leniency towards the misguided men +of the expedition, granting them a pardon. + +At present it may be said that "order reigns in Warsaw," and the island +is comparatively quiet in the presence of a vast armed force. To Concha +have succeeded Canedo and Pezuelas, but no change for the better has +taken place in the administration of the island. Rigorous to the native +population, insolent and overbearing to foreigners, respecting no flag +and regarding no law, the captains-general bear themselves as though +Spain was still a first-rate power as of yore, terrible on land, and +afloat still the mistress of the sea. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] His reputation as a cavalry officer was very distinguished, and he +was commonly recognized as _La primera Lanza de Espana_ (the first lance +of Spain).--_Louis Schlesinger's Narrative of the Expedition._ + +[9] "The general showed me much of his correspondence from the island. +It represented a pervading anxiety for his arrival, on the part of the +Creole population. His presence alone, to head the insurrection, which +would then become general, was all they called for; his presence and a +supply of arms, of which they were totally destitute. The risings +already made were highly colored in some of the communications addressed +to him from sources of unquestionable sincerity."--_Louis Schlesinger's +Narrative of the Expedition._ + +[10] General Lopez was born in Venezuela, South America, in 1798; and +hence, at the time of his execution, must have been about fifty-two +years of age. He early became an adopted citizen of Cuba, and espoused +one of its daughters. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Present condition of Cuba--Secret treaty with France and + England--British plan for the Africanization of the island--Sale of + Cuba--Measures of General Pezuela--Registration of + slaves--Intermarriage of blacks and whites--Contradictory + proclamations--Spanish duplicity--A Creole's view of the crisis and + the prospect. + + +Cuba is at present politically in a critical and alarming condition, and +the most intelligent natives and resident foreigners live in constant +dread of a convulsion more terrific and sanguinary than that which +darkened the annals of St. Domingo. Those best informed of the temper, +designs and position of Spain, believe in the existence of a secret +treaty between that country, France and England, by which the two latter +powers guarantee to Spain her perpetual possession of the island, on +condition of her carrying out the favorite abolition schemes of the +British government, and Africanizing the island. Spain, it is supposed, +unable to stand alone, and compelled to elect between the loss of her +colony and subserviency to her British ally, has chosen of the two evils +that which wounds her pride the least, and is best calculated to secure +the interests of monarchical Europe. All the recent measures of the +Captain-general Pezuela are calculated to produce the conviction that +the Africanization of Cuba has been resolved upon; and, if his alarming +proclamation of the third of May has been somewhat modified by +subsequent proclamations and official declarations, it is only because +the Spanish government lacks the boldness to unmask all its schemes, +while the Eastern war prevents France and Great Britain from sending +large armaments to Cuba to support it; and because the national vessels +and troops destined to swell the government forces in the island have +not all arrived. But for the existence of the war in the East, the +manifestoes of the captain-general would have been much more explicit. +As it is, they are sufficiently bold and menacing. + +A peaceful solution to the question of Cuba, by its sale to the United +States, is not regarded as probable by the best-informed Creoles. They +say that, even if the queen were disposed to sell the island, it would +be impossible to obtain the consent of the Cortes. The integrity of the +Spanish domain, including all the islands, is protected by legal +enactment; and it would require the abrogation of a fundamental law +before it could be consummated.[11] Now, the Spanish subjects well +understand that they would not be likely to be gainers by the sale of +Cuba, however large a sum the United States might be willing to pay for +it, while the monopoly to trade, the bestowal of lucrative insular +offices on Spaniards alone, and other incidental advantages, give them a +direct interest in the maintenance of the present order of things. Those +who take this view of the question say that if Spain has not promptly +rejected the overtures supposed to have been made by our minister at +Madrid, this delay indicates only a conscious weakness, and not any +hesitation of purpose. It is simply a diplomatic trick--a temporizing +policy. Why, they ask, if Spain had any idea of parting with the island, +would she be making naval and military preparations on a grand and +costly scale, at home, while in the island she is making large levies, +and enrolling colored troops, not as militia, as the government has +falsely given out, but as regulars? We are reluctant to abandon the hope +of our purchasing the island, but candor compels us to state the +plausible arguments of those who assert that no success can possibly +attend the plan for its peaceable acquisition. + +Within a brief space of time, the administration of General Pezuela has +been signalized by measures of great significance and importance: The +decree of the third of May; the order for the registration of slaves +introduced into the island in violation of the treaty of 1817; the +decree freeing more than fifteen thousand _emancipados_ in the space of +a fortnight; that of May 25th, enrolling and arming negroes and +mulattoes; the project for importing negroes and mulattoes from Africa, +under the name of free apprentices; the institution of free schools for +the instruction of the blacks, while the whites are abandoned to their +own resources; and, finally, the legalization of the intermarriages of +blacks and whites, which last measure has actually been carried into +effect, to the indignation of the Creoles,--all these measures show the +determination of the Spanish government to bring about the emancipation +of slavery, and the social equalization of the colored and white +population, that it may maintain its grasp upon the island, under +penalty of a war of races, which could only terminate in the extinction +of the whites, in case of a revolutionary movement. + +The proclamation of the third of May, alluded to above, and disclosing +some of the abolition plans of the government, produced a startling +sensation. In it the captain-general said: "It is time for the planter +to substitute for the rapid but delusive advantages derived from the +sale of human flesh, safer profits, more in harmony with civilization, +religion and morals;" and that "the time had come to make the life of +the slave sweeter than that of the white man who labors under another +name in Europe." The proclamation, coupled with that conferring +exclusive educational advantages on colored persons, roused even the +Spaniards; some of the wealthiest and most influential of whom held +secret meetings to discuss the measures to be adopted in such a crisis, +in which it was resolved to withhold all active aid from the government, +some going so far as to advocate the making of common cause with the +Creoles. The mere hint of a fusion between the Spaniards and Creoles, +whom it has been the policy of the colonial government to alienate from +each other, was sufficient to excite the fears of the captain-general; +and accordingly, on the 31st of May, he published a sort of explanatory +manifesto, designed to allay the alarm of the Spaniards, and +conflicting, in several points, with that of the 3d. "Her Majesty's +government," says the document of the 31st, "is well aware that the +unhappy race (the Africans), once placed among civilized men, and +protected by the religion and the great laws of our ancestors, is, in +its so-called slavery, a thousand times happier than other European +classes, whose liberty is only nominal." If this assertion were true, +what becomes of the famous declaration, in the former proclamation, that +the time had arrived to make the life of the slave happier than of the +white European laborer? If this assertion were true, that "good time" +had not only arrived, but passed away, and his measures for the +improvement of the involuntary bondmen were actually supererogatory. The +owners of slaves are, moreover, assured that they shall not be disturbed +in the possession of their "legitimate property," and that the +government will conciliate a due regard for such property "with the +sacred fulfilment of treaties." + +It is very evident that the Creoles are doomed to be the victims of +Spanish duplicity. It is notorious that many thousands of slaves have +been introduced into the island, for a series of years, with the +connivance of the government, when they had it in their power, at any +time, to stop the traffic altogether. The vigilance of the British +cruisers was baffled by the assurance that the Africans thus brought +over were apprentices, Spain never hesitating to deceive an ally; and +now, when compelled to keep faith, in a desperate emergency, she betrays +her own subjects, and throws the penalty of her own bad faith on them. + +A gentleman residing in Cuba writes: "No one can be here, and watch the +progress of things, without being convinced that the ultimate object is +the emancipation of the slaves of the island transported subsequent to +the treaty of 1820, which will comprise four-fifths of the whole number; +and no one who is an attentive observer, and with his ears open, but +must be satisfied that there is some other powerful influence brought to +bear on the subject besides Spain. Take, for instance, the late order +for the registration of the slaves. The British consul openly says that +the British government have been, for a long time, urging the measure. +But it is not only in this, but in every other step taken, that the +British finger is constantly seen. A thousand corroborative +circumstances could be cited. Cuba is to-day indebted to Russia for +being free from this calamity. But for the emperor's obstinacy, there +would have been an English and French fleet that would have enabled them +to carry out all the measures they have in contemplation." + +With relation to the intermarriage of blacks and whites, our informant +says, "Many marriages have been performed since the date of the +circular,"--that of the Bishop of Havana to the curates of the island, +by the authority of the captain-general. + +"The captain-general," says the same authority, "is now exerting his +influence for the admission of blacks into the university, to prepare +them for clerical orders. Should this system be adopted, I fear it will +lead to bad consequences. It will, of course, be strenuously opposed. +The indignation of the Creoles has been difficult to restrain,--at which +you cannot be surprised, when their daughters, wives and sisters, are +daily insulted, particularly by those in uniform. I fear a collision may +take place. If once commenced, it will be terrific." + +The decree authorizing the celebration of marriages between blacks and +whites has probably produced more indignation among the Creoles than any +other official acts of the captain-general. It was directed to the +bishop in the form of a circular, and issued on the 22d of May. On the +29th of the same month, the bishop transmitted copies of it to all the +curates within his jurisdiction; and, as we have seen, many of these +incongruous marriages have been already solemnized. Notwithstanding +these notorious and well-authenticated facts, the official organ of the +government, the _Diario de la Marina_, had the effrontery to publish a +denial of the transaction, asserting it to be mere idle gossip, without +the slightest foundation, and ridiculing the idea in a tone of levity +and _persiflage_. + +This may teach us how little dependence is to be placed on the +declarations of the Spanish officials; and we shall be prepared to +receive with incredulity the denial, in the name of the queen, of the +existence of a treaty with England, having for its base the abolition of +slavery, as a reward for British aid in preserving Cuba to Spain. The +captain-general says that she relies not on foreign aid to maintain her +rights, but on her powerful "navy and disciplined army; on the loyalty +of the very immense (_inmensisima_) majority of her vigorous native +citizens (Creoles); on the strength imparted to the good by the defence +of their hearths, their laws and their God; and on the hurricanes and +yellow fever for the enemy." + +"Here," writes a Cuban gentleman, commenting on the above declaration, +"we must make a pause, and remark, _en passant_, that the name of her +majesty thus invoked, far from giving force to the denial, weakens it +greatly; for we all know the value of the royal word, particularly that +of her majesty Isabella II. In her name a full pardon was offered to +Armenteros and his associates, who raised the cry of independence in +Trinidad, and this document effected the purpose for which it was +designed. Armenteros and the others, who placed reliance in the royal +word, were, some of them, shot, and the rest deported to African +dungeons. No reliance can be placed on the loyalty of the vast majority +of the vigorous citizens (unless the negroes alone are comprehended +under this phrase), when the whites are deprived of arms for the defence +of their country, and men are fined five pesos for carrying canes of a +larger size than can be readily introduced into a gun-barrel, and free +people of color are alone admitted into the ranks of the troops. The +Cubans are not relied upon, since, to prevent their joining Lopez, all +the roads were blockaded, and everybody found on them shot; and the +immense number of exiles does not prove the majority which favors the +government to be so prodigious. + +"The value of the powerful navy and well-trained army of the island was +shown in the landing of Lopez, and the victories that three hundred men +constantly obtained over an army of seven thousand, dispersing only when +ammunition failed them. Hurricanes and the yellow fever are most +melancholy arms of defence; and, if they only injured the enemy, the +Spaniards, who are as much exposed as other Europeans to the fatal +influence, would be the true enemies of Cuba." + +The following remarks on the present condition and prospects of the +island are translated from a letter written by an intelligent Creole, +thoroughly conversant with its affairs: + +"The whites tremble for their existence and property; no one thinks +himself secure; confidence has ceased, and with it credit; capitalists +have withdrawn their money from circulation; the banks of deposit have +suspended their discounts; premiums have reached a fabulous point for +the best of paper. The government was not ignorant that this would be +the result, and prepared to get out of the momentary crisis by the +project of a bank,[12] published in the _Gaceta_ of the 4th (May); but +the most needy class, in the present embarrassed circumstances, is that +of the planters; and it is necessary, to enable them to fulfil their +engagements, that their notes should be made payable at the end of the +year,--that is, from harvest to harvest,--and not at the end of six +months, as provided for in the regulations. But it matters not; we are +pursuing the path which will precipitate us into the abyss, if +instantaneous and efficacious help does not come to save the island from +the imminent ruin which threatens it. + +"The cause of the liberty of nations has always perished in its cradle, +because its defenders have never sought to deviate from legal +paths,--because they have followed the principles sanctioned by the laws +of nations; while despots, always the first to exact obedience to them +when it suited their convenience, have been the first to infringe them +when they came into collision with their interests. Their alliances to +suppress liberty are called _holy_, and the crimes they commit by +invading foreign territories, and summoning foreign troops to their aid +to oppress their own vassals, are sacred duties, compliances with secret +compacts; and, if the congresses, parliaments and Cortes of other +nations, raise the cry to Heaven, they answer, the government has +protested,--acts have been performed without their sanction,--there is +no remedy,--they are acts accomplished. + +"An act accomplished will shortly be the abolition of slavery in Cuba; +and the tardy intervention of the United States will only have taken +place when its brilliant constellation lights up the vast sepulchre +which will cover the bodies of her sons, sacrificed to the black race as +a reward for their sympathies with American institutions, and the vast +carnage it will cost to punish the African victors. What can be done +to-day without great sacrifices to help the Cubans, to-morrow cannot be +achieved without the effusion of rivers of blood, and when the few +surviving Cubans will curse an intervention which, deaf to their cries, +will only be produced by the cold calculations of egotism. Then the +struggle will not be with the Spaniards alone. The latter will now +accede to all the claims of the cabinet at Washington, by the advice of +the ambassadors of France and England, to advance, meanwhile, with surer +step to the end,--to give time for the solution of the Eastern question, +and for France and England to send their squadrons into these waters. +Well may they deny the existence of secret treaties; this is very easy +for kings, as it will be when the case of the present treaty comes up, +asserting that the treaty was posterior to their negative, or refusing +explanations as inconsistent with their dignity. But we witness the +realization of our fears; we see the Spanish government imperturbably +setting on foot plans which were thought to be the delirium of excited +imaginations; doing at once what promised to be a gradual work; and hear +it declared, by distinguished persons, who possess the confidence of +General Pezuela, that the existence of the treaty is certain, and that +the United States will be told that they should have accepted the offer +made to become a party to it, in which case the other two powers could +not have adopted the abolition scheme. But, supposing this treaty to +have no existence, the fact of the abolition of slavery is no less +certain. It is only necessary to read the proclamation of the +captain-general, if the last acts of the government be not sufficiently +convincing. The result to the island of Cuba and to the United States is +the same, either way. If the latter do not hasten to avert the blow, +they will soon find it impossible to remedy the evil. In the island +there is not a reflecting man,--foreigner or native, Creole or +European,--who does not tremble for the future that awaits us, at a +period certainly not far remote." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] The administration of Bravo Murillo fell in an attempt of this +kind, and did not rise again. + +[12] Pezuela's bank is to have a capital of two million dollars; the +government to be a shareholder for half a million. The effect of such an +institution would be to drain the island of specie. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Geographical position of the island--Its size--The climate--Advice + to invalids--Glance at the principal cities--Matanzas--Puerto + Principe--Santiago de Cuba--Trinidad--The writer's first view of + Havana--Importance of the capital--Its literary + institutions--Restriction on Cuban youths and education--Glance at + the city streets--Style of architecture--Domestic arrangements of + town houses--A word about Cuban ladies--Small feet--Grace of manners + and general characteristics. + + +Having thus briefly glanced at the political story of Cuba, let us now +pass to a consideration of such peculiarities of climate, soil and +population, as would naturally interest a stranger on visiting the +island. The form, geographically speaking, of Cuba, is quite irregular, +and resembles the blade of a Turkish scimeter slightly curved back, or +approaching the form of a long, narrow crescent. It stretches away in +this shape from east to west, throwing its western end into a curve, as +if to form an impregnable barrier to the outlet of the Gulf of Mexico; +and as if, at some ancient period, it had formed a part of the American +continent, and had been severed on its north side from the Florida +peninsula by the wearing of the Gulf-stream, and from Yucatan, on its +south-western point, by a current setting into the gulf. Its political +position all concede to be of the most vital importance to the United +States; and this will be apparent to any one, from the slightest +inspection of the map. + +It is the most westerly of the West Indian isles, and, compared with the +rest, has nearly twice as much superficial extent of territory. Its +greatest extent, from east to west, is about six hundred miles; its +narrowest part, twenty-two miles. The circumference is about two +thousand miles, containing some thirty-two thousand square miles.[13] +The narrow form of the island, and the Cordillera chain of mountains, +which divides it throughout its whole length, leave a very limited +course for its rivers and streams; and consequently these in the rainy +season become torrents, and during the rest of the year are nearly dried +up. Those that sustain themselves throughout the year are well stocked +with delicate and finely-flavored fish. + +Probably no place on the earth has a finer or more desirable climate +than has the main portion of Cuba;[14] with the clear atmosphere of the +low latitudes, no mist, the sun seldom obscured, and the appearance of +the stars and sky at night far brighter and more beautiful than at the +north.[15] The atmosphere does not seem to lose its transparency with +the departure of day. Sunset is ever remarkable for its soft, mellow +beauty here, and the long twilight that follows it. For many years the +island has been the resort of the northern invalid in search of health, +especially of those laboring under pulmonary affections; the soft, +soothing power of the climate having a singularly healing influence, as +exercised in the balmy trade-winds.[16] The climate so uniformly soft +and mild, the vegetation so thriving and beautiful, the fruits so +delicious and abundant, seem to give it a character almost akin to that +we have seen described in tales of fairy land. + +The declining health of a beloved companion was the motive which induced +the author of these pages to visit the delightful climate of Cuba, with +the hope that its genial and kindly influence might revive her physical +powers; nor were these hopes disappointed; for, transplanted from the +rough climate of our own New England, immediate and permanent +improvement was visible. To persons in the early stages of pulmonary +complaints the West Indies hold forth great promise of relief; and, at +the period when invalid New Englanders most require to avoid their own +homes, namely, during the prevailing east winds of April, May and June, +the island of Cuba is in the glory of high summer, and enjoying the +healthiest period of its yearly returns. After the early part of June, +the unacclimated would do well to take passage up the gulf to New +Orleans, and come gradually north with the advancing season. From the +proximity of Cuba in the north-western parts to our own continent, the +climate is variable, and a few hundred feet above the level of the sea +ice is sometimes formed, but snow never falls upon the island, though it +is occasionally visited in this region by hail storms. In the cities and +near the swamps, the yellow fever, that scourge of all hot climates, +prevails from the middle of June to the last of October; but in the +interior of the island, where the visitor is at a wholesome distance +from humidity and stagnant water, it is no more unhealthy than our own +cities in summer. It is doubtful if Havana, even in the fever season, is +as unhealthy as New Orleans during the same period of the year. + +The principal cities of the island are Havana, with a population of +about two hundred thousand; Matanzas, twenty-five thousand; Puerto +Principe, fourteen thousand; Santiago de Cuba, thirty thousand; +Trinidad, thirteen thousand; St. Salvador, eight thousand; Manzanilla, +three thousand; Cardenas, Nuevitas, Sagua la Grande, Mariel, etc. etc. +Cuba abounds in fine large harbors; those of Havana, Niepe and Nuevitas, +are among the best. The bay of Matanzas is also capacious; Cardenas and +the roadstead of Sagua la Grande have plenty of water for brigs and +schooners. Matanzas,[17] though second to Puerto Principe in point of +inhabitants, yet stands next to Havana in commercial importance, and is +said to be much healthier than the capital. It is located in a valley in +one of the most fertile portions of the island, the city extending from +the flat sea-shore up to the picturesque and verdant heights by which +the town is surrounded in the form of an amphitheatre. The +fortifications are of rather a meagre character. The custom-house is the +most prominent building which strikes the eye on approaching the city by +water, and is an elegant structure of stone, but one story high, built +at the early part of the present century. On the heights above the city, +the inhabitants have planted their country seats, and from the bay the +whole scene is most delightfully picturesque. There are two fine +churches in Matanzas, and a second-class theatre, cock-pit, etc. +Statistics show the custom-house receipts of the port to exceed the +large sum of a million and a half dollars annually. Besides the railroad +leading to Havana, there is another leading to the interior and bearing +southward, of some thirty or forty miles in length. On all the Cuban +railroads you ride in American-built cars, drawn by American-built +engines, and conducted by American engineers. The back country from +Matanzas is rich in sugar and coffee plantations. + +Puerto Principe is the capital of the central department of the island, +and is situated in the interior. The trade of the place, from the want +of water-carriage, is inconsiderable, and bears no proportion to the +number of inhabitants. What ever portion of the produce of Puerto +Principe and its immediate neighborhood is exported, must find its way +first to Nuevitas, twelve and a half leagues distant, from whence it is +shipped, and from whence it receives in return its foreign supplies. It +is situated about one hundred and fifty miles from Havana. Its original +locality, when founded by Velasquez, was Nuevitas, but the inhabitants, +when the place was feeble in numbers and strength, were forced to remove +to this distance inland, to avoid the fierce incursions of the +Buccaneers, who thronged the coast. + +Santiago de Cuba has a noble harbor, and is defended by a miniature Moro +Castle, being a well-planned fortress after the same style, and known as +_El Moro_. This city was founded in 1512, and is the capital of the +eastern department of the island, but has at various times suffered +severely from earthquakes, and within a couple of years was visited by +the cholera, which swept off some five or six thousand of its population +in about the same number of weeks. Santiago, though it now presents many +features of decay, and its cathedral is closed for fear of disaster +occurring if it should be occupied, is yet the third city on the island +in a commercial point of view. The immediate neighborhood of the city +being mountainous and somewhat sterile, produces little sugar, but the +many fine coffee estates, and several vast copper mines of uncomputed +extent and value, which have been worked by English companies, give it +much importance. It is two hundred and thirty leagues from Havana, on +the south coast. + +Trinidad, situated about a league from Casilda, on the south coast, and +ninety miles from Havana, is probably one of the healthiest and +pleasantest locations for invalids on the island. It lies at the base of +a ridge of mountains that protect it from the north wind, and is free +from all humidity, with that great blessing, good water, at hand, an +article which unfortunately is very scarce in Cuba. + +Our first view of Moro Castle was gained from the quarter-deck, after a +fifteen days' voyage; it was just as the sun was dipping into the sea, +too late for us to enter the harbor, for the rules of the port are +rigorously observed, and we were obliged to stand off and on through the +night. At early morning our jack was set at the fore as a signal for a +pilot, and at noon we had answered the rough peremptory hail from the +castle, and dropped anchor in the safe and beautiful harbor of the +capital. The scene was absorbingly interesting to a stranger. Around us +floated the flags of many nations, conspicuous among which were the +gallant stars and stripes. On the one side lay the city, on a low, level +plain, while the hills that make the opposite side of the harbor +presented a beautiful picture of the soft green sward and the luxuriant +verdure that forms the constant garb of the tropics. + +As Paris is said to be France, so is Havana Cuba, and its history +embraces in no small degree that of all the island, being the centre of +its talent, wealth and population. Every visible circumstance proclaims +the great importance of the city, even to the most casual observer. +Moro Castle[18] frowning over the narrow entrance of the harbor, the +strong battery answering to it on the opposite point, and known as La +Punta, the long range of cannon and barracks on the city side, the +powerful and massive fortress of the Cabanas[19] crowning the hill +behind the Moro, all speak unitedly of the immense importance of the +place. Havana is the heart of Cuba, and will never be yielded unless the +whole island be given up; indeed, the possessors of this strong-hold +command the whole Spanish West Indies. The bay, shaped like an outspread +hand, the wrist for the entrance, is populous with the ships of all +nations,[20] and the city, with its 200,000 inhabitants, is a depot of +wealth and luxury. With an enormous extent of public buildings, +cathedrals, antique and venerable churches and convents, with the +palaces of nobles and private gentlemen of wealth, all render this +capital of Cuba probably the richest place for its number of square rods +in the world. + +Beside the Royal University of Havana, a medical and law school, and +chairs on all the natural sciences, it contains many other institutions +of learning. It is true that, in spite of their liberal purpose and +capability, there is a blight, as it were, hanging over them all. Pupils +enlist cautiously, suffer undue restraint, and in spite of themselves +seem to feel that there is an unseen influence at work against the +spirit of these advantages. Among the schools are a Royal Seminary for +girls, a free school of sculpture and painting, a mercantile school, +also free, with many private institutions of learning, of course not to +be compared in ability or general advantages to like institutions with +us. There is a fine museum of Natural History, and just outside the city +walls a very extensive botanical garden. No one, even among the +islanders, who would be supposed to feel the most pride in the subject, +will for a moment deny, however, that the means for education are very +limited in Cuba. An evidence of this is perceptibly evinced by the fact +that the sons of the planters are almost universally sent abroad, mostly +to this country, for educational purposes. An order was not long since +promulgated, by direction of the home government, in which the +inhabitants are forbidden to send their children to the United States, +for the purpose of education. A bold, decided order. + +Of course the reason for this is quite apparent, and is openly +acknowledged in Havana, viz:--that these youths, during their residence +here, adopt liberal ideas and views of our republican policy, which +become fixed principles with them; nor is there any doubt of this being +the case, for such students as have thus returned, unhesitatingly +(among friends) avow their sentiments, and most ardently express a hope +for Cuban independence; and this class, too, upon the island are far +more numerous than might at first be supposed. Those who have been +educated in France, Germany, and England, seem at once to imbibe the +spirit of those youths who have returned from the United States, and +long before there was any open demonstration relative to the first Lopez +expedition, these sons of the planters had formed themselves into a +secret society, which is doubtless still sustained, with the avowed +purpose of exercising its ability and means to free Cuba, sooner or +later, from the Spanish yoke. + +The city of Havana is surrounded by a high wall and ditch, and its gates +are always strictly guarded by soldiery, no stranger being permitted to +pass unchallenged. The streets, which are extremely narrow, are all +Macadamized, and cross each other at right angles, like those of +Philadelphia and some other American cities. There are no sidewalks, +unless a narrow line of flag-stones which are level with the surface of +the street may be so called. Indeed, the people have little use for +sidewalks, for they drive almost universally about town in place of +walking, being thus borne about in that peculiar vehicle, a volante. A +woman of respectability is never seen on foot in the streets, and this +remark, as singular as it may sound to our Broadway and +Washington-street belles, is applicable even to the humblest classes; +unless, indeed, it be the fruit women from the country, with their +baskets richly laden upon their heads, while they cry the names of +their tempting burdens in the long drawling Spanish style. + +The architecture of the city houses is exceedingly heavy, giving to them +an appearance of great age. They are constructed so as almost +universally to form squares in their centres, which constitutes the only +yard which the house can have, and upon which the lofty arches of the +corridor look down. The lower story is always occupied as storeroom, +kitchen, and stable, (think of a suite of drawing-rooms over a stable!) +while the universal volante blocks up in part the only entrance to the +house. From this inner court-yard a wide flight of steps leads to the +second story, from the corridor of which all the rooms open, giving them +an opening front and rear on two sides at least. As peculiar as this +mode of building may seem, it is nevertheless well adapted to the +climate, and one becomes exceedingly well satisfied with the +arrangement. + +An air of rude grandeur reigns over all the structure, the architecture +being mainly Gothic and Saracenic. The rooms are all lofty, and the +floors are stuccoed or tiled, while the walls and ceilings are +frequently ornamented in fresco, the excellence of the workmanship of +course varying in accordance with the owner's or occupant's means, and +his ability to procure an artist of high or _mediocre_ talent. But the +most striking peculiarity of the town house in Cuba, is the great care +taken to render it safe against assault. Every man's house is literally +his castle here, each accessible window being barricaded with iron +bars, while large massive folding doors secure the entrance to the +house, being bullet proof and of immense strength. No carpets are seen +here, and from the neighboring Isle of Pines, which lies off the +southern shore of Cuba, a thick slate is found, also marble and jasper +of various colors, which are cut in squares, and form the general +material for floors in the dwelling-houses. The heat of the climate +renders carpets, or even wooden floors, quite insupportable, and they +are very rarely to be found. + +We have said that the Creole ladies never stir abroad except in the +national volante, and whatever their domestic habits may be, they are +certainly, in this respect, good _house-keepers_. A Cuban belle could +never, we fancy, be made to understand the pleasures of that most +profitless of all employments, spinning street-yarn. While our ladies +are busily engaged in sweeping the sidewalks of Chestnut-street and +Broadway with their silk flounces, she wisely leaves that business to +the gangs of criminals who perform the office with their limbs chained, +and a ball attached to preserve their equilibrium. It is perhaps in part +owing to these habits that the feet of the Cuban senorita are such a +marvel of smallness and delicacy, seemingly made rather for ornament +than for use. She knows the charm of the _petit pied bien chausse_ that +delights the Parisian, and accordingly, as you catch a glimpse of it, as +she steps into the volante, you perceive that it is daintily shod in a +French slipper, the sole of which is scarcely more substantial in +appearance than writing paper.[21] + +The feet of the Havana ladies are made for ornament and for dancing. +Though with a roundness of figure that leaves nothing to be desired in +symmetry of form, yet they are light as a sylph, clad in muslin and +lace, so languid and light that it would seem as if a breeze might waft +them away like a summer cloud. They are passionately fond of dancing, +and tax the endurance of the gentlemen in their heroic worship of +Terpsichore. Inspired by the thrilling strains of those Cuban airs, +which are at once so sweet and brilliant, they glide or whirl through +the mazes of the dance hour after hour, until daylight breaks upon the +scene of fairy revel. Then, "exhausted but not satiated," they betake +themselves to sleep, to dream of the cadences of some Cuban Strauss, and +to beat time in imagination to the lively notes, and to dream over the +soft words and winning glances they have exchanged. + +Beautiful as eastern houris, there is a striking and endearing charm +about the Cuban ladies, their very motion being replete with a native +grace; every limb elastic and supple. Their voices are sweet and low, +"an excellent thing in woman," and the subdued tone of their complexions +is relieved by the arch vivacity of night-black eyes that alternately +swim in melting lustre or sparkle in expressive glances. Their costume +is never ostentatious, though costly; the most delicate muslin, the +finest linen, the richest silk, the most exquisitely made satin +shoes,--these, of course, render their chaste attire exceedingly +expensive. There are no "strong-minded" women among them, nor is it +hardly possible to conceive of any extremity that could induce them to +get up a woman's right convention--a suspension of fans and volantes +might produce such a phenomenon, but we very much doubt it. + +The Creole ladies lead a life of decided ease and pleasure. What little +work they do is very light and lady-like, a little sewing or embroidery; +the bath and the _siesta_ divide the sultry hours of the day. They wait +until nearly sunset for the drive in the dear volante, and then go to +respond by sweet smiles to the salutations of the _caballeros_ on the +Paseos, and after the long twilight to the Plaza de Armas, to listen to +the governor's military band, and then perhaps to join the mazy dance. +Yet they are capable of deep and high feeling, and when there was a +prospect of the liberation of the island, these fair patriots it will be +remembered gave their most precious jewels and ornaments as a +contribution to the glorious cause of liberty. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] Humboldt's calculation makes it contain forty-three thousand, three +hundred and eighty square miles; but other estimates approximate more +nearly our own statement. + +[14] According to Dr. Finlay, a resident physician on the island, its +hottest months are July and August, when the mean temperature is from +80 deg. to 83 deg. Fahrenheit. + +[15] "The nights are very dark, but the darkness is as if transparent; +the air is not felt. There could not be more beautiful nights in +Paradise."--_Miss Bremer's Letters._ + +[16] When consumption _originates_ in Cuba, it runs its course so +rapidly that there is, perhaps, no wonder the Creoles should deem it, as +they universally do, to be contagious. + +[17] The first lines of this city were traced on Saturday, the 10th of +October, 1693, by Senor Manzaneda, under whose government it was +founded. It was named San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas; the last word, +that by which it is known, signifying the slaughter of a battle-field. + +[18] Moro Castle was first built in 1633; the present structure was +erected on the ruins of the first, destroyed by the English in 1762. + +[19] Built by Charles III., and said to have cost the sum of $7,000,000. +According to Rev. L.L. Allen's lecture on Cuba, it was more than forty +years in building. + +[20] The port of Havana is one of the best harbors in the world. It has +a very narrow entrance, but spreads immediately into a vast basin, +embracing the whole city, and large enough to hold a thousand ships of +war.--_Alexander H. Everett._ + +[21] "Her hands and feet are as small and delicate as those of a child. +She wears the finest satin slippers, with scarcely any soles, which, +luckily, are never destined to touch the street."--_Countess Merlin's +Letters._ + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Contrast between Protestant and Catholic communities--Catholic + churches--Sabbath scenes in Havana--Devotion of the common + people--The Plaza de Armas--City squares--The poor man's + opera--Influence of music--La Dominica--The Tacon Paseo--The Tacon + Theatre--The Cathedral--Tomb of Columbus over the altar--Story of + the great Genoese pilot--His death--Removal of remains--The former + great wealth of the church in Cuba--Influence of the priests. + + +On no occasion is the difference between the manners of a Protestant and +Catholic community so strongly marked as on the Sabbath. In the former, +a sober seriousness stamps the deportment of the people, even when they +are not engaged in devotional exercises; in the latter, worldly +pleasures and religious exercises are pursued as it were at the same +time, or follow each other in incongruous succession. The Parisian flies +from the church to the railway station, to take a pleasure excursion +into the country, or passes with careless levity from St. Genevieve to +the Jardin Mabille; in New Orleans, the Creole, who has just bent his +knee before the altar, repairs to the French opera, and the Cuban from +the blessing of the priest to the parade in the Plaza. Even the Sunday +ceremonial of the church is a pageant; the splendid robe of the +officiating priest, changed in the course of the offices, like the +costumes of actors in a drama; the music, to Protestant ears operatic +and exciting; the clouds of incense that scatter their intoxicating +perfumes; the chants in a strange tongue, unknown to the mass of +worshippers;--all these give the services a holiday and carnival +character.[22] + +Far be it from us to charge these congregations with any undue levity; +many a lovely Creole kneels upon the marble floor, entirely estranged +from the brilliant groups around her, and unconscious for the time of +the admiration she excites; many a _caballero_ bows in reverence, +forgetful, for the time being, of the bright eyes that are too often the +load-star of attraction to the church; and there are very many who look +beyond the glittering symbols to the great truths and the great Being +they are intended to typify. But we fear that a large portion of the +community who thus worship, attach more importance to the representation +than to the principles or things represented. The impression made by the +Sabbath ceremonies of the church strikes us as evanescent, and as of +such a character as to be at once obliterated by the excitement of the +worldly pleasures that follow. Still, if the Sabbath in Catholic +countries be not wholly devoted to religious observances, neither are +the week days wholly absorbed by business and pleasure. The churches and +chapels are always open, silently but eloquently inviting to devotion; +and it is much to be able to step aside, at any moment, from the +temptations, business and cares of life, into an atmosphere of seclusion +and religion. The solemn quiet of an old cathedral on a week-day is +impressive from its very contrast with the tumult outside. + +Within its venerable walls the light seems chastened as it falls through +storied panes, and paints the images of Christian saints and martyrs on +the cold pavement of the aisles. Who can tell how many a tempest-tossed +soul has found relief and strength from the ability to withdraw itself +at once from the intoxicating whirl of the world and expand in prayer in +one of these hospitable and ever open sanctuaries? The writer is a firm +Protestant, by education, by association and feeling, but he is not so +bigoted as not to see features in the Catholic system worthy of +commendation. Whether the Catholic church has accomplished its mission, +and exhausted its means of good, is a question open to discussion, but +that in the past it has achieved much for the cause of true religion +cannot be denied. Through the darkest period in the history of the +world, it was the lamp that guided to a higher civilization, and the +bulwark of the people against the crushing force of feudalism; and with +all the objections which it discovers to a Protestant eye, it still +preserves many beautiful customs. + +The Sabbath in Havana breaks upon the citizens amid the ringing of bells +from the different convents and churches, the firing of cannon from the +forts and vessels, the noise of trumpets, and the roll of the drum. +Sunday is no day of physical rest here. The stores are open as usual, +the same cries are heard in the streets, and the lottery tickets are +vended as ever at each corner. The individual who devotes himself to +this business rends the air with his cries of temptation to the passing +throng, each one of whom he earnestly assures is certain to realize +enormous pecuniary returns by the smallest investment, in tickets, or +portions of tickets, which he holds in sheets, while he brandishes a +huge pair of scissors, ready to cut in any desired proportion. The day +proves no check to the omnipresent "organ grinders," the monkey shows, +and other characteristic scenes. How unlike a New England Sabbath is all +this, how discordant to the feelings of one who has been brought up amid +our Puritanic customs of the sacred day! And yet the people of Havana +seem to be impressed with no small degree of reverence for the Catholic +faith. The rough Montero from the country, with his long line of loaded +mules, respectfully raises his panama with one hand, while he makes the +sign of the cross with the other, as he passes the church. The calisero +or postilion, who dashes by with his master in the volante, does not +forget, in his hurry, to bend to the pommel of his saddle; and even the +little negro slave children may be observed to fold their arms across +their breasts and remain reverentially silent until they have passed its +doors. + +The city abounds in beautifully arranged squares, ornamented by that +king of the tropical forest, the Royal Palm, with here and there a few +orange trees, surrounded by a luxuriant hedge of limes. The largest and +most beautiful of these squares is the _Plaza de Armas_, fronting which +is the Governor's palace, and about which are the massive stone barracks +of the Spanish army. This square is surrounded by an iron railing and +divided into beautiful walks, planted on either side with gaudy flowers, +and shadowed by oranges and palms, while a grateful air of coolness is +diffused around by the playing of a copious fountain into a large stone +basin, surmounted by a marble statue of Ferdinand. Public squares, parks +and gardens, are the lungs of great cities, and their value increases as +the population becomes dense. Heap story upon story of costly marble, +multiply magazines and palaces, yet neglect to provide, in their midst, +some glimpse of nature, some opening for the light and air of heaven, +and the costliest and most sumptuous of cities would prove but a dreary +dwelling-place. The eye wearies, in time, of the glories of art, but of +the gifts of nature never, and in public squares and gardens both may be +happily combined. + +Human culture brings trees, shrubs and flowers to their fullest +development, fosters and keeps green the emerald sward, and brings the +bright leaping waters into the midst of the graces of nature. Nowhere +does a beautiful statue look more beautiful than when erected in a +framework of deep foliage. These public squares are the most attractive +features of cities. Take from London Hyde Park, from Paris the Champs +Elysees and the Tuilleries gardens, the Battery and the Park from New +York, and the Common from Boston, and they would be but weary +wildernesses of brick, stone and mortar. The enlightened corporation +that bestows on a young city the gift of a great park, to be enjoyed in +common forever, does more for posterity than if it raised the most +sumptuous columns and palaces for public use or display. + +[Illustration: PLAZA DE ARMAS AND GOVERNOR'S PALACE.] + +The Plaza de Armas of Havana is a living evidence of this, and is the +nightly resort of all who can find time to be there, while the +governor's military band performs always from seven to nine o'clock. The +Creoles call it "the poor man's opera," it being free to all; every +class resorts hither; and even the ladies, leaving their volantes, +sometimes walk with husband or brother within the precincts of the +Plaza. We are told that "the man who has not music in his soul is fit +for treason, stratagem and spoils." It is undoubtedly from motives of +policy that the Havanese authorities provide this entertainment for the +people. How ungrateful it would be to overthrow a governor whose band +performs such delightful polkas, overtures and marches; and yet, it +requires some circumspection for the band-master to select airs for a +Creole audience. It would certainly never do to give them "Yankee +Doodle;" their sympathies with the "_Norte Americanos_" are sufficiently +lively without any such additional stimulus; and it is well for the +authorities to have a care, for the power of national airs is almost +incredible. It was found necessary, in the times of the old Bourbons, to +forbid the performance of the "_Ranz des Vaches_," because it so filled +the privates of the Swiss guards with memories of their native home that +they deserted in numbers. The Scotch air of "Lochaber no more" was found +to have the same effect upon the Highland regiments in Canada; and we +are not sure that "Yankee Doodle," performed in the presence of a +thousand Americans on the Plaza de Armas, would not secure the +annexation of the island in a fortnight. + +The Creoles are passionately fond of music. Their favorite airs, besides +the Castilian ones, are native dances, which have much sweetness and +individuality of character. They are fond of the guitar and flageolet, +and are often proficients in their use, as well as possessing fine vocal +powers. The voice is cultivated among the gentlemen as often as with the +ladies. Music in the open air and in the evening has an invincible +effect everywhere, but nowhere is its influence more deeply felt than in +a starry tropical night. Nowhere can we conceive of a musical +performance listened to with more delightful relish than in the Plaza at +Havana, as discoursed by the governor's band, at the close of the long +tropical twilight. + +In the immediate neighborhood of the Plaza, near the rear of the +governor's palace, is a superb confectionary,--really one of the +notabilities of the city, and only excelled by Taylor's saloon, +Broadway, New York. It is called La Dominica, and is the popular resort +of all foreigners in Havana, and particularly of Americans and +Frenchmen. It is capable of accommodating some hundreds of visitors at a +time, and is generally well filled every afternoon and evening. In the +centre is a large open court, paved with white marble and jasper, and +containing a fountain in the middle, around which the visitors are +seated. Probably no establishment in the world can supply a larger +variety of preserves, bon-bons and confectionaries generally, than this, +the fruits of the island supplying the material for nearly a hundred +varieties of preserves, which the proprietor exports largely to Europe +and America, and has thereby accumulated for himself a fortune. + +Following the street on which is this famous confectionary, one is soon +brought to the city walls, and, passing outside, is at once ushered into +the Tacon Paseo, where all the beauty and fashion of the town resort in +the after part of the day. It is a mile or more in length, beautifully +laid out in wide, clean walks, with myriads of tropical flowers, trees +and shrubs, whose fragrance seems to render the atmosphere almost dense. +Here the ladies in their volantes, and the gentlemen mostly on foot, +pass and repass each other in a sort of circular drive, gayly saluting, +the ladies with a coquettish flourish of the fan, the gentlemen with a +graceful wave of the hand. + +In these grounds is situated the famous Tacon Theatre. In visiting the +house, you enter the first tier and parquette from the level of the +Paseo, and find the interior about twice as large as any theatre in this +country, and about equal in capacity to Tripler Hall, New York, or the +Music Hall, Boston. It has five tiers of boxes, and a parquette with +seats, each separate, like an arm-chair, for six hundred persons. The +lattice-work in front of each box is light and graceful, of gilt +ornament, and so open that the dresses and pretty feet of the senoras +are seen to the best advantage. The decorations are costly, and the +frescoes and side ornaments of the proscenium exceedingly beautiful. A +magnificent cut-glass chandelier, lighted with gas, and numerous smaller +ones extending from the boxes, give a brilliant light to this elegant +house. At the theatre the military are always in attendance in strong +force, as at all gatherings in Cuba, however unimportant, their only +perceptible use, however, being to impede the passages, and stare the +ladies out of countenance. The only other noted place of amusement is +the Italian opera-house, within the city walls, an oven-shaped building +externally, but within appropriately and elegantly furnished with every +necessary appurtenance. + +No object in Havana will strike the visitor with more of interest than +the cathedral, situated in the Calle de Ignacio. Its towers and pillared +front of defaced and moss-grown stone call back associations of +centuries gone by. This cathedral, like all of the Catholic churches, is +elaborately ornamented with many fine old paintings of large size and +immense value. The entire dome is also decorated with paintings in +fresco. The chief object of interest, however, and which will not fail +to attract the attention, is a tablet of marble inlaid in the wall at +the right of the altar, having upon its face the image of Christopher +Columbus, and forming the entrance to the tomb where rest the ashes of +this discoverer of a western world; here, too, are the iron chains with +which an ungrateful sovereign once loaded him. How great the contrast +presented to the mind between those chains and the reverence bestowed +upon this tomb![23] + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA.] + +The story of the great Genoese possesses a more thrilling interest than +any narrative which the imagination of poet or romancer has ever +conceived. The tales of the Arabian Nights, with all their wealth of +fancy, are insipid and insignificant compared with the authentic +narrative of the adventures of the Italian mariner and his sublime +discovery. Familiar as we are with it from childhood, from the greatness +of the empire he gave to Christendom, the tale has still a fascination, +however often repeated, while the visible memorials of his greatness and +his trials revive all our veneration for his intellect and all our +interest in the story of his career. His name flashes a bright ray over +the mental darkness of the period in which he lived, for men generally +were then but just awakening from the dark sleep of the middle ages. The +discovery of printing heralded the new birth of the republic of letters, +and maritime enterprise received a vigorous impulse. The shores of the +Mediterranean, thoroughly explored and developed, had endowed the +Italian states with extraordinary wealth, and built up a very +respectable mercantile marine, considering the period. The Portuguese +mariners were venturing farther and farther from the peninsula ports, +and traded with different stations on the coast of Africa. + +But to the _west_ lay what men supposed to be an illimitable ocean, full +of mystery, peril and death. A vague conception that islands, hitherto +unknown, might be met with afar off on that strange wilderness of +waters, like oases in a desert, was entertained by some minds, but no +one thought of venturing in quest of them. Columbus alone, regarded +merely as a brave and intelligent seaman and pilot, conceived the idea +that the earth was spherical, and that the East Indies, the great El +Dorado of the century, might be reached by circumnavigating the globe. +If we picture to ourselves the mental condition of the age, and the +state of science, we shall find no difficulty in conceiving the scorn +and incredulity with which the theory of Columbus was received. We shall +not wonder that he was regarded as a madman or as a fool; we are not +surprised to remember that he encountered repulse upon repulse, as he +journeyed wearily from court to court, and pleaded in vain for aid to +the sovereigns of Europe and wise men of the cloister. But the marvel is +that when gate after gate was closed against him, when all ears were +deaf to his patient importunities, when day by day the opposition to his +views increased, when, weary and foot-sore, he was forced to beg a +morsel of bread and a cup of water for his fainting and famished boy, at +the door of a Spanish convent, his reason did not give way, and his +great heart did not break beneath its weight of disappointment. + +But his soul was then as firm and steadfast as when, launched in his +frail caravel upon the ocean, he pursued day after day, and night after +night, amidst a discontented, murmuring, and mutinous crew, his westward +path over the trackless waters. We can conceive of his previous sorrows, +but what imagination can form an adequate conception of his hopefulness +and gratitude when the tokens of the neighborhood of land first greeted +his senses; of his high enthusiasm when the shore was discovered; of his +noble rapture when the keel of his bark grounded on the shore of San +Salvador, and he planted the royal standard in the soil, the Viceroy and +High Admiral of Spain in the New World! No matter what chanced +thereafter, a king's favor or a king's displeasure, royal largesses or +royal chains,--that moment of noble exultation was worth a long lifetime +of trials. Such were our thoughts before the cathedral altar, gazing on +his consecrated tomb, and thus suggestive will the visitor be sure to +find this memorial of the great captain amid its sombre +surroundings.[24] + +It will be remembered that Columbus died in Valladolid, in 1506. In 1513 +his remains were transferred to Seville, preparatory to their being +sent, as desired in his will, to St. Domingo. When that island was ceded +to France, the remains were delivered to the Spaniards. This was in +1796, one hundred and three years after they had been placed there; they +were then brought with great pomp to Havana, in a national ship, and +were deposited in the cathedral in the presence of all the high +authorities. The church itself, aside from this prominent feature of +interest, is vastly attractive from its ancient character and +appearance, and one lingers with mysterious delight and thoughtfulness +among its marble aisles and confessionals. + +The wealth of the church and of the monks in Cuba was formerly +proverbial, but of late years the major portion of the rich perquisites +which they were so long permitted to receive, have been diverted in +their course, so as to flow into the coffers of the crown. The priests +at one time possessed large tracts of the richest soil of the island, +and their revenue from these plantations was immense; but these lands +were finally confiscated by the government, and, with the loss of their +property, the power of the monks has also declined, and they themselves +diminished in numbers. Two of their large establishments, St. Augustine +and St. Domingo, have been converted into government storehouses, and +the large convent of San Juan de Dios is now used solely for a hospital. +Formerly the streets were thronged by monks, but now they are only +occasionally seen, with their sombre dress and large shovel hats. + +The character of this class of men has of former years been a scandal to +the island, and the stories that are told by respectable people +concerning them are really unfit for print. They led lives of the most +unlimited profligacy, and they hesitated not to defy every law, moral or +divine. For a long period this existed, but Tacon and subsequent +governors-general, aroused to a sense of shame, made the proper +representations to the home government, and put a stop to their +excesses. Many persons traced the bad condition of public morals and the +increase of crime just previous to Tacon's governorship directly to this +ruling influence. + +A fearful condition when those who assume to lead in spiritual affairs +proved the fountain-head of crime upon the island, themselves the worst +of criminals. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] The influence of fifteen minutes in the church, if salutary, seems +soon dissipated by the business and amusements without its walls. The +shops are open; the cock-pit fuller than on busier days of the week; and +the streets thronged with volantes; the theatres and ball rooms crowded; +and the city devoted to pleasure.--_Rev. Abiel Abbot's Letters._ + +[23] There is now being completed, at Genoa, an elaborate and most +classical monument to the memory of Columbus. The work hag been +entrusted to a Genoese, a pupil of Canova; and, according to Prof. +Silliman, who visited it in 1851, promises to be "one of the noblest of +historical records ever sculptured in marble." + +[24] The reward of genius is rarely contemporary, and even posterity is +frequently most remiss in its justice. "Sebastian Cabot gave England a +continent," says Bancroft, "and no one knows his burial-place!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Nudity of children and slaves--The street of the merchants--The + currency of Cuba--The Spanish army in the island--Enrolment of + blacks--Courage of Spanish troops--Treatment by the government--The + garrote--A military execution--The market-men and their wares--The + milk-man and his mode of supply--Glass windows--Curtains for + doors--The Campo Santo, or burial-place of Havana--Treatment of the + dead--The prison--The fish-market of the capital. + + +One peculiarity which is certain to strike the stranger from the first +hour he lands upon the island, whether in public or private houses, in +the stores or in the streets, is that the young slaves, of both sexes, +under the age of eight or ten years, are permitted to go about in a +state of perfect nudity; while the men of the same class, who labor in +the streets, wear only a short pair of pantaloons, without any other +covering to the body, thus displaying their brawny muscles at every +movement. This causes rather a shock to the ideas of propriety +entertained by an American; but it is thought nothing of by the +"natives." On the plantations inland, the slaves of either sex wear but +just enough clothes to appear decently. The almost intolerable heat when +exposed to field-labor is the excuse for this, a broad palm-leaf hat +being the only article that the negroes seem to desire to wear in the +field. + +The Calle de Mercaderes, or the street of the merchants, is the Broadway +and Washington Street of Havana, and contains many fine stores for the +sale of dry goods, china, jewelry, glass-ware, etc. The merchant here +does not designate his store by placing his own name on his sign, but, +on the contrary, adopts some fancy title, such as the "America," the +"Star," the "Bomb," "Virtue," and the like; which titles are paraded in +golden letters over the doors. These tradesmen are, generally speaking, +thorough Jews in their mode of dealing, and no one thinks of paying the +first price asked by them for an article, as they usually make +allowances for being beaten down at least one half. The ladies commonly +make their purchases in the after part of the day, stopping in their +volantes at the doors of the shops, from which the articles they desire +to examine are brought to them by the shopmen. No lady enters a shop to +make a purchase, any more than she would be found walking in the +streets. + +There is no paper money known on the island, so that all transactions at +these stores must be consummated in specie. The coin generally in use is +the Spanish and Mexican dollar, half and quarter dollars, pesetas, or +twenty-cent pieces, and reals de plata, equal to our twelve-and-a-half +cent pieces, or York shillings. The gold coin is the doubloon and its +fractions. Silver is always scarce, and held at a premium in Havana, +say from two to five per cent. As Cuba has no regular bank, the merchant +draws on his foreign credit altogether, each mercantile house becoming +its own sub-treasury, supplied with the largest and best of iron safes. +The want of some legitimate banking system is severely felt here, and is +a prominent subject of complaint with all foreign merchants. + +The Spanish government supports a large army on the island, which is +under the most rigid discipline, and in a state of considerable +efficiency. It is the policy of the home government to fill the ranks +with natives of old Spain, in order that no undue sympathy may be felt +for the Creoles, or islanders, in case of insurrection or attempted +revolution. An order has recently been issued by Pezuela, the present +governor-general, for the enrolment of free blacks and mulattoes in the +ranks of the army, and the devotion of these people to Spain is loudly +vaunted in the captain-general's proclamation. The enlistment of people +of color in the ranks is a deadly insult offered to the white population +of a slave-holding country,--a sort of shadowing forth of the menace, +more than once thrown out by Spain, to the effect that if the colonists +should ever attempt a revolution, she would free and arm the blacks, +and Cuba, made to repeat the tragic tale of St. Domingo, should be +useless to the Creoles if lost to Spain. But we think Spain +overestimates the loyalty of the free people of color whom she would +now enroll beneath her banner. They cannot forget the days of O'Donnell +(governor-general), when he avenged the opposition of certain Cubans to +the illicit and infamous slave-trade by which he was enriching himself, +by charging them with an abolition conspiracy in conjunction with the +free blacks and mulattoes, and put many of the latter to the torture to +make them confess imaginary crimes; while others, condemned without a +trial, were mowed down by the fire of platoons. Assuredly the people of +color have no reason for attachment to the _paternal_ government of +Spain. And in this connection we may also remark that this attempt at +the enrolment of the blacks has already proved, according to the +admission of Spanish authority, a partial failure, for they cannot +readily learn the drill, and officers dislike to take command of +companies. + +We have remarked that the Spanish troops are in a state of rigid +discipline, and exhibit much efficiency. They are to the eye firm and +serviceable troops,--the very best, doubtless, that Spain can produce; +but it must be remembered that Spanish valor is but a feeble shadow of +what it was in the days of the Cid and the middle ages. A square of +Spanish infantry was once as impregnable as the Macedonian phalanx; but +they have sadly degenerated. The actual value of the Spanish troops in +Cuba may be estimated by their behavior in the Lopez invasion. They were +then called upon, not to cope with a well-appointed and equal force, but +with an irregular, undisciplined band of less than one-fourth their +number, armed with wretched muskets, entirely ignorant of the simplest +tactics, thrown on a strange shore, and taken by surprise. Yet nearly a +full regiment of infantry, perfectly drilled and equipped, flank +companies, commanded by a general who was styled the Napoleon of Cuba, +were driven from the field by a few irregular volleys from their +opponents. And when again the same commanding officer brought a yet +greater force of every arm,--cavalry, rifles, infantry and +artillery,--against the same body of insurgents, fatigued and reduced in +numbers and arms, they were again disgracefully routed. What dependence +can be placed upon such troops? They are only capable of overawing an +unarmed population. + +The Cubans seem to fear very little from the power or efforts of the +Spanish troops in connection with the idea of any well-organized +revolutionary attempt, and even count (as they have good reason to do) +upon their abandoning the Spanish flag the moment there is a doubt of +its success. They say that the troops are enlisted in Spain either by +glowing pictures of the luxury and ease of a military life in Cuba, or +to escape the severity of justice for the commission of some crime. They +no sooner arrive in the island than the deception of the recruiting +sergeants becomes glaringly apparent. They see themselves isolated +completely from the people, treated with the utmost cruelty in the +course of their drills, and oppressed by the weight of regulations that +reduce them to the condition of machines, without any enjoyments to +alleviate the wretchedness of their situation. Men thus treated are not +to be relied upon in time of emergency; they can _think_, if they are +not permitted to act, and will have opinions of their own. + +Soldiers thus ruled naturally come to hate those in authority over them, +finding no redress for their wrongs, and no sympathy for their troubles. +Their immediate officers and those higher in station are equally +inaccessible to them, and deaf to their complaints; and when, in the +hour of danger, they are called upon to sustain the government which so +cruelly oppresses them, and proclamations, abounding in Spanish +hyperbole, speak of the honor and glory of the Spanish army and its +attachment to the crown, they know perfectly well that these +declarations and flatteries proceed from the lips of men who entertain +no such sentiments in their hearts, and who only come to Cuba to oppress +a people belonging to the same Spanish family as themselves. Thus the +despotic system of the Spanish officers, combined with the complete +isolation of the troops from the Creole population, has an effect +directly contrary to that contemplated, and only creates a readiness on +the part of the troops to sympathize with the people they are brought to +oppress. The constant presence of a large military force increases the +discontent and indignation of the Creoles. They know perfectly well its +object, and regard it as a perpetual insult, a bitter, ironical +commentary on the epithet of "ever faithful" with which the home +government always addresses its western vassal. The loyalty of Cuba is +indeed a royal fiction. As well might a highwayman praise the generosity +of a rich traveller who surrenders his purse, watch and diamonds, at the +muzzle of the pistol. Cuban loyalty is evinced in an annual tribute of +some twenty-four millions of hard money; the freedom of the gift is +proved by the perpetual presence of twenty-five to thirty thousand men, +armed to the teeth![25] + +The complete military force of Cuba must embrace at the present time +very nearly thirty thousand troops,--artillery, dragoons and +infantry,--nearly twenty thousand of which force is in and about Havana. +To keep such a body of soldiers in order, when governed by the +principles we have described, the utmost rigor is necessary, and +military executions are very frequent. The _garrote_ is the principal +instrument of capital punishment used in the island,--a machine +contrived to choke the victim to death without suspending him in the +air. The criminal is placed in a chair, leaning his head back upon a +support prepared for it, when a neck-yoke or collar of iron is drawn up +close to the throat. At the appointed moment, a screw is turned behind, +producing instantaneous death, the spinal cord being crushed where it +unites with the brain. This, though a repulsive idea, is far more +merciful than hanging, it would seem, whereby life is destroyed by the +lingering process of suffocation. The most common mode of execution, +however, in the army, is the legitimate death of a soldier; and, when he +is condemned, he always falls by the hands of his comrades. + +The writer witnessed one of these military executions in the rear of the +barracks that make the seaward side of the _Plaza de Armas_, one fine +summer's morning. It was a fearful sight, and one that chilled the blood +even in a tropical summer day! A Spanish soldier of the line was to be +shot for some act of insubordination against the stringent army rules +and regulations; and, in order that the punishment might have a salutary +effect upon his regiment, the whole were drawn up to witness the scene. +The immediate file of twelve men to which the prisoner had belonged when +in the ranks, were supplied with muskets by their officer, and I was +told that _one_ musket was left without _ball_, so that each one might +hope that his was not the hand to slay his former comrade, and yet a +sense of mercy would cause them all to aim at the heart. The order was +given; the bright morning sun shone like living fire along the polished +barrels of the guns, as the fatal muzzles all ranged in point at the +heart of the condemned. "_Fuego!_" (fire) said the commanding officer. A +report followed, accompanied by a cloud of smoke, which the sea breeze +soon dispersed, showing us the still upright form of the victim. Though +wounded in many places, no vital part was touched, nor did he fall until +his sergeant, advancing quickly, with a single reserved shot blew his +brains over the surrounding green-sward! His body was immediately +removed, the troops were formed into companies, the band struck up a +lively air, and thus was a human being launched into eternity. + +A very common sight in the cities or large towns of Cuba early in the +morning, is to meet a Montero from the country, riding his donkey, to +the tail of which another donkey is tied, and to this second one's tail +a third, and so on, up to a dozen, or less. These animals are loaded +with large panniers, filled with various articles of produce; some +bearing cornstalks for food for city animals; some hay, or straw; others +oranges, or bananas, or cocoanuts, etc.; some with _bunches_ of live +fowls hanging by the feet over the donkey's back. The people live, to +use a common phrase, "from hand to mouth,"--that is, they lay in no +stores whatever, and trust to the coming day to supply its own +necessities. Hay, cornstalks, or grain, are purchased only in sufficient +quantity for the day's consumption. So with meats, so with fruits, so +with everything. When it is necessary to send to the market, the steward +or stewardess of the house, always a negro man or woman, is freely +entrusted with the required sum, and purchases according to his or her +judgment and taste. The cash system is universally adopted, and all +articles are regularly paid for when purchased. The Monteros, who thus +bring their produce to market, wear broad palm-leaf hats, and striped +shirts over brown pantaloons, with a sword by their side, and heavy +spurs upon their heels. Their load once disposed of, with a strong cigar +lighted in their mouths, they trot back to the country again to pile up +the panniers, and on the morrow once more to supply the wants of the +town. They are an industrious and manly race of yeomanry. + +Few matters strike the observant stranger with a stronger sense of their +peculiarity than the Cuban milk-man's mode of supplying that necessary +aliment to his town or city customers. He has no cart filled with +shining cans, and they in turn filled with milk (or what purports to be +milk, but which is apt strongly to savor of Cochituate or Croton), so +there can be no deception as to the genuine character of the article +which he supplies. Driving his sober kine from door to door, he +deliberately milks just the quantity required by each customer, delivers +it, and drives on to the next. The patient animal becomes as conversant +with the residence of her master's customers as he is himself, and stops +unbidden at regular intervals before the proper houses, often followed +by a pretty little calf which amuses itself by gazing at the process, +while it wears a leather muzzle to prevent its interference with the +supply of milk intended for another quarter. There are doubtless two +good reasons for this mode of delivering milk in Havana and the large +towns of Cuba. First, there can be no diluting of the article, and +second, it is sure to be sweet and fresh, this latter a particular +desideratum in a climate where milk without ice can be kept only a brief +period without spoiling. Of course, the effect upon the animal is by no +means salutary, and a Cuban cow gives but about one third as much milk +as our own. Goats are driven about and milked in the same manner. + +Glass windows are scarcely known even in the cities. The finest as well +as the humblest town houses have the broad projecting window, secured +only by heavy iron bars (most prison-like in aspect), through which, as +one passes along the narrow streets, it is nearly impossible to avoid +glancing upon domestic scenes that exhibit the female portion of the +family engaged in sewing, chatting, or some simple occupation. Sometimes +a curtain intervenes, but even this is unusual, the freest circulation +of air being always courted in every way.[26] Once inside of the +dwelling houses there are few doors, curtains alone, shutting off the +communication between chambers and private rooms, and from the corridor +upon which they invariably open. Of course, the curtain when down is +quite sufficient to keep out persons of the household or strangers, but +the little naked negro slave children (always petted at this age), male +and female, creep under this _ad libitum_, and the monkeys, parrots, +pigeons, and fowls generally make common store of every nook and corner. +Doors might keep these out of your room, but curtains do not. One +reason why the Cubans, of both sexes, possess such fine expansive +chests, is doubtless the fact that their lungs thus find full and +unrestrained action, living, as it were, ever in the open air. The +effect of this upon the stranger is at once visible in a sense of +physical exhilaration, fine spirits and good appetite. It would be +scarcely possible to inhabit a house built after our close, secure +style, if it were placed in the city of Havana, or even on an inland +plantation of the island. The town houses are always accessible upon the +roofs, where during the day the laundress takes possession, but at +evening they are frequently the family resort, where the evening cigar +is enjoyed, and the gossip of the day discussed, in the enjoyment of the +sea breeze that sweeps in from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. + +Just outside the city walls of Havana, and on the immediate sea-coast, +lies the Campo Santo, or public cemetery, not far from the city prison. +It is approached by a long street of dilapidated and miserable +dwellings, and is not attractive to the eye, though the immediate +entrance is through cultivated shrubbery. A broad, thick wall encloses +the cemetery, in which oven-like niches are prepared for the reception +of the coffins, containing the better or more wealthy classes, while the +poor are thrown into shallow graves, sometimes several together, not +unfrequently negroes and whites, without a coffin, quicklime being +freely used to promote decomposition. In short, the whole idea, and +every association of the Campo Santo, is of a repulsive and disagreeable +character. + +This irreverent treatment of the dead, and the neglected condition of +their place of sepulture, is a sad feature in a Christian country, +contrasting strongly with the honors paid to the memory of the departed +by semi-civilized and even savage nations. We all know the sacredness +that is attached by the Turks to their burial grounds, how the mournful +cypresses are taught to rise among the turbaned tombstones, and how the +survivors are wont to sit upon the graves of the departed, musing for +hours over the loved and lost, and seeming to hold communion with their +liberated spirits. How different is it here with the Campo Santo! The +bitterest pang that an Indian endures when compelled to leave his native +hunting grounds, is that he must abandon the place where the ashes of +his ancestors repose. The enlightened spirit which removes cemeteries +from the centre of dense population is worthy of all commendation--the +taste that adorns them with trees and flowers, beautifying the spot +where the "last of earth" reposes, is a proof of high-toned feeling and +a high civilization. Nothing of this spirit is manifested at Havana. The +establishment of the cemetery without the walls of the city was a +sanitary measure, dictated by obvious necessity, but there the march of +improvement stopped. No effort has been made to follow the laudable +example of other countries; no, the Spanish character, arrogant and +self-sufficient, will not bend to be taught by others, and will not +admit a possibility of error, and they are as closely wedded to national +prejudices as the Chinese. Spain is, at this moment, the most +old-fashioned country of Christendom, and it is only when pressed upon +by absolute necessity that she reluctantly admits of innovation. + +Tacon, during his rule in the island, erected outside the city walls, +and near the gate of La Punta, on the shore, a spacious prison, capable +of accommodating five thousand prisoners. It is quadrangular, each side +being some three hundred feet long and fifty high, enclosing a central +square, planted with shrubbery and watered by a cooling and graceful +fountain. The fresh breeze circulates freely through its walls, and it +is considered one of the healthiest spots in the vicinity of the +capital, while it certainly presents a strong contrast to the neglected +precincts of the Campo Santo, hard by. + +The fish-market of Havana affords probably the best variety of this +article of any city in the world. The long marble counters display the +most novel and tempting array that one can well imagine; every hue of +the rainbow is represented, and a great variety of shapes. But a curse +hangs over this species of food, plenty and fine as it is, for it is +made a government monopoly, and none but its agents are permitted to +sell or to catch it in the vicinity of the city. This singular law, +established under Tacon, is of peculiar origin, and we cannot perhaps do +better than tell the story, as gathered on the spot, for the amusement +of the reader. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] "Can it be for the interest of Spain to cling to a possession that +can only be maintained by a garrison of twenty-five thousand or thirty +thousand troops, a powerful naval force, and an annual expenditure, for +both arms of the service, of at least twelve million dollars? +Cuba, at this moment, costs more to Spain than the entire naval and +military establishment of the United States costs the federal +government."--_Edward Everett, on the tripartite treaty proposition._ + +[26] "Doors and windows are all open. The eye penetrates the whole +interior of domestic life, from the flowers in the well-watered court to +the daughter's bed, with its white muslin curtains tied with +rose-colored ribbons."--_Countess Merlin's Letters._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE STORY OF MARTI, THE SMUGGLER. + + +One of the most successful villains whose story will be written in +history, is a man named Marti, as well known in Cuba as the person of +the governor-general himself. Formerly he was notorious as a smuggler +and half pirate on the coast of the island, being a daring and +accomplished leader of reckless men. At one time he bore the title of +King of the Isle of Pines, where was his principal rendezvous, and from +whence he despatched his vessels, small, fleet crafts, to operate in the +neighboring waters. + +His story, well known in Cuba and to the home government, bears +intimately upon our subject. + +When Tacon landed on the island, and became governor-general, he found +the revenue laws in a sad condition, as well as the internal regulations +of the island; and, with a spirit of mingled justice and oppression, he +determined to do something in the way of reform.[27] The Spanish marine +sent out to regulate the maritime matters of the island, lay idly in +port, the officers passing their time on shore, or in giving balls and +dances on the decks of their vessels. Tacon saw that one of the first +moves for him to make was to suppress the smuggling upon the coast, at +all hazards; and to this end he set himself directly to work. The +maritime force at his command was at once detailed upon this service, +and they coasted night and day, but without the least success against +the smugglers. In vain were all the vigilance and activity of Tacon and +his agents--they accomplished nothing. + +At last, finding that all his expeditions against them failed, partly +from the adroitness and bravery of the smugglers, and partly from the +want of pilots among the shoals and rocks that they frequented, a large +and tempting reward was offered to any one of them who would desert from +his comrades and act in this capacity in behalf of the government. At +the same time, a double sum, most princely in amount, was offered for +the person of one Marti, dead or alive, who was known to be the leader +of the lawless rovers who thus defied the government. These rewards were +freely promulgated, and posted so as to reach the ears and eyes of those +whom they concerned; but even these seemed to produce no effect, and the +government officers were at a loss how to proceed in the matter. + +It was a dark, cloudy night in Havana, some three or four months +subsequent to the issuing of these placards announcing the rewards as +referred to, when two sentinels were pacing backwards and forwards +before the main entrance to the governor's palace, just opposite the +grand plaza. A little before midnight, a man, wrapped in a cloak, was +watching them from behind the statue of Ferdinand, near the fountain, +and, after observing that the two soldiers acting as sentinels paced +their brief walk so as to meet each other, and then turn their backs as +they separated, leaving a brief moment in the interval when the eyes of +both were turned away from the entrance they were placed to guard, +seemed to calculate upon passing them unobserved. It was an exceedingly +delicate manoeuvre, and required great care and dexterity to effect +it; but, at last, it was adroitly done, and the stranger sprang lightly +through the entrance, secreting himself behind one of the pillars in the +inner court of the palace. The sentinels paced on undisturbed. + +The figure which had thus stealthily effected an entrance, now sought +the broad stairs that led to the governor's suit of apartments, with a +confidence that evinced a perfect knowledge of the place. A second +guard-post was to be passed at the head of the stairs; but, assuming an +air of authority, the stranger offered a cold military salute and +pressed forward, as though there was not the most distant question of +his right so to do; and thus avoiding all suspicion in the guard's mind, +he boldly entered the governor's reception room unchallenged, and closed +the door behind him. In a large easy chair sat the commander-in-chief, +busily engaged in writing, but alone. An expression of undisguised +satisfaction passed across the weather-beaten countenance of the new +comer at this state of affairs, as he coolly cast off his cloak and +tossed it over his arm, and then proceeded to wipe the perspiration from +his face. The governor, looking up with surprise, fixed his keen eyes +upon the intruder,-- + +"Who enters here, unannounced, at this hour?" he asked, sternly, while +he regarded the stranger earnestly. + +"One who has information of value for the governor-general. You are +Tacon, I suppose?" + +"I am. What would you with me? or, rather, how did you pass my guard +unchallenged?" + +"Of that anon. Excellency, you have offered a handsome reward for +information concerning the rovers of the gulf?" + +"Ha! yes. What of them?" said Tacon, with undisguised interest. + +"Excellency, I must speak with caution," continued the new comer; +"otherwise I may condemn and sacrifice myself." + +"You have naught to fear on that head. The offer of reward for evidence +against the scapegraces also vouchsafes a pardon to the informant. You +may speak on, without fear for yourself, even though you may be one of +the very confederation itself." + +"You offer a reward, also, in addition, for the discovery of +Marti,--Captain Marti, of the smugglers,--do you not?" + +"We do, and will gladly make good the promise of reward for any and all +information upon the subject," replied Tacon. + +"First, Excellency, do you give me your knightly word that you will +grant a free pardon to _me_, if I reveal all that you require to know, +even embracing the most secret hiding-places of the rovers?" + +"I pledge you my word of honor," said the commander. + +"No matter how heinous in the sight of the law my offences may have +been, still you will pardon me, under the king's seal?" + +"I will, if you reveal truly and to any good purpose," answered Tacon, +weighing in his mind the purpose of all this precaution. + +"Even if I were a leader among the rovers, myself?" + +The governor hesitated for a moment, canvassing in a single glance the +subject before him, and then said: + +"Even then, be you whom you may; if you are able and will honestly pilot +our ships and reveal the secrets of Marti and his followers, you shall +be rewarded as our proffer sets forth, and yourself receive a free +pardon." + +"Excellency, I think I know your character well enough to trust you, +else I should not have ventured here." + +"Speak, then; my time is precious," was the impatient reply of Tacon. + +"Then, Excellency, the man for whom you have offered the largest reward, +dead or alive, is now before you!" + +"And you are--" + +"Marti!" + +The governor-general drew back in astonishment, and cast his eyes +towards a brace of pistols that lay within reach of his right hand; but +it was only for a single moment, when he again assumed entire +self-control, and said, "I shall keep my promise, sir, provided you are +faithful, though the laws call loudly for your punishment, and even now +you are in my power. To insure your faithfulness, you must remain at +present under guard." Saying which, he rang a silver bell by his side, +and issued a verbal order to the attendant who answered it. Immediately +after, the officer of the watch entered, and Marti was placed in +confinement, with orders to render him comfortable until he was sent +for. His name remained a secret with the commander; and thus the night +scene closed. + +On the following day, one of the men-of-war that lay idly beneath the +guns of Moro Castle suddenly became the scene of the utmost activity, +and, before noon, had weighed her anchor, and was standing out into the +gulf stream. Marti, the smuggler, was on board, as her pilot; and +faithfully did he guide the ship, on the discharge of his treacherous +business, among the shoals and bays of the coast for nearly a month, +revealing every secret haunt of the rovers, exposing their most valuable +depots and well-selected rendezvous; and many a smuggling craft was +taken and destroyed. The amount of money and property thus secured was +very great; and Marti returned with the ship to claim his reward from +the governor-general, who, well satisfied with the manner in which the +rascal had fulfilled his agreement, and betrayed those comrades who were +too faithful to be tempted to treachery themselves, summoned Marti +before him. + +"As you have faithfully performed your part of our agreement," said the +governor-general, "I am now prepared to comply with the articles on my +part. In this package you will find a free and unconditional pardon for +all your past offences against the laws. And here is an order on the +treasury for--" + +"Excellency, excuse me. The pardon I gladly receive. As to the sum of +money you propose to give to me, let me make you a proposition. Retain +the money; and, in place of it, guarantee to me the right to fish in the +neighborhood of the city, and declare the trade in fish contraband to +all except my agents. This will richly repay me, and I will erect a +public market of stone at my own expense, which shall be an ornament to +the city, and which at the expiration of a specified number of years +shall revert to the government, with all right and title to the +fishery." + +Tacon was pleased at the idea of a superb fish-market, which should +eventually revert to the government, and also at the idea of saving the +large sum of money covered by the promised reward. The singular +proposition of the smuggler was duly considered and acceded to, and +Marti was declared in legal form to possess for the future sole right to +fish in the neighborhood of the city, or to sell the article in any +form, and he at once assumed the rights that the order guaranteed to +him. Having in his roving life learned all the best fishing-grounds, he +furnished the city bountifully with the article, and reaped yearly an +immense profit, until, at the close of the period for which the monopoly +was granted, he was the richest man on the island. According to the +agreement, the fine market and its privilege reverted to the government +at the time specified, and the monopoly has ever since been rigorously +enforced. + +Marti, now possessed of immense wealth, looked about him, to see in what +way he could most profitably invest it to insure a handsome and sure +return. The idea struck him if he could obtain the monopoly of +theatricals in Havana on some such conditions as he had done that of the +right to fish off its shores, he could still further increase his +ill-gotten wealth. He obtained the monopoly, on condition that he should +erect one of the largest and finest theatres in the world, which he did, +as herein described, locating the same just outside the city walls. With +the conditions of the monopoly, the writer is not conversant. + +Many romantic stories are told of Marti; but the one we have here +related is the only one that is authenticated, and which has any bearing +upon the present work. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] Tacon governed Cuba four years, from 1834 to 1838. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + The lottery at Havana--Hospitality of the Spaniards--Flattery--Cuban + ladies--Castilian, Parisian and American politeness--The bonnet in + Cuba--Ladies' dresses--The fan--Jewelry and its wear--Culture of + flowers--Reflections--A most peculiar narcotic--Cost of living on + the island--Guines--The cock-pit--Training of the birds--The garden + of the world--Birds of the tropics--Condition of + agriculture--Night-time--The Southern Cross--Natural resources of + Cuba--Her wrongs and oppressions. + + +There is a monthly lottery in Havana, with prizes amounting to one +hundred and ten thousand dollars, and sometimes as high as one hundred +and eighty thousand dollars, under the immediate direction and control +of the authorities, and which is freely patronized by the first +mercantile houses, who have their names registered for a certain number +of tickets each month. The poorer classes, too, by clubbing together, +become purchasers of tickets, including slaves and free negroes; and it +is but a few years since, that some slaves, who had thus united and +purchased a ticket, drew the first prize of sixty thousand dollars; +which was honestly paid to them, and themselves liberated by the +purchase of their freedom from their masters. Honestly and strictly +conducted as these lotteries are, yet their very stability, and the +just payment of all prizes, but makes them the more baneful and +dangerous in their influence upon the populace. Though now and then a +poor man becomes rich through their means, yet thousands are +impoverished in their mad zeal to purchase tickets, though it cost them +their last medio. The government thus countenances and fosters a taste +for gambling, while any one acquainted at all with the Spanish +character, must know that the people need no prompting in a vice to +which they seem to take intuitively. + +The Spaniards receive credit for being a very hospitable people, and to +a certain extent this is due to them; but the stranger soon learns to +regard the extravagant manifestations which too often characterize their +etiquette, as quite empty and heartless. Let a stranger enter the house +of a Cuban for the first time, and the host or hostess of the mansion +says at once, either in such words or their equivalent, "All that we +have is at your service; take what you will, and our right hand with +it." Yet no one thinks of understanding this literally. The family +volante is at your order, or a saddle horse; and in such small +kindnesses they are indeed polite; but when they beg of you to accept a +ring, a book, a valuable toy, because you have happened to praise it, +you are by no means to do so. Another trait of character which suggests +itself in this connection, is their Universal habit of profuse +compliment.[28] The ladies listen to them, as a matter of course, from +their countrymen, or from such Frenchmen as have become domesticated in +the island; but if an American takes occasion to compliment them, they +are at once delighted, for they believe them to be sincere, and the +matter is secretly treasured to be repeated. + +The Cuban ladies, with true feminine acuteness, estimate correctly the +high-flown compliments of their countrymen; and the kindred French, +Castilian and Parisian politeness is of about equal value, and means the +same thing,--that is, nothing. To strangers it is very pleasant at +first, but the moment it is apparent that these profuse protestations of +friendship and offers of service are transparent devices, and that if +you take them at their word they are embarrassed, perhaps offended, that +you must be constantly on your guard, and be very careful to consider +every fine phrase as a flower of rhetoric, it becomes positively +disagreeable. Good manners go a great way; and if a person does you a +favor, the pleasure you experience is much enhanced by the grace with +which the obligation is conferred; but there is a vast difference +between true and false politeness. The former springs only from a good +and true heart; the latter is especially egotistical. Both the French +and Spanish are extremely gallant to women; and yet the condition of +women in both France and Spain is vastly inferior to that of our fair +countrywomen, notwithstanding the Spanish _caballero_ and the Parisian +_elegant_ can couch their heartless compliments in terms our plain +people would vainly attempt to imitate. But what cares a woman for fine +phrases, if she knows that the respect due to her sex is wanting? The +condition of the women of Cuba is eminently Spanish, and she is here too +often the slave of passion and the victim of jealousy. + +The bonnet, which forms so important a part of the ladies' costume in +Europe and American cities, is entirely unknown, or, rather, never worn +by the Creole ladies; and strangers who appear with this article of +dress are regarded with as much curiosity as we should be exercised by +to meet in our own streets a Tuscarora chief in his war-paint. In place +of the bonnet the Cuban ladies wear a long black veil, gathered at the +back of the head upon the clustered braid of hair (always dark and +luxuriant), and drawn to one side of the face or the other, as +circumstances may require. More frequently, however, even this appendage +is not seen, and they ride in the Paseos and streets with their heads +entirely uncovered, save by the sheltering hood of the volante. When +necessity calls them abroad during the early or middle hours of the day, +there is a canvas screen buttoning to the dasher, and extending to the +top of the vehicle, forming a partial shelter from the sun. This +apparatus is universally arranged upon the volantes which stand at the +corners of the streets for common hire; but the private vehicles are +rarely seen much abroad before the early twilight, or just before +sunset. + +Full dress, on all state occasions, with the Cuban ladies, is black; but +white is worn on all ordinary ones, forming a rich and striking contrast +to the fair olive complexions of the wearers. Jewelry is worn to a great +extent, and, by those who can afford it, to the amount of most fabulous +sums, of course the diamond predominating; but there is a general +fondness for opals, garnets and pearls, worn in bracelets more +particularly, or in bands about the hair, at the top of the forehead. +There is one article without which the Cuban lady would not feel at home +for a single moment; it is the fan, which is a positive necessity to +her, and she learns its coquettish and graceful use from very childhood. +Formed of various rich materials, it glitters in her hand like a gaudy +butterfly, now half, now wholly shading her radiant face, which quickly +peeps out again from behind its shelter, like the moon from out a gilded +cloud. This little article (always rich and expensive), perfectly +indispensable in a Cuban lady's costume, in their hands seems almost to +speak; she has a witching flirt with it that expresses scorn; a graceful +wave of complaisance; an abrupt closing of it, that indicates vexation +or anger; a gradual and cautious opening of its folds, that signifies +reluctant forgiveness; in short, the language of the fan in a Cuban's +hand is an adroit and expressive pantomime, that requires no foreign +interpreter. + +It may be owing to the prodigality of nature in respect to Flora's +kingdom, which has led to no development among the people of Cuba, in +the love and culture of flowers. Of course this remark is intended in a +general point of view, there necessarily being exceptions to establish +the rule. But it is a rare thing to see flowers under cultivation here, +other than such as spring up from the over-fertile soil, unplanted and +untended. In New Orleans one cannot pass out of the doors of the St. +Charles Hotel, at any hour of the day, without being saluted first by +the flavor of magnolias, and then by a Creole flower-girl, with "Buy a +bouquet for a dime, sir?" But nothing of the sort is seen in Cuba; +flowers are a drug. Nevertheless, I fear that people who lack an +appreciation of these "illumined scriptures of the prairie," show a want +of delicacy and refinement that even an humble Parisian grisette is not +without. Scarcely can you pass from the coast of Cuba inland for half a +league, in any direction, without your senses being regaled by the +fragrance of natural flowers,--the heliotrope, honeysuckle, sweet pea, +and orange blossoms predominating. The jessamine and cape rose, though +less fragrant, are delightful to the eye, and cluster everywhere, among +the hedges, groves and plantations. + +There seems to be, at times, a strange narcotic influence in the +atmosphere of the island, more especially inland, where the visitor is +partially or wholly removed from the winds that usually blow from the +gulf in the after part of the day. So potent has the writer felt this +influence, that at first it was supposed to be the effect of some +powerful plant that might abound upon the plantations; but careful +inquiry satisfied him that this dreamy somnolence, this delightful sense +of ease and indolent luxuriance of feeling, was solely attributable to +the natural effect of the soft climate of Cuba. By gently yielding to +this influence, one seems to dream while waking; and while the sense of +hearing is diminished, that of the olfactories appears to be increased, +and pleasurable odors float upon every passing zephyr. One feels at +peace with all human nature, and a sense of voluptuous ease overspreads +the body. Others have spoken to the writer of this feeling of idle +happiness, which he has himself more than once experienced in the +delightful rural neighborhood of Alquizar. The only unpleasant realizing +sense during the enjoyment of the condition referred to, is the fear +that some human voice, or some chance noise, loud and abrupt, shall +arouse the waking dreamer from a situation probably not unlike the +pleasanter effect of opium, without its unpleasant reaection. + +As it regards the cost of living in the island, it may be said to +average rather high to the stranger, though it is declared that the +expense to those who permanently reside here, either in town or country, +is cheaper, all things considered, than in the United States. At the +city hotels and best boarding-houses of Havana and Matanzas, the charge +is three dollars per day, unless a special bargain is made for a +considerable period of time. Inland, at the houses of public +entertainment, the charge per diem is, of course, considerably less; +and the native style of living is nearly the same within or out of the +city. The luscious and healthful fruits of the tropics form a large +share of the provision for the table, and always appear in great variety +at dessert. Good common claret wine is regularly placed before the guest +without charge, it being the ordinary drink of the people. As to the +mode of cooking, it seems to be very like the French, though the +universal garlic, which appears to be a positive necessity to a Spanish +palate, is very apt to form a disagreeable preponderance in the flavor +of every dish. Fish, meat and fowl are so disguised with this article +and with spices, that one is fain to resort to the bill of fare, to +ascertain of what he is partaking. The vegetable soups of the city +houses (but for the garlic) are excellent, many of the native vegetables +possessing not only admirable flavor, and other desirable properties for +the purpose, but being also glutinous, add much to the properties of a +preparation answering to the character of our Julian soup. Oysters, +though plentiful on the coast, are of inferior quality, and are seldom +used for the table; but pickled oysters from the United States are +largely used in the cities. + +One of the pleasantest places of resort for enjoyment on the whole +island, is probably the town of Guines, connected with Havana by a +railroad (the first built upon the soil of Cuba), and but a few leagues +from the capital.[29] This locality is thought to be one of the most +salubrious and appropriate for invalids, and has therefore become a +general resort for this class, possessing several good public houses, +and in many respects is quite Americanized with regard to comforts and +the necessities of visitors from the United States. In Guines, and +indeed in all Cuban towns, villages, and even small hamlets, there is a +spacious cock-pit, where the inhabitants indulge in the sport of +cock-fighting,--an absorbing passion with the humble, and oftentimes +with the better classes. This indulgence is illustrative of their +nature,--that is, the Spanish nature and blood that is in them,--a fact +that is equally attested by their participation in the fearful contest +of the bull-fight. It is really astonishing how fierce these birds +become by training; and they always fight until one or the other dies, +unless they are interfered with. The amount of money lost and won by +this cruel mode of gambling is very large daily. Ladies frequently +attend these exhibitions, the upper seats being reserved for them; and +they may, not unfrequently, be seen entering fully into the excitement +of the sport. + +The cock-pit is a large or small circular building, not unlike, in +external appearance, to a New England out-door hay-stack, its dimensions +being governed by the populousness of the locality where it is erected. +The seats are raised in a circle, around a common centre, where the +birds are fought, or "pitted," upon prepared ground, covered with +saw-dust or tan. The cocks, which are of a peculiar species of game +birds, are subjected from chickenhood, so to speak, to a peculiar course +of treatment. Their food is regularly weighed, and so many ounces of +grain are laid out for each day's consumption, so that the bird is never +permitted to grow fat, but is kept in "condition" at all times. The +feathers are kept closely cropped in a jaunty style, and neck and head, +to the length of three inches or more, are completely plucked of all +feathers, and daily rubbed with _aguadiente_ (island rum), until they +become so calloused that they are insensible to any ordinary wound which +its antagonist might inflict. Brief encounters are encouraged among them +while they are young, under proper restrictions, and no fear is had of +their injuring themselves, until they are old enough to have the _steel +gaffs_ affixed upon those which nature has given them. Then, like armed +men, with swords and daggers, they attack each other, and the blood will +flow at every stroke, the conflict being in no degree impeded, nor the +birds affrighted, by the noisy cries, jeers, and loud challenges of the +excited horde of gamblers who throng all sides of the cock-pit.[30] + +Cuba has been justly styled the garden of the world, perpetual summer +smiling upon its favored shores, and its natural wealth almost baffling +the capacity of estimation. The waters which surround it, as we have +already intimated, abound with a variety of fishes, whose bright colors, +emulating the tints of precious stones and the prismatic hues of the +rainbow, astonish the eye of the stranger. Stately trees of various +species, the most conspicuous being the royal palm, rear their luxuriant +foliage against the azure heavens, along the sheltered bays, by the +way-side, on the swells of the haciendas, delighting the eye of the +traveller, and diversifying the ever-charming face of the tropical +landscape. Through the woods and groves flit a variety of birds, whose +dazzling colors defy the palette of the artist. Here the loquacious +parrot utters his harsh natural note; there the red flamingo stands +patiently by the shore of the lagoon, watching in the waters, dyed by +the reflection of his plumage, for his unconscious prey. It would +require a volume to describe the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdom +of Cuba. Among the most familiar birds, and those the names of which +even the casual observer is apt to learn, are the Cuba robin, the +blue-bird, the cat-bird, the Spanish woodpecker, the gaudy-plumed +parrot, the pedoreva, with its red throat and breast and its pea-green +head and body. There is also a great variety of wild pigeons, blue, gray +and white; the English ladybird, as it is called, with a blue head and +scarlet breast, and green and white back; the indigo-bird, the +golden-winged woodpecker, the ibis, the flamingo, and many smaller +species, like the humming-bird. Parrots settle on the sour orange trees +when the fruit is ripe, and fifty may be secured by a net at a time. The +Creoles stew and eat them as we do the pigeon; the flesh is rather +tough, and as there are plenty of fine water and marsh birds about the +lagoons, which are most tender and palatable, one is at a loss to +account for the taste that leads the people to eat the parrot. The brown +pelican is very plenty on the sea-coast, like the gull off our own +shores, and may be seen at all times sailing lazily over the sea, and +occasionally dipping for fish. Here, as among other tropical regions, +and even in some southern sections of this country, the lazy-looking +bald-headed vulture is protected by law, being a sort of natural +scavenger or remover of carrion. + +The agriculturists of the island confine their attention almost solely +to the raising of sugar, coffee and tobacco, almost entirely neglecting +Indian corn (which the first settlers found indigenous here), and but +slightly attending to the varieties of the orange.[31] It is scarcely +creditable that, when the generous soil produces from two to three crops +annually, the vegetable wealth of this island should be so poorly +developed. It is capable of supporting a population of almost any +density, and yet the largest estimate gives only a million and a half of +inhabitants. On treading the fertile soil, and on beholding the +clustering fruits offered on all sides, the delicious oranges, the +perfumed pine-apples, the luscious bananas, the cooling cocoanuts, and +other fruits for which our language has no name, we are struck with the +thought of how much Providence, and how little man, has done for this +Eden of the Gulf. We long to see it peopled by men who can appreciate +the gifts of nature, men who are willing to do their part in reward for +her bounty, men who will meet her half way and second her spontaneous +efforts.[32] Nowhere on the face of the globe would intelligent labor +meet with a richer reward,--nowhere on the face of the globe would +repose from labor be so sweet. The hour of rest here sinks upon the face +of nature with a peculiar charm; the night breeze comes with its gentle +wing to fan the weary frame, and no danger lurks in its career. It has +free scope through the unglazed windows. Beautifully blue are the +heavens, and festally bright the stars of a tropical night. Preeminent +in brilliancy among the constellations is the Southern Cross, a galaxy +of stars that never greets us in the north. At midnight its glittering +framework stands erect; that solemn hour passed, the Cross declines.[33] +How glorious the night where such a heavenly sentinel indicates its +watches! Cuba is indeed a land of enchantment, where nature is +beautiful, and where mere existence is a luxury, but it requires the +infusion of a sterner, more self-denying and enterprising race to fully +test its capabilities, and to astonish the world with its +productiveness. + +We have thus dilated upon the natural resources of Cuba, and depicted +the charms that rest about her; but every picture has its dark side, and +the political situation of the island is the reverse in the present +instance. Her wrongs are multifarious, and the restrictions placed upon +her by her oppressors are each and all of so heinous and tyrannical a +character, that a chapter upon each would be insufficient to place them +in their true light before the world. There is, however, no better way +of placing the grievances of the Cubans, as emanating from the home +government, clearly before the reader, than by stating such of them as +occur readily to the writer's mind in brief:-- + +She is permitted no voice in the Cortes; the press is under the vilest +censorship; farmers are compelled to pay ten per cent. on all their +harvest except sugar, and on that article two and a half per cent.; the +island has been under martial law since 1825; over $23,000,000 of taxes +are levied upon the inhabitants, to be squandered by Spain; ice is +monopolized by the government; flour is so taxed as to be inadmissible; +a Creole must purchase a license before he can invite a few friends to +take a cup of tea at his board; there is a stamped paper, made legally +necessary for special purposes of contract, costing eight dollars per +sheet; no goods, either in or out of doors, can be sold without a +license; the natives of the island are excluded entirely from the army, +the judiciary, the treasury, and the customs; the military government +assumes the charge of the schools; the grazing of cattle is taxed +exorbitantly; newspapers from abroad, with few exceptions, are +contraband; letters passing through the post are opened and purged of +their contents before delivery; fishing on the coast is forbidden, being +a government monopoly; planters are forbidden to send their sons to the +United States for educational purposes; the slave-trade is secretly +encouraged by government; no person can remove from one house to another +without first paying for a government permit; all cattle (the same as +goods) that are sold must pay six per cent. of their value to +government; in short, every possible subterfuge is resorted to by the +government officials to swindle the people,[34] everything being taxed, +and there is no appeal from the decision of the captain-general! + +[Illustration: A CUBAN VOLANTE IN THE PASEO.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] The common salutation, on being introduced or meeting a lady, is, +"_A los pies de usted senora_" (at the feet of your grace, my lady). + +[29] San Julian de los Guines contains from two to three thousand +inhabitants. + +[30] The English game-cock is prized in Cuba only for crossing the +breed, for he cannot equal the Spanish bird in agility or endurance. + +[31] Three years after the seed of the orange tree is deposited in the +soil, the tree is twelve or fifteen feet high, and the fourth year it +produces a hundred oranges. At ten years of age it bears from three to +four thousand, thus proving vastly profitable. + +[32] "This favored land wants nothing but _men_ to turn its advantages +to account, and enjoy their results, to be acknowledged as the garden of +the world."--_Alexander H. Everett._ + +[33] Humboldt tells us that he has often heard the herdsmen in South +America say, "Midnight is past--the Southern Cross begins to bend." + +[34] "No such extent of taxation, as is now enforced in Cuba, was ever +known or heard of before in any part of the world; and no community, +relying solely on the products of its own labor, could possibly exist +under it."--_Alexander H. Everett._ + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + The volante and its belongings--The ancient town of Regla--The arena + for the bull-fights at Havana--A bull-fight as witnessed by the + author at Regla--A national passion with the Spanish + people--Compared with old Roman sports--Famous + bull-fighters--Personal description of Cuban ladies--Description of + the men--Romance and the tropics--The nobility of Cuba--Sugar + noblemen--The grades of society--The yeomanry of the island--Their + social position--What they might be--Love of gambling. + + +The volante, that one vehicle of Cuba, has been several times referred +to in the foregoing pages. It is difficult without experience to form an +idea of its extraordinary ease of motion or its appropriateness to the +peculiarities of the country.[35] It makes nothing of the deep mud that +accompanies the rainy season, but, with its enormous wheels, six feet in +diameter, heavy shafts, and low-hung, chaise-like body, it dashes over +and through every impediment with the utmost facility. Strange as it may +seem, it is very light upon the horse, which is also bestridden by the +postilion, or _calisero_. When travelling any distance upon the road, a +second horse is added on the left, abreast, and attached to the volante +by an added whiffletree and traces. When there are two horses in this +style, the postilion rides the one to the left, leaving the shaft horse +free of other weight than that of the vehicle. + +When the roads are particularly bad and there is more than usual weight +to carry, of baggage, etc., a third horse is often used, but he is still +placed abreast with the others, to the right of the shaft horse, and +guided by a bridle rein in the hands of the calisero. The Spaniards take +great pride in these volantes, especially those improved for city use, +and they are often to be met with elaborately mounted with silver, and +in many instances with gold, wrought with great skill and beauty. There +were volantes pointed out to the writer, of this latter character, in +Havana, that could not have cost less than two thousand dollars each, +and this for a two-wheeled vehicle. A volante equipped in this style, +with the gaily dressed calisero, his scarlet jacket elaborately trimmed +with silver braid, his high jack-boots with silver buckles at the knee, +and monstrous spurs upon his heels, with rowels an inch long, makes +quite a dashing appearance, especially if a couple of blackeyed Creole +ladies happen to constitute the freight. Thus they direct their way to +the Tacon Paseo, to meet the fashion of the town at the close of the +day--almost the only out-door recreation for the sex. + +Of all the games and sports of the Cubans, that of the bull-fight is the +most cruel and fearful, and without one redeeming feature in its +indulgence. The arena for the exhibitions in the neighborhood of Havana +is just across the harbor at Regla, a small town, having a most worn and +dilapidated appearance.[36] This place was formerly the haunt of +pirates, upon whose depredations and boldness the government, for +reasons best known to itself, shut its official eyes; more latterly it +has been the hailing place for slavers, whose crafts have not yet +entirely disappeared, though the rigor of the English and French +cruisers in the Gulf has rendered it necessary for them to seek a less +exposed rendezvous. Of the Spanish marine they entertain no fear; there +is the most perfect understanding on this point, treaty stipulations +touching the slave-trade, between Spain, England and France, to the +contrary notwithstanding.[37] But we were referring to the subject of +the bull-fights. The arena at Regla, for this purpose, is a large +circular enclosure of sufficient dimensions to seat six thousand people, +and affording perhaps a little more than half an acre of ground for the +fight. + +The seats are raised one above another in a circle around, at a secure +height from the dangerous struggle which is sure to characterize each +exhibition. On the occasion when the writer was present, after a +flourish of trumpets, a large bull was let loose from a stall opening +into the pit of the enclosure, where three Spaniards (_toreadors_), one +on foot and two on horseback, were ready to receive him, the former +armed with a sword, the latter with spears. They were three hardened +villains, if the human countenance can be relied upon as shadowing forth +the inner man, seemingly reckless to the last degree, but very expert, +agile, and wary. These men commenced at once to worry and torment the +bull until they should arouse him to a state of frenzy. Short spears +were thrust into his neck and sides with rockets attached, which +exploded into his very flesh, burning and affrighting the poor creature. +Thrusts from the horsemen's spears were made into his flesh, and while +he was bleeding thus at every pore, gaudy colors were shaken before his +glowing eyes; and wherever he turned to escape his tormentors, he was +sure to be met with some freshly devised expedient of torment, until at +last the creature became indeed perfectly infuriated and frantically +mad. Now the fight was in earnest! + +In vain did the bull plunge gallantly and desperately at his enemies, +they were far too expert for him. They had made this game their business +perhaps for years. Each rush he made upon them was easily avoided, and +he passed them by, until, in his headlong course, he thrust his horns +deep into the boards of the enclosure. The idea, of course, was not to +give him any fatal wounds at the outset, and thus dispatch him at once, +but to worry and torment him to the last. One of the gladiators now +attacked him closely with the sword, and dexterously wounded him in the +back of the neck at each plunge the animal made towards him, at the same +time springing on one side to avoid the shock. After a long fight and at +a grand flourish of trumpets, the most skilful of the swordsmen stood +firm and received the infuriated beast on the point of his weapon, which +was aimed at a fatal spot above the frontlet, leading direct to the +brain. The effect was electrical, and like dropping the curtain upon a +play: the animal staggered, reeled a moment, and fell dead! Three bulls +were thus destroyed, the last one in his frenzy goring a fine spirited +horse, on which one of the gladiators was mounted, to death, and +trampling his rider fearfully. During the exhibition, the parties in the +arena were encouraged to feats of daring by the waving of handkerchiefs +and scarfs in the hands of the fair senoras and senoritas. Indeed there +is generally a young girl trained to the business, who takes a part in +the arena with the matadors against the bull. The one thus engaged, on +the occasion here referred to, could not have exceeded seventeen years +in age.[38] + +Whatever colonial modifications the Spanish character may have undergone +in Cuba, the Creole is Castilian still in his love for the cruel sports +of the arena, and there is a great similarity between the modern +Spaniards and the ancient Romans in this respect. As the Spanish +language more closely resembles Latin than Italian, so do the Spanish +people show more of Roman blood than the natives of Italy themselves. +_Panem et circenses_ (bread and circuses!) was the cry of the old Roman +populace, and to gratify their wishes millions of sesterces were +lavished, and, hecatombs of human victims slain, in the splendid +amphitheatres erected by the masters of the world in all the cities +subjected to their sway. And so _pan y toros_ (bread and bulls!) is the +imperious demand of the Spaniards, to which the government always +promptly responds. + +The parallel may be pursued still further: the loveliest ladies of Rome +gazed with rapture upon the dying agonies of the gladiators who hewed +each other in pieces, or the Christian's who perished in conflict with +the wild beasts half starved to give them battle! The beauteous senoras +and senoritas of Madrid and Havana enjoy with a keen delight the +terrible spectacle of bulls speared by the _picador_, or gallant horses +ripped up and disembowelled by the horns of their brute adversaries. It +is true that the ameliorating spirit of Christianity is evident in the +changes which the arena has undergone; human lives are not sacrificed +wholesale in the combats; and yet the bull-fight is sufficiently +barbarous and atrocious. It is a national institution, and, as an +indication of national character, is well worthy of attention, however +repulsive to the sensitive mind. The queen of England is sometimes +present on the race-track, so also the queen of Spain occupies the +royal box at the great bull-festas of Madrid. A skilful bull-fighter is +a man of mark and distinction. Montez was regarded by the Spaniards of +this generation with nearly as much respect as Don Rodriguez de Bivar in +the days of the Moorish wars, to such a point has the vaunted chivalry +of Spain degenerated! Sometimes Spanish nobles enter the arena, and +brave peril and death for the sake of the applause bestowed upon the +successful _torero_, and many lives are lost annually in this degrading +sport. + +Few professional bull-fighters reach an advanced age; their career in +the arena is almost always short, and they cannot avoid receiving severe +wounds in their dangerous career. Pepe Illo, a famous Spanish picador, +was wounded no less than twenty-six times, and finally killed by a bull. +This man and another noted _torero_, named Romero, were possessed of +such undaunted courage, that, in order to excite the interest of the +spectators, they were accustomed to confront the bull with fetters upon +their feet. Another famous picador in the annals of the arena was Juan +Sevilla, who on one occasion was charged furiously by an Andalusian bull +which overthrew both horse and rider. The savage animal, finding that +the legs of his fallen antagonist were so well protected by the +iron-ribbed hide of the pantaloons the bull-fighters wear that it was +impossible to make an impression on them, lowered his horns with the +intention of striking him in the face; but the dauntless picador, +seizing one of the bull's ears in his right hand, and thrusting the +fingers of the other into his nostrils, after a horrible struggle +compelled him to retire. Then, when every one looked to see him borne +out of the ring dying, he rose to his feet, called for a fresh horse and +lance, and bounding into the saddle, attacked the bull in the centre of +the ring, and driving the iron up to the shaft in his neck, rolled him +over dead. "O," says an enthusiastic eye-witness of this prodigious +feat, "if you had heard the _vivas_, if you had witnessed the frantic +joy, the crazy ecstasy at the display of so much courage and good +fortune, like me you would have envied the lot of Sevilla." Such are +some of the dangers and excitements of the bull-ring; such is the +character of some of the scenes which the gentle ladies of Cuba have +learned, not to endure, but to welcome with delight. + +To look upon these ladies, you could not possibly imagine that there was +in them sufficient hardihood to witness such exhibitions. They are +almost universally handsome, in person rather below the height of the +sex with us, but with an erect and dignified carriage, and with forms +always rounded to a delicate fullness, displaying a tendency to +_enbonpoint_ quite perfection itself in point of model.[39] The hair is +always black and profuse, the complexion a light olive, without a +particle of carmine, the eyes--a match for the hair in color--are large +and beautifully expressive, with a most irresistible dash of languor in +them.[40] It is really difficult to conceive of a homely woman with such +eyes as you are sure to find them endowed with in Cuba. They have been +justly famed also for their graceful carriage, and, indeed, it is the +very poetry of motion, singular as it may seem when it is remembered +that for them to walk abroad is such a rarity. It is not simply a +progressive move, but the harmonious play of features, the coquettish +undulation of the face, the exquisite disposition of costume, and +modulation of voice, rich, liquid and sweet as the nightingale's, that +engage the beholder, and lend a happy charm to the majestic grace of +every attitude and every step. It is a union, a harmonious consort of +all these elements, that so beautifies the carriage of the Cuban ladies. + +The men are, also, generally speaking, manly and good-looking, though +much lighter, smaller and more agile, than the Americans. The lazy life +that is so universally led by them tends to make them less manly in +physical development than a life of activity would do. It seems to be an +acknowledged principle among them never to do that for themselves that a +slave can do for them,--a fact that is very plainly demonstrated by the +style of the volante, where the little horse is made not only to draw +after him the vehicle and its contents, but also to carry upon his back +a heavy negro, weighed down with jack-boots and livery, as a driver, +when a pair of reins extending from the bridle to the volante would +obviate all necessity for the negro's presence at all. But a Creole or +Spaniard would think it demeaning to drive his own volante; the thing is +never seen on the island. The climate, we know, induces to this sense of +ease. With abundance of leisure, and the ever-present influences of +their genial clime, where the heart's blood leaps more swiftly to the +promptings of the imagination--where the female form earliest attains +its wonted beauty and longest holds its sway over the heart--the West +Indies seem peculiarly adapted for romance and love. The consequent +adventures among the people are very numerous, and not, oftentimes, +without startling interest, affording such themes and plots as a French +_feuilletonist_ might revel in. An ungraceful woman is not to be found +on the island; whether bred in the humble cottage of the Montero, or in +the luxuriant mansion of the planter or citizen, she is sure to evince +all the ease and grace of polished life. Your heart is bound to them at +once, when on parting they give you kindly the Spanish benediction, "Go, +senor, in a good hour." + +The nobility of Cuba, so called, is composed of rather original +material, to say the least of it, and forms rather a funny +"institution." There may be some thirty gentlemen dubbed with the title +of Marquis, and as many more with that of Count, most of both classes +having acquired their wealth by the carrying on of extensive sugar +plantations. These are sneeringly designated by the humbler classes as +"sugar noblemen," nearly all of these aristocratic gentlemen having +bought their titles outright for money, not the least consideration +being had by the Spanish throne as to the fitness of the individual even +for this nominal honor, save a due consideration for the amount of the +would-be noble's fortune. Twenty-five thousand dollars will purchase +either title. And yet, the tone of Cuban society may be said to be +eminently aristocratic, and, in certain circles, very exclusive. The +native of old Spain does not endeavor to conceal his contempt of +foreigners and the Creoles, shielding his inferiority of intelligence +under a cloak of hauteur; and thus the Castilians and Creoles form two +quite distinct classes in the island,--a distinction which the home +government endeavor to foster and promote in every way, for obvious +reasons of their own. + +The sugar planter, the coffee planter, the merchant, the liberal +professions and the literati (this last a meagre class in numbers), +stand about in the order in which we have written them, as it regards +their relative degrees or social position, but wealth has the same charm +here as in every part of Christendom, and the millionaire has the entree +to all classes. The Monteros, or yeomanry of Cuba, inhabit the +less-cultivated portions of the soil, venturing into the cities only to +sell their surplus produce, acting as "market-men" for the cities in the +immediate neighborhood of their homes. When they stir abroad they are +always armed cap-a-pie with sword and pistols,[41] and, indeed, every +one carries arms upon the inland roads of Cuba. Formerly this was a most +indispensable precaution, though weapons are now rarely brought into +use. The arming of the Monteros, however, has always been encouraged by +the authorities, as they thus form a sort of mounted militia at all +times available, and, indeed, not only the most effective, but about the +only available arm of defence against negro insurrections. The Montero +is rarely a slave-owner himself, but frequently is engaged on the +plantations during the busy season as an extra overseer. He is generally +a hard taskmaster to the slave, having an intuitive hatred for the +blacks. + +The Monteros[42] form an exceedingly important and interesting class of +the population of the island. They marry very young,--the girls from +thirteen to fifteen, the young men from sixteen to twenty,--and almost +universally rearing large families. Their increase during the last +twenty years has been great, and they seem to be fast approaching to a +degree of importance that will make them, like the American farmers, the +bone and sinew of the land. The great and glaring misfortune of their +present situation, is the want of intelligence and cultivation; books +they have none, nor, of course, schools. It is said that they have been +somewhat aroused, of late, from this condition of lethargy concerning +education, and that efforts are being made among them to a considerable +extent to afford their children opportunity for instruction. Physically +speaking, they are a fine yeomanry, and, if they could be rendered +intelligent, would in time become what nature seems to have designed +them for,--the real masters of the country. + +There is one fact highly creditable to the Monteros, and that is their +temperate habits, as it regards indulgence in stimulating drinks. As a +beverage, they do not use ardent spirits, and seem to have no taste for +the article, though at times they join the stranger in a social glass. I +doubt if any visitor ever saw one of this class in the least +intoxicated. This being the fact, they are a very reliable people, and +can be counted upon in an emergency. As to the matter of temperance, it +needs no missionaries in the island, for probably there is not so large +a tract of territory in Europe or America, as this island, where such a +degree of temperance is observed in the use of intoxicating drinks. +Healths are drunk at table, but in sparing draughts, while delicious +fruits fill up the time devoted to dessert. + +There is probably but one vice that the Monteros may be said to be +addicted to, or which they often indulge in, and that is one which is so +natural to a Spaniard, and the appliances for which are so constantly +at hand, in the shape of the cock-pit, that it is not a wonder he should +be seduced by the passion of gambling. Many of the more intelligent +avoid it altogether, but with others it appears to be a part and parcel +of their very existence. In the cities, as we have already shown, the +government encourage and patronize the spirit of gaming, as they derive +from its practice, by charging exorbitant licences, etc., a heavy sum +annually. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] "When I first saw the rocking motion of the volante as it drove +along the streets, I thought 'that must be an extremely disagreeable +carriage!' but when I was seated in one, I seemed to myself rocked in a +cloud. I have never felt an easier motion."--_Miss Bremer's Letters._ + +[36] Regla new contains some seven thousand inhabitants, and is chiefly +engaged in the exportation of molasses, which is here kept in large +tanks. + +[37] An intelligent letter-writer estimates the present annual +importation of slaves at not less than 10,000 souls, direct from Africa. + +[38] "One of the chief features in this sport, and which attracted so +many, myself among the number, was a young and beautiful girl, as lovely +a creature as Heaven ever smiled upon, being one of the chief actresses +in the exciting and thrilling scene."--_Rev. L.L. Allen's Lecture._ + +[39] "The waist is slender, but never compressed by corsets, so that it +retains all its natural proportions."--_Countess Merlin's Letters._ + +[40] "They have plump figures, placid, unwrinkled countenances, +well-developed busts, and eyes the brilliant languor of which is not the +languor of illness."--_W.C. Bryant's Letters._ + +[41] "The broadsword dangles by the side of the gentleman, and holsters +are inseparable from his saddle; the simplest countryman, on his straw +saddle, belts on his rude cutlass, and every man with a skin less dark +than an African appears ready for encounter."--_Rev. Abiel Abbot's +Letters._ + +[42] "They are men of manly bearing, of thin make, but often of a good +figure, with well-spread shoulders, which, however, have a stoop in +them, contracted, I suppose, by riding always with a short +stirrup."--_W.C. Bryant's Letters._ + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + A sugar plantation--Americans employed--Slaves on the plantations--A + coffee plantation--Culture of coffee, sugar and tobacco--Statistics + of agriculture--The cucullos, or Cuban fire-fly--Novel ornaments + worn by the ladies--The Cuban mode of harnessing oxen--The montero + and his horse--Curious style of out-door painting--Petty annoyances + to travellers--Jealousy of the authorities--Japan-like + watchfulness--Questionable policy--Political condition of Cuba. + + +The sugar plantations are the least attractive in external appearance, +but the most profitable, pecuniarily, of all agricultural investments in +the tropics. They spread out their extensive fields of cane without any +relief whatever to the eye, save here and there the tall, majestic and +glorious palm bending gracefully over the undergrowth. The income of +some of the largest sugar plantations in Cuba is set down as high as two +hundred thousand dollars per annum, the lowest perhaps exceeding one +hundred thousand dollars. Some of them still employ ox-power for +grinding the cane; but American steam-engines are fast taking the place +of animal power, and more or less are monthly exported for this purpose +from New York, Philadelphia and Boston. This creates a demand for +engineers and machinists, for whom the Cubans are also dependent upon +this country; and there are said to be at this time two hundred +Bostonians thus engaged, at a handsome remuneration, upon the island. A +Spaniard or Creole would as soon attempt to fly as he would endeavor to +learn how properly to run a steam-engine. As this happens to be a duty +that it is not safe to entrust to even a faithful slave, he is therefore +obliged to send abroad for foreign skill, and to pay for it in round +numbers. + +During the manufacturing season a large, well-managed sugar plantation +exhibits a scene of the utmost activity and unremitting labor. The +planter must "make hay while the sun shines;" and when the cane is ripe +no time must be lost in expressing the juice. Where oxen are employed, +they often die of over-work before the close of the season, and the +slaves are allowed but five hours for sleep, though during the rest of +the year the task of the negroes is comparatively light, and they may +sleep ten hours if they choose.[43] In society, the sugar planter holds +a higher rank than the coffee planter, as we have indicated in the +classification already given; probably, however, merely as in the scale +of wealth, for it requires nearly twice the amount of capital to carry +on the former that is required to perfect the business of the latter, +both in respect to the number of hands and also as it relates to +machinery. But, as the sugar plantation surpasses the coffee in wealth, +so the coffee plantation surpasses, the sugar in every natural beauty +and attractiveness. + +A coffee plantation is one of the most beautiful gardens that can well +be conceived of; in its variety and beauty baffling correct description, +being one of those peculiar characteristics of the low latitudes which +must be seen to be understood. An estate devoted to this purpose usually +covers some three hundred acres of land, planted in regular squares of +eight acres, and intersected by broad alleys of palms, mangoes, oranges, +and other ornamental and beautiful tropical trees.[44] Mingled with +these are planted lemons, pomegranates, cape jessamines, and a species +of wild heliotrope, fragrant as the morning. Conceive of this beautiful +arrangement, and then of the whole when in flower; the coffee, with its +milk-white blossoms, so abundant that it seems as though a pure white +cloud of snow had fallen there and left the rest of the vegetation fresh +and green. Interspersed in these fragrant alleys is the red of the +Mexican rose, the flowering pomegranate, and the large, gaudy flower +of the penon, shrouding its parent stem in a cloak of scarlet, with wavings +here and there of the graceful yellow flag, and many bewitchingly-fragrant +wild flowers, twining their tender stems about the base of these. In short, +a coffee plantation is a perfect floral El Dorado, with every luxury +(except ice) the heart could wish. The writer's experience was mainly +gained upon the estate of Dr. Finlay, a Scotch physician long resident +in Cuba, and who is a practising physician in Havana. He has named his +plantation, in accordance with the custom of the planters, with a fancy +title, and calls it pleasantly Buena Esperanza (good hope). + +The three great staples of production and exportation are sugar, coffee +and tobacco. The sugar-cane (_arundo saccharifera_) is the great source +of the wealth of the island. Its culture requires, as we have remarked +elsewhere, large capital, involving as it does a great number of hands, +and many buildings, machines, teams, etc. We are not aware that any +attempt has ever been made to refine it on the island. The average yield +of a sugar plantation affords a profit of about fifteen per cent. on the +capital invested. Improved culture and machinery have vastly increased +the productiveness of the sugar plantations. In 1775 there were four +hundred and fifty-three mills, and the crops did not yield quite one +million three hundred thousand _arrobas_ (an arroba is twenty-five +pounds). Fifty years later, a thousand mills produced eight million +arrobas; that is to say, each mill produced six times more sugar. The +Cuban sugar has the preference in all the markets of Europe. Its +manufacture yields, besides, molasses, which forms an important article +of export. A liquor, called _aguadiente_, is manufactured in large +quantities from the molasses. There are several varieties of cane +cultivated on the island. The Otaheitian cane is very much valued. A +plantation of sugar-cane requires renewal once in about seven years. The +canes are about the size of a walking-stick, are cut off near the root, +and laid in piles, separated from the tops, and then conveyed in carts +to the sugar-mill, where they are unladen. Women are employed to feed +the mills, which is done by throwing the canes into a sloping trough, +from which they pass between the mill-stones and are ground entirely +dry. The motive power is supplied either by mules and oxen, or by steam. +Steam machinery is more and more extensively employed, the best machines +being made in the vicinity of Boston. The dry canes, after the +extraction of the juice, are conveyed to a suitable place to be spread +out and exposed to the action of the sun; after which they are employed +as fuel in heating the huge boilers in which the cane-juice is received, +after passing through the tank, where it is purified, lime-water being +there employed to neutralize any free acid and separate vegetable +matters. The granulation and crystallization is effected in large flat +pans. After this, it is broken up or crushed, and packed in hogsheads or +boxes for exportation. A plantation is renewed by laying the green canes +horizontally in the ground, when new and vigorous shoots spring up from +every joint, exhibiting the almost miraculous fertility of the soil of +Cuba under all circumstances. + +The coffee-plant (_caffea Arabica_) is less extensively cultivated on +the island than formerly, being found to yield only four per cent. on +the capital invested. This plant was introduced by the French into +Martinique in 1727, and made its appearance in Cuba in 1769. It requires +some shade, and hence the plantations are, as already described, +diversified by alternate rows of bananas, and other useful and +ornamental tropical shrubs and trees. The decadence of this branch of +agriculture was predicted for years before it took place, the fall of +prices being foreseen; but the calculations of intelligent men were +disregarded, simply because they interfered with their own estimate of +profits. When the crash came, many coffee raisers entirely abandoned the +culture, while the wiser among them introduced improved methods and +economy into their business, and were well rewarded for their foresight +and good judgment. The old method of culture was very careless and +defective. The plants were grown very close together, and subjected to +severe pruning, while the fruit, gathered by hand, yielded a mixture of +ripe and unripe berries. In the countries where the coffee-plant +originated, a very different method is pursued. The Arabs plant the +trees much further apart, allow them to grow to a considerable height, +and gather the crop by shaking the trees, a method which secures only +the ripe berries. A coffee plantation managed in this way, and combined +with the culture of vegetables and fruits on the same ground, would +yield, it is said, a dividend of twelve per cent. on the capital +employed; but the Cuban agriculturists have not yet learned to develop +the resources of their favored island. + +_Tobacco._ This plant (_nicotiana tabacum_) is indigenous to America, +but the most valuable is that raised in Cuba. Its cultivation is costly, +for it requires a new soil of uncommon fertility, and a great amount of +heat. It is very exhausting to the land. It does not, it is true, +require much labor, nor costly machinery and implements. It is valued +according to the part of the island in which it grows. That of greatest +value and repute, used in the manufacture of the high cost cigars, is +grown in the most westerly part of the island, known popularly as the +_Vuelta de Abajo_. But the whole western portion of the island is not +capable of producing tobacco of the best quality. The region of superior +tobacco is comprised within a parallelogram of twenty-nine degrees by +seven. Beyond this, up to the meridian of Havana, the tobacco is of fine +color, but inferior aroma (the Countess Merlin calls this aroma the +vilest of smells); and the former circumstance secures it the preference +of foreigners. From Consolacion to San Christoval, the tobacco is very +hot, in the language of the growers, but harsh and strong, and from San +Christoval to Guanajay, with the exception of the district of Las +Virtudes, the tobacco is inferior, and continues so up to Holguin y +Cuba, where we find a better quality. The fertile valley of Los Guines +produces poor smoking tobacco, but an article excellent for the +manufacture of snuff. On the banks of the Rio San Sebastian are also +some lands which yield the best tobacco in the whole island. From this +it may be inferred how great an influence the soil produces on the good +quality of Cuban tobacco; and this circumstance operates more strongly +and directly than the slight differences of climate and position +produced by immediate localities. Perhaps a chemical analysis of the +soils of the Vuelta de Abajo would enable the intelligent cultivator to +supply to other lands in the island the ingredients wanting to produce +equally good tobacco. The cultivators in the Vuelta de Abajo are +extremely skilful, though not scientific. The culture of tobacco yields +about seven per cent. on the capital invested, and is not considered to +be so profitable on the island as of yore. + +Cacao, rice, plantains, indigo, cotton, sago, yuca (a farinaceous plant, +eaten like potatoes), Indian corn, and many other vegetable productions, +might be cultivated to a much greater extent and with larger profit than +they yield. We are astonished to find that with the inexhaustible +fertility of the soil, with an endless summer, that gives the laborer +two and three crops of some articles a year, agriculture generally +yields a lower per centage than in our stern northern latitudes. The +yield of a _caballeria_ (thirty-two and seven-tenths acres) is as +follows: + + Sugar, $2,500 + Coffee, 750 + Tobacco, 3,000 + Cacao, 5,000 + Indigo, 2,000 + Indian corn, 2 crops, 1,500 + Rice, 1,000 + Sago, 1,500 + Plantains, 2,500 + Yuca, 1,000 + +It must be remembered that there are multitudes of fruits and vegetable +productions not enumerated above, which do not enter into commerce, and +which grow wild. No account is taken of them. In the hands of a thrifty +population, Cuba would blossom like a rose, as it is a garden growing +wild, cultivated here and there in patches, but capable of supporting in +ease a population of ten times its density. + +About the coffee plantations, and, indeed, throughout the rural parts of +the island, there is an insect called a cucullos, answering in its +nature to our fire-fly, though quadruple its size, which floats in +phosphorescent clouds over the vegetation. One at first sight is apt to +compare them to a shower of stars. They come in multitudes, immediately +after the wet or rainy season sets in, and there is consequently great +rejoicing among the slaves and children, as well as children of a larger +growth. They are caught by the slaves and confined in tiny cages of +wicker, giving them sufficient light for convenience in their cabins at +night, and, indeed, forming all the lamps they are permitted to have. +Many are brought into the city and sold by the young Creoles, a +half-dozen for a paseta (twenty-five cents). Ladies not unfrequently +carry a small cage of silver attached to their bracelets, containing +four or five of them, and the light thus emitted is like a candle. Some +ladies wear a belt of them at night, ingeniously fastened about the +waist, and sometimes even a necklace, the effect thus produced being +highly amusing. In the ball-rooms they are sometimes worn in the +flounces of the ladies' dresses, and they seem nearly as brilliant as +diamonds. Strangely enough, there is a natural hook near the head of the +Cuban fire-fly, by which it can be attached to any part of the dress +without any apparent injury to the insect itself; this the writer has +seen apparently demonstrated, though, of course, it could not be +strictly made clear. The town ladies pet these cucullos, and feed them +regularly with sugar cane, of which the insects partake with infinite +relish; but on the plantations, when a fresh supply is wanted, they have +only to wait until the twilight deepens, and a myriad can be secured +without trouble. + +The Cubans have a queer, but yet excellent mode of harnessing their +oxen, similar to that still in vogue among eastern countries. The yoke +is placed behind the horns, at the roots, and so fastened to them with +thongs that they draw, or, rather, push by them, without chafing. The +animals always have a hole perforated in their nostrils, through which a +rope is passed, serving as reins, and rendering them extremely +tractable; the wildest and most stubborn animals are completely subdued +by this mode of controlling them, and can be led unresisting anywhere. +This mode of harnessing seems to enable the animal to bring more +strength to bear upon the purpose for which he is employed, than when +the yoke is placed, as is the case with us, about the throat and +shoulders. It is laid down in natural history that the greatest strength +of horned animals lies in the head and neck, but, in placing the yoke on +the breast, we get it out of reach of both head and neck, and the animal +draws the load behind by the mere force of the weight and impetus of +body, as given by the limbs. Wouldn't it be worth while to break a yoke +of steers to this mode, and test the matter at the next Connecticut +ploughing-match? We merely suggest the thing. + +The Cuban horse deserves more than a passing notice in this connection. +He is a remarkably valuable animal. Though small and delicate of limb, +he can carry a great weight; and his gait is a sort of _march_, +something like our pacing horses, and remarkably easy under the saddle. +They have great power of endurance, are small eaters, and very docile +and easy to take care of. The Montero inherits all the love of his +Moorish ancestors for the horse, and never stirs abroad without him. He +considers himself established for life when he possesses a good horse, a +sharp Toledo blade, and a pair of silver spurs, and from very childhood +is accustomed to the saddle. They tell you long stories of their horses, +and would make them descended direct from the Kochlani,[45] if you will +permit them. Their size may readily be arrived at from the fact that +they rarely weigh over six hundred pounds; but they are very finely +proportioned. + +The visitor, as he passes inland, will frequently observe upon the +fronts of the clustering dwelling-houses attempts at representations of +birds and various animals, looking like anything but what they are +designed to depict, the most striking characteristic being the gaudy +coloring and remarkable size. Pigeons present the colossal appearance of +ostriches, and dogs are exceedingly elephantine in their proportions. +Especially in the suburbs of Havana may this queer fancy be observed to +a great extent, where attempts are made to depict domestic scenes, and +the persons of either sex engaged in appropriate occupations. If such +ludicrous objects were met with anywhere else but in Cuba, they would be +called caricatures, but here they are regarded with the utmost +complacency, and innocently considered as ornamental.[46] Somehow this +is a very general passion among the humbler classes, and is observable +in the vicinity of Matanzas and Cardenas, as well as far inland, at the +small hamlets. The exterior of the town houses is generally tinted blue, +or some brown color, to protect the eyes of the inhabitants from the +powerful reflection of the ever-shining sun. + +One of the most petty and annoying experiences that the traveller upon +the island is sure to meet with, is the arbitrary tax of time, trouble +and money to which he is sure to be subjected by the petty officials of +every rank in the employment of government; for, by a regular and +legalized system of arbitrary taxation upon strangers, a large revenue +is realized. Thus, the visitor is compelled to pay some five dollars for +a landing permit, and a larger sum, say seven dollars, to get away +again. If he desires to pass out of the city where he has landed, a +fresh permit and passport are required, at a further expense, though you +bring one from home signed by the Spanish consul of the port where you +embarked, and have already been adjudged by the local authorities. +Besides all this, you are watched, and your simplest movements noted +down and reported daily to the captain of police, who takes the liberty +of stopping and examining all your newspapers, few of which are ever +permitted to be delivered to their address; and, if you are thought to +be a suspicious person, your letters, like your papers, are +unhesitatingly devoted to "government purposes." + +An evidence of the jealous care which is exercised to prevent strangers +from carrying away any information in detail relative to the island, +was evinced to the writer in a tangible form on one occasion in the +Paseo de Isabella. A young French artist had opened his portfolio, and +was sketching one of the prominent statues that grace the spot, when an +officer stepped up to him, and, taking possession of his pencil and +other materials, conducted him at once before some city official within +the walls of Havana. Here he was informed that he could not be allowed +to sketch even a tree without a permit signed by the captain-general. As +this was the prominent object of the Frenchman's visit to the island, +and as he was really a professional artist sketching for +self-improvement, he succeeded, after a while, in convincing the +authorities of these facts, and he was then, as a great favor, supplied +with a permit (for which he was compelled to pay an exorbitant fee), +which guaranteed to him the privilege of sketching, with certain +restrictions as to fortifications, military posts, and harbor views; the +same, however, to expire after ninety days from the date. + +The great value and wealth of the island has been kept comparatively +secret by this Japan-like watchfulness; and hence, too, the great lack +of reliable information, statistical or otherwise, relating to its +interests, commerce, products, population, modes and rates of taxation, +etc. Jealous to the very last degree relative to the possession of Cuba, +the home government has exhausted its ingenuity in devising restrictions +upon its inhabitants; while, with a spirit of avarice also goaded on by +necessity, it has yearly added to the burthen of taxation upon the +people to an unparalleled extent. The cord _may_ be severed, and the +overstrained bow will spring back to its native and upright position! +The Cubans are patient and long-suffering, that is sufficiently obvious +to all; and yet Spain may break the camel's back by one more feather! + +The policy that has suppressed all statistical information, all +historical record of the island, all accounts of its current prosperity +and growth, is a most short-sighted one, and as unavailing in its +purpose as it would be to endeavor to keep secret the diurnal +revolutions of the earth. No official public chart of the harbor of +Havana has ever been issued by the Spanish government, no maps of it +given by the home government as authentic; they would draw a screen over +this tropical jewel, lest its dazzling brightness should tempt the +cupidity of some other nation. All this effort at secrecy is little +better than childishness on their part, since it is impossible, with all +their precautions, to keep these matters secret. It is well known that +our war department at Washington contains faithful sectional and +complete drawings of every important fortification in Cuba, and even the +most reliable charts and soundings of its harbors, bays and seaboard +generally. + +The political condition of Cuba is precisely what might be expected of a +Castilian colony thus ruled, and governed by such a policy. Like the +home government, she presents a remarkable instance of stand-still +policy; and from one of the most powerful kingdoms, and one of the most +wealthy, is now the humblest and poorest. Other nations have labored and +succeeded in the race of progress, while her adherence to ancient +institutions, and her dignified scorn of "modern innovations," amount in +fact to a species of retrogression, which has placed her far below all +her sister governments of Europe. The true Hidalgo spirit, which wraps +itself up in an antique garb, and shrugs its shoulders at the advance of +other countries, still rules over the beautiful realm of Ferdinand and +Isabella, and its high-roads still boast their banditti and worthless +gipsies, as a token of the declining power of the Castilian crown. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[43] According to the Spanish slave code, the slave can be kept at work +in Cuba only from sunrise till sunset, with an interval for repose at +noon of two hours. But this is not regarded in the manufacturing season, +which, after all, the slaves do not seem to dread, as they are granted +more privileges at this period, and are better fed, with more variety of +meats and spices, with other agreeable indulgences. + +[44] The coffee-tree requires to be protected, at least partially, from +the sun; hence the planting of bananas and other trees in their midst. + +[45] "Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written +genealogy has been kept for two thousand years. They are said to derive +their origin from King Solomon's steeds."--_Niebuhr._ + +[46] "On the fronts of the shops and houses, and on plastered walls by +the way-side, you continually see painted birds, and beasts, and +creeping things, men and women in their various vocations and +amusements, and some things and some images not strictly forbidden by +the letter of the commandment, being like nothing in heaven above, or in +the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth!"--_Rev. Abiel +Abbot's Letters._ + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +TACON'S SUMMARY MODE OF JUSTICE. + + +Probably of all the governors-general that have filled the post in Cuba +none is better known abroad, or has left more monuments of his +enterprise, than Tacon. His reputation at Havana is of a somewhat +doubtful character; for, though he followed out with energy the various +improvements suggested by Aranjo, yet his modes of procedure were so +violent, that he was an object of terror to the people generally, rather +than of gratitude. He vastly improved the appearance of the capital and +its vicinity, built the new prison, rebuilt the governor's palace, +constructed a military road to the neighboring forts, erected a spacious +theatre and market-house (as related in connection with Marti), arranged +a new public walk, and opened a vast parade ground without the city +walls, thus laying the foundation of the new city which has now sprung +up in this formerly desolate suburb. He suppressed the gaming-houses, +and rendered the streets, formerly infested with robbers, as secure as +those of Boston or New York. But all this was done with a bold military +arm. Life was counted of little value, and many of the first people fell +before his orders. + +Throughout all his career, there seemed ever to be within him a romantic +love of justice, and a desire to administer it impartially; and some of +the stories, well authenticated, illustrating this fact, are still +current in Havana. One of these, as characteristic of Tacon and his +rule, is given in this connection, as nearly in the words of the +narrator as the writer can remember them, listened to in "La +Dominica's." + +During the first year of Tacon's governorship, there was a young Creole +girl, named Miralda Estalez, who kept a little cigar-store in the _Calle +de Mercaderes_, and whose shop was the resort of all the young men of +the town who loved a choicely-made and superior cigar. Miralda was only +seventeen, without mother or father living, and earned an humble though +sufficient support by her industry in the manufactory we have named, and +by the sales of her little store. She was a picture of ripened tropical +beauty, with a finely rounded form, a lovely face, of soft, olive tint, +and teeth that a Tuscarora might envy her. At times, there was a dash of +languor in her dreamy eye that would have warmed an anchorite; and then +her cheerful jests were so delicate, yet free, that she had unwittingly +turned the heads, not to say hearts, of half the young merchants in the +_Calle de Mercaderes_. But she dispensed her favors without partiality; +none of the rich and gay exquisites of Havana could say they had ever +received any particular acknowledgment from the fair young girl to +their warm and constant attention. For this one she had a pleasant +smile, for another a few words of pleasing gossip, and for a third a +snatch of a Spanish song; but to none did she give her confidence, +except to young Pedro Mantanez, a fine-looking boatman, who plied +between the Punta and Moro Castle, on the opposite side of the harbor. + +Pedro was a manly and courageous young fellow, rather above his class in +intelligence, appearance and associations, and pulled his oars with a +strong arm and light heart, and loved the beautiful Miralda with an +ardor romantic in its fidelity and truth. He was a sort of leader among +the boatmen of the harbor for reason of his superior cultivation and +intelligence, and his quick-witted sagacity was often turned for the +benefit of his comrades. Many were the noble deeds he had done in and +about the harbor since a boy, for he had followed his calling of a +waterman from boyhood, as his fathers had done before him. Miralda in +turn ardently loved Pedro; and, when he came at night and sat in the +back part of her little shop, she had always a neat and fragrant cigar +for his lips. Now and then, when she could steal away from her shop on +some holiday, Pedro would hoist a tiny sail in the prow of his boat, and +securing the little stern awning over Miralda's head, would steer out +into the gulf, and coast along the romantic shore. + +There was a famous roue, well known at this time in Havana, named Count +Almonte, who had frequently visited Miralda's shop, and conceived quite +a passion for the girl, and, indeed, he had grown to be one of her most +liberal customers. With a cunning shrewdness and knowledge of human +nature, the count besieged the heart of his intended victim without +appearing to do so, and carried on his plan of operations for many weeks +before the innocent girl even suspected his possessing a partiality for +her, until one day she was surprised by a present from him of so rare +and costly a nature as to lead her to suspect the donor's intentions at +once, and to promptly decline the offered gift. Undismayed by this, +still the count continued his profuse patronage in a way to which +Miralda could find no plausible pretext of complaint. + +At last, seizing upon what he considered a favorable moment, Count +Almonte declared his passion to Miralda, besought her to come and be the +mistress of his broad and rich estates at Cerito, near the city, and +offered all the promises of wealth, favor and fortune; but in vain. The +pure-minded girl scorned his offer, and bade him never more to insult +her by visiting her shop. Abashed but not confounded, the count retired, +but only to weave a new snare whereby he could entangle her, for he was +not one to be so easily thwarted. + +One afternoon, not long after this, as the twilight was settling over +the town, a file of soldiers halted just opposite the door of the little +cigar-shop, when a young man, wearing a lieutenant's insignia, entered, +and asked the attendant if her name was Miralda Estalez, to which she +timidly responded. + +"Then you will please to come with me." + +"By what authority?" asked the trembling girl. + +"The order of the governor-general." + +"Then I must obey you," she answered; and prepared to follow him at +once. + +Stepping to the door with her, the young officer directed his men to +march on; and, getting into a volante, told Miralda they would drive to +the guard-house. But, to the surprise of the girl, she soon after +discovered that they were rapidly passing the city gates, and +immediately after were dashing off on the road to Cerito. Then it was +that she began to fear some trick had been played upon her; and these +fears were soon confirmed by the volante's turning down the long alley +of palms that led to the estate of Count Almonte. It was in vain to +expostulate now; she felt that she was in the power of the reckless +nobleman, and the pretended officer and soldiers were his own people, +who had adopted the disguise of the Spanish army uniform. + +Count Almonte met her at the door, told her to fear no violence, that +her wishes should be respected in all things save her personal +liberty,--that he trusted, in time, to persuade her to look more +favorably upon him, and that in all things he was her slave. She replied +contemptuously to his words, and charged him with the cowardly trick by +which he had gained control of her liberty. But she was left by +herself, though watched by his orders at all times to prevent her +escape. + +She knew very well that the power and will of Count Almonte were too +strong for any humble friend of hers to attempt to thwart; and yet she +somehow felt a conscious strength in Pedro, and secretly cherished the +idea that he would discover her place of confinement, and adopt some +means to deliver her. The stiletto is the constant companion of the +lower classes, and Miralda had been used to wear one even in her store +against contingency; but she now regarded the tiny weapon with peculiar +satisfaction, and slept with it in her bosom! + +Small was the clue by which Pedro Mantanez discovered the trick of Count +Almonte. First this was found out, then that circumstance, and these, +being put together, they led to other results, until the indefatigable +lover was at last fully satisfied that he had discovered her place of +confinement. Disguised as a friar of the order of San Felipe, he sought +Count Almonte's gates at a favorable moment, met Miralda, cheered her +with fresh hopes, and retired to arrange some certain plan for her +delivery. There was time to think _now_; heretofore he had not permitted +himself even an hour's sleep; but she was safe,--that is, not in +immediate danger,--and he could breathe more freely. He knew not with +whom to advise; he feared to speak to those above him in society, lest +they might betray his purpose to the count, and his own liberty, by some +means, be thus jeopardized. He could only consider with himself; he +must be his own counsellor in this critical case. + +At last, as if in despair, he started to his feet, one day, and +exclaimed to himself, "Why not go to head-quarters at once? why not see +the governor-general, and tell him the whole truth? Ah! see him?--how is +that to be effected? And then this Count Almonte is a _nobleman_! They +say Tacon loves justice. We shall see. I _will_ go to the +governor-general; it cannot do any harm, if it does not do any good. I +can but try." And Pedro did seek the governor. True, he did not at once +get audience of him,--not the first, nor the second, nor third time: but +he persevered, and was admitted at last. Here he told his story in a +free, manly voice, undisguisedly and open in all things, so that Tacon +was pleased. + +"And the girl?" asked the governor-general, over whose countenance a +dark scowl had gathered. "Is she thy sister?" + +"No, Excelencia, she is dearer still; she is my betrothed." + +The governor, bidding him come nearer, took a golden cross from his +table, and, handing it to the boatman, as he regarded him searchingly, +said, + +"Swear that what you have related to me is true, as you hope for +heaven!" + +"I swear!" said Pedro, kneeling and kissing the emblem with simple +reverence. + +The governor turned to his table, wrote a few brief lines, and, touching +a bell, summoned a page from an adjoining room, whom he ordered to send +the captain of the guard to him. Prompt as were all who had any +connection with the governor's household, the officer appeared at once, +and received the written order, with directions to bring Count Almonte +and a young girl named Miralda immediately before him. Pedro was sent to +an anteroom, and the business of the day passed on as usual in the +reception-hall of the governor. + +Less than two hours had transpired when the count and Miralda stood +before Tacon. Neither knew, the nature of the business which had +summoned them there. Almonte half suspected the truth, and the poor girl +argued to herself that her fate could not but be improved by the +interference, let its nature be what it might. + +"Count Almonte, you doubtless know why I have ordered you to appear +here." + +"Excelencia, I fear that I have been indiscreet," was the reply. + +"You adopted the uniform of the guards for your own private purposes +upon this young girl, did you not?" + +"Excelencia, I cannot deny it." + +"Declare, upon your honor, Count Almonte, whether she is unharmed whom +you have thus kept a prisoner." + +"Excelencia, she is as pure as when she entered beneath my roof," was +the truthful reply. + +The governor turned, and whispered something to his page, then continued +his questions to the count, while he made some minutes upon paper. Pedro +was now summoned to explain some matter, and, as he entered, the +governor-general turned his back for one moment as if to seek for some +papers upon his table, while Miralda was pressed in the boatman's arms. +It was but for a moment, and the next, Pedro was bowing humbly before +Tacon. A few moments more and the governor's page returned, accompanied +by a monk of the church of Santa Clara, with the emblems of his office. + +"Holy father," said Tacon, "you will bind the hands of this Count +Almonte and Miralda Estalez together in the bonds of wedlock!" + +"Excelencia!" exclaimed the count, in amazement. + +"Not a word, Senor; it is your part to obey!" + +"My nobility, Excelencia!" + +"Is forfeited!" said Tacon. + +Count Almonte had too many evidences before his mind's eye of Tacon's +mode of administering justice and of enforcing his own will to dare to +rebel, and he doggedly yielded in silence. Poor Pedro, not daring to +speak, was half-crazed to see the prize he had so long coveted thus +about to be torn from him. In a few moments the ceremony was performed, +the trembling and bewildered girl not daring to thwart the governor's +orders, and the priest declared them husband and wife. The captain of +the guard was summoned and despatched with some written order, and, in +a few subsequent moments, Count Almonte, completely subdued and +broken-spirited, was ordered to return to his plantation. Pedro and +Miralda were directed to remain in an adjoining apartment to that which +had been the scene of this singular procedure. Count Almonte mounted his +horse, and, with a single attendant, soon passed out of the city gates. +But hardly had he passed the corner of the Paseo, when a dozen +musketeers fired a volley upon him, and he fell a corpse upon the road! + +His body was quietly removed, and the captain of the guard, who had +witnessed the act, made a minute upon his order as to the time and +place, and, mounting his horse, rode to the governor's palace, entering +the presence chamber just as Pedro and Miralda were once more summoned +before the governor. + +"Excelencia," said the officer, returning the order, "it is executed!" + +"Is the count dead?" + +"Excelencia, yes." + +"Proclaim, in the usual manner, the marriage of Count Almonte and +Miralda Estalez, and also that she is his legal widow, possessed of his +titles and estates. See that a proper officer attends her to the count's +estate, and enforces this decision." Then, turning to Pedro Mantanez, he +said, "No man nor woman in this island is so humble but that they may +claim justice of Tacon!" + +The story furnishes its own moral. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + Consumption of tobacco--The universal cigar--Lady smokers--The + fruits of Cuba--Flour a prohibited article--The royal palm--West + Indian trees--Snakes, animals, etc.--The Cuba blood-hound--Mode of + training him--Remarkable instinct--Importation of slaves--Their + cost--Various African tribes--Superstitious + belief--Tattooing--Health of the negroes--Slave laws of the + island--Food of the negroes--Spanish law of emancipation--General + treatment of the slaves. + + +The consumption of tobacco,[47] in the form of cigars, is absolutely +enormous in the island. Every man, woman and child, seems to smoke; and +it strikes one as rather peculiar, to say the least of it, to see a lady +smoking her cigarito in the parlor, or on the verandah; but this is very +common. The men, of all degrees, smoke, and smoke everywhere; in the +houses, in the street, in the theatre, in the cafes, in the +counting-room; eating, drinking, and, truly, it would seem, sleeping, +they smoke, smoke, smoke. The slave and his master, the maid and her +mistress, boy and man,--all, all smoke; and it is really odd that +vessels don't scent Havana far out at sea before they heave in sight of +its headlands. No true Havanese ever moves a foot without his portable +armory of cigars, as indispensable to him as is his quiver to the wild +Indian, and he would feel equally lost without it. Some one has +facetiously said that the cigar ought to be the national emblem of Cuba. + +The gentlemen consume from ten to twelve cigars per day, and many of the +women half that number, saying nothing of the juvenile portion of the +community. The consequence of this large and increasing consumption, +including the heavy export of the article, is to employ a vast number of +hands in the manufacture of cigars, and the little stores and stalls +where they are made are plentifully sprinkled all over the city, at +every corner and along the principal streets. It is true that the ladies +of the best classes in Havana have abandoned the practice of smoking, or +at least they have ostensibly done so, never indulging absolutely in +public; but the writer has seen a noted beauty whose teeth were much +discolored by the oil which is engendered in the use of the paper +cigars, thus showing that, although they no longer smoke in public, yet +the walls of their boudoirs are no strangers to the fumes of tobacco. +This is the only form in which the weed is commonly used here. You +rarely meet a snuff-taker, and few, if any, chew tobacco. It is +astonishing how passionately fond of smoking the negroes become; with +heavy pipes, well filled, they inhale the rich narcotic, driving it out +at the nostrils in a slow, heavy stream, and half dozing over the dreamy +and exhilarating process. They are fully indulged in this taste by +their masters, whether in town, or inland upon the plantations. The +postilions who wait for fare in the streets pass four-fifths of their +time in this way, and dream over their pipes of pure Havana. + +We can have but a poor idea, at the north, of tropical fruits, for only +a portion of them are of a nature to admit of exportation, and those +must be gathered in an unripe condition in order to survive a short sea +voyage. The orange in Boston, and the orange in Havana, are vastly +different; the former has been picked green and ripened on ship-board, +the latter was on the tree a few hours before you purchased it, and +ripened upon its native stem. So of the bananas, one of the most +delightful of all West India fruits, and which grow everywhere in Cuba +with prodigal profuseness. The principal fruits of the island are the +banana, mango, pomegranate, orange, pine-apple,[48] zapota, tamarind, +citron, fig, cocoa, lemon, rose-apple and bread-fruit. Though any of +these are eaten freely of at all hours, yet the orange seems to be the +Creole's favorite, and he seldom rises from his bed in the morning until +he has drank his cup of strong coffee, and eaten three or four oranges, +brought fresh and prepared to him by a slave. The practice is one which +the visitor falls very naturally into, and finds most agreeable. They +have a saying that "the orange is gold in the morning, silver at noon, +and lead at night." The most singular of these varieties of fruits (by +no means embracing all) is the rose-apple, which, when eaten, has the +peculiar and very agreeable flavor of otto of rose, and this is so +strong that to eat more than one at a time is almost unpleasant. It has +a very sweet taste, and flavors some soups finely. Of these fruit trees, +the lemon is decidedly the most ornamental and pretty, for, though small +and dwarfish, like the American quince, yet it hangs with flowers, small +lemons, and ripe fruit, all together, reminding one of the eastern +_Alma_,[49] and forming an uncommon and beautiful sight. This agreeable +phenomenon will surprise you at every turn upon the coffee plantations. + +But the article of food most required in the island is flour, while the +importation of it is made so unreasonably expensive as to amount to a +positive prohibition upon the article. On foreign flour there is a fixed +duty of _ten dollars_, to which if we add the one and a half per cent., +with other regular charges, the duty will amount to about ten dollars +and fifty cents per barrel. This enormous tax on flour prevents its use +altogether in the island, except by the wealthier classes. True, there +is a home-made, Spanish article, far inferior, which costs somewhat +less, being imported from far-off Spain without the prohibitory clause. +The estimate of the consumption of flour in this country gives one and +a half barrel per head, per annum; but let us suppose that the free +population consume but one. The free population--that is, the whites +exclusively, not including the large number of free negroes--numbers +over six hundred thousand; if the island belonged to this country, there +would immediately arise a demand for six hundred thousand barrels of +flour per annum, for the duty would no longer exist as a prohibition +upon this necessary article. At four dollars and fifty cents per barrel, +this would make the sum of two million seven hundred thousand dollars; +and if we allow half a barrel each to the slaves and free blacks, which +would be the natural result, being not only the best but cheapest food, +we have an annual demand of from four to five hundred thousand barrels +more of the great staple production of the United States. This is an +item worth considering by political economists. At the present time, the +imports into this country from thence exceed our exports to Cuba to the +amount of nearly one million of dollars annually. + +But we were writing of the vegetable productions of the island, when +this digression occurred. + +The Royal Palm is the noblest tree of Cuba, rising from thirty to fifty +feet, and sometimes even twice this height, with a straight stem, while +from the top spring the broad and beautiful leaves, in a knot, like a +plume of ostrich feathers. The bark is equally divided by ornamental +ringlets encircling it, each one marking a year of its age. A +peculiarity of this tree is, that it has no substance in the interior of +the trunk,[50] yet the outside, to the thickness of an inch and more, +makes the finest of boards, and, when seasoned, will turn a board nail +with one stroke of the hammer. The top of the palm yields a vegetable +which is much used upon the table, and, when boiled, resembles in flavor +our cauliflower. The cocoanut tree very much resembles the palm, the +branches diverging, like the ribs of an umbrella, from one common +centre, among which the fruit hangs in tempting clusters far out of +reach from the ground. The plantain, with its profuse clusters of +finger-like fruit, grows low like the banana, which it vastly resembles, +and the entire trunk of both are renewed yearly; the old stock, after +yielding its crop, decaying rapidly, and forming the most nutritious +matter for the soil that can be had. Many of the hedges through the +plantations are formed of aloes, of a large and luxuriant growth, with +dagger-like points, and stiff, long leaves, bidding defiance to ingress +or egress, yet ever ornamented with a fragrant cup-like flower. Lime +hedges are also very abundant, with their clusters of white blossoms, +and there is a vast supply of mahogany and other precious woods, in the +extensive forests. + +It is somewhat remarkable that there is not a poisonous reptile or +animal of any sort in Cuba. Snakes of various species abound, but are +said to be perfectly inoffensive, though sometimes destructive to +domestic fowls. During a pleasant trip between San Antonio and Alquizar, +in a volante with a planter, this subject happened to be under +discussion, when the writer discovered a snake, six feet long, and as +large at the middle as his arm, directly before the volante. On suddenly +exclaiming, and pointing it out, the planter merely replied by giving +its species, and declaring that a child might sleep with it unharmed. In +the meantime, it was a relief to see the _innocent_ creature hasten out +of the way and secrete itself in a neighboring hedge. Lizards, +tarantulas and chameleons, abound, but are considered harmless. The +writer has awakened in the morning and found several lizards creeping on +the walls of his apartment. Only one small quadruped is found in Cuba +that is supposed to be indigenous, and that is called the hutia, much +resembling a mouse, but without the tail. + +The Cuban blood-hound, of which we hear so much, is not a native of the +island, but belongs to an imported breed, resembling the English +mastiff, though with longer nose and limbs. He is naturally a fierce, +blood-thirsty animal, but the particular qualities which fit him for +tracing the runaway slaves are wholly acquired by careful and expert +training. This training of the hounds to fit them for following and +securing the runaway negroes is generally entrusted to a class of men +who go about from one plantation to another, and who are usually +Monteros or French overseers out of employment. Each plantation keeps +more or less of these dogs, more as a precautionary measure, however, +than for actual use, for so certain is the slave that he will be +instantly followed as soon as he is missed, and easily traced by the +hounds, of whose instinct he is fully aware, that he rarely attempts to +escape from his master. In one respect this acts as a positive advantage +to the negroes themselves, for the master, feeling a confidence relative +to their possession and faithfulness, and well knowing the ease with +which they can at once be secured should they run away, is thus enabled +to leave them comparatively free to roam about the plantation, and they +undergo no surveillance except during working hours, when an overseer is +of course always somewhere about, looking after them, and prompting +those that are indolent. + +The blood-hounds are taken when quite young, tied up securely, and a +negro boy is placed to tease and annoy them, occasionally administering +a slight castigation upon the animals, taking care to keep out of the +reach of their teeth. This whipping is generally administered under the +direction of the trainer, who takes good care that it shall not be +sufficiently severe to really hurt the dogs or crush their spirit of +resistance. As the dogs grow older, negro men, in place of boys, are +placed to fret and irritate them, occasionally administering, as before, +slight castigations upon the dogs, but under the same restrictions; and +they also resort to the most ingenious modes of vexing the animals to +the utmost, until the very sight of a negro will make them howl. +Finally, after a slave has worried them to the last degree, he is given +a good start, and the ground is marked beforehand, a tree being +selected, when the dogs are let loose after him. Of course they pursue +him with open jaws and the speed of the wind; but the slave climbs the +tree, and is secure from the vengeance of the animals. + +This is the exact position in which the master desires them to place his +runaway slave--"tree him," and then set up a howl that soon brings up +the hunters. They are never set upon the slaves to bite or injure them, +but only placed upon their track to follow and hunt them. So perfect of +scent are these animals, that the master, when he is about to pursue a +runaway, will find some clothing, however slight, which the missing +slave has left behind him, and giving it to the hounds to smell, can +then rely upon them to follow the slave through whole plantations of his +class, none of whom they will molest, but, with their noses to the +ground, will lead straight to the woods, or wherever the slave has +sought shelter. On the plantations these dogs are always kept chained +when not in actual use, the negroes not being permitted to feed or to +play with them; they are scrupulously fed by the overseer or master, and +thus constitute the animal police of the plantation. In no wise can they +be brought to attack a white man, and it would be difficult for such to +provoke them to an expression of rage or anger, while their early and +systematic training makes them feel a natural enmity to the blacks, +which is of course most heartily reciprocated. + +Cuba has been called the hot-bed of slavery; and it is in a certain +sense true. The largest plantations own from three to five hundred +negroes, which establishments require immense investments of capital +successfully to manage. A slave, when first landed, is worth, if sound, +from four to five hundred dollars, and more as he becomes acclimated and +instructed, their dull natures requiring a vast deal of watchful +training before they can be brought to any positive usefulness, in doing +which the overseers have found kindness go a vast deal farther than +roughness. Trifling rewards, repaying the first efforts at breaking in +of the newly imported negro, establishes a good understanding at once, +and thus they soon grow very tractable, though they do not for a long +time understand a single word of Spanish that is addressed to them. + +These negroes are from various African tribes, and their characteristics +are visibly marked, so that their nationality is at once discernible, +even to a casual observer. Thus the Congos are small in stature, but +agile and good laborers; the Fantee are a larger race, revengeful, and +apt to prove uneasy; those from the Gold Coast are still more powerful, +and command higher prices, and when well treated make excellent domestic +servants. The Ebros are less black than the others, being almost +mulatto. There is a tribe known as the Ashantees, very rare in Cuba, as +they are powerful at home, and consequently are rarely conquered in +battle, or taken prisoners by the shore tribes in Africa, who sell them +to the slave factories on the coast. They are prized, like those from +the Gold Coast, for their strength. Another tribe, known as the +Carrobalees, are highly esteemed by the planters, but yet they are +avoided when first imported, from the fact that they have a belief and +hope, very powerful among them, that after death they will return to +their native land, and therefore, actuated by a love of home, these poor +exiles are prone to suicide. This superstition is also believed in by +some other tribes; and when a death thus occurs, the planter, as an +example to the rest, and to prevent a like occurrence among them, burns +the body, and scatters the ashes to the wind! + +The tattooed faces, bodies and limbs, of the larger portion of the +slaves, especially those found inland upon the plantations, indicate +their African birth; those born upon the island seldom mark themselves +thus, and being more intelligent than their parents, from mingling with +civilization, are chosen generally for city labor, becoming postilions, +house-servants, draymen, laborers upon the wharves, and the like, +presenting physical developments that a white man cannot but envy on +beholding, and showing that for some philosophical reason the race thus +transplanted improves physically, at least. They are remarkably healthy; +indeed, all classes of slaves are so, except when an epidemic breaks +out among them, and then it rages more fearfully far than with the +whites. Thus the cholera and small-pox always sweep them off by hundreds +when these diseases get fairly introduced among them. If a negro is sick +he requires just twice as much medicine as a white man to affect him, +but for what reason is a mystery in the practice of the healing art. The +prevailing illness with them is bowel complaints, to which they are +always more or less addicted, and their food is therefore regulated to +obviate this trouble as far as possible, but they always eat freely of +the fruits about them, so ripe and inviting, and so plentiful, too, that +half the crop and more, usually rots upon the ground ungathered. The +swine are frequently let loose to help clear the ground of its +overburdened and ripened fruits. + +The slaves upon the plantations in all outward circumstances seem quite +thoughtless and happy; the slave code of the island, which regulates +their government, is never widely departed from. The owners are obliged +to instruct them all in the Catholic faith, and they are each baptized +as soon as they can understand the signification of the ceremony. The +law also provides that the master shall give a certain quantity and +variety of food to his slaves; but on this score slaves rarely if ever +have cause of complaint, as it is plainly for the planter's interest to +keep them in good condition. There is one redeeming feature in Spanish +slavery, as contrasted with that of our southern country, and that is, +that the laws favor emancipation. If a slave by his industry is able to +accumulate money enough to pay his _first cost_ to his master, however +unwilling the planter may be to part with him, the law guarantees him +his freedom. This the industrious slave can accomplish at farthest in +seven years, with the liberty and convenience which all are allowed. +Each one, for instance, is permitted to keep a pig, and to cultivate a +small piece of land for his own purposes, by raising corn; the land +yielding two crops to the year, they can render a pig fat enough, and +the drovers pay fifty dollars apiece to the slaves for good ones. This +is a _redeeming_ feature, but it is a bitter pill at best. + +There are doubtless instances of cruelty towards the slaves, but the +writer is forced to acknowledge that he never witnessed a single +evidence of this during his stay in the island,[51] and, while he would +be the last person to defend slavery as an institution, yet he is +satisfied that the practical evils of its operation are vastly overrated +by ignorant persons. It is so obviously for the planter's interest to +treat his slaves kindly, and to have due consideration for their health +and comfort--that he must be a very short-sighted being not to realize +this. What man would under-feed, ill-treat, or poorly care for a horse +that he expected to serve him, in return, promptly and well? We have +only to consider the subject in this light for a moment, to see how +impossible it is that a system of despotism, severity and cruelty, would +be exercised by a Cuban master towards his slaves. Let no ingenious +person distort these remarks into a pro-slavery argument. God forbid! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[47] The name _tobacco_ is said to have been that of the pipe used by +the native Indians to inhale the smoke with, consisting of a small tube, +with two branches intended to enter the nostrils. + +[48] This highly-flavored and excellent fruit is so abundant in Cuba +that the best sell in the market at a cent apiece. + +[49] "You never can cast your eyes on this tree, but you meet there +either blossoms or fruit."--_Nieuhoff._ + +[50] It is remarkable that the palm tree, which grows so lofty, has not +a root as big as a finger of the human hand. Its roots are small, +thread-like, and almost innumerable. + +[51] "I believe the lash is seldom applied; I have never seen it, nor +have I seen occasion for it."--_Rev. Abiel Abbot's Letters._ + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + Pecuniary value of the slave-trade to Havana--The slave + clippers--First introduction of slaves into Cuba--Monopoly of the + traffic by England--Spain's disregard of treaty + stipulations--Spanish perfidy--Present condition of Spain--Her + decadence--Influence upon her American possessions--Slaves upon the + plantations--The soil of Cuba--Mineral wealth of the island--The + present condition of the people--The influences of American + progress--What Cuba might be. + + +Like Liverpool and Boston, in their early days, Havana has drawn an +immense wealth from the slave-trade; it has been the great commercial +item in the business for the capital year after year, and the fitting +out of ventures, the manning of vessels, and other branches of trade +connected therewith, have been the sources of uncounted profit to those +concerned. The vessels employed in this business were built with an eye +to the utmost speed. Even before the notion of clipper ships was +conceived, these crafts were built on the clipper model, more generally +known as Baltimore clippers. Over these sharp hulls was spread a +quantity of canvas that might have served as an outfit for a +seventy-four. The consummate art displayed in their construction was +really curious, and they were utterly unfit for any legitimate +commerce. Nor are these vessels by any means yet extinct. They hover +about the island here and there at this very hour; now lying securely in +some sheltered bay on the south side, and now seeking a rendezvous at +the neighboring Isle of Pines. The trade still employs many crafts. They +mount guns, have a magazine in accordance with their tonnage, with false +decks that can be shipped and unshipped at will. + +It is well known that the Americans can produce the fastest vessels in +the world; and speed is the grand desideratum with the slaver, +consequently Americans are employed to build the fleet crafts that sail +for the coast of Africa. The American builder must of course know the +purpose for which he constructs these clippers; and, indeed, the writer +is satisfied, from personal observation, that these vessels are built on +speculation, and sent to Cuba to be sold to the highest bidder. Of +course, being in a measure contraband, they bring large prices, and the +temptation is strong to construct them, rather than to engage in the +more regular models. This reference to the subject as connected with the +commerce of the island, leads us to look back to the history of the +pernicious traffic in human beings, from its earliest commencement in +Cuba, and to trace its beginning, progress and main features. + +It has been generally supposed that Las Casas first suggested the plan +of substituting African slave labor for that of the Indians in Cuba, he +having noticed that the natives, entirely unused to labor, sunk under +the hard tasks imposed upon them, while the robuster negroes thrived +under the same circumstances. But negro slavery did not originate with +Las Casas. Spain had been engaged in the slave trade for years, and long +prior to the discovery of America by Columbus; and Zuniga tells us that +they abounded in Seville. Consequently Spanish emigrants from the old +world brought their slaves with them to Cuba, and the transportation of +negro slaves, born in slavery among Christians, was sanctioned expressly +by royal ordinances. Ferdinand sent over fifty slaves to labor in the +royal mines: Las Casas pleaded for the further employment of negroes, +and consequent extension of the slave trade. "But covetousness," says +Bancroft, "and not a mistaken benevolence, established the slave trade, +which had nearly received its development before the charity of Las +Casas was heard in defence of the Indians. Reason, policy and religion +alike condemned the traffic." + +Cardinal Ximenes, the grand inquisitor of Spain, protested against the +introduction of negroes in Hispaniola, foreseeing the dangers incident +to their increase; and three centuries later the successful revolt of +the slaves of Hayti, the first place in America which received African +slaves, justified his intelligent predictions and forebodings. England +embarked largely in the slave trade, and Queen Elizabeth shared in the +guilty profits of the traffic. In the year 1713, when, after a period of +rest, the slave trade was resumed, the English purchased of Spain a +monopoly of the trade with the Spanish colonies, and she carried it on +with great vigor and pecuniary success, until she had completely stocked +these islands with blacks. In the year 1763 their number was estimated +at sixty thousand. This fact will enable us to appreciate as it deserves +the extreme modesty of the British government in fomenting abolition +schemes in the island of Cuba, after contributing so largely to the +creation of an evil which appears almost irremediable. We say a +realizing sense of the circumstances of the case will enable us rightly +to appreciate the character of the British government's philanthropy. We +applaud England for her efforts at the suppression of the slave +trade,--a traffic which all the powers of Christendom, Spain excepted, +have united to crush,--but we cannot patiently contemplate her efforts +to interfere with the internal economy of other countries, when she +herself, as in the case of the Spanish colonies and of the United +States, has so weighty a share of responsibility in the condition of +things as they now exist; to say nothing of the social condition of her +own subjects, which so imperatively demands that her charity should +begin at home. + +We have said that Spain alone, of the great powers, has not done her +part in the suppression of the slave trade.[52] She is solemnly pledged +by treaty stipulations, to make unceasing war against it, and yet she +tacitly connives at its continuance, and all the world knows that slaves +are monthly, almost weekly, landed in Cuba. Notorious is it that the +captains-general have regularly pocketed a fee of one doubloon or more +for every slave landed, and that this has been a prolific source of +wealth to them. The exceptions to this have been few, and the evidences +are indisputable. Within a league of the capital are several large +barracoons, as they are called, where the newly-imported slaves are +kept, and offered for sale in numbers. The very fact that these +establishments exist so near to Havana, is a circumstance from which +each one may draw his own inference. No one can travel in Cuba without +meeting on the various plantations groups of the newly-imported +Africans. Valdez, who strenuously enforced the treaty obligations +relative to the trade, without regard to private interest, was traduced +by the Spaniards, and by their management fell into disfavor with his +government at home. O'Donnell deluged the island with slaves during his +administration, and filled his coffers with the fees accruing therefrom. +Since his time the business has gone on,--to be sure less openly, and +under necessary restrictions, but nevertheless with great pecuniary +profit. + +At the same time the Spanish authorities have, while thus increasing the +numbers of savage Africans reduced to a state of slavery, constantly +endeavored to weaken the bonds of attachment between master and slave, +and to ferment the unnatural hatred of races with the fearful design of +preparing another St. Domingo for the Cubans, should they dare to strike +a strenuous blow for freedom. + +We have thus seen that the Spanish crown is directly responsible for the +introduction of slavery into Cuba, and that crown officers, invested +with more than vice-regal authority, have sanctioned, up to this day, +the accumulation and the aggravation of the evil. It is now clearly +evident that the slave-trade will continue so long as the island of Cuba +remains under the Spanish flag. The British government have remonstrated +again and again with Spain, against this long-continued infraction of +treaties; but the dogged obstinacy of the Spanish character has been +proof against remonstrance and menace. She merits the loss of Cuba for +her persistent treachery and perfidy, leaving out of the account a long +list of foul wrongs practised upon the colony, the enormous burthen of +taxes placed upon it, and the unequalled rigor of its rule. The time has +come when the progress of civilization demands that the island shall +pass into the hands of some power possessed of the ability and the will +to crush out this remnant of barbarism. That power is clearly designated +by the hand of Providence. No European nation can dream of obtaining +Cuba; no administration in this country could stand up for one moment +against the overwhelming indignation of the people, should it be weak +enough to acquiesce in the transfer of Cuba to any European power. The +island must be Spanish or American. Had it been the property of a +first-rate power, of any other European sovereignty but Spain, it would +long since have been a cause of war. It is only the imbecile weakness of +Spain that has thus far protected her against the consequences of a +continuous course of perfidy, tyranny and outrage. But the impunity of +the feeble and the forbearance of the strong have their limits; and +nations, like individuals, are amenable to the laws of retributive +justice. + +The present condition of Spain is a striking illustration of the +mutability of fortune, from which states, no more than individuals, are +exempted. We read of such changes in the destinies of ancient +empires,--the decadence of Egypt, the fall of Assyria, and Babylon, and +Byzantium, and Rome; but their glory and fall were both so far distant +in the recess of time, that their history seems, to all of us who have +not travelled and inspected the monuments which attest the truth of +these events, a sort of romance: whereas, in the case of Spain, we +realize its greatness, and behold its fall! One reason why we feel so +deep an interest in the fate of the Castilian power, is that the history +of Spain is so closely interwoven with that of our own country,--discovered +and colonized as it was under the auspices of the Spanish government. We +owe our very existence to Spain, and from the close of the fifteenth +century our histories have run on in parallel lines. But while America +has gone on increasing in the scale of destiny, in grandeur, power and +wealth, poor Spain has sunk in the scale of destiny, with a rapidity of +decadence no less astonishing than the speed of our own progress. The +discovery of America, as before alluded to, seemed to open to Spain a +boundless source of wealth and splendid power; triumphs awaited her arms +in both North and South America. Cortes in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru +added vast territory and millions of treasure to the national wealth. +But we have seen how sure is retribution. One by one those ill-gotten +possessions have escaped the grasp of the mother country; and now, in +her old age, poor, and enfeebled, and worn out, she clings, with the +death-gripe of a plundered and expiring miser, to her last earthly +possession in the New World. + +Moved in some degree by the same spirit that actuates the home +government, the Cubans have heretofore viewed anything that looked like +an attempt at improvement with a suspicious eye; they have learned to +fear innovation; but this trait is yielding, as seen in the introduction +of railroads, telegraphs, and even the lighting of the city of Havana by +gas,--all done by Americans, who had first to contend with great +opposition, and to run imminent risks and lavish energy and money; but +when these things are once in the course of successful experiment, none +are more ready than the Cubans to approve. This same characteristic, a +clinging to the past and a fear of advancement, seems to have imparted +itself to the very scenery of the island, for everything here appears +to be of centuries in age, reminding one of the idea he has formed of +the hallowed East. The style of the buildings is not dissimilar to that +which is found throughout the Orient, and the trees and vegetable +products increase the resemblance. Particularly in approaching Havana +from the interior, the view of the city resembles almost precisely the +Scriptural picture of Jerusalem. The tall, majestic palms, with their +tufted tops, the graceful cocoanut tree, and many other peculiarities, +give to the scenery of Cuba an Eastern aspect, very impressive to the +stranger. It is impossible to describe to one who has not visited the +tropics, the bright vividness with which each object, artificial or +natural, house or tree, stands out in the clear liquid light, where +there is no haze nor smoke to interrupt the view. Indeed, it is +impossible to express fully how _everything_ differs in Cuba from our +own country, so near at hand. The language, the people, the climate, the +manners and customs, the architecture, the foliage, the flowers and +general products, all and each afford broad contrasts to what the +American has ever seen at home. But a long cannon-shot, as it were, off +our southern coast, yet once upon its soil, the visitor seems to have +been transported into another quarter of the globe, the first impression +being, as we have said, decidedly of an Oriental character. But little +effort of the imagination would be required to believe oneself in +distant Syria, or some remote part of Asia. + +But let us recur for one moment to the subject of the slaves from which +we have unwittingly digressed. On the plantations the slaves have some +rude musical instruments, which they manufacture themselves, and which +emit a dull monotonous sound, to the cadence of which they sit by +moonlight and sing or chant, for hours together. One of these +instruments is a rude drum to the beating of which they perform +grotesque dances, with unwearying feet, really surprising the looker-on +by their power of endurance in sustaining themselves in vigorous +dancing. Generally, or as is often the case, a part of Saturday of each +week is granted to the slaves, when they may frequently be seen engaged +at ball, playing a curious game after their own fashion. This time of +holiday many prefer to pass in working upon their own allotted piece of +ground and in raising favorite vegetables and fruits, or corn for the +fattening of the pig hard by, and for which the drovers, who regularly +visit the plantations for the purpose, will pay them in good golden +doubloons. It is thought that the city slave has a less arduous task +than those in the country, for he is little exposed to the sun, and is +allowed many privileges, such for instance as attending church, and in +this the negroes seem to take particular delight, especially if well +dressed. A few gaudy ribbons, and nice glass beads of high color are +vastly prized by both sexes of the slaves in town and country. In the +cities some mistresses take pleasure in decking out their immediate male +and female attendants in fine style with gold ornaments in profusion. +There was one beautiful sight the writer particularly noticed in the +church of Santa Clara, viz: that before the altar all distinction was +dropped, and the negro knelt beside the Don. + +The virgin soil of Cuba is so rich that a touch of the hoe prepares it +for the plant, or, as Douglass Jerrold says of Australia, "just tickle +her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest." So fertile a soil is not +known to exist in any other portion of the globe. It sometimes produces +three crops to the year, and in ordinary seasons two may be relied +upon,--the consequence is that the Monteros have little more to do than +merely to gather the produce they daily carry to market, and which also +forms so large a portion of their own healthful and palatable food. The +profusion of its flora and the variety of its forests are unsurpassed, +while the multitude of its climbing shrubs gives a luxuriant richness to +its scenery, which contributes to make it one of the most fascinating +countries in the world. Nowhere are the necessities of life so easily +supplied, or man so delicately nurtured. + +The richest soil of the island is the black, which is best adapted to +the purpose of the sugar-planter, and for this purpose it is usually +chosen. So productive is this description of land that the extensive +sugar plantations, once fairly started, will run for years, without the +soil being even turned, new cane starting up from the old roots, year +after year, with abundant crops. This is a singular fact to us who are +accustomed to see so much of artificial means expended upon the soil to +enable it to bear even an ordinary crop to the husbandman. The red soil +is less rich, and is better adapted to the planting of coffee, being +generally preferred for this purpose, while the mulatto-colored earth is +considered inferior, but still is very productive and is improved by the +Monteros for planting tobacco, being first prepared with a mixture of +the other two descriptions of soil which together form the richest +compost, next to guano, known in agriculture. + +Coal is fortunately found on the island, of a bituminous nature; had +this not been the case, the numerous steam engines which are now at work +on the plantations would have soon consumed every vestige of wood on the +island, though by proper economy the planter can save much by burning +the refuse cane. The soil is also rich in mineral wealth, particularly +in copper, iron and loadstone. Gold and silver mines have been opened, +and in former times were worked extensively, but are now entirely +abandoned. The copper mines near Sagua la Grande in 1841 yielded about +four millions of dollars, but the exactions of the government were such +that they greatly reduced the yield of the ore. An export duty of five +per cent. was at first imposed upon the article: finally the exportation +was prohibited altogether, unless shipped to old Spain, with a view of +compelling the owners to smelt it in that country. These arbitrary +measures soon reduced the profit of the business, and the working of +the mines from producing in 1841 four millions, to about two by 1845, +and finally they were abandoned. + +And now is it to be wondered at that the Creoles should groan under the +load of oppressions forced upon them as depicted in the foregoing pages? +No! On the contrary we feel that they are too forbearing, and look to +the enervating influence of their clime as an excuse for their +supineness under such gross wrongs. Their lovely climate and beautiful +land are made gloomy by the persecutions of their oppressors; their +exuberant soil groans with the burthens that are heaped upon it. They +are not safe from prying inquiry at bed or board, and their every action +is observed, their slightest words noted. They can sing no song not in +praise of royalty, and even to hum an air wedded to republican verse is +to provoke suspicion and perhaps arrest. The press is muzzled by the +iron hand of power, and speaks only in adulation of a distant queen and +a corrupt court. Foreign soldiers fatten upon the people, eating out +their substance, and every village near the coast of the island is a +garrison, every interior town is environed with bayonets! + +A vast deal has been said about the impregnable harbor of Havana, the +"Gibraltar of America" being its common designation, but modern military +science acknowledges no place to be impregnable. A thousand chances +might happen which would give the place to an invading force; besides +which it has been already twice taken; and though it may be said that +on these occasions it was not nearly so well garrisoned as now, neither +so well armed or manned, the reply is also ready that it has never been +besieged by such a force as could now be brought against it, to say +nothing of the vast advantage afforded by the modern facilities for +destruction.[53] Were not the _inaccessible_ heights of Abraham scaled +in a night? and how easily the impregnable fortress of San Juan de Ulloa +fell! Havana could be attacked from the land side and easily taken by a +resolute enemy. With the exception of this one fortress, the Moro, and +the fort in its rear, the Cabensas, the island is very poorly defended, +and is accessible to an invading force in almost any direction, either +on the east, west, or south coast. Matanzas, but sixty miles from +Havana, could be taken by a small force from the land side, and serve as +a depot from whence to operate, should a systematic effort be organized. +Cuba's boasted strength is chimerical. + +Steam and the telegraph are revolutionizing all business relations and +the course of trade. A line of steamers, one of the best in the world, +runs between New York and Havana, also New Orleans and Havana. By this +means all important intelligence reaches Cuba in advance of any other +source, and through this country. By the telegraph, Havana is brought +within three days' communication with New York and Boston. All +important advices must continue to reach the island through the United +States, and the people must still look to this country for political and +commercial information, and to the movement of our markets for the +regulation of their own trade and commerce. New Orleans has become the +great centre to which their interests will naturally tend; and thus we +see another strong tie of common interest established between the island +of Cuba and the United States. + +Naturally belonging to this country by every rule that can be applied, +the writer believes that Cuba will ere long be politically ours. As the +wise and good rejoice in the extension of civilization, refinement, the +power of religion and high-toned morality, they will look forward +hopefully to such an event. Once a part of this great confederacy, Cuba +would immediately catch the national spirit and genius of our +institutions, and the old Castilian state of dormancy would give way to +Yankee enterprise, her length and breadth would be made to smile like a +New England landscape Her sons and daughters would be fully awakened to +a true sense of their own responsibility, intelligence would be sown +broadcast, and the wealth of wisdom would shine among the cottages of +the poor. + +In the place of the rolling drum and piercing fife, would be heard the +clink of the hammer and the merry laugh of untrammelled spirits. The +bayonets that bristle now on every hill-side would give place to waving +corn, and bright fields of grain. The honest Montero would lay aside +his Toledo blade and pistol holsters, and the citizen who went abroad +after sunset would go unarmed. Modern churches, dedicated to pure +Christianity, would raise their lofty spires and point towards heaven +beside those ancient and time-eaten cathedrals. The barrack rooms and +guard stations, in every street, town or village, would be transformed +into school-houses, and the trade winds of the tropics would sweep over +a new Republic! + +[Illustration: CHARACTERISTIC STREET SCENE.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[52] English authorities,--Sir F. Buxton in the van,--declare that the +extent of the slave trade has but slightly diminished, while the +restrictions under which it is now carried on renders it more fatal than +ever to the blacks. + +[53] "It is as well secured as it probably could be against an attack +from the harbor, but could still be assailed with effect in the same way +in which the French succeeded against Algiers, by landing a sufficient +force in the rear."--_Alexander H. Everett._ + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Area of Cuba--Extent of cultivated and uncultivated + lands--Population--Proportion between the sexes--Ratio of legitimate + to illegitimate births--Ratio between births and + deaths--Agricultural statistics--Commerce and commercial + regulations--Custom-house and port charges--Exports and + imports--Trade with the United States--Universities and + schools--Education--Charitable institutions--Railroads--Temperature. + + +In addition to the statistical information incidentally contained in the +preceding pages, we have prepared the following tables and statements +from authentic sources, giving a general view of the resources, +population, wealth, products and commerce, etc., of the island, with +other items of interest and importance. + +_Area of Cuba._--Humboldt states the area of the island to be 43,380 +geographical square miles. Mr. Turnbull puts it at 31,468, and, adding +the areas of its dependencies, namely, the Isle of Pines, Turignano, +Romano, Guajaba, Coco, Cruz, Paredon Grande, Barril, De Puerto, +Eusenachos, Frances, Largo, and other smaller islands, makes the total +32,807 square miles. + + Years. Population. + 1775, 170,370. + 1791, 272,140. + 1817, 551,998. + 1827, 704,487, viz.: + + Whites, male, 168,653 Free colored, males, 51,962 + " female, 142,398 " females, 54,532 + -------- ------- + 311,051 106,494 + +Slaves, 183,290 males, and 103,652 females, = 286,942. Total colored, +393,436. Excess of colored over white population, 82,305. + + Year 1841-- + Whites, 418,291 + Free colored, 152,838 + Slaves, 436,495 + --------- + Total, 1,007,624 + Excess of colored over white, 171,042 + + Year 1851-- + Whites, 605,560 + Free colored, 205,570 + Slaves, 442,000 + -------- + Total, 1,253,130 + + Year 1854-- + Total population, 1,500,000 + +_Proportions between the sexes._--In 1774 the white males formed 58 per +cent., and the females 42 per cent., of the population; free colored, +males, 52, females, 48; male slaves, 65, females, 35. Total, males, 58 +per cent., females, 42. + + In 1792 the proportion was-- + Whites, males, 0.55 + " females, 0.45 + Free colored, males, 0.47 + " females, 0.53 + Slaves, males, 0.56 + " females, 0.44 + Total, males, 0.53 + " females, 0.47 + + In 1817-- + Whites, males, 0.55 + " females, 0.45 + Free colored, males, 0.52 + " females, 0.48 + Slaves, males, 0.62 + " females, 0.38 + Total, males, 0.57 + " females, 0.43 + + In 1827-- + Whites, males, 0.54 + " females, 0.46 + Free colored, males, 0.48 + " females, 0.52 + Slaves, males, 0.64 + + Slaves, females, 0.36 + Total, males, 0.56 + " females, 0.44 + +In Paris, the ratio is 54.5 per cent. males, to 45.5 females; in +England, 50.3 per cent. males, and 49.7 per cent. females, and in the +United States, 51 per cent. males, and 49 per cent. females. + +The ratio of legitimate to illegitimate births, deduced from the +observations of five years, is as follows: + + 2.1136 to 1 among the whites; + 0.5058 to 1 among the colored; + 1.0216 to 1 in the total. + +That is to say, establishing the comparison per centum, as in the +proportion of the sexes, we have: + + Whites, 67.8 per cent. legitimate, and 32.2 per cent. illegitimate. + Colored, 33.7 " " " 66.3 " " + Total, 50.5 " " " 49.5 " " + +No capital or people of Europe, Stockholm alone excepted, offers so +startling a result, nearly one half the number of births being +illegitimate. + +Taking the average from the statements of births for five years, we find +that in every 100 legitimate whites there are 51.1 males, and 48.9 +females; and in an equal number of illegitimate, 49 males, and 51 +females. Among people of color, in 100 legitimate births, 50.6 males, +and 49.4 females; and in the illegitimate, 47.2 males, and 52.8 females. +And finally, that, comparing the totals, we obtain in the legitimate, +51.6 males, and 48.4 females; and in the illegitimate, 47.1 males, and +52.9 females. Consequently these observations show that in Cuba, in the +illegitimate births, the number of males is much less than that of +females, and the contrary in the legitimate births. + + _Ratio between the Births and Deaths for five years._ + +------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + | | 1825 | 1826 | 1827 | 1828 | 1829 | + | +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + | Births, | 3,129 | 3,443 | 3,491 | 3,705 | 3,639 | + | Deaths, | 2,698 | 2,781 | 3,077 | 3,320 | 3,712 | + | Difference,| 431 | 662 | 414 | 385 | 73 | + +------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + +_Agriculture._--The total number of acres comprising the whole territory +is 14,993,024. Of these, in 1830, there were used: + + In sugar-cane plantations, 172,608 + " coffee trees, 184,352 + " tobacco, 54,448 + " lesser or garden and fruit culture, 823,424 + -------- + Total acres, 1,234,832 + +Leaving over 13,000,000 of acres uncultivated. Some of these +uncultivated lands are appropriated to grazing, others to settlements +and towns; the remainder occupied by mountains, roads, coasts, rivers +and lakes,--the greater part, however, wild. + + Total value of lands in 1830, $94,396,300 + Value of buildings, utensils, etc., 55,603,850 + +The different products of cultivation were valued as follows: + + Sugar canes in the ground, $6,068,877 + Coffee trees, 32,500,000 + Fruit trees, vegetables, etc., 46,940,700 + Tobacco plants, 340,620 + ----------- + Total value of plants, 85,850,197 + Total value of wood exported, consumed + on the island and made into charcoal, $3,818,493 + Minimum value of the forests, 190,624,000 + Value of 138,982 slaves, at $300 each, 41,694,600 + Total value of live stock, 39,617,885 + + +RECAPITULATION. + + Lands, $94,396,300 + Plants, including timber, 276,774,367 + Buildings, engines and utensils, 54,603,850 + Slaves, 41,694,600 + Animals, 39,617,885 + ----------- + 507,087,002 + ----------- + Representative value of capital invested, 317,264,832 + + +VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. + + Sugar, $8,132,609 + Molasses, 262,932 + Coffee, 4,325,292 + Cocoa, 74,890 + ---------- + Carried forward, 12,795,723 + + Brought forward, $12,795,723 + Cotton, 125,000 + Leaf tobacco, 687,240 + Rice, 454,230 + Beans, peas, onions, etc., 257,260 + Indian corn, 4,853,418 + Vegetables and fruits, 11,475,712 + Grapes, 5,586,616 + Casada, 146,144 + Charcoal, 2,107,300 + Woods or the products of woods, 1,741,195 + ---------- + Total value of vegetable productions, 40,229,838 + Total value of animal productions, 9,023,116 + ---------- + 49,252,954 + + Total _net_ product of agricultural + and rural industry 22,808,622 + Capital invested, $338,917,705, produces, 48,839,928 + + +COMMERCE AND COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. + +_Import duties._--The rate of duty charged on the importation of foreign +produce and manufactures in foreign bottoms is 24-1/2 and 30-1/4 on the +tariff valuation of each article, while the same articles in Spanish +bottoms, from a foreign port, pay 17-1/2 and 21-1/4 per cent. + +_Export duties._--Foreign flag for any port, 6-1/4 per cent. on tariff +valuation. + +Spanish flag for a foreign port, 4-1/2 per cent. on tariff valuation. + +Spanish flag for Spanish port, 2-1/4 per cent. on tariff valuation; +except leaf tobacco, which pays 12-1/2, 6-1/4 and 2-1/4 per cent., +according to the flag and destination. + +An additional per centage, under various pretexts, is also levied on the +total amount of all duties. + +Foreign flour is subject to a duty that is nearly prohibitory. + +Gold and silver are free of import duty, but pay, the former 1-1/4 and +the latter 2-1/4 per cent., export. + +Every master of a vessel, on entering port, is obliged to present two +manifests of his cargo and stores,--one to the boarding officers, and +the other at the time of making entry and taking both the oaths, +twenty-four hours after his arrival, with permission of making any +necessary corrections within the twelve working hours; and every +consignee is required to deliver a detailed invoice of each cargo to +his, her or their consignment, within forty-eight hours after the vessel +has entered port, and heavy penalties are incurred from mere omission or +inaccuracy. + +The tonnage duty on foreign vessels is 12 rials, or $1.50, per register +ton. + +On vessels arriving and departing in ballast or putting in in distress +no duty is levied. + +Besides the tonnage duty, every foreign square-rigged vessel entering +and loading incurs about $85 expenses, besides $5.50 for each day +occupied in discharging. Foreign fore-and-aft vessels pay about $15 less +port charges. + +The tonnage duties and port charges are very high. Foreign vessels pay +$8.50 per ton. In the port of Havana an additional duty of 21-7/8 cents +per ton is levied on all vessels for the support of the dredging +machine. + +The wharf charges on foreign vessels are $1.50 for each 100 tons +register. + +The light-house duties, officers' fees, etc., vary at the different +ports of the island, but are exorbitantly high in all. At Baracoa, for +instance, the following is the tariff of exactions: + + Tonnage duty, per ton, $1.50 + Anchorage, 12.00 + Free pass at the fort, 3.00 + Health officer, 8.00 + Interpreter, 5.00 + Inspector's fee for sealing hatchway, 5.00 + Inspecting vessel's register, 8.00 + Clearance, 8.00 + +The actual expenses of discharging a foreign vessel of 160-4/95 tons, +which remained a fortnight in the port of Havana, amounted to $900. + + +IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF CUBA FOR A SERIES OF SIXTEEN YEARS. + + Years. Imports. Exports. + + 1826 $14,925,754 $13,809,838 + 1827 17,352,854 14,286,192 + 1828 19,534,922 13,114,362 + 1829 18,695,856 13,952,405 + 1830 16,171,562 15,870,968 + 1831 15,548,791 12,918,711 + 1832 15,198,465 13,595,017 + 1834 18,511,132 13,996,100 + 1835 18,563,300 14,487,955 + 1836 20,722,072 14,059,246 + 1837 22,551,969 15,398,245 + 1838 22,940,357 20,346,407 + 1839 24,729,878 20,471,102 + 1840 25,217,796 21,481,848 + 1841 24,700,189 25,941,783 + 1842 24,637,527 26,684,701 + +During the last year (1842), the imports from the United States were, + + In Spanish vessels, $474,262 + In Foreign do., $5,725,959 + +Exports to the United States for the same year, + + In Spanish vessels, $243,683 + In Foreign do., $5,038,891 + + Total imports from the United States, $6,200,219 + " exports to do., $5,282,574 + + Total number of arrivals in Spanish ports (1842), 2657 + " clearances from do., 2727 + +The following table exhibits the exports from the principal towns in +1848: + + _North Side of the Island._ + + Havana. Matanzas. Cardenas. Sagua la + Grande. + + Sugar (boxes) 671,440 318,931 13,900 34,628 + Coffee (arrobas, 25lbs. each) 93,797 61,251 1,094 + Molasses (hhds.) 25,886 61,793 60,508 8,327 + Rum (pipes) 10,479 1 + Cigars (thousands) 136,980 62 + + Mariel. Gibaro. Remedios. Neuvitas. Baracoa. + Sugar (boxes) 1,648 5,595 4,293 + Coffee (arrobas) 16,241 114 + Molasses (hhds.) 8,336 16,201 1,880 5,030 + Rum (pipes) 223 + Cigars (boxes, 1000 each) 588 88 2,061 247 + Tobacco (lbs.) 1,867,736 2,267 102,168 + + _South Side._ + + Manzanilla. Trinidad. St. Jago Cienfuegos. Santa + de Cuba. Cruz. + Sugar (boxes) 115 69,656 31,298 59,215 198 + Coffee (arrobas) 3,609 548,432 128 + Molasses (hhds.) 1,475 26,175 857 14,160 997 + Rum (pipes) 60 554 379 181 + Tobacco (lbs.) 315,570 1,208,536 5,000 2,669 + Cigars (thousands) 542 399 4,575 41 155 + Copper ore (lbs.) 571,826 + +_Universities, Schools, etc._--Besides the Royal University at Havana, +there are several other learned institutes, such as the Royal Seminary +of San Carlos y San Ambrosio, founded in 1773; a seminary for girls, +founded in 1691; a free school for sculpture and painting, which dates +from 1818; a free mercantile school, and some private seminaries, to +which we have before referred. The Royal Economical Society of Havana, +formerly called the Patriotic Society, was established in 1793, and is +divided into three principal sections, on education, agriculture, +commerce and popular industry; a department of history has been added. +Several eminent and talented men have given eclat to this institution. + +The Medical School was organized in 1842. + +The means of general education are very narrow and inadequate. No report +on the state of education in the island has been published since 1836. +At that time, there were two hundred and ten schools for white, and +thirty-one for colored children. In 1842, the public funds for +educational purposes were reduced from thirty-two thousand to eight +thousand dollars. Nueva Filipina, in a rich tobacco-growing district, +with a population of thirty thousand souls, had but one school for forty +pupils, a few years since. + +_Charitable Institutions, Hospitals, etc._--There are several charitable +institutions in Havana, with ample funds and well managed. Such are the +Casa Real de Beneficencia, the Hospital of San Lazaro and the Foundling +Hospital,--Casa Real de Maternidad. In other parts of the island, there +are eighteen hospitals, located in its chief towns. + +_Railroads._--The first railroad built in Cuba was that from Havana to +Guines, forty-five miles in length, completed and opened in 1839. In +1848, there were two hundred and eighty-five miles of railroads on the +island, and the capital invested in them has been computed at between +five and six millions of dollars. + +_Climate._--The diversity of surface gives rise to considerable +variation in temperature. On the highest mountain ridges, at four +thousand feet above the level of the sea, ice is sometimes formed in mid +winter, but snow is unknown. + +The mean temperature of the hottest months (July and August) is about +83 deg. Fahrenheit. The coldest months are January and December. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Retrospective thoughts--The bright side and dark side of the + picture--Cuban institutions contrasted with our own--Political + sentiments of the Creoles--War footing--Loyalty of the + colony--Native men of genius--The Cubans not willing slaves--Our own + revolution--Apostles of rebellion--Moral of the Lopez + expedition--Jealousy of Spain--Honorable position of our + government--Spanish aggressions on our flag--Purchase of the + island--Distinguished conservative opinion--The end. + + +It is with infinite reluctance that the temporary sojourner in Cuba +leaves her delicious shores, and takes his farewell look at their +enchanting features. A brief residence in the island passes like a +midsummer night's dream, and it requires a strenuous effort of the mind +to arrive at the conviction that the memories one brings away with him +are not delusive sports of the imagination. Smiling skies and smiling +waters, groves of palm and orange, the bloom of the heliotrope, the +jessamine, and the rose, flights of strange and gaudy birds, tropic +nights at once luxurious and calm, clouds of fire-flies floating like +unsphered stars on the night breeze, graceful figures of dark-eyed +senoritas in diaphanous drapery, picturesque groups of Monteros, +relieved by the dusky faces and stalwart forms of the sons of Africa, +undulating volantes, military pageants, ecclesiastical processions, +frowning fortresses, grim batteries, white sails, fountains raining +silver,--all these images mingle together in brilliant and kaleidoscopic +combinations, changing and varying as the mind's eye seeks to fix their +features. Long after his departure from the enchanting island the +traveller beholds these visions in the still watches of the night, and +again he listens to the dash of the sea-green waves at the foot of the +Moro and the Punta, the roll of the drum and the crash of arms upon the +ramparts, and the thrilling strains of music from the military band in +the Plaza de Armas. The vexations incident to all travel, and meted out +in no stinted measure to the visitor at Cuba, are amply repaid by the +spectacles it presents. + + "----It is a goodly sight to see + What Heaven hath done for this delicious land! + What fruits of fragrance blush on every tree! + What goodly prospects o'er the hills expand!" + +If it were possible to contemplate only the beauties that nature has so +prodigally lavished on this Eden of the Gulf, shutting out all that man +has done and is still doing to mar the blessings of Heaven, then a visit +to or residence in Cuba would present a succession of unalloyed +pleasures equal to a poet's dream. But it is impossible, even if it +would be desirable, to exclude the dark side of the picture. The +American traveller, particularly, keenly alive to the social and +political aspects of life, appreciates in full force the evils that +challenge his observation at every step, and in every view which he may +take. If he contrast the natural scenery with the familiar pictures of +home, he cannot help also contrasting the political condition of the +people with that of his own country. The existence, almost under the +shadow of the flag of the freest institutions the earth ever knew, of a +government as purely despotic as that of the autocrat of all the +Russias, is a monstrous fact that startles the most indifferent +observer. It must be seen to be realized. To go hence to Cuba is not +merely passing over a few degrees of latitude in a few days' sail,--it +is a step from the nineteenth century back into the dark ages. In the +clime of sun and endless summer, we are in the land of starless +political darkness. Lying under the lee of a land where every man is a +sovereign, is a realm where the lives, liberties, and fortunes of all +are held at the tenure of the will of a single individual, and whence +not a single murmur of complaint can reach the ear of the nominal ruler +more than a thousand leagues away in another hemisphere. In close +proximity to a country where the taxes, self-imposed, are so light as to +be almost unfelt, is one where each free family pays nearly four hundred +dollars per annum for the support of a system of bigoted tyranny, +yielding in the aggregate an annual revenue of twenty-five millions of +dollars for which they receive no equivalent,--no representation, no +utterance, for pen and tongue are alike proscribed,--no honor, no +office, no emolument; while their industry is crippled, their +intercourse with other nations hampered in every way, their bread +literally snatched from their lips, the freedom of education denied, and +every generous, liberal aspiration of the human soul stifled in its +birth. And this in the nineteenth century, and in North America. + +Such are the contrasts, broad and striking, and such the reflections +forced upon the mind of the citizen of the United States in Cuba. Do +they never occur to the minds of the Creoles? We are told that they are +willing slaves. Spain tells us so, and she extols to the world with +complacent mendacity the loyalty of her "_siempre fielissima isla de +Cuba_." But why does she have a soldier under arms for every four white +adults? We were about to say, white male citizens, but there are no +citizens in Cuba. A proportionate military force in this country would +give us a standing army of more than a million bayonets, with an annual +expenditure, reckoning each soldier to cost only two hundred dollars per +annum, of more than two hundred millions of dollars. And this is the +peace establishment of Spain in Cuba--for England and France and the +United States are all her allies, and she has no longer to fear the +roving buccaneers of the Gulf who once made her tremble in her island +fastness. For whom then is this enormous warlike preparation? Certainly +for no external enemy,--there is none. The question answers itself,--it +is for her very loyal subjects, the people of Cuba, that the queen of +Spain makes all this warlike show. + +It is impossible to conceive of any degree of loyalty that would be +proof against the unparalleled burthens and atrocious system by which +the mother country has ever loaded and weighed down her western +colonists. They must be either more or less than men if they still +cherish attachment to a foreign throne under such circumstances. But the +fact simply is, the Creoles of Cuba are neither angels nor brutes; they +are, it is true, a long-suffering and somewhat indolent people, lacking +in a great degree the stern qualities of the Anglo-Saxon and the +Anglo-Norman races, but nevertheless intelligent, if wanting culture, +and not without those noble aspirations for independence and freedom, +destitute of which they would cease to be men, justly forfeiting all +claim to our sympathy and consideration. During the brief intervals in +which a liberal spirit was manifested towards the colony by the home +government, the Cubans gave proof of talent and energy, which, had they +been permitted to attain their full development, would have given them a +highly honorable name and distinguished character. When the field for +genius was comparatively clear, Cuba produced more than one statesman +and man of science, who would have done honor to a more favored land. + +But these cheering rays of light were soon extinguished, and the +fluctuating policy of Spain settled down into the rayless and brutal +despotism which has become its normal condition, and a double darkness +closed upon the political and intellectual prospects of Cuba. But the +people are not, and have not been the supine and idle victims of +tyranny which Spain depicts them. The reader, who has indulgently +followed us thus far, will remember the several times they have +attempted, manacled as they are, to free their limbs from the chains +that bind them. It is insulting and idle to say that they might have +been free if they had earnestly desired and made the effort for freedom. +Who can say what would have been the result of our own struggle for +independence, if Great Britain, at the outset, had been as well prepared +for resistance as Spain has always been in Cuba? Who can say how long +and painful would have been the struggle, if one of the most powerful +military nations of Europe had not listened to our despairing appeal, +and thrown the weight of her gold and her arms into the scale against +our great enemy? When we see how--as we do clearly--in a single night +the well-contrived schemes of an adroit and unprincipled knave enslaved +a brilliant and warlike people, like the French, who had more than once +tasted the fruits of republican glory and liberty, who had borne their +free flag in triumph over more than half of Europe, we can understand +why the Cubans, overawed from the very outset, by the presence of a +force vastly greater in proportion than that which enslaved France, have +been unable to achieve their deliverance. Nay, more--when we consider +the system pursued by the government of the island, the impossibility of +forming assemblages, and of concerting action, the presence of troops +and spies everywhere, the compulsory silence of the press--the +violation of the sanctity of correspondence, the presence of a slave +population, we can only wonder that any effort has been made, any step +taken in that fatal pathway of revolution which leads infallibly to the +_garrote_. + +If Cuba lies at present under the armed heel of despotism we may be sure +that the anguish of her sons is keenly aggravated by their perfect +understanding of our own liberal institutions, and an earnest, if +fruitless desire to participate in their enjoyment. It is beyond the +power of the Spanish government to keep the people of the island in a +state of complete darkness, as it seems to desire to do. The young men +of Cuba educated at our colleges and schools, the visitors from the +United States, and American merchants established on the island, are all +so many apostles of republicanism, and propagandists of treason and +rebellion. Nor can the captains-general with all their vigilance, +exclude what they are pleased to call incendiary newspapers and +documents from pretty extensive circulation among the "ever faithful." +That liberal ideas and hatred of Spanish despotism are widely +entertained among the Cubans is a fact no one who has passed a brief +period among them can truthfully deny. The writer of these pages avers, +from his personal knowledge, that they await only the means and the +opportunity to rise in rebellion against Spain. We are too far distant +to see more than the light smoke, but those who have trodden the soil of +Cuba have sounded the depths of the volcano. The history of the +unfortunate Lopez expedition proves nothing contrary to this. The force +under Lopez afforded too weak a nucleus, was too hastily thrown upon the +island, too ill prepared, and too untimely attacked, to enable the +native patriots to rally round its standard, and thus to second the +efforts of the invaders. With no ammunition nor arms to spare, recruits +would have only added to the embarrassment of the adventurers. Yet had +Lopez been joined by the brave but unfortunate Crittenden, with what +arms and ammunition he possessed, had he gained some fastness where he +could have been disciplining his command, until further aid arrived, the +adventure might have had a very different termination from what we have +recorded in an early chapter of this book. + +Disastrous as was the result of the Lopez expedition, it nevertheless +proved two important facts: first, the bravery of the Cubans, a small +company of whom drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet; and, +secondly, the inefficiency of Spanish troops when opposed by resolute +men. If a large force of picked Spanish troops were decimated and routed +in two actions, by a handful of ill-armed and undisciplined men, taken +by surprise, we are justified in believing that if an effective force of +ten thousand men, comprising the several arms, of cavalry, artillery, +and infantry, had been thrown into the island, they would have carried +all before them. With such a body of men to rally upon, the Cubans would +have risen in the departments of the island, and her best transatlantic +jewel would have been torn from the diadem of Spain. + +That the Spanish government lives in constant dread of a renewal of the +efforts on the part of Americans and exiled Cubans to aid the +disaffected people of the island in throwing off its odious yoke, is a +notorious fact, and there are evidences in the conduct of its officials +towards those of this government that it regards the latter as secretly +favoring such illegal action. Yet the steps taken by our government to +crush any such attempts have been decided enough to satisfy any but a +jealous and unreasonable power. President Fillmore, in his memorable +proclamation, said, "Such expeditions can only be regarded as adventures +for plunder and robbery," and declaring Americans who engaged in them +outlaws, informed them that "they would forfeit their claim to the +protection of this government, or any interference in their behalf, no +matter to what extremity they might be reduced in consequence of their +illegal conduct." In accordance with this declaration, the brave +Crittenden and his men were allowed to be shot at Atares, though they +were not taken with arms in their hands, had abandoned the expedition, +and were seeking to escape from the island. + +In a similar spirit the present chief magistrate alluded to our +relations with Spain in his inaugural address, in the following explicit +terms:-- + +"Indeed it is not to be disguised that our attitude as a nation, and our +position on the globe, render the acquisition of certain possessions, +not within our jurisdiction, eminently important, if not, in the future, +essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and the peace +of the world. Should they be obtained, it will be through no grasping +spirit, but with a view to obvious national interest and security, and +in a manner entirely consistent with the strictest observance of +national faith." + +A recent proclamation, emanating from the same source, and warning our +citizens of the consequences of engaging in an invasion of the island, +also attests the determination to maintain the integrity of our +relations with an allied power. + +No candid student of the history of our relations with Spain can fail to +be impressed by the frank and honorable attitude of our government, or +to contrast its acts with those of the Spanish officials of Cuba. A +history of the commercial intercourse of our citizens with the island +would be a history of petty and also serious annoyances and grievances +to which they have been subjected for a series of years by the Spanish +officials, increasing in magnitude as the latter have witnessed the +forbearance and magnanimity of our government. Not an American merchant +or captain, who has had dealings with Cuba, but could furnish his list +of insults and outrages, some in the shape of illegal extortions and +delays, others merely gratuitous ebullitions of spite and malice +dictated by a hatred of our country and its citizens. Of late instances +of outrage so flagrant have occurred, that the executive has felt bound +to call the attention of Congress to them in a message, in which he +points out the great evil which lies at the bottom, and also the remedy. + +"The offending party," he says, "is at our doors with large power for +aggression, but none, it is alleged, for reparation. The source of +redress is in another hemisphere; and the answers to our just +complaints, made to the home government, are but the repetition of +excuses rendered by inferior officials to the superiors, in reply to the +representations of misconduct. In giving extraordinary power to them, +she owes it to justice, and to her friendly relations to this +government, to guard with great vigilance against the exorbitant +exercise of these powers, and in case of injuries to provide for prompt +redress." + +It is very clear that if, in such cases as the seizure of a vessel and +her cargo by the port officers at Havana, for an alleged violation of +revenue laws, or even port usages, redress, in case of official +misconduct, can only be had by reference to the home government in +another part of the world, our trade with Cuba will be completely +paralyzed. The delay and difficulty in obtaining such redress has +already, in too many cases, prompted extortion on the one hand, and +acquiescence to injustice on the other. The experience of the last four +years alone will fully sustain the truth of this assertion. + +In 1851 two American vessels were seized off Yucatan by the Spanish +authorities on suspicion of being engaged in the Lopez expedition; in +the same year the steamship Falcon was wantonly fired upon by a Spanish +government vessel; in 1852 the American mail bags were forcibly opened +and their contents examined by order of the captain-general; and less +than two years ago, as is well known, the Crescent City was not allowed +to land her passengers and mails, simply because the purser, Smith, was +obnoxious to the government of the island. The Black Warrior, fired into +on one voyage, was seized lately for a violation of a custom house +form--an affair not yet, it is believed, settled with the Spanish +government. More than once, on specious pretexts, have American sailors +been taken from American vessels and thrown into Spanish prisons. In +short, the insults offered by Spanish officials to our flag have so +multiplied of late that the popular indignation in the country has +reached an alarming height. + +It is difficult for a republic and a despotism, situated like the United +States and Cuba, to live on neighborly terms; and to control the +indignation of the citizens of the former, proud and high spirited, +conscious of giving no offence, and yet subjected to repeated insults, +is a task almost too great for the most adroit and pacific +administration. When we add to this feeling among our people a +consciousness that Cuba, the source of all this trouble, is in unwilling +vassalage to Spain, and longing for annexation to the United States, +that under our flag the prosperity of her people would be secured, a +vast addition made to our commercial resources, an invaluable safeguard +given to our southern frontier, and the key to the Mississippi and the +great west made secure forever, we can no longer wonder at the spread of +the conviction that Cuba should belong to this country, and this too as +soon as can be honorably brought about. Had she possessed more foresight +and less pride, Spain would have long since sold the island to the +United States, and thereby have relieved herself of a weighty care and a +most dangerous property. + +"So far from being really injured by the loss of the island," says Hon. +Edward Everett, in his able and well known letter to the British +minister rejecting the proposition for the tripartite convention, "there +is no doubt that, were it peacefully transferred to the United States, a +prosperous commerce between Cuba and Spain, resulting from ancient +associations and common language and tastes, would be far more +productive than the best contrived system of colonial taxation. Such, +notoriously, has been the result to Great Britain of the establishment +of the independence of the United States." + +If it be true that the American minister at Madrid has been authorized +to offer a price nothing short of a royal ransom for the island, we +cannot conceive that the greedy queen, and even the Cortes of Spain, +would reject it, unless secretly influenced by the powers which had the +effrontery to propose for our acceptance the tripartite treaty, by which +we were expected to renounce forever all pretension to the possession +of Cuba. It is difficult to believe that France and England could for a +moment seriously suppose that such a ridiculous proposition would be for +one moment entertained by this government, and yet they must so have +deceived themselves, or otherwise they would not have made the +proposition as they did. + +Of the importance, not to say necessity, of the possession of Cuba by +the United States, statesmen of all parties are agreed; and they are by +no means in advance of the popular sentiment; indeed, the class who urge +its immediate acquisition, at any cost, by any means, not as a source of +wealth, but as a political necessity, is by no means inconsiderable. It +would be foreign to our purpose to quote the opinions of any ultraists, +nor do we design, in these closing remarks, to enter the field of +politics, or political discussion. We have endeavored to state facts +only, and to state them plainly, deducing the most incontrovertible +conclusions. + +We find the following remarks in a recent conservative speech of Mr. +Latham, a member of Congress, from California. They present, with +emphasis, some of the points we have lightly touched upon: + +"I admit that our relations with Spain, growing out of that island +(Cuba), are of an extremely delicate nature; that the fate of that +island, its misgovernment, its proximity to our shores, and the +particular institutions established upon it, are of vast importance to +the peace and security of this country; and that the utmost vigilance in +regard to it is not only demanded by prudence, but an act of imperative +duty on the part of our government. The island of Cuba commands, in a +measure, the Gulf of Mexico. In case of a maritime war, in which the +United States may be engaged, its possession by the enemy might become a +source of infinite annoyance to us, crippling our shipping, threatening +the great emporium of our southern commerce, and exposing our whole +southern coast, from the capes of Florida to the mouth of the Rio +Grande, to the enemy's cruisers. The geographical position of Cuba is +such that we cannot, without a total disregard to our own safety, permit +it to pass into the hands of any first-class power; nay, that it would +be extremely imprudent to allow it to pass even into the hands of a +power of the second rank, possessed of energy and capacity for +expansion." + +If Cuba come into our possession peaceably, as the fruits of a fair +bargain, or as a free-will offering of her sons, after a successful +revolution, we can predict for her a future as bright as her past has +been desolate and gloomy; for the union of a territory with a foreign +population to our confederacy is no new and doubtful experiment. +Louisiana, with her French and Spanish Creoles, is one of the most +reliable states of the Union; and, not long after her admission, she +signed, with her best blood, the pledge of fealty to the common country. + +More recently, we all remember how, when Taylor, in the presence of the +foe upon the Rio Grande, called for volunteers, the gallant Creoles +rushed to arms, and crowded to his banner. The Creoles of Cuba are of +the same blood and lineage,--Spaniards in chivalry of soul, without the +ferocity and fanaticism of the descendants of the Cid. We are sure, from +what they have shown in the past, that liberal institutions will develop +latent qualities which need only free air for their expansion. They will +not want companions, friends and helpers. A tide of emigration from the +States will pour into the island, the waste lands will be reclaimed, and +their hidden wealth disclosed; a new system of agricultural economy will +be introduced; the woods of the island will furnish material for +splendid ships; towns and villages will rise with magical celerity, and +the whole surface of the "garden of the world" will blossom like the +rose. + +"Rich in soil, salubrious in climate, varied in productions, the home of +commerce," says the Hon. O.R. Singleton, of Mississippi, "Cuba seems to +have been formed to become 'the very button on Fortune's cap.' Washed by +the Gulf-stream on half her borders, with the Mississippi pouring out +its rich treasures on one side, and the Amazon, destined to become a +'cornucopia,' on the other,--with the ports of Havana and Matanzas on +the north, and the Isle of Pines and St. Jago de Cuba on the south, +Nature has written upon her, in legible characters, a destiny far above +that of a subjugated province of a rotten European dynasty. Her home is +in the bosom of the North American confederacy. Like a lost Pleiad, she +may wander on for a few months or years in lawless, chaotic confusion; +but, ultimately, the laws of nature and of nations will vindicate +themselves, and she will assume her true social and political condition, +despite the diplomacy of statesmen, the trickery of knaves, or the +frowns of tyrants. Cuba will be free. The spirit is abroad among her +people; and, although they dare not give utterance to their thoughts, +lest some treacherous breeze should bear them to a tyrant's ears, still +they think and feel, and will act when the proper time shall arrive. The +few who have dared 'to do or die' have fallen, and their blood still +marks the spot where they fell. Such has been the case in all great +revolutionary struggles. Those who lead the van must expect a sharp +encounter before they break through the serried hosts of tyranny, and +many a good man falls upon the threshold of the temple. + + "'But freedom's battle once begun, + Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, + Though baffled oft, is always won.'" + +_Phillips, Sampson, & Co.'s Publications._ + + _ABBOTT.--THE ROLLO BOOKS, COMPLETE IN FOURTEEN VOLUMES._ By Rev. + JACOB ABBOTT. 16mo., cloth. 50 cents per volume. + + _ROLLO LEARNING TO TALK._ + _ROLLO LEARNING TO READ._ + _ROLLO AT WORK._ + _ROLLO AT PLAY._ + _ROLLO AT SCHOOL._ + _ROLLO'S VACATION._ + _ROLLO'S EXPERIMENTS._ + _ROLLO'S MUSEUM._ + _ROLLO'S TRAVELS._ + _ROLLO'S CORRESPONDENCE._ + _ROLLO'S PHILOSOPHY, Water._ + _ROLLO'S PHILOSOPHY, Air._ + _ROLLO'S PHILOSOPHY, Fire._ + _ROLLO'S PHILOSOPHY, Sky._ + + "The most popular and best series of juvenile books ever published." + + +Annuals and Gift Books. + + _GEMS OF BEAUTY; OR, LITERARY GIFT._ Edited by EMILY PERCIVAL. + Embellished with 9 elegant engravings and colored illustrations. + Splendidly bound, morocco extra, assorted colors, full gilt, $5.00; + white calf, $5.50; muslin, $4.00. + + _THE SOUVENIR GALLERY._ An illustrated gift book for all seasons. 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Croome. 8vo., cloth, $3.00; library style, $3.50. + + ---- _THE CYCLOPAEDIA OF USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE._ Forming a + complete Library of Family Information; embracing Literature, + Science, Art, Agriculture, Manufactures, Commerce, Natural History, + Biography, Travels, Improvements, Inventions, Discoveries, + Settlements, Mythology, Botany, Geology, &c. By W.R. MURRAY, F.R.S. + Illustrated with 350 engravings. One volume, 8vo. Bound in cloth, + $3.00; library style, $4.50; embossed morocco, $4.50. + + _MERRICK.--LIFE AND RELIGION OF MOHAMMED._ Translated by Rev. J.L. + MERRICK. 8vo., cloth, Price $1.50. + + "Altogether the most important and trustworthy work relating to + Mohammed ever translated into English, giving, as it does, 'a full + view of his life and religion, with sketches of his ancestors, + companions, and times, blended with maxims and legends illustrative + of Oriental manners.' 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